Goodbye, October

Goodbye, October, a photo by speckled_beckle on Flickr.

There is still autumn left, but not much.

We've already had three snowstorms in my area, and more may come during the next month. November has been a historically unpredictable month for snowstorms.

I've been taking advantage of the fall colors while I can, but I've mostly stuck to the autumn I see around me in my front yard.
I didn't make it to the mountains this year, but I will make it a goal for 2013.

This little vagabond leaf was hanging out in the currant bush in the front yard, detached from its normal branch --that is, indeed, a currant leaf.

Tis the last of October, so Happy Halloween, everyone!

November brings Christmas prep and, of course, Thanksgiving.

(By the by, do you notice a new watermark I'm trying out? I may need to make it bigger, but I don't know. Feedback on that would be appreciated.)

Session::Scott

The plan for the day included hanging out with my friend, Krista.
We were going to edit* and bake banana bread.
(*Krista is also a photographer.)

While we were hanging out, she invited me to a session that she was going to have with her cousin, Scott, that night.

I had to run home beforehand, but agreed.

The first place we were going to shoot was closed for the season.
So we went somewhere else. (And it's a place that is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to shoot!)

It was near sundown, but we managed to get some great shots in before the sun went down.
(By the way, I am loving my nifty fifty!)

Here are some of my favorite photos from that day.

I look forward to fall a little more each year.

I look forward to fall a little more each year., a photo by speckled_beckle on Flickr.

I love fall and everything it brings with it.

Well, ok, most of what it brings with it.

For example, I love the cooler temperatures and the hoodies, hot cocoa, and bonfires it brings along with it. I don't mind the moisture that fall also brings to my area. (Yes, even the random snow day is fine with me.)

I also love the smells that fall brings. The drying leaves, the cooler more humid air, the first wisps of chimney smoke... Ah, lovely. (Another scent I associate with fall is diesel exhaust on the cool morning air. It reminds me of the time when I was in school and would wait for the bus on my rural street.)

I also love how it is a flourish of color, more fleeting than Spring but just as imminent. One has all of Spring and the following Summer to capture the beauty of flowers, but after leaves change to orange, and then successively to brown, they fall to the ground and their delicate bones get trampled underfoot.

It all makes the loveliness of fall that much more beautiful.

Of course, the thing I do not like about fall is that which is most inevitable: that winter will undoubtedly follow.
While winter is beautiful, and encourages me to wear lovely sweaters and drink more hot tea and cocoa, sometimes the cold just gets annoying.

Ah, well.

I welcome each season as it comes, camera in hand.

Welcome, Fall! I have been expecting you.

Spark

This post is starting out the way that most of my text posts have: untitled. I usually figure that getting out what I need to say will spark something. =)

I am nearly done with my third week of training for my "real" job; next week I 'graduate' from training, and the week after that, I will be answering phones! o.o (I feel so unprepared.)
...though, today, my trainer observed me navigating through our systems, and she said I performed pretty well at that.

(Kids: if your parents ever tell you that spending time on your computer is a bad thing, they may not be telling you the real reason they want you to log off.)

Adjusting my schedule back to nights has been difficult. I'm glad for that. I miss my mornings. =( The light is just so fresh and new and gorgeous at the start of a new day.
(Thankfully, Bailey does get me up early every day.)

I am not finding myself to be too motivated for photography during the week. (Getting out of work at 11:30 pm doesn't make it easy to schedule any photo shoots, either.) And, on the weekends, I'm usually so busy with family that I just use my camera phone and Instagram everything.

...but that's going to change.

I am second shooting a third wedding on September 8th. My amazing photographer and I have two additional weddings on our calendar to shoot this year: one in October and one in December.
Personally, I have three maternity shoots coming up. One in the next couple months (Mama A's due in December!) and the other two probably early next year (Mama C is due in March and Mama K is due in April). I also have a family shoot and a few love sessions on my peripheral calendar.
It will be so nice to know what my semi-permanent schedule will be, so I can hopefully get these shoots ironed out and calendarized. (Yep, I just made that word up.) =p

In preparation for these shoots, to update my camera bag, and as a way of celebrating having a job, I purchased a lens today. (Well, I ordered it on Thursday, which is still technically the day I'm operating under.) I am so excited to play around with it...I can hardly wait until Saturday.

I do need to buy some new work clothes, too, so I don't have to keep doing laundry every two days.

That's what's going on in the photography part of my life right now. =) I am trying to schedule some impromptu shoots for this upcoming three day weekend, so if I have caught interested parties in time, I will definitely show you the work my new lens can do.

Otherwise, have a great Labor Day and see you in a few weeks.

Aquarius | The Water Bearer

Aquarius | The Water Bearer, a photo by speckled_beckle on Flickr.

I should have started this series off with either Aries or Capricorn --since Aries is what the Zodiac calendar starts with and Capricorn is what the Greco-Roman calendar starts with-- but I just now thought of that.

So oh well.
Aquarius comes first alphabetically.
...at least that's the logic that I'm claiming.
It has nothing to do with the props we had available at the time, alright? =)

This is one of the shots out of my head from the zodiac shoot.
There are several versions of each sign swimming around in my head, and I don't know when (or if) I'll ever get them all out and into the camera.

I will surely try, though.

The ideas exist on paper, if that counts for anything! =P

This photo has a different editing style for me.
Very muted colors, almost a desaturation gradient as it goes down the photo. It almost (!) looks like I used a fancy-shmancy preset or Photoshop action on this photo. The only thing I did in Photoshop was a bit of hair fly-away touch up (since Lightroom's clone stamp tool is mediocre and good really only for skin touch ups) and add in the watermark.
I used MCP Action's "Remember When" preset in Lightroom, but then I played around with individual color saturation sliders and this is what you get.

And, if you came over from Flickr, you may remember that I mentioned that every photo so far from this series has taken on a different voice -- Libra, for example, is black and white, but I didn't just hit the "grayscale" button or pull the saturation all the way back. I like that each photo has taken on a different voice in post-processing; each sign is different, so why shouldn't each photo be?
It's almost like having several mini photo sessions to edit. When I first got Lightroom and was building up my own personalized collection of presets, each photo session that I shot created its own preset, not by intention, but just the way that each session had its own personality, voice, and environment / condition.
Most of the shoots that I've done since have not really allowed for much in the way of creativity when it comes to editing; I may go overboard-crazy with editing someone's family session, but if I am not 100% happy with the result, no one else will see it. (Chances are, the photo will be either color or monotone, not appearing to be half and half like this photo seems to be doing.)
An artistic session like this one got the ball rolling again.
So, in a way, this series is nostalgic for me, taking me back.

There are several other shots coming from this; I might just blog them instead of Flickr them. We'll see. Or maybe I'll just Facebook them. It's 3am; please forgive me if my brain is all over the place!

Also, one final word about this photo: I am not crazy about my water mark. Any feedback on that would be great. (And any feedback on the photo / concept would be great, too.)

Almost Over

Almost Over, a photo by speckled_beckle on Flickr.

For over two years now, I have been without employment.

Sure, sure, I left work for a good reason: to finish my degree. I tried doing the school-and-work thing for three semesters, but I couldn't handle both of them at full-time capacity. I applied for a few positions while I was a student, but none of them worked out.

Well, I graduated in May (huzzah!) and, two and a half months later, I have great news: I will be re-entering the workforce!

I was offered a full time position at a local company. The position has everything that I've been looking for (and some things I didn't really realize I wanted). It has a more professional dresscode than any position I've previously held. (Funny how offices encourage business casual!) It comes complete with benefits (401k, health, vision, dental, PTO, etc). And, when I went in for my pre-employment test / interview, I had to check in with security. (I'll get my own photo ID on my first day!)

This new job feels like a right fit for me; I've always wanted an office-oriented job.

There is only one bad side to accepting this position: the facility I will be working at is a 24/7 facility, and I am not guaranteed to have weekends off. Those two things mean that my photo availability will be diminished.
I will still be doing photography, both for myself and for others, though.
I hope that the photographer I have been second-shooting for will give me the dates of upcoming weddings with enough advance that I can sufficiently request time off in order to attend them with her.
(So far, so good: none of the already-scheduled weddings fall in my first 45 days, when attendance is mandatory!)

One plus side? I can buy myself some new photography equipment. My bag has been pretty much untouched for over two years. (Mama's in need of at least one new lens and a flash or two!)
There are other things that I need to invest my money on, too, like student loans, savings, and transportation.

Which is one reason why the lyrics I chose for the photo --from The Eagles' "Waiting In the Weeds"-- is appropriate. It says, "I've been waiting in the weeds / waiting for my time to come around again" and I believe that my time has come again.

The first four weeks are nights, from 3-11:30pm. The next two weeks are "nesting" weeks, and after that, I will be able to put a bid in for my desired schedule, so I retain hope that I will still be able to offer some tempting photo times for clients.

But yay! Work! Income! Health plan! Moving forward! Goal achievement! These are all things I am looking forward to. =)

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.