Irony.

In my second-to-last post, nearly a year ago, I complained that it had been two months since I posted.

Well, obviously, I haven't been doing regular updates.

This last year has just kept me crazy busy:
-starting the new job last July and the subsequent six-weeks it took to adjust
-photographing the WestHolmes wedding in September
-...and the six-week mental hiatus that followed a week later, after the floods affected my family and our land
-editing for the WestHolmes
-Christmas
-packing
-photographing the Shirley wedding
-editing for the Shirleys, interrupted by a move to Fort Collins, followed by more editing
-settling in to my new apartment and training my dog to be ok while I'm gone
-assisting Juhl Photography on two more weddings
-photographing the Brewer-Bradfield reception

One of my favorite parts of photography (the editing) has kept me in front of the computer pretty regularly, which can be a torturous thing now that I sit in front of a computer for 8 hours a day. And I don't want any part of photography to be torturous. That's not the point of passion.

Fortiter, et dicite. (Loud & clear)

I have made a decision, one that I have toyed with in the past, but now I am certain of it.

I am going to be taking a hiatus of an indeterminate length from client photography.

I will still be pursuing personal photography (art, landscapes, nature, family, etc.) but as far as services offered to others, I am done...for now.

Since July 22nd, I have been working a full-time job in a neighboring city.
With my commute, my work-week turns out to be about 60 hours. Even with the vanpool that I joined, my week still turns out to be long, as not all riders from the van work in the same place in the city.

I have done a handful of gigs since then, and each one has proven more difficult to complete than I anticipated. (Granted, one of the gigs was the WestHolmes wedding, and that was the Saturday before the flooding that occurred here in Colorado, and as my family was affected by the flooding, my brain was otherwise occupied for a month or so afterwards.) I was still finishing the edits for that one when I shot the next two. 

All in all, I have learned the hard way that I cannot devote proper time to photography while having my current schedule. I hate that it's my clients who have ended up suffering because of this. (I've still been able to deliver by my contracted date, but it's been within a week of it.)

Saving Grace

A few months ago, I started backing up my photos in a way that I never have before: the uncompressed PSD files in their own folder under the parent folder of the client. 

The file also contains the original SD files as well as all edited photos, under different files whether they are watermarked (for digital display) or un-watermarked (for printing). 

From the wedding I shot last month, this is the file hierarchy: 

I started saving the .psd files right before compressing the image ("flattening" all the layers) in case I need to access the files again, without having to remember all the steps I took to edit. (And since most of what I do when I edit is the same, that wouldn't really be hard to do in a pinch.)

I have found that saving the files in this way has saved me some time, even though it takes up more room on my backup drive. I strongly urge other photographers to do the same.

Man Oh Man

How can it be two months since I posted??
Please forgive my absence. Summer is here, and, like you, I have been busy busy busy.

I have photographed seven sessions since my last post (including three weddings!) and have much to blog from them.

At the moment, I am putting the finishing touches on a child's portrait session, and loyal readers will recognize the subject when I get around to sharing the session here. I am also working on editing a wedding that I shot solo -- it came up suddenly and I only had a month to prepare. (Plus the weddings that I've second shot for Juhl Photography over the last few months still need edited and shared, too.) Jeepers. o.o

It isn't just photography that has kept me busy.

I have also accepted a new position, said good-bye to Target, and will be starting my career on Monday.

I will have less time for photography (as the job is 40 hours a week, Monday through Friday) but I will have the ability to purchase better, newer equipment. Besides, most of the time availability for busy families and couples is weekends anyway, so I won't have to worry about requesting time off for a session on the weekend.

I will be only accepting a limited number of shoots a month, though. More information on that will be forthcoming.
And with the job comes an eventual change in location: I will be moving to Fort Collins no later than November. (My car does not do well in the snow.)

In addition to all of that, I have been working on some craft projects. (I plan on devoting the next few days to finishing them and doing final preparations for next week.) Saturday is our first booth event of the year. Depending on how well it goes, it might be our last booth event of the year as well. We'll have to see how it goes.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I will update this guy with all my sessions as soon as I am able, but please forgive me if it takes a little while longer. I will need an adjustment period once I start my new job, as my days (including commutes) will be eleven hour days.

Filsinger Maternity

How appropriate that I'm blogging this session on Mother's Day. =)

Tanya already has one beautiful daughter, Jaedyn, and is expecting her second daughter, Brielyn, at the end of this week! We did a maternity-cum-family session and mama was positively glowing! I am looking forward to meeting the little one in early June after she is born.

Newborn Posing Workshop

I have been so blessed to be able to watch Kelly Brown's Newborn Posing Workshop on CreativeLIVE over the last few days. Most of the workshops occur on the hours I work at my "real-life job" at Target, so I am not able to watch as many as I would like, but Ce la vie. This was actually the first workshop I watched on CL, and it so inspired me and so empowered me that I am even more excited for my two newborn sessions scheduled over the next month!

One of my favorite moments in the workshop occurred on the first day when Kelly said that she had asked Sue Bryce to come to her studio and give her a kick in the pants. It was so encouraging to see that someone who is as successful as Kelly is had her moments when she was struggling, and that success really isn't just handed to anyone. That moment makes a photographer like me, who is struggling, believe that I can make it, too, with a "kick in the bum." =)

The second of my favorite moments occurred on day two, as Kelly was doing some of her post-production work. She did some of the same basic techniques that I do, and I was so uplifted and encouraged when I saw her darkening the eye line of the sleeping baby. It made me feel like I was doing something right! (Dare I say that it made me feel a little proud?) I was also a bit shocked when she color corrected the baby because the skin tones were a little red -- a problem I encountered on my last newborn shoot, and was sure that it was just a flaw that I had somehow created, probably by not setting my white balance correctly or something related. Seeing a pro have a similar issue arise in post-pro really gave me a boost of confidence. (Maybe the baby's skin was just red, and it wasn't something that I did at all.)

In the light of this workshop, when I look back over my just-published blog containing my favorite images from Colby's newborn session --my third ever-- I can see several things that I will be doing differently when it comes to posing in my future newborn sessions.

I am so sad to not be able to see any more of the workshop live as it happens. Real life is kicking in, and I have to go before watching the piece of the workshop where she poses siblings. I'm sure there are many more moments that I would favor and find uplifting.

Thank you so much, CreativeLIVE and Kelly Brown, for the wonderful bits of information, inspiration, and encouragement I have gained from the workshop! I am sure there will be many more on the downloaded package.

Newborn Colby

He was born on the day of --and in the middle of-- a really bad snowstorm, and he came a few weeks early, but he and mama were happy and healthy. (And they still are, two and nearly a half months later.)

These photos were taken on March 4th when he was 10 days old. They are my favorites from our session.

My favorite shot from the entire session. One of my favorites, ever.

Sleepy little guy.

Detail.

My second favorite shot, and it's a close second. It was the dad's idea to wrap the blanket around Colby like a cloud and I love this image. 

Contemplation.

Welcome to the world, Colby!