What's in a Name?

I've been asked quite frequently about the origins of the name "Purple Lemon Photography." So to satisfy the curious public until my main website is up and running (which is almost done, me thinks), here is a sneak preview of some content...

Choosing the name for my first child was as easy as sipping a cool glass of lemonade. Choosing a name for this business was about as hard as squeezing the lemons to make the lemonade I so desperately needed once I finally chose it. As I look back on the process it took to find that perfect purple lemon, I see that although I tried to have a method to my madness, the madness came first with the method rolling down the hill after it.

I was on the phone with my entire family trying some ideas out on them, when in pops my husband from the other room, “Purple Lemon Photography!” Then he went back to watching a movie starring Jack Lemon with some friends. When he was still talking about it later, he quickly convinced me it was “the one.” The longer we’ve sat with this name mulling in our brains the more and more we are convinced this is perfection in a purple lemon.



I am eager to share just a hand full of the reasons we love Purple Lemon Photography!

• Lydia was a successful business woman in the Bible (Acts 16). She sold purple cloth and used the success of her business to support the functioning of the church and its international mission. I want to be like her.
• Jack Lemon is a funny guy.
• No one flat out told me they did not like it. Every other option received handfuls of rejects. Maybe they were just …lemons.
• In elementary school a friend and I gave each other secret nicknames that used the letters in our names. Mine was Lemon! (Tip: take the initials of my maiden name, put them backwards, insert vowels, and voila!)
• I love lemons. Lemonheads, lemon drops, lemonade pie, lemon bars, lemon sorbet, lemons on the side of my glass (those are supposed to be appetizers right?)
• The day it came into being, I was wearing purple pants, purple undies, and was drinking from my favorite squiggly purple cup.
• One of my favorite photo assignments from college was my final project that I did on fruit. In my series is a picture of a lemon on a purple napkin.
• When I lived in The Netherlands, I brought out the hibernating sketchpad and rekindled my love for drawing in the relaxed pace of life I experienced there. Out of that time of unpressured creativity, I produced a little sketch of a lemon on a purple background. I have since found it.
• I got a lemon out of the gumball machine at dinner not too long ago.
• Lemons are a symbol of fidelity in love.
• One of my favorite parts of photography is the visual appeal of contrast. I would say it is signature in my work. No image goes to print without the right amount of contrast to pump it up or give it the right feeling. Yellow and purple are contrasting colors. Who knows, maybe purple and yellow will be the new black and white!
• It is fun and funky.
• I have created a list of things I want my photography to be on a professional level. Conceptually, a purple lemon is almost everything on that list. For example: modern, unique, individual, relational, urban, beautiful