Dad's life. Remembered.

I love this shot I took of my dad on his 60th birthday 2 years ago.

I was up until 6am this morning finishing my dad's slideshow video I will be playing at the funeral on Saturday. I'm not one to get up and speak, so instead I wanted to present his memory in a creative way through the slideshow, while incorporating video footage I have of him over the years. I will be posting it here on the blog after the funeral. All in all, it was about 300 photos and 25 minutes long! Whew! I never realized I had sooooooo many photo albums and photos of him. Who would have thunk I would end up a photographer? ha! Going through all these photos recently, it just truly makes me appreciate the beauty of my job, in documenting history. Family. Love. Emotion. Memories.

For now though, the paper published his obituary today that my mom wrote about him. You can click here to read it:

http://www.legacy.com/TimesUnion/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=124564055

Again, thank you to all who continue to reach out and send kind words of encouragement! You are all keeping me strong!

Good bye Daddy.

Johnny Ray Williams
December 21, 1946-February 21, 2009

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith"
2 Tim 4:7

A picture I took of my dad in 2006 giving tribute to his love of the confederacy in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium.

I don't even know where to begin.

Whew.

The past 2 weeks have been a blurry whirlwind.

What day is it?

Let me rewind to two days before I left for Vegas. I honestly didn't want to book the trip, but in the weeks leading up to it, I had a talk with my dad, and he told me I needed to continue moving on with my life, and that this trip signified everything he had worked so hard for to set me up for success, and that I needed to go on the trip. So I booked the trip, planned the photoshoot workshop and my After Party.

Dad had been pretty level and was in comfort receiving home Hospice care. But then, he no longer was able to keep his medicine down due to a continued nauseous problem he was having after not eating since the beginning of the year. So two days before my trip, they moved him into the Hospice facility to try to get the nausea under control to be able to return home. I of course was about to cancel my trip to Vegas, but after a long talk with my mom, she encouraged me to go through with it and reminded me that daddy would want me to go.

The night before I left was Valentine's Day, so I brought my dad some chocolate covered strawberries. He couldn't eat any, but I ate some for him. He was the first man I ever loved, and I couldn't think of a more perfect person to be my Valentine this year. At this point, he was still conscious, but really could only mutter a few words here and there. When my mom got back from errands, we both held his hands and said the most beautiful long heartfelt prayer recalling all our wonderful memories of the life the three of us shared and how thankful we were for all my dad sacrificed to provide my mother and I such a blessed life of abundance. The tears poured down my face as the three of us poured our hearts out to God. We could truly feel His presence in the room, and it was the closure I needed to get on the plane the next day. As I said goodbye, I told him not to go anywhere until I got back from Vegas, and was praying hard that the Lord would allow that to happen.

Fast forward to dinner one night in Vegas. I spoke to my dad one last time on the phone, and though he could only respond with one word at a time, I will cherish that last conversation.

On Thursday night, my mom picked me up from the airport to inform me that earlier that day, daddy became unconscious. We went straight to Hospice, luggage and all, and spent two nights there sleeping on cots beside his bed. It was such a joy that they also allowed us to bring our dogs, my dog Rhett, his "grandpup" and my mom's dog Lucky, my "sister," so that the whole family could be there. Friday morning, the doctor came in to check his vitals and told us that with all the signs he was showing, she didn't expect him to last more than a few hours. Hearing the news, it was the first time I truly cried since I got back. I couldn't believe how close the end was approaching, but at the same time, I was sooooo thankful that he waited until I got back from Vegas. All day Friday, I stayed by his side. I just couldn't leave. As torturous as it was waiting for his last breath, I wanted to be there, as hard as it was to watch him suffer. Though he had been unconscious the past 24 hours and couldn't respond, my mom and I had heard that hearing was the last thing to go, so we continued to talk to him as we always did.

The most beautiful moment we shared was when my mom was having a breakdown moment crying because she wanted to simply lay next to him one more time. In the past few months, my mom had been sleeping in the guest room as to not disturb my dad's sleep at night in their bed, and my mom truly missed laying next to her husband. But since she couldn't lay next to him in the Hospice bed, she stood in front of him and said "Johnny, open your eyes one more time, I need you to open your eyes and look at me one more time before you leave. Honey, will you look at me?" And he did, he opened his eyes for her!!! I jumped up from my cot and was like "Wait, daddy, I want you to see me one more time too, can you open your eyes for me too?" He wasn't able to open his eyes, but he did move his eyebrows up and down as if he was trying. It just meant so much and I'll never forget that moment of seeing his eyes one last time looking at my mom.

(Ok, sorry, have to wipe the tears before I continue.... They still come and go....)

He continued to last through Friday night, the nurses were saying he had the strongest heart holding on that they had ever seen! I would agree. Yesterday morning, I awoke to my mom getting ready to head out to do errands. Before she left, we stood over him and prayed again. Then she headed out and I went back to sleep. Around 11am, his best friend Ed stopped by one more time to check in on him and say goodbye, and I took Rhett out on a walk. I came back in, and Ed headed out. After Ed left, daddy's breathing started to change, almost as if he was gasping for air in those last few breaths. Then mom walked back in, and rushed to his side. The gasps of air became stronger, almost like coughs and he started to make noise that sounded almost like his voice trying to say goodbye. My mom and I stood by his side and simply started to worship the Lord by singing Amazing Grace and other hymns as we stroked him and told him that it was ok to let go. As we continued to sing, he took his last breath and we slowly started to see his pulse come to a stop. It truly was the perfect moment and what an honor it was to send him off to Jesus in the midst of our worship.

Needless to say, it has been an emotional roller coaster. Tears on and off, and in between moments of numbness, like, did this really happen? Is he really gone? The past 8 months since we heard the news of his cancer definitely went by way too fast, but yet, it was the most incredible memorable 8 months of my life. I have never felt God's presence so strong through the last memories my mom and I shared with my dad, and all the wonderful prayers from each and one of you.

I won't be able to thank each one of you personally, but for all who have reached out through Facebook, Twitter, text messages, phone calls and emails, please know from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for being a friend and being my brother and sister in Christ lifting my family up during this difficult time. Though I can't respond to them all, I have read each of your beautiful words and hold them tight in my heart!!!

Also, my mom and I will not be mourning his death, but instead throwing him a huge party for his funeral as a celebration of his life. For those who have shared in our journey, we are opening it up to all to attend. The funeral will be next Saturday, Feb 28th at noon at Ponte Vedra Valley Cemetery. As you can imagine, my inbox is slammed right now, so if you have questions about the funeral arrangements, please email Mark at mark_sweeney@me.com who can help answer your questions. Also, my mom and I request that you not send flowers, but instead make donations to either:

*The American Cancer Society in honor of my dad's name.
*Northeast Florida Community Hospice in honor of my dad's name.

And with my dad's great passion for Southern history, we also ask donations be made in his name to:
*The Jacksonville Museum of Southern History. You can email curator@museumsouthernhistory.com for more info.
*The Sons of the Confederate Veterans. You can email CJ Hart at calvinhart@bellsouth.net for more info.

Lastly. For those who follow me on Twitter, I know a lot of you have been wondering who this @mark_sweeney guy is that I was chatting a lot about while in Vegas. I'm going to keep it on the downlow for now, but I do want to share that he is an amazing source of joy that has come into my life during this difficult time. We shared a romantic first kiss on the Eiffel Tower in Vegas, and things have continued to unfold so much more beautiful than I could ever imagine. We are both excited to see what God has in store for us, but I'm going to keep this part of my life private for the time being. But Mark is definitely a comforting angel that is helping me to smile and laugh a lot right now, and I'm so thankful for his presence in my life. Also, too, I want to share that his mom is also battling cancer right now, so please lift her up in prayer as well. Our parents were diagnosed around the same time, and she is doing remarkably well at the moment. God is good. You can read about her journey through the blog he started for her at lorrainesfight.blogspot.com.

Again, THANK YOU for all your support. Your prayers have kept me strong. I cherish each one of you and your friendship. May God bless you in return with His sweet love.

p.s. I have TONS AND TONS of pics from WPPI that I can't wait to share with everyone, but I will be doing a big belated post about that once the funeral is behind me. Stay tuned!

p.p.s. This is the reason I love blogs, being able to document life along the way, for the times you want to reflect back. Here are some old posts about my dad I want to share. I feel so blessed to have all these great memories documented!

http://captivatingstudios.blogspot.com/2006/12/fun-in-bathtub.html
http://captivatingstudios.blogspot.com/2006/12/happy-birthday-jesus-daddy-and-moi.html
http://captivatingstudios.blogspot.com/2007/06/fathers-day-in-jekyll-island.html
http://scarlettlillian.blogspot.com/2008/05/its-official.html
http://scarlettlillian.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-fatherdaughter-dance.html
http://scarlettlillian.blogspot.com/2008/10/valley.html
http://scarlettlillian.blogspot.com/2008/12/blessed-holiday-season.html
http://scarlettlillian.blogspot.com/2009/01/daddys-little-girl.html

Kacy got her glam on!

I'm sooooooooooooooooo excited about some glamourous things brewing behind the scenes for 2009 with fashion photography!! WOO HOO! More will be in revealed very soon, but here's a sneak peek of a photo session with my fashionista friend Kacy! We had soooo much fun playing dress up, cranking the music and rockin' the shoot with my new studio lights! Kacy isn't a professional model, but this just goes to prove that every girl has an inner-supermodel and we just simply need permission to embrace that! She totally worked her fabulousness and I had fun helping her style outfits and taking her photos... because EVERY girl deserves HOT photos of herself!! :-)

Here's some of my faves and her oh so girly slideshow below!!!


























And the slideshow....

WPPI- Let's meet!!

Whew. My schedule is jam-packed for WPPI. But I just wanted to let you guys know a few things I'll be doing so we can meet!

First, I'll be hanging out at the Trendy Camera Strap booth each day of the tradeshow from 1-3! This is an awesome company that has sponsored a few of my events, and I of course love promoting anything trendy! :-) I always get rave reviews about my "Scarlett" strap at weddings, so for all you fashionista photographers, be sure to stop by and check out their glam straps so you can get one too! They are running some awesome specials during the show! ALSO, I can't spill all the secrets, but they are releasing something BIG at WPPI!!!!!!!!! It's killing me that I can't share, but oh my gosh, you are going to LOVE it! It's so smokin' hot! Be sure to stop by the booth to see what it is and to say hello, I would love to meet you!!

Also, Triple Scoop Music, another one of my sponsors for the Vegas photoshoot and AFTER PARTY (Woo hoo! You ARE going to be there right?) is running a fun special. If you stop by their booth, #221 on Monday, you'll get TWO free songs (a $120 value) with a purchase of their show special! I won't be at their booth, but definitely be sure to stop by to get your free music! I used their music in my recent video blogs and loved it! They such an awesome selection to choose from!

It's going to be such a whirlwind, but I can't wait to meet my blog readers, so if you see me in passing, please come up to me and say hello! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to meet you!!! Fun times ahead!

And of course last but not least, my After Party! OMG, I can't believe what started as a small group of friends hanging out is now up to like 100 people attending my party so far! CRAZY! Especially going up against Becker's party time slot! ha! (Love you [b]!) I sooooooooooo can't wait to party with you guys at the Rouge Lounge on Monday night at 10pm and introduce you to some AMAZING photographers (That's what we are all there at WPPI for anyways, the networking, right?)!! I'll be giving away some AMAZING PRIZES from superstars like Gary Fong, Mike Colon, Carlos Baez and MORE! So bring your business cards to enter the drawing! And be sure to RSVP here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=50314136817

Ok........ now to wrap up a million things before I leave on Sunday!! Ahhhhhhh... so much to do!!!

RSVP

Ahhh I'm getting so excited about my Vegas Photoshoot After Party! I have to admit, I've always said I was a party goer, not a party thrower. I just don't have the gift of event planning like some people do. But with soooo many photography friends in one place next week, I just wanted to create a place that we can all meet up and hang out and chillax together!

I just created an event on Facebook where you can officially RSVP! I believe even non-Facebook members can RSVP here too (I'm still learning the whole Event creation thing and how it works, so I could be wrong.) I tried to send an official invite to as many people as possible, but if I overlooked you, please know it's nothing personal and I hope you'll still stop by! Also, if you want to bring friends, please know that EVERYONE is welcome! :-)

Here's the link to RSVP:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=50314136817

And here's all the goods again!

CONTEST WINNER /// MY VEGAS AFTER-PARTY

Wow! You guys are amazing! I can't believe all the votes that came in for my fun Vegas contest! Thousands of you voted and selected a very special winner! So now without further ado.......

Drum roll please...........























You know I'm gonna make you scroll like those annoying forwards we all get............
























I have three pictures in my hand. Two of which are still in the running to become America's Next Top.... wait, wrong script.... That's Tyra's speil (but I AM getting excited, a new season of ANTM start Feb 25!)........ Anyways....... rewind...

























The 2nd runner up with 11.6% of the vote and winner of a Trendy Camera Strap and CameraDojo Lightroom Presets is:


























CHARLOTTE JUSTINE!





And the 1st runner up with 12.2% of the vote and also wins a Trendy Camera Strap and CameraDojo Lightroom Presets is:


























LYDIA!










And now, the grand-prize winner with a whopping 20.3% of the vote and wins a FREE spot in my nightshoot workshop, as well a Pocket Wizard Transmitter & Receiver, a Trendy Camera Strap and Camera Dojo Lightroom Presets all valued at over $600 isssssssssssssssssssssssss:


















CONGRATULATIONS KATE LORRAINE!!!!



Kate is so dear to my heart because she was one of the sweet girls who came to spend a day with me a few months ago. When emailing her contest entry, I was so touched when she said:

"This is soooo out of my comfort zone!! Only for you, Scarlett LOL. If I hadn't spent a day with you I probably wouldn't even have the courage to do this photo at all!!"

Wow, it just means so much to me that I could help Kate break out of her shell and embrace her inner fabulousness! Even this week she emailed again:

"You know, it's stuff like this that really shows me what wonderful friends I have. I'm so blessed. SO many of them have really been pulling for me and recruiting votes... I'd never expect them to put so much into it for me. It says so much about what loving wonderful supportive people I have in my life. I feel so blessed!"

Again, wow. That's exactly why I love to offer these contests! Regardless if you won the contest or not, I'm soooooo proud of all of you for thinking outside of the box with your entry! I so hope this contest helped everyone feel so blessed in realizing how much you are loved by those who voted for you!


AND, I CAN'T HELP IT, THERE'S ONE MORE SURPRISE!


Last but not least, I want to give someone else a FREE spot in my workshop for coming the FURTHEST all the way from Japan, CONGRATULATIONS RIZ!



THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED! YOU TOTALLY ROCK and I got such a great laugh from all your creativity! You are each superstars!

And now for some more exciting Vegas news!

Can't wait to
meet you
see you
hang out
par-TAY!

Free clothes give-a-way!

Friday night I went with some girlfriends to see the hilarious movie "He's Just Not That Into You" based on the popular break-up book. I do have to admit, when I read this book years ago, it completely changed my life and the way I viewed dating relationships. Bottomline, when a guy wants you, he'll move mountains to pursue you. I hear this now over and over with the sweet love stories from my brides and grooms, and I don't know why it took me so long to go DUH SCARLETT all those years ago!

Then when I got home from the movie ready to slip into my comfy PJs, I hung back up in my closet the shirt that I wore to the movie and stared at it for a minute. It was a shirt I had since college, one those you keep over the years because you JUST MIGHT wear it one more time. But then it gradually makes it way to the back of the closet and starts collecting dust over time. I decided to pull it out Friday night for the movie to give it one more try. And because I ended up wearing it again for the first time in 5 years, I naturally hung it back up in my closet to continue collecting dust.

But then as I gave it the stare down, I realized, "You know what, I'm just NOT into this shirt anymore." And I took it down and threw it on my bed. Thus started, one shirt turned into like 20 others I wasn't into anymore, along with old pants and jackets I used to wear at my corporate job that I haven't worn since, along with old dresses I wore on old dates with old memories I don't care to remember anymore.

So now I have a huge pile of clothes I don't want anymore, but I don't want to throw them out. They are still in great shape and I know they would be perfectly great to pass along to someone in need. So, if there's anyone out there who wants some of my old clothes for free, shoot me an email at scarlett@scarlettlillian.com and I would be happy to mail them to you! :-)

And just like everything else in life, God has to clean out the old before He can bring in the new. My friend Ginger and I had an awesome day at the Towne Center bonding over fashion and getting some new fun pieces for our Vegas trip next week! Two trends I noticed in the stores this season:

Ruffles
-and-
Feathers

EVERYWHERE!

And yes I gave into both. ha! This is my favorite time of year to shop because everything is pink for Valentine's Day. I really try NOT to buy pink so that my closet isn't over saturated with it, but I can never seem help it. It's just my happy color. :-) And needless to say, yes, I'm very into it.

EDIT: WOW, I got sooooo many beautiful emails from so many sweet blog readers who are in need for clothes. I so wish I had enough clothes to go around to everyone, but after a lot of consideration and prayer, I picked a special recipient to provide the clothes too. Thank you soooo much to everyone who emailed me! I pray that God blesses each of your closets through another means beyond what I could provide.

Also, in offering this, from the many emails, I got, I realized there IS such a NEED out for those who need clothes. I encourage each of you to go through your own closets and blog about this opportunity to give back in your local area! How cool is that to pay fashion forward?

Everything is better in pink. Even coffee.

There are some people you meet and you know instantly, you are going to become great friends! Lyndsay, of Pink Coffee Photoart, was one of those people to me. Through my silly contest I held back in August, she was voted the winner by all of you guys to receive a new Flosites.com custom blog! She lived in Jacksonville too and we finally met up when Beth, the surprise winner I chose to come spend a day with me, was in town for her day. The three of us felt like old friends and totally bonded over our love of photography, stylish accessories, and our love for Jesus! Since then, I've started going to church with Lyndsay and her hot hubbie Anderson. They will both also be going to WPPI and will be the models in my Vegas nightshoot!

Anyways, I just wanted to share some "pink" love and tell you that the blog she won in the contest is now LIVE! Go check it out at http://www.pinkcoffeephoto.com/blog and leave her some love!

Here's her famous picture from the contest! :-)

Awesome mission!

Though I've never been called to go on a mission trip, I totally admire those who do and love helping them get there! There's a photographer in Orlando, Kristen, who will be visiting Africa soon through an organization called HeSentMe.org. The mission of the organization is to help improve the quality of life in developing countries by increasing awareness about energy and building wind turbines to create electricity for those in need. Their vision is to glorify God by offering hope to the spiritually and physically poor.

Wow. Life without electricity. It's hard to fathom that some people in our day and age still are without it. Without refrigerators. TV. Hair dryers. Computers. Twitter. Facebook. Blogs. All the luxuries. we as Americans truly take for granted.

I encourage you to check out Kristen's website and support them with your donation. Every little bit counts! It's truly in the giving that you receive!

Current contest results! But keep rockin' the vote!

I know everyone is anxious to see who is in the lead for the contest. You guys have already received a ton of votes, but the voting doesn't end until Monday at 8pm EST! In the meantime, I wanted to give you guys a sneak peek at the current percentage results to show you where you stand so you can continue to rally more votes for your entry! While Kate Lorraine has pulled into the lead, there's still time to catch up to her!!




Keep those votes coming! It's not too late! To keep it fair, I have it set up so that you can only vote once, but if you haven't voted yet, click here! Remember too, vote through the actual link provided. Votes left in the comment box won't be counted. :-)

Jennifer & Roderick

I met sweet Roderick at a social event months ago, but little did I know, he was a newlywed! His bride Jennifer wanted to get some more pics in her dress, so we met downtown for a fun afternoon capturing their kisses and posing "fierce" for the camera!

Here's some of my faves from the session and their slideshow below!
































And the slideshow....

Nightshoot with the Jacksonville Pictage User Group!

Night shooting. It's one of the trickiest parts of being a photographer. But I love the challenge of creating light and getting some magical shots. For January's PUG meeting, I hosted a night shoot in San Marco and we all had fun rockin' the lights and shooting together! This got me pumped for Vegas and I soooooooo can't wait for that night shoot there amongst the glitterati lights in a few weeks! Woo hoo!

The beautiful wedding planner Cassie of Flaire Weddings and her hubby were our gracious models. Here's my faves!


Here's what I used for the light source on the left, no joke, a camping light. The picture on the right is why I LOVE Pocket Wizards!


These shots were just pulling in natural light with my 50mm 1.2! I love how much light it lets in for times like this!




More Pocket Wizard love! I love sticking my 580EXII behind the couple to get some rim light. And it was super foggy out, so I wanted to capture the mist in the air with the light like in the picture on the left!


The picture on the right was with my new video light!






Our fabulous PUG!


And thanks to Stephanie Lynn for this group shot!

My Life. In Front of the Camera. Episode 2. /// VOTE for the Vegas Contest Entries!!!

A few people have been asking what the point is of my video blog, "My Life. In Front of the Camera." Honestly, it's just that.

A video blog.

A glimpse of my life in motion picture.

It has nothing to do with marketing (though yes the premiere just happened to come out the day I announced the Vegas workshop and contest, even though it was supposed to come out the week before).

It has nothing to do with vanity or wanting to star in my own reality show. I simply wanted to document my exciting December to remind myself to focus on the positive things going on in my life at the time. The second half of 2008 was filled with a lot of sadness coming to grips with the fact that I was losing my father to cancer, so I wanted to do the video blog to CELEBRATE the amazing things God was blessing my life with that month, and the WONDERFUL people I met along the way. I used to be a videographer, so it was fun to do another video project all this time later, just for the heck of it.

Love it or hate it, this is me, wearing my heart on a sleeve and inviting you to follow along. Thanks for watching and being a part of the journey!

This was supposed to air last night, but I had some technical difficulties because this second episode was quite a little bit longer than Episode 1 in order to squeeze in the rest of my month (I didn't realize how much footage I actually got!). This episode is about 45-minutes, so kick back and enjoy laughing at me and my crazy friends!






And now without further ado...................

Here's the amazing contest entries for my "I Want Shoot With Scarlett In Vegas" contest!

I continued to laugh out loud at each entry that came in my email. You guys never cease to amaze me. Though this contest has my name in it to tie into the workshop, this contest is REALLY ABOUT YOU and giving you a fun opportunity to flex your creative muscle! Each of these entries is so classic and I was totally impressed at your originality! I'm so glad I'm not the one choosing a winner b/c if I had it my way, I would choose each of you! Thank you to everyone who participated and put so much time and energy and heart into creating your entry! You rock!

Check out these rock stars and then vote for your favorite at the end!! Good luck to all the contestants and I can't wait to see who wins the spot in the Vegas photoshoot and all the other awesome prizes from Pocket Wizard, CameraDojo, and Trendy Camera Straps!



#1
Adrienne & Eric




#2
Anya




#3
April




#4
Brittani




#5
Charlotte




#6
Christy




#7
Cindy




#8
Diandra




#9
Kate Lorraine




#10
Katie Overvaag




#11
Lydia




#12
Michele




#13
Riz (And his wonderful class he teaches all the way in JAPAN! Whoa!)




#14
Shain




#15
Stephanie Lynn


>>Click here to vote for your favorite entry!!<<
Please note, votes left in the comment box won't be counted. You MUST vote through the link above! :-)
But do feel free to leave your love for your favorite entries in the comment box!

With all the funny entries, I know this is going to be a close race! Be sure to rally your friends on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, your blog, etc to come vote for you! Voting ends Monday, February 9 at 8pm EST!

Also, I'm excited to announce that the photoshoot is now SOLD OUT minus the winning spot that will be given away from this contest. I also found out that Studio MSV is a new sponsor of the photoshoot and is going to be shooting a hot promo video of the night! Woo hoo!

For those that will be in Vegas, my girl friends and I are planning a "Shoot With Scarlett In Vegas" AFTER-PARTY open to my blog readers to come hang out with us on Monday night and chill after the photoshoot. I just want to open up an opportunity to meet my wonderful blog readers and get to know you personally as new friends. It's free of charge and THE party where EVERYONE is a V.I.P.! Stay tuned to for details! Location details will more than likely be released on Twitter the night of, so be sure to follow me so you can be in on the inside scoop!