To begin with I am a mother and a math teacher. I love math and teaching: the structure, the correct answers, the logical thinking, the variety of students, the patience that it takes to explain a concept just right. But that is not what my life as a mother has been like. Motherhood has been F.U.L.L. of moments where I was unsure about what I was doing and whether or not I was doing it right. On the flip side the rewards have been so rich, tender, silly and special. While as a teacher I will always have another class full of extraordinary students to teach, to watch grow and to bump into along lifes road, I will not have another son or daughter whose hand I can hold, whose pain I can kiss away or whose chubby arms will wrap around my neck. There are so many little moments that I want to hold tight to when I lead them out into the world and watch them take-off and fly. While I can not preserve the smell of my baby fresh from the bath, the feel of a fevered child cuddled to my chest, or so many of the day-to-day moments that make my life perfect, I can always bring them back for a moment with a photo. This is incredible important to me.
My task was to write a testimonial about MachC Photography and this sounds like it is all about me, my family, my kids and motherhood ... but that is what Chelsey does. She steps into your life for a few hours to capture who you, your family and your children are.
Walking through the door she is polite, professional, full of fresh ideas, yet ready to listen, and patient with all of the little ups and downs that young children present. Before she comes she asks you to fill out a survey about what you want to get out of the session, take the time to do it!! She takes the time to read it and comes prepared to photograph your heart and soul. At the same time, YOU need to listen to HER. Experience is a wonderful guide and she won't lead you astray.
After several hours spent in fun with your family, she will walk away smiling and you can tell that she is already searching her mind's eye for her favorite photo from the session and what she is going to do to arrange them in a way that will make you smile, laugh and cry. Blog-stalker is what my husband calls me as I anxiously await the sneak-peeks. When my gallery comes up I get up EARLY, just so I can sit and look at them all by myself and savor being the second person to see them all. I spend hours trying to narrow down which photos I just can't leave out and wind up putting into the hands of my wise husband ... who tells me that a few extras never hurt.
Trying to describe my favorites would be silly since you can see them for yourself and they tell so much more than I ever could. But I do want to mention the 16X24 canvas that I **won** last year. If it had been a picture of both my children I won't have hesitated to hang it front and center in the living room and force everyone who entered to admire it, but it is a photo of myself with my nine-day-old daughter lying on my chest. People can be strange about photos of themselves and even though I liked the picture from the beginning it felt strange to have a life size version of myself on display, but I have come to LOVE it. Chelsey captured one of the most content, happy and perfect moments in my life - I was a mother for the second time and felt confident and delighted about the days to come.
Normally words escape me, they wind up feeling sappy, sarcastic or just wrong when I read them over, but I wanted Chelsey to know just how much happiness her talent has brought me. I will continue to have her take my family's pictures as long as she is in business.
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