How do you describe yourself to other people?
When someone walks up to you, introduces themselves, and invites you into a conversation, what aspects of yourself do you commonly mention?
Your name?
Your occupation?
Your family?
I’ve written about it before, but it is such an easy and natural thing to place ourselves into neat little categories.
I am a woman.
I am a mother.
I am a wife.
I am in my thirties.
I am a photographer.
Neat little boxes, easy to picture, tough to break out of.
The thing about it is that I am so much more than just these things. I cannot separate one area of my life. I try to do it all the time, but it usually just doesn’t work. I sit down at my computer to upload a few images, and before I know it, little hands are pulling the memory card out of the computer. I lock myself in my office to get some sewing and studying done, and there is banging out the door with cries for Mommy. Every aspect of my life is influenced by other areas; every person special to me influences my work, my time, my attention. And I wouldn’t dream of having it any other way.
So why do I bring all of this up?
I find myself today on the verge of feeling overwhelmed…overwhelmed with blessings, thankfulness, life, obligations. Today, I am blessed with two beautiful girls, a precious little boy on the way, a husband so supportive and caring I don’t even know how to tell him how thankful I am for him. We live in a house in the state I grew up in for the first time in eight years. My husband is working a job that he loves and is passionate about. I spend my time between juggling kids, attempting to keep a house clean, photography, editing, sewing and selling. And for too long have I tried to keep all of these separate.
You see, I run two businesses. The first is the photography business that you are familiar with. But when I am not doing photography, I spend my time sewing children’s clothes which I sell online in a little Etsy shop. I often design these items with new moms and photographers in mind, using fabrics and shapes that I know will photograph beautifully. (You can check out my little shop here.) I love both ventures and don’t want to give either of them up. But as I think about what life is going to be like with a little boy added into the mix, I know I cannot keep running things as I have been. I need to simplify.
By having two businesses, I am not only committing to different obligations, but also to keeping up with two websites, two blogs, two Facebook accounts, two Instagram accounts, two entirely different business ventures. In the past, I have kept these separate, rarely mentioning one business in the other. But today I am realizing that not only is keeping my life segmented like this spreading me thin where I only scratch the surface on each, but it is also not an accurate representation of who I am.
You see, with each business, I am passionate about similar things. In my photography business, I strive to provide a personal experience for every family I photograph. I am not satisfied with taking a cookie cutter approach. I want my families to feel like they are individuals to me; I want them to come away with tangible images that they will love and cherish for generations. In my sewing business, I also strive to get away from cookie cutter products. I don’t offer trendy items. I seek out fabrics with a history and a story, bringing them new life as children’s outfits crafted with traditional heirloom quality techniques that will also last for generations. I love looking backwards to learn more about my future…sometimes, by looking at our past, our histories, we can learn more about our own families and what is in store for us. By studying traditional sewing techniques from bygone areas, I can learn to design clothing that will live with families for generations. With both businesses, my goal is for my clients to walk away feeling beautiful, unique, taken care of. I want them to feel just a bit more alive by having worked with me.
And so today I come to you with a new venture in mind: I hope to combine these many aspects of my life and bring them all before you honestly and ernestly, all under one roof. I am still hashing out the details and the legalities of what this will mean, but by the beginning of the new year, I hope to bring to you one streamlined umbrella approach where you can follow along on the many areas of my life easily and conveniently. I am excited about being able to dive in deeper this way, and am thrilled to see what the new year will bring with it.
For now, please keep in touch with my various social media platforms. I will continue to keep you up to date with where I am as far as moving sites and social media around. Thank you so much for everything you all have meant to me, and I am looking forward to continuing this journey with you.
Christina Freeman is a Princeton TX family photographer specializing in family, newborn, and senior portraits in the Dallas, TX and surrounding areas including Anna, Melissa, Plano, Prosper, Frisco, Allen, Wylie, McKinney, Little Elm, Farmersville and other DFW suburbs.
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