I pour my soul into the photographs I take of my clients' families, including the maternity shoots, the engagement sessions, the high school senior portraits. Would you believe I'm rarely on the other side of the lens?
If you walked into my home, you would see a husband and wife portrait of me and Bob Mack from our wedding, which was in, ahem, the year 2000. The other photographs displayed in our home I took during our travels to striking landscapes, such as India or the Canadian Rockies. To refresh the décor scene with new couple portraits, I told Bob we would be celebrating our wedding anniversary with a photography session with a colleague. I said I wanted to do something really special for him for our 15th anniversary, and my loving husband kindly corrected me, saying that ship had already sailed because we were on the verge of our 16th anniversary. That shows how busy I am as a business owner – I don't even have the right year. At least I knew what day it was.
Bob though took the opportunity to tease me. "Sweetie, I know you're not good at math, but we got married in 2000 so it's not difficult." Please know that Bob is a good-hearted man with a chivalrous sensibility, and he's got a huge sense of humor. Honestly, his sense of humor is as big as his heart. It is Bob who has completely backed my entrepreneurial spirit from the very beginning of our relationship. I had previously worked as a lab technician in keeping with my education, but once I moved to Houston to marry Bob, I knew I wanted to go in a new direction, which was fitness. I became a personal trainer at a sports club and eventually launched my own training business, Body eFX, in which I began fulfilling a lifelong dream to make a difference in people's lives.
My work really took off and then Bob announced he might have a work opportunity for us to move to Singapore. That very day I went to Costco and got Chinese language CDs. Bob thought that was hysterical because he hadn't even been offered the job yet. We lived in Singapore for two years, but my spouse visa did not authorize me to work. I took the opportunity to educate myself in photography and travel in Asia. I grew up with photographer parents and now I had time to explore my own craft. The type of photography I got involved with wasn't just on the street. I got involved in photography groups, traveled to India and northern China on weeks-long trips and just immersed myself with my peers in photography.
When we returned to Houston, I launched my session photography business, Intimate Expression Photography, which initially focused on boudoir-style portraits. That's when I truly realized what an amazing supportive husband I have. I always knew he was wonderful but saw he was willing to drop whatever he was doing to help me. I worked more, and he started having to play second fiddle to my photography business, especially as I expanded with Kat Mack Photography, a bigger studio, family and other portrait photography.
For years, I worked every weekend. We were missing out on all the things that couples do. The turning point was December 22 of 2014. I had not done anything to get ready for Christmas and when I got home, Bob had decorated the whole house. I walked in and cried. Christmas was always special and I used to be the one that baked and decorated. I thought of a list of domestic things I no longer did, including sewing and exercise. I had allowed my work on my business to take away from my domestic life.
That realization led to the big change that I stopped working the weekends. I came to Bob and said, "I have put you on the back burner in order to grow my business and I'm truly sorry." His response – and it makes me cry – he said, "I know. I know how important your business to you and your being successful makes me happy." In those two words, "I know," were a life-changer. Those two words spoke volumes to me. To clarify: Bob is mine, none of you all can have him! After rededicating my time to my marriage and finding work/life balance, I wanted to give him couple portraits of us to celebrate our anniversary and our relationship. I love you, Bob.
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