Personal Archive
No matter your relationship status during this time of year, we can’t ignore the roses, cards, chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate cupcakes, chocolate ice cream… choc… oh sorry, I got distracted… and, of course, LOVE. Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching and I truly hope there is LOVE in your life. Love is a beautiful thing and whether it’s with your soulmate, your best friend, your family, your dog or your cat… everyone deserves LOVE in their life because there is ALWAYS more room for it. You may have to take some huge risks to find it or get hurt in the process, but we all deserve to find it in any form and we’ve got to keep fighting for it. Love is louder than so many things and I, personally, hope to find true love someday so I can share my heart with someone who wants to share their heart with me.
Anywhoo… so where am I going with this you ask?? Well, thanks for sticking with me because it’s time for a GIVEAWAY!!! I’m a hopeless romantic who loves to celebrate LOVE and I can’t WAIT to give away a FREE PHOTO SESSION to one lucky couple!! This photo session will be something very special with a few amazing surprises (think Italian…)!
For the chance to win, you must be IN LOVE (duh!)…married, engaged or in a serious relationship AND you must be in the San Diego area (or planning to visit in the next 6 months). Sorry out of town folks, but the SURPRISE is located in SD and not able to travel (it’s super fun, just trust me on this one)!
Here are the important deets:
1) If you don’t already, follow me on Instagram (http://instagram.com/meganannphotography)
2) Send me an EMAIL with the following:
—A photo of the two of you
—A love letter to your significant other telling THEM (not me) your favorite memory of the two of you AND why you LOVE them (please keep it PG ;-)). Doesn’t have to be a novel, but be sincere and put your whole heart into it…I’m a hopeless romantic, so give it all you’ve got!
—Email these to me at megan@meganannphotography.com BEFORE Feb 14th at NOON PST
3) GUYS…you can enter too!! Surprise your lady and enter without her knowing!
4) Repost/share this message to your followers and your chances of winning will increase!
5) WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN ON FEBRUARY 15TH!!
I can’t wait to read your love stories!!😘
A few weeks ago, Forty One Twenty headed out to the desert to test out some new toys. I decided to tag along and document the day of shooting, climbing and exploring the gorgeous terrain of Joshua Tree. Here are a few shots from our day!
Six months ago today, my photography business re-launched with a new and improved brand and web presence. That day in December was the culmination of months of hard work, brand “therapy”, personal goal setting, strategy and development with B!G Deal Branding. It was, by far, the scariest venture and risk I’ve encountered in my career. However, I KNEW I’d chosen the best team to work with and the final product was exactly what I wanted. I’ve received so much positive feedback from the new brand and hearing exactly what I hoped to hear, which is that this new brand is totally ME. That was the most important aspect in this whole process was identifying who I am, who my ideal client is, etc. This journey is far from over, but I know that I have a strong platform to work from and a brand that will help me pursue my dreams and accomplish the goals I’ve set for myself. Thank you to all who encouraged me through the process and to the B!G Deal Team for an incredible journey in business, entrepreneurship and friendship. Cheers to six months and many many more!!
From the B!G Deal Blog post launch…
As I’ve said before, running a business on your own is not easy, but it’s more than worth it for the people I meet and the places I visit. Some of you know that I recently traveled to Italy…here are a few snapshots from my trip! Full recap coming soon!
Almost a year ago, I said farewell to one of my best friends and her family as they moved to Italy for the next three years. There was no doubt that I would go visit them someday. Well, friends, that someday is NEXT WEEK!!! EEK!!! Exactly one year to the day that they left! I can’t believe it’s finally here and I’m SO excited. Excited to see friends I’ve missed SO much over the last year. Excited to eat so much pasta, pizza and gelato til my belly hurts. Excited to take photos of anything and everything that comes across my path. Excited to enjoy two weeks of Italian bliss…
I will throw in a little work here and there and will be checking emails, but thank you in advance for your patience as I’m not sure how much internet connection I’ll have while traveling. To all of my mom-to-be clients & friends, I’ll be thinking of you and can’t wait to meet your little ones as soon as I get back!!
Here are a few family photos of the Burketts taken the day before they left for Italy…
If you’ve seen my Pinterest boards lately, I can’t stop filling up my travel board with a few of the cities I plan to visit while I’m there…I’M SO EXCITED! I JUST CAN’T HIDE IT! 🙂
We’re gonna get a little personal today. Today is an anniversary that I never anticipated, but changed my life forever…
It’s been THREE years since I was laid off from being a project manager at Upper Deck. I loved my job in the “corporate world”. At the time I was hired, it was my “dream job”. The dream I’d worked so hard for in high school, college and graduate school. I loved my role in the company and had a passion for the industry I was in. I also loved photography. I loved the part time business I was building and couldn’t wait to venture out to make it a full time career. But I was scared. Scared to fail. Scared to make that first step and quit my job. Little did I know, God had another plan for me and let it happen on its own. I remember that day vividly and my emotions were all over the place. I was sad, happy, confused, nervous, relieved. Honestly, that’s still how I feel some days. Owning your own business is HARD. It’s ALL on me. I’m the boss, manager, employee, CEO, CFO…you get the idea. But it’s so WORTH IT. While difficult, photography has allowed me to experience things I never would have done in a corporate job. Yes, I work a lot of weekends and don’t have a normal schedule, but I get to travel more, spend time with family, meet new people and document once-in-a-lifetime moments.
All this to say, I wouldn’t change where I am at for anything. With the support and encouragement of family, friends and clients, this is right where I’m supposed to be. As this day passes each year, I’m reminded that I owe so much to all of you who have given me your praise, hugs, high-fives and even criticism. I’m so thankful for those who have brought me where I am today…more than you’ll ever know. So…THANK YOU for being on this journey with me and the ride that is yet to come.
XOXO,
Megan
Megan
The photo of Mt. Rainier below was taken on my flight back to SD from Seattle. I spent four years with a view of this mountain and never thought I’d be where I am today. It just takes a little perspective to appreciate where you’ve been and where you’re going. 🙂
The holidays are always my favorite time of year. It means the chance for rest, relaxation and family. This year was much of the same anticipation, but also a time of excitement (and a little stress) since my re-brand and new site launched JUST before going to Oregon! Though it was a crazy, whirlwind week, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. I’m SO happy with my new site AND got to spend some amazing quality time with my family over the holidays. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen most of these, but I wanted to give a quick recap of my time spent in the Northwest. I only used my “big” camera once when I got to Portland for Andy & Alycia’s engagement session (can’t wait to show more of those soon!), but the rest of the trip, I used my phone. It’s just the easiest way to capture quick moments of my niece & nephew and makes them easier to post so you all can see how cute they are! 🙂
Here’s a glimpse of fun times with my niece & nephew, quality time with sis and Chad, Blazers game with my parents, catching up with friends, my favorite Northwest foods (Tillamook ice cream & marionberry cobbler…YUM), watching the kids open their favorite presents, holiday movies, cookie decorating, snow and sledding…
CONTEST UPDATE!!!
Thank you again to ALL that participated!!! The comments below are so great and I LOVED reading all of your stories. It’s so great to get to know you all a little more and I will surely have another contest like this in the future. THANK YOU!!!
Congratulations to Amanda Flisher and Kristin Brandt!!! Thanks to the help of my random number generator, Amanda (commenter #39) won the $25 Sprinkles Cupcakes Gift Card and Kristin (commenter #17) won a FREE mini session!!
And to show that I was completely fair in the random selection…here is a pic of the spreadsheet used and the random number generator. Sorry I didn’t snap a pic of the first #, which was 39. 🙂
Welcome! To those of you who are NEW to my blog…thanks for checking it out! Over the next several weeks I’ll be posting images from the last few months of 2012 as well as recent 2013 sessions. A few personal posts will be mixed in as well as I love for my clients to get to know me better and vice versa. So let’s get 2013 started off right with a little giveaway and conversation about one of my favorites things…TRAVEL!
Over the past few years, I’ve been able to travel to some amazing places. Some personal, some business…either way, I’m up for it! From Maui to Minnesota or Seattle to Spain, I’d love to shoot more weddings and fill up those passport pages. 🙂 On tap for 2013 so far? Sacramento, Tahoe, Mexico and Italy! If you have the travel bug like me, you’ve probably thought of your dream vacation or even the ideal location for your own destination wedding. Here’s my challenge to you…well, not really a challenge since it should be pretty easy…tell me your dreamiest, most ideal destination wedding location. Think about it for a minute… A tropical locale with warm weather and cold drinks? A castle in the mountains of Europe? A rooftop ceremony in the city? You tell me! All you need to do is add a COMMENT to THIS blog post. Already married? No problem! Tell me your ideal spot for a vow renewal! THOSE THAT COMMENT ON THIS BLOG POST will be entered into a raffle for a FREE MINI SESSION to take place in February or March AND a $25 Sprinkles Cupcakes Gift Card. The drawing will be random, but don’t spare any details in your comments…tell me where you’d love to go AND why! And someday maybe we can make that dream come true!!
Here’s a recap of the rules:
1. Anyone can enter! Single, engaged, married…anyone!
2. Think of the ONE place you’d love to travel to for your DESTINATION WEDDING OR VOW RENEWAL. Be creative…do you want to get married at one of those hotels made of ice? Love it!
3. Share that destination in a COMMENT BELOW and tell me why you chose that particular location. PLEASE make sure to include your EMAIL address in your comment.
4. ONE entry per person.
5. TWO winners will be randomly chosen next Wednesday, the 16th!
I can’t wait to read all of these!! 🙂
You may have noticed things have changed around here! After 3+ years of building my photography business, I decided it was time to take things to the next level. I wanted my brand to reflect more of who I am and the kind of work that makes me so excited to get up in the morning. I hired B!G DEAL BRANDING because I trust them. It’s as simple as that. They are the BEST at what they do and I never had any doubts about their ability to guide me through this process. I felt having people on my team who really understood me was crucial to getting this right. We buckled down for four months, combing through the ins and outs of my business, my dreams and what makes me tick and out came this refreshing new identity that I couldn’t be more proud to own.
I’m so glad you’re here to celebrate with me! My hope is that you feel loved, valued and a little giddy when you scroll through the site. Thanks again for all the support throughout the years! I couldn’t do it without you!
A perk of owning your own business is the ability to make your own schedule. This means working many weekends and sometimes holidays, but it also lends the opportunity to travel the world. And being able to shoot weddings abroad? That’s something I can’t wait to do more of! I’ve been lucky enough to shoot weddings in Hawaii, San Francisco, Seattle, Arizona, Minnesota and Spain. I’m excited to see what the future holds for destination weddings and personal travel as well. In the meantime, here are some photos of my favorite spots so far…Paris, Spain and Maui. See you soon!!
