Melba and Alejandro Rosa's Wedding

What an amazing day filled with love, smiles, tears, and inspiration. Melba and Alejandro are not only a client of mine, but amazing friends to me. Their love for each other is so real and pure. When they first asked me to photograph their wedding I was so nervous because it would be my first. However, the more time I spent time with them and saw how relaxed they were, I knew they would be the perfect first wedding clients. :) Here is a little sneak peak of their special day!

Melba, you are stunning!

The best moment the whole day...when they first saw each other...priceless.

THE kiss shot at the ceremony :) It started to rain a little bit...perfect timing.

Since it started raining, we were unable to get all the shots we wanted outside so we took it inside to the bridal suite. This room was gorgeous!

Melba and Alejandro Rosa, I am so honored I got the photograph your special day. I wish you all the luck on this new journey.
"There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved"
-George Sands

Making Things Happen!

I had spent all Wednesday night tossing and turning. I was about to embark in a new journey that I had no idea where it was going to take me. I spent all day Thursday in an amazing workshop called Making Things Happen by Lara Casey. A good friend of mine, Amy, told me about how this workshop changed, not only her business, but her whole life. She insisted on me signing up. Without knowing anything about it or knowing what I was getting myself into, I registered that day! And I will NEVER regret not one penny that I spent.

What an amazing day filled with tears, laughter, honesty, fears, and enlightenment! I had no idea I was going to express so many emotions or meet such incredible women. When I first entered the room with butterflies in my stomach, I noticed I was the second girl there.  "What were were going to do?" "Are the girls going to like me and my story?" "What if we don't connect?" It felt like it was my first day at a new school or taking the SAT all over again. I felt so unprepared coming in. I didn't even know what to bring. As everyone started to come in the room, I could tell that we were all on the same boat...nervous. Suddenly, Gina tosses a box of tissues in the middle of the circle. Oh dear....here come the tears, we all thought. Emily, one of the mentors, told us, "Don't worry...within 3 minutes the nerves will go away." We all relaxed and began to laugh.

The whole day consisted of sharing our stories, confronting our fears, making a list of what we want to achieve in life and our businesses and how we are going to make it happen. We all connected with each other...made each other laugh, cry, and smile. We talked about pursuing our dreams, leaving our jobs that we hate, and creating balance between work and family.  After the workshop ended, it wasn't a goodbye to my new family. This is JUST the beginning....we are creating a community where we can trust, tell each other anything, help each other succeed, but most importantly, it is a place where we can be ourselves.

I feel excited, light, inspired, happiness, love and pure JOY about my new journey! I am ready to Make Things Happen!

Taking a leap!

I have always wanted to start a blog for my business but there was always a part of me that was scared...scared of being judged, scared of putting myself out there, and scared people would not even look at it.  It was not until this past Monday when I attended Jasmine Star's event. Jasmine Star is not only an amazing wedding photographer, but also a inspirational woman who has a passion for helping other photographer's reach THEIR dreams. At the event she didn't talk about her success, she talked about her struggles in life. How her struggles made her change...change into this beautiful and strong person. She asked us to think about our struggles and how we can convert them into something beautiful. At the end of the event, I got a chance to quickly say hello to her. I told her about my struggles and how I am fearful of people judging me. She responded by saying, "Olga, you NEED to put it out there! Tell your story." That simple sentence brought me to this moment...I am starting this blog because I want to tell my story.

I am an aspiring photographer who thrives to photograph the beautiful moments in life. To simply make one smile. To take them out of reality and let them live in the moment of the photograph. Leaving all negativity aside and gain a sense of optimism and serenity.

So what is my struggle? 

At the age of 12, I started to develop a voice condition called Spasmodic Dysphonia. It was supposed to be a time to grow up, a time to have sleepovers with my friends, and a time to dream about who I wanted to become. Instead, I was asking myself "Why do I sound so different? "Why can't people understand me?" "Why can I not express myself?"  From then on I began to loose my confidence, loose my friends, and loose my identity. It has been years of visiting different doctors  trying to see of ways to overcome this "sickness". Apparently the only way of "curing" it is to inject botox in one of my vocal cords every 3-5 months for the rest of my life. But even that cannot guarantee my voice back for those few months. It was not until probably two years ago that I began to notice the good about my diagnosis. God has a plan for all of us. I was given this voice for a reason. But what is that reason? It has been an intense journey of redefining who I am. I have learned to live my life in a whole different way. I began to observe the world...I noticed the beauty in every situation. I surrounded myself with people who love me for ME. Since my voice has had this condition, my camera became my new voice. I started capturing my surroundings. It allowed me to express myself again and eventually I became addicted to this new world. So now that I have a better understanding of my journey in my life, I am ready to LET GO...AND GO FOR MY DREAMS! 

But what are my dreams? My dream is to stop letting my voice take over my confidence. My dream is to capture the beauty from within and the beauty this world has to offer. I want to connect to people and have them not focus on my voice but my words. I want to feel worthy again. Some people call Spasmodic Dysphonia a disability...I call it a gift from God.