Kristen Steele Photography

Washington DC | Inspiration from Traveling

So hubby surprised me a while back and said, “Let’s go somewhere for Valentine’s Day!” I said, “YES!” This is all very surprising, because we’re not huge Valentines people. I mean, we’ve always gotten each other something, but it was fun to splurge together and take a fun trip!

I am going to go into much greater detail about some aspects of our recent Washington DC trip (like visiting a Nature Photography exhibit, seeing Julia Child’s kitchen and more!) but for now here are some snapshots of things we loved and places we thought were beautiful.

After I was done, I looked at it and said, “Wow! I really like beautiful architecture!” Perhaps that’s why Europe is my favorite, so many amazingly beautiful buildings are everywhere.

Jumping into the Photography Community | Fridays with Kristen

One of the most tangible ways that my photography business has grown and flourished has been as a direct results of my involvement in my local photography community.

Becoming friends with other local photographers has helped me with every single aspect of my business. I’m fortunate in the fact that Nashville has a huge and wonderful photography community that I’ve just jumped into head first. I love going to our Nashville PUG and SmugMug meetings. The first several times I went I would go and listen and anything that they said that I had never heard of (lighting techniques, lenses, camera bodies) I would write them down and go home and read them. These groups are an amazing way to hear success stories from other photographers & see how it can relate to your business.

Groups I go to monthly:

• Nashville Pictage User Group
• Nashville SmugMug

If you live in the Nashville area and are a photographer, I hope you can make it to these meetings and come introduce yourself!

Community with Photographers | Fridays with Kristen from Kristen Steele on Vimeo.

Tags: making things happen, MTH2010, Nashville PUG, Nashville Smug, Pictage User Group, PUG

Making Things Happen 2010 | Nashville

I don’t really know what I was expecting. I tried to blog stalk & tweet stalk everyone I could who had been previously… but no one even seemed to let on to what it was REALLY about.

So I went. Wait, you didn’t think I was actually going to tell you did you?? That’s half the fun.

But no really, it was a soul-searching day of re-discovering what my purpose is, what I’m passionate about and how to live my life well. Sure, I talked about my photography & sure my business goals were thrown in there too, but it was definitely a visionary experience.

Here’s a quote that pretty much sums up what I’m feeling right now & the direction I want to head in:

“Here’s the truth about telling stories with your life. It’s going to sound like a great idea, and you are going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the work, you’re not going to want to do it. It’s like that with writing books, and it’s like that with life. People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy costs pain.”

-Donald Miller from A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (p.99-100)

I’m going to save all of my specific answers to those questions & what I specifically learned for a future blog post, but for now I’ll give you this little video recap of my MAKING THINGS HAPPEN experience… Stay tuned for a new feature on the blog called “Fridays with Kristen” where I’ll do a little video blog about stuff I’ve been learning, awesome new photography tips or tricks, things that inspire me and I might answer questions (if anyone has any!). So if you like that idea and you have a question already, go ahead and ask it in the comments section!

Making Things Happen 2010 | Nashville from Kristen Steele on Vimeo.

Tags: fridays with kristen

Featured in The Tennessean

I am so excited to be featured on the front page of today’s Tennessean in the local business section! My friend Sara Marie of Designs by Sara Marie is also prominently featured, so go check it out!

Also, stay tuned to the blog because Sara Marie and I have a big photoshoot this weekend and I’ll be posting pictures of her fabulous dresses soon!

Tags: entrepreneur, Featured on, published, The Tennessean