This December I received what I am lovingly referring to as The Game Changer. I was gifted a Canon 5D Mark II, a professional DSLR. My goal camera. The camera I’d be saving for if there was money to save.

When I opened my gift and saw it staring back at me I paused, there was an indescribable heaviness in that moment. It felt surreal (possibly due to exhaustion, presumed bronchitis, and the fact that I’m a girl…but I was stunned) This may sound silly but it’s true, I didn’t know whether I wanted to cry, laugh, jump, or scream with excitement so instead I looked up at the gift giver and smiled shyly, mouthed the words “Thank you!” and gently placed the box next to me as I returned to my duty as gift spotter for my 3-year-old daughter.

On the way home from our Christmas gathering I found myself landing on the same question I’d dwelled on regularly for the last year, “However did we end up here?”

We got to this point by the grace of God and insane amounts of support and encouragement from family, friends, and fans. I’m consistently surprised by the love you all show me and I want you all to know I appreciate every single kind word you throw my way. Every single one!

It has been almost exactly a year since I shot my first session as Rhonda Elm Photography (Thanks Neal & Sarah!) And on that note, I thought it would be an appropriate time to celebrate and say THANKS! to all of you with a photo session giveaway!

What you WIN: A FREE PHOTO SESSION (A $175 value!) – Up to 1.5 hours of shooting on location anywhere in Lake or Sumter counties, a private online viewing gallery, and 10 high-res images of your choice on CD

How to Enter: Email your name and a photo of whoever you’d like the session for to info@rhondaelm.com by February 15th (A picture of you, you + significant other, your family, kid(s), a friend, etc. If they’ll be in the session they should be in the photo you send)

How to WIN: An album with each entry received will be posted  on February 16th. At that time it’s your job to tell all of your friends to come check out Rhonda Elm Photography on Facebook and vote for your entry! They must ‘Like’ the Rhonda Elm Photography page as  well as hit ‘Like’ on your entry! Voting will close at midnight February 29th, I will take the time to ensure all votes are valid before the winner is announced.

Rules & Regulations:

– Rhonda Elm Photography reserves the right to deem any entry received inappropriate, you will be notified if this is the case and given an opportunity to submit a new photo

– The photo submitted should not be the work of another professional photographer

– ‘Likes’ on photos will only be counted if the voter has hit ‘like’ on the Rhonda Elm Photography Facebook page.

– Only ‘likes’ on the actual photo in the album will be counted

– The winner of the free photo session must redeem by 3/31/2012

– The photo session is limited to 5 people.