New Blog Address

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July 2014 Check-in

Prioritizing is hard.

I feel stretched, in the words of Bilbo Baggins. Working 30 ish hours in an office, running my own business, volunteering at Animal Allies, keeping up with friends and family, personal projects, traveling a lot this summer, and the constant pressure of moving hanging over my head.

But I recently gave one of those things up- fostering cats. Which is probably the most important item on that list to me.

I didn't really have too much of a choice- the townhouse in Old Town that I'll be living in already contains a cat who doesn't like other cats, and I kind of took it as a sign that I could give this one thing up and maybe feel sane again, even though I care so much about it. It's not like I'll never be able to foster again ever, and I can continue to photograph for their adoptions website.

But don't it just feel so backwards that I'm giving up what I'm most passionate about, even if it's temporary.

Some unrelated exciting news for July: I will be migrating from this blogger blog to one hosted by my website provider! Hurray ditching the .blogspot in my blog URL! Can't wait to make this happen soon.

Courtney & Justin: Wedding! Sneak Peek

A couple of photos from an amazing wedding day. There were multiple times when we were an hour ahead of schedule. Courtney and Justin were awesome, the weather was awesome, everything was awesome, and I cannot wait to share the rest!

It's a Dangerous Business, Going Out Your Door...

I remember being three or four years old and contriving with my sister to run away from home. I don't recall how it started- probably something along the lines of my five-year-old sister saying 'Sissy, we're running away,' and that was that- but I do remember packing my blanket and a banana in my little backpack while my sister made all these little plans to herself. We stepped out onto the driveway... then the sidewalk... and before we'd made it to the neighbor's driveway, we had to go back for something. And then stay home for good.

If anyone is wondering, yes, I think my mother was aware of our plans, and even helped us a little bit. I'm pretty sure she was somehow quite confident that two little girls with a couple of bananas and stuffed animals wouldn't get too far.

What I remember most strongly is the feeling once we reached the sidewalk of... wait, what are we doing?

And now we're responsible adults. This Saturday, bright and early, my sister and I are hitting the highway and I won't be back home until the 29th of June. Unless you count the one night I stop by and basically switch from road-trip clothes to Ragnarok garb. Which I don't.

This time, this whole thing was my idea, but I'm still wondering if that point will come where we realize that all we have are a couple of bananas and stuffed animals, and man, wouldn't it be nice to be home where everything is nice and familiar and not new or scary at all?

And the answer I'm looking for is a big, resounding NO. At least, not before some adventure.

Mason Jar Manifesto and Thoughts

Jonas Peterson recently re-posted his Mason Jar Manifesto blog post, and so I recently re-read it.

So many thoughts, here.

I think it extremely hypocritical to poo-poo on the industry that feeds you. That not only literally feeds you, but feeds your soul, and gives you room to perform a potentially amazing job like photographing weddings.

And yet, the more I think about it, the more I find myself in utter agreement. That's because this: the wedding industry does not cater to brides, grooms, and families who just want to get married. If you're recently engaged and dive headfirst into wedding planning, you're quickly ovewhelmed by people telling what you should do, what you need, what's trending, and perhaps more stressfully, what you should never do because people will think you're a terrible person, or worse, that you have no style. 

If you've decided you're going to have guests, you probably want them to feel like they're at a wedding (whoa, no way). So you turn to the wedding industry experts. Guys, what makes a wedding feel like a wedding? And they hear: Guys, what does a wedding feel like, and how can I convey that feeling with decor, favors, and cake? And suddenly you're avalanched in so much information that goes off in so many different directions, and you don't even know where to start.

That is the problem, or at least a problem. The brides and grooms or whoever is planning the wedding have every right to be concerned with the atmosphere of the party they're throwing. It's not that I have something against mason jars. But it is such a fine line we walk between running our businesses and advising the engaged couples about making their wedding day work, and then throwing everyone into hyper-wedding-planning overdrive. 

It can be frustrating for us on the inside to witness the transformation our own industry inflicts on some of these innocent people, most typically the brides, and that, I believe is where we can all take a lesson from Jonas' thoughts.


Somewhat related, I also recently read this article by Matt Mendelsohn, and it hit home really hard. If you want the short version, he contrasts a wedding day with an elderly friend receiving news of the death of his wife of 50+ years, and how the latter is what marriage is truly about (as depressing as that sounds!). 

My Gear: Lenses

This is what the gear bag is looking like at the moment! Don't they just look like a family or something?

Lined up in focal length order, of course. 70-200mm, 50mm 1.2, 50mm 1.4, 17-24mm. Why the two 50mms? Well, as you may observe, one has a nice red ring around the top. That means it's nicer. I just opened the box this week and I'm SO EXCITED to have upgraded. But of course, one can always use backups.

Above: the new 50mm vs old 50mm. I didn't know it would be so BIG.

Below: Old 50mm vs 40mm pancake lens. I adore the portability of the pancake lens and it's what I use most of the time for personal things.

 Below is the pancake lens, shot with the new 50mm at f 1.2 and f 2.8, respectively. Such depth of field.

Next in line will be a 35mm, and then I finally think I can justify a 40mm tilt-shift! But before either of those things comes a new camera body....

Adventure Log: DC Cherry Blossoms

Because yes, even though it's kind a normal thing to do around here, you never quite know what will happen when you brave the springtime crowds at the DC tidal basin. I guess I was lucky in that perhaps the only thing of note that happened was that I lost my hat. It was super beautiful though.
Freelensing with my 40mm pancake..