Protect and Empower the Children

Children, unless taught to do otherwise, only know how to love.  It's innate.

Children are taught by the generations in their families.

The teachings of those older generations are the legacy the children are left with, and will pass down as a legacy, when they are the oldest generation in their futures.

That's a compelling way to view things, isn't it?

We learn certain things that are passed down from generation to generation.  Family feuds happen; look at the Hatfields and the McCoys.  It wasn't until 2003 that they finally created a truce between the two families.  I can't imagine that there aren't still remnants of that feud that linger, despite the publicity of the truce. Generations of hateful family members, holding onto something that happened between ancestors they hadn't even met, continued to fester in undue anger.

However, those three cousins empowered themselves because it was the right thing to do, to end that feud.  They empowered themselves to protect and empower their children.

What have you been taught in your past, by your ancestors, that you would love to unlearn right now, so that your children will learn the right things?  So that you can protect and empower them, so that when they reach adulthood, they don't have to bear the burden of generations of hate.

Instead, they will be able to pass down a legacy of respect for those who did it, of forgiveness for old, hurtful wrongs, of changing habits, of changing perceptions, and of bringing peace by learning to compromise.  They will pass down a legacy of protecting and empowering future generations of people you'll never meet, but they will know of you because you changed a pattern.

Protect and empower your children.  That way, they will pass that down.  And so on, and so on.

Discovering the World

I'm at a friend's house today, social distancing, of course.  I'm sitting in her dining room, and looking around for inspiration.  She loves maps.  She has a wooden cut out of the contiguous US and one of the Chesapeake Bay.

It got me to thinking.  How in the world did explorers in the 1400s make maps?  It isn't like they were able to see the land and the terrain from above.  Compare to today's maps, they aren't perfect, but they were pretty darn close.

I found an article found on Discover Magazine's website, where writer Julie Rehmer interviewed John Hessler, a curator at the Library of Congress, where one of his duties is maintaining the vault that holds the institution’s most rare and important maps.

He studied a map of the Mediterranean Sea and it's ports, and discovered that it is really close to a modern map.  Between sailing around the edges of the sea, using a compass, mathematics, triangulation, etc, an explorer/cartographer was able to create a very detailed map.  For the first time, between 1290 and 1350, sailors and sea captains were able to sail in this sea with accuracy.

I think he must have really paid attention to details, and spoken to people, asking them questions, especially those working at the docks in the ports.  Questions like, when that ship came around the bend, which angle was it coming from?  How fast was it coming in?  What was the weather like?

I think he must have asked a lot of questions to a lot of people, to get a clear picture of what the Mediterranean looked like accurately, so he could produce a map that helped thousands of sea-faring captains and crews.

This is a map of the Mediterranean Sea from the 15th century.  Look how accurate it is.

It's kind of like what I do.  I want to discover wonderful things about my clients and their families.  I want to create a map, so to speak, of their relationships, triangulate their moments, use a compass to help them follow their hearts.  Then I plan their session, using special details, to make it perfect.

The details lie in the decor of the home, the colors used, their lifestyle, and most importantly, their emotions and what the love about each other.

What does your family map look like?  Let's find out with a discovery call!

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

Your Dog is Your Best Friend

Dogs are a human's best friend.

I mean, I have cats and I love them.  But once upon a time, I had Lukey Bear.

He's been gone for 3 1/2 years, and I still miss him every day.  He was a Great Pyrenees, who loved us with everything he had.  His drool.  His fur.  His magnificent, plumy tail.  His "Pyr paw".  His incessant nose boops.  His snuggles. His eyes.

Oh, his eyes.  So soulful, especially as he grew older.  When I looked into those deep brown eyes, as he grew older, the more he communicated with them.  Like the time we put reindeer antlers on him.  

When he would lay down in a huff, on his belly, with his arms and legs tucked under him, and his long nose resting on his front paws, he looked like a snow covered mountain.  When he was sleepy, his face would squish and his closed eyes looked so cute, like he was squeezing them shut to focus on sleeping; yet he was always on alert.  

If I said his name, though... he'd continue to lay just like that, but peek with his eyes to estimate the importance of my getting his attention.  If he thought that it was important enough to open his eyes wider, he would.  More often than not, I would tell him, "Who's a good boy?  Lukey's a good boy".  And he'd smile, and go back to sleep.

Great Pyrenees are independent thinkers.  They are for guarding sheep, and they know how to do their jobs.  As much as they love their human pack members, if they decide something else is more important, they will go do that, and not obey the command, "come".  However, as they joyfully run ahead of you, they'll glance back and see if you're playing along in the run.

He went on "adventures" many, MANY times.  And he'd come back, eventually, with that excited look on his face, like he had just had the best time of his life.  Even though he couldn't tell me all of the things he got to do on his adventures, his eyes told me everything I needed to know, and that was, "I wanna do it again!"  

About a month before he passed, at the old man age of 11, he had gone on his final adventure around our neighborhood.  Even though he wasn't running quite as fast as before, and his woofs weren't as loud as before, he had the best time.  I know, because I was running after him.  His eyes were shining from the fun, and I could see the puppy still in those eyes.

The day before he passed, he had come up to me by my desk in my camera room, his eyes so hopeful, so loving, and I hold onto that memory so tightly.  He laid at my feet, with a huff, his chin and nose resting on his paws.  Without moving his head, he looked up at me with love and a "thank you for being my muzzy-wuzzy".

The next day, he was gone.

When I work with my clients' dogs, they often realize that their dog is so old, that they now have to have family photographs of everyone together.  I love that.  However, I do encourage people to include their beloved pets in their sessions early on because they are definitely a part of the family.  

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

Time is Sweet

Welcome to Honey Bee Photography!

Have you ever noticed how sweet time is, when you get to spend time with your loved ones?  No matter if you have young children, tweens and teens, or college-age kids, you miss them when they aren’t around.

When they are around, there are certain things that they do that you love, and wish that it would never change.  The way your 9 year old daughter pushes her long hair over her left shoulder. The way your 13 year old son bites his lip when he’s focusing on a math problem, then looks up and grins when he figures it out.  How poised your 18 year old twins are, on the brink of adulthood, but still so very young, and when you hear them giggle, it takes you back to when they were 3 and giggled.

In your mind, you promise yourself that you’ll always remember these things, but our brains are funny in that way.  Ten years down the road, who was once your 9 year old daughter, is now 19, a sophomore in college, and wears her hair in a pixie cut.  Your 23 year old just graduated from college, and is thinking about getting married!  Your twins are now moms themselves, and it’s hard to believe that you are a grandma!

What would it mean to you to hold onto these memories and emotions forever?  To hear the giggles, to brush the long hair, to see confidence appear on your child’s face?  It’s the stuff of emotions that we really want to hold onto.

Here at Honey Bee Photography, we believe that family photography, women’s photography, and professional’s photography, can be absolutely beautiful, meaningful, and help people to reconnect with themselves and their loved ones.  The unique experience that we offer our clients is bespoke, meaning, we tailor every experience to the clients with whom we work.

Considered to be one of Maryland’s best photographers, especially in Anne Arundel county and Prince George’s county, we pride ourselves in creating family portraits that symbolize and celebrate each family member individually, and as a whole.  We take into consideration your lifestyle, your home décor, and your favorite colors, and plan you session so that your family photos are displayed in your living room where everyone can see them!

Wouldn’t it be amazing to walk past your photographs every day, and feel your heart burst with love, pride, or nostalgia every time you looked at them?  How do you think a beautiful photograph of your children all together, loving on each other, help them on those rough days as siblings sometimes have?  What would it mean to you to have a photograph of you and your partner, holding each other, when he or she travels often for work?

It’s the little moments, that you want to treasure, that we want to explore with you, and create artwork for your home that will bring back those beautiful emotions for you every time you see them.

When we work with women and professionals, we offer a similar experience that is also bespoke.  Here is where you can see our work, read some testimonials, and discover what resonates with you.  We take boudoir and headshots to a completely different level with your experience and artwork.

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

Three Secrets That Your Photographer May Not Be Sharing With You

I've been photographing families since 1989.

I KNOW.

I'm old.

In 30 years, I've seen all kinds of trends come and go.  Stirrup pants, and lips with dark liner and pale lipstick, fluffy eyelashes, and heels that raise you up about 6 inches.

Amongst other things.

What hasn't changed is posing, lighting, and emotion.

I'm about to share with you three secrets that your photographer probably isn't telling you...

1.  Posing
It's true... some lenses are short and will put 10 pounds on a person.  Other lenses are long, and will take off 10 pounds.  But a sure fire thing to help anyone look better is great posing.

Typically, when you are with your kids, and you hand your cell phone to your girlfriend and ask her to take a photo, because you're never in photos with your kids, you're trying to wrangle your kids in the photo.  Because you're trying to keep them in one spot, your arms look double their size, your shirt is hiked up making you look pregnant, and the ketchup stains from little fingers that wiped on your jeans is showing.  You just never look good, no matter what, in photos.

Unfortunately, sometimes your photographs done by a new photographer, might end up looking very similar, and that is where the belief is cemented, that you just never look good in photographs.

Good posing will help you look like you've lost 10 pounds.  Good, directed posing will help you to look great in a photograph with your kids when wrangling them.  Good, directed posing will look natural and help you feel confident during your session, as well as make you feel great every time you see your photographs.






2.  Good lighting
There's something to be said about natural light and using it well.   And then there's not using it well.

Typically, when out and about with your kids on your favorite trail, and you want to get a quick photo, and you are under a tree, with the sunbeams filtering through, it looks so pretty. Surely that will look pretty in a photo.  Instead, you get shadows of branches and trees all across your children's bodies and it looks weird.

The secret to good lighting outside is being in open shade with the sun behind your subject.  This creates all kinds of wonderful effects by photographers who know how to manipulate light.

Good lighting can make you look 10 pounds lighter, too.

3.  Emotion
Something I heard a lot from moms in the late 90s and early 2000s was "I don't want my daughter smiling like that.  Her eyes get squinty and I want to see her beautiful eyes."

This was disheartening to hear.  Usually, the daughters looked natural and smiley, and happy, when I spoke with them and helped them to feel confident in front of the camera, while entertaining them, to get the natural, reactive smiles.  What these moms were looking for were photo smiles, where there was no emotion in the eyes, but you sure got to see their irises.

What this also said was "Your smile makes you look ugly".  I also heard a lot from moms was, "I don't want her looking angry, either".  Trying to get a young teenage girl to look happy without actually smiling, took a lot of work.  I often got in trouble for my sessions going over the time limit we were given.  I didn't care.  I wanted these kids to feel comfortable in their own skins, and with their emotions.

A reactive smile (a smile that is a reaction to something funny) is natural, and emotion is carried up into the eyes.  Squinty or not, genes play a big part, and Mom is probably saying the same thing that her mother said to her.  Just let me help you smile.  Let me help you feel during your session.  We'll get the best emotion if you let me.

And there you have it.  Three secrets that your photographer may not be sharing with you.

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

My Best Life

Have you ever decided that you were going to go for it?

Enter a brand new chapter in your life, I mean.

I, personally, am entering a brand new chapter.  I've decided that despite any circumstances I may be in, I'm going to live my best life.

What does that look like?

It looks like independence.  It looks like freedom.  It looks like choice.  It looks like a beautiful sunrise, fresh, clean, sparkly, and fun.

It looks like hard work.  It looks like changing old habits.  It looks like a lot of deep introspection.

It's worth it.  I'm worth it.  I deserve to live my very best life.

Are you entering a new chapter in your life?  You could be turning 40.  Or becoming an empty nester.  Or celebrating a divorce that has been a long time coming.  You could be turning 65 years young.  You could be in training for body building.  You could be just you, and you want to celebrate who you are, right now.

Did you know that we offer three different types of women's photography in our Bee You Beautiful brand?  We offer Modern Pinup, based on your lifestyle. We offer Blanc Boudoir, sensual photographs based on the photographs of Marilyn Monroe in the white sheets.  And finally, we offer This Is Me sessions, which are based on what you love about yourself.

All three styles include an amazing experience, where I help my clients to reconnect with themselves, and rediscover what they love about themselves, their lives, loves, and activities.

Meet Arlene.  She's an author, a lover of the Bible, and a beachcomber.  She loves sunrise, coffee, the color blue, and reading.  She loves breezes, sunshine, and morning air.

Intrigued at how we can symbolize your life through photographs that will remind you every day of how you are a Beautiful Woman?  Let's connect!  I can't wait to hear your story.

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

The Morning After

Yesterday it rained, like it has for most of May.  We had the kind of rain that just down poured; it splashed against the windows and onto the porch.  No thunder or lightning, though, which for me, was disappointing.  Thunder and lightning are fascinating to me.

It was definitely a soggy night.

This morning is sparkling, though.  The ground is soaked.  I put on my slogs to go take a few pictures, and as I walked in my back yard, the ground sucked at my shoes, as if to say, "you can't go forward".  I stooped down to photograph the tall grasses in my back yard, and water splashed up against my legs.  The droplets felt cool on my skin, and as I savored the wet earth scent.

The sunshine is really warm this morning, and so I decided that I wanted to remember what it's like to see the sunshine through the leaves of the tree in my backyard.

I feel like this is symbolic of what we, as a world, are going through with COVID-19.  The rain spraying everywhere represented the ability that (any) virus has of being everywhere with no actual direction.  The sogginess represents the illness.  The wet ground sucking at my shoes represents all of the negativity that social media and the MSM have been throwing out there, keeping us stuck in a place of misery and discontent.  The tall grasses represent new growth, new thoughts, new discoveries.  The cool droplets represent healing, and the wet earth scent represents hope.

These photographs represent how I see the world now, as we come out of this shutdown, and start reopening our world.

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

The Quarantine 15

What did that title make you think?

Fifteen pounds?  Yup... that's what I think, too, when I say it, hear it, or read it.

But what are some other things that you've learned about from these past 65-ish days, either about yourself, that you've learned to do, or that you've discovered in your relationships?

Here are mine.

1.  I finished 3 classes online in this past semester.  I'm on my way to earning my marketing degree.

2.  I definitely need to lose weight because school has been so smushed together.  I've done a lot of sitting down to study.
3.  I've started doing photo restoration again.  I really love doing it, because I feel like I get to know the person on whose photograph I'm working. 

4.  I've expanded to slide and negative transfer to digital.
5.  I really love answering essay questions in homework assignments.
6.  I'm much stronger than I thought I was.
7.  When someone asks for prayers, or has told me they are going through a hard time, I actually do something different.  I place them in my heart and light a candle for them.  I feel like the energy from that helps that person, and me.
8.  I miss my friends, but I'm so grateful for modern technology.  It makes social distancing a little easier to handle.
9.  My mom is still my rock.  I got to see her for the first time in 3 months last week and I hadn't been so emotional like that in years.

10.  I've reconnected with a few friends and caught up with them over Facebook.
11.  My son turned 22 and we couldn't celebrate together.  I took him my older Kitchen-Aide mixer and baking supplies and ingredients for his birthday, as he has his own apartment now.  His photos of bread have been amazing.
12.  My cats really really love me.  Especially Bonnie.  She has been especially snuggley these past few weeks.  She keeps me on my toes, and herds me back into my office to work some more.

13.  Learning how to manifest things in my life, like abundance and prosperity, have been life-changing.  I've had many good lessons in this.
14.  Networking has taken on new meaning with learning how to navigate on Zoom.  That has been a lot of fun, and interesting.
15.  I'm looking forward to seeing how others have turned things around for them to make these new unprecedented times work for them.

From My Mom's House

My mom, my sister, and I are at the two-year mark of moving my mom from her home of twenty years with my stepdad, to Oak Crest Retirement Community. 

Have you ever had to help your parent clean out their house and decide, from all of the comfortable and cherished items, what's good for her to keep, for you and your sister to keep, and what to sell and donate and toss?

I'm talking multiple generations of collections.

Pink and gold china.  Blue and silver china.  Cooking utensils.  Glass dishes and cake platters and decorations and furniture.  These are all things that you associate with growing up.

Since our world situation happened, I've been finding new uses for the things that I received from my mom, to actually USE.  She gave me several silver plated platters and dishes.  I've put my glass jar candles on them, and it looks so pretty with my crystals.  An antique wooden thread box now houses office supplies.  Crystal sugar bowls contain every day items such as individual lens cleaning packets for our glasses, and other sundry items.  I have a cute little glass bowl on my desk that has memory cards and bobby pins. 

Here's the thing.  If I have it put away for a "special occasion", I'll probably never use it.  That's why it's so important to me to use it; then I see it, and it reminds me of my mom.

My mom is 82 years old.  I had the opportunity last week to drop off groceries to her at Oak Crest, and they have a very strict drop-off procedure.  My  mom told me she'd come down, but when I got there, I thought, there's no way they'll let me see her any closer than across the street.  Well, not only could I get 2 feet away from her to look at her well-worn, beautiful face, but we got a photograph of us together. 

It was really emotional for me to see her.  When I left, I pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store down the street, and I cried for 20 minutes.

I miss my mom.  I know she misses me and my sister.  However, I'm grateful for the strict protocol and procedures that they have at Oak Crest, and I'm grateful for the 5 minutes that I got to spend with her.  And I'm grateful for the things that I have from her house.

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

Above my desk

I'm a huge believer in using the Law of Attraction (LOA), positive affirmations, and meditation in my daily life.

Recently, I started taking my favorite quotes and making my own printable memes to hang up on my walls in my office.  I switch them out every couple of weeks.

I've had EGBOK:  Everything's gonna be OK.
I've had Recognition is the greatest motivator.
I've had It will never rain roses.  When we want to have more roses, we must plant roses. 
And Be the energy you want to attract.

This is what I currently have on my wall:

I printed out the one that reads "I am meant for this" last week.  I can't even remember why it struck me so poignantly, that I had to print it.  I was looking at it this morning as I stood there, drinking my coffee and getting ready for what seemed like the millionth Zoom meeting since March.

I said it out loud, like so:  I am meant for this.

Wow, whatever "this" is, I'm meant for it.

I am meant for this.  The word "am" is a conjugation of the word, "to be".  As in "I exist for this moment".

I am meant for this. In this sentence, "meant" conveys "to have in mind one's purpose or intention."  As in "This was the purpose all along, and it has to do with me".

I am meant for this.  In this, the emphasis is "to obtain, gain, or acquire".  As in, "This is something I am supposed to gain from". (not the quarantine 15, though.  Not that!)

I am meant for this.  The word "this" pertains to indicate a person, thing, idea, state, event, time, remark, etc., as present, near, just mentioned or pointed out, supposed to be understood, or by way of emphasis.  As in, This is the exact TIME that I'm supposed to be here.

Where do you put emphasis on your life?

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

What DOESN'T Drive You Crazy?

A lot of times, people love to talk about what drives them crazy.

For instance, people speeding on crotch rockets on the highway, weaving through traffic in between the lanes, drives me crazy.

Loud, repetitive patterns of chewing drive me crazy.

I mean, I drive me crazy sometimes.  I keep doing stuff that I know I shouldn't be doing, like snacking incessantly, or complain about the weather.  I know it's going to be hot in July, it isn't like it's a surprise!

I want to reflect for a moment on what doesn't drive me crazy.  First, let's define the word, "crazy", from dictionary.com

Well, those definitions are definitely extreme!  None of these feels right for something that irritates a person.

Let's look at synonyms.

None of those feel right either.  It seems that when "something drives you crazy", it's a cause-and-effect situation.  Speeders on Route 50 don't drive you nutty... but they sure are heck irritating!  They could cause an accident! 

These are all words that are about something that comes from within.  

So did you ever write a blog post that started out as one thing, only to twist halfway through?

So here are the antonyms for the word "crazy".  Let's test this out.  Yoga drives me balanced.

Ummmm no.

When my children are playing in the backyard having fun, it drives me calm.

Hmm.  

So it seems that the phrase, "drives me crazy", really doesn't make sense.

Just something to think about.

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

Is Your Heart's Desire In Your Back Yard?

It's been an interesting time, hasn't it?  Being in #lockdown, folks all over the world have been able to reconnect with their loved ones, and rediscover what they love about each other.  Some have been struggling.  Some have done a lot of introspection, and taking the time for self care and discovering what they really want in their lives.

One thing that I think has happened is that people have been finding ways to appreciate their lives at home.  We're a busy society, and it's always a rush. 

• Get up early
• Get the kids up and ready for school
• Go to work
• Work
• Go home
• Take kids to activities
• Make dinner
• Clean
• Bedtime routine
• Sleep

Do you see any time for savoring time with family?  Enjoying your home, which for many people is a symbolic sanctuary?  

I believe that we've been given this time, as hard as it has been for so many people with health issues and financial loss, to be able to rediscover what exactly is in our own back yard.  That's where our heart's desire is.

So as you mow the lawn, work in the garden, and tend to your patio, look around your back yard.  Watch your pets as they lounge around in the sunshine. Watch your kids as they play tag, laughing and jumping in the sprinkler.  With every stripe of grass you mow, see it as releasing the stress of your "old life", and realize that your heart's desire really is in your own back yard.

The lesson that Dorothy learned in the movie, is that she really is smarter than she thought, was more compassionate than she thought, and was more courageous than she thought.  And in doing so, discovered that her heart's desire was in her own back yard, with Auntie Em and Uncle Henry, and their farm hands.  And of course, Toto.

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

The Psychology of Old Photos

"Those were the good ole days!"

"They don't make things like they used ta!"

"Back when I was a kid, I walked a mile uphill in waist-high snow both ways to school!"

Did you ever wonder what that looked like?  

Well, the third one about walking was always an exaggeration; it's to tell kids that they really have it easy these days with school-buses and car-lines for drop-off and pick-up.

We are really lucky to be living in today... because most families have at least 100+ years of photographs of their loved ones, when they celebrated life, got a photo in the corner of the yard against the flowering bush, and the hunting photos!  It seems that even with how bulky and heavy cameras were back then, people knew the value of photographs.  It was a record to them of good times, brought joy, and helped them to remember that exact moment in time.

When you go home for the holidays in December, do you lug out the old photo albums?  I mean the ones with the black pages where the black and white and sepia photos were encrusted with corners that had been licked and placed to keep the photo in place.  I mean the ones with the sticky backs, that had so much acid in them, your photos turn yellow.  I mean the ones with the static pages that when you ripped open the film covering on the page, your hair would fly up!  

Do you sit on the sofa or on the floor with your mom and grandmom and peruse the albums? Do you ask questions about who is in the photos, and what's going on?  Do you try to insert yourself in the moment to discover what that day might have been like: the warm sunshine, the cool breezes, the smell of the flowers, what the colors actually were, what their voices sounded like?

I encourage you to dig out an album or the shoe box of photos, and get on Zoom with your grandma, and ask her about the photographs.  I bet you'll hear stories that you never heard before, and gain an appreciation of exactly how easy we do have it these days!

I mean, anti-perspirant and washing machines/dryers! 

Bee in love with the heart-work of your life.