Mr. Ebarb.

This is a good friend of mine. It seems whenever we do his pictures, we walk over the entire city of Natchitoches. Even though we walked im sure it was close to 100 miles Saturday, we had the best time. And you never know what you will find when you go on foot looking. :) His is one of my favorite sessions to date. And he is the one that let me play with the 50mm that i plan to steal next time. ;) i cant even say that i have a favorite from his session because each one is better than the one before, and i LOVE them all. Thank you for being my friend Matt. I dont know what id do without ya! -Candy

IPicture Hope Session

Last Saturday i had the opportunity to take photos of one of my favorite women in the world. Lajuana Keith is a breast cancer SURVIVOR! I ADORE this woman. She is not only one of my favorite people but i have the pleasure to call her my cousin. ♥ here is her story.

Laujuana writes:

March 2010...the moment every woman fears happened to me…I found a lump. I realized it had been a while since I had performed a self exam. I wasn’t as diligent about this as I should have been. There it was. No mistaking it. A lump about the size of the end of my thumb. I tried to convince myself that it was nothing but I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. 
On St. Patrick’s Day I had a mammogram, which was overdue. This was only my second one. The first one had been a few years back. Not long into the exam I realized they were getting concerned over something they had seen. I sent my husband a text at work and asked him to get to the hospital quickly. After the mammogram they sent me for an ultrasound. The technician took lots of pictures then finally went to get the doctor to read them. The doctor came into the office and very bluntly and abruptly told me ‘This has to come out’. I asked him what he meant by that. ‘Are you saying this is cancer?’ I asked. He said that he would lean more toward it being cancer than not being cancer. My world just flipped upside down. 
When you are diagnosed with cancer you suddenly get introduced to a whole lot of medical terminology you didn’t even know exists. ‘Your cancer is in situ…your cancer is hormone positive…you are HER2/neu negative.’ Were they even speaking in English to me?? Fortunately I had a wonderful team of doctors that explained everything and helped me make the many decisions for my treatment. We decided I would have a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy then radiation. 
I began chemotherapy in May 2010 which included four treatments of Adriamycin, Cytoxan, and Taxol, also known as ACT followed by four treatment of Taxatiere. My oncologist told me to expect that I would begin to lose my hair around eighteen to twenty days after my first treatment. It actually happened on day thirteen for me. As I was using my straightener on my bangs I looked down and realized my bangs had come out when I pulled the straightener down. I’m not one to sit around and wait for things to happen. I didn’t want to wait around as I lost a little hair each day. Out came the clippers and while I cried my eyes out I shaved my head. I decided I didn’t want to wear a wig. I wore do-rags the entire time. I wanted people to know what I was going through and ask me questions so I could share my story and hopefully remind other women to get their mammograms and perform those self breast exams. 
After chemo was done I met with the radiation oncologist to schedule radiation treatments. They scheduled me for 35 treatments, one every weekday for 7 weeks. Around Thanksgiving I became extremely burned from the radiation and we had to take a break to allow my skin to heal. 
December 15, 2010...the day I had been living for all year. My last treatment. My radiation oncologist has a tradition for the final treatment. He has a gong which each patient rings on their last treatment day. I was grinning from ear to ear when I rang that gong. 
Going through breast cancer was one of the most difficult things I have ever faced in my life. But with God and the wonderful support of my family and friends, I did it. It’s been over two years now and I look forward to many years as a Survivor. As Psalms 118:17 says I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.

She never lost her faith. When SO many others in similar situations would be angry with the Lord, She knew he brought her to it, so he would bring her through it. Lajuana, i love you and admire you. Here are a few of the best from your iPicture Hope session. 

The SWEET Dickson Family

Oh My Goodness. These People. I fell in love with them! SO sweet and SO appreciative. No matter what you do it is ALWAYS wonderful to feel appreciated and this sweet family certainly made me feel it. I think we all had a pretty good time during their session. The hubs there was absolutely crazy. :) Kalie is one of the sweetest people ive ever met, and those babies. OMG. ♥ I am not sure how in the world i get so lucky with the BEST clients under the sun, but i do. SO thankful for that. here are a few of my faves from the Dickson Session. :)

Seriously?? how stinkin CUTE are they?? Little Man gave me a flower and i put it in my hair, he thought that was so silly! The best part about my job is meeting these families. Kalie and Derek, thank you for the opportunity to meet you guys and your babies. i enjoyed you guys so much! BIG hugs!! -Candy

Ode To Bald

Ode to Bald

Dear breast cancer: Once again it is October and your name is one everyone’s lips.  The world has turned to a sea of pink and large and small corporations and companies look to make money based on your infamy and the fear that lurks in the hearts and souls of women the world over.  So many women, who buy this, support that, donate to this fundraiser, walk for 2 days, run for 5 kilometres and all the while, hoping and praying that you and they never come face to face.   They can run from you but sadly too many cannot hide. You are a sneaky, insidious devil aren’t you breast cancer.  You hide where you can and then when someone least expects you, out you come ready to wreak havoc on the life of the woman (or man) you have claimed as “your own”, their family and their friends.  You think you rule with the upper hand but remember this breast cancer...we know so much more about you now and we are prepared to do battle with you and show you that we are not to be trifled with. It’s true that some of the people you visit are not aware of your presence and you manage to get a firm grip into their lives and for that I say shame on you.  But remember this...we are educated now about early detection and having yearly mammograms and doing breast self exams and we are well informed about how you operate.  Oh yes we are. After seven years, I still refer to you as breast cancer is small letters because even though you claimed a large part of my time and my energy and my life, you are still just this small, insignificant, bothersome little runt.  You do not deserve to be spoken to with respect.  You need to remember that whatever else you have brought into my life and the lives of so many others, what you gave me was the biggest gift of all. You made me remember how much life is to be savoured and appreciated.  You reminded me of all the small and large things to be grateful for in my life, every single day.  You gave me freedom and you taught me how to deal with fear.  You gave me the gift of every day – that this day; the one I am in is the one that matters.   Not yesterday, not tomorrow but simply today. When my hair started to fall out, I had my hair dresser shave it off and I loved being bald.  True, I wore a wig when I went outdoors and I lived in bandanas the rest of the time, but the minute I hit the front door, you know that wig went flying onto the bench in the hall.  And how many times did I open the front door to guests bald as a billiard ball?  And how comfortable were people with me...with the real me, the open, honest, bare to the bones this is who I am me?  But most importantly breast cancer, you taught me to love myself and to see myself right down to my soul. You arrived thinking you were going to be my final nemesis.  You left knowing that I had the gumption, the spirit, the courage and the strength to say “not just yet”. With fists up, Sherry Smyth Contributor I am SO excited about my partnership with the amazing people over at I Picture Hope! Free sessions for women battling breast cancer. If you are a make up artist and would like to help me give these women a day of feeling as beautiful as they are, PLEASE contact me.  Stay Sassy!  -Candy

Labreck Fam ♥

Sunday i had the pleasure of meeting the Labreck Family. A military family originally from Maine. They were SO nice and even though i woke up only seconds before the session was to begin, and it was SOOOOOO bright outside, and to be honest, i had NO idea where i was going, i think the outcome was pretty good! you can see for yourself! these are my FAVES from their family session!! 

Mr. & Mrs. Smith :)

Last Saturday i had the chance to catch up with a classmate from High School! :) I had a great time taking their pictures! Brittany you haven't changed a bit!! Here is a few of my faves from their session! 

Brooks Fam♥

I had the great pleasure of meeting the Brooks Family and taking their family photos. There is a possibility they are THE sweetest people i have ever met. Here is a few of my favorite photos from their session! 

Brittany and James: i appreciate you driving well over an hour to come and let me take your family photos! i enjoyed your session and i cant wait for you to see the whole shebang! ♥ -Candy

 **To schedule a session please contact me via email- sweetshotsbycandy@yahoo.com OR you can send me a message through my Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/SweetShotsbyCandy

First Bloggie!

WELL! this is my first blog post. (i made one a while back on a different site and can't find it again! whoops!)

I want to use this first one to be a little mushy, 100% honest, and if you know me at all, you know that is NOT hard for me. :)

Here goes...

i received an email from a girl asking me questions about how to start out in photography. Well, to me, this is humbling and completely shocking that ANYONE would want advice from ME. i am just a girl who picked up a camera when her son was little, decided i could maybe go somewhere with this, and just kept doing it. There are SOO many other AH-MAZ-ING photogs to ask questions, but this girl (lets call her K) asked ME.

She wrote:
Candy,

I loove your pics! Can i ask you a few questions? How did you start out? Did you go to school for photography? What advice do you have for someone just starting out? Thanks! -K (name erased!)

Now, when i recieved this, i wasnt sure exactly how to take it. In my mind, i am no better than any other Joe Blow that has a fancy schmancy camera. But, THIS girl thought enough of MY hard work, to ask ME. so here is my response to her.

Dear K,

First of all THANK YOU for looving my "pics"! :) i am going to answer your questions in order or "try" to anyhow. Q #1-How did you start out?

Well, that is an easy enough question, but i am not sure what you mean by it. I started out like anyone else does. doing (honestly) terrible work, without the first clue as to what i was doing. But people kept telling me oh this is great! and more people kept calling me to do theirs, so i thought i was "THE SHIZ!" i soooo wasnt. lol in fact, looking back at the work i did back then, makes me want to apologize to the people i took pictures of my first couple of years doing it! you start out like anyone else, trying to figure it all out.

Q #2- Did you go to school for photography?

EH. NO. i hated high school and am not sure i could commit to doing even online courses, because i feel stupid 99% of the time because i do not know what in GODs name they are talking about half the time. I attended the university of Google, and the University of YouTube. If there is something i want to know, i look it up FIRST and then try it. For me, that is how I learn. i have to DO IT and know WHY i have to do it this way, to be able to do anything. Google and YouTube are a photogs BFF, in my opinion.


Q #3-What advice do you have for someone just starting out?

Find a few friends that do the same thing you do. As a matter of fact, find some that are so much better than you, you are jealous of them. ;) WHY? Because, just like people without kids have NO idea what they are talking about when they try to tell you how to raise your kids, people that are not in this business have NO clue what we do and how much work it ACTUALLY takes. You dont JUST go take the pictures and thats it. and even if it was, you STILL have to know your camera inside and out, to be able to get the best results possible. you dont JUST do it for the money, because if you think it is an easy way to make a few bucks, sister, you are horribly wrong. this job, (like any other) takes time away from your family, you miss important events because you scheduled someone on the day of, and even when you are at home with your family, you are still not really there, because you are always either editing the session you just shot, or marketing, trying to get NEW clients, you may be home, but youre not really there. In my opinion you have to be 100% committed  and this is where the awesome friends come in. NOONE but them will understand why you just totally wrecked that last session, because you forgot to put your ISO back down. NOONE but your friends will understand or be able to talk you off the "I AM READY TO CUSS THIS CLIENT!!!!" ledge when said client is driving you totally insane calling you REPEATEDLY  about their pictures when you are at the hospital with your grandpa who just had a heart attack. your photog friends are the ONLY ones who will give you HONEST constructive criticism, not to hurt you or even give you the big head, but because they WANT you to succeed. I hope i have answered your questions. feel free to ask me any more you may have!

i myself, am lucky to have like 12 of these awesome friends. they know who they are, some live in Austrailia, one in Canada, the rest are either right here at home or scattered across the US. i LURVE them all for the help they give me.

i know its long and i dont apologize. ;) who knows? i may have answered someone elses question with my ramblings.

Stay Sassy! -Candy