Resolve

Well, it's a “new” year and I see many make resolutions that they are bound and determined to follow through on. Despite my longstanding feeling that it's just another day (no offense) I plan on following through on a little resolution I actually made back in November.

I was taking pictures of my in-law family and after the fun/formal shots were taken I went to get my camera off of the tripod and get some candid shots when my lovely sister-in-law and my even lovelier husband started completely goofing off for the camera: As I was reviewing these in Adobe Lightroom a part of me was really jealous. Not in the way you may traditionally think. I mean, c’mon does it not look like they were having fun and not really caring about looking their absolute best for the camera? In turn, they do look their best. Who doesn’t look their best when they are having fun and enjoying life?

The sad fact is that there are not many pictures of my husband and I and, when there are, they are not very fun. You know, the “Awww, look how goofy they are, they must be really good friends as well as in love.” type of pictures. I haven’t had the fun kind of pictures of myself much at all since my carefree (comparatively, and you all know it) teenage years when all you want to do is make a fool out of yourself in front of the camera with your friends.

SO, my resolve is to suck it up and get in front of the camera too. Have fun. Make memories. Not always put my hand in front of my face when the camera is pointed at me.

First attempts at this were Friday night. We took my brother and sister-in-law out for their upcoming 7th anniversary to Nori Nori in Atlanta.

Why yes, I am quite short. A little more of a level playing field with Em sitting down. Then it is not quite so evident that I am a shorty.Here it would seem that I decided to eat her ear. Not sure what was going on there. Seriously? Hmmmmm. . . My husband and brother-in-law, however, have learned this lesson long ago as is evidenced by the following images. I think Emily was bribing them a large sum of money to never do this again. And this was the image immediately following because they couldn’t keep it up for long. What trips me out about this one is that neither knew what face the other was making. Ahhh, brothers. :D

Of course, I have another recurring goal that most normal people have that will actually make my resolve to be in pictures less painful. Losing my first 20 pounds was surprisingly not as difficult as I thought. Now, though, it seems nearly impossible to shed anymore. Brick wall, plateau or whatever else you want to call it, I just call it the devil and am bound and determined to get past this! 20 more pounds in 2 months. And then we’ll go from there.

So, New Year or not, each day I am resolved to make things better for me and my little portion of the world.

Here goes everything. . .

contact me or view my online portfolio. . .

No more Atlanta traffic, no more...yeah yeah yeah

So....me....my life....is CHANGING.

As of September 29th, the day I turn 28, I will be returning to a previous job that I held...with mixed feelings. I didn't love my previous job at American Homecare where I was a collector of money from insurance companies, but I did like the people and the company. It is also closer to home. This is advantageous for several reasons 1) 12 minutes away from the house as opposed to 55 minutes, 2) This means I can sleep an hour later which is GREAT!! 3) I can come home over my lunch break, 4) I can take Liam to school in the morning, which he is so stoked about, and 5) I will be working with my mother-in-law again which I really liked actually.

And all that means no more traffic...as pictured below.

I took these on my phone one dayon the commute home to show exactly what I would NOT be missing anymore. As you can somewhat see from the top left photo, traffic is backed up BOTH directions.

The bottom left photo shows the source of all evil on my ride home. The Wesley Chapel exit. One of the most poorly planned exits for an interstate. It comes less than a mile after I-285 merges onto I-20 so it causes great congestion from the people on I-20 trying to switch lanes before they miss their exit and the people coming off of I-285 who are trying NOT to get off on that exit. General yuckiness ensues. The bottom right is my usual look as I am sitting in the mess that results.

One more not so great photo for your perusing pleasure but with a much happier story.
This is David Jay (aka DJ by all of his friends, which I hope to be someday...geez I sound like a stalker) and I after the conclusion of the Free to Succeed tour in Atlanta on Monday night. I think this seminar may have been a turning point in my life as a photographer.

Let me explain for those of you who don't know who DJ is. He is an incredibly successful wedding photographer who never had any formal training in the field. Learned as he went...kind of like me. He has been touring with a very informative seminar Free to Succeed. Since it is now over, you won't be able to attend yourself but if you go here you can get the DVD which I highly reccomend if you are thinking about starting a photography business.

So investing the money to go to this seminar was totally worth it. I am glad I followed [b]ecker's advice and went. I am now armed with the information and confidence that I need to really start pushing my photography...finally. Considering I started shooting weddings when I was 18 (1998) and then just slipped out of it in the past 3 years or so (having a kid and getting married kind of does that to you) it's about flippin' time.

So I have a friend of mine working on a logo for me so that I can start branding myself and I have some friends lined up as guinea pigs so that I can refresh my portfolio and I am going to start arming my friends with information needed to start selling me. ;) I also started a facebook so I can start networking my photography a bit more. And I am getting in contact with some old photography friends so that I can start networking through them.

YAY! {{deep breath}} Here's hoping that this time next year I will be able to quit my day job and pioneer.