“There is only one sun. We can’t all claim to only have one way to use the light, but we can REDEFINE how we choose to express it.”

Why are you passionate about this topic?

Oh, wow – such a difficult question to try to answer when you have so many feelings attached to a topic, especially when you feel like it’s the only thing you find yourself doing.

I feel like I am passionate about ‘moments’ and finding a way to capture them because that’s how I personally remember my life so far, in tiny little moments.  Big and small.

I find myself hoarding moments and taking photo-memories to attach to later on in life and re-live those precious, treasures of life called ‘moments’.

When did you first learn this technique? Or, when did you first realize you liked this topic?

I first realized I loved collecting moments when we began creating and developing our photos into prints when I was a small child and then in turn creating family albums to sift through on holidays and birthdays and special life moments.

I loved seeing how far we had come – I enjoyed the family stories and the connections – but most of all I enjoyed the ‘moments’ we could all reach back in our brains and find and bring back the overwhelming feelings of joy, embarrassment and pure laughter.. all in one image.

To me, that’s what it’s all about – this thing called life.. It’s all about ‘moments’ and how they add up.. but most of all and most importantly, how you treasured them.

What are the tips you would share with anyone trying to achieve this technique?

1 – forget rules – any and all of them.
blurry photo [ fantastically in the moments ]
crying baby [ real moment ]
crying mom [ again, real moment lol. ]
sticks, stones, details, life, movement, water, hiking, adventures, deaths, marriages, births, milestones and bruises, learning to poo on a potty and to falling down or flunking out of something you once thought was the ‘real deal’..overall, just life in general.
all of it – every day.. it’s all worth it and in my opinion it will all be things you truly hope to have learned to fully treasure one day.

2 – have fun – learn to embrace failure.
everything, every day, every conversation, and every tick in time is monumental.
when you fail, it’s a lesson – when you succeed, it’s a lesson.
when you can learn that both fail and succeeding are truly equal in this life, you can learn to have fun and embrace your ‘failures’ for moments in time and lessons in life.3 – quit comparing – it does nothhhhhhiiiiinnnnnng.

absolutely nothing I tell you. other than maybe crush your insides into a pool of mushy emotional sadness or maybe you’re the type of person who likes that kind of stuff.. I don’t know.. In my opinion you are you – and for a good reason.. your talents, your brain, your ideas and your drive is what makes you, you.

keep that, embrace that. take your talents and run wild with them.
talk to your favorite artist and collaborate, but never compare.

when you can learn to embrace your originality as well as molding into a better creator, true art happens – and in turn, true creative happiness is achieved.

4 – take the time to be there – it’s important to be seen.
one of my favorite things to do is participate in my photos with my family. not just for pretty moments but for real moments too.. don’t get me wrong, it’s always great to have those beautiful wall hangers but my favorite moments to retrieve, the emotional pick-me-ups are the messy faced, messy hair, messy ‘moments’ in life that included us all. mess and all.

take time to be real – be present, be committed, be you. imperfections and all.

5 – enjoy the moment – when you find yourself going mad, step back and recenter.

so your kids is screaming, snot is everywhere – someone has something blue on their white dress and you’re pretty sure it’s pen ink. your hair is chaos, your makeup isn’t on right and your first cup of coffee got poured down the drain while the second is still in the maker, hanging tight. there’s dishes and laundry and life happening all around.

remember – these are the good times, so take a good look around. you may not know it now, but you’re going to miss this.

What were the challenges for you in the beginning?

processing that every person is different.

their process, their image concepts along with their goals, and their own insecurities.

as well as trying to conceive that every day is different, every room and every light all of it – every day is a new day and you have to prepare yourself for it’s challenges, including photography. just because you had one thing set yesterday doesn’t mean it works for today. just because something was incredible one day, doesn’t mean it will be the next.

I guess, the hardest thing for me to understand from the beginning was – you can please, your self, but that doesn’t mean it will please every one else and that was a hard lesson to learn when it came to social media.. so I found that you just simply have to soley focus on pleasing your self and then truly learn to take the rest as a perk.

enjoy the imperfections, enjoy the conversations. enjoy learning, enjoy collaborating.
but most of all enjoy yourself. embrace your moments because they are yours and yours alone.

‘happiness isn’t a destination – it’s a journey.’

About the photographer:

My name is Chelsea Cronkrite and the mom of 2 beautiful girls – as well 2 pups, 1 bunny, 3 ducks, and now 10 chickens as well as an avid feeder of humming birds, song birds, and random wild life that eats our newly planted garden so I consider them part of the family too. I am a wife to a handsome mountain man that gets me like no other person does.

Adventure maker, risk taker, Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and bagel junkie for life.

Documenting stories of my family’s life is my life and I truly am blessed to be able to give us so many [ maybe too many ] photo-memories to look back on for hopefully many, many years to come.

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