First Day of Legal Marriage

Clint and I totally got married in a courthouse before we went on our epic jaunt to Scotland and had a ton of adventures involving Scotch and Hairy Coos. This is our first day of marriage adventure. It was pretty low-key, but it features photos in front of my favourite door (may it rest in peace), my husband's goofy hungover face, and oysters at RockSalt so who can complain?

Snow Days Are The Best Days

I was able to have an awesome snow day today!  I worked on some personal projects as well as some business.  In between that,  I went on a  photo adventure with a couple of my friends. There's nothing like the world being a giant softbox to create some beautiful portraits.  Or some silly ones. And I got a quick one of my dog because dogs are amazing and he was too fast to get anything else (He's not a fan of snow). 

Uncle Steve

A few weeks ago my uncle took my request to make me gazpacho for my Mom's birthday (which was delicious, but perhaps not the first thing my mum wanted).  So I took his request to take some handsome, head shots of him.  As well as his request to look trustworthy and not like a cranky old man.  How did I do?

PS: You should take a look at his website- sbkillion.com. He's one of the smartest people I know. 

The 90th

Months ago I photographed my Great Uncle's 90th birthday.  We had barbecue outside with the garden, and the dogs, and the sunlight.  I got to see my cousins, and second cousins that I hadn't seen in ages.  And I got to stalk everyone with my camera, which is certainly something I love to do.  Not being in constant contact with me (and my camera) as my immediate family is, they were a bit awkward and shy at first; but then I got sneakier and they got more relaxed and I got some awesome photos.  

One

It's his birthday, and he'll wear awesome red suspenders if he wants to. 

Two

Three

I mentioned dogs right. 

Four

Five

Six

She is just stunning. 

Seven

Allison needed no prompting to pose perfectly. 

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

She loved this dog. 

Eighteen

And he loved her.

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty One

Twenty Two

Twenty Three

Twenty Four

Twenty Five

Twenty Six

The Cutest, but I'm biased. That's my niece. 

Twenty Seven

Twenty Eight

Twenty Nine

Thirty

The present opening ceremony begins.

Thirty One

Thirty Two

Thirty Three

Thirty Four

Thirty Five

Thirty Six

Thirty Seven

I did mention the dogs right?

Thirty Eight

Thirty Nine

Forty

Forty One

Forty Two

The Family

Things I Learned From My Internship, Part Ten (or I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty)+ Dance Like You Mean It

Things I Learned From My Internship, Part Ten (or I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty) + Dance Like You Mean It Make everyday fun in some way so you do not dread waking up.  For instance, take pictures of you work outfit everyday.

This may, at first, make you feel like a vain fool, but it brightens up your day when you get a nice comment and it encourages you to try, which is certainly important when your endgame is impressing people enough to give you a job.  It also is a nice record of every day of your internship. Something to look on in your dotage and say to your adopted grandchildren "see here, on this day I wore this outfit and got noticed by the editor of this magazine." Or something like that.

Obviously, not everyone is going to want to take pictures of their daily clothing choices, but you get the point.  Make everyday at least slightly different by setting a goal and recording it.  I can honestly say I did not wear exactly the same thing any of the days I worked at the lovely offices of Martha Stewart.  This may be unimpressive and extremely un-noteworthy to you, but I find some small sort of pleasure in it.  And should we not find pleasure in our internships, even while working our little tushes off to impress people?

And more Adventures of Mumsy, Naughty Nicki And I!

Saturday was a ridiculously fun day as we went on a cruise around Manhattan.  I should say this adventure began on Thursday when I called to book the tickets.  Joe, the voice on the other end of the phone, was very flirty.  He asked me what the occasion was and I told him just because we wanted to.  His response was "So life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  I did not know what to think of the kid at this point so I was just like sureeeeee.  He then asked if we would be "enjoying any alcoholic beverages" on the cruise so we could buy the tickets beforehand for a lesser price.  I was all like "heck yes, we drink alcohol" and he proceeded to tell me "I think I like you," which was interesting.  After this was all done, he was outlining a few ship rules.  "As this is a lunch cruise, the dress is semi casual, so a button down and slacks."

To which I replied, "I don't think I'm going to be wearing a button down and slacks," and he became extremely flustered.

I thought this cruise was sure to be a touristy, corny thing to do, but something all people who live in the city should do at least once.  You know, with one alloted alcoholic beverage and a mediocre buffet.

It turned out to be awesome.  Probably because we had an interesting group of people on the boat with us.  And when I say Interesting I mean Crazy.

We get there and are shown to our table. It was on the second floor (so I hauled Nicki up some stairs) and it was not by a window, but we could see the dance floor and out the windows across from us. This turned out to be the prime sitting spot as we could look over the railing at the goings on of the DJ and the people who interacted with her.  Before we figured out the wonderfulness of our tables location; however, our waiter came to get our drink order and to ask if we were here for any particular reason, an ongoing theme.  We repeated that we were just here to have fun, no particular reason, but my mum was visiting from NC.  He WROTE THIS DOWN and then flounced off.

Then came the food.  It was actually pretty delicious. Mashed potatoes, and salad, and salmon, and mac & cheese.  A carb lovers delight.  Then we got TWO desserts. TWO.

We then went outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather and the Statue of Liberty. This is us in front of the Statue of Liberty even though you cannot tell....

Then the fun began.  People had imbibed their alcoholic beverages (and probably a few more before they even boarded the boat) and they were loose and excitable.  The DJ fed on this and so did the crew. The waiters and waitresses actually came out and sang and danced.  It was corny, true, but great.

Then the crazy crowd got involved.

 This woman was hilarious.  She interpret danced all around that dance floor, and on it, and off it, and on the waiter a bit too.  We later found out she actually teaches dance classes, which does explain a bit about the large amount of dancing.

After that the DJ threw out some line dances, which basically forces everyone to get on the dance floor.  I did indeed dance. Sadly, these photos are on my mother's phone and I cannot get them to you, my loyal readers.  I'm sure you can use your imagination.  I was literally the only white girl on that dance floor and it was awesome.

I would like to believe that I held my own.

Part Nine

Part One

Little Miss Muffet

For this shoot, I went up to visit a friend in Davidson and we decided it would be a perfect time to make her model for me.  She used to model all the time for me when i was just a wee Photo 1 student, so it was like old times.  We actually planned on getting up super early so we could take photos at dawn in the field by her house and at the dock.  However, we were not counting on it being completely overcast.  The dawn light was not as dynamic as we wanted it to be at all. Waking up at 4:30 am was a bust.  We continued to try to take photos though, moving on to the dock and trying to use the water as a natural reflector with no luck.  There were some alright pictures, but definitely not exactly what I was looking for.  

A nice dock picture.  Kelly got in the water and was a trooper.

We did take some nice pictures outside of Kelly's house before we went to get pictures, but definitely not the fashion editorial type we were striving for.  More of a portrait.

Kelly Portrait

We came back about five hours later when the sky had cleared and we had gotten some breakfast in us.  Good news was there was light, bad news was it was very bright light. So we worked with what we had. I ninjaed the reflector again.  At times I had it propped up with my knee and foot like I did for my Let the Wild Thing Out shoot and at other times I had it propped up between some cut down grain and my tripod or the chair we brought.

We also tried to do a nice floating picture with flowers also floating around her, but we didn't plan for it well enough, and I didn't think it out as much as I should have.  Her position was awkward for a floating pic.  All flat footed.  But we shall see.  Perhaps I will re-edit the picture and give her new feet or something.  Or perhaps we will just reshoot.

Despite these adversities, which accompany basically every shoot I should think, we ended up with some pretty nice photographs.

Prone

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