Jennifer and Trevor - December 30, 2006

I'm leaving for another wedding in less than 12 hours, and I know I'll be overwhelmed with pictures afterwards, so I wanted to go ahead and get these up on the blog. Jennifer and Trevor were married last month and I had a blast. Jennifer was all smiles, and their friends and family were just great. I am continually amazed by how much I learn from assisting at each wedding and hope that the images continue to improve.

I love "getting ready" pictures - here, the flower girl watches a bridesmaid getting dressed

As a former piano player, I was particularly drawn to this shot (I need to buy a piano and get back into practice!)

Trevor seeing Jennifer for the first time

I loved the colors and the winter/snow theme of the reception

I heart Canon

I used a Nikon D100 at school last week to take pictures of cells under a microscope and absolutely hated it. Sure, I could figure out the basics like how to put in the battery, but I thought the finer points were not very user-friendly. I also did not like holding it - I guess my hand has been molded to my Canon :)

Reflections

I thought this would be an appropriate time to reflect on what I've accomplished this last year and think about my future directions. I have to thank Julie for introducing me to DSLR photography and allowing me to handle her camera. I did not suddenly wake up one day and realize that I want to be a wedding photographer. A lot of different events transpired to get me to this point. Disappointment with my own wedding photos led me to research wedding photography more closely. Yes, I know it would have been better to do that before the wedding, but I was on a serious budget, taking difficult classes, working, and doing all the planning long-distance. I became disenchanted with the field of scientific research. I think that I could be a competent researcher, but I wouldn't really enjoy it. I started looking for science jobs and was really frustrated with the options. There are basically two types of jobs. One is for someone with a bachelor's degree and pays very little. The other is for someone with a PhD with lots of experience and qualifications which I do not have nor do I care to obtain. There is no way that I am quitting now when I am so close to getting my degree but am upset that I likely will never use it. I don't think anyone really realizes how hard graduate school is when they first start out. If I could do it over again, there is no way that I would go, but I did learn a few useful things. I've become a better speaker and communicator. I've learned not to trust people so much. I'm much less idealistic and much more practical. I've learned what is really important to me in life. This last point, combined with my desire for more family time, led me to seek out other careers. Inspired by how Brett got her wedding coordinator internship with Barbara, I looked up all the Lubbock wedding photographers, contacted my favorite, and asked her if I could volunteer and learn with her. (That's another thing I learned from graduate school - if you want something, don't be afraid to reach out and ask, nobody else will do it for you.) Shan is the most amazing photographer and person, and I cannot thank her enough for letting me tag along to weddings with her. I have learned so much from her, and I also continue to study books and online forums to educate myself. I finally bought my own camera and don't know how I ever lived without it. Wow, I cannot believe that I am doing this. The one thing that I said I would NEVER ever do was start and run my own business.

Goals for 2007

-Graduate! (or spring 2008 would be okay too) Until I graduate, I can't really do anything seriously.
-Technical skills. It's so frustrating to compose a perfect image in my head, but not be able to manipulate the camera to do what I want.
-Reliability. Perhaps this will come with the technical skills and more experience. Sometimes I do know exactly what to do, but I just can't do it fast enough, so I feel I am not very consistent with my output.
-Get out of the house more. I'm tired of shooting objects in my living room. It's also not very technically challenging.

I am excited to see what the new year will bring. I wish everybody a very happy 2007.

Christmas at Jenna's House - December 22, 2006

I took these pictures with Julie's camera because I didn't want to travel with mine :) Though Jenna had moved into her house in March, this was my first time visiting. Her house was beautiful and decorated for the holidays. She invited a fun group of girls over for yummy food, wine, and good times.





Here are the sugar cookies that Julie baked (Betty Crocker recipe circa 1961!)

Madeline and Isabel - December 16, 2006

Here is baby Madeline, 6 months.



I couldn't decide on color or black and white for this next picture. Any suggestions?


Isabel, the sweetest little girl I've ever met, almost 3 years.

My Christmas Tree

Chatel-Guyon - December 4-7, 2006

Chatel-Guyon is a tiny spa town in central France. This is where we had our scientific conference. It's a beautiful town, but it shuts down in the winter, so there was nothing to do. Just as well, the conference kept me plenty busy. Some facts about the area:

The water is extremely high in magnesium. This did not agree with my hair.
The soil is super dark and very fertile.
There is a Michelin factory.

Here is a view of the street where our hotel was located.



The view from our hotel room window



The conference organized a tourist excursion to Issoire where we visited this church. I have no idea what it is called. I only know that it is Roman. One feature of Roman churches that you will notice is that they are very colorful. It was getting dark at this point and I couldn't get many pictures.

Then we had dinner at a medieval castle that Catherine de Medici owned.

Sunrise from our hotel room window (8:00am)

Paris - December 1-3, 2006

It is unseasonably mild in France this winter, but cloudy and rainy as usual. Because the daylight hours are short and I refused to wake up early, I didn't get to see very much. Here are some pictures from Notre Dame de Paris and the Musee du Louvre. My little Sony camera only goes up to ISO 400 so it was nearly impossible to take any non-flash pictures inside the cathedral.

The Seine River right next to Notre Dame

Prayer candles
I climbed up 255 steps to the top of the cathedral to get these views of Paris. Unfortunately, it was getting dark and I don't know if it was worth it because I couldn't get great pictures and I was unable to walk properly for the next few days.

In the evening, the Tour Eiffel is lit up by twinkling lights

It was a dark and rainy day when Joanna and I went to the Louvre. Nonetheless, the queue to get inside was enormously long. We saw the Mona Lisa which seemed like the only painting in the building that anyone wanted to see. It's actually quite small and encased in bullet-proof glass. Then we went on a mad search for the Da Vinci painting from The Da Vinci Code. That proved to be difficult considering we didn't know what it was called or what it looked like. After exhausting ourselves, we decided to look through some souvenir guidebooks. It was not in most of the guidebooks, but Joanna finally found it in one book. It's called Madonna on the Rocks and guess what? It was right in front of the Mona Lisa. The painting is actually quite dark so you don't notice it even though it's fairly large.


I'm sure you all recognize this from the Da Vinci Code. It's actually underground and surrounded by a giant shopping mall.

Outside the Louvre, we saw the Tour Eiffel

Snow - November 30, 2006

This was Lubbock's first snow of the year. My flight to Paris (via Dallas) was one of the few flights that made it off the ground. I wanted to take more pictures, but it was way too cold and windy.

Hair - November 27, 2006

I've been growing my hair long for a long time now. Partly due to the wedding, and partly due to laziness. About 6 months ago, I was going to get it cut about 5 inches, but then a friend of mine started treatment for breast cancer and lost all of her hair. At that point, I decided that I would let my hair grow a few more inches and donate it to charity. "A few more inches" was a lot harder than it sounds and my hair ended up shorter than intended. It's okay, hair grows back, and the long hair was getting really annoying. Go to www.beautifullengths.com for more information on hair donations to create wigs for cancer patients.