The Most Wonderful Time
October 25, 2010 | Filed Under news | Leave a Comment
Hello dearests,
It is that time again – the time for us to get together and take pictures of you smooching on your sweetlings so that you can get those holiday and new years cards in the mail!! Here is the announcement goodie:
….and the written details, just in case you need to cut and paste to convince the sweetie to make the investment ;-):
WHO: Your ridiculously cute family and photographer Lilia Schwartz
WHAT: Limited edition holiday mini-sessions (up to 25 minutes of shooting time), an online proofing gallery of 10-15 images to choose from, one 11×14 print of your favorite image, AND your choice of one digital file OR twenty five custom holiday cards
WHEN: Saturday 11/6 at 2:30 pm, 3:30 pm, and 4:30 pm and Saturday 11/13 at 2:30 pm, 3:30 pm, and 4:30 pm
WHERE: Saturday, 11/6 at a lovely garden in Palo Alto and Saturday, 11/13 at the red barn doors in Cupertino
HOW: Email lilia at babymoonphotography dot com to book. Cost is $235 plus tax, payable to hold your spot.
Please do shoot me an email with your preferred time as soon as you know that you want to book – I have an intuition that the spots are going to go pretty fast!
xoxo,
Lilia
My Perfect Protest
October 3, 2010 | Filed Under life | 11 Comments
Disclaimer: there are no cute kids in this post. I promise, we’ll get back to the cuteness shortly. :-)
So, I don’t write about myself very much on this blog. I mean, I write a lot about the joy that my work brings, about the inspiration of the love that I get to witness while I create this art, and about some of the causes that I believe in and support through my work…but I’m actually a pretty private person, for all of the publicness of it all. Before I was called to become a photographer, you couldn’t even find me on the public internet. Not as *me*. And I still keep my personal work pretty separate from this site…it just feels a bit more professional, and also, ok, I will cop to the fact that I just feel safer that way.
At the same time, there are some amazingly gifted artists and just generally phenomenal and wonderful goddess - spirits on this great interweb that I really really admire…women who spill their hearts into their blogs, who have created a community of sharing and support and creative inspiration, and I feel SO connected to them…I read their words every day, and have such a yearning to be a part of their circle. But I am not. Because I don’t share that way, not here.
Yesterday, I went to hear one of those women speak….her name is Brené Brown and she is *amazing*. She talked for about two hours about parenting from a place of imperfection, and I have to tell you, I laughed, I cried, and it was oodles better than Cats. But the most amazing part? On her way up to the podium, she recognized me. From the interweb!!! And she gave me a huge hug and sat down next to me and we just babbled for a couple of minutes. And I had this realization…”maybe, just maybe, I *am* a part of that circle of amazing women. Already.” and then I thought…”naaahhhh…”
But that thought kept coming back to me…the thought that, maybe the only thing keeping me from joining in was my thought that I couldn’t join in. And that maybe, just maybe, it might be time to get out of my own way on this one. Because, while Brené had a million billion amazing things to say about parenting and courage and love and wholeheartedness and knowing your truths, I think that maybe the hardest thing for me, personally, to hear was that you can’t love your children more than you are able to love yourself. And that was REALLY flipping hard to hear. Because, while I don’t have a child of my own yet, I do have a daughter of the heart that I help to parent almost every day, and I love her to pieces….and I want her to love herself and believe in herself and be brave…and what Brené said was I can’t give that to her if I can’t do it for myself. And I want her to have that. I really do. So if I don’t have the courage to step into my circle, and share my own truths the way that I feel called to share, if I stifle part of what I have to share with the universe because I don’t think it will fit in with what’s called for in this particular arena, or I worry what clients will think…or I’m just to darn scared…well, what lesson am I giving her?
And so I decided to participate in Brené’s Perfect Protest project…and I made my picture, and I got it all uploaded, and then I wrote this post…and then I sat and stared at my screen for 15 minutes, trying to get myself to click the dang publish button. Because this feels scary. It feels personal. It feels…exposed. But this is where I write, on the web. And this is where I feel called to share Brené’s work, and the connection that I feel to it, and the hope that it has brought to me. Because I know that mamas read this blog…mamas that I know and love, and mamas that I’ve never met. And papas and grandparents and aunties too. And I want you to hear this message, and go forward finding a bit more love in your heart, for YOURSELF. Hard as that is sometimes. And if it feels too hard to do it for yourself…maybe you can do it for your kids. Because I know you love them so much, it makes your heart go pop. And you would do ANYTHING for them. You would lose a limb. Or two. Or even (heavens forbid) never eat chocolate again. If you had to. So loving yourself? Being brave? That’s on the table now too. Because if you want it for them, you have to do it for you.
So, that’s what I’m sharing. Here. On my blog. My very own thoughts. And a picture of me. Because I am too damn creative to waste any more time trying to be perfect.
That is all.
xoxo,
Lilia
p.s. I managed to get through this post without revealing that I am a perfectionist. Paralytically so. Have been since I was a kid. And I need to be DONE with that. It’s stopped me from doing so much, and has been a tool for self-sabotage for so much of my life. It’s time to, in the worlds of the immortal Tim Gunn: “Make it work.”