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Udy Photo Session

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I must call myself lucky to have wonderful friends that want to be photographed and allow me to put my skills to great use. I have realized since digging deeper into photography, I just love being outside photographing people. I guess I am a people person after all. Many years ago, I would hide within myself and shy back. I was literally limiting myself to who I truly was. It took years of trial and error to find out who I really am.

I am truly a creative person that loves almost any form of art and I LOVE photography. When my friend contacted me to do a shoot with her children I jumped for the opportunity. I love being able to spread love into children, especially the teens or preteens and young girls. I totally can relate to how many of them feel around this age and I just love to dig deeper and bring who they are out.

There was a set of twins with totally different personalities and their little brother that loved the camera for himself. I mean come on, this little fella needed his own light to shine in with two sisters that probably get a bit of attention because they are twinsies.

We had an absolute blast and I was able to capture their beautiful personalities that showcased who they are. Take a look!

I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did!

Much Love,
~ Crystal ~

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Part 3 – Middleton Place Plantation

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I shared part ONE (when I broke the news that my business was changing directions) and part TWO of a photo journal that I did on one of my favorite historic places. Middleton Place Plantation. If you are local to Charleston, SC or if you come here to visit, be sure to stop by if you love historic gardens. There is so much to see and lots of walking.

Its really nice to see how gardens this old still thrive today – under proper care of course. Here is the final progression of photos that take you into present day. Photos in color.

Click on an image to see it larger 🙂

I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Much Love,
Crystal Keefer

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Part 2 – Middleton Place

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I guess I should have shared these images first since they are part of a photo journal “progression” from black and white to color. They are actually part one…. oops! I shared the mid point of the progression first a few weeks ago here.

Here are the black and white – The beginning – of the photos at one of my favorite places, Middleton Place Plantation. I seriously need to remember that I have a membership here now and I can go whenever I feel like it!

I loved taking all of these images as well as editing them. There is just something about them, at least to me, that just takes you in. It takes me back in time to when this place was around in the 1800s. There is so much history here! I love to get lost in a photograph and try to read the story behind each image.

Click on an image to see larger.

I hope you enjoy!

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Much Love,
~Crystal Keefer~

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Something New

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A friend of mine challenged me to do a ‘getting into the spirit” photo journal or diary I should say. The holiday season has changed drastically for me and my family since my mom passed away on Christmas Eve of 2013. No matter what things look like on the outside, there is so much more on the inside. The holidays are supposed to be a happy time, celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, filled with making memories, giving back to those that are less fortunate, decorating and so much more. A part of me wanted to skip Christmas, a part of me wanted to decorate, while another part was saying “why bother”.

There were just so many emotions wrapped up in what to do right for the holidays. I shed tears almost daily during this season and a part of me truly left when my mom left. I guess I have been trying to get it back, but it didn’t seem like that was ever going to happen. I hear some say they are never the same after the loss of someone so close and I totally get that, 100%, but they also say they have learned to adapt. That part right there, I guess I do it okay, but when I actually break it down to think about it, do I even know how to adapt after all this?

I want to erase the painful memories. And for someone that has photographic memory, I am sure its worse. I can remember where people sat in the church, who hugged me first, the stories that were told, how much of a wreck i was when i stood up to talk about her, how I “mingled” in the parking lot after the service was over saying my very last goodbye. It was absolutely horrible!

The good new is, it is a NEW year, and I hold on to the hope that this can get better. So I agreed to do the journal/diary. It helped me to focus on what really matters and living on purpose. Since that was something new, I am glad that I was able to take photos almost everyday! I did lose track of the days. I did plan to blog every day with the pic of the day, but that didn’t work to well. So here is a collection of them all!

Enjoy a peek into our lives from the holidays.

 

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Much Love,

Crystal Keefer

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A foggy morning

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I woke up this morning excited to go out to the lake and read, hoping to grab a few shots while out there. We have a large lake in our neighborhood and when I got outside to take my daughter to school, I realized it was pretty foggy! I thought well maybe I can manage to get something, if not, it will be great just to sit out in the nice crisp air, reading my make it happen book.

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It was really peaceful out and when I arrived, there were a ton of ducks out on the water. So watching them fight, eat, and dive their heads in the water was quite amusing! Today is a little heavy on my heart as it would have been my mom’s birthday. It is also the month that she passed away two years ago. So I have been trying to do things on purpose and live in the moment and let go, to let God’s peace overwhelm me.

But for the shots I captured of this beautiful morning, you can see them below!

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I started getting a little cold after about an hour and half out, so I came back home to get some work done.

I hope your day is a lovely day!
~ Crystal ~

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