{ The Eyes Have It } -- Mesa, AZ Photographer

{ I'm Convinced He Must Be Part Human }



I have never seen a dog with more expressive eyes than Roscoe. Sometimes I look at him and have to try and convince myself that he's NOT human.

I photograph him often because I love capturing the eyes on my subjects. Whether it be pets or people, there's something so stirring about eyes to me. When I was an art major in college, eyes were my favorite thing to draw because there's so much depth that's hidden there. There is a story in every person's eyes and you can see so much about a person when you look into them.

I find myself wondering:

"What has this person's eyes seen in his or her life?"

"Has it been good things?"

"Has it been bad?"

"Have these eyes filled with tears?"

"Have they lighted with joy?"

"What places around the world have these eyes seen?"

"Have they seen the birth of someone they love?"

"Have they looked into the eyes of another and seen love

 reflected back?"

"Do these eyes lower in shyness, flash in anger or twinkle with delight?"

"Do these pair of eyes see dreams unfolding or shrinking back?"

SO many questions.

SO many thoughts to ponder.

SO many stories in one pair of eyes.

Whether it be a puppy's eyes or a client's eyes.....I feel like I can best hear the story when I capture their eyes in my pictures.

People often say that the "eyes are the window to the soul" and I totally agree.

Each set of eyes, whether blue or brown, green or gray, black, hazel or violet....each tells it's own special narrative and each are like little pools that reflect the waters of emotion in a person's heart.

The joy of being a photographer is that I get to capture the reflection with my lens. It's kind of like looking into a mirror that's bounced off another mirror, that's bounced off another mirror:

The eyes reflect what the heart sees.

The camera lens reflects what the eyes see.

And the world reflects what my pictures see.

{ Christmas Special -- Mesa, AZ Photographer }

{ It's The Most Wonderful Time Of the Year.....Well, Almost }



Photo cards come with envelopes.

I am already starting to book for this Fall! If you would like to book a photo session with me, please contact me at:

Alicia

{480} 399-3030

or

alicia@BebaPhotography.com

{ "But I'm Not GOOD Enough!" } -- Mesa, AZ Photographer

{ Just Because You're at Point A & Not at Point Z, Doesn't Mean That You're Not a Photographer }

I hear the same lament of discouragement from SO many photographers:

"I'm not as good as they are."

"I'll NEVER be good enough."

"I'm totally fooling myself. I'm not a photographer."

"I don't want to say I'm a photographer and then have people say that I'm not."

"I don't want to sound like an American Idol wannabe."

A lot of photographers have convinced themselves that they aren't photographers just because they're not at the
place in their journey that they'd like to be or they feel far behind where others are at in their own journeys.

In other areas of life, this would sound silly, if not ludicrous:

Imagine an Olympian in training looking at the current Olympian and thinking, "He or she is { SO } far ahead of me. I should stop training. There's no way I'm going to get there."

Silliness.

The only way you can get from a training athlete to Olympic gold medal is by trying and training and pouring yourself out into making yourself better step by step.

I used to beat myself up so badly on the inside and would get so discouraged that I'd swear off ever shooting again. I'd think, "What's the point? I'll never be as good as him or her. So why try? I quit."

The problem is that I was not allowing myself to see the potential that has been invested into my life and I wasn't giving myself a chance to cultivate that talent and see what I could do with it.

A lightbulb that hasn't been plugged into an outlet remains a dead bulb. The potential is sure there, but without a power source, it remains useless. Wasted energy.

I didn't want to be that unplugged lightbulb. I wanted to plug myself into training myself as a photographer and trying to grow the talents that God has invested into my life. I wanted to dig my heels in and see what my life was made of.

The Bible talks about a master who gave his servants a certain amount of talents each. Each was to be responsible and invest those talents and grow them. Two of the servants invested them and yielded a return and were blessed with so much more. The third, however, buried his talents {$$$} and brought back only the unused amount he was given.

How many dreams are packed away on the shelves of people's hearts, collecting dust because they've been afraid to dream--because they feel like someone else's dream is so much bigger and better than their own? How many talents are we waiting to see and experience in our own lives because someone's packed them away and aren't using them?

When fear gets in the way and stunts growth, it takes away a piece of beauty that we all could have enjoyed and relished in.

Still not convinced?

Think back to kindergarten when you first learned how to tie your shoes. I'll bet you felt pretty clumsy tying them for the first time. You probably had to try several times before you could even get it CLOSE to looking like a decent bow. If you had gotten frustrated, you could have given up....but then you would still be wearing Velcro shoes even now as an adult because you weren't willing to be uncomfortable for awhile to learn and grow in your skill.

You are unique.

You are special.

You have a gift that no one else has.

It's up to { you } to discover, develop and cultivate those things and grow them until they reach their full potential.

How will you know what potential lies in something unless you try and invest into discovering it?

Here's my challenge to you photographers out there:

 { For all you who doubt your talents and who feel like you fall so short of other photographer's skills }

1. Stop comparing yourself to other photographers.

You should never want to be like them.

You have something unique of your own to bring to the table.

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."

-- Judy Garland

2. Be patient with yourself.

The photographers that you admire did not get to where they're at overnight and neither will you. It takes patiently applying yourself and getting better at what you do one step at a time. Commit yourself to growing and guaging your own personal growth.

3. Look at other photographer's blogs.

Find photographers that you like and look at their very first blog post ever. Then look at their most recent. I promise you, you will see an amazing transformation. This was one of the most freeing things for me to do because I realized that each of the people I was admiring had started off in a place that is very similar to where I'm at now. They are where they're at today because they tenaciously applied themselves to growing their craft and skill and didn't stop growing. Look at your own first post and where you are at today and you'll see growth.

"Don't get intimidated. Get inspired." --Jen O'Sullivan

The college president at the college I used to attend encouraged me to follow my dreams. I encourage you to do the same. A lot of times your success will be determined on whether or not you believe that you can { or cannot } succeed. We're more likely to succeed { or fail } based on what we first believed in our own hearts.

Believe that you can do it.

It will take time and a lot of effort, but commit yourself to learning and discovering your untapped potential.

I can't wait to see the gifts you share with the world one day.

And remember......

 

"Everyone starts somewhere." --Pati Pakulis

{ New Mommy Bags : Goodman & Partridge } -- Mesa, AZ Photographer

{ New Mommy Bags }

 

 

I wanted to give a great big shout out to Goodman & Partridge OBGYN! They have been so kind in extending to me the opportunity to include my business cards in their New Mommy Bags that reach their patients who have recently had babies. 

Based here in AZ, it is one of the largest { if not THE largest } OBGYN in Arizona. They were the first to offer 3D and 4D Live Motion ultrasounds and all of their offices are designer. Most medical buildings you walk into have that sterile, cold feel to them, but their offices are themed and designed really nicely and have a "warm" feeling to them. They really have gone the extra mile to make their patients feel comfortable.

I got a chance to meet the company's CEO and was greatly surprised at how approachable he is. He really seems to truly care about the patients at Goodman & Partridge and that's part of why I'm so excited to be a part of their New Mommy bags--it is a trustworthy company with a long history and they really put a lot of effort into treating their patients well.

If you are a patient at Goodman & Partridge or know of a friend who is, please let them know to keep an eye out for my business cards in the New Mommy bags--they come attached with a special Beba Photography "New Mommy" coupon and freebie!

If you would like to know more about Goodman & Partridge, you can visit their website at:

http://www.momdoc.com

Here is a list of their locations, pictures and contact information:

http://www.momdoc.com/Locations/

{ Free Texture For Photographers! } -- Mesa, AZ Photographer





{ The Princess Bride } -- Mesa, AZ Photographer

{ The Princess Bride }

Many little girls grow up wanting to feel like a beautiful Princess on their wedding day. I'm sure a lot of us at some point in our childhood has put on our prettiest dress, strapped a pillowcase to our head and grabbed Grandma's silk flowers from the vase so we could stand in a mirror and admire our reflection as "the most beautiful princess bride ever." Some of you may have even twirled around, pretending like you were dancing with your handsome prince.

{ I sure did when I was a little girl! Only my "veil" was one of those netting things that pops open to cover food and keep the flies away. I did things a little differently as a child. Ahem. }

Whether we wore pillowcases, food covers or even toilet paper, we all wanted to feel like the beautiful Princess Bride who was swept off her feet.

But then life happens.

We all grow up at some point and either go to school, enter the career field or become stay at home Mommies. We enter the world of responsibility and it feels like those precious moments of longing for beauty are left behind when the playroom door closes.

But isn't there a little piece of that longful wishing in *all* of us that still wants to be the beautiful Princess in a story? Brides all over the world work for months to create a beautiful environment for the day they wed their heart's true love and will search until they find *the* perfect dress that makes them feel magical and beautiful....and very much like a Princess.

This special bride is looking forward to that magical feeling....and being the Disney fan that she is, she is going have a replica type Princess Aurora dress from her favorite movie "Sleeping Beauty" made into a beautiful wedding dress for her special day.

I got to be a part of her pre-dress fitting { the real dress will be adapted from this mock-up version that was made from a linen-y material. This is kind of the "test run" dress before the real one with real fabric is made } and watched as the designer worked like Flora { one of the fairies from Sleeping Beauty who made Princess Aurora's dress } and pushed pins here and gathered material there.

Arms had to be lifted. A pretend first dance had to happen to make sure that she could waltz with her prince at the reception.

With a little more pinning.....

...and a the finishing touch added to this beautiful bride's ensemble....

......that beautiful "Princess Bride" feeling began to take over and you could see it on her face that she did indeed feel like royalty.

As women, we *all* carry a little piece of nobility around in our hearts. We were more attuned to it as little girls, but it's still there, even when we get older. We deserve to be treated as precious and with love, gentleness and dignity.

Just like a Princess.

{ M. I. A. + Baby Justin } -- Mesa, AZ Photographer

{ M.I.A. }

Where have you been Beba?!

I've been Missing In Action for a couple weeks now. Life was kind of put on hold until my sister and brother in law's first baby was born. They live in another state and I was constantly holding my breath for "the call" that my sister's water had broke and that Baby Justin was making his appearance in this world for the first time.

There were a few false alarms....texting in a frenzy to friends, but then sighing when it wasn't his grand entrance. I was beginning to think that he was taking his sweet 'ol time coming into this world.

But then..........July 1st at 5:00pm, it happened!

Her water broke and it was off to the hospital! I was going to have a nephew! My very first one ever! I was elated!

I never thought I could fall in love so quickly with such a little life, but I did when he was born the next day --it was like instant, "I love you!" when I saw him.

I can't wait to post pictures from the hospital and share this new little life with all of you. Now that I'm back to regular not-on-the-edge-of-my-seat-life, I'm also going to be back to blogging!

Here's a little sneak peek of the little boy who has stolen and captured my heart:

{ Happy "Birth" Day, Baby Justin! }