Erin Kass » Blog

I said in my last post that I know She is Loved is not ‘mine’. This new project/blog/whatever-it-becomes-in-the-future is supposed to be a group effort. It’s supposed to include voices from every background of life. Diversity is beautiful and I don’t believe it’s celebrated anywhere near as much as it should be.

As much as I wish every female on the planet could experience a She is Loved photo session, that’s just not realistic. Especially since some of the most awesome women in our lives are no longer with us.

That’s where YOU come in.  In addition to the stories and images of the ladies who participate in a She is Loved photo session {Sign up here for your own session}, I want to give you an opportunity to honor the special women in your life. I want pictures and stories of your favorite grandmothers, mothers, sisters and friends. I want to join you in celebrating the beautiful woman who cares for your kids while you go to work or the one who watched you as a child. This is your chance to love on those who have made a difference in your world…or possibly to remember the legacy of someone who has passed.

How to join the She is Loved party:

1. Type sheisloved.tributes@gmail.com in the ‘TO’ section of a new email message
2. In the subject line write ‘A tribute to_____’ (except instead of a blank, please actually write the person’s name 😉 ) In order to keep this as organized as possible on my end, if you would like to honor more than one person, please send more than one email…with one person’s pictures and story per email.
3. Attach between 1-10 images of the person you want to honor. (if you send 5-10, chances are that some will be made into a collage, just FYI)
4. In the message, include the info you want written in the blog post. Please be as detailed and personal as you can. It doesn’t have to be long if that’s not your style but try to write something memorable and meaningful. “This is Susie and she’s my BFF and she’s great” just isn’t the same as “This is Susie. We met in the 4th grade and have been inseparable ever since. Over the years we’ve talked about boys, cried together due to the stress of college finals, and helped each other decorate our homes. But the reason I could never imagine my life without Susie is her huge heart for people and especially me. She was right there beside me as I walked through the loss of my dear aunt to cancer last summer. Words will never be able to express just how much her love helped me get through the hardest time of my life…”   Get it? (ok sorry, that was a sad example…now think about bunny rabbits, puppies, rainbows and sunshine. Better???)
5. Once you’ve included all the pictures and info you want, hit send. I know that not everyone is a writer…I still laugh at the thought of me writing…so if you just include bullet points or a basic run down of the person’s history and why you’re honoring them, I will put it together for you. Don’t get hung up on the writing part 😉
6. Once your post is scheduled, I’ll let you know the date so you can be ready when your friends and family freak. out. because you’re the BEST daughter/granddaughter/sibling/friend ever since you showed them love through the world wide web 😀

Make sense?  And also, just like we’re not looking for perfection in the writing dept, we’re not necessarily looking for professional photos either. This is real life. This is showing authentic love, and that’s not always gonna be illustrated with fancy pictures!

Now, go flood my inbox with fabulousness. I can’t wait to see what you send me!

So you know when God, like, drops an idea into your head & heart and you get excited and then He’s like ‘act on it’ and you’re like ‘um what? ok, sure’ and then you start to work on it and are like ‘what the heck am I doing cause this is so far beyond me’ and He’s like ‘um yeahhh, that’s the point, trust me’ so you’re like ‘ok whatever God’ and keep on doing the ridiculous things? (I hope you read that with an accent and a little bit of attitude…if not, go back and try again)

Yeah, that’s where I am. 😀 She is Loved is growing faster than I expected. God has connected me with other women who have the same heart and goal of LOVING on you beautifully wonderfully super-fantastic lady-peeps out there and we’ve decided it’s time to get us a wardrobe collection started.

Several ladies are already on the hunt for outfits and ms.-fancy-pants-dresses for their She is Loved sessions and we want to help them AND future She is Loved ladies out. SOOOOO

I’m asking for donations. If you have outfits and/or dresses that are sitting in your closet taking up space, I will gladly help you clear them out! Contact me and we’ll arrange a collection rendezvous

I also know that God gave me the idea for She is Loved, but it is definitely not ‘mine’. This is supposed to be a group effort of women loving on women. If you are a photographer, hair & makeup artist, or have other services or products you’d love to donate, let me know! I will absolutely give credit for products and services in the blog posts.

My initial goal is to share the stories and images of 31 women in the month of October but I know it’s going to grow beyond that. There is power in a photograph and photo sessions can be life-changing. I know that to be true from personal experience.

I can’t wait to share the stories of the women who have already contacted me. October is going to be an amazing month! If you’re still on the fence about participating, GET OFF THE DERN FENCE and just go for it! 😀 YOU HAVE A STORY regardless of how simple or mundane you think it is! And I promise being in front of the camera will be easier than you might think 😉 {To sign up, fill out my Inquiry form ; select ‘other’ for interested in}

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 😉 }

In January, my husband and I went away for a few days to seek vision for this year. We laid our knowns and unknowns on the table and let God show us what to leave on the table, what to pick up, and what those things we picked up were supposed to look like.

I started 2015 ready to dig into photography. After investing a bunch of time and resources into the business side, I was antsy to start shooting consistently. But the ‘business’ kept getting in the way of my excitement. I was ready to implement my plan to take the biz in a more focused direction. However, thinking about advertising and targeting specific markets and how to handle discounts for ‘model sessions’ and …and…and… just made my head want to explode and shut down.

Like most creative types, God created me with an affinity for the abstract. I most naturally ‘think’ with my heart not my head. We already had enough stuff in life to give my brain a workout and I just wanted to grab my camera, frolic off to creative la la land and shoot to my heart’s content. *insert toddler temper tantrum*

I was prepared to put my toddler self in time-out in order to keep pressing on toward the goal of a successful business,  but thankfully God and my wonderful hubby gave me permission to let it go. I believe the hubster’s words were something along the line of  “Recently I’ve come to a new understanding of the fact that you’re a creative…you’re unique…you don’t fit the mold so it’s time for you to stop trying to fit the mold. Be creative. Be free to explore and try new things. Focus on the art and the business will come”

Music. to. my. ears…the Publisher’s Clearing House people might as well have just knocked on my door with their balloons to tell me I’d just won the jackpot.

So of course I immediately took off to start shooting 24/7 right? Unfortunately, no. Because as much as we’d like this life to be about instant gratification, it’s about the process. It’s about the journey and learning to be patient in the journey. Because even though we think instant gratification would be better, the truth is that the journey brings us far more than a ‘magic genie’ ever could. A genie could grant us wishes and give us stuff but the journey brings growth and relationships and experiences that are far more valuable.

To be honest, I wasn’t even sure exactly what photography would look like moving forward. I had clear direction for other areas in my/our lives but not so much in photography. Thanks to frustrating difficulties with the company, this website didn’t even exist for about 2-3 months because my domain was being held hostage! (I got ransom letters written in cut-up magazine letters and everything! Ok, maybe not)

But just as He always does, in His perfect timing – right when it’s ‘time’/needed – God has shown me a glimpse of the future and given me a project to work on. (More on the project in a minute)

If you want to follow a photographer who gives great business advice or who can show you how to edit 1,000 images in 30 minutes or who can tell you how to make 6 figures in a year, then you’re in the wrong place. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to tell you how to make 6 figures in a year – but for now that’s not where I am.

I’ve always had it in my head that a ‘real business owner’ was supposed to have it all together. When I thought ‘successful business person’, immediately suits and briefcases came to mind. I’d think of sophisticated and proper people…ones who might be a hot mess but you’d never know it because they present a perfect facade. Perfect…the enemy of progress.

Don’t get me wrong, excellence is important. Professionalism and high standards are important. Approaching a business with wisdom is important. But perfect is never going to happen. If I keep waiting for perfect, I might as well just shut down this website and hang up my camera.

Soooo, Hi! I’m Erin Kass. As Forrest Gump would say, I’m like life and a box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get. 😉 Sometimes I’m a polished and sophisticated person and other times I’m a beautiful hot mess of crazy who would probably lose my brain if it wasn’t connected to my spine.

I love (LOVE) people. I love diversity. I love the quirks that make us unique. I love the messy. If you’re deep and introverted and want a deep and emotional photography experience, I’ll be right there with you. Or if you’re silly, goofy, love life and have the heart of a child, I’ll be right there with you too. I don’t care who or what you are, as long as you’re authentic.

Authenticity is HUGE for me, which leads me to the project I mentioned earlier. I’ll write a separate post with more info but for now…

****drum roll/trumpet fanfare/etc etc****

I’m looking for 31 lovely ladies of all ages and backgrounds. The Nester hosts a ‘write 31 day‘ challenge in the month of October. Last year I kicked off my new blog Ready to Breathe during this challenge and as I was pray-thinking through what to do this year, God revealed this project. Between now and the end of October, my goal is to photograph the hearts and celebrate the stories of 31 different women. Each daily post in October will feature a glimpse into a beautiful girl/woman’s world.

Stay tuned for more information! (I totally almost wrote ‘tooned’ for ‘tuned’…see? a beautiful hot mess of crazy lol)  AND if this has already piqued your interest, let me know!