Farewell, Portland.

In June of 2005, Lincoln and I packed up our cameras, our cats, and our few worldly possessions and headed West. Our destination was Portland, Oregon.

It was a big risk for us moving from Charlottesville, Virginia all the way out to Oregon. We had no jobs in Portland and no friends or family here, either. What we did have was three months worth of rent between the two of us and a shared sense of adventure. We were young and in love, searching for a place to grow our relationship and our businesses. Nearly a decade later, I can say that moving to Portland proved to be a risk worth taking. Not only did we both fulfill our dreams of becoming full-time photographers, we also got married, bought our first home, and had two beautiful children in this great city. Both our businesses and our lives together have grown tremendously.  I believe that the entrepreneurial and adventuresome spirit that defines Portland, in great part, is responsible for our good fortune.

That is why it is with a mixture of excitement and sadness that I announce to you that Lincoln, Odin, Teagan, and I are moving back to Charlottesville, Virginia in early April of this year. After much thought and consideration, Lincoln and I feel that we will be better supported living near family. With Lincoln and I both being freelance photographers and working out of our home, we were finding it more and more challenging to juggle parenthood and our businesses, all while trying to maintain a household as well as our own relationship. Being closer to our family in Charlottesville will provide us with an element of support that we don’t have in Portland.

I will no longer be booking wedding or portrait photography services on the West Coast, but I will still be offering album design services to my current and past clients.  All of my currently active image galleries will still be online and print and album ordering is still available. Once we are settled into our new home, I plan to re-establish my business in Virginia and will begin booking portrait services there. We are not booking wedding photography services until further notice.

My friend and colleague, Robert McNary, will still be booking weddings and portraits through his own website: http://www.robertmcnary.com/. Please contact Robert directly if you are interested in booking his photography services for your wedding or portraits in Oregon.

What I will miss most about Portland are the incredible people that we have met here. Our friends, clients, and colleagues are what made our time here truly enjoyable and unforgettable. If I could relive the past ten years again, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

I want to extend a big THANK YOU to everyone who has befriended, supported, and encouraged me and Lincoln in our business and personal life. We wouldn’t be where we are today without all of you.

Here’s to believing in your dreams….

Lauren

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2015 at 8:16 pm. It is filed under blog, news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.