First, my grandma and papa :) Joyce and Ed

They look pretty darn good, don’t they? :D

My aunt Christine (“Tissy”) and uncle Dave :)

My cousin Cole

My youngest bro, Adam

Grandma “B”, Margaret :) and Fred

My parents! My stepdad Bruce and mom Carol

Being able to laugh is what I believe keeps people together :)

My middle bro, Sean

Our little family! The ones of us are taken by my brother Sean. Myself, Cookie (our little Havanese princess), and Gavin :)

I took these of my mom goofing around with Cookie! She is responsible for my strange sense of humour ;)

Thanks for looking and have a great long weekend!

-Melissa

My newest, sexy canvas!

-Melissa

Here is a peek at the delicious stylings of these amazing vendors :)

The amazing Peggy and Tammy!! XO to you amazingly talented ladies :):) Thanks for having me!!

-Melissa

2010 was a huge year for me in so many ways! My business grew quickly into success, and although 2010 was fabulous for my fledgling business, other parts of my life were overlooked, and may have suffered. I wanted to share my resolutions with you all for 2011, because this way I will be held accountable for them. I find it much easier to do things once they are written down in concrete form, I love lists! So here is mine, some changes I want to make in my personal and professional life, and now that you all will be reading them, I will be forced to review this in 2012 and see how well I did!  This is a very honest look at the way things are for me, and I can’t speak for other photographers, so please take everything I am saying as being straight from my heart.

First, a re-cap of 2010.

Recently, my husband Gavin and I took a trip to Mexico over the holidays. In fact, we were gone for Christmas, but returned for New Years Eve. This vacation was SO needed, and I did a ton of thinking and personal reflection while away from work, something I haven’t done in over a year. There are so many things I am thankful for in my life, things that I probably don’t take the time to appreciate, and I must begin to do so. 2010 was a big year for Sugar & Soul Photography, and I put my heart and soul into my business and worked around the clock (while still working in my other career). There were many 4:00AM bedtimes after a full day of editing and answering emails, I was always turned on for my work, putting all my energy into time with my clients, and making sure the photos were just perfect. Shooting a wedding is like the best rush, creating fantastic images that I can’t wait to get home to see on my computer screen. 100% went into my images, so much love and passion (and tons of time and money) went into every wedding I shot this year, and I do hope that it shows! Starting and managing a business on your own is scary, awesome, scary, difficult, and did I mention scary? I heard a statistic once, that a large percentage of new photography business fail after the first year, largely due to poor business decisions. Scary is right!! But here I was, running the show, and enjoying every moment. I was learning new things, meeting so many amazing people in the industry and learning very quickly both how wonderful and how nasty the industry can treat you (mostly, for the record, people are wonderful!). For a right-brained person like myself, where emotions dominate over reason in many cases, it is difficult to be rejected in any sort of way, and this is a lesson I learned very quickly: you cannot please everyone, and not everyone will like you or your images. Period. But on the other hand, I have so many great new friends and for every down, there are 10 ups to lift your spirit! And nothing is better than having a client tell you that your images made them fall in love with each other all over again :) On the other end of this, I feel I have come out so much stronger, and far less naive! Not only emotionally, but technically I feel I have grown tenfold as a photographer. 2010: you are awesome.

However, putting so much of my time and energy into this business does not come without cost. No weekends free in the summer meant not seeing many of my great friends for months. I badly missed going to the lake with friends and drinking cold beer on the dock. I missed girl time, just chatting about nothing in particular, getting dressed up for nights out. Working around the clock with little sleep left little time for my husband, and for family. I am very close with my immediate family and was unable to show them much quality time, or even call to say hello. I barely saw my husband Gavin, unless he came upstairs to chat with me while I edited photos on my computer, or came to help me with sessions. I missed sailing with him and sleeping on the boat under the stars, just hanging out and laughing, date nights, etc. Cooking and cleaning? Not a chance. Even on non-summer weekends, shooting weddings, even though it is so much fun and such an amazing experience will leave you physically and mentally exhausted (assuming that you are putting the amount of energy in that myself and my assistants do!), and it can be hard for others not be hurt and understand that even though you may technically be able to hang out at 11:00pm, you literally physically cannot, as you must immediately drive home your equipment, unload the car, backup your files (biggest fear = losing the files!), and sometime around 2AM this might be finished and you can finally go to bed. You may actually have another wedding the next day and need to put 100% in again! Adrenaline kicks in when you do something you love, thankfully!

The whirlwind of a year that brought so many great things also had me neglecting so many people I love dearly. To all of you, I apologize sincerely. No time for anyone also included myself. I stopped my regular workouts that kept my head clear for many years, I missed long runs through the park. My body felt neglected, and not paying any attention to health and no time to cook meals meant gaining 8lbs and feeling super gross! And my poor dog, at least she got walked, but not played with often enough :(

Is this sappy enough for you yet? All in all, I was blown away by this amazing career, my unbelievably fantastic clients, and my evolution in the profession. But ultimately, disappointed in myself for keeping life so unbalanced and forgetting to make others in my personal life feel loved and special.

So now for my resolutions. These are not in order of importance, or in any particular order at all! I had a long list of very specific things that I whittled down to a few points that encompass them all. And here they are:

1) Make sure the people I love know that they are loved.

To my husband, my family, my friends, you are all amazing and you deserve much more from me. Your support has been amazing, and I want to make sure that beginning now, I take more time to listen, to be there for you when you need me, to do the little things that count so much more than the big things. As I learned from a wedding speech at a reception of a client who touched my heart in so many different ways, in the sum of your existence and the time you spend with others, the thing that matters most is how you make someone feel. I will never forget these words. If I were to die tomorrow, would I have made the people I love feel good about themselves? Will my presence have mattered at all? Some people that I know who I love to be around are those that make me feel so good when I am with them. That is what I want to be for others.

2) Make time for myself so that I can do my best for others.

Yes this one sounds super cheesy but it’s true. Being too tired or too busy happens to all of us. I want to make sure that I stay active and don’t neglect my health. Although it feels like a selfless thing to skip a workout so that you can get more work done, it nips you in the butt in the end. Exercising and getting enough sleep keeps me creative and energetic. This is so important for my professional and personal life!

3) Change my work Schedule

Sounds simple. But in this industry it is hard. Wanting to get a client’s photos finished as soon as possible leads to long late nights at the computer. Being so accessible with email/facebook/twitter on our phones leads to feeling the need to answer to every message immediately. An inquiry at 2Am? Maybe I should get up and reply? No more. Work hours and slotted times to answer emails and do sessions, hello!!

4) Read more!

I don’t think I read any books in 2010 until I went on vacation and picked up “The Good Daughters” By Joyce Maynard. I cried like 20 times during this book. I used to read A LOT, I used to paint, I used to sketch portraits because I loved it. Sometimes you forget the things you enjoyed before when you have little time for them. These things make me feel alive. I get my artistic rush from photography now, so I can do without the painting and sketching. But the reading, I must do on a regular basis again!

Phew! That felt good. And there you have it! My changes for 2011. Can I do it? Let’s hope….

Thankyou for getting all the way through this long entry! And stay tuned for some images from Mexico!

****Addition to this post*****

With more balance in my life and more time for myself and others, I promise to never lose the passion and love I have for my work! 2011 will be even more amazing!!! Get ready, here I come!

-Melissa

Myself, along with my three amazing friends Jake and Jess of Kampphotography, and Michelle of Michelle Zerr Photography, wanted to convey a sense of photographer love and fun, so we teamed up with some amazing vendors to create a beautiful cake-themed shoot. Each cake represents us and our brands, and one larger cake represents the industry. And in the end? Well, keep watching and you’ll see :) We can work together to make this industry awesome, in light of all the negativity that has been around lately. I adore the people I have been lucky enough to meet in this industry, and feel I am privileged to call many of them friends!

List of awesome people that helped out with this shoot:

Meagan from M. Artisan Makeup Artistry

Urban Glow Hair Salon

Allana of F2 Styling and Events

Cake-ology for the amazing cakes

And to Chris Zerr for helping us get some wicked group shots :)

Watch and Enjoy!

So here’s to all the photogs out there! Cheers!!

-Melissa

I am blogging these for no other reason except they are adorable! And of course, they make me smile :):)

And for those of you who follow my blog and are wondering why Cookie looks different…..she has had a haircut! Still cute as a button!

Aw! Can I jump in there and give kisses too?

Just a little somethin’ to post on a Saturday!

Thanks Gavin (and Cookie!) Love you!

-Melissa

Well, she was being especially cute yesterday, so I snapped this pic. Her face is dirty from all the outdoor play this past week! Time for a bath!

Cookie, I love you and your little smile so much :):):)

-Melissa

I truly believe we can all learn something from each other, whether you are like me and just beginning the journey into the wedding photography business, or have 10 years behind you. It is so valuable to have other photographer friends and networking is so important! So I truly hope there are more Winnipeg seminars to come!

Nghia doin’ his thing and talking about workflow!

Chillin’ out with Jon Adaskin and Ian McCausland

During the Q & A sesh, my question was “would you wear that boa over there?” to which his reply was: “which one?” me: “the pink one of course.” lol.

Yummy cupcakes from The Cupcake Corner

Nghia content with his wine and his gear :)

Great seminar Nghia! I hope there will be more to come!

-Melissa

Here are a few from our excursion:

I like texture!

Me with a red nose and squinty eyes!

Gavin took these next 3 shots

This one makes me feel dizzy!

Just a little something to look at on Monday :)

-Melissa

During a shopping trip to Fargo this past summer, I picked up a pair of high, HIGH heels. They are zebra print, with bright yellow shiny accents. I hadn’t worn them yet…until last night. I literally built my outfit around them! So I thought I would share, since I am sitting here editing and eating homemade cookies anyways :) I know some of you gals will really appreciate the funky and ridiculous awesomeness of these shoes. They were not made for comfort. Some will think they are hideous, which is totally cool…..I think they are FABULOUS.

You know that the weather is changing when all the funky heels start coming out! We saw LOTS last night!

Now for my shoes:

My pal Crystal took this shot as I did some acrobatics on the floor!

And I must show you Crystal’s funky ankle-boot heel thingies! Loves it!

Okay I should get back to work now!!!

-Melissa