When a normal day feels like an amazing adventure...

Earlier this week I was on my way to a photo-shoot for www.Freshmommyblog.com and I literally drove into a wall of fog. It was so intense that when you drove towards the island over the causeway, you couldn't even see the land on the other side. My first thought was that we should make a new plan, we were definitely not going to get the golden hour light we were aiming for. You couldn't see the sun at all, everything was completely covered. But after sending a few phone pictures to Tabitha and chatting about our options, we decided to go for it. It may not have been our original plan but that doesn't mean it couldn't be better. The scene was like something out of a movie, the water was quiet and the whole beach seemed as if it was part of the clouds. I wish I had taken more pictures of the actual fog to show you, these are the few that I did happen to get.

This was driving towards the island.

Once you made it to the other side of the causeway you could see a little more, but there was still no horizon in sight.

All of the seagulls were grounded, waiting out the fog. There were hundreds of them all over the beach.

When looking out over the beach, ocean & sky you'd normally be able to see them all distinctly, 

but on this day they all blended into one. 

Driving back to the the park, after the shoot, it looked as if we were heading into a scene out of an epic adventure film.

I honestly felt like a kid, I was filled with such a childlike wonder. It was something amazing to behold; watching it roll in and blanket everything. What once was a familiar place to me, was made completely new. It was such a fun surprise and made a normal day feel like an amazing adventure.

Lately... in iPhone Photos

Most of these photos were originally posted on Instagram.  If you want to connect, my name is BrionySkerjance and I'd love to "meet" you!

I am constantly taking photos on my iPhone, honestly it is one of the main reasons I purchased an iPhone. My big camera is a lot to carry around on a regular basis, it’s nice to have a phone with decent quality images to help capture the every day. My friend Tabitha shares her images every Wednesday so I thought I would join in on the fun. Here is a recap of the last week.

His beauty on display.

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display His craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. 
They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. 

God has made a home in the heavens for the sun. 

It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding. 

It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race. 

The sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end. 
Nothing can hide from its warmth.

Psalm 19:1-6

Looking Up

These photos were originally posted on Instagram.  If you want to connect, my name is BrionySkerjance and I'd love to "meet" you!

There is just something about birds... 

They have the ability to make me feel like a kid again. My imagination goes a little crazy, daydreams come and I get lost in a world where floating in the air is possible for everyone. I can literally watch them for hours and be filled with such a child like wonder. 

I'm sure it has something to do with their ability to surf the wind. The magic of flying is something, I think, every person on the planet would love to experience if they could. The closest I ever got to experiencing what the birds do, was when I went sky diving. It was incredible... the feeling of floating and being so high above everything. The wind directing you one way or another. But it was also absolutely frightening at the same time. Of course, that might be because flapping my arms up and down didn't keep me from getting closer to the ground... it just made me look silly. (I have the pictures and video to prove it.) 

After going through my Instagram, I noticed I had a lot of pictures of birds and that got me thinking about how I always use to make fun of my parents for being bird watchers. They would come home from work and pour a glass of wine or wake up on the weekends and pour a cup of coffee then head out onto the back porch with their binoculars and bird books in hand.  The older I get, the more I think I understand this. I'm not there yet, but I'm not teasing them about it anymore either.

When I think about it, I'm sure the children in my life are baffled by the things that fascinate me too... they'll get it one day.

One of those days.

Today was one of those days where I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. I felt a little broken and I began to question myself and all the decisions I've made thus far in my life that have brought me to this point of utter loss of control. Yes, I realize I let my emotions spiral to a pretty dramatic place. But haven't you ever had one of those days? The kind of day that seems to have more and more go wrong the longer it goes on. The kind of day where you wish you would have just stayed in bed. It was one of those. Needless to say, I hit a low point. I couldn't reasonably contain the amount of emotions that were hitting me so I shut myself in my closet and let myself cry it out. During this display of emotion, I knew that I was being overly dramatic. Logically I knew that I didn't have it nearly as bad as others out there, but I was upset with my situation and the choices I made that put me in the position I was in and I just wanted to cry.

To be honest, this isn't a normal occurrence for me. I think part of it was because I was exhausted, since my massive sun burn has not allowed me a full nights sleep the last three nights and part of it was complete frustration. I am one of those... I cry when I am frustrated. So anyway, after I cried it out I took a few deep breaths. Had a conversation with God. Evaluated my situation. Talked to my dad and made plans to face one of the bigger issues tomorrow morning.

It isn't healthy to allow our emotions to take the drivers seat. They are too easily swayed, misleading and often effected by false information. However, it is OK to express them just don't dwell on them. Take a step back and figure out the truth of your situation. There is always a way to turn something around, there is always a change you can make to insert good into your life. Say a prayer, talk to someone you trust and make a plan. Don't just allow yourself to steep in the despair, take action.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

The Salt Life: Sand Key, FL

My parents are visiting for the week. It's been a fun filled time. We are only 3 days in and there've been lots of belly laughs, a number of mis-adventures and a sweet amount of time together. We are renting a cottage on the beach and below is what we have the privilege to wake up to and see every night. Today we are going sailing. I'm super excited. More pictures to come.

"The cure for anything is salt water - swear, tears or the sea." Isak Dinesen

(hahah my parents are awesome. I love them dearly.)

xoxo,
Briony

An Evening at the Beach

EXPLORE. WONDER. DREAM.
   

Love at the Creek: Engagement

As promised, the last of our three shoots. I have to say these are probably my favorites. Garrett and Kendall are both fit and look incredible in their fun outfits. I had so much fun playing in the water and I've got to give them majors props for braving the cold creek with smiles. I just love every picture.
 

A big thanks to my Dad for being my photo assistant and for keeping things interesting :) and to Jessica Haist for her amazing makeup skills on both this shoot and the picnic shoot, you rock babe!

Congratulations Gar & Ken! I love you both so much and I am so blessed to have been a part of telling your love story. I can't wait for the wedding day...both to be in the wedding and to shoot it :) It's going to be epic!

xoxo,
Briony

A Picnic by the Creek: Engagement

I mentioned in my last post that I made vision board(s)...haha well this another one of the fun ideas I was talking about. A sweet simple picnic in the woods. We drove the back roads of mid-michigan and found this old fishing spot on a creek that my dad use to visit as a kid. As soon as I saw it I knew we'd found our location. I went shopping with Garrett and Kendall for their outfits and man do they look pretty great, haha, if I do say so myself :)



The second part of this shoot will be up shortly. You are going to love it :)

xoxo,
Briony

A Camping Engagement

My little brother is getting married! Ahh, I still can't believe it. Haha. Of course, as soon as they called and told me the news I was coming up with vision boards for an Engagement shoot with them. So while I was in Michigan visiting last month, we spent a few days playing around and getting some sweet images of them together. This first set is in their camper. They plan camping trips every year, so I knew it was definitely something I wanted to tie into their engagement images.

I'll post some of my favorite pics from their other shoot later on this week. Be sure to check back :) 

xoxo
Briony

See Local: The Craftastic Studio of ROC Paper Scissors

Introducing Relish Studio's new personal project, See Local. Each month we are going to showcase a local artist or business. This month... we are happy to introduce you to Rosa of ROC Paper Scissors.

We walked into the light and airy studio of Rosa Clifford (featured on The Martha Stewart Show and Tampa Bay's Daytime) and though the morning was slightly overcast, I don't think we could've felt any warmer, the room any brighter. What amount of sun that shone through the misty clouds, poured into her large west facing windows and the light sparkled off of her racks of glitter and pretty, dainty things. We were there to capture a tutorial for one of her beautiful handcrafted cards, of which orders come to her from across the globe, for Martha Stewart's The Craft Dept. blog... and we left her studio feeling like we'd just had lunch with a dear friend. Although, yeah, lunch with a dear friend happened, because that's just the kind of person Rosa is––a great hostess, an inspirational artist, a caring mother, a dear friend and a good cook too.

Take a look at our totally crafty and smile-inducing shoot, and then visit Rosa at her online shop... though I will say, mind your wallets, because I left the shoot with an order of my favorite pieces of art. On second thought, don't worry about having to save up for the perfect pieces, you can score your own, and at a great price too!

To get the full tutorial for the card shown above, visit Martha Stewart's The Crafts Dept. blog.

Other Vendor Credits:

Featured Artist:: ROC Paper Scissors

Photography:: Relish Studios

Jewelry:: Heidi Daus Designs

Hair:: La Posh Salon

FEATURED ON:: Martha Stewart's The Crafts Dept. Blog

any place worth going...

"There are no short cuts, to any place worth going." Beverly Sills

It is so easy to rush through life. We are all incredibly busy; we have places to be, people to see, things to do and we are so fixated on the next thing that we often speed through our days and miss out on the special in between moments. I am guilty of this, and I've decided to make an effort to constantly remind myself that the journey is just as important as the destination.

"Be happy for this moment, this moment is your life." Unknown

On the road of inspiration.

This past weekend, Tabitha and I had the awesome opportunity to take a road trip to Atlanta to feed our creative fires and get inspired. Whenever an opportunity like that arises, I jump on it. No questions asked, because I know how important it is to feed my passions and break my daily routine.

So this weekend, while we were at Jeremy Cowart's Lifefinder conference we had the opportunity to glean wisdom from someone experienced in our field. Jeremy is a very well known commercial and band photographer, he has had a very successful career in both photography and design. That in itself makes him a good teaching candidate, but the best thing about Jeremy is the heart that he has not only for the field of photography and pushing those of us who call ourselves photographers to be daring and original, he also has a huge heart for giving back. He has started an organization called Help Portrait that is all about sharing love and capturing memories. Jeremy spoke about giving back, using our talents in order to make the world around us a better place, and how we can use our platforms to give others a voice to the world. The concept is simple, but the impact that it has had on thousands of lives is as complex and as deep as they come.

I wanted to share this because, we were challenged to stop saying “everything’s been done before.” Sadly, this saying is known by all of us. It is the most used cop-out , that we as adults choose as a defense mechanism when we are being called out on our laziness and lack of imagination. An original idea doesn’t have to be huge, it just has to be yours. One of the slides Jeremy shared was, “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” I loved this quote and I wrote it down as one to keep in mind. Failure is scary, but you have to face that fear in order to experience anything worthwhile.

We are all in different fields, our schedules during the day play-out in a vast number of ways; that being said there is something in our day, in our lives that we can make our own and make the choice to do differently. We just have to start thinking outside of the box. The best way to initiate this change is to do something that inspires you. Change your route to work, treat yourself to a good book, go to the theater, see a live band play, right down your dreams, take a class, etc. There are an endless number of ways that you can find your inspiration. Once you've found it, run with whatever amazing thing comes to mind. Embrace your imagination and start using what makes you so special, with others. “Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” Jamie Paolinetti

We all experience burn out, we hit a wall where we feel as if we can see the color draining from our lives and our purpose gets clouded with all the fog that fills our days. When burn out hits, it is time to be proactive and get inspired. “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman

I hope you take this post as an encouragement to go out and find what inspires you. Once you've found it, soak it in and get ready to live it out.

I hope you all have an amazing Tuesday!

Travel Diary: San Francisco

Last week I had the opportunity to spend 7days in San Francisco with my awesome friend and business partner Tabitha. I hadn't been to California in over 26yrs (I was 2 and I don't remember it at all) and I was uber excited about exploring somewhere new.

I love big cities, I am always so taken by their diverse culture, their beautiful architecture, their rich history and their unique and eclectic blend of people. When I was younger I always thought I'd end up living in a city because of all of the above, but living in Chicago for 3months was enough time for me to realize that cities and I are better off as long distance loves, the kind that visit as often as they can but know they will never be in the same place for long. I may not be a full timer but I can't get over how alive you feel when you are in a city. I am sure it has something to do with the fact that there is always something going on, somewhere to go, something to see. It's an electric sort of energy.

One of my favorite ways to take in a big city is to go mega-tourist and jump on a big red open top bus, this seriously brings me soooo much joy. I am sure many of you are laughing at me, especially all of you city folk but I don't care how much you tease the tourist I love me a big red open top bus. I love that they are affordable, I love that the tickets last for two days, I love that they allow you to see the city from a different perspective and I love meeting and chatting with the tour guides. Tour guides are a gem. I like to ask them about their city; their favorite place to chill, eat, get coffee, explore, shop, etc. It is like having an old pal in a new city, they point you in the right direction to see all the best the city has to offer.

I had 3 days with the big red open top bus for this trip and I loved every minute. Because of the tour I was able to experience Union Square, the Tenderloin, China Town, North Beach, Lombard Street, Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito, Golden Gate Park, Hayes Street, Alamo Square, Haight District, Market Street, Mission Street, Japan Town and the Bay Bridge on a budget. Below are just a few of the shots I was able to snap as we drove through the city streets.

I absolutely fell in love with San Francisco, definitely one of my new favorite cities. I will leave you with the amazing Tony Bennett's words...I can now say I have a better understanding of them.

The loveliness of Paris seems somehow sadly gay
The glory that was Rome is just another day
I've been terribly alone and forgotten in Manhattan
I'm going home to my city by the bay

I left my heart in San Francisco
High on a hill it calls to me
To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars
The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care

My love waits there in San Francisco
Above the blue and windy sea
When I come home to you, San Francisco
Your golden sun will shine for me