Personal Archives

Feb

Images are Empowering

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This past weekend, I had the chance to photograph an Xtreme Fitness with Phil event at The Gym in Jourdanton. In addition to seniors and weddings, I always love to photograph athletes!! Athletes will always have a special place in my heart. [Click here to see all the images from the Xtreme Hip Hop.]

I’ve recited this story before, but I’ll tell it again.

I can definitively say there are two events that spring-boarded my interest in photography: my experience in high school athletics and living through the deaths of my sister and mom and barely being 21-years-old. I am going to elaborate on the first.

[Tweet “Images are Empowering”]

By most standards, I grew up in a financially poor family. My dad hunted to put meat on our table. We shopped for clothes once a year and couldn’t afford much. We got only one new pair of shoes each year. Our homes and furniture always belonged to someone else before they belonged to us. Sometimes my parents shared a single vehicle, but nonetheless, it was never new and shiny. We were farmers and ranchers—blue collar workers. We lived in the country in a trailer house. It wasn’t even a double-wide.

We didn’t have money attached to our last name. Instantly, I was unpopular in school. Sometimes, it was even hard to get the other poor kids to like me.

But in 7th grade… I noticed a minuscule difference. I started to play sports. This wasn’t work. It was fun!!! It wasn’t at all like hoeing corn, bailing hay, butchering chickens or building barbed-wire fences. I played anything and everything I could. I had balance, strength, coordination and discipline. And I noticed that I had enormous determination and self-motivation. I could will myself to work really, really hard. I could almost ignore my body telling me to quit.

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But most importantly… I started to have friends AND confidence. Athletics gave me that.

The icing on the cake was seeing an action image of myself in the paper or school yearbook. It froze time for me. Within that camera shutter, I could see all the balance, strength, coordination, discipline, determination and self-motivation come together. For an instant, the memory of my sister’s death was dimmed… the pain of being a teenage, abused girlfriend was overshadowed… the stigma of having a mother with mental illness was blurred… the discomfort of being poor was concealed. The image was miraculous. I was empowered.

I also had the added benefit of having coaches who could also nurture this newly-found confidence. All throughout high school, I loved competing with my teammates. I enjoyed performing for my coaches. I thrived on pushing myself to new limits.

When my own children started to play sports, I wanted to be able to empower them in this same way. I wanted to give them the gift of confidence. I wanted them to see an image of themselves and see strength, discipline and determination. And I wanted the magical powers of the image to be able to safely remove them from whatever challenges they were facing.

Empowering the Athlete in Still Images

I’m convinced that my experience in high school would have been much different had it not been for athletics. And had it not been for still images, I might not have enjoyed athletics so much.

When I take sporting images, my main goal is to always empower the athlete! No one knows all the handicaps one is facing. No one understands the stumbling blocks in another’s life. No one comprehends every hardship that even their best friend takes on. But this I do know! I do know that when my image depicts someone in a very powerful, deliberate, and unfaltering light, it has the power to be a catalyst to grow someone’s confidence and empower them! Maybe, it can even change their life. I KNOW this.

Here are some of my favorite images from the Xtreme Hip Hop Step class. Please enjoy the video. For the best quality, be sure to change the video player settings to 1080 HD.

The post, Images are Empowering, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

Feb

Hiking in Big Bend

I was lucky enough to have been born in Texas and I have been immensely proud of that fact my entire life. Even though the summers are hotter than Hades and the only way to survive is to spend them submerged in a river… even though the winter weather fluctuates so much that we sometimes experience multiple seasonal changes within a single week, I love this state. Even though I have to drive for hours before I can cross the state line and even though a lot of words are “fightin’ words,” I love this state with all my heart! When I die, I want my heart to beat its final beat in Texas.

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[Tweet “Big Bend Nat’l Park Hiking Recap”]

It is because of this vast love for state that I can’t understand what took me so long to get to Big Bend National Park. My first trip to Big Bend wasn’t until December 2015. The second was in January 2017. I thoroughly enjoyed both trips. This place is deeply incredible… magical perhaps.

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Big Bend Nat’l Park Hiking Recap

I stayed a week, RV camping with my two best friends—one of which happens to also be my sister. That’s the two of us pictured above, having a bit of a duel about whose rock is bigger… of course, I won. Day hiking by day and RV camping by night is really the best of both worlds. You get all the benefits of wild exploration and a warm shower/soft bed. Don’t misunderstand me, though. I also love to rough it.

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We took a day hike nearly every day. We hiked The Window, Balanced Rock, Ernst Tinaja and a short trip to soak in the hot springs. We also hiked Closed Canyon in the Big Bend State Park. We re-created the 30-mile 4×4 drive we accidentally ventured on last year. This time; however, we did it by way of daylight. It was beautiful to see everything we missed last trip in the dark. We ventured to Marfa to try and see the mystery lights. We did see one strange set of lights. I don’t even know what it was. It was bizarre though. The rest of the lights we saw, I’m convinced, were just headlights off in the distance.

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We also took a day trip to visit my second cousin, Franky, who owns a ranch just outside of Study Butte. Looking back, we should have scheduled more time for this trip. I did not know that once our tires left the pavement, we’d still have to drive an hour just to get to his camp. We arrived around 1 p.m. He and his friends fed us chicken soup and then he gave us a grand tour of the place on his ATV. Talk about a maze of dirt roads. Generally speaking, I have a pretty good sense of direction. However, I was lost most of this day. Franky even had to follow us on our way out for about 30 minutes to make sure we didn’t make any wrong turns. Surely enough, right where he suspected we’d turn wrong, we did.

Enjoy these beautiful images of Big Bend National Park.

The post, Big Bend Nat’l Park Hiking Recap, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

Jan

My Army Reunion

Last February, I first talked with a buddy from Army basic training about making a trip out East to visit her. There were a few fellow soldiers who made significant impacts on my Army life and I knew time may be running out to see them. I have experienced enough tragedy in life to know that tomorrow is never a guarantee. Each passing day is a gamble as to whether or not I would ever be able to again visit face-to-face with friends who were once such important pieces of my daily existence. More than 24 years had passed since my eyes had seen these friends.

On December 14th, I set sail… so-to-speak and I made that trip a reality.

This was a GREAT trip! My daughter and I left on December 14th and headed to the East Coast. For a few days, we had no real agenda until we were scheduled to meet up with my Army buddies. When we finally met up on the 17th, it was as if 24+ years had not passed between the last time I saw these guys.

People come in and out of our lives, and the true test of friendship is whether you can pick back up right where you left off the last time you saw each other. ~Lisa See

[Tweet “My Army Reunion”]

I met “Eggleston” (now Monica Chavez) during basic training at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina and we also went to AIT at Ft. Gordon, Georgia together. I also met her husband Chris at Ft. Gordon, though he has absolutely no recollection of me. 🙁

Everything about basic training, at least in 1990, had a way of creating lifelong friendships. If you want a really good friend… run miles with them in formation without dropping, master “assuming the prone position”—also known as getting ready to do massive amounts of push-ups, get punished together for something neither of you did, roll around in the mud underneath barbed wire while live rounds are shot over your head, march miles in the dark not knowing where you’re going, pull KP or CQ together, share letters and pictures from home, target practice, learn personal combat skills, run a three-mile obstacle course, spit shine those boots like nobody’s business, sneak a few beers after graduation and finally, share your family at graduation because my family couldn’t make the trip. These are some of the things Eggleston and I did together and what, I think, contributed to our lifelong connection and bond. These are the things that made me search for her when I activated my Facebook account. This is why I drove 1,000 miles east to see her this past December. Well these reasons and because she’s a pretty awesome person!!

It was a real blast from the past going back on Ft. Gordon and actually standing on Barton Field’s three-mile, red clay track with Eggleston where so many of our AIT PT ~~torture sessions~~ trainings took place.

I served with “Nate” (Edward Nater) and “Mac” (Frank McKoy) in the 97th Signal Battalion unit in Germany during the early-1990’s. I can’t really remember what brought any of us together though it may have had something to do with Eichbaum®. Seriously though, we were all youngsters, well except for Nate 🙂 and so far from home. Our only choices were to bond or become loners. We were smart!

We spent a lot of time in housing at Nate’s place where his wife, Denise, would take care of us youngsters. Did I mention Eichbaum? There was also a lot of Eichbaum, playing Spades and listening to 90’s music. Boyz II Men, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Poison, and Shai will instantly transport me back to Germany circa 1991-1993. (Please let the record show that Nate was still playing all this music when I visited him in 2016. Please also let the record show that Mac still enjoys leading PT sessions and counting reps.)

My Army Reunion

I am so thankful that I got to visit with each of these special friends and meet new friends, Nate’s youngest daughter and grandchildren and Mac’s wife, while on this trip. Although I only knew my Army buddies for short periods, they will forever remain special to my heart. I am also very grateful that I got to introduce my youngest daughter, Kyanna, to my old Army buddies. Next time, I have to get Sierra to go. She was in my belly when I arrived at the 97th and born while I was in Germany. We ought not let 24 years pass between visits. We are smarter than that… we are Army smart. <wink>

The post, My Army Reunion, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

Jan

Future of Social Media

This morning I was doing some bookkeeping duties entering expenses into my accounting software. Among the pile of receipts, I came across an entry ticket to the Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana. Undoubtedly, I saved this ticket from mine and Kyanna’s December, 2016 trip because I wanted to add it to my baby box. Yes, I’m nearly 48-years-old and I still add things to the box of momentos my mother started in 1969.

I sometimes have a hard time with separation anxiety of things. I develop emotional attachments to weird, simple things. But don’t worry, not stuff like milk jugs, used fast food containers and old newspapers!

[Tweet “Will Social Media Replace Heirlooms?”]

In the event of my death, I want Kyanna to be reminded of this trip we took together. Also, I couldn’t throw the ticket away because the trip meant so much to me. That’s the best way I can describe my emotional attachments to “things” that I feel tell my story and will someday preserve my legacy. For me, it is sometimes impossible to throw something away as simple as an entry ticket.

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Will Social Media Replace Heirlooms?

I began this tendency to hoard things after the deaths of my sister in 1984, and my mom exactly six years and two days later. Very early in life, I learned that life is short and unpredictable and painful. I also learned that time has an adverse way of letting you forget important things… like the sound of my mother’s voice when she would wake me for school, what our family would discuss at the dinner table, or what we would laugh about… I don’t remember laughing much. I want to remember as many details and preserve as many memories for my two daughters as possible… so I save things and I take pictures. My attic is filled with lockets of hair, lost teeth, tiny shoes, prom dresses, entry tickets, notes… written both in love and in anger, ribbons, tshirts, report cards, certificates, posters, get-well and holiday cards, hospital wrist bands, and the list goes on. It’s a museum of sorts filled with artifacts dating back to 1951 when my mother was born.

What I am probably doing is only creating a mess for my daughters to sort through when I die.

Right after I decided to keep the entry ticket, I began to wonder… will social media replace my baby box? Will people end the tradition of saving tangible, meaningful pieces of their lives because everything, literally everything, is online for the world to see? Will my digital footprint be more important than my baby box for my children when I pass on?

What do you think? Do you save things in an effort to preserve your family’s history? If so, what weird things do you save? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

The post, Will Social Media Replace Heirlooms?, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

Dec

I Do Not Love You

Can we please STOP with the “I love you to the moon and back?”

I’ve been wanting to write this blog commentary for a long time now, but I didn’t want to offend anyone or for anyone, in particular, to think I was calling them out. Every time I was ready to unleash my keyboard, one of my Facebook friends would post something saying they loved someone to the moon and back. Why is it that, as humans, we feel the need or are compelled to be herded around like a bunch of cattle? When someone does or says something unique, eventually we all start doing it. I am here to draw the line with expressing your love to someone.

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Although I’ve never been there, I realize that to the moon and back is a really far, far way to travel. I know this is an excellent way to express someone’s great love for someone else… to be able to quantify just how much love you have for someone. But, if you really, really, really do love someone, give them their very own quantification. Don’t just verbally vomit the same crap everyone else is saying.

You have a completely unique love with your wife, your husband, your children, and your friends. You share a private and intimate, distinctive set of circumstances that no one else in the world can take part in. There are literally billions of pieces to the story of your love: happiness, sadness, fear, exchanged glances, soft touches, hope, excitement, sadness, madness, disappointment, secrets, loyalty, hugs… and I could go on and on, but I think you get my point. No one, no matter who they are or how close they are, understands what the love between you and [insert the special someone here] entails. Why, oh why, would you want to cover that love in a blanket term as loving them to the moon and back? They deserve something as unique as the love they share with you.

I’ve heard some really good ones recently:

There’s no one in the world I’d rather be too cold or too hot with. —This is Us, NBC®
I love you river deep and mountain high. —CeCe Evans, Facebook

I Do Not Love You to the Moon and Back

When I tell my girls that I love them I say, “I love you honey bunches of oats!” It’s mine. I made it up… well, with the help of Post®… to express my own dying, unique love for my daughters. The three of us are made with crunchy whole grains and we are nutritional for each other. No one else can or will love them as I do. So, I express my love like no one else can or will. They deserve this.

I would step in front of a speeding bullet. I would rip my beating heart out of my chest and bury it in yours. I would give up the rest of my days on Earth if it meant you could have one more. I love you all the days of my life, with every breath I take, with every thought I think, and with every wish I make. But, I DO NOT LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK.

“I love you honey bunches of oats.”
Mom

So, if we want to share trendy phrases like “throwing shade” or “probs not,” that is perfectly fine and dandy with me. But PLEASE, for the love of Elvis and glazed donuts, find your own unique way to express your love for someone special. They deserve it.

Let’s “hangout!” I wanna hear about your love story!

Schedule a virtual or in-person discovery meetup!
For more options, visit my “Let’s Connect” page.

About Ata-Girl

I am a San Antonio-based wedding photographer and I cater to outdoor-loving couples who prefer to have all the realness captured on their wedding days. I am the wedding photographer for the outdoor adventurers, the romantics, the laid back, the snugglers, and those who wish to capture all their realness.

I am absolutely in love with capturing the kinds of weddings where there are more hugs than handshakes, the dance floor rumbles all night long, and chairs are pretty much rendered useless after dinner. Whiskey bottles are passed around, most of the wedding party has been best-best friends since kindergarten, Grams is likely to lose her shoes and your partner is much more emotional than you are. These kinds of weddings are my jam!

You can always call or text, but if you really want to get to know me, schedule a meetup!

I started Ata-Girl Photography Co., LLC in 2010. I firmly believe that the unique set of circumstances I have faced in life has prepared me to take a personal and genuine interest in my photography clients. I enjoy documenting the important milestones and captivating moments in people’s lives. I love being a part of people’s journeys and consider myself privileged to document their legacies.

If you enjoyed this blog post and would like to get your hands on 20 FREE interactive wedding planning tools that every couple needs, please take a moment to access them here.

I am a published author (purchase my book here), a podcast host (listen here) (watch here) and a WPPI-C certified professional, full-time wedding photographer. I specialize in a 10-day image delivery, same-day prints, same-day slideshows, Italian handcrafted wedding albums and I have a mobile meeting space.

When I’m not behind my camera, you can find me hiking, cycling, backpacking, camping, enjoying water sports, listening to music (Elvis and Prince), hunting for arrowheads, reading audiobooks, occasionally eating a few glazed donuts (my only weakness to sweets) and then re-starting my keto diet about every 10 days. The most important things in life are for me to see my two daughters happy and to create a family history my grandparents and grandson would be proud of.

Oct

Dad & John’s Birthday Party

Getting to celebrate your dad’s 71st birthday with him is a blessing—especially when our family had already suffered so much loss before he had even turned 45. Through everything we have endured, we have always been blessed with each other’s unconditional love and strength. In times when I hear about so many other families falling apart… not speaking to each other… refusing forgiveness… holding grudges… failing to congregate and basically, just forging through the world alone, I am thankful that my own family has remained steadfastly together.

Oh… and my baby brother turned 43 Sunday!!! My grandfather would have turned 111 yesterday. My dad turned 71 today! Yes, they celebrate their birthdays three days in succession.

[Tweet “Dad & John’s Birthday Party”]

My family is everything to me and I love my family.

The post, Dad & John’s Birthday Party, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

Oct

My Trip to Havasu

I promised this blog weeks ago. I’ve been busy. I promise. I’ve spent a few weeks just trying to catch up from a ten-day September vacation and then a few more weeks in full-on 110 m.p.h work mode. Between three October weddings, my sister laser-beamed focused on remodeling a weekend camp house and being mandatory-volunteered to feed my dad’s animals while he’s in Utah playing volleyball, I haven’t had many spare minutes. I am not complaining by any means. This life is crazy beautiful and this blog post will prove it.

For years, probably just as long as I’ve been hyper interested in backpacking and hiking, I’ve had Havasu Falls on my bucket list. I first read about it in some hiking chat room. The pictures made it look mystical. The people who had been there said it was magical. This place looked like nothing I had ever personally witnessed or read about being in the continental U. S. Was it a hoax?

I never thought I’d find a place that would top my favorite place on Earth: Concan, Texas, but I did. This is it, people.

My Trip to Havasu

For many years, 16 plus, this trip was only a place I visited in my daydreams and hiking fantasies. I was unwilling to do this with complete strangers and I never thought I could convince any of my non-hiking family or friends to humor me. I was so wrong. It actually didn’t take much begging for me to convince five people to join me! My hiking companions included two of my best friends, my brother AND sister (who doubles as a best friend) and my sister-in-law.

Havasu is billed as “the most remote place in the United States.” It is governed by the Havasupai Indian Tribe living in the canyon. In order to get here, you either have to walk 10 miles in or take your chances of getting a seat aboard a tribe-operated helicopter. The helicopter’s priority is serving the village of Supai by carrying in groceries, other supplies and residents. Among other things, it’s also responsible for carrying trash out of the village. So, tourists literally take a back seat. You may or may not be able to get a ride. In that case, you either wait until the next day or lace up your hiking shoes.

But first you need a permit. You can not enter the canyon without a permit. Camping permits are sold only for the current year. The tourist office begins selling permits February 1 and only sells a certain number per year. I’m sure this is to preserve not only the beauty of their canyon home, but the sanctity as well. I called nearly every day from February 1 until mid-March when someone finally answered the phone. Up until that point, I had only heard busy signals on the other end. I explained I needed to make camping reservations, and was put on hold for about 20 seconds. And then the unthinkable happened… they hung up on me. I immediately dialed their number again. Busy. So, I began my daily ritual of calling the tourist office every day only to hear a busy signal. Finally, mid-April, someone answered the phone again. I promptly asked them to not put me on hold. And again, I pitched my spiel for the camping permits only to be told they were sold out for 2016. I. About. Cried.

My crew and I had three choices: keep trying to call the one-land-line tourist office and hope someone would cancel for the week we wanted, give up on 2016 and try again in 2017 or try our luck with a commercial hiking guide. We opted for the latter and BOOM! we were in!

(For the record, our permits were checked three times on the way in and daily at our campsite. We had to wear an armband the entire time we were guests of the Havasupai Tribe. You can show up without permits, but it is strongly not advised. They may or may not let you in, and if they do, the camping fees are whatever they feel like charging you that day. There is no set fee for not having a reservation.)

Waiting for September 9th to get here—the day we rolled out to Flagstaff—was excruciating for me. It seemed like it was consistently out of reach. But finally, it was September 9th and we were on the road and everything was going as planned. I was happy!

Standing on the rim of the Havasu Canyon was so surreal for me. After years of only imagining what this trip might be like, I was about to embark on the actual thing.

Not one second of the trip was disappointing for me… not one! This place is beyond beautiful. There are no words… no pictures that can even do its beauty an ounce of justice. What I can tell you is that the place is so unbelievably gorgeous that it caused me to cry three times just by looking at it.

My eyes witnessed the beauty of all five waterfalls: Navajo, 50 Foot, Havasu, Mooney, and Beaver. My soul was gifted three nights under this canopy of stars. My lungs were temporarily filled with air that flows through this heavenly canyon. My feet soaked in the blue-green waters and then carried me in and out and all around this peaceful place. My heart is full because I made unforgettable memories with people I love in such an incredible backdrop.

Every mile hiked, every blister rubbed, every tear streamed and every memory made was totally worth every ounce of effort it took to reach this place. The only regret I have about experiencing the great beauty of this place is that I did not get to do it with my daughters. I want to go back with them so I can see the look on their faces when they see how epic this place is!

And lastly, we really lucked out when we booked with Wildland Trekking and got Karla and Ciera as our guides. Not only did they prove to be outstanding guides, they fed us like royalty, took amazing care of us, told us really funny jokes and became really good friends!

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If you enjoyed the blog post, be sure to watch our video footage of the trip:

Let’s “hangout!” I wanna hear about your love story!

Schedule a virtual or in-person discovery meetup!
For more options, visit my “Let’s Connect” page.

About Ata-Girl

You can always call or text, but if you really want to get to know me, schedule a meetup!

If you enjoyed this blog post and would like to get your hands on 20 FREE interactive wedding planning tools that every couple needs, please take a moment to access them here.

Jul

I Cried During Lunch

Yesterday’s lunch hour started a bit chaotic. My sister called and invited me to lunch and although she said, “Meet me at Cafe Chris,” all I could think about was the amazing chicken salad from the Cactus Garden. I had sat there nearly 20 minutes when I received a text from her saying that she was already enjoying her salad. What!? My first thought was that she was in the front dining room and hadn’t bothered looking for me in the back dining room. Then, suddenly, it dawned on me. Her words replayed in my ear… “Meet me at Cafe Chris.” We were in two separate restaurants.

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I almost just stayed at Cactus Garden. I had been fantasizing about the chicken salad the entire time I was waiting on my sister to show up. But, after about 37 seconds, I decided to go ahead and meet Tricia at Cafe Chris. They have a BLT salad with about 52 strips of bacon I enjoy the heck out of.

Lunch was usual. We talked about why she’s skipped the last few days at the gym and made fun of each other about a few things. We talked about her son’s upcoming wedding, a few projects I’ve been working on for Ata-Girl, how I love bacon, and how she really would have rather had the patty melt. Then, we decided who’d pay for lunch and who’d tip and got up to leave. She stopped to talked to friend about select softball and since I’ve long been out of that loop, I was bored and so I let my eyes scan the restaurant.

I wasn’t really looking for anyone in particular but my eyes thought they caught a familiar face—from 1983? No way!? A face that I had tried to reconnect with when I got out of the Army in ’94 but my email went unreturned! Had it been lost? Marked as spam? Unwanted? Forgotten? Accidentally filed away? Unimportant? Not received at a good time? Addressed incorrectly? Whatever the case, I never heard back and I never tried to reach out again, though this face… this person left a lifelong impression on me.

At first, I quickly looked away. There was no way I was putting myself out there like that again. What if, in person, I was unreturned?! Lost? Marked as spam? Unwanted? Forgotten? Accidentally filed away? Unimportant? Not received at a good time? Addressed incorrectly? Then, before I had even given myself a chance to keep talking myself out of it, I walked up to her. I bent over to meet her at eye level and asked, “Are you Coach Geyer?”

As she smiled and acknowledged that she was, I began to say, “I’m Tammy Bla…” and her arms were around me and I cried during lunch.

Here’s the backstory.

She gave me something. I was a freshman in high school and I was in that awkward stage. I didn’t come from money. I didn’t have fancy clothes. I wasn’t popular. I wasn’t pretty. I didn’t have good hair (mostly because I didn’t bother to style it and my best friend sometimes cut my hair). I didn’t have a lot of friends. I wasn’t all that smart. I wasn’t tall. I didn’t make good grades. I didn’t live in a nice house. My parents were blue-collar workers. And, I lived near Christine… the little town that was ten miles south of the town our school was in.

I had just graduated from junior high and had spent countless nights watching the varsity teams, boys and girls alike, compete and advance deep into the play-offs. I watched in bewilderment as a whole community stood behind a team. I looked up to these athletes. I idolized these athletes. I wanted to be these athletes. They were my heroes. Varsity was the place TO BE.

Coach Geyer was the head volleyball coach and put me on the varsity team during play-offs—yes, my freshman year. Say what? My sophomore year, she put me right back on varsity as we began two-a-day practices before school started. It was a scary place… there were seniors there. I felt as though my classmates thought I didn’t deserve this and I thought they thought I was unfairly being singled out. Why me? It was a transitional time. It was a life lesson. I already knew how to work hard because I had been building fence and bailing hay since 5th grade, but Coach Geyer gave me the ability to see inside myself—to recognize that I could push harder, endure more, sweat extra, try another, work smarter, dig deeper, give excess, become better, practice longer, and always, always improve. What this taught me was that I don’t always have to have familiarity. I don’t always have to be comfortable. I can be strong. I can be a light to others. There is always more to give from within.

What she gave me was confidence.

Something else she did for me? When my little sister passed away my sophomore year, she packed up the entire volleyball program on a school bus (or two) and brought them to the funeral service. I don’t know how this would fly in today’s public school world, but looking back, it means the world me. My family had just been dealt one of the hardest, most incredibly painful, brutally crushing blows a family could be forced to endure and she brought my whole volleyball family to show support.

She also saved my social life (what little there was of it) by convincing my mom to buy me contacts. 🙂 (I refused to be all nerdy wearing glasses on the volleyball court… or basketball court, or track for that matter.)

In junior high and high school, I was blessed with a handful of great, outstanding, memorable, irreplaceable, athletic coaches (life molders). It took me a few years to realize this and appreciate this. I’ve now been able to tell of all them how important they have been in my life. I think about them nearly every day… I really, really do. I am so glad I ran into Coach Geyer at lunch, although I almost let a chicken salad interfere with that. I have been waiting for 33 years to tell this lady how amazing she was/is. I’m nearly 47-years-old and I cried during lunch yesterday. I hope she heard me, really heard me, through my blubbering.

For anyone who’s wondering, the other wonderful coaches I often reminisce about are Coaches Stein, Johnson, and Andrews! In addition to my mom and dad, they played very vital roles in who I am. Had I ran cross-country in high school, I’m sure Coach Borth would also have made this list. I just didn’t have it in me and I regret it. 🙁

Side Note/Ata-Girl Little Known Fact/Life Lesson: I REALLY wanted to be an Olympic volleyball player. I know, at 5′ 4″ my chances were no, never, not today, and hahahaha!!! But, the point here is, I let a stupid, STUPID boy talk me out of pursuing that dream. Coach Geyer would have never let that happen and would have done everything in her power to help facilitate even the slightest chance of bringing that dream to reality. Always find the power within yourself to be true to yourself!! And if you know a STUPID boy, dump him like the scum of the earth that he is.

The post, I Cried During Lunch Yesterday, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

Jul

Independence Means

Ever since I can remember, and I have one memory dating back to when I was just two- or three-years-old, I have considered myself to have been very independent. I have never been one to seek approval or feel the need to be surrounded by like-minded people. I spend a good portion of my time enjoying the solitude of being alone. Independence is important to me and something I value deeply. On Independence Day, I like to reflect on what independence means to me as an American.

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Independence Day

This is what Independence Day, as a whole, means to me:

Living in a country where we are free to practice religion (or not) as we prefer without prejudice.
Enjoying the customs of our own cultures without being judged outside the confines of that culture (wearing a cowboy hat doesn’t make me a “red neck” anymore than wearing baggy pants makes me a “thug” or wearing a turban makes me a terrorist).
Helping a fellow man in need despite any differences in religion, political beliefs, race, income brackets, sexual orientation, etc.
Practicing patience, compassion and understanding with each of our fellow Americans without ever passing judgment.
Taking care of our Earth, and appreciating and respecting its resources.
Finding beauty in living life each and every day.
Developing meaningful relationships that last a lifetime.
Creating a legacy that our ancestors would be proud of and our descendants will admire.

The post, What Independence Means to Me, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

Jun

Cabo San Lucas Recap

Cabo San Lucas is a gorgeous place!! The families of my brother, sister, a family friend and I flew to Cabo San Lucas together for a quick getaway after my niece graduated from high school. In all, there were ten of us. We enjoyed five whole days of rest and relaxation on and around the beaches of the Baja Peninsula. All-in-all, it was an uneventful trip, but one filled with a lot of much needed down time. I think we found our way to the pool each day we were there.

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The waves that crashed into the beach in front of our resort hotel were the most violent and aggressive waves I have ever seen. But, they were absolutely breathtaking. At times, I would estimate the waves were 20 feet high. The beach of our hotel overlooked this rock formation.

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It wasn’t until we were able to venture closer to it during our deep sea fishing trip (which ended up being a fishing trip barely offshore because a few people were terribly sea sick), that we could actually see the formation known as “the arch.” It was gorgeous as the waters of the Pacific Ocean forcefully crashed through the window. I had a longer lens with me, but it was in the hull of the boat and I was on the bow. So, I only got this wide image of the waves and El Arco,

Cabo San Lucas

We also passed by Lovers’ Beach. (Fact: Divorce Beach flanks the other side of this peninsula.)

On a shopping day, we stopped in to visit Sammy Hagar at Cabo Wabo. Suspiciously, a guy who looked just like Sammy Hagar showed up and took pictures with people—though he never admitted to being THE Sammy Hagar. Ironically, Sammy’s yacht was docked in the marina this same day.

We also had a chance to meet up with two other hometown families and had a few drinks and even a shot of Cabo Wabo, which I might add, is very smooth. I drank a clear one which I was told was “Silver.” But, now I see that the tequila only comes in Anejo, Blanco and Reposado. So, I have no clue which one it was. I can add that it was almost as smooth as water.

We also ate at a beach restaurant called The Office, and I discovered the most incredible tortilla soup on the world.

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I love this image I captured as the sun rose across the marina. It’s not often that I’m up this early, but when I am, I always try to witness the sun rise.

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The trip was a great one! I am very grateful to experience these trips with people I love. The world has so much to offer. It really saddens me that I won’t experience each and every square inch before my time here is done.

The post, Cabo San Lucas Vacation Recap, first appeared on Ata-Girl Photography Co.’s website and blog. Please feel free to comment here, or share this post with your friends via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Please email me if you have any questions about this article or want to share a neat idea for a future blog post with me.

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Hi, I’m Tammy.
I'm a San Antonio-based wedding photographer for outdoor-loving couples who value real moments.

I am a San Antonio-based wedding photographer and I am absolutely in love with capturing the kinds of weddings where there are more hugs than handshakes, the dance floor rumbles all night long, and chairs are pretty much rendered useless after dinner. Whiskey bottles are passed around, most of the wedding party has been best-best friends since kindergarten, Grams is likely to lose her shoes and your partner is much more emotional than you are. These kinds of weddings are my jam!

Since 2010, I have excelled in helping each of my couples plan for one of the very best days of their lives! I’d love to share my very personalized wedding experience, my super-human organizational abilities, and my U. S. Army combat skills (when needed) with you too.

I want your wedding day to be as perfect as you do! I am all in with my whole heart!