Welcome to 2011; Goodbye 2010! We hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season. We want to thank all of our supporters and followers for making this last year one of the most wonderful and memorable years that fickleZeal has had so far. We appreciate all the encouragement and assistance that you have given. We have a very bright outlook for 2011 and would love to continue to hear from you individually.

With that said, we’re excited to share that we are entering this New Year [2011] with a new

Blog + Website… as well as fresh branding that is more suitable for both Andre and I. We would love for you to regularly visit our new blog+site and let us know what you think, especially now that the comments work (whew). Feel free to CLICK ON OVER and check it out:D www.fickleZeal.com

But first, since we we not able to keep up with things on this blog we wanted to highlight some of the many special and exciting moments from 2010. This year has been an incredible year filled with so many exciting, heartfelt and emotional moments. We have been fortunate to photograph a variety of people and events that have been near and dear to our hearts. Below we have tried to quickly recap some of those moments, but it is not nearly enough to fully detail the entire year.

Again, thank you all for the amazing support. We hope this new year brings everyone more happiness, hope, appreciation of life and lots of remarkable memories that need to be captured for a lifetime!

Jenna + Andre
fickleZeal

We’ve been keeping a little secret, because I was feeling really under the weather and a LOT hormonal, but now that I’m feeling GREAT, I’m ready to reveal a recent photo of me that Andre captured which made me realize that I can’t keep it to myself anymore.

Something that has been pressing in my heart since Lana was born.  After speaking with countless doctors and therapists, I quickly learned that a word that is used throughout society to describe someone that is acting dumb or goofy was now tied to my beautiful daughter.  I must say, it hurt.  At first, it hurt that the doctors would dare describe my daughters condition as such, but after much thought and research I wanted to reclaim the word for it’s intended definition.  I wanted all of my friends and family to stop the misuse of the r-word.  I posted blog posts, sent emails, had many conversations informing people of how hurtful the word was when used in inappropriate careless ways.  I also designed and created t-shirts to hand out and sell.  I’ve been spreading the word for over three years now, but today I’m happy to see the cause is nationalized.

Soeren Palumbo has made a huge impact in creating awareness since his brilliant speech that he delivered to a gymnasium full of his high school peers and faculty and received a standing ovation.

The use of the r-word is offensive and hurtful, even when it is inadvertently used.  It is hurtful to the millions with mental retardation as well as their loved ones.

I find it interesting that insulting somebody by using such words as “Alzheimer… Cancer… AIDS… etc” carelessly would not be taken as a joke nor lightly yet, using another disease such as retardation as an insult is common among society.

It is NEVER appropriate to use the words “retard” or “retarded” in a careless or an insulting way.

I encourage you all to be more conscious of the words that you use and hope that you will take a pledge to stop saying the R-word on www.r-word.org.

While creating FickleZeal, I had to reinvent myself even though I thought I knew where I wanted to take the business and who exactly I was.  I constantly compared myself to other artists, and on my dark days, smothered my creativity with self-doubt and negativity.  
 
Maybe because I am such a perfectionist, I felt as though I needed everything to make me great when all along I had it all within myself…well…plus the camera, lenses, printers, MAC (yay!), etc…you know what I mean;-)  
 
I’ve been overwhelmed by setting WAY too many goals of which some were unachievable. All this I’ve tried to stop and I feel great about doing so.   I’ve been able to explore and use what I’ve learned to incorporate into FickleZeal, how I want it to be, and what I want it to stand for.  I’m changing the way things look and feel (check out the new blog and logo) and am excited about some new WONDERFUL eco-friendly products that we’ll be adding to our already established eco-conscious business.  
 
I’m excited to share what I am passionate about verses what the norm is in the photography industry.  
 
I’m thankful, that in the past few weeks, I’ve booked a lot of shoots and weddings for the year which hopefully is a good sign that this economy is not going to affect us too badly…another item on my “overwhelmed” list.
 
I’m EXCITED and ready for this winter to end!  I’m a spring gal!!! Needless to say, I can’t wait for the spring to arrive and STAY (crazy Texas weather).
 
Happy Spring Break! I will continue hoping for Happy Spring Weather, Sunshine, and Growth!

If you know me at all you know that I’m a positive thinker (I have bad days of course) with big hopes of making a difference. But I’m also a procrastinator… ;-(. So I’m revealing to you all that I’m going to do it. I’m going to be the change that I want to see in others. Thanks to the extra push from Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher’s I Pledge Video I’m going for it, no more procrastinating. NO MORE!

I pledge to bring more awareness for Down syndrome, Veganism, and Conscious Living. I pledge to stop using plastic water bottles, to continue to search for new ways to live a green lifestyle. I pledge to be a better Mom, wife, sister, friend, and family member. I pledge to be a better me so that I can inspire others to be better as well! What do you pledge? Let’s hold each other accountable!

Finally, we seem to be out of the sickness woods. Thank you for your prayers, calls, and emails.  And to my wonderful clients, thank you for your understanding and your tremendous patience!  You’re the best this girl could ever ask for!  As you can imagine, I have a lot of make-up work on my plate, both professional and personal, so I leave you with a piece of my heart, Nate and Lana, on their way backschool. 

As I photograph my clients I try to connect with their hearts and evoke the love that they have for each other.  Then as I edit their images I play music, as it allows me to tap into my artistic side.  Today while editing The Barkers (above), a family of 5, who seem to have this deep routed wholesome best friendship, I played Jason Mraz’s – Lucky. 

The emotions that it evoked in me were so pure that I could relate to it whole-heartedly.  While listening to his song it was as if I entered a time machine and took a journey to 1997.  The year I meet, feel in love with, and married my very best friend. 

Our story is one of those that no one believed in and even thought was doomed from the start, but that was ok with us.  Andre and I meet in Air Force technical training (tech school), and fell instantly in love.  After graduating from tech school we went our separate ways to visit our families.  He to Houston and me to Dallas, from there he would departed for Germany and I would departed for Italy.  I was heartbroken to leave tech school, but had faith that we would be together again soon.  How soon, I did not know. 

After seeing how head over heels in love I was with Andre, my sister Sabrina, secretly arranged for him to visit us in Dallas.  It was an incredible surprise and completely confirmed our love for each other.  After an amazing couple of days together my family no longer questioned our devotion for one another.  He left for Germany and I headed to Italy.  After three storybook romantic months of crossing European countries to see each other, a couple of times a month, we knew we had to be together.  We had months of paperwork and commanders approvals to seek, but all could see our intense Romeo and Juliet (our favorite movie) love for each other.  After all approved, we were married in Germany and in March of 98 he moved to Italy. 

We’ve had a wonderful life together and I’m thrilled to say that after 11 years of marriage I’m still lucky to be deeply in love with my best friend.  We love each other and help each other to be the best that we can.  We don’t tear each other down or apart, but believe in and inspire each other.  He says it often and I believe it’s even true (shhh… don’t tell him), he knows me better than I know myself. 

This video is a great example of our ability to feel each other across the seas and our intense love and our journey to be together.  While others didn’t believe, we knew. (Hop out of your reader to check out the video) 

This is the type of love that I am zealous to photograph.  The love that is so intense that it radiates from your pores. 

Editing, I must do!

I remember one crisp day going out barefoot and slipping on the concrete like we were on an ice rink.  I remember the care free emotions that I had deep in my heart.  I can see the details of that day.  I remember wishing that time would have been frozen along with the frozen icicles hanging from our roof tops.  

These are some of the pivotal moments in my childhood.  

Today while Nate and Lana were home sick, I snuck outside (not barefoot… I’m not that crazy) to enjoy the ice, as I did as a child, on my way to checking the mail, only this time I DID freeze time.  

(photo's taken with my new 5D Mark II )

 Sabrina, Kenny, and Stephanie, I love you and all our crazy childhood moments!  These photos are dedicated to you!

I’m excited to start the New Year with a really cool new baby of mine that my awesome hubby surprised me with.  Nope, it’s not a dog! Whew!

Meet the book that I’ve been studying for the past week. 

Yay, I got the new 5D Mark II! 

(photo from dpreview.com)

We were planning on making this investment towards the end of the year, so for him to suprise me with this on New Years Eve was AWESOME (as Nate would say). 

After 2 weeks of down time I’m back… or am I? 

While we were closed for the holiday’s our family endured common holiday coughs, runny noses, and some fevers; along with all the greatness.  We were all healthy for Christmas and New Years, but now both Nate and Lana are home sick from their first day of school with fevers.   Poor babies! 

Also, Lana had eye surgery over the break and seems to be having some side effects from the plastic tubes that were placed in her drainage canals.  So, with all of this… while I’m back, I’m not as back as I’d like to be. 

Please be patient with me, while I take care of my little ones. 

I’ll return emails throughout the day and week. 

As for my clients that are expecting their galleries to be released, you will still be receiving them this week as promised.

I hope you have a great day and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

I just wanted to take a quick break from opening presents and wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season filled with all that your merry hearts desire.

Eat, laugh, and enjoy the simple unscripted moments!  Hey and don’t forget to preserve the moments by taking quick pictures of your loved ones.

I’m off to enjoy the day with my lovely family.  I hope you will do the same!

Love,
Jenna