Friday, August 8, 2014

Young Lives 2014

I had an awesome opportunity present itself to me a couple months ago and despite the fear I had of doing something I had never done before, I felt that was God's way of saying, "DO IT. IT'LL BE AWESOME." Because usually when something scares me, I know I should do it. Haha!! 

I was asked to be Rockbridge's camp photographer for the week of Young Lives!! I knew what Young Lives was but I had never been involved with it and had no idea what camp would be like!! So let me first tell you that Young Lives is an extension of Young Life for teen moms and their babies! It's the same ministry and the same sort of thing happens, except each girl has a mentor that they bring with them and the babies come too! They opened up nurseries at camp and the child care workers volunteered their time and took care of the kids all week!! God bless them! Haha! 

I was there for three full days, photographing anything and everything that went on. I photographed the babies in the nurseries, the games, club, etc.... But the coolest part for me was getting to do portraits of the moms and their babies. Katie, one of the women in charge of this week at camp, had planned out time for me to photograph the girls. They told them I'd be hanging out so I got to take a nice portrait of the girls who chose to have that done. I don't usually show back of the camera shots very often during my shoots but for some reason, I wanted to do that with these girls and I'm so glad I did! Watching and hearing their reactions to the photos was something I'll never forget. My clients get excited but these girls were ecstatic and that blessed me so much. It's rewarding to know something you're doing is making others happy. Giving these girls a nice photo of their most prized possession -- their children -- is priceless, in my opinion. 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to do this and I'm thankful for all the sweet girls I got to meet briefly! Rockbridge is an incredible place and I'm lucky I was able to go back for the first time since high school! I missed that place and the people there! Check out some of my favorites!















































The one photo that I made it in!! Loved meeting you, Tori!! Thanks for taking the photo, Joanna!!

3 comments:

  1. These are wonderful, Mere! The portraits are amazing and so full of love.

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  2. AWHHH!!! How do you do your photos in collages?

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  3. What a fantastic way to bless others with your beautiful gift of photography! :)

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