From the Blog

A Trip Down Memory Lane| Christine Lee Photography| Plant City Family Photographer

May 11, 2020

During this Covid-19 pandemic I have had a lot of time to think. It has been a blessing and a curse because my mind tends to go down a rabbit hole of worst case scenarios and my anxiety rears it’s ugly head again.

I have tried to concentrate my thoughts on more productive things like my business and it’s future. My goals. My relationship with God. And while I have been thinking of my future plans for Christine Lee Photography I have also had time to reflect on the past.

My sweet husband bought me a Nikon D3400 for Christmas in 2016 and at first I just wanted to take as many cute pictures of my son as I could. All it took was a few kind words from my friends and family to give me the confidence to pursue photography as a career. My passion was always there, I just needed some prompting.

One of the things that I had to truly learn is to STOP COMPARING MYSELF TO OTHERS.

That was a hard lesson. There was a photographer a few cities away from me who started when I did but she was immensely more successful than I was already. I didn’t know what she was doing differently or why she was already so successful and honestly, I still couldn’t tell you. I just know I had to work through that and instead of wondering WHY she was where she was I needed to be happy for her and her business.

I needed to love the place I was in as a business owner and focus on getting to where I wanted to be.

I have to say that was single handedly the best thing I could have done for my business and for myself. To stop comparing myself to anyone else.

We can admire other’s success, other’s growth, other’s beauty, without questioning our own.

In fact, being geniunely happy for others and their successes, big and small, has made my life so much sweeter. I can look back and see the difference in my work. I can see when I let go of the comparisons, when I let go of the self doubt and just poured my heart and soul into every session. I love seeing that growth. I can’t wait to look back 3 years from now to see how I evolve from here.

If you’re on a growth journey right now, whether it is business related or not, and you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others…stop.

Give yourself some grace.

Especially right now during quarantine, it’s easy to see other moms who are cooking full course meals, exercising every single day, while also home schooling their children and smiling the whole time.

Good for them! That’s amazing and so hard but guess what. So is not doing ANY of those things. It’s okay if you are just getting by through this. There is beauty in all of it. Comparing ourselves to others does nothing but bring us down.

When you start thinking what someone else has done better than you or more than you or whatever it might be just tell yourself this:

“STOP. You are amazing and capable of anything you set your mind to. Where anyone else is in their journey is not related to you in yours. YOU GOT THIS.”

It might seem silly but it helps. Even if you just tell yourself to stop and then move on. Just don’t dwell on those comparisons.

For funsies lets take a trip down memory lane! From my first logos and first portraits to now.

This was the original logo. I wanted the dandelion as a representation for my son. I still adore this logo and it will always have a special place in my heart.

I’m honestly not sure why I decided to change the original logo at this point other than I had fallen in love with the pastel colors. But I didn’t fall in love with that as an editing style, at this point I don’t think I really even HAD a consistent editing style.

See? I was still working through the editing/style part!

The final logo…

I finally found an editing style that I loved and I wanted a logo that was consistent with that style. I wanted to incorporate greenery because the rustic, woodsy locations were always my favorite. I wanted to include strawberries because Plant City, FL is where I started this business and strawberries are also known for being sweet. That is how most of my clients and friends have described me as a person and it is something that I strive to be daily, in all aspects of my life.

I am finally at a place in my life, in my business, where I can look back and see how far I have come and I can truly say that I am happy where I am. I will continue to grow because I know that I can always learn more and be better but I am content and happy to be where I am right now.

Catching Up With Christine Lee Photography| Plant City Senior Photographer | High school Portraits | Plant City Family Photographer | Family Portraits

April 25, 2020

Hello Blog World! It has been way too long since I wrote a blog post. Which, as a business owner is horrible. Life has changed completely and I feel like I’m living in an entirely different universe from when I last wrote.

Let’s do a speed catch up for Christine Lee Photography:

In August my son started VPK, he was bullied by a student and his teacher; I had to switch from a daycare he had been at since 2016 to a brand new school. BEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE. My son went from hating his teacher to absolutely adoring his new teacher, he started to thrive and learn so much more than I thought was even possible. I’m mentioning this because my role as a mother is a huge part of my photography business and I fell off the business band wagon while we dealt with this transition.

Then I joined my best friend, Vanessa at V Love Inc, in renting a studio space for our business in October. I have dreamed of having a photography studio space for SO LONG. We planned and designed until it was exactly the creative space we needed (if you would like to see it click here!).
Christmas minis were a huge success; I took time off to focus on my son’s 5th birthday and Christmas. In January we started planning our Grand Opening event; we celebrated our small, intimate Grand Opening on February 1st and it was such a lovely turn out!

And then things started to get a little scary.

I had seen COVID 19 on the news since January, it had been on my radar since. It wasn’t until a few weeks after our grand opening that I truly began to worry. I am naturally an anxious person (I come by it naturally from both my mom’s side and my dad’s) so the fear of a deadly virus did not sit well with me. BUT since it had been on my radar for far longer than most people I feel like it ended up giving me an advantage. I had to work through some serious anxiety and fear (as in I went to the urgent care because I had chest pain and the doctor ended up telling me I needed to control my mind). I feel that I was able to turn the news off, turn my focus on God and build my relationship with Him, before things truly began to get worse here in the US. Now I don’t watch the news and I don’t check the statistics.

I just do what I can to stop the spread, the spread of the virus and the spread of fear.

Obviously because of the safer at home order I have not been scheduling sessions. But I haven’t stopped working on my business. I have been diving into workshops, photography classes; I’ve been working on my brand and what I want to offer my clients. As soon as I get the green light to schedule clients I am going to hit the ground running.

I have missed them all so much, their smiling faces, the love between children and their parents, seeing all the beauty of motherhood. I miss it and I miss the people.

Especially since I have been going through sessions from the past year and seeing all their smiles and hugs it just fuels my passion to get back out there and it also gives me hope. Hope that we will get back to our happy, normal lives soon; because THIS is NOT going to be the new normal.

In Home Fall Family Sessions| Plant City Family Photographer | Family Portraits

August 22, 2019

Fall is quickly approaching! And guess what? It’s one of my FAVORITE times of the year. I love everything fall from the colors to the pumpkin spice everything; I know, I’m so basic when it comes to this!
What I also love is in home family sessions around the holidays. It’s the perfect way to document those memorable moments. The costumes, the decorations, all of it!

In home family sessions are so close to my heart because they capture true memories in their home where they have ALREADY have so many memories. The children are more relaxed, they feel more comfortable because they know the space they are in.

This family made read Halloween books, baked Halloween cookies, and carved their first pumpkin of the year. It was too cute to see how excited their little girl was about it! This is why I love family photography…it makes my heart happy to know that when their little girl grows up she will have all of these images to bring her back to these memories, to this moment.

Not sure what to wear to your photo session? | Plant City Family and Senior Photographer | High school and Family Portraits

July 29, 2019

I’ve been there. I’ve gone through all of the frustruations of coordinating outfits for myself, my husband, and my son. I would search Pinterest for the best looks but either it didn’t tell me where to buy the clothes or I would like one thing from this image and another piece of clothing from the next image. I couldn’t compare them next to each other or see how everything would come together.
My goal as a photographer is to capture memories and geniune interactions between you and your family and to boost the confidence of every mama, tween, or high school student out there. I also want to make your experience with me as easy and natural as possible…starting with what to wear.
That’s why I’ve included an interactive styling tool with all of my sessions. It’s simple to use and I personally think it changes the task of finding something to wear from frustrating to fun. 🙂

It’s just 3 simple steps:

Step 1: Fill out styling questionnaire

Step 2: View results immediately and select clothing items with heart icon

Step 3: Email your outfits to your own email to shop!

Done. You don’t have to purchase any of the outfits from this; you can simply use it to see what certain styles/patterns you might already have look together.

Here are a few guidelines I always suggest:

Sweet Little Miss Raelyn | Plant City Family Photographer | Family Portraits

June 11, 2019

One of the main reasons I wanted to add a small in-home studio space is because I wanted to offer snuggle sessions for newborns. I offer a few posed/positioned images but I want the newborn sessions I do to focus on the parents loving on their new baby. I want to offer them a safe, quiet space for them to just cuddle and love each other. It’s a very simple approach but I absolutely love capturing the sweet moments between mommy, daddy, and baby. Newborns change daily so it’s very important to me to capture all the details of that time.
Lauren and her husband were absolutely amazing with their newborn daughter, the connection and love between the three was beautiful to see. These are the moments that made me fall in love with photography; this is the reason I do what I do.

“Before you were born,
we dreamed of you, we imagined you,
we prayed for you.
Now that you are here,
we hope for you, we love you,
we thank God for you.”

Why Senior Portraits are so important to me…| Plant City Senior Photographer | High school Portraits

June 9, 2019

One of the reasons that high school senior sessions mean so much to me is that I know all too well how fast children grow. My son is only 4 years old but it seems like we were JUST celebrating his first birthday. For me, senior sessions are very sentimental. This is such a delicate time between childhood and adulthood, when you can look at your senior and still see their face as a little boy but also the face of the man they are turning into. It’s a moment in time that I know I would want to stand still, just for a little while longer.

High school senior sessions are sentimental for me as a mother but they are also meant to be fun and light hearted. Where we celebrate them and their bright future, all their dreams and goals. Where we celebrate everything about them that makes them unique and that makes them stand out. For Corey, what stood out to me was his patience. I have never met a senior guy who WANTED to have his pictures taken but Corey was patient and he did not complain about the different poses I directed him in. After we were finished and I asked him for just one more because the sunset was on fire (seriously look at the last picture there is no other way to describe it) he obliged happily. He was so polite and I know how proud his parents are of him. His mother was absolutely so sweet and sent me his graduation invitation that turned out beautifully. My favorite part of his invitation is the bible verse his gorgeous mama put on the back “I know the plans I have for you, plans to give hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

This truly could not be more fitting.

Fair Warning: I will ask for a picture with the senior and their mama!

Gorgeous Beach Family Session | Plant City Family Photographer | Family Beach Portraits

May 29, 2019

I am not the best about blogging so I’ve been a little behind on posts but I am SO excited to share this session!!! It is one of my all time favorites. This family was not only absolutely gorgeous and natural in front of the camera but they were so freaking sweet!

The love and connection that they all have together is beyond amazing. I’m not even going to write that much about this session because their images speak for themselves and say it better than I ever could.

Sibling Session | Plant City Family Photographer | Family Portraits

May 5, 2019

This is one of my favorite families ever. When I met these cutie’s mom during a family session for HER mom’s birthday she was the absolute sweetest. She booked me for a sibling session and then an in-home lifestyle session for Christmas. This is one of the times where a client, who I had never met before, becomes a friend. These two kids were so well behaved and respectful it shows how amazing of a mom and dad they have.

Of course I absolutely LOVE that they brought their puppy with them! They’re siblings too lol

Not only is the whole family sweet but they were dressed perfectly! I loved the outfits Carolyn choose for them.

I’m so thankful to have met this beautiful family and to be able to consider them friends.

Apollo Beach Maternity Session| Plant City Family Photographer | Family Portraits

April 29, 2019

I’m pretty sure I’ve said it before but I’m going to say it again…I LOVE beach sessions! Especially at this location. I love the greenery and variety it offers.

I always schedule sessions an hour or two before sunset but at this time of the year it was storming every evening. At the request of this gorgeous mama she wanted to schedule a mid morning session. It worked best for her family and I always do my best to accommodate clients. That being said these are brighter than my typical style and that’s why; time of day and lighting changes everything. I don’t recommend sessions during mid-morning not only because of how blinding the sun is but because it is unbearably hot. I’m 90% sure I almost had a heat stroke during this session and I have not been able to tolerate the Florida heat since. If that could happen to me it could easily happen to one of my clients and I would never want that to happen. BUT I do truly love how these turned out. They are bright and feel happy to me; plus I love how blue the sky was.

Can we take a moment to just appreciate the strength of this beautiful mother? Not only was she forming life inside her but she was also suffering from a MS flare up. Pregnancy comes with it’s own challenges but to add MS on top of it and she smiled through it all. She is such a strong mother and woman.

Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.” -Barbara Kingsolver

V Love Inc | Plant City Senior Photographer | High school Portraits

April 22, 2019

Wow…I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I posted here! My goal is to share a session at least once a month this year. To be honest, I have a lot of goals this year. I want to take a quick moment to explain my brief absence. The main reason is that I’ve been taking the time to focus on myself; I started counting calories to lose weight and if you know me, you know when I’m in I am ALL in.

Aside from obsessing over every calorie I eat I’ve also been dealing with some anxiety. It’s something that I have to constantly work at overcoming, every day. Which leads me to this amazing session for V Love Inc. The owner, Vanessa, is one of my closest and truest friends. She has helped me through so much in the nine years I’ve known her; she continues to help me battle my anxiety. She teaches self-love and shows you how to have a happier life. I know the changes she has made in me and I can’t wait to see all of the changes she’s going to make in this world.

Vanessa is a Heal Your Life teacher and life coach; she helps people to become a happier version of themselves. She offers workshops as well as one on one sessions, in person or on the phone. Go check her out at https://vloveinc.com/

I believe I’m a unicorn. Unicorns are very magical and powerful and strong.” – Justine Skye

Not only is Vanessa’s teaching beautiful but so is she; inside and out. She has always had a light about her that needs to be shared with the world. My purpose in these head shots for her was to truly showcase her gorgeous heart and soul that she pours into everything.