Today's lesson for me is the beauty of technology has a flip side which is the fragility of technological materials. 

To save space on my laptop computer I took 532 of my favorite photos from 2007 off my computer and another 400 plus of 2008.  I copied them on to a new compact disk using all the standard procedures I always follow.  The 2008 disk was perfect so I copied it onto my Personal Images backup hard drive.  No problem.  All is good in the world yes?  Of course I believed that, logically the 2007 disk would be fine too.  Days later when I went to transfer these 532 pictures to the hard drive the computer said the files were unreadable and none of them were usable.  For about two minutes my heart was racing, my blood pressure was high and I was ready to scream.  Fortunately, I had not deleted the pictures off my laptop.  But guess where they were sitting...in my Recycle Bin folder.  I recovered them but my heart is still pounding.

The photos can not bring back the departed or make all my special still life floral arrangements come alive but they certainly are a part of me; who I am as a person and as an artist.  I felt physically wounded at the thought of losing these photos.

This image is one of  my 532 favorites from 2007 that I would like to keep because of the special moment in time it was for me. 

It was a beautiful picture perfect summer day in northern Minnesota where I was setting up an outdoor portrait session with the wildflowers I had just collected during my morning walk.  No it won't win any prizes but I would feel pained to lose it.  So today's lesson is to enjoy our digital technology but don't delete any folders until you've confirmed backup.

We have recently had the privilege of photographing several weddings.  And it is such an honor and delight to be at a wedding celebration when people are in love ... whatever the age.   Even though we've photographed over one hundred such events I love the fact that I can still feel their love and work together capturing it into a photograph.  Greg and Renee were so much fun and had such a beautiful day, that I just had to share it.

While I am new to blogging I will experiment with images I'm creating and submitting.  I'll also add thoughts and words to the degree I am inspired to add text.

Today I photographed a backyard painting party. My creative friend Peggy invited her creative friends to participate in a "group paint" that   was  truly a beautiful collaborative  process.  Paint ended up     everywhere; on the intended canvas as well as on the bodies, on furniture and on the lawn. 

The InBeaute name (say "in beauty") comes from the Navajo Beauty Way prayer.  We found the prayer displayed on a wall poster at a U.S. National Park Service Visitor Center in the SouthWest.  Funny, I can still see the wall, but I do not remember what U.S. state we were in.   We were literally struck by the words, the spirit, the intention, the inner beauty and instantly we knew that we wanted it to be the name of our photography company.   When we came home and researched the domain name some international company had the correct spelling of "in beauty" already purchased so we played with the name and the spelling and eventually came up with one word  "InBeaute" pronounced  "in beauty." 

There are slight changes and variations on the prayer but the one we have come to love and has become my mantra is ...

"In beauty before me now,  I walk      

In beauty behind me now,  I walk

In beauty above me now,  I walk

In beauty below me now,  I walk

In beauty within me now,  I walk

It is finished in beauty

It is finished in beauty"

As photographers we literally see the beauty within each person, place, object or subject.  It is our goal to bring the inner beauty forward in our photographs.  There is almost always a moment when I feel the beauty come forward like an energy force from the person to me holding the camera.  I literally receive the energy and from that energy force the portrait is created. 

With this blog,  we wish to share the beauty we see and feel as we are creating photographs of the beauty around us.