Renphoto’s blog

I have 3 days left to enjoy my 20's... but that's alright, I am ready for it! I feel like my 30's will be full of wiser decisions,  and a lot more adventure. In fact, so far... every year I get older, I feel younger. It's a different kind of youth though... I mean people in their early 20's have SO much to learn. Sometimes it is so easy to see where they are headed and what is going to happen when they act a certain way. For example... getting married or engaged after 2 weeks of knowing each other.. haha, maybe that only happens in Utah. I have seen it work out, but it's rare, LOL. I got engaged to my x-husband after one year, but that wasn't long enough because I think I was too young to know what I wanted. Some more examples might include having a big ego, knowing more than they think, being selfish, etc.. Sure there are people who are this way their entire lives... but IMO, should be lessons learned in your 20s.  Anyways, the type of youth I feel is less naive. My 20's seemed to be all about finding and losing myself over and over again. I hope to use my 30's to build my business, set up my future, guide my kids, have a happy family, and be passionate about the things that I love.

During my 20s...

My goal for 30 was to have 2 degrees and be a huge success... I wanted to do business and marketing or something like that. I never went back to school though. I have some college under my belt, but mostly just general classes, and some communications & design. If I were to spend money on it, I would rather open a business than go back to school. Todd and I have an idea that would be guaranteed success, because we are genius, hehe.

One thing that was funny about me in my early 20's is that I was extremely intimidated by women... It kind of makes sence...women are much tougher to impress, lol. I had to have certain accomplishments before I felt good enough to even have conversations with people. Saying that out loud feels weird, but it was a big deal for me at the time. I was  completely over it by 25ish, LOL.

A big part of my 20's was all about having bad relationships... In fact, I never really got off to the right start with those from the beginning. When I was going through separation and divorce, a councelor told me that our brains are still developing in our mid 20's, so we are still finding ourselves. That made a lot of sence. My brother told me that I would keep going through bad relationships until I learn what I needed to learn. That really hit me... that maybe it was me, and not just unfortunate things that keep happening to me. After another lame relationship in 2007, I conciously changed my priorities of what I wanted in a relatiship to include a man that loved me as much as I loved him.... then BAM... there he was. Love you Todd :)

I found my passion for photography in my early 20's. I have always been an artist, and photography has been a great outlet for me. That's probably why I steer away from vanilla, stock photography (that makes $$$)... because I have to like looking at my work, and it has to make me feel a certain way, or I start to freak out, haha.

And last but not least, I have spent ALL of my 20's as a mother... I have two beautiful girls that are such a big part of my life. I can't explain how RAD it is to have these two beautiful little spirits running around. I love giving them their first experiences in life. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have no kids in my adult life... but after they go to their dad's house for a few days (shared custody), I start to miss them. When you are kids, you live on your parents adventure... and as adults, your children become a part of your adventure. Its up to you how exciting it will be.

30 looking at 40...
I want to focus the next 10 years on being successful in my (future) marriage, photography, business, and traveling the world. I hope to take at least one overseas trip a year probably starting with Italy. Maybe we will go on an African safari or see the pyramids in Egypt next year. I have always had an extreme longing for travel, but never really had a stable life situation that would allow me to go until now. And wow, that feels good... travel will be an exciting thing to focus on. I also hope to keep building friendships with like-minded people... that is also super important!

Istockbook

What an amazing book! I was SUPER excited to find out that my images are on the front and back cover. A huge congrats to iStock and all of it's contributers. We have come such a long way! I know I have. 4-5 Years ago when I first started, I knew nothing of photography at all... just that I liked to take snapshots. Without all those rejections, I dont know if I would be where I am at today, hehe. I am so thankful that I have a career with total creative freedom and plan to always step it up a notch. I will have some amazing stuff come out this year... so stay tuned!

Quote from Bruce Livingstone:

"Back in the fall, we had an idea after starting a partnership with the people over at Blurb.com. They're a really cool site that makes bookstore-quality books on demand. We were doing a cross-promotion with them, and everyone here in the office had the same thought: we really need to make a book showcasing your talent.

We're happy to announce that Parallel Perspectives, the first iStockphoto coffee table book, is ready. And it's hot.

There are more than 65,000 iStock artists around the world now. We wanted to capture the unique, personal moments all those different sets of eyes have witnessed in their corner of the world. This book is our visual atlas: the world as iStock sees it.

The book is available at Blurb in both paperback and hardcover. 100% of the proceeds from the sales will be donated to charity: water. So not only are you getting the best of iStock to put on your coffee table, but you're helping out a great cause.

See a preview of the book, and order it here."

As Todd and I were doing some more volunteer work for the Red Cross... we came across another volunteer named Eric Kiltz. At first he seemed like an ordinary guy... volunteering his medical expertise.  Somewhere during a conversation that night, he explained to me that he will be the President of the United States in 2036. I smiled... and he looked at me with a serious expression and said "Don't laugh, I'm serious". I continued to smile and shook his hand once more. Except this time, I was shaking a future president's hand!

Here is his website: http://www.eric2036.com/

I thought it was great... you've got to cheerish each little random moment in life :)

Todd got me an iPhone for Christmas... it is super cool :)

Here are some pics I have taken with it:

Todd wearing flip-flops in winter

When we got out of the car at the store, Todd was thinking maybe it wasn't such a good idea to wear flip flops, haha...

But this is RAD.... I thought I was the only one who refused to wear shoes. LOL.... I'm funny about it, I usually wear either flip flops or boots. I choose comfort over high heels any day :)

My Girls :)

Next picture (to the right)... my girls! They are too cute ;)

Christel!!

I took this shot of Christel so I could have a picture come up of her when she calls.

Christel is an amazing, undiscovered singer... I got her some recording sessions for Christmas :)

Becky

The pic to the right is of my friend Becky and her baby. She is such a cool person.... and I just love her to death :)

Russ and Laurie

Next we have Russ and Laurie to the left. These guys are my family (not blood related). Russ, Laurie, Christel and I get together all the time for dinner parties and what not. I always end up laughing so hard that I cry... FUN stuff. Love you guys!!

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I LOVE my girls... not only are they so sweet, beautiful, and smart... but they can dance too!! Here are a few shots from their hip hop class the other day. I plan to eventually get a video camera so I can record this stuff.

Todd and I photographed the Salt Lake Chapter Red Cross Christmas party this year... here is a slideshow (made with slideshow  pro for lightroom).

Lol... I will just link to it, because I can't figure out how to add it to this blog.

http://bellaorastudios.com/Galleries/redcrosspartyslideshow/slideshowpro.swf

The fire was only 2 blocks away from us. We heard the sirens last night... thank goodness no one was hurt!  We drove over there this morning to take some shots of the aftermath.

Fire at Incline Terrace in SLC, UT 12-2008

Todd and I are now volunteer photographers for the Red Cross. We did our first shoot of Poinsettias being delivered by Smiths the other day. We hope to capture some amazing images of the Red Cross in action soon!

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