Showing posts with label Self-Portraits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Self-Portraits. Show all posts

Friday, February 25, 2022

Self-Portrait | February 2022

Life has been all puppy, all the time, for the past year as we added first Sylas and then Hazel to the family.  I have been working very hard to turn both of them into well behaved dogs.  In that regard, I have spent most of February consumed with training both of them.

Sylas is currently enrolled in his sixth (Yes, SIXTH!) training class, which is a part 2 of a class he took in the fall.  Last year he learned skills to be well behaved while on a leash and now he is practicing those skills at a variety of public places.

Hazel is currently enrolled in two classes simultaneously through two different trainers.  One of them is a basic obedience/skills class and the other one is a leadership and obedience class. Really both classes are teaching her the same type of things but one is just at a higher level than the other.

I really love working with the dogs on training.  I find it rewarding when they learn something new and I find the process of teaching them new things really fun. Hazel is an exceptionally fast learner and picks up on every new skill almost immediately.  Sylas takes a little longer to catch on to some things but while we are training he gives 100% of his full attention to it.  He seems to really enjoy training sessions.  It might just be all about the treats, but I like to pretend he likes the experience!

When I am working with one of the dogs, I usually take that dog by itself into the bathroom where we can work without being distracted by the other dogs.  Once all the dogs know a skill, I may work with them as a group or else I may tether them all and work with one dog while the other dogs wait for their turn.  But the majority of the training is done one on one.  So for February's self-portrait I opted to take my photo in the Master Bathroom with Hazel and Sylas to represent what I have spend so much of the month doing.

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram


© 2022 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Self-Portrait | January 2022

With my return to photography, I decided to resurrect my monthly self-portrait project!

When I first started the project, I struggled with it a bit and didn't love being on the other side of the camera.  However, over time I came to enjoy coming up with the ideas each month and using the photos to document where I was in my life.  I have liked looking back at them and remembering what was going on at that time. In many ways I regret giving them up and I wish I had photos and posts from all of the months and years that I missed.  However, I know that when I made the decision to step back from my photography it was what I needed to do at the time.  Life had become too crazy to keep up with everything I had going on and something had to give.

Things seemed to have settled down into a routine again these days, and I'm ready to resume taking photos a little more regularly.  I still have no idea what exactly it is I want to photograph, which seems to be the running theme for the past six years since closing my business, but I do know that I want to get back behind the camera again!  Hence, the decision to take the online photography classes I mentioned.

For January's self-portrait, I decided to show myself sitting on my bed with my laptop, since this is were I have spent an awful lot of my time this month.  I've been on my laptop while doing my first online class and also while working on some back blog posts that I never got around to finishing.  I've been doing it from this spot because it's warm and cozy and the evenings have been a little chilly lately.  I do usually have all four dogs piled in around me but that felt like more than I wanted to juggle for the self-portrait!
It feels like a bit of irony that I am starting back out with a self-portrait photo similar to the very first one I took, and for pretty much the same reason!  At the time, I was working on getting everything set up to reopen my business in Arizona and now I'm just returning to photography in general but it kind of feels like I've come full circle.

As a side note, man has blogger gone down the toilet!  It seems like every time I have returned to it for the past 6 years they have made more and more changes that make it less and less user friendly.  Thus far it is been easy and inexpensive to keep my blog hosted here but if I'm going to return to posting regularly I don't think I'm going to be able to deal with all the annoying changes for very long.  So, I suspect a new home for the blog may be coming in the near future!

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram


© 2022 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Self-Portrait | May 2017

If you haven’t been by the blog since I up and vanished a few years ago, let me catch you up. Here’s what I’ve been up to recently:

  • I published two old self-portraits posts from spring 2015 that were just hanging around waiting to be posted. I have no idea why I never published them back then, except to say that I was getting burned out and when life threw me some crazy curve balls I needed to turn my attention elsewhere for a while. I think (knock on wood) that things have settled down and I’m ready to return to some of those things I put on the back burners. If you want to check out those past posts they can be found here and here.
  • I photographed a maternity session for my friend Amanda, (who may need her own blog label soon, as she’s been in front of my camera so many times!). I really enjoyed taking her photos and catching up with her. Not to mention that I owe her a huge thank-you for getting me back behind my camera and reminding me just how much I enjoy shooting. If she hadn’t asked me to do her maternity session, I’m sure I sill wouldn’t be back. Her session really is quite lovely, and Amanda is one gorgeous mama-to-be. Her photos can be found here, if you’d like to check them out.
  • I announced that I was going to return to doing some shooting and blogging, and I created an Instagram account for my photography. As of right now that is where I’ve been posting some of my images along with links to the corresponding posts here on the blog.  I've still made no decision regarding if I am going to revisit my FB photography page or not, but for now it's still hanging out and I have posted a few things to it since returning.
  • I took some new portraits of all of my fur babies. They are rather adorable, (but I’m not biased or anything). Zoe and Lexi’s can be found here, and Daisy and Gatsby’s can be found here.
  • I also began experimenting with macro photography. So far I’ve posted some images I took of some scorpions using a black light, which can be found here, and some images I took of the landscaping in our yard, which can be found here. I’ve also taken a few other sets of macro images that I’m working on editing, so stay tuned for those soon.
  • AND, I also managed to completely mess up my blog when I was viewing an alternative layout I was considering, so I’ve set it to this basic layout until I find the time to go in an reset all of the customizations again. Sigh. Please ignore my mess if you happen to pop over halfway through the edits.

Honestly, I’m still not sure where I’m headed with my photography. I’m hoping that my experimenting will lead to an area of photography that feels right to me. I’m hoping something will eventually just click and I’ll find a new photography home. In the mean time, I’m just going to keep experimenting and working my way through the lists of things I’ve been meaning to try but never found the time to do in the past.

I don’t know where my self-portrait series is headed, either. I’m not sure if I’m going to resume it as a monthly feature on the blog or not. In many ways I miss taking them, and I regret giving them up. At the same time, it was starting to feel like a burden doing them every month after so long. Only time will tell I suppose. For now, I’m just happy to be back behind the camera. It feels like coming back home after a long (but much needed) vacation. I’m going to try to let that feeling be my guide as I venture back in, and that feeling had me wanting to do a self-portrait this month. So that is exactly what I did...


Since photography has been occupying almost all of my time this month, I decided it was only fitting to include a photo of me shooting as May’s self-portrait. I took this image while I was taking some of the macro shots that I’m still working on editing. I was using a lighted make-up mirror as my light source and opted to focus in on my reflection for my photo.

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes. 
Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter

© 2017 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Monday, May 25, 2015

Self-Portrait | May 2015

I usually don't title my self-portraits (basically because I'm just not that creative!), but if I were to title this one my title would be "Saying Goodbye".

You know how every woman has that one thing that they despise about themselves? That thing that they would choose to change about themselves if given the chance? For me that thing is my hair. Hands down my worst feature ever! I've lamented about my hair in a self-portrait a few years ago, and I'm right back in the same place: completely sick of it and trying to decide what to do with it.

For the vast majority of my adult life I have kept my hair length somewhere between my chin and my shoulders, and kept my hair color blonde. I've always liked it like that, but I've ventured away from my usual here and there just to spice things up when I get bored. But I always end up going back to the same familiar style that just feels like 'me'.

A few years ago, I decided that I needed to grow my hair out. Don't ask me why. Every. single. time. I allow my hair to get long I realize just how much I hate it and end up cutting it back off again. In my head I envision long, thick gorgeous waves. Instead I get a thin, stringy mop. I probably should have cut my hair shorter a long time ago, but life got busy and stressful and finances were tight and I kept it long because it was easy and inexpensive. I also can't seem to find a hairstylist here who can get my hair the blonde color that I like, so I gave up and started coloring it myself close to my natural color for the same reasons.

I've decided that I just can't stand it any longer and I've made an appointment with a new hairstylist to get it cut. I'm hoping that in addition to a new hairstyle, the haircut will help me start feeling like me again, which is something I've really been struggling to do since moving to Arizona. While I'm sure I'll still have a long way to go, I'm hoping that cutting my hair back into a more familiar style will be a good start towards regaining what has been missing from my world lately.

So for this month's self-portrait, I decided to take one last photo with my long hair before I cut it off soon. Hopefully it will serve as a memory of why I should never. never. never. grow it out past my shoulders again! If you know me IRL and I mention that I'm considering growing my hair out, please force me to look at this photo and tell me to reconsider!


Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2015 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Monday, April 27, 2015

Self-Portrait | April 2015

We have still been slowly working on turning our house into our home, one small step at a time. While this month's project doesn't do much to change the appearance of our house, it is something that has been long over due! I can't remember when our old mattress was purchased but I think it was back in 2001 or 2002. While it may have been a high quality mattress at the time, let me tell you... it still wasn't designed to last for 13 or 14 years and my lower back has been letting me know about it! I'd finally reached my tolerance limit of waking up stiff and sore, so we decided to splurge on a new mattress. It was delivered a few days ago, and the past few nights have been bliss!

Here I am all smiles, with our new mattress...


It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for your attitude and outlook. (It's also sad what makes you happy when you're an adult!)

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2015 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Monday, March 30, 2015

Self-Portrait | March 2015

This month has been a doozy!

The defining part of it for me was getting my butt kicked by some sort of horrific illness that I self-diagnosed as the flu (since the last time I was that sick was when I had the flu 8-9 years ago and this felt the same).  I spent the better part of two weeks crashed out on the couch trying to fight my way back to heath.  I even missed a couple days of work. I probably should have missed a few more, but it's hard to pay those bills without getting up off the couch.  Even now I am still trying to get rid of a lingering cough that has taken hold and just won't let up.

I spent the remainder of the month working on painting Kevin's office and doing other random house updates, since my parents are here for the winter and willing to help us with some improvements and changes we want to make.  We were on a time crunch trying to get everything finished before they leave early next month, and before one of my old college roommates (Jen) came to visit.

This month's self-portrait probably should have been one of me crashed out on the couch, but quite frankly while I was sick I was too wiped out to even think about setting up to take a photo and recreating it after the fact would have induced too many bad memories.  A runner up option could have been a photo of me painting or doing work on the house, but after last month's image that seemed a little redundant.

So, instead I opted to use one of the photos of myself taken during Jen's trip to Phoenix when we went to visit the gorgeous Botanical Gardens.  Even though Jen's visit only covered the last few days of the month, it was the most pleasant part of it - hands down - and definitely the part that I want to remember going forward!

So, I give you March's 'self-portrait' (which is a term I'm using very loosely here, as Jen actually took this photo of me)...


I have to admit that I have been feeling uninspired with my self-portraits lately and I have been getting ridiculously lazy with them in recent months - resorting to cell phone shots that happened to be captured somewhere along the way instead of taking true self-portraits.

I've been so busy recently that I blink and another month is coming to a close and I can't quite face the fact that it's time to brainstorm a new self-portrait idea once again.  There are some months where it takes everything I have to toss up a photo of myself and I wonder why I ever started this project.  But when I think about quitting, I can't bring myself to do it.  I know I would end up angry at myself and filled with regret.

I really do love having these monthly memories of my life since relocating to Arizona!  So even on the months that I really, really don't feel like going all out with my self-portrait I force myself to at least post something - which has more or less been my new mantra since moving here!  Instead of my usual perfectionist tendencies, the past few years I've been leaning more towards the life motto of "Something is better than nothing!"

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2015 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Self-Portrait | February 2015

As I mentioned in last month's self-portrait post, one of our goals for 2015 is to begin working on our house.  So my February was consumed with painting two of our upstairs rooms.  The first half of the month was spent picking a color for our guest bedroom and painting it, and the second half was spent doing the same for my office.  I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of painting, but I love the results of freshly painted walls in colors that we selected!

So here I am doing a little final touch up on my office before my new office furniture is delivered...


I know. I know.  You can't see the color of the walls in a black and white photo. You'll just have to stay tuned for next month's Snippets + Snapshots post to see the color I selected.

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2015 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Self-Portrait | January 2015

Even though I have decided to close my photography business, I'm stilling going to be taking and sharing photos on my blog. One of the things that I intend on continuing is my monthly self-portraits.  Perhaps my desire to continue to take and share these photos of myself every month may appear a bit narcissistic, but I assure you that isn't my intent.  Far from it in fact.  Quite frankly, I usually see the photos of my self every month and, after cringing at my appearance, vow to lose some weight, update my wardrobe, and/or change my hair style or color before my next self-portrait.  Of course, I never do.

What this monthly self-portrait project really is is a combination of forced discipline to follow through with something that is often a challenge for me combined with a way to document my life.  I took my very first self-portrait immediately after relocating to Phoenix, and I truly love having these posts to look back on and remember where I was and how much has changed over the past few years.  I only wish I had started this project earlier and had some posts from my life back in Indiana!

Anyway, enough babbling.  Let's jump into this month's photo, shall we?

The beginning of 2015 has me breathing a big huge sigh of relief that a new year is upon us, and we are leaving 2014 in the dust.  This past year brought with it the final steps in the very long process of uprooting our lives and moving across the country for Kevin to attend law school.  Now that we have bought a new house in Arizona and Kevin has found a job, we are ready to put the holding pattern of the past four years behind us and begin focusing on the future.

In the spirit of looking ahead, we have spent the month of January doing some pretty intense goal planning for 2015 and beyond.  Not necessarily your typical new year's resolutions, but more just lists of things that we want to accomplish this year: financial thing we want to achieve, trips we want to take, plans for updates to our house, etc. (One of which is to turn my makeshift office into a real office complete with freshly painted walls and A REAL DESK!)

So, here I am working on my lists and goals for 2015...


Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre used to be a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona.  Now she just takes photos for fun when the mood strikes.
Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2015 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Monday, December 29, 2014

Self-Portrait | December 2014

The end of the year brought with it the end of an era as I said goodbye to the first car I ever purchased!

It might be a bit hard to believe, but I've only owned four cars in my life, and my parents gave me the first two.  It wasn't until the second one of those died in the summer of 2002 that I bought my first car at the age of 27.  I had already decided that I wanted a small SUV, so it wasn't too difficult to decide on a Ford Escape as my car of choice.

In the spring of 2011, Kevin's car was totaled in a car accident. At that time, it made more financial sense to buy me a newer car, so I opted to buy another Escape and Kevin took over driving the 2002.  Sadly, he didn't love it quite as much as I did, and he's been counting the days until he could replace it with a car of his choosing.

As old cars often do, this one was quickly turning into a money pit and when another large repair was going to be required we decided it was time to bid the old Escape adieu.  So while Kevin has been doing a happy dance over shopping for a new car, I have been feeling a bit weepy and nostalgic over getting rid of my first big girl car.

Twelve years is a long time to own a car!  I can't help but look back over the past 12 years of my life and reminisce at where I was when I purchased it and everything I have been through since then.  That car has seen me through an amazing number of adventures and HUGE life changes!

Even though I haven't been the one driving it the past few years, it was still sitting there in the garage so I could say hello whenever I wanted. Since we wanted to keep the miles off the newer vehicle, we usually took the older one whenever we went any place together.  So, I really hadn't said goodbye to it when I bought my new one.  But it appears the time has finally come that I must do just that.

So, goodbye my dear old friend.  Thank you for safely taking me through the journey of my crazy life these past 12 years.  I will definitely miss you!


Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Friday, November 28, 2014

Self-Portrait | November 2014

I'm just going to start off by saying that this really isn't a self portrait. First, it wasn't taken with the intent of being used for this month's photo.  Second, I didn't take it. It is a random cell phone shot that I asked my hubby to take for me because I wanted to post it on Instagram, and the fact that I am resorting to using it for my November self-portrait speaks more about what my month has been like than any other staged photo could.

November has been an insane whirlwind of getting ready for the portraits that Kevin and I had taken earlier in the month, combined with a very busy shooting and editing schedule as the photography season in Arizona kicks off.  So, I have spent the majority of my time either behind my camera or sitting in this exact spot editing images (as I am doing in this photo).  Also, as in this image, I'm usually accompanied by the dogs as my awkward but adorable arm rests (and covered in layers and buried in blankets because our weather took a very abrupt downward turn into colder temps and I've been freezing).

Also of note in this photo are the piles of stuff on the kitchen island behind me, which again speak volumes about what my life is like right now.  Anyone who knows me in IRL knows that having stuff littering the surfaces of my house is highly unusual and only tends to happen when I'm crazy busy, but it is a good crazy busy as most of it is because my photography business is booming!

So, here's to wrapping up an insane but good November, and with it my 2014 shooting season!


Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Self-Portrait | October 2014

Years ago, I heard someone say that for every year someone goes through a professional school program it takes one year to recover and regain some sort of normal life.  Even though I'm not the one who just finished school, I feel like it's going to take me quite a while to get it back together after everything we've been through the past 4 years.

We have both been busy and overwhelmed and we've been doing everything we can to just hang on.  Not to mention that we've been living on one income, when we were used to two.  So we have let a lot of things go by the wayside and we are just now able to start getting back to them.

This month's focus has been on our wardrobes.  Now that Kevin has a big boy job he needed to replace all of his worn clothing and shoes, and start shopping for some more suits.  As for me, I really despise shopping and I dislike wearing anything other than shorts, tank tops, and flip-flops.  That combo means that my winter wardrobe is in pretty sad shape.  Other than a few desperate basic necessities, I don't think I have purchased a pair of pants or a long sleeve shirt or sweater in over 4 years.  Yikes!

So, I spent most of November hanging out in our closet - sorting through our wardrobes, removing all of the old, worn out, ill fitting clothing, and replacing them with new updated items.  I'm not 100% done, but at least I'm starting to feel like we will no longer look like homeless bums when we leave the house this winter!


Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Monday, September 22, 2014

Self-Portrait | September 2014

Today is my 40th Birthday, and all I can think as I sit here and type this is 'Where has the time gone?' It seems like I just graduated from college a year or two ago!  I keep having this thought like maybe I counted wrong and I'm really turning 30.  That would feel a little more possible.  But 40?  No Way!

I expected to have a very difficult time with this birthday, especially considering how awful turning 30 was for me, but honestly turning 40 hasn't been that tough. Perhaps it is because my 30’s really weren't all that great and I'm ready to leave them behind. Now, don’t get me wrong. A lot of good things happened in my 30’s, but they were full of their fair share of disappointments, too. Overall, the decade just wasn’t what I hoped it would have been. I spent the first part of it depressed that I was no longer in my 20’s, the middle of it realizing that while I really wanted to be happy with where I was, I just wasn’t, and the end of it working feverishly toward a new life.

Basically, my 30’s just felt like a very long road between my 20’s and my 40’s. Turning 40 feels like an arrival. It feels like the start of something good. Something new. It feels like I am finally at a place where I've lived long enough to have learned the tough lessons necessary to start living life to it’s fullest. I've paid my dues and it’s time for that to start paying off. All I really want right now is to settle back into the routine of life and to start enjoying time with Kevin now that he is finally done with school.

I felt that a change was in order to welcome in this new decade of life, so I decided to enter my 40's as a brunette!  Here I am with my new hair color, relaxing in my favorite place in our backyard, ready to embrace whatever life has in store for me next...


Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Monday, August 25, 2014

Self-Portrait | August 2014

If you've been a blog follower for the past few years then you've probably seen a theme slowly creep its way into my posts - namely that I'm trying to improve my health by changing my diet and exercise habits.  It started back in May 2013 where I declared that I was going to start training to run a marathon and needed to change my eating habits.  (I didn't end up running the race for a lot reasons that I won't get into here.) Fast forward to October 2013 where I talked about giving up pop and other beverages in lieu of healthier options.  And finally, last month where I talked about joining a gym and starting to exercise regularly again.

All of this has been leading up to the major life change that I have started this month: I am giving up sugar.  I am, and always have been, a self proclaimed sugar addict.  And I do mean addict.  I crave the stuff with an intensity that is terrifying, and no matter how many days, weeks, or months I've gone without it, one taste can send me headlong into a sugar binge where I find myself gorging on a bag of cookies for dinner and craving my next sugar fix.

Not only is this sugar addiction bad for my waist line.  I've also start realizing it is bad for my health in ways I never imagined.  I've been reading a lot of research lately talking about just how bad for us sugar really is, and how doctors are beginning to think that it is the underlying cause of most of the major health conditions in this country.  People are starting to call sugar poison, and the more I read and learn, the more I have started to realize that I completely agree.  So I've decided to cut it out of my life as much as possible.

And I don't just mean that I'm giving up pop and desserts.  I mean.... I. am. giving. up. all. sugar.  Let me tell you, this undertaking is not for the faint of heart or weak willed.  Sugar is in EVERYTHING! It's rather scary once you start actually reading the labels and begin learning all the other names for sugar that the nasty stuff is hiding behind.  I've slowly been working up to this change for several months, so by now all of the prepackaged processed foods have been eliminated from my diet and my kitchen.  A dessert hasn't passed my lips for 5 weeks, and I'm entering my 2nd week of total sugar elimination.  As the final step in this major life change I went through the entire kitchen a few weeks ago and got rid of every remaining item in the house that contained sugar and replaced it with non-sugar varieties where I could find them.

So, for this month's self-portrait, I thought it was only fitting to show myself pouring out the rest of the nasty white stuff...


If you're interested in learning more about the change in the way doctors and scientists are viewing sugar this video, this article, and this article are good places to start.  This book is a surprisingly entertaining, yet insightful read on the topic, as well.  I have a few more books on my list to read to learn more about this subject.  If you are interested in learning more as well, give me a shout and I'll pass my reading list on to you.

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Self-Portrait | July 2014

I can't even believe I am saying this, but this month brings with it the 3 year mark since Kevin and I packed up and said goodbye to Indiana and relocated to Arizona. In so many ways the past 3 years have gone by in the blink of an eye! Yet, in so many other ways it feels like they have lasted for an eternity. We have been through so many huge changes - which have been mostly good, but they've also been insanely stressful. And we have finally reach THE END! We are completely unpacked and starting to settle into our new house and our new area of the valley.  Kevin is finally 100% done with everything involved in completing law school and is now working a job that he is really enjoying and we are hoping will turn into a full-time position. Fingers-crossed.

After spending 3 years working like an insane person while just trying to keep my head above water, I finally have time to refocus my attention on all of the things I have been neglecting. Number one on the list is my health and fitness. So, I joined a gym! And the majority of this month has been spent trying to develop a new habit of working out.


This month's photo was all about capturing the memory, as opposed to quality photography. It was a last minute decision to grab this picture with my cell phone (via my hubby taking it) post workout. I was dressed in the most horrific neon green tank top, which makes my skin tone a lovely shade of "are you ill?". And let's not even talk about the atrocious lighting. Hence the black and white edit!

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Friday, June 27, 2014

Self-Portrait | June 2014

The end of June brings with it the six month mark since moving into our new house, which is so hard to believe!  I spent part of the month continuing to unpack and organize the garage.  I was finally able to get rid of some of the stuff that we had moved from Indiana thinking we would use it in a new house but it just didn't fit for one reason or another.  I still have a little more work to do before I'm completely finished, but it feels good to be making some real progress towards finally getting settled into our new home.

I have no idea why we waited until the start of the insane Phoenix summer to work outside, but Kevin and I also spent the entire month working on our backyard and our pool.  When we moved in, our yard was full of old tree stakes.  Since I'm a klutz and kept kicking and tripping over them we decided we needed to remove them. Of course they were super heavy duty and we were unable to pull them out, so we had to dig around them and cut them off several inches underground.  It was a huge job and took forever. Of course, once we thought we were done we found a few more.  Sigh.  But those can wait for another month.  Possibly a cooler one!  The few more we found actually don't stick up all that high and they are in a part of the yard we rarely walk though, so they aren't quite as big of a deal.

At one point our backyard and pool deck was lined with landscape lights, but the previous owners didn't keep them in good repair.  So when we moved in, the majority of them were either missing or broken, and we decided to take them all out and replace them.  Kevin and my dad replaced half of them a few months ago, and we finished the rest this month.  Given the number of lights we replaced it was another time consuming and exhausting job, but we are thrilled that they are all in and we can now light our yard at night!

Our yard has several large trees in it that provide us with a lot of amazing shade and gives our backyard a wonderful, tranquil, relaxing park-like feel.  It also means that our yard is constantly full of branches, leaves, flowers, mesquite nuts, pods, etc. - the majority of which seem to head straight for our pool!  It has been a constant battle trying to keep it debris free so we can actually use it.  We finally decided it was time to break down and buy an automatic vacuum to go along with the automatic skimmer we purchased a while ago.  So after much research we finally decided on one and purchased it.  After a bit of trial and error we finally figured out how to use it properly, and for the first time since we moved in we have a clean, debris-free, usable pool.  Woo Hoo!

So, here I am finally enjoying some relaxation time after so much hard work this month...


Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Friday, May 30, 2014

Self-Portrait | May 2014

Remember back in December when I said that I would finally get around to unpacking when I got tired of parking in the driveway?  So that finally happened.

Kevin drives a black car with a dark grey interior, (that we owned when we moved here. We aren't crazy enough to purchase a dark colored car living in the insane desert heat.) It pretty much turns into an oven on wheels during the Phoenix summers.  So, clearing space to park it in the garage got bumped up on the priority list once the temps started hanging out in the triple digits the past few weeks.

So, I spent most of my month working on finally unpacking the rest of our stuff.  I still have a bit to do as you can tell by all the junk behind me, and I REALLY don't want to talk about what it looks like behind the door of our third garage space, but at least for now we won't get cooked getting into Kevin's car.


As I look back through my 2014 self-portraits thus far, I'm beginning to see a trend.  Namely, that I've turned into a lazy bum who rarely gets out of my comfy kickin' it at home clothes!  I have no idea what June is going to bring my way, but perhaps I need to make spending a little time on my appearance a priority for the coming month. At least on the day of my self-portrait.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Monday, April 28, 2014

Self-Portrait | April 2014

Mid-month I finished working the insane schedule that I mentioned last month, and I finally had some time to rejoin the world again.  So, I've been spending a lot of time focusing on reducing my stress, improving my diet, and increasing my exercise the past few weeks.  I bought myself a fitbit one activity tracker to help me out and so far I'm loving it!

One of the things that I am doing to get more exercise is hiking every Sunday morning, and it's quickly turning into my favorite time of the week.  It's so nice to get outside and enjoy nature while moving my muscles that have been inactive for way too long.

Before my parents left to head back home, we took a trip to Sedona where we did a little hiking.  While not technically a self-portrait, I decided to use a photo that Kevin took of me during our hike as this month's photo since it does a great job of showing where my focus has been this month.  Plus who can turn town a peek at Sedona's gorgeous red rocks?


Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Self-Portrait | March 2014

People have all sorts of responses to stress. Some people eat.  Some people stop eating.   Some people drink.  Some people work out.

Me?  I sleep.  A ton.  And let's just say I've been averaging 10-12 hours of sleep per night and I'm still worn out.

I'm focusing on trying to reduce my stress level in 2014 (I seem to be failing miserably, huh?), which required me to make a change to my day job work schedule. Unfortunately, the transitional phase has me working six days a week, while shooting every Saturday, and it's about to do me in!  Luckily, I only have one more month to go and the end result will be well worth it AND leave me more time to focus on my photography clients.

In the mean time, if you need me I'll be in bed...


Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Self Portrait | February 2014

Somebody seriously needs to stop time.  I feel like I blink and another month has zipped by.  The speed at which life is flying by for me probably has a lot to do with how insanely busy my life has been recently and I really wish it would slow down and let me catch my breath!

February brought with it a huge amount of stress and insanity for my husband as he spent the month studying for the bar exam which he just took a few days ago.  It also brought my parents to Phoenix for their winter stay.  Yippee!  I love it when they are in town during the winter, but this year's visit is more work than play since they are helping us do some updating and remodeling on our house.

I haven't been doing much actual work on the house, but I have spent an inordinate amount of time shopping for supplies.  So much so that I feel like Lowe's has turned into my home away from home.  It seemed only fitting to take this month's self-portrait at the place where I have found myself several times a week this entire month.  I've been making early trips before heading to work, and late trips after work, and middle of the day trips on my days off.  Pretty soon I'm going to have the entire store layout down better than the employees!

So here's to the end of February and to making our new house into our home:


Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Monday, January 27, 2014

Self-Portrait | January 2014

I swear I just sat down and wrote my December self-portrait post like 3 days ago! Seriously, WHERE HAS JANUARY GONE?

It's been an interesting month, to say the least.  The first part of January was filled with a ton of frustrations while attempting to settle into our new house.  It kind of felt like something was going wrong at every turn, and there was a point where I was ready to run screaming down the street and never look back.

Let's just say that I'm trying to find the good in the fact that 90% of our faucets are leaking by focusing on the fact that we've decided to fix the problem by remodeling two of our bathrooms, and I'm looking on the positive side of a dying dishwater motor by focusing on the fact that I will very soon have one that I got to pick out.  And as an added bonus, I am seeing the huge blessing in the fact that my over the top OCD required me to clean every inch of our house, and then some, upon moving in, meaning that the mold growing in our heating/cooling duct system was detected in the early stages instead of years from now after it had invaded the entire house and affect our health.

But I bet you're wondering what any of that could possible have to do with the photo you see below.  So, let's move on to the second half of my month.  A few days ago, I photographed my very. first. wedding.  Eeeek!  I swore I would never photograph weddings because I didn't want the pressure of capturing someone's big day on my shoulders, yet I some how found myself agreeing to photograph a few special ones this year.  So, I spent the past few weeks feverishly reading and watching everything I could possibly get my hands on to help me prepare for the big day.

One of the things that the bride and groom requested was photographs using sparklers.  I did learn how to do sparkler photos during a workshop I attend last spring, but practicing them wasn't a priority and they were relegated to the bottom of my list of things to experiment with someday.  You can bet they got bumped up to the number one spot as soon as the couple asked for them!

So, I rounded up some sparklers and literally made myself dizzy practicing these photo a few nights ago.  (And I do mean literally dizzy.  After spinning in circles for one of the longer shots, I tried to walk toward my camera to set it up for the next shot and I couldn't walk in a straight line.  I had to sit down for a minute and recover.)

So, for January's photo I decided to share one of the photos I captured of myself while running in circles with sparklers.  (If you want to see the resulting photo from the wedding, you can head on over and see it on my Facebook page.)


And I'm just now realizing that I have on the exact. same. thing. as I had on in last month's portrait.  I swear I do own more clothes than this outfit.  Apparently this is my go to comfy outfit lately.  So much so that I didn't even realize I had it on in both photos until just this very second.  Too funny!

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC