Dear 16-year-old Kate,
I know it’s been a while since we talked last but I wish I could tell you this at 16 and TRULY have you understand it.
You need to be transparent.
I tell you this because at 16 you’re completely closed off. You don’t hug people, you don’t share much about what’s happening in your life and no one has any idea what is happening and how you’re actually feeling. You’re an extrovert and you long for a deeper connection with everyone but you don’t know it yet. When you’re 32 you’ll post this picture on Instagram:

It’s you, crying after a surgery that will prevent you and your husband from having any more kids. You cried ALL day. Even the guy at Hardees told you “I hope your day gets better”, when you bolted on your healthy eating habits and picked up a cheeseburger and shake. And for better or worse, you wanted to record what that day was like because that’s what you do for a living. You document life. This hit you hard. At first you were happy with 3 kids and thought you were done. It was not a decision that came lightly. And then you and your husband wanted TLC to have a sibling close in age and after a pregnancy scare you realized how much you wanted another child. What you didn’t want was your world to stop. HG will hit you hard with both of your pregnancies and you know that you can’t do it again. Your main goal was to try and stay hydrated so you can stay out of the hospital. And you’ll decide to be transparent with talking about it and tell clients that you have to refer them to someone else because you can’t work. Some of them will say that you don’t care about their child’s session or that you’re whining (yep, truth, they will say this) but they have no idea what it’s like to not be able to move. But with that transparency comes great stories. Friends who see that you’re struggling and bring meals to your family. Friends who take your children overnight so you can hug the toilet in peace and not worry about terrifying them with how sick you are for one night. They are amazing and if you try to hide it you won’t receive the support you need. And then, a few years later when you post this picture, people will email and message you from all over the country and tell you THEIR stories. They’ll sympathize with you. Encourage you. Pray for you. People you’ve never even met will tell you things they’ve never told anyone else and THAT is connection. The same thing happened years ago when you shared marriage struggles, PPD struggles and everything else that you questioned if you should put out there. People will come to you asking to help and sharing their stories. It will fill you up and make you realize that, even though there are folks who don’t agree with your no-filter life, there is so much joy to be found in TRULY knowing what is in someone else’s heart. Being transparent means you share the good AND bad. Showing your flaws will make you become a better CrossFit coach. A better wife. A better parent.

So here’s my point, you closed-off little vagabond. There will always be people who think being open is a flaw (you are one of them at 16) but in your future it will be your world. You will thrive on how you can connect with others. Just wait, stubborn one, you will open your heart and it will be marvelous.

Ahhhh my friends, the time is near. Northwest Arkansas, here we come! I just wanted to throw in a moving post so that everyone knows what will be going on in the next few weeks. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at katecrafton@gmail.com.

– Right now turn around time is at the max for sessions and weddings. Expect your files in 4 weeks for sessions and 10 weeks for weddings. Rest assured that if they are finished before that deadline I will email you.

– We are leaving TN on June 28th and I’m filled with excitement over our new venture and also sadness to leave my clients in this area. You all have been amazing and I’ve loved seeing your children grow up. Those are not empty words…I truly, truly am thankful to have gotten to know so many of you. Capturing your children’s birthdays. Watching new life enter the world. Laughing with you on your wedding day. I’m a bit misty about it…can you tell? THANK YOU so much for sharing your lives with me.

– If moving plans/travel dates change (which they already have once for us) I’ll be sure to update on Facebook, so make sure to add us there. https://www.facebook.com/katecraftonphotography You also need to choose “show in news feed” if you click on the “like” button…otherwise Facebook likes to hide business page updates. I also update instagram (username @katec) daily if you want to see snippets of our “normal” life!

I’ll leave you with a few pictures from TLC’s 1 year family session. My dear friends Kim Youra and Kate Bentley shot these for us while we were at the beach. Yes my son has a black eye, is drooling all over with his molars and we’re in the ocean because that’s the only place he was happy. We roll with the punches, people.

I’ve started this blog a few times and really don’t know how to write it. I have a wild amount of nervousness and excitement about our new venture. For the past 14 years we’ve stayed firmly planted in the Nashville area, the longest I’ve ever lived in one place. I went to school here, met my husband here, had my babies here and started my professional photography career. I am SO thankful for all of my clients that helped to build this insane, wild ride that I call my business.
Over the past 4 years, we’ve been traveling the country and considering if we could call each city “home”. We learned very quickly that we weren’t fond of raising our family in a big city, because we both grew up in small towns, but we wanted to be close to an airport so we could continue to travel with our kids and by ourselves as well. What TGR and I came to realize is that it doesn’t matter where we live. We’ll be happy wherever we plant our roots. My mom just purchased a ranch on 20+ acres, outside of the Ozark National Forest, and we spent the past week touring the area. All that I had viewed of Arkansas, up until this point, was the barren nothingness of I-40 which was not exactly where we wanted to live. But, oh, we fell in love with the area north of the interstate with the gorgeous rolling hills and rivers woven in between them. We found a a few properties with 10+ acres and enough room for my little ones to run free….and room for me to build a natural light studio.

So what does that mean for my clients? I’ll be posting specific location details once the house deal is finalized and we set a firm move date. There is no change for wedding clients (because all of my weddings are travel locations this year) and I’m only accepting Nashville area portrait sessions until mid-June and May is already full. If you would like a session before we move PLEASE do not wait to book it because only April and a handful of June dates are still available. I will be shooting one day of mini sessions in the fall (when I’m back for a wedding in Sept.) and that date will be announced on April 1st @ 9am. Add us on Facebook for news and announcements about this new chapter in our lives!

Here’s a little peek at one of the homes that we toured!

Oh, my son. It’s been a year since I saw your beautiful face for the first time. I’ll be honest, after a perfect birth we hit a bit of a rough patch. Your colic/GI issues and my PPD…we were quite the pair. I can’t believe that we morphed into the giggly, silly duo that we are today. You laugh your way through life and you’ve never met a stranger. I hope you always stay that way. Your joy is such a gift. My gift has been to cut back on work and spend this first year with you. You, me and daddy. With the bigs (big brother/big sister) in school we just play all day together. We savored every second, knowing that you were our last. I saw every first milestone…smiling, laughing, crawling, walking. So many parents don’t get that opportunity and we’re thankful to be able to work from home. I’m aware of how lucky I am to have been present in almost every moment of your first year. We are blessed.
Happy birthday, TLC. Here’s to many more years of chaotic bliss. I love you.

For the next few months the blog will be a bit quiet while we take some time off to search for where to lay our roots. We’ve talked about moving for years and now we’re off to narrow down the search! Session sneak peeks will still be posted on Facebook and I’ll be back to blogging full time in March. We’ll be kicking off being back from maternity leave with John & Charlotte’s wedding in Key West.
Happy Holidays everyone!
And, because every post needs an image, here’s a quick image from Seph & Chris’ session and of my own DJ TLC (and accompanying Crafton break dancers).