ONA Giveaway!

Anyone who loves….

1. Photography

2. Great bags or purses

Go check out this fantastic giveaway!

http://colorissue.blogspot.com/2012/02/ona-bag-giveaway-woohoo.html

It is pretty stinkin’ awesome. 

Um, I’m a wedding photographer?

So. You all thought that my first “all by my lonesome” wedding shoot was in February.

Well you were wrong.

And so was I, as it turns out.

My hubs sent me this text last Monday

“Want to take photos of a wedding on Sunday for free?”

My response:

“Haha. No?”

Please.

I have plenty of opportunities to practice weddings all the time.

Not.

It turned out that his coworker, Elashun, had gotten engaged two weeks prior and was getting married Sunday.

The only thing she bought was a dress and the rest of the wedding planning, her church was throwing it together.

Josh offered my amateur services as our wedding gift.

Well, alright.

I guess it’s no pressure. 

It was either my amateur photos or no amateur photos.

I decided why the heck not. 

I had met her once before and knew she was super sweet.

So we arrived at church yesterday and I patiently waited with my handy dandy (and quite handsome) assistant.

(Amateurs are totally allowed to have assistants FYI)

It seemed like we waited FOREVER.

And then once it begun, it begun.

(now I know I promised all the good and all the bad. But I already deleted all the bad.

oops. But you can trust me, there were plenty of “blurfests”)

So, I’ll just show off the ones I’m proud of

(…at least for right now. I’m already going back and looking at photos thinking, 

“Seriously, Melissa? That was kind of embarrassing.)

All a part of the process, people

Oh and at this moment, I have a free trial of lightroom going on so that is what I have been getting to play with! if anyone wants to give me a hands on lightroom 101…yes, please.

🙂

waiting to walk down the aisle!

Now my favorites..

LOVE the tat.

So I just realized this is like 99.9% the bride.

Can you blame me though?

Honestly?

She was stunning. 

Ok.

So lessons learned. 

1. An ISO of something in between 800 and 1600 would greatly benefit me.

1A. Grainy is better than blurry. Lesser of two evils.

2. having an assistant is great, even if it is only for emotional support 🙂

3. photographing a wedding is nothing but an adventure

4. I need to be confident and assertive

5. Not so great at posing people. I tell people kind of where to sit and tell them to do what is natural and hope that it looks good.

6. Seeing what a church family can pull off for one another is greatly encouraging

7. I still have A LOT to learn but it was a great experience

Family Shoot!

It’s been a fun couple weeks. 

I’ve been on break. 

Josh has been on break.

So we play.

Or become semi-permanant couch potatoes. 

Call what you will, I call it a-maz-ing.

Relaxation at it’s finest.

Unfortunately, Josh went back to work this past week.

But I did have a few fun things on my to-do list.

1. repaint the laundry room (which was definitely more work than I had bargained for but worth it. I think?)

2. help Jedi Liana get ready for the Bridal Expo (which was total madness FYI) 

3. get some good editing tips/lessons from Jedi Liana

I was just about to get started on painting when I got a call from my friend, who I will call J-Lo just for funsies.

(her name is Joy and her last name starts with lo. I can’t believe it has taken me this long to make that connection) 

She had some friends that needed some last minute family photos for their son who had just turned one. 

(Back up, back up….I had met momma and baby before this and knew who she was talking about)

Let me just say this is what went through my head…

“So you are telling me I get to add photos of one of the cutest babies ever to my budding portfolio?”

YES, PLEASE.

Two days later I found myself at Anthem park with this fun family.

Here are a couple of my favorites.

You try to tell me he isn’t one of the cutest one year olds.

this may be one of my favorites

a treasure that was found in the grass

after a while, it was time to snack on a stick

Love him.

Love the family.

(Learning to) love editing.

Actually, I’m lying. I love editing. It’s the user errors that are no fun (and cheap wireless mouses? meece? mice?)

But that will get better over time.

And maybe I’ll stinkin stop way OVER ANALYZING everything I do.

Everything. 

I annoy myself.

Oh. and still no zumba job. 

(why is one not just falling in my lap? For real.)

Yep. I’m that (un) cool.

Come join me in my kitchen every Wednesday night at 6:30 to shake what your momma gave ya.

Real Padawan Updates

Apparently this is what I look like when I am using the camera.

A constant state of confusion and analyzing.

Over-analyzing, really.

Yep.

So I was gonna give this big long spiel of whats been happening

(because it’s exciting, trust me)

BUT really what it boils down to is that I have been taking a lot of photos.

A lot.

Like an obnoxious amount.

But it’s cool. 

mainly because it’s a blast. 

There have been issues here and there.

There are issues that are mine.

Or the cameras’

Or the little girl editing tools that I am using. 

Really, they are all my issues but we’ll just blame it on the technology for right now:)

So let’s look at all the photos of late.

Here are a couple that I have taken with A Moment In Time Photography with my mentor, Liana. 

(edited by Liana using big girl photography tools and skills)

FYI, I’m just gonna shorten A Moment In Time Photography to “AMIT” for the rest of this!

A close friend at a fundraiser from church

very first engagement photo used for a real album for AMIT

another engagement shoot I got to do with AMIT!

 I have also gotten to tag a long on a couple of weddings.

Will some of my photos get used in the real set of photos??

I don’t know! 

It’s always exciting and nerve-wracking to get feedback from Liana.

She has been nothing but encouraging

But it feels like the equivalent of giving a famous chef a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and hoping they will at least just taste it.

I have also done some of my own stuff

Three family photo shoots?

The Barney Family

Pretty much models, right?

And from these photos I got 2 more shoots!

The Sauer Family

And also

Christy and Mike

These two just so happen to be getting married in February

And guess who gets to photograph this wedding?

This little padawan right here!
I’m so lucky, it’s ridiculous

It has been lots of fun
and I love getting feedback from people
and like I said there are still issues

nervousness

I barely know what I’m doing

blurry photos

little girl editing tools

But I’m banking on the fact that these things will come with time 

(and dinero) 

I hope at least.

And then one day I’ll have a facebook page and website and my own photography blog and a legit company name… (you just got a small glimpse into my way too optimistic head. I also am hoping that Santa and/or the city of Phoenix will get me a Sprouts and/or Sunflower Marker and a Super Target within 2 miles of my house) 

I’m so realistic.

But like I said at the very beginning of this adventure…

There will be good photo days and not-so-good photo days

And learning how to make the first outweigh the latter is a crazy good adventure.

Also random fact: it is a really odd experience to airbrush yourself

 I guess that’s enough of an update!

And I’m positive this is way longer than anyone intended to read for.

 I will leave you with some of my favorite Christmas photos

GQ, right?

 Merry (early) Christmas from the AZ photography padawan!

Padawan Updates

Oops!

So it’s been a while. 

Some might say a long while. 

BUT it’s been a little crazy.

good crazy.

Prepare for multiple photos. 

Here’s what’s been going on

1. Zumba!!

I attended zumba instructor training and LOVED it. 

Finding the actual job seems to be the hard part 🙂 It is very different from the professional world, rather informal actually. Which is odd to me. After 4 1/2 years of learning how to be a professional and 2 1/2 years of being one, shooting somewhat informal emails to people is weird. 

I HAVE taught 1 class to highschoolers at PDSD. So that makes me semi official. AND I have a zip up hoodie that says “INSTRUCTOR” (and a tank on the way:)) 

I’m pretty much legit, really.

(But seriously, this poor zumba instructor is looking for work. Call me if you want to shake your booty)

2. Visitors

we had the parentals in town for thanksgiving

we hiked.

we ate.

we shopped.

we hiked some more.

A beautiful Thanksgiving morning

At the top of my mom’s very first hike!

It was a blast. 

2b. Thanksgiving

Had to recreate our dessert photo from last year!

photo from 2010

A bit of a blurfest.
Meh. Oh well.

3. Random

3A.  Javelina sighting.

This happened. 
It may have been a near death experience. We may also have ran back home screaming like little girls.

3B. Spreading Christmas cheer. 

I made a tree skirt and was avoiding the sewing machine at all costs. 

Were all the glue-gun burns worth it?

The jury’s still out.

4. Visitors part 2

We had some close friends from college visit for a long weekend

I’ll use the phrase loud and proud: These are my besties! Reunited. Sweet long last.

bahaha.

I can’t get over the high-school homecoming dance esque-ness of this photo.
Although I am fairly certain none of us would have been as close of friends, let alone dated each other in highschool.


5. Teach DHH students


(insert too many pictures of cute kids with hearing aids)


6. Start children’s ministry


(insert expense report that is so close to being done it isn’t even funny)
(No cute pictures yet. Although the purple shirt I am in above is our shirt. Pretty sweet)


7. Photography


Oh bummer! I am pooped. And this is going to be the longest. 
And the best.
And so much fun.
Let’s save it for tomorrow. 
Or this weekend.
Probably this weekend.
yeah, this weekend.
Expect the real updates of this photography Padawan shortly.


And I don’t mean to toot my own horn but I will.
I know you’ll be back to see it 🙂
I have gathered quite the little following. 
And I am not just referring to my whole 17 followers.


I’m referring to my stalkers who catch me off guard by creepily knowing about my life
or they automatically refer to Josh’s (very serious) masters program as “principal school”
that’s my personal favorite. sh.

 

So come back. 
This Padawan has been a very busy kind of busy.

Fall Adventure

We decided to escape the obnoxious heat today

and headed up to Lynx Lake in Prescott 

Only an hour and a half away

yet a major difference in temperature

(reason # 241 Arizona is a great place to live)

  

After a two mile hike and some delicious food later,

it’s time for sweats and a movie.

I’d say this adventure date makes up for last two weeks of missing coffee date nights, 

right?

DIY Padawan?

I take the (more than) occasional trip to the one and only

pinterest

You know it and love it, just like me.

And if you don’t know it yet, you will love it.

There are many benefits to “pinteresting”
1. Makes online hoarding doable, acceptable and even somewhat cool
2. Gives you plenty of yummy recipes
3. Makes you feel capable of being crafty


I have been feeling in a “fallish” mood and stumbled upon this little, fun pretty

I was determined to actually do a DIY project so off I went to hobby lobby to get the goods.

half wrapped “D” and my photo of inspiration

After lots of hot glue gun burns and some frustration, here is what I ended with

I have yet to decide if it is too many patterns all at once. 
It’s funny how you second guess EVERYTHING when you decide to put it on the internet.

But for now, it’s on my door 🙂


Honestly though, too many hot glue gun burns to not hang it somewhere.

Pooped Padawan

I’m pooped!

Within 24 hours I went up to Chino Valley, AZ with my mentor and jedi, Liana (from A Moment In Time Photography), to shoot my first wedding and then woke up and shot my first newborn photos!

Phew!

Here is some knowledge I have gained in the past 30 hours

I need to build up stamina. 

Seriously. Shooting a wedding is like running a marthon. Except you are also carrying heavy camera stuff everywhere and doing squats while not taking any breaks.

I think I’m gonna start running marathons and lifting weights. 

Which leads me to my number 2. 

I’m weak.

Like super duper weak.

My arms are so sore today and my big girl camera doesn’t even compare to the mother of all cameras that Liana was carrying.

(I did use her mother lens at the reception for a little while but I had to change it…my arms were so tired! I was too scared I was gonna drop it and cause a scene and never be invited to a wedding shoot again)

Insane, right?

Lighting always changes.

ALWAYS

Even if it is only 10 steps in the opposite direction.

Gr.

Dancing people are hard to capture….

The ratio of not bad photos to “blurry blurs” is about 1:80.

I had to apologize in advance to Liana for all the photos she was going to need to delete.

I’m meant to be a zumba instructor

It was really hard to not get my groove thing on during all the fun music.

Eventually the awesomeness of music with a great beat broke me down. I couldn’t contain myself.

If you ever want a dancing photographer, you know where to go.

Newborns like to smile for the 2 seconds you put down the camera

Hopefully some out of the 400 I took, she will at least have two opened eyes 🙂

Babies are faster than you think

All their cute, slow, baby-like movements?

No.

You would be surprised at all the blurry hands and feet I got.

But maybe that is just because I was on manual and should have adjusted something.

Windows “Fix” doesn’t cut it

I’m getting ready for big girl editing stuff.

Wedding hangover is real

…and it’s not the drinking kind

It was all so much overwhelming fun, I don’t know how to contain myself except for fall asleep out of exhaustion.

But, hey..
I haven’t even had Zoila for 3 months yet and I already got to tag a long for a wedding with a legit photographer

Holler!

The Grand Finale! Part A

Self Portrait

Finished.

Done.

Succeeded.

Accomplished.

There are so many things I want to cover that I made part A just in case I forget something and need to make a part B.

So like I said at the very, very beginning.

It’s a process people.

I can’t believe I have learned SO much and still have no idea what I am doing all at the same time 🙂

I have learned there are lots of different settings to adjust and what there names are. 

Inanimate objects are beautiful but are getting SUPER boring. Time to move on to people

My husband gets bored really fast when he is my human subject. 

Technical terms like bokeh.

How to appreciate good lighting outside.

It’s no fun to take photos inside

I’m too scared to ask people if I can take their photo. Even though I really want to practice.

Editing can really help fix an oops. and I would like to have a better photo editing program.

Apparent some people think I am good at writing. That’s hilarious in itself.

Overall though, I feel this accurately describes how I feel when opening my Canon camera bag.

This really is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship 🙂

I SO completely and naively thought that self portait on the last day would be much easier and way less awkward.

WRONG.

It was horrendous, and I felt like I was doing a trashy myspace photo all over again.

Let’s enjoy these gems, shall we?

Precious.

I wish I could tell you that was all of the not-so-good. 

There was this times about 40.

I don’t think self portraits are meant to be flattering or easy.

I’ve decided it’s next to impossible.

They got a little better eventually.

And I will leave you with the two. 

(I guess I can consider that a win…I’m ending this with two photos…of me of all people)

My hubby likes one and I like the other. Can you guess who likes which one?

I don’t think the above one is the best. And I don’t think it is an awesome photo of me.

But it is the most natural.

and that is my goal.

To capture the natural beauty that does exist in this world.

I have so much more to learn and am so excited to learn it.

Oh and without further ado. 

And much deliberation.

The name of my “yettobenamed” Canon Rebel is

Zoila

She is named after a housekeeper on a reality show called Flipping Out.

Here is clip of her. (Viewer discretion advised :))

She is spunky and fun and has an attitude and is beautiful

And has an accent.

My camera would be all of those things and more.

Thanks for reading my crazy rants and putting up with me for 30 days.

This happy padawan greatly appreciates it.

Challenge Day 29

Black and White

I may be a few days late. Oopsies.

This one is going to be short and sweet. 

At first I wanted to do feet.

Fail.

Then I decided to do one of my favorite parts of my husband.

His hands.

With his wedding ring, of course.

It may be alittle bit of a “grain storm” as one of my Jedi’s would say.

But I kinda like it on this photo anyways.

See ya soon