Ashley Brawner Photography

The other night my family and I decided to venture out to our town square and look at the Christmas decorations before they were taken down. We hadn’t been to see them yet and it was the 2nd of January, so we knew they were coming down soon. We went up and sat in the sleigh and hung out with the kids and during our visit up there met two different groups of people, which we really enjoyed talking with.

And of course I snagged a few pics for them… I always feel for people when I see moms and dads or one person always stepping out of the photos to hop behind the camera, thus making them end up with no photos of them all together. The first group, one of the gals is an aspiring professional photographer and we talked shop (and about Vampire Diaries, which I have recently fallen addicted to) and of course I loved that! And the family we met afterwards had several mutual friends with us and needed family photos soon and they run an athletic business that has rec teams for kids, something I had just been talking to my hubby about for our kids (& of course their kids and our kids hit it off and wore themselves out… I’m pretty sure they all slept really well that night). How crazy is all that? Just in a small trip to look at Christmas lights… You never know who you might meet or what opportunities you may come into just being open and friendly to anyone you meet, even in a small last minute decision to do something simple –  Anywho, since I’m pledging to maintain my blog with you guys, I thought I’d share a couple photos from that night and the awesome people that we met.

Visit the event on facebook for details: Butler Family Benefit

I’m going to preface this with the fact that I’ve always known that photos were a very important and vital part of every day life… But it’s not been more real to me than it has in the last couple weeks, with the death of a friend & client and then photographing a sweet newborn baby girl who is on life support.

The last couple years I’ve really kinda struggled with who I am as an artist, where my passion truly is and what do I want to “specialize” in, etc because I really and truly love just photographing pretty much anything (especially when people give me creative control)

I went to Jeremy Cowart Photography’s LifeFinder in Atlanta (thanks to a sweet friend taking me along (Thanks Daniel Stancil)… And Jeremy really spoke to me about finding my voice and what I want to do to give back with my work… Not just for me but for me to give back in using my God-given talent, gifts and time that He has me here for.

These last few weeks I feel like I’ve really realized some things about where I want to be and who I want to be as a photographer, with the loss of the Butler family and with the time I was able to spend with Baby Presley yesterday. I have a pretty big heart and sometimes my intentions and ideas are more than I can possibly make time for with my family, but visiting and photographing Presley only took a few hours of my time, but will mean much more than that to them and the time it took to get the photos from archives of Kelly & her family only took about two days but it is way more than two days worth of memories for the children and family members that are this side of Heaven.

I “launched” Love Revolution earlier this year because I wanted to help somehow but was so overwhelmed with ideas that I wasn’t really sure HOW I was going to best help with it and I really think that with these two recent events, I know how I want to help and give back.

Above and beyond photographing weddings, babies, boudoir, families, seniors, my own personal concept work, etc… I want to use my time and work to give back and to help others and families that find themselves in these circumstances that are beyond their control… So that’s what Love Revolution will be… Not necessarily revolutionizing people’s lives but bringing them MORE than just memories through LOVE and other means, be it photography or something else… Just about giving back.

Starting this year 2012, Ashley Brawner Photograpy, Photobooth (by Ashley Brawner Photography), and Blush Boudoir Photography will be donating 10% of all revenue to help support local charities, fundraisers, etc… Be it something like the fundraiser we did earlier this year for Ketren, the one we are currently doing for the Butler family or to help raise money and awareness for Huntington’s Disease (something that has personally affected my family and I), or just buying some personal (and/or primping) items to take to the local women’s shelter.

I hope that you will help support me and these families and if you are looking for ways to help, please feel free to contact me at ashley@ashleybrawner.com – Any and all help is greatly appreciated… Even if it’s just behind the scenes helping organize things.

Rest in peace Kelly, Dustin, Brooke and Braylon – and God bless you Presley, we are praying for you sweet baby girl!!