Today I turn 28 years young (wow 28). As I look back on what these last 28 years I can only remember parts, glimpse of my past, some good, some bad, and some that should stay memories. Sometimes only memories come to fruition when someone reminds me of something, you know that thing that happen, that one day, at that one place? We’ve all been there.

So I think back to my earliest memory that I can recall, sitting on my moms dresser as she does my hair for the day. Just a glimpse of a simple, everyday act, but now holds more than a memory. First, thinking that I can even fit on my mom’s dresser is an amazing fact. Second, my mom taking the time to fix my wild, bleach blonde hair for the day. Just part of being a mom I guess.

Just remember….

I also want to say Happy Birthday to Dr. Todd Hedlund, Happy 14th wedding Anniversary to Jaime & Ryan Incontro, and lastly to my best friend Katie & James Wills celebrating 3 years of marriage. Today is a good day to celebrate!

This time I’m going to congratulate my beautiful and wonderful mother! She is one of the strongest people that I know. She kicked breast cancer butt with full force.

Five years ago, my mother went in for her usual mammogram. While she was finishing up, the doctor came in and wanted to additional testing. “Really?” Knowing that hearing that was not a good sign. They did a biopsy and we then began the wait.

Even though we do have cancer in the family (what family doesn’t these days) there was never breast cancer, so the wait was confusing.

About 3 days later, the Friday before Mother’s Day, we got the call. I was just about to leave work when I looked at my phone and saw a text from my mom, “Call me when you get home.” Yeah right, like I was going to wait until I got all the way home. I called her before even leaving the parking lot.

Me, “Hey, what did they say?”

Mom, “Hi, are you home?”

Me, “No, what did you find out?”

Mom, “Why don’t you call me when you get home.” Well right there I knew that it wasn’t good.

Me, “No, just tell me what’s going on.” Knowing that I can be quite the emotional person, my mom made me promise to get home safely.

Hearing the words “I have breast cancer” come from my mother’s lips freaked me out. I don’t remember much more about the drive home. But as soon as I got home, I opened the front door, looked at my roommate and she asked what was wrong, (apparently I don’t hide my feels very well) I then collapsed to the floor, with tears running down my face, I yelled “MY MOM HAS CANCER!” I then picked myself up and knew that is was no longer in my hands and God would do what needed to be done.

A week later she was scheduled for her mastectomy. Not only did she get one removed, two weeks after that, she had another surgery to get the other one reduced, then chemo, and of course that’s not it. At a normal check up, they discovered a blood clot extending from below her knee all the way to her hip, the hole vein cloted. I don’t know about you, but I would have been like, “screw this, I’m done.” Not my mother, she went to work every day, took care of the house all the while going to chemo. Seeing my mother go through that kind of pain and discomfort broke my heart.

I can’t imagine going through all of that in such a short about of time. I’m glad to say that with the help and support of her friends and family, with her faith in Jesus Christ, and her love of life she is ‘cancer free.’

I can't stress enoough about preventive care, go to the doctor before, get checked on a regular basis, a little discomfort once and a while, can save you months or even years of horrible pain.

One of my friends once said to me, " You are VERY strong Katrina, don’t sell yourself short! You are your mother's daughter, its genetic!" I can only hope that that is true and that I am half as strong as my mother.

Congratulations mom to saying, “Oh hell no” to cancer and on your continued good health. I love you!

Art Klicks Photography

Hello all!

Welcome to Art Klicks Photography official blog!

Here you will see what I’ve been up to, you will meet some of my wonderful clients, and learn a little more about the photography world as I live in it. There may be a few random thoughts here and there as I can be a random person at times.

First, lets tell you a little bit about me. I grew up and currently live in Lincoln, NE. (Yes, the Good Life and Go Huskers!) I went to Lincoln High which is located in the middle of town. It’s the oldest High School in town, celebrating it’s 100th year this year. I loved going to Lincoln High, being in central Lincoln, my high school was very diverse and really opened my eyes to what is really in this world. That is when I knew that I wanted to do something with people.

At first I thought about going to school for photojournalism because I also loved to write. Well I enjoyed creative writing, not really reporting. So I thought about what I enjoyed most about photography, and that was seeing the raw emotion on peoples faces when they look at what I’ve created with my camera. My decision was made, I was going to school for photography. Which is a gamble in these days with being digital and everyone with a nice camera is a ‘photographer.’

Now I’m not one of those photographers that dislike other photographers, I mean that’s like others not liking me because I’m a photographer, that doesn’t make sense. What frustrates me is the mom down the street that just decides one day to purchase the “big expensive camera,” shoots on auto, then hands them a disc of images and says “go print them yourself” then calls themselves a professional. In my opinion that is a dis-serves.

That being said I believe that we should be able to help each other out in the industry, be a constructive critic if asked, and overall, be an addition to the photography world, not a subtraction.

I look forward to reaching out to people through my blog and getting to know more of you. If you have questions, feel free to ask.

*Katrina

“We don’t remember the days, we remember the moments”