The end of the school year is upon us and I just wanted to send out a quick congratulations to all the graduating seniors that I had the pleasure of working with this year!  I wish you all the success and happiness in the world!  Enjoy your last few weeks of high school!

I had the pleasure of capturing a beautiful wedding for Carissa and Matthew last October.  The day took place on the gorgeous peach orchards and farmland at Z's Orchards.

Carissa wanted a 1940's feel to her day, and I think she pulled it off beautifully.  Matthew wore his US Air Force Mess Dress for the occassion.

Thank you so much, Carissa and Matthew for choosing Captured by Karen as your photographer!  I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness!

The beautiful floral arrangements were created by Rosewood Floral.

Carissa's dress is by Maggie Sottero.

So I'd like to take a moment and talk about existing in photos.  The other day, I was listening to one of my most favorite photographers, Sue Bryce, teach a class, and she mentioned how important it is to exist in photos - for your children, for those who love you, and for yourself.  This is something I've been thinking a lot about over the past year.  I don't like getting in front of the camera.  At all!  I don't even like looking in the mirror.  But one of her clients she was talking about had just recently  lost her mother to breast cancer.  She, herself, had just been diagnosed with breast cancer.  And she had 5 children.  She didn't have any photos of her mother that she loved and Sue explained how much this woman wished she had a beautiful photo of her mother before she got sick.  This made me think of my own family.  My husband lost his father at the age of 12.  We have 2 decent snap shots of him in our house that we can share with our children. 

Then I started thinking about my daughter and how someday she will be a woman.  I wonder if she will look at herself the same way I look at myself.  Will she want to exist in photos.  Will she be happy and confident enough with the way she looks with all of today's ridiculous standards.  I realized that I can help her by helping myself.  If I exist in photos where I feel good about myself at this age, at this point in my life, then maybe when she's at this same point, she can look at these images of me and she can be brave enough to be in those photos, too.  I would like my future grandchildren to know about me and be able to pass my story along.  I'd prefer to have nice photos passed on rather than ridiculous cell phone pictures.  So, I set up my studio, grabbed my remote, and had a photo session with myself.  Sharing these isn't easy for me, but I feel strongly about the importance of existing in photos.