A confession. Well, more like an announcement.

People always say that having a kid changes everything. Being a mom now, I can definitely attest to that fact - although I'm not sure it changes everything, it certainly changes a lot, and as such time has become so much more precious than it ever was before.

Among the many changes that came once Owen burst onto the scene was that my priorities shifted. Family has always been number one, but usually everything else wasn't too far behind. Now, pretty much everything else (with the possible exception of my day job) is a far distant second. Everything I do now is to help make our family life better.

I think a large part of this reasoning stems from the fact that I myself did not have a lot of time with my own mother before she passed away. What little memories I did have of her (like making chocolate chip cookies, hanging out with her after preschool, etc.) I clung to with the same desperation someone clutches a winning lottery ticket.

I don't want my son to have to cling to memories of me like I was forced to do. I want him to have a super-huge-happy-fun-time library full of them, that he can access like a large mail-order catalog at a moment's notice.

Although I don't think I'll be dying anytime soon, I have a tendancy to be overly paranoid, and I've already had one near-death experience in my early twenties that has convinced me to live each day like it's my last. And on my last day, I want to spend with my family.

With this re-commitment to family, I have come to realize that although I love photography, I enjoy it more on my own terms and with my own timing. I also have been becoming more interested in further exploring other creative ventures (like cooking, design/art and fictional writing) that I'd like to devote my time to instead.

So, I guess that's a long way to say that Laura Kaster Photography will be going on a permanent hiatus until further notice. I'm by no means done with photography, I just need to take a break for awhile and reassess how I want to move forward and what my new goals are.

Until next time, blogosphere.