International photographer Update | Johnna Brynn Photography

Europe & Cuba: 2017; Greece: 2018

January 08, 2018

(( Annual Update ))

Hello and welcome to 2018! 2017 is now just a memory. Many of those memories encapsulated in an image, in photos, digital or in print. A big thank you to all who have entrusted me to capture your memories through images this past year. It is always, truly, a privilege and honor.

This post will try to be a quick outlook over 2017 at Johnna Brynn Photography and in my personal life, as well as a peek into the future of what this new year has in store.

I had the incredible opportunity to visit Cuba, Prague, Vienna, and Budapest for the international destinations of 2017!! The weddings I photographed took me to Minneapolis, Kansas City, Sarasota, Longboat Key, Tampa and Venice, Florida! One of the highlights this year for me was a Swedish wedding in Sarasota! Check out the blog of their pics I posted here. Reflecting on 2016, weddings kept me more within Florida –Boynton Beach, Boca Grande, and Clearwater were a few of the destinations. Numerous lifestyle portrait sessions of 2017 with amazing families and couples in Siesta Key, Lakewood Ranch, Orlando, Winter Park, Bradenton, and Kansas City; as well as engagement sessions, head shots, commercial and editorial shoots in Orlando, Longboat Key and Sarasota in 2017. I also had the privilege of photographing a gorgeous Bat Mitzvah in Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Florida. I provided a mentor session to a new photographer who flew in to Sarasota from North Carolina for her session -which was such a privilege! I even stretched my expertise and shot and edited a promo video for an international executive coach, doctor and author visiting Longboat Key from England who is the founder of an elite World Class Coaching Academy.

I also taught Psychology of Play for the second year at Full Sail University as an Associate Course Director, and I grew even more as an instructor and leader in the creative arts and media industry! Love that school and those incredibly talented students. I am also blessed with tremendous leadership at Full Sail to guide and direct me to be the best I can be at everything I do.

On a personal note, I discovered triathlons this year and it was amazing. An awesome outlet for exercise and meeting incredible inspiring people all over Florida and beyond. I raced in four sprint triathlons and had the honor of standing on the podium four times! Two first places, one second and a third in my age group. (That second should’ve been a first at Siesta Key Sirens race, but I missed the turnaround point on the beach run! Ugh! haha, I’ll never forget that. I ran all the way to the beach wall, which was near an extra mile!) If you want to join me for this year’s spectacular racing, you can follow my fitness instagram: instagram.com/johnnabrynnfit and be sure to say hi, I’ll follow back. : )

My boxer pup, Asa Grey, turned 6 this year. Time flies. : ) You can follow her daily posts on her instagram: instagram.com/asagrey

Well, if you have reached this far in reading this post… you may be thinking, wow that’s a bit too much stuff to do in one year, haha well you are right. I was diagnosed with stage 3 adrenal exhaustion this Fall, after extensive blood work. Stress is a serious thing, and it is a big red flag for all of us to pay attention to our bodies and not only listen to it but respond to what it is needing. I have taken a much needed rest the past few weeks… hence this late “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” post. : ) Actually, I decreased my activity greatly the past three months as I have been pumping myself with some good supplements to help restore my adrenal glands and other areas of my body that were lacking. Tomorrow I get back to teaching at Full Sail for the new year, and I feel I have had an amazing opportunity the past few weeks to RESET my brain and body. I also have done a light cleansing this week to help RESET not only my body but also my spirit. God is alive and has already prepared our 2018 for us. It is up to us to live within the power of a FOCUSED life and realize our goals are probably not even close to fulfilling our true destiny. Dream bigger this year than ever before, and set new goals that scare you. You were created for more.

This now leads me into… my PhD. I am entering the seventh year of my doctorate in Psychology! Yikes. This year I plan to finally complete that thing! I have part of the dissertation complete and need to wrap it up completely, hopefully before this Fall. I still continue to take new Johnna Brynn Photography clients and have already booked for 2019! So don’t wait, give me a call to get on my 2018 calendar!

A peek into my year this year… I turn 40 and my mom will turn 60. I plan to take her to Greece! I cannot wait. She is in disbelief we are actually going, but if you take a look at my spontaneous international track record – we are going. haha, Love you mom and can’t wait!

By the way, if you haven’t noticed, I have been off Facebook since March 2017 and plan to stay off until my PhD is done. FB is the noisiest social media platform ever, haha. My FB fanpage is still alive and occasionally active, but my personal profile has been deactivated. I am on instagram still, instagram.com/johnnabrynn -be sure to say hi!

I’m excited to have discovered the Hebrew meaning of the number 2018 is “life” and “God.” For 2018, I am looking forward to new life and the breath of God to breath in life in areas where it is humanly impossible. I know only by His strength will I complete the PhD, so need all I can get! I wish each of you the best in this coming year, and I hope to see many of your smiling faces in front of my camera.

Thanks again for an amazing 2017. Below are a few of my favorite photographic memories we created together… Enjoy! It starts with Europe, carries on into Cuba and then lifestyle, weddings, and ends with gorgeous commercial highlights. : )