Been working on this website and I'll get it up soon! Accessible from everywhere-yay! It's the hardest work I've done. It's so hard to sum up a business like mine. Here's an excerpt from it that will go on a page called "HEART". Enjoy!
Some
things are inexplicable. Things like this passion and desire to take pictures.
Why? Why does that feeling exist in me? Other people have this same feeling too. Why
do I feel so passionate about standing out and shining bright? What is it about
me?
First,
let me just admit that when I think about what I do for a living, I teem over
with excitement of the possibilities. I relish the opportunity to love someone
through my camera and skills. I have the mindset that everyone I shoot is
someone I’m helping. I have a servant’s heart and I can’t wait to deliver an
amazing product. They’re always so glad they met me and hired me. Many clients come only wanting great pictures, but
their testimonies are such that they leave with confidence in a friend and
ultimately, their permanent family photographer. I see my job as a
ministry and a joy. This passion is not easily replicated.
I possess this thirst. It’s a thirst to help people feel valuable.
It is engrained in me from my younger days and the way I watched my parents
being ever so willing to feed and entertain their friends and family in our
very meager home. My father would immediately offer our guests food and drink.
My mother immediately went to the kitchen to make something (if she wasn’t
already there). They’d offer a place to sit, a coffee, a tour of the new
project in the backyard. And that warming, radiant, welcoming smile! My father
had an inviting countenance about him and a big “laughing” smile that could
make an iceberg feel at home in the desert. And let me not forget Jesus-the
source of the radiance in our family and in our ways. He wants me to help love
people. I do that in this job. I jump at the opportunity to show others what’s
in store in my mind. I want them to feel valuable through the images I take of them.
I truly have a passion for
adding promise to a person or a family’s life through pictures. I see
this as a significant trait-one that sets me apart from the crowd. I see my
love for stories and a person’s history as an excellent compliment to what I do.
My focus will continue to be on stories-big and small-and see where that leads
me. I believe that seeing a story coupled with pictures is not only a priceless
experience, but it gives the images themselves 1,000 times more depth.
The art of making pictures is an avenue for worship for me.
Whatever I create, I can’t deny it and I can’t stop it-will be a testament to
God’s glory. I. can’t. stop. it. I had a seasoned photographer once tell me if
I would just get rid of all the “spiritual stuff” on my website, that I would
get a lot more business. My website is driving prospective clients away. Maybe
he’s right, but what he didn’t realize is that what he was telling me to do was
to get rid of myself. If I followed what he said, I would lose my purpose and
the very reason I have this talent at all. My creativity and ability to see
beauty doesn’t exist without this spiritual element. The creativity I have is
because it is inspired through prayer and love for the Lord. I can’t deny it.
Consequently, I thanked the photographer for his advice but ignored it. I can’t
take Jesus out of my job. That recommendation was made in 2007. Since then, I
have left my full time job for my photography business and God has been sending
me clients every single month. My last sales quarter was the highest it has
ever been and since leaving my reliable job, my business has been growing by
leaps and bounds. God delivered a promise in a dream. People are spreading the
word about me. I’ve done very little marketing and have owned an old
flash-based website for the longest time (that I’m finally updating), and my
business has still grown at a rapid pace. How has all this happened? God is
faithful-that’s how!
My largest desire is to put scripture on people’s walls. I’ve
gifted photo prints to clients through the years and I love doing it. Sometimes
they call me about a mistake in their order and that’s when I tell them it’s my
gift to them. They thank me and tell me how much they love it and hang it
proudly on their walls. I don’t plan to stop surprising people with scripture
prints. Why? Because I know that scripture is alive, truth is unchanging, and love
is always knocking at the door. I want a child or person to see a scripture
next to their face and realize how valuable they are to God. The thought that I
can be a person that God uses to accomplish this communication fills my heart
and feed the purpose for which I believe I was born.
I’m preparing. God put it on my heart to work for Compassion International
as a photographer a little more than a year ago during a prayer walk. Since
then, I have found that they don’t hire photographers on a permanent basis;
they use freelancers. I have kept an eye out on their job postings and it looks
like in order to work for them, I need to acquire a lot of new skills. Through
prayer, I have found that I have one more option and that is to minister to
people right now in the same capacity that I would if I worked for Compassion.
While I do this, I am sharpening my skills. I want to make my work so
significant that Compassion notices me. I’ll add on new skills as I go and have
a keen eye out for openings that fit me. If the call never comes, then my time was
not wasted. My photography will have ministered to thousands anyway. I see this
work as a legacy to leave my kids, whether they pick up the camera or not. I
want them to always know that the root of my business is love. The
purpose will be etched in their hearts by watching me work and they will say,
"My mom loved people with her camera", not just "my mom was a
photographer". They will see God's faithfulness in our finances and our
conviction to share our resources with others. These are my goals and God can
search for anything selfish in me, I will examine it, and with His help, purge
it. I am in prayer daily over my heart and intentions.
I want to start a nonprofit called Purple Jars. There
is a Facebook page dedicated to it already, although none of the paperwork has
even started. Photography like mine is a luxury. It can’t be afforded by
everyone. I can’t cut my costs, reduce my bills, or create more time than there
is in a day, but I love to give of it all. I want to be like Jesus who, in his
time of mourning John the Baptist, gave of himself and had compassion on a
crowd of people needing to hear his message of hope, love, and healing.
Unfortunately, though, my food pantry and my mortgage payments have suffered
from doing this. Don’t you wish living were free? Consequently, I am putting
away a percentage of each sale to help with the costs of gifting a photo
session and a few prints to a needy family. Who are the “needy” when it comes
to photography? People that want to heal. They have gone through God-sized
stories and they want to document the outcome beautifully. I want to do that
for them. I want to make them and their situation feel valuable. I desire to place
scriptures on gorgeous images I create in their home to help them remember
God’s faithfulness. Perhaps their child survived, their son passed away
but left a newborn daughter behind, or they have felt great loss
and are still in the darkness. They deserve a chance to
heal. Beautifully inspired images can do that. If you are wondering, you can give
towards this fund, but at this time it is
not an official charity. Although my business is growing, it is not at a stage or have the right personnel to support a full-fledged non-profit. Your donation would just be a gift to me personally, and yes, these sessions are really happening and will continue to happen. I keep an
account of the donations and what it mainly offsets is my travel and cost of
printing. Each family gets a custom session, an 8x10, and 2-5x7 prints along with
the digital files for documentation. Their stories are shared on the Purple Jars page. This
work is sacred ground. If you have someone you’d like to nominate for this
service, please send me their story through email.
Thank you
for reading about my heart. If you’re still here, then you must be wondering
some things. Please feel free to comment below or send me a message through my
Facebook page, Twitter, or email (jholub @capturingcreations.com). I’d love to hear from you!
Blessings,
Julizza
