the fly guide »

- amie hansen

almost four months ago i met Angie, a beautiful kindred soul who has taught me so much over such a short time.  i can hardly believe where i am now.  because just a few months ago i was in a dark and dull place.

i signed up for a mini workshop taught by Angie called documenting the details.  it was an eye opening two weeks.  i quickly had the realization of how important documenting was to me.  i had been doing it with my girls without really calling it that.  yet there was very little of this within my client work.

shortly after that i took over a month off from taking sessions.  i detox from facebook.  i limited my time online.  i spend more time with my girls and family.  i was shooting for me.  i reevaluating some toxic relationships and influences.  i worked on the business side of little bug and detoxing my portfolio and introduced my true style.

and you know what. that month was the best month i had professionally and personally. i had a number of miraculous things happen.  and i truly believe by me stepping back allowed myself to be open to all of it.

around this same time i signed up for Angie’s online Fly mentoring.  as soon as she started offering Fly back in the fall, i knew that was something i needed.  my artist self was crying out for it.

Fly is not a workshop, it is a creative journey.  and it is only the beginning.  i keep referring to it as photography based therapy.  it has been a life changing experience.

i am nearing the end of the online group Fly.  i have changed so much and been so inspired to be no one else but me.  i am not going to put myself into this box that i think i should be.  i am not worrying about what anyone else is doing or saying. i am just going to be me.

my business has never been in a better place.  i am taking images i love, of clients i love. i am doing a mixture of documenting/lifestyle work as well as more the traditional portrait style.  i feel so much more connected and in control of my art.

Angie not only helped me see what was important to me in my business but as well as my personal side.  i need to be creative with almost everything i do.  it is what truly makes me happy.

enter my online journal.

i started out blogging when i was pregnant with my oldest daughter.  it was a way of sharing my pregnancy with my friends and family a far. shortly after i was blogging about my daughter. not too long after i found a love for photography and began blogging that journey of discover and learning.

my photography business has since taken off and blog very frequently there.  i share my passion of photography within my clients stories, as well as some of my personal stories.  yet i have always felt a bit held back to share too much of ME there.

there has always been a strong desire within me to share from my heart.  my online journal is going to be a place i can do that… through my photography and my words. it will be a mixture of my art. my children. my thoughts and feelings.  it is going to be whatever i want it to be.  this is my journey.  and i am excited beyond words.i am ready to sing as i soar.

i will end this by quoting a fellow songbird:

-robyn oakenfold

fly was a gift i gave to myself.  and it changed everything for me.  how i see myself.  being okay with my authentic self.  clearing a space to simply be who i am in this moment.  connecting with me again.  fly was a healing process.  it was guidance and support from a new + dear friend in angie that allowed me to trust in myself again.  to find myself.  to take off the mask that i had been hiding behind for far too long.  and to see all of the possibilities that there are for me.  as an artist.  a person.  a creative soul.   and know that what i do and see are a perfect reflection of who i am.

i love that fly was about digging deeper.  peeling back layers that i did not even know were there.  fly helped me to grow and yet at the same time to just be okay on the journey.  right where i was in the moment.

fly left me feeling…
hope
release
calm
acceptance
self love
inspired

fly was a journey back to myself.  to the heart of me.  angie created a space for me to be the real me and it allowed my spirit to soar.  revealing the real me and where I was in my life during my flight with angie was so powerful.  it allowed me to see things about myself that i didn’t even know.  if I had kept up the facade with angie, i might still be where i was before.  for me it was about trusting the process, trusting angie and trusting myself.

fly was not about learning how to take technically perfect photos, running a more profitable business or editing faster and better.  it was about getting to the heart of my soul.  my creative soul.  so i could grow as an artist from the inside.  that is what makes my photographs genuine and real.  they are simply how i see the world.  from my view.  and that is enough.

the best part?  i continue to fly even after my journey with angie was over.  i have carried my open heart + creative soul into a good place.  what i learned about myself continues to guide my thoughts and goals as i look forward.  i can now dream bigger than i ever though possible.  no limits.  i am flying.

- tracy larsen

almost two years ago i received a dslr for mother’s day. over the next eighteen months i fully immersed myself in digital photography. my oldest child began school all day, my younger two became more independent, and i discovered the shutter sisterhood.

as i met more and more photographers online, took more classes and started correspondence with many, my expectations also grew. i spent hours pouring over the work of others, first in admiration but soon in discontent. i had a hard time keeping up with my 365 project, i was not documenting my children and our every day life as others did, not fully participating in the classes i was taking. should i go into business? isn’t that the next step? do i even want to? am i even good enough? what am i doing here and how did i get to this place?

the discontent led to rust out, as angie calls it, and i was done. i have a few pictures of the summer and early fall of this year because i just didn’t care. my life at home had gotten considerably busier with three children in school, albeit on different schedules. house building, husband traveling, and a much longer school run took over and i felt spent, like a faded version of myself.

my camera mocked me and my big plans from it’s bag where it collected dust. i felt like i was collecting dust as well with a life that revolves solely around others’ needs & schedules. i knew that i needed to find me again and photography was a significant part of that.

enter my upcoming birthday and angie warren. i’ve loved her images, voice, and style as i’d gotten to know her from her photography and the creative mama. once she shared her compelling story of the winter she’d survived, i knew i had to do fly. while the reasons for our discontent were very different, the end result was just the same. i needed to hear what she had to say so i signed up for fly as a birthday gift and crossed my fingers that angie could help me excavate my spark.

i came into fly exhausted and faded. i came out motivated, energized, and ready to click for me, just for me. do i have to have a business to be a photographer? no. i can document my family and our life the way i choose. i don’t have to edit using actions that everyone else does. i rekindled my spark!

after two weeks with angie, i went back and finished a photo class i’d started over the summer and another i’d signed up for but not completed. i entered my own personal busy season (4 birthdays in 5 weeks, not to mention halloween and thanksgiving, let along christmas) with a great deal of energy and resolve. i no longer felt i had to do it all and was better able to discern what really mattered as far as traditions, activities and what really mattered to me and my family. most importantly, i was able to look at (or not) the work of those i admired and not really feel compelled to do it as well. i could appreciate what i saw for what it was (someone else’s approach) without their work diminishing mine, or leaving me feel wanting.

thank you angie for this sanity, serenity, and peace. and also for a great time together and the friendship that has ensued! you helped me find and reignite my spark. it’s been the best holiday season my family has celebrated yet and i feel a freedom with motherhood and photography that i’ve never experienced.

what do i have to say about fly? wow, just wow. it’s the best investment you can make in yourself and a most worthwhile gift for your family. you’ll be able, once again, to give them you!

- annie ripp