Bree's Story...

{ I confess my bias...Bree is my sister-in-law - my sister in life, in motherhood, and beyond... Thank you Bree for sharing, you know I love you }

Beyond Mom?  Really?  Hmm, let’s see…who am I?

Of course, beyond a mom, I'm a wife, daughter, sister, friend and co-worker.

But beyond that, I'm a creative junkie.  I scrapbook, blog, draw, color, make photobooks, create invitations, take crazy amounts of pictures…I do whatever I can do in any capacity to be creative.

I am a Creative Junkie.  

But that's not what I feel defines me.  

So what makes me tick?

INSPIRATION. 

I am an inspiration-seeker, and I find it everywhere.  I find it in my family & friends and their amazing accomplishments.  Just the same, I find it in strangers. I find it in dancing children dressed in footie pjs.  I find it in my husband's eyes.  I find it moments of peace and in chaos.  I find it in celebrations of life and love.  I find it in nature and all of its beauty.  I find it in my journey of faith and in God.  

I find it in all of the places that make up exactly who I am as a mom and beyond...and then I find ways to capture it. 

My inspiration-seeking has now led me to photography, with which I am now obsessed.  Ok, confused and obsessed...and in love.  And of course, inspired.  CLICK!

Oddly enough, the picture of this little bug is the perfect example of why I've fallen in love with this new “inspiration-capturer”.  Sure, it's the first grasshopper my son, Grant, has ever caught.  And yes, that's definitely a cool thing to catch in a picture.  Beyond that though, it's the story behind the picture that I love so much.

When you look at Grant's hands, you can see how little he is; how he hasn't quite outgrown his chubby baby-style fingers.  At the same time though, you can see how much he's maturing just by how gently he's handling the grasshopper (last summer, that poor insect would have been smashed into a glob of goo out of pure excitement).  It's like you can literally see Grant's little-big-kid curiosity in just his hands alone.  So cool, isn't it?   

It's a different way of looking at life through still shots.  The right picture really does tell a story...and surprisingly, the subject of the story doesn't always have to have a face or a background full of details.  Just fingers and a new bug friend.

My pictures aren’t great – they’re all kind of messed up from a photography standpoint, but I’m learning.  It gets really overwhelming when I learn more about how much I don’t know.  But it seems that when I’m in a rut, I capture just one, fleeting moment that kicks my inspiration back into high gear…

…and I fall in love all over again.




Bree lives with her husband and their two wondrously goofy kids in IL. She recently joined a community of other ClickinMoms. And make sure to check out her photo blog...once her courage clicks and the time is right for her to share it.