Be sure to wear flowers in your hair...

Ok world, exciting news... as of TODAY I am officially going to San Francisco for the Spread the Love Tour 2010 by Justin & Mary Marantz. I can't wait. I have never been to San Francisco, and actually this is my first ever photo workshop ever. Though it technically isn't a photo workshop.. it is a LIFE workshop, which excited me even more, because I am a liver of life before I am a photographer of life. Process that for a minute :)

Thanks for entertaining my randomness tonight, have a great Sunday.

Not Much Today

Happy Friday to you all! Not much on the agenda today, I am getting some weddings ready to blog later next week... and they are amazing! I was looking through my photos today and realized that I hadn't yet blogged them... so I am going to get right on that. Most of them are from the fall, and so I figure that will help appease the distaste we have for the cold weather right now. Right? Because everyone hates cold weather just as much as I do... right?

I'm about to leave my work station for the weekend, but I did want to show a quick picture of a little girl that I've been babysitting for a few months. Her name is Gracie and she's changing my life :). Seriously. I have an abnormal distaste for children for a woman of my age. But this kid, she is pretty awesome. Maybe it's because she is potty trained? Or that she is sarcastic, yet she's only 3? Or that she is so stinkin' adorable. I'll never know... but I think I could put up with more kids if they were all like this. We will see. Stay tuned for my entrance into the world of baby-lust. Maybe. I may be getting ahead of myself.

Here she is! Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

What's coming up....

Hello! #1 Slacker right here, apologies for being out-of-touch the last couple of days. This week has materialized and then disappeared again right before my very eyes, and of course because I know everyone runs on my time schedule... I'm assuming it's been the same for you. This week has actually been quite fantastic, full of new things that I've never done before... like:

1)Shoot a boudoir session

2)Assist a boudoir session

3)Get in front of the camera for a glam-session of my own (insert Homer Simpson-like 'Doh!' right here)

4)Get an Atlanta Parking ticket (timed at 3 minutes before I actually returned to my car)

5)Actually sit down for the State of The Union address

I'm excited about knocking these things off of my To-Do list, even though I never really had a to-do list to knock them off of... But it did get me in the mood to make some more lists. I'll share one of them today, and maybe as I get better at them and eventually become a professional list-maker with my own TLC show (oh yes, oh yes) I can be your list-peration (yes, I did just make up a word mashing list and inspiration together). For now, I am going to stick to photography because that is what I love, but in the spirit of doing things that I say I am going to do, here is that list:

What's coming up!

1) Wedding Season!!!

2) My Re-branding (super excited... contests will follow it's launch, so stay tuned)

3)Watching 'The Pregnancy Pact' on Lifetime because we DVR'd it. Yep.

4)VEGAS BABY!!!! I'll be there with zillions of other Wedding Photogs. No repeat of 'The Hangover'.

5) The Grammy's. Some of the best and worst live performances ever.

6) 70-Degree weather in Atlanta. HOLY GOD I am so tired of the cold.

There is my list for things coming up that I am super excited about, I didn't promise you it would be life changing (Although the pregnancy Pact could be pretty moving...)

To celebrate my 1st boudoir experience.. here are some photos that I took of the amazing Joy Wilson during the sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday! Thanks to the Georgian Terrace in Atlanta for their gorgeous rooms. Also.. thanks to my new Canon 7D for being so awesome. All of these photos are straight out of camera (SOC) with absolutely no editing. It rocks.

Joy has a beautiful laugh

Tanner and Margaret -Engagement

I've been jumping to blog this engagement since I took the last shot back in December.... so I am super excited to be sharing it with you today.

Tanner and Margaret are one of those couples. You know, the kind that are so in love with each other that just being around them makes you giddy and smiley.. yet they never exclude their company and find some way to make everyone around them feel as just as loved and appreciated. I love them. Really. They were so gracious to put me up in their Tybee Island home for a few days while I came to relax and take their engagement photos! I love every single photo that we took that day, December on Tybee gives the most gorgeous light (making me even more excited for their December 2010 wedding!) Thanks guys for a great time, consider your love now shared with the entire internet world :)

He proposed on the beach with his guitar, so this was only appropriate

Yummy sunset colors of the marsh... this would be behind their house. Jealous.

A lot of our time was spent laughing, Tanner is quite hilarious

LOVE the gorgeous sunset that way given to us... and yeah, they see it every night.

And My favorite from the day because it shows every cranny of their personality...

Trended-Tuesday

Alright... I've decided to start my first 'Blog Feature', and since it's Tuesday.. I thought I'd self title it! Also, I am a huge fan of alliteration, so I had to stay with tha' T's. My english teacher would be so proud..

So here it is, I'm introducing Trended-Tuesday! I spend a lot of time on blogs and buried in magazines looking through the latest trends in everything from weddings to cooking to booty dancing (oh yes, it's true). I always find some spectacular things that I want to share with all of you, and this is how I'm going to do it. When I blog it, consider it trended :)

Trend of the moment? I'm loving pears. A friend and I talked all about them on Sunday (makes you want to be a part of our conversations, doesn't it) and so I decided to look and see what I could find. I found a lot, but here are some of my fave's. Delicious.

How unique are these? What a great personal addition to your wedding decor. Found here.

Cute Stationary found here

The most gorgeous 'something blue', love the pear-shaped stones

Find it here

Ok this is by-far my favorite, a unique twist on the traditional guest book, guests leave well-wishes for you in this 'Perfect Pair' jar. Fabulous. Find it here

Happy Tuesday to you all, and please, if you haven't done so already (or you want to do it again) please text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to the relief fund.

The power of 'potential'

Do you ever look at things (anything.. books, pictures, your outfit..) and say to yourself "Wow, that has a LOT of potential"? I do it a lot to my outfits, because honestly, I'm more of a comfort person than and cute person, and so a lot of times my outfits have 'potential', and would probably reach their potential if I took off the t-shirt and put on a nice jeweled cardigan :)

I was editing some photos today and as I was going through them, there were a lot of photos that were great, and had reached their potential... and then there were some that I would look at and say "Hmmm". This cycle continued all of the way through the series I was editing. At the end of the edit I was reflecting on the set, and the philosophy behind the different edits I applied (what kind of philosophy, you ask? that's a whole other post for a whole other time, sorry babes) and I came up with this thought:

Every photo that you take should be one that captures the potential of the moment.

Meaning? Each moment has the potential to be a great photograph, the job of the photographer is to capture that great photograph... showcasing the moment. As hard as it is to accomplish, we shouldn't look at already taken photographs and say 'wow that has the potential to be a great photograph'... we should look at moments and say 'wow that has the potential to be a great photograph'

I'm sorry if you disagree... I love to post-process and I love the results that I get from it. But you can't make a great photograph out of a crappy one by photoshop alone... you will just have a highly edited crappy photo.

This is a philosophy, or mantra, or whatever you want to call it that I hope I employ with every single press of my shutter button. I'm not a super-fantastic photographer, but I hope that by shooting for the power of potential I can become one.

Here is one of the edits from today... one that I looked at and knew that I had captured the moment's potential :)Also, thanks to Margaret and Tanner for being such a gorgeous couple!

I take back what I said yesterday...

I got an early start this morning... partially because I left my blinds open and the sun made itself known at 8am, but also partially because I think my brain knew that today was going to be a BEAUTIFUL day!

Remember last post, where I was bitter at the cold because it was forbidding me (because I'm a diva) to get outside and take pictures? Well this morning, I set my diva aside and got out there. Why? Because this morning allowed me to take pictures of something I had never taken pictures of before- SNOW! I got up early, immediately put on my boots-with-tha-fur and got outside in time to take serene pictures of our street, the little footprints of the kids that had already been out, and our birdhouse laden with a white roof. It was fun and cold, but more fun than cold.

After I got back inside I ran to my computer to show you what I came up with, and share my wonderment at the snow... which got me thinking. Yes, I've never taken pictures of snow before, and that's why I got out this morning. But really, if you think about it, each morning and each day is different. Each morning and each day is something that I have never before taken a picture of, nothing about it is the same as the previous morning or day. Sure there are similar elements, but what will happen and what happens to be present will all be different in some way. So no more excuses about finding something 'new' to photograph... just wait for the sun to come up.

I was also very inspired and moved by this video-post today by Zack Arias.

Some Snow-photos, or "snow-tos". :)



Here's the birdhouse



Here is our Cute little house!



And Finally, I will leave you with my boots-with-tha-fur

When Life gives you lemons

Hey Guys. So I have this new camera, and this new lens... and I promise I am way more excited about them then how I sound right now. What I am NOT excited about is the freezing cold weather we are having in Atlanta right now. Not because our pipes burst (because they didn't), not because I'm homeless and have to sleep outside (because I'm not), and not because of any other non-selfish reason.... no, I hate the cold weather right now because I can't go outside and take ANY pictures with my handy new gear. I know, I know... whine whine whine.

So I stayed inside, and I took pictures of a lemon. (this is when you raise an eyebrow at me and tell me to maybe check in to getting a life). But really, after I took pictures of the lemon, things started looking up.. and a cute little phrase came to mind.

"When life gives you lemons, take pictures of them!". It's a simple truth, make the best of what you have.

Corn-ball am I :)

I hope you are all enjoying your day, and your lemons.

Who I want to be

'Tis the season for a new you!!! I don't know if you've noticed but there has been an influx of TV commercials about losing weight, Proactiv ads for clear skin, and little men at the mall that hand out pamphlets to us as we go into the food court. They all know that at the start of each new year about half of our population signs itself up for the 'New and Improved!' label. I'm not really one to make goals, to be honest I don't like setting myself up for disappointment...that way anything I DO accomplish officially exceeds my expectations (I know, it sounds awful).I'm not sure if you are one of those people or not, but regardless... since we are all affected by the 'new and improved' labels whether we just see them or we participate in them, I have something to share.

Sunday at church was the first sermon of the new year, and the pastor talked about setting goals, respectively. However the approach was one that I hadn't hear before. There was no talk of motivational songs, no 'safety words', and no 12-step plans. His take on goals was one that had its foundation in who we are as people, rather than what we want to be as society. It's quite a biblical foundation (go figure), as Christ preaches more about who we should want to be rather than what we should want to be (a point quite frustrating to me at times when I just want a Magic-8-Ball type of conversation with God!). The point of the message was that before we decide what we want to be, we need to decide who we want to be, because ultimately... who we are is what will last longer than what we are. People get fired, houses burn down, finances get messy... but character (good or bad) will prevail.

He recommended that we make a list, or write some paragraphs, containing who we wanted to be known as after we die (morbid, sorry).

Here's mine:

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!! Can you believe we just hit 2010? The past decade flew by (sorry if I'm making you feel ancient) and every year seemed to be as unpredictable as the last. The 2000s were a little rough, and our world is a completely different place than it was 10 years ago. Aside from all the chaos that's happened... we can be sure a few things will stay the same; we have life and love. Time marches on, we get older and wiser, we make mistakes and learn lessons, and we celebrate the great things that life brings us. Here's to celebrating, may your celebrations this year outweigh your 'lessons-learned'. It's a new year!!! No... it's a new DECADE!! And we all know that means that everything in the past doesn't count, right? Woo Hoo!!!!