Are you ready for a good laugh? My plan for taking maternity leave with Daniel was to blog between contractions. Laughing so hard right now after… you know… birthing a baby. Blog posts were the last thing on my mind!

So on the day he was born, after everyone had gone home, I blogged for the next day. That set in motion a habit I’d have for 8 months. I continued blogging 5 times a week because I thought that’s what you had to do to be successful. I had thankfully trained our photo editor and she was killing it, but I had no help on the business side of things. 

As a small business owner, you should get maternity leave, too. Here’s how to know what you need to do before maternity leave…

Top photo and editing tips from 2017: The very first lens you should buy, How to split tone like an editing ninja and…

I’m gearing up for maternity leave and that means that we’re having a bit of a movie day today! Daniel’s all snuggled up next to me, we have a bowl of fruit for a snack, and I’m writing content for the blog and our JB email insiders so that you’re well taken care of while I’m away.

I’ve been telling Daniel for two months now that I’m working so hard right now so that...

Something that will make mastering the 10 second edit easier than brewing a cup of coffee? Getting it right in-camera.

You could spend a bunch of time editing a tricky image - and honestly, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do - but if you consistently nailed the light and airy look in-camera? Well, you’d be walking away from any shoot feeling more confident than ever.

We were getting takeout at a new Indian restaurant. Isaac ran inside and Daniel flipped through one of his books in the backseat while I stared out the window... just thinking.

Really, I had been thinking about it for a long time, but I knew saying the words would make it all feel too real.

They walked around Washington University, hand-in-hand, marveling over the architecture like architects do. There was this moment when he led her up the steps and I saw him whisper in her ear... 

They held hands and walked through the beginning of fall together. The beginning of their forever that just happened to be tucked between the slow fall of leaves and the last of autumn's light.

And kissing in the park.

You just nailed all of the bridal detail photos and it's time to photograph the bride getting ready. You love that window light because it can make things all light and airy, but you don't want to feel like you're scrambling to find your settings when it's go time.

I totally get you.