New deadline.

So, I've decided (after some careful thought) to postpone my mission trip to China until the summer of 2013. This seems to be the right choice because of the economy and I have an even longer time to fundraise and my friend is going to fundraise with me so we can go together and experience the work to be done. We have time to decide where we want to go, what we want to accomplish there, and to get all our passports and paper work filled out. This decision feels right for both of us so we are going to start thinking of fun ideas to raise our funds! I'm still going to be using all my photography money for this trip and selling prints from previous shoots and frames. I'll keep updating information as we think of fundraisers during the next year. I'm exciting to finally start working toward this with my friend and to see what we face along the way. This journey will be amazing.

On a different note, I'm taking pictures for Alan and Gracyn's wedding next Saturday! Congratulations to them and a big thank you for hiring me! My first wedding! I'm very excited and very nervous. I went to see the church today and it's beautiful. I am starting to envision some settings I hope they like!

Decision time.

Sorry it's been so long since a post!
So, I now have some choices to make about China: to go ahead and sign up for a trip one friend is going on, or wait and see if another friend can go and choose a trip with her. Choices, choices. I know this decision is not based on which friends can go or even if a friend goes with me, but in this case it would be nice to have a familiar face around while working in a foreign country. I have some time to decide but this is going to be on my mind for a while. Before I can even sign up, I need to go get my passport. That should be a fun experience. It's necessary though, obviously.
In my photography world, there's only about 2 and a half weeks until Alan and Gracyn's wedding! I got new equipment that I am dutifully working to master before their big day. I am so excited for them and honored to be their photographer. :)
I am also taking pictures for TN Parks and Greenways next weekend, thanks to the referral of a friend. That will be a fun experience that will hopefully amount in some more job opportunities.

Here's some photos I have taken recently with my Fisheye camera and 35mm film. :) Hope you like them!

Birdie, birdie.

the little boat that survived the storm with 2 passengers

little cabin in Michigan :)

every sunset is different. Especially at Glen Lake.

I really love successfully capturing sunlight.

Thanks for keeping up!
~Anna
"It can be a trap of the photographer to think that his or her best pictures were the ones that were hardest to get."

A look at Glen Lake.

My family has a little cabin on Glen Lake in Northern Michigan. I rather enjoy trying to capture the colors around me. I hope you enjoy it. :)

The shores of Lake Michigan.

Ducks with purple wings :)

Glen Lake is has the bluest water I have ever seen.

It's God. Can you see him?

Dance like no one's watching.

Here are some dance shots I took of my friend Natalie at Cheekwood. Hope you like them as much as I do!

It's soon to be in sight.

My friend Megan who I have mentioned just returned from her mission trip to China! I'm hoping to go on one similar to hers next summer with Visiting Orphans. She visited several orphanages in several cities and was able to love and play with those kids and see their interactions with their nannies. It is such an amazing experience and I can't wait until I have a chance to go. I got some pictures from her trip. They are all amazing and sweet but, since I love pictures SO much I'm just going to limit myself to 2 pictures. She had 5 albums total on Facebook so you can see how this is a challenge for me.

I am hoping to finalize my trip plans by the end of summer and set my sights on a destination and goal for fundraising. I'll keep everyone posted as the journey continues and I make plans. :)

As of now.

Right now, at this moment, my friend Megan is in China. She is working with the company I'm hoping to partner with next summer. I've mentioned her in previous posts but her love and devotion to this trip and those kids still astounds me. She decided to go back to China (after going last summer with Visiting Orphans) about 3 months ago and still was able to raise a bunch of money towards her trip and receive donations to take with her for the kids such as silly string and water balloons. 
Right now, at this moment, she is making a difference. I am so sad that I wasn't able to go with her this year but at the same time I am extremely proud of her for going through with this even with the obstacles she faced financially and spiritually. Her journey shows her devotion and faith and she was able to decide that she might want to be a missionary when she gets older. How cool is that? She found her passion and is following it. She has a huge heart and I would love if everyone would keep her and her team in their thoughts and prayers these next two weeks as they travel to love on those kids.
Right now, I am so ready to begin fundraising. I have some prices listed on this blog but they are very flexible and will probably be changing as I figure things out. Any help would be awesome. I am talking to my friend about possibly going on this journey with me and we shall see where this year takes us. I (and my friend if she goes) will be fundraising all year and will keep you updated! I'm still selling frames and prints if anyone is interested. :)


Thanks to all!
Anna
I take pictures of things that matter to me in hopes that they will matter to others as well.

This is the lovely Megan :)

I See You.

   So, recently I've been thinking about my decision to go to China. It was all so sudden. I don't regret it at all though. :) I have been thinking about going on a mission trip to a different country for a while now I just didn't know exactly where I wanted to go. China was always in the back of my mind. My friend went on a mission trip to China last summer and around the same time I decided I was going to take the first step and go on a trip, she decided she needed to go back to China. She decided this about 3 months before the trip and started fundraising. Her faith through the whole thing is astounding and inspiring. This sparked my interest in going to China. I definitely knew I wanted to work with kids so I went to the website for the organization she is going with called Visiting Orphans and automatically clicked on China even though they have a list of many more countries they send groups to. Today when I started thinking about it, I realized I was always going to go to China. I was put into tears from my friend's stories from her China trip last summer and one of my other dear friends adopted her sweet little sister from China last summer. As a preteen I played with two little girls down the street who were adopted from China and Vietnam by a single mother and knew I wanted to adopt from China one day.
   When thinking about my friend deciding to go to China only months before the trip, it made me think of the saying "I See You". This is how the Na'vi, the inhabitants of the planet Pandora in the movie Avatar, greet each other. Avatar is basically a futuristic Pocahontas story and some of you may think it is a little silly or geeky for me to reference this. But they don't just mean that they physically see each other standing there. They go into a deeper meaning saying that they actually see that person. They see who they really are. I feel that through this whole experience my friend has allowed me and the others around her to actually see her. My decision to go to China was not known by most of the people closest to me at first. My parents actually found out because my youth minister put this blog in our church's e-mail. I got so excited about my decision to go that I just jumped and didn't ask anyone's opinion about if I should go or where I should go. I just jumped. I decided that I need to actually be in the moment and not worry about the future so much. Like I talked about in the previous post Like A Child, I just took a step and let God take it from there.
   I am challenging myself to be in the moment during this journey. I am also going to challenge myself to actually see the people I encounter. I decided to initiate this so fast that it has taken me this long to realize all of this. I am so lucky to be able to take this journey and to watch friends around me take this journey as well. I hope my friends are able to see me more as I do this and to understand me. I want to live in the moment and not worry so much about getting enough money or packing the right things. I am going to trust in God and have faith like a child.
I see you.
~Anna

Sweet Rylie who was adopted last summer and now has a loving home and family. :)