From the Haugen Heart

I love what I do! Every day brings something new but the greatest satisfaction comes from bring joy to other people's lives. I just got a message from one of my favorite clients, Cristy, and thought I would share: "These portraits have made all the difference for me. "At the beginning of November, our house was flooded. All of our possessions that were salvageable were put into storage and we had to move into a hotel while all the flooring was replaced, the walls repaired and the entire house repainted. I love the holidays and being in a hotel during this time was really depressing. "To make matters worse, the people doing the work did shoddy workmanship and we had to fight with them every step of the way. It was a nightmare! "We spent Christmas Day in the hotel. We watched the kids open a few presents but Paul and I couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to open our own presents. Finally, Paul told me that someone had brought a surprise out to the house and we needed ...

"We want a portrait that expresses who we really are." This came from Christy, a pretty and vibrant mother of three that I met with recently to talk about their upcoming family portrait session. She told me that they are passionate about athletics (basketball in particular) and try to instill in their children to always be improving, always doing their best. Like good coaches, Mom and Dad lead by example. They stay clear about what is most important in their lives and work hard to be the best they can be. My challenge is to capture something more than just another attractive family portrait. Something that captures the essence of who they are without being artificial. Another factor is that it is December so we need to be thinking about studio options. I have an idea of them on a hillside with lots of sky but that will need to be another day.... another month. I promised Christy that I would show her some ideas and I thought that the best way would be in a blog post so that ...