Introducing: ‘She is Loved’

 

At the beginning of March, I sat in a conference and listened as one of the speakers shared that the yearning of her heart is to see everyone – man, woman and child – live a life of freedom. I asked the question in my head ‘what is the yearning of my heart?’ and immediately had the response ‘love’. I then wrote down ‘She is Loved’ in my notebook and didn’t think much of it until June.

At the beginning of June, God opened the ‘She is Loved’ book and has revealed pieces of its story over the past couple of months .

“Hey Erin, what is at the core of your photography?”

~ “Portraiture is not merely recording appearances, it’s capturing the essence of the heart”

“What have others said about you/your work?”

~ “You have the ability to love people in a unique way and there is value in that”

~ “You have a huge heart for others…you’re not just sympathetic but jump into their hearts and feel what they feel”

~ “You feel so deeply it’s as if you could feel colors”

~ “Erin photographs what your heart feels”

 

I have always had a deep love for and connection to other people. As a child, I would get sick to my stomach every time I heard a siren because it meant someone was likely in trouble or hurting. A girl in my dance class suffered burns in an accident and I can remember being upset when she returned to class with bandages covering a large percentage of her body.

It’s not easy to literally feel the weight of the world. It’s not easy to open up the core of my heart to fully experience the atmosphere around me because it can be so stinkin’ heavy and exhausting.

But God created me with the ability to ‘get’ people so intimately for a reason. Being able to jump into someone’s heart and (as weird as this sounds) get almost a ‘first hand’ understanding of who they are gives me the unique ability to show them a love they’ve possibly never experienced. It allows me the sensitivity to notice things that many others would pass over.

In my last post, I mentioned the journey I’ve been on this year. It’s a journey that started years ago…A journey involving circumstances that allowed me the chance to learn how to handle ‘me’ and all of these deep emotions (which I’m sure will be a life-long process ’cause I’m no where near an expert!)…A journey that brought me to discover my heart for girls/women…A journey that brought me to now.

 

I’d like to introduce to you ‘She is Loved.’

‘She is Loved’ is coming to life to answer the questions I believe are in every feminine heart: “Who Am I? Am I loved? Am I valuable? Am I worthy?”

Do you know who you are? Maybe you used to know but ‘life’ has made you forget or lose sight of who you thought you were. Maybe you know who you are deep down in your soul, but don’t see it when you look in the mirror. Maybe you know, but are afraid to truly be yourself because you’re afraid others won’t like it.

The goal of ‘She is Loved’ is to give women the opportunity to feel love in a way they’ve never experienced before.

I also hope to encourage unity and shifts in perspective by sharing our individual stories. There is so much discord on this planet. What would happen if instead of arguing, we stopped to take an honest glance into one another’s lives in an effort to better understand our differences? We are all unique and some of us are on opposite sides of life’s spectrum, but at our core, we’re all the same: we have a need to feel loved. Imagine how the world could change if women started to truly grasp that ‘I am loved’ and ‘She is loved’.

SO! Here’s how we’re kicking this off:

Like I said in Tuesday’s post , my goal is to participate in this year’s Write 31 Days challenge by sharing the photographs and story of one wonderful woman each day. That means I have a bunch of work to do between now and October 1st and I need your help!

The deets (details):

Who: YOU! (if you’re not a ‘he’…this is ‘SHE is loved’ after all 😉 )

Any fabulous female with a story (so pretty much any female). All ages from 9 months (some babies have been through a lot by that age!) to 119 (I would LOVE to photograph some wise women who have been around the block a few times! ‘Wisdom’ is beautiful!)

What: A photographic experience that is custom-designed based on the individual. This is fully interactive – the more input I get, the better the outcome will be!

I want to jump in your heart and call out the greatness that lives there. It’s time to tell fear to take a hike and to stand confidently in your dreams or hopes or what you long for in the middle of the night when you’re supposed to be sleeping! It’s time for you to KNOW that you are LOVED and so worthy of it!

Some possible scenarios:

~ Do you have a dream job but feel stuck because of circumstances? Let’s create your dream scenario so you have images to remind you of your goals.

~ Love sports and/or getting messy? Mud party anyone? I’m game for a mud fight (as long as the camera stays out of it 😉 )

~ Have you overcome less than ideal circumstances in your life and you want to celebrate? Or maybe you’re still in those circumstances but you want to take a break to remember who you are and get a little lovin’.

~ Maybe you’ve ‘lost that lovin feelin’ and wanna bring sexy back.

~ Tired of baby ‘stuff’ being your main wardrobe and you want to get in touch with your inner Cinderella at the ball? Let’s find you some magical glass slippers and make it happen.

~ Are you a grandmother who has raised a family and grandkids and you want to celebrate your life’s journey?

~ Maybe you’re an adult who is just over the adult thing and you want to frolic through a field and blow bubbles!

Are you getting the picture? It’s time to search your soul and DREAM and ask yourself what makes you fully alive. The sky is the limit. And no worries if you’re reading this and ideas aren’t coming to mind. If this is resonating with you and you’re open to explore the possibilities, we will figure it out together!

 

The Cost: Vulnerability and willingness to open your heart and show the world who you really are + Time spent giving some info/answering questions for the blog. That’s it. {Hair/make-up services or space rental fees may be required depending on the scenario but I’m gifting my photographic services to you! I’m also open to travel…get a few friends and family members to chip in for my expenses and I’m all yours!}

You’ll Receive: The experience of a lifetime and images to remember it.

 

Ready for the journey? Send me a message through this site (<—click on the link; select ‘other’ for Interested In). And don’t forget to share it with everyone you know who could use a little more love in their life! Planning starts as soon as you contact me…photo ‘experiences’ start in September

{Sitting there thinking ‘This sounds wonderful but I’m not photogenic” or “She really wouldn’t want to talk to me, I’m not very interesting” ? That’s right, I can read minds too…And I’m telling you to tell those voices to hush and contact me anyway! I’m serious when I say I LOVE PEOPLE…ALLLLL people! YOU are loved and valuable and I’d consider it an honor to show you yourself through the eyes of love 😉 }