It's been really busy around here - loads of weddings, portrait sessions and quite a few corporate shoots, and in the middle of all the craziness, I've decided to start a new venture with my friend April. Oh, and Adm and I are teaching Kiki to become a circus performer. Here's a behind-the-scenes photo with a sneak peek of our new project that we'll hopefully (fingers crossed) officially announce next week!
I have to admit, before we got Kiki (who is my first dog), I used to think it was strange that people let their dogs sleep with them in bed. I mean, they're kind of stinky, they shed, and most dogs are pretty slobbery - it really didn't sound all that appealing. However, within about a week of having Kiki, she completely broke us down and guess who's sleeping right in bed, taking up most of the space? If that isn't bad enough, this past weekend proved that I have definitely crossed the line into "ridiculous dog owner." A few days ago, some friends and I went to a Shiba Inu party in Novato, and for the occasion, I made Kiki a cape so that she could enter the best costume contest. She ended up taking second place, losing out to a dog dressed as Ariel from the Little Mermaid, and to be honest, the cape didn't hold up all that well, especially since it was super wet and rainy. It proved to be way too difficult to take photos of Kiki in her cape while holding onto her, so all of the cape photos are from a separate photo session at home. Here are some photos from the Shiba party:
My good friend Brandon Smith made these two photos below of her on his Hasselblad. Thanks for the great photos, Brandon!
This past weekend, Adm and I headed to the Outerbanks in North Carolina for my dear friend Nicole's wedding to Grant. This is one of the few weddings we've attended as guests, and so we were super excited to have a fun, non-working weekend with old and new friends to celebrate with Nicole and Grant. They had a lovely ceremony along the water, and if you've never been to the Outerbanks, then I definitely suggest a trip: the beaches are pristine, they have amazing sand dunes, and there's lots of fun swimming in the ocean (something I never underestimate since I now live in the Bay Area where the ocean waters are FREEZING!). At any rate, we had the best time getting to play all weekend with some of my closest friends. In between all the partying, I did snag a few quick photos of Nicole and Grant. The weekend went by way too quickly, but we're so happy for Colie and Grant. Congrats you two! We had the best time and hope you're having an amazing honeymoon!
Our last wedding that we photographed was more than five months ago. Five months ago! That's almost half a year! This seasonal nature of being a wedding photographer is one of the things I love, but it's also taken time to adjust to. When we're in wedding season, we are so incredibly busy I have to remind myself to breathe. By the time the off-season rolls around, we are ready for the time off - it gives us time to rest, catch up, and re-charge. And we've done a lot of that during these past few months: we celebrated holidays, went on vacation to South America, completed our re-branding and identity campaign, caught up with family and friends, and spent lots of time with Kiki. I've also spent quite a bit of time preparing for our 2011 weddings. I've scoured all of the wedding blogs and portfolios of other photographers - not just wedding photographers, but portrait, fashion, editorial and documentary photographers as well looking for new ideas and inspiration. I want to continue growing as a photographer, and I am deathly afraid of plateauing, becoming creatively stagnant, and so by the time our first wedding rolls around, I'm chomping at the bit - ready to get back in the saddle.
So, here we are in L.A. getting ready for our first wedding of the year. I always get nervous before each wedding, but I especially feel it before our season kick off wedding. It reminds me of how I felt the day before big softball games back in high school and college. Actually, I use a lot of those same preparation techniques that I learned while playing softball when I'm prepping for a wedding. I remember lying on my bed on a Friday night, eyes closed, visualizing the batters for the opposing team the following day coming up to the plate. In my mind, I saw myself pitching to each batter and watching them swing and miss. I made sure that the last image I fell asleep to was one of me succeeding on the mound. Visualization. It's a mental technique I used to build confidence. Visualization. Now, I do the same thing the night before each wedding. I close my eyes, and in my mind, I picture myself making these amazing images of my couples and their wedding. I do as much mental preparation as a I can before the wedding so that I'm better able to anticipate key moments and have a very clear idea of what I'm going to do for the portrait portion. However, as much as we can prepare for each wedding, things almost always go awry. Gear breaks, the dress rips, the weather changes, there's an accident on the bridge that causes all the guests to be late... the list goes on. Actually, I expect things to go "wrong," and part of what's fun is figuring out how to be resourceful in responding to these unexpected situations. I've found that I'm much better at handling these surprises when I approach each wedding as if we're photographing the "Royal Wedding."
For this Saturday's wedding, we've already quadruple-checked our equipment, ironed our clothes and are getting ready to visualize making photo gems. Let's get this party started.
Every morning, it's as if there's some unknown force that wakes me up and leads me straight to the computer. Next, I head to the kitchen to feed Kiki and then start answering emails even before I've had my coffee. By the time the coffee is in my cup, but before Adm is out of bed, I am at work. My mind is already racing far ahead of me, cataloging things that need to be done. Working from home has a lot of perks. A fairly flexible schedule, being in pajamas all day long, endless cups of coffee, sleeping in every now and again. It's so easy to "let yourself go" when you work in this kind of environment. One day you forget to brush your teeth, and the next you're "working" from bed, under the covers. It's also really easy to lose track of time and having a schedule. I feel like I'm always moving from one task to another, always trying to check things off of my to-do list, and I've gotten to a point where I'm not comfortable just being still.
Since our working and living spaces are combined, Adm and I have to consciously make the effort to carve out personal time for each other. We've also realized that with our work, we need to schedule time to check in with one other, in most work places, they call this having a meeting. Not once since we've started photographing weddings full time have we scheduled a meeting with each other. So, last Tuesday, we planned our first formal lunch meeting at Gather in Berkeley to assess where we are photographically and talk about the direction we want to move in for this upcoming wedding season.
It was nice. Both of us actually got dressed and we had each prepared a set of our favorite images from last year's weddings so that we could review our styles, breaking down our strengths and weaknesses. I also prepared a set of inspiration images shot by other photographers so that we could talk about what elements make those pictures successful and how we can incorporate them into our photography: why the tilt works for this photo, what are the light sources in this image, why this pose fits perfectly for that couple, how this image has spot on layering, and so on. Our goal in doing this is not to copy other photographers and the way they see things, but rather to expand our vision and add to our "toolbox" of different techniques.
As people drawn to the creative side, we're constantly thinking about new and different ways to do things. We don't want to get stuck in a rut or burned out, two paths that are very easy to head down when you're photographing 20-25 weddings each year, and so we have to find ways to stay inspired and motivated to grow photographically. After having such a successful "meeting" last week, we've resolved to de-brief after every wedding this year as a way to help keep one another on our toes, and to get out of the house every now and again.
Here I am working from the couch at home. Photo by Adm.
As our driver made his way along the roads leading from the town of San Antonio de Areco and out into the countryside leading to the estancia (or ranch), where we would be staying for a few days, the whole world seemed to grow. Endless fields of lush green soja created a gently swaying carpet stretching from horizon to horizon, only broken up by grassy pastures dotted with beautiful grazing horses. Even with Spanish talk radio blaring and the car racing, the world around us seemed to slow down and sigh gently into our ear, whispering, "take a break."
I have to make a confession: we thought that there was a beach in Buenos Aires. A beach where we could lounge in the sand, drink cocktails, splash in the ocean and forget what time it was for days on end. As it turns out (and as any diligent vacationer would have researched), there are no such beaches in Buenos Aires, and so, we instead opted to relax in the country.
We slept in until the sun peaking through the shades forced us to wake and head downstairs to breakfast, and to no surprise, we found ourselves the last guests to partake in the dulce de leche, media lunas and small, but mighty Argentine coffee set out for us. After breakfast, we had the option of a swim or ride before filling ourselves with an asado, a traditional Argentine bbq where there are many varied courses of different cuts of grass fed beef and bottomless glasses of Malbec wine. The only thing to do after such a meal is to head back to bed for a siesta, only waking an hour later to watch a polo match before dinner. As delightful and luxurious as all of this was, there are only so many days we could lay around like this.
On our last day, we woke early-ish to join the polo players on horseback for some stick and ball practice. The speed and excitement of cantering while swinging at a ball is exhilarating. I was amazed to find that I was able to hit the ball while at a gallop on my first time out - especially since while I do have some softball skills, hitting was NOT one of them.
This is the last of our vacation posts, and I hope that you have enjoyed seeing how we kick back when we aren't photographing weddings.
