Kate Petty's Blog

Fall and winter are busy season for family portraits! Someday soon I will have the time to post samples from all of the fabulous shoots we did here in Dallas…. just as soon as the flurry of portrait sessions ends!

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I’m going to take a moment to brag on my new friend and fellow photographer Aubree Edwards of AE Photography. She’s the master behind these Dallas engagement photos my fiancé and I took at the beginning of November.  I’d just like to go on the record saying she killed it.

Silly as it may sound, I really love the opportunity to jump on the other side of the camera from time to time. Remembering what it’s like to be the subject is humbling and always teaches me something new about photography. As an added bonus, we discovered a new pocket of beauty at White Rock Lake that I hope to use for future Dallas engagement photos. Cheers to you, Aubree!

The post In Front of the Camera | Dallas Engagement Photos appeared first on Kate Petty.

Getting to shoot engagement photos is always fun. Getting to shoot engagement photos for two dear friends is a LOT of fun.

The post Katelyn + Jonathan | Dallas Engagement Photography appeared first on Kate Petty.

Getting to shoot engagement photos is always fun. Getting to shoot engagement photos for two dear friends is a LOT of fun.

The post Katelyn + Jonathan | Dallas Engagement Photos appeared first on Kate Petty.

The post Fort Worth, TX | Wedding Photography appeared first on Kate Petty.

The post Lindsay + Daniel |Dallas Engagement Photos appeared first on Kate Petty.

The post Lindsay + Daniel | Engagement Photography appeared first on Kate Petty.

I don’t know why I like summer as much as I do. I think I like the idea of summer far more than the actual season. Perhaps after twenty odd years of tacking the word “break” onto summer, we’re trained to associate the season with freedom, rest, opportunity – a break from routine. This year I approached May without any promises of free-form summer days but felt the building excitement all the same.

I made to-do lists of epic proportions and set goals like nobody’s. And then I found myself waist deep in a pile of commitments with no goals completed or accomplishments in sight. Somehow I managed to take on too much without any compelling reason. I wish I could say it was a unique occurrence.

Why do we make ourselves busy? Do we commit to things because we truly believe they deserve our time and effort, or are ulterior motives at play? Personally, I’m a sucker for being told I’m needed for a project. Tell me I’m the best one to get the job done and I’ll be there, no further questions. I also love a good team. There’s nothing like diving in with a group of creative, intelligent, like-minded people and running after a common goal.

Yet as great as these things sound, I frequently return to a place of needing to cut back and un-commit. It’s not that I don’t look before I leap – I always carefully evaluate a commitment before I sign on. But a lot of the time I’m attracted to something when it speaks to an appealing idea, rather than providing an appealing reality. I end up committing to good things, but not the best things. It’s a lesson to learn and re-learn as the story repeats itself at different times with different context and characters.

This summer marked the second year I’ve met with a particular group. We went through some changes as a group and a familiar, niggling doubt rose up in the back of my mind. It was the same End-the-Relationship, Quit-the-Job, Step-Down-from-the-Position doubt I’d met many times before. Remember why you started, I told myself. Think of why this group is good. My reasons felt hollow. For every “Pro” I had a “Con” and on paper it looked like an even split. The implications of quitting – the offense I may give or the pain I could cause, kept me frozen. It was a good group. People don’t just quit good groups. Right?

Eventually, with time and many rambling, one-sided conversations with friends who obviously love me a lot, I found some clarity. I went back to the spot I’ve gone with every other similar scenario: Is this commitment helping me achieve my goals in life? At first glance it may sound a little callous in reference to a group of people, but life goals aren’t always calculated and unfeeling or based on your career or material possessions. Sometimes life goals look more abstract, like surrounding yourself with people who fuel your creativity, being a part of things that you are uniquely equipped to support, or finding places where there’s a need and serving your heart out. Whatever they are, it’s important to have goals and remind yourself of them. Otherwise your time gets consumed by a thousand different things, none of them providing growth, rest, joy or any need for that matter.

Maybe your summer brought a lot of good intentions and new projects that remain unfinished. Maybe your summer was beautifully restful, but you’re facing an autumn of renewed commitments to things you can’t remember why you’re a part of. It may even be that the approach of a new season holds an alluring opportunity to sign up for a new batch of activities and groups and leadership positions. It’s tough to do, but take the time to reassess where your hours are going and ignore the sparkle of new opportunities if their only draw is their newness. Quitting good things can be painful and new is exciting, but what is it worth if your commitments aren’t molding you into the person you want to be or helping you achieve the things you’ve set your sights on?

You may find yourself with gaping holes in your weekly schedule. People may ask you what you’ve been up to or what you’ve replaced your recent “quits” with. Terrifying as it is, your answer might be, “Nothing.” Own it, embrace it, and then go use that time to do good works and help create the world that ought to be.

The post Quitting for Good appeared first on Kate Petty.

Creative professions are hard to claim. What makes someone a writer? (Writing is my thing, so that’s the example I’m going to run with here, but feel free to sub in whatever creative pursuit speaks to you.) At what point does one go from being someone who writes or someone who’s written a piece or two to an actual writer?

At a meeting for a creative writing group I’m a part of, we discussed this question, turning over the possible answers and debating our ideas at length. It turns out that most of us previously or still do struggle with owning the title, Writer.

If you asked me a year ago when the transition from One Who Writes to Writer takes place, I might have said when someone was doing it full time. There are two problems with that though. One, I quit my pretty job in business to be a writer and I still don’t feel like I can call myself one. Two, what is full time writing anyway? I’m not sure if full time writing exists, not in the most literal sense of the idea, but that’s another topic entirely.

One of the women in the creative writers group brought the debate full circle with a very succinct question. She asked, “Is it what I hand into a publisher that makes me a writer, or is it carving out time every day to sit at my desk and write?” Basically it was just a more beautiful way of saying it’s about the journey not the destination but the question is still rattling around in my head waiting for me to dredge up an answer.

At a certain point, it gets down the fight between confidence and validation. Are you going to define who you are or wait for others to give their stamp of approval before you make your claim? Normally I take up residence in the latter camp, feeling as strong and confident as anyone else until you ask me to be vocal about it, and then I cower down and wait submissively for my stamp. I’m working on it.

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I love when couples have a “thing” I get to help them incorporate into their engagement photo session. For Hannah and Kyle, we did some sweet shots with coffee cups because the first of many I Love You’s happened in a coffee shop.

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