Lindzy & Adam: Selections

May 26 was a blustery day in eastern Colorado, but the outdoor ceremony of Lindzy and Adam went on as planned. They weren't about to let all their plans and dreams get interrupted just because Mother Nature was not cooperating. And what a beautiful ceremony it was, full of love and emotion.

I was so honored to be there, as not only a guest during this beautiful day, but also as a second shooter to my amazing friend Krista of Juhl Photography.

(All photographs in this post copyright Juhl Photography 2012.) 

Lindzy seeing herself in her wedding dress on her wedding day. What a special moment. I wonder what was going through her head just then?

The room in which the bridal party got ready had an external door: I knew I had to use it for a full length bridal portrait. (And just look at those ruched layers! Gorgeous dress for a gorgeous bride!)

Lindzy pauses for a moment during her busy afternoon to pose for us by the window.

Flower girls and ring bearer. Look at that grin. 

Aw, yeah: here comes the bride, and he's seeing her dressed to the nines, just for him.

Love this shot of Lindzy, getting a bit emotional as her daddy gave her away. 

Sealed with a kiss. 

I was so honored to be a part of their wedding. The couple was so incredibly nice: they invited my friend (the main photographer) and I to their rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding and were very friendly toward us. They truly made us feel as though we were guests at their wedding, and not there to work. (I'm not gonna lie: I never know what to expect walking into a wedding.)

Lindzy had a candy bar at the reception. We shot photobooth photos in front of a kick-butt background, which the bride designed. Her colors were pink, black, and white. And my favorite part? She and her husband chose all of the music, something which I have always wanted to do. (I have, in fact, already started a list of songs to compile for that fateful day.)

The day all around was fantastic and fun. Beautiful bride, handsome groom...too bad Mother Nature was an unwelcomed guest, blowing around the decorations and chairs. Winds were a sustained 14 - 45 MPH with gusts up to 60, but that did not hamper the joyous occasion.

Coming Up

While I'm waiting to share images from the wedding I shot at the end of May, I am also waiting to shoot another wedding this weekend. (I just found out about it yesterday!)

Also, a very dear friend of mine is pregnant (!) and expecting her second child on Christmas Day this year. Three weeks into her pregnancy, she announced that she was expecting and due "between December 17 and December 26;" I placed money on her having the baby on Christmas. While she's still baking that bun, it turns out that science agrees with me: the doc confirmed that she was due on December 25. (This is fitting: she's surrounded by holidays. It's the reason I claimed that she'd have the baby on Christmas. She was born on St. Patty's Day, and her eldest child was born the day before Thanksgiving.) I can't wait to shoot her maternity & family pictures this fall.

Two more couples I know are currently trying to get pregnant, and they are penciled in my calendar for shoots whenever they confirm that they are expecting.

I am also awaiting two lovey-snuggle sessions this summer, one of them with a married couple and one of them with a dating couple. The wife also said she'd be interested in posing for a rock-the-dress sesh, and I'm excited to see what comes from that!

In addition, I am formulating plans for a few model sessions. One of them is going to be formed around the signs of the zodiac (Taurus the Bull, Gemini the Twins, etc.) and the other is going to be formed around food & drinks (IE: what a margarita would look like if someone were to wear it). The playlist for my song-inspired model session is ever-growing, too. (In fact, the married couple that I mentioned in the previous paragraph is going to be a part of it!) 

The temperatures are rising here in Northern Colorado, and so is my workload! (The temperatures I will complain about -- the workload: never!) 

The beauty myth

The beauty myth is always actually prescribing behaviour and not appearance., a photo by speckled_beckle on Flickr.

Just an image that occurred by happenstance that epitomizes the issues I've been having with my self-image.

Happy Girl ~ Bailey

Happy Girl, a photo by speckled_beckle on Flickr.

I love watching my little furry girl grow up.

She has learned so much already in three months; most recently how to bark at the door. (She turns and runs away right after though!)

I keep hoping that I won't do anything to irrevocably mess her up for the long haul; she's right at that age where anything that scares her has the potential to scare her for the rest of her life.

Via Flickr:
My boyfriend came to visit me for my birthday. While he was here, I put him in charge of taking Bailey for a short walk (or two) so I could get some good photos of her. This is one of my favorites. <3

Country Girl *Edited*

Country Girl, a photo by speckled_beckle on Flickr.

This blog has been edited in the following ways from the original: the loose ends of thought strung along have been tied together in three final paragraphs. I apologize for any confusion that any previous editions might have caused. 

This is the view that I see every day when I'm out walking Bailey and we turn away from the road and head home. How great of a view is this?

Last month, when I spent a week in Denver, I wholeheartedly realized something: I love living in the country.

I also loved being minutes from anywhere in the big city. Restaurants, stores, and other places that we do not have ready access to up north are only a few miles away in the metro area.

When I was in the car going somewhere, however, I was not a fan of the traffic.
Denver traffic is not bad, comparatively, and I have not had any serious issues when driving in Denver in the past; however, I was not (and am not) sure that I could trust myself driving on the cities and streets. The thoroughfares and main veins are fine, but it's the side streets and connecting points that were ultimately my undoing.
I'm not saying I'm chicken to drive there; it would just take some serious adjustments.

Then, when I got home, I was discouraged by the amount of traffic that was passing up and down my road. I wanted my quiet country retreat back. It used to be that I could sit outside in the mornings with a cup of tea and listen to nature waking up, as if the sun was playing a symphony with her dancing rays. But now, there is increased automobile and airplane interference.
I realize by living in a society which so values globalization that such noise is nearly unavoidable, but new residential developments and oil rig production has brought more automobile traffic to my once more-peaceful road. The increase in airplane traffic has been caused by construction on a small neighboring airport, which has rerouted the inconvenienced flights to the municipal airport in my area.
But, my area is still quieter than Denver was.

Summertime has always been my favorite season in the country. I love the light, the shadows, the life that happens all around me. (Except, of course, for the spiders.) This year, however, has been wrought with wind and heat. I cannot go outside and enjoy the season; it's either blustery or oppressive.
I have been grateful for Bailey's need to go out during the mornings and evenings, though; those are usually the best times for light and temperature.

Since February, the plan has been for me to join my boyfriend in Denver once he has secured a job enough to afford an apartment for the two of us. (I could be looking for work down there at the moment, but I would have no place to stay while working should employment find me.)
The Denver trip did nothing to damper these intentions.
So what, then, was the point of this entire blog, in which I praised country living and seemingly occluded any desire to live in the big city?

It was nothing more than a reaffirmation that I love where I live.
The lives of people who live in the city are different from the lives of people who live in the country. The pace at which one lives, the self-sustainability, the dangers, the views, the noise...all different. I appreciate where I grew up.
And I love the bittersweet thought that, someday sooner than I want to process and think about, these 3+ acres in the country will be mine.

Jessica

Jessica, a photo by speckled_beckle on Flickr.

Last weekend, a handful of people converged to help a friend with her final photography project, which was to emulate a famous photographer.

I was lucky enough to be one of those in attendance.

The lovely model you see in the photograph, Jessica, was wrapped in a sheet and a scarf, and then sent into gross water. All I did with this part of the project was to help find a location similar to what was in the goal photograph and to see if the pose was close enough.

Then came the fun part.
In exchange for helping with the project, my friend wanted to make sure that Jessica got some pretty, personal portraits.
In addition to Jessica, my friend, and I, there was also my friend's sister, my friend's niece, and Jessica's friend, Doni.
We shot Doni, Jessica, and my friend's niece in a couple different locations.
This photo is one of my favorites.
The location can be translated into a child shoot, a newborn shoot, a maternity shoot, and an engagement session, but I think that it would also serve well for a family session or a senior session, so it's pretty much a good location to keep in mind.
(Thanks to my friend for introducing me to it, if she reads my blog.)

I'm out of school now, so I can focus on growing and expanding my photography business, so maybe I'll have some shoots that I can use that location!

This photo can be seen in the Rock the Shot Forum.

www.rocktheshotforum.com

Then come the wild weather, come sleet or come snow, we will stand by each other, however it blow.

Then come the wild weather, come sleet or come snow, we will stand by each other, however it blow., a photo by speckled_beckle on Flickr.

This is one of my favorite shots from the short flour experiment that I was a part of during my studio photography class.

As mentioned in a blog post a few weeks ago, I would love to explore this idea further. It is truly so versatile.

There are also plans to do something similar to this shoot, but with rain. The rain shoot is still in the planning stages, but I have a general idea of how I'm going to go about it.