I am the owner and one of the photographers at Moments To Remember Photography.
In the year 2000, my career path took a complete change from working as a nurse on the renal floor at Hurley Medical Center to making the decision to be a photographer and business owner.
I was a young mother and a wife of only a few years. When I look back at this decision, it seemed at the time to be quite impulsive, and very unexpected to those around me considering I knew nothing about photography and had never even had an art class or shown any interest in the arts. I was a caregiver by nature, and those were the only jobs I ever had.
Something else happened in the year 2000 that changed my life. I met and fell in love with Jesus Christ! I believe that these moments in my life were occurring at the same time for a reason. I learned to put my trust and life in something bigger than myself, I realized on my own there were such limitations, but through Christ anything is possible!
Backing up just a little bit. What triggered this career change happened while scrapbooking with a friend of mine. Her brother stopped by and saw the pictures I was working on and asked if I’d photograph his wedding. I’m pretty sure I laughed right out loud at him and reminded him he would not be able to get those pictures back and I knew nothing about photography. He offered me a couple hundred dollars and we were young and broke; so I accepted!
My mother-in-law gave me a very old, but a tank of a camera to use and I set out to photograph my first wedding. I’d like to say everything went perfectly, and I knew it was going to be a great fit for me… But that was not the case. I was a nervous wreck. My sweet husband came with me as my “assistant” and I was so thankful to have him by my side.
I exposed a whole roll of film out of anxiety when I opened the back of the camera before rolling the film back into the canister. Thankfully, they were the posed pictures after the ceremony. I quickly freaked out while pretending that nothing was wrong so much so that no one knew what was going on except for my husband. I believe God flooded my mind with ideas of new posing that I quickly suggested we do since we had a couple extra minutes. I don’t believe even to this day the bride and groom knew that that had happened and there was nothing missed in their final proofs.
I figured since I survived one of the worst case scenarios, maybe I was meant for this industry! I had given the couple their proofs (which back in the day I printed from the one hour photo in 4 x 6’s) and within weeks I had gotten multiple calls from other brides, wanting me to photograph their weddings. I couldn’t believe what was happening, but it encouraged me to pursue this new dream of mine!
What was probably the biggest miracle in the beginning, was another friend of mine, brought me this small garage sale ad from the newspaper that said photography equipment for sale. I borrowed my husband’s truck and was the first one at that sale and when the garage doors opened I swear I could hear angels singing. I didn’t know what a lot of the items were, but he was retiring, and wanted to get to Florida, and offered me a ridiculous amount of stuff for 150 bucks! I got lights, stands, stools, reflectors, umbrellas, just to name a few of the items. I had everything I needed to start a small studio in my home for $150!
Because I started debt-free from what I would say was nothing short of a miracle I vowed to not take on debt and only grow the business if it could continue to grow and sustain itself and today over 23 years later, we continue to be debt-free and we continue to grow at an attainable pace.
After 10 years of having the studio in my finished basement and the office in what used to be my dining room, (that actually housed three employees at one time) we were able to build the studio that now sits on our property! It has been amazing to watch this business evolve all at just the right moments, to meet thousands and thousands of families and have a front row seat in some of the best moments of their lives, become family with my employees and continue to do what I love!
Not to mention having the freedom to not miss out on things like time with the family, homeschooling the kids when they were younger, traveling and enjoying this new season of life, being a grandparent!
I have prayed at every crossroads and believe fully that God has delivered me the most amazing people to work alongside of me, to love our clients, work this business as if it was their own and to share life with! Not only are my staff beautiful souls and are so good at the things that they do; they also have specific talents and strengths that are so different from each others that we truly form a perfect team.
All of them have been with me for years now, one of them Crystal Long is going on 16 years here with moments to remember! In addition to Crystal and I, we have two other photographers that are gifted in their craft. Erica Bailey and Melissa Ridley fill those positions. Now, when you say photographer you think that you would find them behind the cameras all the time, but shooting is just a small portion of what we do…you can find these girls behind the computers, meeting with clients, setting scenes, doing studio yard-work (as we have 10 acres to care for), packaging pictures just to name a few of the crazy amount of responsibilities we all have here.
What comes with shooting an insane amount of pictures? Editing an insane amount of pictures, lol. This is where the other team members come into play.
Taylor Cushman has been here nine years now and has our processing down to a science. She heads this department and handles all of this responsibility during her full-time hours (plus some) again, each person in addition to their assigned role is covering calls, meeting with clients and making business decisions throughout the day ( never gets boring that’s for sure) over the last couple years Taylor now has a partner to help in the processing of these pictures. Kathy Frank is a dear friend of mine and has always helped with the business by creating our website throughout the years, offering me tech support and moral support. She has worked part time in our office for the past couple years, helping us in the area of proofing and retouching our images. We have now even recruited her daughter Abecca to help us when we need extra hands when we’re out on events and hosting weddings here at our venue.
I am beyond thankful for each lovely lady that works here and for all the time and talents they bring to this company. We are all looking forward to the future of this company and thankful for the community that continues to support our small business 
praying for another 23 years!!
…Lorem Ipsum proin gravida nibh vel velit auctor aliquet Aenean lorem quis bibendum auctor, nisi elit consequat ipsum, nec sagittis sem!
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adi pisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis exercitation ullamco laboris nisiut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adi pisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis exercitation ullamco laboris nisiut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo.
Thanks, Mrs. Miller, you the best: One time way back in sixth grade math class I had to fart really bad. Me being the idiot that I am decided that it would be silent. Big surprise it wasn’t. The only person talking was the teacher and she was interrupted by freaking cannon fire farts. She said she was disappointed I couldn’t hold it in and proceeded to tell a story of how she taught a famous athlete who did nearly the same thing. More stories here https://clck.ru/3ALGcu