Have you ever wished you could stop time? Has there ever been a single moment in your life you wish you could go back too? A moment in your life that made you feel pure happiness, peace, excitement?
"Time Flies" is a statement I have heard many times in my life. As I grow older and watch my children grow, those two words continue to repeat in my mind. When you are young, a child, teenager or even in your twenties, you feel invincible and are always looking over the mountain to the next chapter in life.
Life is new and filled with so many expectations. As we become adults, and for a lot of us adulthood does not start until our thirties, our "responsibilities" become more defined. The mortgage is due, baby is crying in the middle of the night, we spend all our extra income on little shoes and a large grocery bills.......all of a sudden time is flying by.......we are running all over town to finish a task, to run to the next. Do we even know where we are running to some days?
As the days go by, days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months and months turn into years. Many, many changes are happening and sometimes....most times....we do not see the change or our own personal evolution. The days of sitting in the back seat of the car staring out the window watching the broken painted lines on the road turn into one solid line, or watching the tips of the trees move with the breeze before the rain, have turned into sitting behind the wheel of the car traveling to work or to the next appointment or taking members of our families where they need to be...needless to say as "time flies" we change and sometimes we need to stop and remember moments in our lives.
From the time I was in college studying photography, I have always been intrigued with documentary photography. Documenting moments in time. In my late teens early twenties (my college years), I imagined myself working for National Geographic, traveling the world and photographing wild animals or people living in third world countries. However, God and fate had other plans for me. After studying the "art of photography" at Edinboro University, and before the digital world, I ended my college career with an internship at a high volume photography studio outside of Pittsburgh. This studio had three departments: portrait, wedding and a basement lab. The last three months of my college career, I learned more about my trade then I did the first 3 1/2 years of college put together. Graduation came and went and in a split second I went from sleeping in, starting my first class at noon and spending the nights at the school photo lab, to waking up early, enduring a 50 minute ride to work, working 10 hour shifts and commuting home. No more free time during the days to enjoy the summers and study by the water in Erie. After some internal adjustments, and letting go of the fact I was now a responsible adult, I asked myself a simple question, "What do I Want to do with my Life?" I did stay with the studio that kept me on after graduation for about three years. Within that time period, I moved out of my parents’ home and married my husband. Although I enjoyed working at the studio, it was time for me to move on. I found a few different photography positions, until I met a woman who was looking for an assistant. I went from high volume-lower photography fees to low volume-high fees. Each position taught me so much about photography, business, the city I lived in. Each experience had good and bad. Needless to say the combination of these past experiences helped me evolve to the photographer and person I am today.
Today I am Colleen Alexander, wife to a wonderful partner in life, mother to four beautiful children and photographer. I never did make it to National Geographic, but I did find that I did not have to go across the world or be employed by a national magazine to become a documentary photographer. I walk out my back door and life, people, experiences and memories are circling around me every day at every moment. As a photographer, I photograph everything on location, whether the job is school pictures and I am documenting your child’s third grade year or I am witnessing the union of two people and I am documenting your wedding day. I take the time to meet, speak with and get to know each client. We talk about the expectations, the budget and location of the photography shoot, and then set the date.
Each job is so different and each client wants a different outcome. So instead of posting prices online and creating "packages" that give people items they do not want, I will create a custom contract for each individual client.
So when you are ready to "Stop a Moment in Time" to preserve a memory, for your senior in high school or your entire baseball league, contact me and I will be honored to document the memory and moment for you!
It’s always nice to see and remember where you have been and helps you find where you are going in life. Photography has given us a visual gift, to help remember our lives. Document it as often as you can, so that our friends and family who come after us in life can also see a piece of history!
C.Alexander :)
