Multi-tasking...it's a way of life

Ahhhhhh life.

My evening has been a sporadic amalgam of different activities and I find it amusing how they don't mesh but must. I sat on my laptop working on a new slideshow to put on my site while I watched the 2007 version of "Persuasion" put out by Masterpiece Theater on my husband's laptop on Youtube.

After that, I get out the two baskets of laundry that need to be folded, plug in my earphones to listen to a little episode of DaneSanders.TV as seen below:



Midway through listening to the tips about how to gear my mind towards making a business more productive to the point that I can maintain it doing what I love, I finish the laundry, pause the video and get out the vacuum cleaner. Then I put the vacuum away, start up the video and decide to do a little blog post about the randomness of it all.

Suffice it to say, I have a lot of work ahead of me, not to mention getting over the fear of being successful at what I do. Yeah, I'm messed up in the head.

Well, thank you ever so much for listening to the sometimes strange and random thoughts of Abra Michelle. For your patience, I will reward you with a lovely and much overdo sneak peek to a session I shot OH so long ago.

I promise I will get the rest of these up soon. :)

contact me or view my online portfolio. . .

Renewed Purpose

So I have been reading Fast Track Photographer by Dane Sanders and loving it. I was priveleged to get it free when I attended DJs seminar. However, I decided to take the plunge and pay the $20 for the PDNA test that is offered with it. That is the photographer DNA. After taking it, I was a bit sad at my results. However, after "second shooting" a wedding on Saturday (more on that later) I have decided to take what the test told me (glaringly) were my weak points and improve those points accordingly. "Look out world here I come" basically is my outlook at this point.
At this point I want to share with you some of the images from our before school beach trip. It's funny as Spencer is getting more into photography with me I am starting to forget to post which pictures are his. Please know that my little son's life is documenting by both of his loving parents. Spencer actually snapped away quite a bit at the beach on our day two at the beach as I was not feeling too well.

This beach trip I was super organized. I had a duffel bag with everything you could possibly need...including bandaids and pepto bismol. I even made sure to bring beach toys this time. After we made our little sandcastle, Liam got busy working on burying himself.

Then Sara helped him out and buried his body completely for him. It was too cute watching him. He had the hardest time keeping still.

On the following two I added a little extra love from Michelle Black's actions and textures, which I highly reccomend.

Liam loved his turtle goggles but could not handle wearing the nose plug I had gotten him. He also chose not to wear the lifevest for too long as it hindered his playing ability.
While I was laying on (and under) the beach towel trying to avoid any more sun blisters that i had suffered from the previous day so Spencer commandeered the camera and took some great shots of Liam playing in the waves.

This is his absolute favorite shot. He loves to ask me to see this shot. I promised him I would blow this one up for his room.

As yucky as it is to get sand everywhere and to be sore for days afterward with sun burn and/or sandburn...I still love the beach for a vacation. There is something so stinking relaxing and just downright fun about it. :)

Hope you enjoyed the images.

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.