creative at heart - round two - Kaitlyn Phipps Photography

Personal, Photographers

creative at heart – round two

Sometimes I just sit back and wonder how the chaos and loveliness that is my life became MY life. I feel like the last few years have been this crazy adventure. And it’s exciting and kind of exhausting, but mostly it’s really thrilling to see all these things I never expected to happen, happen. And so much of that has been as a photographer.

Thanks to the lovely Timehop app, I realized that this month marks TWO years since I made this photography thing officially official. Two years since I got a business license and decided to take all of this seriously. That is pretty dang exciting. I guarantee that two years ago, I never thought something like Creative at Heart would exist. And never EVER did I think that I’d get to attend and be a part of it. All these sparkly conferences…they just seemed like pipe dreams…like oh maybe probably nots. Because I thought that by being at one of these workshops or conferences, it would mean that I had “made it.” And CLEARLY, I was never going to. And in some way, I was right. Because if there’s anything I’ve learned by being a part of Creative at Heart, it’s that success looks different to everyone. Success isn’t a number of weddings booked or a financial figure. It’s loving your clients well and making a difference with your business.

All that to say, I never thought I’d have a chance to be surrounded and befriend and connect with SO many beautiful people in the wedding industry. The first C@H conference in January reminded me that what I do matters. I’m not “just” a photographer. I’m not maybe kind of if-you-like-me a wedding photographer. No, that’s the direction I’ve decided to go in. It was such an emotional experience that I truly did not expect! The whole thing was a whirlwind. My friend offered to pay my way and all of the sudden it’s the beginning of January and ugly crying and laughing hard through two days of beauty and then it was over. And all I was craving was more of that. That wonderful feeling of acceptance and inspiration? Ugh, I just want to be around that ALL the time. And I think that’s why this movement exists. It’s to welcome people in and tell them they’re doing alright. It’s to build community over competition. It’s to focus on serving people and loving them well rather than trying to further yourself.

So OF COURSE the only answer was a loud and excited YES when Kat asked if me and two other C@H “alum” would come back and help out at the end of March. You can sure as heck bet I’m going to run after and try and be a part of a community that builds people up and leaves you feeling overwhelmed with love. I didn’t know what to expect going into the second conference last week. To be honest, I was a little fearful it would be less impactful because I already knew what was in store. As usual, I was so wrong. Here are the major things that I got out of Creative at Heart, round two:

There is SO much joy in serving. Being a little bit behind the scenes this time, I could see just how much Kat and the lovely C@H staff were putting into this weekend. They poured their hearts and souls into this conference. Every detail was planned immaculately and every detail had HEART behind it. And being just a tiny part of that restored some of my joy as well. In my relationship with God, because all of my security rests in Him, I’ve got the freedom to serve and to give away all of myself. And that is a really beautiful thing.
Katelyn James rounded out the first day and reminded me of just that. We don’t just exist to take pretty pictures. We exist to encourage and preserve marriages, to love people selflessly during such an intense season of their life. To show up for them. I’m not going to look back at the end of my life and just rejoice over how many weddings I booked, but instead I’ll remember the sweet people I got to love. And hopefully, I’ll be able to rejoice in the way that the Lord used me to love them well.
Community is powerful. A sense of community and love brings people in and opens them up in a way that nothing else can. Hearing big industry leaders say that we are in this together? That’s a game changer. Feeling loved and welcomed in to a place that is naturally very intimidating? That’s a game changer too.
Hearing Abby Grace speak was one of the great joys of my weekend. She has SUCH heart and vision for her business. The way that she talks about her “why” makes me want to keep digging deeper and refining until I know mine well. She brought the room to tears as she shared about her dream to extend the life of marriages through her images and through a couple’s experience with her. She’s been pushing me to greater things for the last couple years and to see her do that with a full room of dreamers was so exciting!
Mary. Marantz. This woman has a way with words that I can’t quite explain. She spoke of where it all started for her and how loving people radically and being loved radically has changed her whole existence. I’m still trying to sum up how I felt after she finished up and I’m not sure that I can articulate it! Definitely encouraged, challenged, and thrilled to have an opportunity to be in the lives of people I wouldn’t know if it wasn’t for this job.
This has always been my attitude with my business: “I’m just giving it a try. Because I’d regret it if I didn’t. And if the Lord takes it away, then the Lord takes it away.” Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to have tightly grasped hands on anything in my life. I was to always be surrendering to Jesus, but C@H challenged me to think differently! Once again it was this push to take this seriously. It gave me permission to dream bigger. To take ownership for this business of mine, instead of allowing it to be tossed around by circumstance. This business is a PRIVILEGE, and I am going to embrace that and fight for it.
Giant balloons are so in right now.

I guess what I’m trying to say (minus the sidenote about balloons), is that this movement called Creative at Heart is worth it. The reason that it wasn’t the same as last time and that it impacted my heart JUST as much as two and a half months previously is because it is a MOVEMENT. A movement doesn’t stay still. It is not stagnant. It is going somewhere bigger than Kat, bigger than the staff and the speakers and panelists, bigger than the attendees! This movement exists to ultimately change lives. And that is a really beautiful thing.

I guess what I’m REALLY trying to say is that I’m so thankful. For long talks with strangers and new friends sitting on the floor and for laughing till I cried and for crying till I laughed. And now that I’ve rambled on teary eyed…here’s my weekend in some fun pictures. Because as much as the conference was emotional and challenging…it was FUN.

Here are the aforementioned giant balloons from Day 1. The chaos was trying to transport them and praying that they didn’t pop.