Some words.

Hello.It's been a while.  How are you?  Are you well?  Are you ready for the weather to STAY nice?  I'm itching for weather nice enough for open windows.  I'm excited for the nights where it's warm enough to have the office windows open while I work so I can smell the cool night air and feel the quiet breeze on my skin.As I mentioned on my Facebook page, it's been a while since I've blogged, and even then I had been catching up after another period of silence.  Ever since I had to change the way I watermark my images (because someone stole my work... again), it takes a few extra steps to put up a blog post and then I never get to it.  I need to work the entire process into my muscle memory (if you will) so I can get back to doing it regularly.  I will get there.In the meantime, the first quarter of 2016 has been a surprising one.  While it hasn't been busy, it's been steady which is remarkable for what is usually my dead season.  I've also taken on an intern (more on that later) and attended a few Expo's and conferences.  If you're a friend from one of these places, hello and welcome!  There are usually more pictures here.  Haha.Yes! An intern!  I got a call from the high school saying there was a student interested in an internship with me.  I interviewed her and looked at her portfolio and then hired her on the spot.  She's been great!  We quickly created a great relationship and we're having fun.  At least, I think we are.  We laugh a lot and she keeps showing up with a smile on her face so I assume she is too.  She's been coming along to basically anything she possibly can and she works with me in the evenings as well (god help her).  We're learning a lot from each other and having fun doing it.  I am thrilled that the universe brought us together.  So if you have a session with me over the next couple of months, you too can look forward to meeting her!I'm going to start filling the blog back up with images from the sessions I've had since December, but I think I'll do it out of order (unusual I know).  I might hold off on finally sharing highlights from last year's Christmas Card sessions until July because: Christmas in July.  And, that's also when I plan to start booking the spots for 2016 Christmas Card Sessions.  So, you can look for those sessions then.While I've been quiet here, I've been active on Facebook as well as my new @irisheyesphotography instagram account.  It's been a lot of fun connecting with all of you and I hope we keep liking, commenting, and sharing each others posts.  I love that sense of community that comes with social media.  Most days anyway.  :)I've also decided to use nicknames for my family members.  I never use any client real names (unless they happen to ask me to do it) but I always used my family's names.  I thought it made me real and would make people feel like they really got to know me.  I decided to go with nicknames rather than their real names for two reasons: a: it's more fun and b: just to give them some anonymity/protection.  I feel safer that way.  I still need to go through and delete all the old posts dedicated to their monthly photos, but I'll get there.  In the meantime I'm using my old blogger nickname for my husband: Navy.  And the kids are Tink and Buzz.  So there ya go.  A new era.Speaking of eras, my ninth anniversary as a business in Weymouth is coming up this summer.  I can't believe it.  I guess I'm doing pretty well if I've lasted this long - and intend to last even longer.  Maybe for the tenth anniversary I'll do something big.  Feel free to share ideas as to what that could be in the comments.I'm writing this post because I wanted to be able to talk to you for a bit before I come back into blog posting.  I didn't want to take over another post that was meant to focus on a specific session.  So, here are my words.I'd like to hear your words.  When I went on maternity leave for my son, I instituted two guest blogger series.  One was "Why I Love This Photo" where you submitted a photo you love and told the story of it.  It did not have to be a photo by Irish Eyes Photography (though it could be). It was such a lovely series and I'd like to bring that back.  I also introduced "Motherhood Mondays" where you (or I) shared stories from your life as a mum.  I would also love to bring that back if we could.  To bring both back, I'll need your stories.  If you'd like to submit one, you can email it to me at kerryrailey@gmail.com.   I'm sure it seems odd to have stuff like this on a small photography business blog, but I love the idea of community and stories.  After all, that's what I do; capture your stories in images.  So, I feel it works well.I've got some fun ideas coming up that I'll be looking for models for.  Be sure to keep an eye out on my social media pages and to subscribe to my newsletter (that I rarely send out so you won't be spammed) so you'll hear about them.  Exciting stuff!  I love stretching my creativity and trying new things.  It's good for the soul.And that's where I'm at.  Again I ask, how are YOU?  Feel free to respond in the comments section.-Kerry:)