“The Police” must have glimpsed the future when writing this song as I believe it has to be about her. My reveal was today and the pictures were well…MAGIC.

Let me backtrack and say Elizabeth had two things going against her without her even knowing it.

First:

I never like a photo of myself. I am either hunched over, one squinty eye, posed wrong to look 10 lbs heavier, mouth in a weird position, you get the picture. I am not the queen of selfies and I am the first one to volunteer to TAKE the picture to insure I am out of it.

When I first booked my session and saw that the minimum picture order was 8, I thought there would never be 8 pictures I would pay money for. Let’s just say that it was hard to get it down to the 31 that I ended up buying.

Second:

Growing up I was taught that money was spent on things you need not things you want. In a large family there were no extra indulgences. The constant battle between money and self worth is forever being fought in my head. Don’t get me wrong, I can spend my money on others freely and that is one of my great pleasures in life. The ecstatic feeling of giving has always been a high for me…..just not to myself.

Also, when you have a child born with special needs requiring 12 surgeries (and counting) you learn the value of a dollar very quickly. All my money goes to my children/family, friends and medical bills.

Well today I sat for an hour and a half and for once it was about ME. It was about my want not need. It was about encapsulating my beauty. It was about looking at a photo and seeing a person worth an indulgence. It was about making an investment in a treasured gift.

Elizabeth sat beside me in her calm and congenial way and never pushed or sold me. Everything was totally my decision. There is no telling how many hours this week she put into tweaking, cropping, airbrushing, and fixing pictures to give me the absolute best representation of the shoot. You could tell her interest was in the art and not the sale.

To say the pictures are stunning doesn’t even come close to the description. There is texture, lighting, movement, expression, mood and sex appeal all on an image. I can’t wait to see the finished product. I will receive a  color photo book as well as a glass treasure box of black and white single images. And guess what……it will be worth every penny because I AM!!

– M