The Tear

That glorious tear is all because I told her she had to finish her PB&J before I would give her more cheesy poofs.

Weddings are hard!

I have had a long weekend already.I shot a very cool rehearsal dinner and a wonderful wedding for a couple named Abby ans Tony. They are a fun theatrical couple. The wedding was traditional but laid back. They wanted everything to be simple, elegant and fun. They achieved their goal! I have yet to be at a wedding that went so smoothly. No stress, just fun. It was great!

Now on to my critique of me. I am spot on on photojournalism - I hit a lot of fun moments, I took a lot of different shots using different techniques (shutter drag, flash and jiggle, fun angles, my lensbaby) ; but while it sounds like I am tooting my own horn I'm not. I take a ridiculous amount of pictures, so I am bound to get cool stuff - it's the law of averages. My traditional shots could use some work. I messed up the bride standing in the middle of the altar in her dress ( thank god that is the only lost shot, but it is a biggie!) I need to be careful with my auto focus - it likes patterns and she was standing in front of a stone walled altar. I also want to work on noise reduction, but I am not sure how. I like to hand hold everything. I feel like a tripod weighs me down. I guess I will have to use one from now on. I need to reduce my ISO, but in order to do that, I will be shooting at 1/30, way to low to hand hold. Lesson learned! This is why I am not charging the big bucks yet. I am not fully comfortable with taking money for my wedding at all yet, but I need to at least cover my costs : I charged $500 for this wedding, and they got two days coverage - around 13 hours of shooting, and god knows of yet to be completed processing time. I think it will break down to about $11.50 an hour after I save for taxes. Wow, I have just just taught myself a lot writing all of this down. Anyway, I need to start making better money soon if I want this to work out. Now I get why photogs charge so much. They warned us in college that we would have to fight for our fees, but I didn't get it then. I really do need to deiced what I want to make then triple it - One third to taxes, on third to equipment, and one third to my checking account. People don't see it that way though, they just see a $2000-5000 price tag for a wedding shoot. Really not a lot to ask for, now that I have shot about 5-8 of them I get the level of work that goes into it.
Plus side to all of this is that I got to hang out all weekend with my friend (and bridesmaid) Julie, who's wonderful food blog is the reason I am currently off my diet!

Mommy thoughts for the day.

Thought number one:
I have been horrendously sick this week. I have bad mommy thoughts when I am sick. When faced with having to serve the kiddos breakfast yesterday, I had this though/ realization:
If I give the kids Rice Krispy Treats with a glass of milk, it is almost the same as having a bowl of cereal, right?

Thought number two:
I was handed a piece of chewed up, or otherwise processed banana this morning. I have decided that I am going to refer to all previously digested food given to me as "re-mixed" food. It is still basically the same food, just a little funkier than the original.

Cats

Here are a few of the shots from NKU's production of Cats. The show is well done all around. It is sold out - But I am hoping to get on the waiting list to get my son in to see it!

New blog. New outlook. New me?

Wow. It feels a bit like a new apartment- I need to move a few things around, stretch out a bit. I decided to start a new blog to follow my new start as a photographer. I have decided to get serious about this photo thing - like the BFA wasn't enough! I have a few clients, but I have never advertised. That will have to change. I have been filled with doubt in the past. That is changing too. I have worried about the recession (you know, this "new" one that has been obvious to any mom trying to feed a family for about a year now) and if people will be willing to pay for my non-essential service. I am going to stop all that negativity now. I am going to focus on what I have - patience, love of children and families of all varieties, a talent for photography and most importantly a camera! I am getting back to basics and cutting out the things in my life that aren't keeping my focused on my goal - a thriving photo buisness. This means I will be quitting a very fun, but buisness hampering part time job very soon. That will be bittersweet. It must be done in order to move forward. I have a summer of volunteer sittings ahead of my to put me closer to my goal. I will also be looking into going back to school soon to learn American Sign Language. I want to be ready to communicate with all of my clients. I also want to get a branch of Flashes of Hope started in Cincinnati. That is a lot to do. Did I mention I have a full time job as a SAHM? I also need to get a brand designed, postcards printed and a mailing list together, an LLC established, a website up and running. All of this by September for a relaunch/ re imagining of my buisness. So why am I telling you all of this? To hold me to it. I am putting it all out there in the internet aether so I have someone watching me, even if it is just electrons. I will chronicle it all here, in pictures where possible. I will post what sittings I do have here, I will talk about my trials when I can.