Author Archives: 365 days of marriage

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About 365 days of marriage

I started this blog in April of 2011. At the time, Bret and I were wedding photographers and it was a way to share how marriage is more about the day to day and so much more than the wedding day itself. For about 5 years, I blogged about the joys and sorrows of the Christian walk, marriage, work, family and friends. I’ve blogged every day since a few weeks after I started. In May of 2015, we photographed our last wedding. Now, I have become passionate about simplicity, particularly in marriage, Christianity, business, travel and life. For a number of reasons, we have become minimalists. I’ve found that having simplicity makes life so much deeper, refreshing and joyful. I hope that this blog will help others see the benefits of living simply.

Day 1315 – Renting Lenses, Lessons Learned And Even My Dog Hates Pictures

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Today I received some rental equipment! I’m testing out two lenses and a flash transmitter. My favorite out of the lot was BY FAR the 1.4 50mm lens. It creates amazingly, beautiful pictures. I hope I can purchase it like yesterday. The 1.8 85mm is alright. The auto focus was a little wonky, but still made nice pictures.

Then, I spent a few hours playing with the transmitter and my flashes. Try after try, video after video, manual after manual…nothing. I finally found a site that said, um, yea, you can’t use this transmitter with your flashes, you should have checked that dummy. Ok, so maybe it didn’t actually say that….but that’s how I read it. What really stinks, is they have the transmitter that IS compatible at the rental place. Thankfully, I didn’t spend an arm and a leg (which is a great aspect of renting equipment.) If you’re a photographer, a few bits of advice. FULLY research the product you want to rent to make sure it will work with what you have! (Ooops!) Also, do it! It’s a great way to see if something will work for you. After only 30 minutes, I know the 50mm will be a great addition to my bag, the 85mm, maybe down the line. I’m SO thankful I only rented the transmitter and didn’t purchase it. I spent about a 10th of the price.

Before I share the fun shots I got….this is a picture Bret took when messing around a few weeks ago…I found it when I downloaded my pictures!

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Now here are the pictures I got today! I mean, hello, this is just a coffee mug and I think it looks fantastic! Go mug, go!

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I got Gretchen to pose a little…

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But then she told me how she really felt about it….

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I swear, no one in my family likes getting their picture taken.

Day 1313 – Something You Didn’t Know About Wedding Photography

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Today I’m going to talk about something that could potentially upset someone. I’m really going to try to explain myself and hopefully no one gets upset. I want to say, I LOVE my job, I love what I do. This isn’t something that is a huge deal…but it is something that is an issue…and if nothing else, something you should be aware of.

Last night, Bret and I met with a wonderful bride. We were talking through details of the day and how we handle different situations. She asked how we handled guests taking pictures during the day. Typically, we’re ok with this…as long as the guests aren’t interrupting/stopping our work. We shared a few times when it was challenging…and then I said, oh, let me show you a few examples of this! We pulled up some pictures and the bride was shocked! When you see guests taking pictures, it’s not a big deal…as a guest…but when you see what the photographers get…how much a guest leaning out into the aisle while the bride is walking down, makes a BIG difference…and it’s shocking.

I don’t want to share any of my examples of this, because at the end of the day, I did get everything I wanted in terms of shots. I also don’t want to single out one wedding or another. BUT, if you Google “uncle bob at a wedding” you will see what I mean.

Our conversation then turned to how this is really the only wedding profession (with the exception of the videographer) that has “competition” from the guests. You don’t have guests bringing a cake and giving it to the bride…you don’t have guests bringing flowers…you don’t have guests walking to the front of the church and interrupting the pastor. This was something I had never thought about.

Now, again, I’m totally ok with guests taking pictures! Please, bring a camera to a wedding. But, please think about the photographer and how you might be stopping us from doing our job.

One way that brides can help us with this is by having an “unplugged wedding” where they put a note in the program about just relaxing and enjoying the wedding. The article I linked to is a GREAT for really understanding all sides of this topic. And they said it best, it really comes down to what YOU as the bride want.

Whew! Ok, hopefully I didn’t hurt any feelings. I also want to say, I had NO specific wedding/person/guest/etc in mind when I wrote this. It was a reflection of my conversation last night and my experiences in the last 8+ years of shooting weddings. Love you all!

And just for giggles, here’s a picture of Bret taking up the aisle (even if it’s not during the wedding…still fun.)

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p.s. That’s NOT an iPhone picture! 😉

Day 1312 – My Favorite Sweatshirt And I Really Need To Apologize For A Few Things

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First, let me share my FAVORITE sweatshirt! It’s one that Bret got while in the Marines. I love wearing it because it makes me think about all the times he wore it while serving. I’m not sure if he would have worn it while in Iraq…just a little unnecessary…but I do imagine he would wear it while talking to me on the phone in those early days. Ah, such good times. Let me tell you, only having the phone and email to get to know someone is amazing. Not being able to hug them really stinks….but I would say that one of the top reasons that Bret and I have such a strong marriage is because we were forced to have top notch communication skills.

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Second, I have been feeling really bad about something. I have been pretty faithful with this blog. There have been a few times where I have to catch up on a few days (like today!) But for the most part, I’m pretty good at blogging every day. I think that I’ve accomplished my “goals” for the blog….which is sharing things about our marriage, our photography business and just general info so you can get to know us. Recently though, I feel like I’ve been slacking. I finally got an iPhone, which I LOVE and can’t believe I lived without it! But, I’ve noticed that when I need a picture for the blog, I take a picture with the iPhone, toss an Instagram filter on it, write up a little blurb and call it a day. I could sit here and blame that on the busy state of my life…and it has been very busy. Since Thursday, I’ve had 2 meetings with booked couples to either finalize their wedding details or have the “get to know you” session. I’ve had 4 consults (including one tonight). I attended a Mary Kay party. I attended a photographer networking event. I spent several hours at K&B Bridals before TWO of those consults. I’ve served at church. It’s been crazy busy. Now, don’t get me wrong. I LOVE it! I love being busy, especially when it’s busy with my business. I love everything about it. Truly. I love learning about all aspects of the job, from marketing to shooting. I love the administration side….all of my client folders are SO organized now! I actually even like the finance side…logging payments and expenses. I love “to do” lists. I love having an empty inbox. I love having a ton of Outlook reminders and deleting them when they’re done. So, don’t think that I’m complaining!

The bottom line is this….you aren’t getting my best! So, I am going to make more of an effort to do this! Now….we’re house sitting this weekend, so you’ll probably get iPhone pictures instead of real camera pictures!

Thanks to all my readers either way though! I love you all and am so thankful to have friends on this journey through marriage. 🙂

Day 1311 – Old Bay Hummus Makes Veggies Happy….And Me!

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Tonight I went to a Mary Kay party. The rep was one of my brides! I decided to take some veggies and hummus with me! I had a ton left over….I personally LOVE my Old Bay hummus….and apparently my veggies do too!

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Here’s the recipe!

15 oz can chickpeas
1/2 cup tahini*
5 tbsp oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 medium garlic cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
1 tbsp oil (optional)

Drain and rinse chickpeas, reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid. Combine all ingredients in a food processor (or blender**). Process until mixture is smooth. If mixture is too thick, add 1-2 tbsp of reserved chickpea liquid***. Move to serving dish and add 1 tbsp oil, if desired.

Old Bay Hummus
Same as above, minus salt, pepper or ground red pepper. I added about 2-3 tbsp of Old Bay instead. This is a “to taste” ingredient. I put in a bit…then poured in some more…thought it was too much…but after I tasted it, realized it was perfect. If you are from Baltimore, you know that there is no such thing as “too much Old Bay.”

Tomato Basil Hummus
Same as above, minus salt, pepper or ground red pepper. I added one full tomato and a bunch of basil. I used dried basil, but I would imagine fresh basil would be tasty! Now, since I used a whole tomato, it made the mixture a little watery, so I just opened another can of chickpeas and added about 1/4-1/3 of the can.

* find this near the peanut butter in the store. I have purchased it at Wal-Mart. This is also one of the messy ingredients.
** I have NOT had luck making a double batch in the blender
*** I typically will add 2 tbsp of the chickpea liquid at the beginning. I’ve also found that if you drain the liquid into a measuring cup (I use a 3 cup), it’s much easier (and cleaner) when adding more to the hummus.