Fort Myers Photographer – Cape Coral Photographer – Southwest Florida

Hey, ya’ll! So glad you stopped by to check things out!! It’s so crazy…a new year is upon us. And with this new year, I have decided that I am going to start blogging regularly. And I am not going to put a day of the week, or month, or whatever in here, because it might be every day, or every week, or every month, or every other day, or every 2 months, or something altogether different. So I’m just going to say “regularly”.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. (Talk about “getting to know your local Fort Myers photographer“!! haha) If you’re reading this blog, you’re in for a ride. Because not only are we going to be talking about photography, but also life in general…my family, my friends, my passions, my God, my everything. Still with me?

Good. This is gonna be fun!

So first, my name. Everyone always asks me about my name. I answer to Shay Bunch, although some people (mainly family and uber-close friends from my years past) refer to me by a different name, a name that starts with an “E”. I love my names. All of them. But only a few select people get to refer to me by my “E” name. And that’s not to sleight the rest of you…honestly it’s mostly just my parents and sisters that call me “E”. Even my husband calls me Shay. That’s what I prefer and that’s what I will answer to. If you happen to find out my “E” name and start calling me by it, I very simply “won’t hear you”. That’s all I have to say about the name. ha!

Now that we have the introductions out of the way… …next about me is, I am passionate about my relationship with Jesus Christ. He is my Lord and Savior, and I am a blood-washed pilgrim; a sinner saved by His grace. I am 100% certain that I am going to heaven when I die…and YOU can be that certain, too. Just ask me about it. I am also passionate about my family!! I am blissfully married to my Godsend, my best friend, my confidante… the uber-amazing and ultra-hot Mr. Bunch. We have three daughters! My husband and I were both previously married to people who weren’t God’s choice for us, and we have and are paying the price dearly. My husband has two daughters from previous relationships, and we have one little girl together. Here we are:

There’s also one person missing from this family photo. I also have a son. My son only lived for about 30 minutes when he was born. I went into labor early and the doctors couldn’t stop it, so my little Tanner Benjamin was born 20 weeks early. He had my nose & mouth, and the tiniest toes I have ever laid eyes on! There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him and what we would be doing together if he were here…but we’ll talk more about him later.

Okay, so! On to another passion of mine…photography!! YAY!! Let me just start by answering the questions that SO MANY people ask me: “What made you so passionate about photography? Why did you become a photographer? Why do you love it so much?” Well…there are a LOT of reasons. But mainly, it is because I truly want to STOP TIME and CAPTURE LIFE. Just like my Facebook page says. I don’t want to miss one MILLISECOND of this life. Why? Because after my son died, and as our daughters continue to grow faster than our eyes thought possible, I truly can’t bear to think I might miss something. I’m literally in tears sitting here thinking of the possibility of missing out on a memory. That may be the only time you get with that person, in that moment, for the rest of your life…you know? Those 30 minutes were the only moments I will ever get to spend with my son this side of heaven. Ever. That’s it; that’s all I get. These moments with our youngest Angel-Baby are the ONLY moments we’re going to get when she is a precocious three year old, with a vocabulary more voluminous than most 2nd graders, with a love for our dogs and her stuffed animals & princess dresses, and these may be the only years we get when her favorite word is “Mama” followed by a string of questions about the most amazing things that I may never have the innocence to think about again. “Why does the sunset have such a deep pink tonight, Mama? I love you more than I have words for, Mama! I just want to go home and snuggle with Daddy, Mama.” What if this is all I get? We are not promised tomorrow…ANY tomorrows. So today…every single day…I do my best to truly CHERISH every moment, to live FULLY, to be PRESENT, and to LOVE as much as I possibly can. I’m not perfect and the human race drives me crazy sometimes…but no matter if it’s good memories or bad memories, I want to remember them all. I want to live them. I want to capture them. And I want to capture them for YOU, too. THAT is why I am a photographer. THAT is where my passion lies. THAT is why I love it so much. The desire to capture your life’s moments comes from a deep well inside of me…I desperately don’t want YOU to miss out on any of YOUR memories just as much as I don’t want to miss any of MINE. I can’t help it…it’s in my blood. It’s through the eyes of my children. Through the eyes of my future self, looking back through age-old photographs…remembering the love, the feelings, the aromas, the hugs, the laughs, the tears, the joy, the sorrow, the bliss, the mundane everyday little moments that you will want to remember for the rest of your life. THAT is why I am a photographer.

STOPPING TIME…capturing LIFE.

So now that you know a little about ME…I want to know about YOU!! Leave me a comment below (yes, I read every single one!) and tell me about you…your passions, your dreams, anything. I want to hear from you!

Until next time on my regularly-scheduled blog post…

Shay