Work In Progress

why i take pictures

i have a very distinct memory from my childhood. i was probably nine or 10 and had one of those little kodak 110 cameras with the flash stick. i was at some 4-H-type event ... there were horses and kids and snow cones, and i had my camera. and i walked around looking for things to photograph. i remember seeing sunlight on a horse's back and taking a photo of the way the light glinted on that shiny hair. i remember seeing flowers on the ground and taking a photo of the dew on the petals. i remember getting my photos back from the developer and being shocked to see what had printed was in no way what i had shot.

fast forward to high school. i went in for my senior pictures and became smitten with the photographer, watching her set lights and work behind the medium-format camera. i thought, "this would be an amazing job."

and then i promptly signed up to be an english major.

after college i worked in newspaper ... then magazine ... and each time i needed to work with a photographer on a story, i would get a vision of the shot i wanted captured. i was illustrating and writing in my head simultaneously.

and that's how i approach photography now.

when i was finally able to hold a good camera in my hands - one that i could control and manipulate to get the desired final outcome - i found that i was always looking for that certain "something" ... that flash of underlying feeling or mood, or that angle that shows just the slightest difference than the expected. i was illustrating the story of what was around me.

i've done a handful of weddings, strictly favor-only or word of mouth, and haven't decided if i want to actively pursue them. truth be told: i adore weddings, and i'm terrified of them. here's why: i love finding that unexpected, i love telling the story, but the story i see may not be the same one the bride and groom want, and hence my hesitation.

it's paramount to keep in mind what they want ... it IS their day after all ... but i find all the portraits and family shots to be tedious and then i get sidetracked from what i want to SEE and get stuck on what i need to DO.

so i need to figure this out.

sometimes, i manage to make everyone happy.

last month i got to shoot a wedding in maine for one of the most fun-loving, sweet, adorable, in love couples i know. and it was a great time. i got to find my shots as well as theirs. the location was amazing - a camp, a beach wedding, a boat; and the weather was not - drizzle, then full-on pouring, then freezing. and it all made for a wonderful experience.

while the girls were getting ready, the weather was constant in the background, even though no one paid any attention to it.

halfway through the preparations, the groom had a letter delivered to his bride. one that was so sentimental and sweet that everyone got teary-eyed. and then the bridesmaids stole it to read at the reception. (so much for the groom's "tough guy" image.)

the mother and godmother of the bride ... both were delightful ladies.

the groom arrived at the ceremony via zip line across the lake ... complete with superman's theme song.

and then that confident entrance faded into pure emotion.

no sooner did they arrive at the reception tent and the sky broke open. luckily, there was a break long enough to get in some photos.

loved that the group waited for a clear moment while standing next to a bin marked "sunshine."

ironic.

we even managed to find the couple's wedding date on the kayak racks: 10.11

speaking of boats ...

dan and jen - i hope i did your wedding justice. i hope your photos are what you were hoping for. i hope i managed to create the story as well as grab all the memories you wanted to keep. and i hope the rest of your lives is as full of love and laughter as that day was.

i'm alive.

we moved in last sunday, worked our collective butts off all week long, i flew to maine on friday morning, shot a wedding all day saturday, flew home sunday ... and marc left yesterday morning for the week, i'm dealing with the moving company's repair guy trying to fix all the things the movers, let's say "tweaked", during the move, as well as landscapers dumping a literal ton of boulders in the backyard and moving them around all yesterday, still waiting for some countertops, etc. etc.

when i think about it, i'm not sure i've had a decent, relaxing day or good night's sleep or comforting meal in two weeks.

and i took many pix of the house on the day we closed, but they are all on a file server that my computer has decided to be estranged from since the move. so, no pix. yet. someday. fingers crossed.

i WILL share this one, from the wedding, of the groom zip lining to the ceremony from across the lake ...

it was a fun, happy, full-of-love day. and right now i'm tired, cranky, lonely, overwhelmed, and wishing for the day when our days can be fun and happy and not exhausting.

but the view out the back of the house is stunning, with all the changing leaves, and i hope to take the kids out this evening in the golden light and take some photos of them. because if we wait for marc to get home, the weather will change to rain and the light won't be nearly magical.

here's to hoping they cooperate with me. because i need it today.

but at least i'm alive. just maybe not kicking.

i'll get back to you on that.

just a quiet little weekend.

let's see ...

we unloaded all of the packed boxes in the house and all of the garage, filling up four temporary storage containers with about one-third of all of our earthly belongings. (little unpaid plug: if you need to move or get stuff out of your house for awhile, door to door storage is amazing! we used them the last time we moved, and knew we would do business again with them for this move. they drop off the bins, you fill them, they pick them up and store them in a secure, climate controlled warehouse, and then when you need your stuff back, they return it to you at the location of your choice. awesome.)

i had a photo shoot friday afternoon.*

we met with our builder rep and got the bid for the house.**

we sent marc to vegas.

i took the kids shopping for new sneakers. my six-year-old wears a 1.5, my 11-year-old wears a 9/9.5. in mens. yikes.

henry got his hairs cut.

we ate leftovers and watched spring wipeout. then harper went to bed and henry and i watched survivor.

all in all, pretty boring weekend.

hardy-har-har.

*remember this beautiful belly?

on friday i got to spend some time with the final product, miss z:

she's super cute and super happy.

except when you put her in her easter dress.

**the meeting with our rep went well ... we were with her nearly two hours at a model home on a parade of homes day. luckily, it was friday at dinnertime, so traffic through the house was pretty slow. and the kids did great just playing gameboys and staying out of our hair. the next-to-final plan looks good, the bids on everything came back about where marc and i expected. we're right on the edge of being able to get the loan without being contingent on selling our house first, so we're really hoping that we can squeak it in there. if we have to wait to start the build until the house is sold, i'll throw up. (as it is, getting in the house before school starts is going to be iffy.) otherwise, we have to make hard decisions: finish the basement later? back out on going with geothermal? give up having tongue and groove ceilings in the main level? oh wait ... i already had to do that. they were going to cost 17k. uh, no. so now it's all paperwork and approvals and meetings and permits and review boards and blah blah blah, and THEN we can start digging. i swear, if we hit may and there isn't a hole in the ground yet, i will be out there with my shovel. (THIS is the stressful party to me. all that building and decision-making stuff? ha. piece of cake compared to the WAITING.)

anyway, it was a good meeting.

then we went out for tacos.

today i met with the contact at the carpet/tile/wood floor/shingle/doorknob/everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-literally place, and we went over what carpet and tile and wood floor and shingle, etc. were within our builder's allowance. i think we'll have no problem staying at or near budget on carpet (though, really, ick ... is there anything uglier than a carpet sample? NONE of them looked like something i would want on 1500 sq feet of floor.). tile will be close ... there are a couple of tile selections i'm willing to go over to get, but those are in very small doses, so that's good. that marble hex tile i was thinking for the fireplace surround? for whatever reason, this supplier doesn't have marble hex. or little marble subways. they have big marble subways. so, i'll have to ponder that. it might look okay, playing off the white subway tile backsplash in the kitchen, but with the grayish striations in the marble to work with the, coughcough, sofas. and maybe the scale of the larger subway will be better, given the scale of the, again, sofas. (when did i start designing a house around a friggin' piece of furniture that, up until a month ago, i had never given a moment's thought?!) and there were a couple of options for the master bath that could be worked in subtly and in small quantities to give the room a higher-end feel without a high-end price tag. we'll keep it simple and standard in the other bathrooms.

it did feel good, when she pulled out the granite samples, to say, "no, my friend. we won't be needing those." soapstone has been procured, and stainless has been bid and comes in - drumroll - UNDER ALLOWANCE!!! i'm saving us, like, a bunch of money by going stainless on the island! well, maybe not "a bunch," but enough that i did a little happy dance when i found out. it almost pays for two piano windows, let's just put it that way. and depending on how big the soapstone slab is, there may be leftover rock that can be used for a vanity top in one of the bathrooms ... that would be thrifty!

as the lady and i talked, she remarked that i seem quite well prepared and not at all intimidated by the selection process. she has no idea, does she? i think i could sign on the dotted line right now for pretty much everything, from light fixtures to paint colors to stinkin' doorknobs, if it would make this thing happen faster.

later this week i will do the same thing at the appliance place ... i have a feeling THAT is where the allowance budget goes bye-bye. and we just keep plugging away on our house and get it ready for market. it would be nice if the insurance-supplied contractor would call to schedule when they will start the work; that kinda needs to happen before we can put the sign in the yard.

and the clock's a tickin'.

finally sharing ...

these. at length. because it's been three weeks and baby zoey entered the world yesterday.

daddy was in sweden, mom rachael teaches at cooks of crocus hill in st paul, which is where we shot these. amazing, amazing kitchen and store. marc and i took a class here a couple of years ago for fun and had a BLAST.

rachael is a total kate walsh lookalike, just brunette. statuesque and gorgeous, even eight months pregnant.

i'd hate her if i didn't like her so much.

congrats, j & r!! and little z, can't wait to meet you!

i am woefully behind

project 365/52? ugh. don't even remind me. i lost that back in september. maybe i'll have to pull together six weeks' worth of "shots i never shared."

laundry? i was mostly caught up. then henry came home. now the mountain is as tall as harper.

cleaning? i had a good handle on that, too ... then we got the floors redone and everything from the dining room moved into the sun room. then we got the sun room painted, and everything from the sun room moved into the dining room. on top of that, we got some drywall repairs done, so there's a fine dust everywhere.

kitchen? i was on top of it, then painting and drywalling occurred. and henry and marc both left, so harper and i ate grilled cheese, then i had to get a ... um ... procedure yesterday, so i didn't eat at all for 36 hours. the kitchen got ignored.

groceries? see above. also? i should probably make a grocery list for thanksgiving. also? i really need to reserve a turkey.

editing photos and burning cds? yup. behind on that, too. where has my motivation gone this month??

however, i DID get an article up on andie smith designs, using her new calendar brushes. that was pretty sweet.

now ...

i'm helping henry catch up on a week's worth of math homework and trying to teach him how to divide fractions (ie blind leading blind).

i'm getting ready to repaint a wall in the dining room, small spots in the hallway, and two re-patched areas in harper's room. that's four colors of paint i need to find. sigh.

i need to clean the fridge, do the laundry, crack the whip on the kids to clean up legos and barbies so next week i can vacuum.

i need to get my body back in full swing from my ... um ... procedure yesterday.

i need to ... just ... breathe.

exhale.

here starts that craziness i mentioned earlier.

a new arrival

my baby. my photography.

i've decided the time has come to be legit and be a grown-up and start building a business versus just building a portfolio and shooting sporadically as i get word-of-mouth queries.

i'm currently building a website (will let you know when it launches), and i made the leap into a facebook page for my business (see left-hand column ... be a fan!!). there are plans afoot for the new house ... a studio space. i'm already planning robin's egg blue floors, white walls, one big feature wall, lots of natural light ... and lots of fun, bright, lovely things to use with newborns through the first year. my love is still natural light, natural habitat, but some people don't have natural light or don't want to use their home. that's where the studio space will come in handy for the littlest birds.

so this is me, sharing with you, and feeling very vulnerable, like an imposter. but i heard a quote from jamie lee curtis (my own personal goddess) the other day that resonated with me. she said, "i refuse to be humble about the things i'm frickin' good at." i've convinced myself for too long that i'm not good at anything, but darn it ... a magazine hired me to be on their scrappy design team, so i must be good at that. and i wrote a book for them, so i must be good at that. and i have fantastic kids, so i must be good at that.

and i'm good at taking pictures. i won't be scared of that anymore.

check it out ... i just grew a pair, right in front of you. ;o)

365/52 week 36

(if today being day 253 is correct, that means there are 112 days left in the year. does someone want to do the math for me? did i keep up or am i off by a week? or three?)

we've had so. much. rain. holy cats and dogs. south of us an hour or less, they got 10+ inches of rain in the past 24 hours. 10 miles from us, they are watching the river and predicting it to be above flood stage. craziness.

and people say our climate is totally fine and normal.

okey doke.

pix from the past week ... tomorrow, i swear, i'll write about something more interesting. though i have coffee with 5th grade moms in the morning, harper to and from school, laundry, reservations for wine with a friend ... maybe i'll write on saturday.

anyway ...

two months ago, marc surprised me: tickets to "wicked"!! he scored some major points. it *almost* gets him back in the black from forgetting my birthday less than three months after our wedding ...

harper attended a birthday party "spa" day at scoops. bless my sheltered daughter's heart ... every time they brought out a new pampering thingy, she just looked at it like, "wha ... ?" she asked if the nail file would hurt. she was reticent to let the lady put the pedicure do-hickey between her toes. i've failed as a mother.

two of my favorite girls came to town, kimber and summer. we ate sushi, drank some beverages, talked scrappy, and giggled with our adorable pocket-sized waiter.

seriously, have you ever seen so much pink?!

junior high math = more homework x less time for anything else

a fluffy old bee has decided to winter in my hollyhocks.

 

school picture day. and apparently i told him to go stand in the rain.

365/52 week 32. and 33. oh heck, 34 and 35, too.

i've slacked for a month. a MONTH. last posting of pix? august 20th.

pix have been taken, just not posted. so ... i'll be economical, then get back in the saddle of normalcy on thursday.

(click on the pic if you want to see it full-sized)

week 32:

 
 

220: harper took her allowance to target and bought herself the lego set her brother convinced her she wanted. she felt very grown up.

221: henry, clearly impressed with daddy's small golf ball handling skills.

222: chattin' up his buddy on the phone. topic: pokemon.

223: roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes for dinner. someone's craving fall.

224: how she slept.

225: him and mini-him.

 

week 33:

 

226: studious consideration of the lego catalog can mean only one thing: it's xmas list season.

227: the moon seems to be ready for fall, too.

228: found a cool light for henry's room next year. yay, ikea.

229: harper got all life-jacketed-up for her fishing day at eco-camp. she caught three blue gills. "just little ones, though," she said.

230: when you break a tempered glass lid, it shatters like a $#*&%@. and crackles forever.

231: starting to be a little sad at the thought of this room being empty all day once school starts.

232: my yellow-tube-floating son and his buddies, on a last-hurrah kind of day.

 

week 34:

 

233: took the kids to waterpark of america for the day. it was on their summer to do list. time was running out.

234: took the kids to mill city museum for the day. it was on my summer to do list. time was running out.

235: harper took the fairy rocks that twig the fairy gave her during previous visits to the renaissance fair. twig giggled in delight when she saw the rocks, sprinkled harper with glitter, and played her a tune on the flute.

236: decided to eat on the deck. marc opened the table umbrella and a bat fell out. so, naturally, he grabbed it. and i, naturally, took pix. then we set it free and went back to setting the table, at which point we noticed a second bat in the umbrella.

237: harper's very first sleepover. oh, the giggling.

238: legos, legos everywhere.

239: how daddy does a "home lunch."

 

week 35:

240: the intrepid landowner climbs through the undergrowth that will one day be his side yard. and mrs landowner is inwardly gloating over the previous declaration from the mr that "mowing is man's work!" because that side yard slope is going to be a bitch.

241: hallo, lovely light fixture.

242: pink + pink x pink = bff b'day lunch at american girl bistro.

243: gettin' some air under those feet.

244: sooo ... technically a pic from the previous day. whatever.

245: day one of kindergarten, harper has added to her bff roster and immediately requested a play date.

246: squirrels. eating nuts.

while i ignore actually catching up on anything ...

i'll share this with you:

andie smith designs has something pretty amazing to offer for september. her limited edition bulk buy set includes backgrounds, card templates, storyboard templates, actions, etc. ... and for a great price - $40 for more than $60 worth of amazingness!

here are some examples, then go check out the product!! but hurry ... september will be over soon!

andie smith blog + christmas cards

i have a new post up on andie smith designs blog, and it involves these:

even better, andie is holding a contest for holiday card sets right now!

You have the chance to win the entire 2010 Christmas Card Collection!! It is so simple to win.

All you have to do is:

1. Follow Andie Smith Designs on twitter @asdesigns

2. tweet: Win the entire 2010 Christmas Card Collection from @asdesigns. Pls RT. Info at: http://www.andiesmithdesigns.com/archives/4105

ends at midnight Central Time on August 31, 2010.

 

chop chop!!!