where it all began

so..can i tell you something? Today is my day off to clean out the fridge, weed the garden, pick up my bike from the shop, put away clothes in my closet that don't fit along with the hundreds of other things I need to do! But, here I am--blogging! sound familar?

The other day, someone asked me how this all got started--you know, the crazy life of photography. I will answer that for you all...

Marc and I (yes, Mindy--like Morc and Mindy) met at Dixie College almost 18 years ago. I was the editor of the newspaper and he was the photo editor. I spent many hours with him in the dark room (ooh la la). He even hid my wedding ring in his camera bag before he proposed. I knew that I was destined to be married to Marc and a camera. I willing agreed and we were married 17 years ago in August!

Marc went on to work with a wonderful photographer in a studio while I pursued my love of social work. After graduating from University of Utah, Marc focused on business and went to work with Usana. I quit my job with juvenile court and had three beautiful daughters. Within a few years of working for Usana, we were asked to move to New Zealand for the company. This experience honestly changed us forever--we grew together as a family and mended some personal wounds. Marc returned home to get a Masters Degree at Westminster College. Working for Usana from ground up has been absolutely amazing as we learned many wonderful lessons on building our own business.

After returning home, Marc and I began to take more pictures for family and friends. Seeing how much Marc enjoyed this, I realized that as a wife and friend, I needed to encourage him to pursue his passion. He asked me to focus on the retouching aspect that I had learned years ago in college while he would sharpen his knowledge in photography. This seems weird to me sometimes because I see all these women who are photographers--I guess we are just a bit backwords! We dived into photography full throttle reading every magazine we could, attending courses together and countless hours praticing on our girls.

Five years ago we built a new home with a studio in our basement. Thanks to many friends and family members who let us practice on them, we began to learn and grow more. I have to laugh--our first set was a painted white wall with painted white cement! Go baby! Marc became better at photography quickly because I was not patient! I hated fixing things in photoshop--so, he was a quick learner--he didn't want to go to bed with a grumpy wife! Our business began to grow rapidly--almost too quickly. I spent 12 hours a day on the computer seven days a week while Marc worked his full time job.

so........................we had to create a plan of action! Turning a hobby into a business is so tricky! Stay tuned for my next post... I will tell you how we did it!

for now..I got to go clean out the closet, pick up the bike, weed the garden, clean the fridge and what else? oh yeah, buy a new outfit for Good Things Utah on Friday--is it possible to lose 50 lbs in two days? I better go pick up my bike first!

luv you guys like rockstars!