"Collaboration has always been a value I bring to my client work, honoring my client’s vision and passion for their business, and using my expertise to bring that vision out in their branding. As my business grows and changes, I’ve realized how important collaboration is within my business itself. Fellow entrepreneurs will understand how many hats you wear as a business owner, but there is so much value in partnering with other experts in the areas you are weak in, whether that’s design, copywriting, or in this case photography." -Nikkita Cohoon

This beautiful human is Nikkita of nikkita.co. Nikkita is an extremely talented graphic designer who specializes in branding and book design. Her talent, however, doesn't stop at her design skills. If you're like me, you want help figuring out what it is that you want in your branding and Nikkita has a system set in place to help you figure out how your branding can really represent you and your product or service. If you are fortunate to work with her you will see for yourself that her presence is both inspiring and calming. Add to that the fact that both how she carries herself and interacts with others is filled with such grace and you can't go wrong whether it's working with her or being her friend. Nikkita and I are in a small mastermind group of strong, powerful, passionate, and compassionate women, her contribution to our group is huge. Imagine my excitement when this talented lady hired me to document A Day in her Work Life. I mean, gorgeous woman, gorgeous house, and amazing to be around? Yes please! 

Collaboration is something that Nikkita is passionate about and I feel honored to have been chosen to be someone with whom she collaborates and someone who I can also call a friend. Thank you Nikki!!  

As a working mom who mostly works from home, Nikkita's schedule it not traditional and often one of her two littles are running around or "assisting" while she works. Balancing being a mom and working is not easy for anyone. And working for yourself and working from home, while being a mom, brings about an entirely different set of challenges. Capturing the beauty and harmony of this process is something that I am passionate about. If you are a small business owner or if you are a small business owner and a mom and you'd like to have me document a Day in your Work Life, use the contact button above or email me at shelley@shelleytorgerson.com

December 26, 2017. The day after Christmas and I'm not gonna lie, my kid had been in these pajamas for two days. Just take a look at the knees and you will see the evidence of many hours of him pushing around his new Ghostbuster car in that chimpanzee like "walk" that kids often do. How do they even do that for so long?! With one knee bent and up and one knee down on the ground their body leaning to that side with one hand on the ground, pulling themselves around. Anyway! Milo's little buddy and his mama, our friends, came down this day with a gift for Milo. A set of two of these masks that came with all the supplies to decorate them with stars and lightning bolts and glittery stickers. Needless to say, he loved them. He couldn't even wait to decorate them to try one on.

The second Milo put this mask on his whole demeanor transformed. He starting walking around slowly and thoughtfully. He didn't speak at all, and I'll be honest, my kids a talker. He slowly slithered up to Lucy and sat with her, and then quietly with Murphy. I would see him start thinking and then make a face and then another. He leapt from the couch to the ottoman and back again, stopping to carefully study himself in the mirror. I would have loved to be inside his head, to hear what scheme he was planning or what powers he was now imagining he had. I grabbed my camera and he was so in his own head, he didn't even pay attention to me. These photos are from that day. 

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Have you chosen a Christmas gift for your partner yet?

Are you struggling to figure out what you can possibly give to them that shows how much they mean to you?

I have the answer for you.

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Show them the beauty of your everyday life with a Moments of Motherhood or Day in the Life session.

Do you often find yourself running out on Christmas Eve, braving the cold and the crowds to try and figure out something your partner will love, only to end up buying something just for the sake of having something to give them? From the comfort of your couch, you can get them the gift that they will cherish forever. The gift that will show them that you really are paying attention, that you see and value all that they are to your family. 

This is a session that is easy, fun, enjoyable. Your session involves no posing, no planning, and the results are heirloom photographs that your family will love and look back on for generations. 

Not only will your partner love this, but this is the gift that keeps on giving because when your kids are grown they will have these pictures to look back on and reminisce about what their childhood felt like, the love, the laughs, the cool couch that is now considered vintage. They are going to love looking back and remembering with these photographs.

Get your partner in the picture. So often mom is the one taking the pictures and there are almost no family pictures that include her. Book her a Moments of Motherhood or a Day in the Life Session today and let her see how much she is valued, how much she is adored, how much all the little moments add up to the beauty that is her everyday.

Give her the gift of seeing herself and your love for her in your family pictures. 

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To make it even easier for you, on top of you not having to leave the couch, I have put together an all inclusive, limited time holiday package that includes:

-two hours documentation in your home or on location

-AND the high resolution digital files

SOLD OUT!

 

Quantities are limited. Sessions must be booked for January or February of 2018. Valid for weekday sessions only.

Available for purchase through December 31, 2017 or until the limited number of sessions are sold out. 

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Tim and I tried to get pregnant for three years. One day Tim was about to take the dogs for a walk. I was sitting on the porch. When he called Lucy down to the walk so they could leave, she glued herself to my legs and refused to leave me. When Tim came up on the porch and tried again to get her to go with him, she basically tried to crawl behind me. Tim immediately said to me "Maybe you're pregnant?!" After three years of negative tests, I said no way. But he was right, Lucy knew it before any of us, and about a week later I finally got my positive test. And for the next nine months Lucy did not leave my side. These are my two babies. I'm so happy to have captured their love, a love that started when Milo was basically a glimmer in our eye, just the size of a little lentil, a lentil that Tim and I didn't even know existed yet.  

Today Milo had his Legos all over the floor, he had been playing with them while I sat on the couch drinking a cup of coffee. After awhile of playing, he got up to do something else for a moment. I looked down and thought to myself how I hadn't really been playing with him much lately. So, I got down and sat on the floor in the middle of the Legos. He looked over at me with a look of such disbelief, excitement, and pure joy. My heart broke. Broke. The look on his face is forever engrained in my memory. He was so happy that he walked over and gave me the biggest kiss, and then sat down to play with me, elated. I felt crushed. In that moment it hit me so hard, I realized how much I have been failing him lately. 

Honest truth? There are moments of my motherhood where I know I am not doing everything the way that I should for Milo. I'm especially embarrassed to admit that sometimes I know it and I don't fix it right away. I don't know exactly why I don't... I get to wrapped up in my own head, my own worries, my own thoughts and to do lists. I keep telling myself, just this one more thing, let me get this one more thing done, and then... The one more things never end though. I know that I am not showing up how I should be, that I'm not filling his bucket as he needs. I know it and I don't fix it right away. The dumb thing is, it makes me feel awful. It doesn't really help. 

Recently has been one of these times for me, for us. We have a weird mix of amazing things developing for our family and not knowing what the hell is happening next over here. My need (like? desire?) to know and control what happens mixed with my belief that the universe will provide has my insides pulling at each other daily. Change is hard and amazing and necessary. I want it, I need it, I enjoy it, but big change can also bring on the fear. I believe in powering through the fear, in changing it into excitement, but it is still there sometimes. I am one of those people whose brain is working overtime, all the time. IT. DOES. NOT. STOP. GOING. This can be a great thing sometimes, exhausting and overwhelming at others. The changes for our family mean that I am working a bit more. I am working to build my photography business more and Tim and I are also working on a new business together. Both things are super exciting and both are projects I feel extremely passionate about. Two things happen to me when I am passionate about something and when I'm trying to figure it all out. I allow myself to get into a state of overwhelm and I also get working on something and have a hard time turning off. Neither of these bode well with Milo. He is used to having me here, with him, having me present. What I have realized has been happening recently is that I am so in my own head. I'm so caught up in trying figure out our next move, that I am not getting on the floor and playing with Milo. I'm less patient with him. I am not going on walks or bike rides when Tim takes him, or playing baseball out front, we aren't reading as many books as we used to. To sum it up, I have been sucking at being an attentive mom. 

Today it hit me hard that I am failing a little bit at what is most important to me, my family, my son. 

But it's okay, this needed to happen, I needed a bit of a wake up. For the rest of the day we enjoyed time together. He was happy, I was happy. Buckets filled. Mama, not sucking so much. 

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This image is by the wonderful and wonderfully talented Kirsten Lewis.  This past June Kirsten came to our house from Colorado and documented our entire day. She is not only an amazing documentary photographer, but also a beautiful and funny person. We are so fortunate to have had her here with our family. And I am so fortunate to have her as a mentor. (Not to mention her husband is fantastic and her daughter is the cutest thing ever.) 

I am SO grateful to have this image. BEYOND grateful. This is how Milo goes to sleep each night, with either me or Tim. Nothing about this is staged. This is us. This is an image that I will forever be indebted to Kirsten for making for me. This moment, this moment is everything. I will forever be able to look at this and remember how it felt. So grateful, so grateful....