Category Archives: Life

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.

Day 1308 – Did You Know About Pink Snow? Or An Awesome Talk With Gaston Lacombe

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Tonight I had the chance to hear about Gaston Lacombe’s adventures in Antarctica. He spent some time there taking photographs and even published a book! He spoke about the challenges of photographing in that environment. He shared images that were simply stunning. There were even some of pink snow/ice! Now there are two reasons for pink snow/ice. The first is penguins and what they eat…lol, we’ll just leave that at that! The second occurs because the temperature is SO cold, the snow and ice don’t melt long enough for organisms to grow. And sometimes those organisms are pink!

I didn’t get a picture of Gaston…or his beautiful work…..or the other photographers….or Kat’s studio….but I did get a picture of Kat’s dog. 🙂

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Day 1306 – Burning The Midnight Oil or Thank you Jay Caragay, You Changed My Life

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One thing that I may or may not have shared yet is my deep love for black coffee. A lot of people will get this look in their eye when I tell them this… the “WHAT? How can you stand that???” look…you probably have it right now. 😉

I wasn’t always this way. I used to be a coffee with my sugar and cream kind of girl. I’m talking at least 4-6 packs of sugar. Whew, I shudder just thinking about it! Every once in a while a fancy creamer will catch my eye (peppermint mocha is the biggest draw). But since 2004, I have only had black coffee. It’s all because of Jay. He used to run Jay’s Shave Ice in Timonium. Oh man, do I have some GREAT memories there! He used to have a stand in the parking lot across the street from the fairgrounds. Then he moved down the street across from the Double T Diner. He served shaved ice (not snow balls folks, there’s a big difference) AND coffee! I was in my last semester of school at the time and I spent a lot of time at Jay’s. Some days I’d get a shaved ice but mostly I’d get coffees. One day, I was behind the counter chatting with Jay (did I mention that Jay is awesome?) pouring myself a cup of coffee (seriously miss this place!) Jay looks at me and asks, “Jen, do you drink your coffee black?” At this point I think I was down to about 2-3 packs of sugar. I took a sip of my black coffee, thought a minute and said, “why yes, yes I do.”

8+ years later, I’m still drinking my coffee black. I just realized how long it’s actually been…what’s funny is this is exactly how long I’ve been photographing weddings. So Jay, you might have just changed my life that day. 🙂

Cheers to you!

Oh, by the way, Jay closed up this shop not too long after. He finally found a home for his coffee down in Hampden, on the Avenue. If you get a chance, check out his shop. Amazing coffee.

I still drink it black Jay. 🙂

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