More so this year than any other New Years I have been spending a lot of time rejoicing in the past, thinking about the future, and trying to establish priorities for the next year. 2010 and 2011 were absolutely amazing years—but also a complete whirlwind. 2010 was jam packed with fabulous clients and great weddings and I managed to top that (just a bit) by welcoming my daughter into the world spring of 2011. Since Tilly insisted on making her arrival right as wedding season began I scaled back on shooting weddings last year and found a new passion for portrait photography. As I enter another year I finally feel like I have time to take a breath and also take a good look at my business.

I have been so blessed since I started Telltale Photography and have the unique privilege of loving what I do. But I also know that since my daughter was born my time is a lot more precious to me now. So I want to make sure that I don’t loose sight of why I started this business—I love photography and I want to be able to tell stories through great images. It’s so easy to be distracted by what is trendy, what wedding blogs are claiming is the next big thing, and shooting for publication and exposure instead of for my clients. This year my resolution is to stay focused on what I love, which are people, their personal stories, and creating images that actually mean something.

While some changes are in the works (a new website, maybe some new branding), what I am really excited about is staying true to my convictions by creating the very best images I can and continuing to hone my skills as a storyteller. I look forward to lots more weddings and portrait sessions in 2012, and I am excited about every opportunity I have to create not just pretty pictures but important images. I want each client to feel like their wedding images or portrait session really captured the way they are and how they felt—I want to tell the story of their lives not recreated in fiction but told in authentic detail through beautiful images.

So it isn’t just the New Year that has brought on this feeling of rebirth and renewed passion, a lot of it has been brought on while editing one of my last shoots of 2011, the birth of Shiloh Diane. I have always wanted to shoot a birth and I feel so blessed that Lauren and Kory asked me to document the arrival of their first baby. What an amazing honor and changing experience. It was so overwhelming emotionally (yes, I bawled my eyes out when she was born) and it has helped rejuvenate my enthusiasm for photography and helped me realize what a gift it is that I get to use a camera to share someone’s personal experience. So instead of posting my favorite images I am posting a slideshow that chronicles the over 30 hours of labor it took to bring beautiful Shiloh into the world. It isn’t too long (I promise) but I hope you take the additional time to watch the entire slide show and that you experience the raw emotion of the day and the absolute joy of welcoming a new life into the world. Thank you Lauren, Kory and Shiloh for letting me tell your story. (If you would like to view the slideshow in a new browser window you can reach it at www.telltalephotography.com/Plockmeyer)

It was only a few weeks ago that I had the pleasure of photographing Jason and Carol’s maternity session. When I photographed Carol’s 36 week baby bump no one had any idea that just a week later beautiful Stella Rose would be born. Stella was just a peanut at birth weighing only 6lbs 2oz, and you can tell that she is still so tiny and precious at her two week old session. Even though the timing of Stella’s arrival was a big surprise Jason and Carol have quickly adapted to life with a newborn and are taking everything in stride (and they even seem rested!).

I  love photographing newborns because it is such a wonderful time in a families life and such a momentous occasion to document. I am so honored that I got to photograph the expanding Kolk family and look forward to photographing Stella throughout her first year.