Eight years ago this month I launched my business. I had been portfolio building for six months, and I felt ready to dive in! I specialized in posed newborns. We were over a year into our very unexpected infertility journey. I was 1000 miles away from all my family and my nieces and nephews, and I knew photography could be a huge outlet to work through all those emotions and create beauty. Those sweet sessions happened in the tiniest studio in a back room of our rental on weekends. Two months in, we found out we were finally pregnant. A month later we welcomed home our oldest two sons through foster care. We welcomed our first daughter that spring. The following winter we welcomed another foster babe who reunified shortly after. That summer we suffered a miscarriage, and then accepted another very unexpected newborn placement two months later. To say that time was a blur would be an understatement. And so after four years I closed my studio, which had moved into a slightly less tiny room at the back of another rental. I was burnt out due to having set literally zero boundaries. I was either taking care of my kids or shooting. My husband and I were like passing ships. We were buying our first home and it didn’t have space for a studio so I heard God’s voice telling me to step back. To reclaim my time with my family and all the sweet babies he had blessed us with so quickly. While it definitely carried sadness with it, I didn’t feel any uncertainty, just peace. I could hear Him telling me that the time for that would come again.

And so for the past four years I have shot only seasonal family sessions for my incredibly loyal and amazing clients, with the occasional in-home newborn session, and a few new faces added each year. It allowed me to focus on my family, which grew by two more rather giant babies. And it made my shooting season all the more special. I got to hone my craft, to learn and dive into what truly sets my heart on fire and politely decline (and refer out :P) what doesn’t. Y’all the power of saying no in your business is LIFE-GIVING. Then came 2020 and all the family time we could ever ask for. We had our health, and my husband had his job, and we were eternally grateful for both. But I also realized I was longing for my business back and my creative outlet. So toward the end of the year I dove into a complete overhaul. If I was going to relaunch my business, I was going to DO IT RIGHT this time. With boundaries, and a vision and systems and without comparison and second guessing and doubting. And then I topped it off with a whole ass rebrand so it finally felt and looked like ME! (You can read all about it here if you missed it.) I launched in January, and it’s gone better than I ever could have imagined. I feel fulfilled creatively and professionally in ways I haven’t in years!

But still the longing was there for another studio. Not for posed newborns, but for lifestyle sessions that have captured hold of me. Especially in a climate where outdoor shooting is bitterly cold for 4+ months of the year, I know a studio would only help me continue to provide for my family year round. The past few months I have felt God put a quiet stirring in my heart that the time is drawing near. And so four years after closing my last studio, I have a new one on the horizon! Last week we put an offer on our dream home and it was accepted! It’s set up perfectly for another in-home studio in the short term, with land for us to build me an epic she-shed studio of my dreams! I quite literally cannot wait! We close next week, and I’m itching to get in there and create!

All this to say, DREAM BIG, friends. Be patient. A delayed dream is not a failed dream. Give yourself grace. Listen for God’s guidance and LORD will he provide! RamFam Photography is just getting started, and the future is big and beautiful and oh so longed for!!