Okay guys, I know I really owe you all a post. I’ve sat down and tried to write one with accompanying pictures, but I just keep getting further and further behind 
I could promise to post all about my weddings for the last two months, but it may be a few more weeks still. Although I am running behind, you’re all welcome to check out my recent weddings in my online store. Suffice to say I am very busy, I’ve seen some gorgeous weddings, and I’ve worked with some wonderful people this summer.
Camera geekery:
One item of note is that I didn’t get the 5d after all. The sale fell through on ebay, and after getting a refund I decided to go with the 50d instead. It’s the newer model of the 30d that I’ve been using for the last two years. So far, I like it. It has a few features that are new to me, but overall the two cameras are very similar, so the learning curve hasn’t been too steep. I also puchased a new lens that has become my main lens (a Sigma 18-50 2.8 for you camera geeks). I’m not getting rid of my Canon 24-70 2.8, but I like the lightness of the Sigma lens (especially when I’ve got the grip on and the Lightsphere on the flash) and the few more degrees of view that it affords.
Computer geekery:
I also had to buy a new computer. In fact, this was a major factor in the decision to stick with a 50d over a 5d. I am really hard on computers; I’ve laid four to rest in the last seven years. I don’t what it is that I do to them, but they never seem to be able to keep up with me and my work. So, Mark and I took a ride down to Fry’s today and had help from one of their employees in assembling what promises to be a dream machine. (Thanks Josh at the northside Indy Fry’s!) I don’t know a lot about computers, but I can read the packages, and this one has 12G of ram and a 1.5TB hard drive. The processor is an Intel i7 quad-core. I don’t know, but when Mark asked Josh how fast it was, all Josh could say was that it was really fast. Really. Fasssst. We chose a HAF Cooler Master for the case. Two other customers in Fry’s expressed their approval when they saw us go by with that box in our cart. Again, I don’t know. All I know is that it’s really big and has a lot of fans and a window in the side. And a red light when it’s on, which will match my new monitor, an AOC 22″ LED widescreen. Mark is downstairs assembling this behemoth right now. What I still lasck for this machine is a four-slot CF card reader, if such a thing exists. Surely it does?
Well, all, this post will have to do for now. A background app I had running has finished up, so it’s back to work for me!
Last Sunday, I met with Suzanne and Armand at Minnetrista to photograph some engagement pictures for them. Suzanne has done some modeling in the past and knows how to pose, plus she has a great personality. I loved the interaction between Suzanne and Armand – Suzanne would sass him and Armand would come right back. This session was a hoot… Shooting their wedding in July is going to be a trip.
Suzanne: Show your dentures!
Armand: I’ll show you your momma’s dentures!
Suzanne: Armand, that’s NOT nice! (and to me) My momma doesn’t wear dentures.
My other recent portrait session was with two-week old Sophia H. Mom, Dad, and Grandma came with her and had their pictures taken too. Sophia was a little fussy, but with patience, we got some really cute shots that I hope the family will treasure forever. I didn’t use my peanut crochet this time – this little girl’s already ten pounds! – but I did get to use a wrap (featured here) and a basket, which you can see in her online proofs.
Congratulations, H family, on your beautiful little girl!
Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to work with two models at the Paramount Theatre for SOSN bridal studio in Pendleton. They needed new images for some advertising for an upcoming event. Oddly enough, we didn’t use too much of the theater with its Italianate design – we spent much more time in the alleys and on the fire escapes around the theater.
Oh, you say you want to meet my models?
Here’s Jessy, who I’ve worked with before. We first worked together on her senior pictures. She came to me, unhappy with the work of another photographer and asked me to take some for her. She and I spent three or four hours that day, just walking around and taking pictures. I enjoy working with Jessy, trying new things and cracking up.
Also, meet Whitney! I’ve never worked with Whitney before. She does a great deal of modeling for other local photographers, although she does not have modeling as a career goal. She’s also a lot of fun and apparently addicted to watermelon. Isn’t she fabulous?!
Tangentially related to this shoot and probably all Greek to a lot of you… I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade to a new camera, the Canon 5d Mark II. I had been considering it, just couldn’t decide whether or not I really needed the full frame sensor. Or the 21 megapixels. As of this morning, I am experiencing a good deal of buyer’s remorse – I always do – but I’m sure that will all change once I have it in my hands and am shooting with it. How is this related to this shoot, you might wonder. Well, I feel like my images have really improved over the last year and in a way I am rewarding myself by making the move to a more professional camera… Not that the improvement itself isn’t its own reward, because it is… Can you tell I’m trying to okay this purchase with my inner critic? Anyhow, hope to have even more spectacular images to show you soon!
Hope you had a good Memorial Day weekend! We enjoyed ourselves around here. On Sunday, Mark went to the Indy 500 with the guys and I took a girl trip to Greenwood for some shopping with the girls. On Monday, we went to the annual Memorial Day picnic at Mark’s parents’ house. It was a fun and relaxing weekend - no work and all play.
I do have some pictures to show off from last weekend, though!
First up, last Saturday, was a crazy portrait session with three grandmas and ten kids, eight of whom were under the age of four. I’ve photographed about half of these kids before, four when they were newborns! We had quite a time getting everyone to sit still and never could get all of them to look at the camera at once, but we did get them all in one picture
On Sunday, I met with Kim and Curt to photograph their engagement session. We had a gorgeous, cool afternoon for photos at Shadyside Park in Anderson. Kim and Curt are getting married in September and are using fall colors as their theme, so I made sure to get several images that would coordinate well for display at their wedding too.
And finally, I’ve got pictures of our older daughter, three year old Emily. We have these fields of amazing yellow weeds growing near our house. I wanted to do this with her last year, but didn’t get it done before the fields were planted. This year I found the perfect dress at a garage sale and dragged Emily out one evening last week. Of course we were swarmed by bugs and she was in a very stubborn mood where she didn’t want to look at me, just flail her arms and beat at the flowers… But I don’t think that every picture has to have a smile. I like that I’ve got who she really is here, small and sweet and stubborn.
I had a very fun engagement session yesterday with my friend Julia, and her fiance Dave. Dave and Julia got engaged early last year, but I wasn’t able to photograph them last fall since I was due with Abby and it’s a 2.5 hour drive for each of us just to meet in the middle. So we settled for this spring, and we had wonderful, gorgeous weather yesterday after a week of rain. The three of us spent the entire day in a little town called Plymouth. I haven’t spent any time yet looking through their photos, but I did want to share this one of two props that Julia brought:
Update: Dave and Julia’s engagement photos are online, and here’s a handy link if you’d like to check them out!
I just knew that if I added a blog to the website, I’d have a hard time keeping on top of it! I guess I am going to have to make a promise to myself to update once a week, or once every two weeks at a minimum. My personal blog is falling behind too, so…!
Though I haven’t had a huge number of photoshoots in the last few weeks, I have had one or two. Mostly I’ve been dontaing my time to create a new brochure and poster for the Millcreek Civic Center, a great place for a reception on a budget. The civic center is part of a repurposed school. It shares the building with the Police Department and the utilities office for the town of Chesterfield. Millcreek has several rooms for rent for different needs, but Memorial Hall is where most wedding receptions are held. It’s a huge room with restored hardwood floors and twenty-three foot ceilings. The volunteers at the civic center have remodeled the restroom and kitchen there and the layout is ideal for guests. There’s plenty of parking, and the people who run the civic center are very friendly to boot!
In the past, the civic center’s brochure has been all text, printed on standard printer paper. The new brochure has tons of pictures and information about each room, as well as the amenities that the civic center offers. Sharon, the board member I’m working with on this project, was very excited when she came over and picked up the proofs yesterday. The board meets tomorrow night and will make any changes or approve the brochure. I can’t wait until the printed pieces arrive here – I love the smell of fresh ink!
The other main thing that’s kept me from posting more often (aside from just enjoying my family!) is an addictive new hobby I’ve gotten into: needle felting. While I’m fortunate to have photography as a way to make income and still stay home with my girls, turns out I’m too crafty to stop with one medium. So I’m playing with wool these days and making little wool animals, two or three a week. I have three pieces currently commissioned and one project that I’m making for Emily for Easter to keep me busy for the next two weeks. Then it’ll be time for spring sports photos, senior pictures, and wedding season again!
I will be the first person in the world to tell you that I have a great job. I have the *perfect* job for me. I do basically the same thing every time I go to work, from loading my gear to setting up my camera to working with people, yet it’s also something new every time. I meet new people, photograph new faces, try new ideas and work in new locations. It’s taken me a while to come to terms with myself as a “professional” anything, but here I am as a professional photographer.
I’ve often flippantly told people that one of the best parts about my job is all the wedding cake I get to eat. And I have eaten some really good cake. But I’ve also done some other cool stuff. I’ve photographed the Governor of Indiana. I’ve photographed the Indiana Secretary of State. I’ve been on the floor at Conseco Fieldhouse and on the field of the RCA Dome (which was imploded last month). I’ve done pageants and football. I’ve spent two solid days photographing wrestling on my knees. I once photographed a fashion show where the models walked the runway with kitchen faucets and bathroom shower heads.
Still, and I want desperately to be able to say this without sounding cheesy… The most important part of my job is capturing the memories. I was telling Mark the other day how I feel about this. I am one single person, but the product that I create is something that will be looked at twenty-five or fifty years from now, or maybe even longer. I have family pictures that go back to the 1800’s. It’s entirely conceiveable that someone will be looking at my work in the middle of the next century. Someone is going to want a picture of their great-great grandparents’ wedding. Someone is going to wonder about the styles that were popular when their grandmother was a senior in high school. Someone is going to laugh at a picture of their dad as a bare-naked baby.
This is the responsibility of my job, and I feel it as an enormous one. I am taking pictures for people to help them relive how they felt, who they were, what happened. I take pictures for children who aren’t born yet, to show them how happy their parents were on their wedding day. I take pictures for the years to come, when someone’s father or grandfather has passed away, so that they can look back and remember.
Isn’t that a great job to have?
