The Blue Blog

Wednesday, May 14. 2008

Kids at weddings

Well, I can't top E.J.'s Monty-Pyton-inspired post about the bunny, so I'm going to have to make a shameless attempt to compete with photos of children. Look, it isn't my fault if these adorable kids keep showing up at weddings we're shooting. These are from Courtney and Matt's wedding a couple weeks ago.

I know this one is kind of difficult to see at this size, but I love the little guy. The church was so pretty and this was just a scene-setting shot before the ceremony. But here's this little guy on the right saying "oh, man, I think I left the iron on."

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[Here's a little close crop for you - Ed.]

Oiy!

Here's the same little man later. I call this one "um, you may want to stay away from the diaper area."

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And here's a girl during dinner. I don't think she wants to wait for the cake.

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Oh, thank goodness. Could there be any greater joy than a yummy piece of cake?

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Okay, I'll give you a few of adults, too. Well, at least Matt was acting like a kid...

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I didn't post this one yesterday, but I love this shot of Courtney and her dad just before entering the ceremony.

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One last "just for me" shot. the blowing veil and dress against Courtney's back. I just loved the lines.

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Posted by Janet

A vicious streak a mile wide!

There was quite the ruckus this afternoon in the back forty. As we were going getting ready to go out for my long overdue Mexican food, we heard a rather intense cascade of sychronous barking from Satchmo & Cooper. Now, in case you're used to an average dog bark, like a lab, a beagle mix bark sounds, err feels, like a red hot ice pick being jammed into your ear drum. Multiply that times two with the focused intensity of a starved jack russell eyeing up some food, and we knew that something was in the back yard. Usually it's just a wandering neighbor dog passing through, but this was just a little too much chaos for a dog. This was serious. The dogs were craxy.

Out on the porch to investigate, and J sees......nothing. But the dogs are relentlessly persistent, so she keeps looking. Still nothing. So we both go outside. And we see.....nothing. But the dogs are focussed on the tree line so we keep looking. After a while, we see.....nothing. The dogs, fearing for our very lives, plead with us.

Janet: They're nervous.
EJ: Then we'd best leave them here. Keep me covered.
Janet: What with?
EJ: W-- just keep me covered.
Satchmo: Too late! [dramatic chord]
Janet: What?
Cooper: There he is!
EJ: Where?
Satchmo: There!
Janet: What, behind the rabbit?
Cooper: It is the rabbit.
EJ: You silly sod!
Satchmo & Cooper: What?
Janet: You got us all worked up!
Satchmo: Well, that's no ordinary rabbit!
EJ: Ohh.
Cooper: That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!
Satchmo: Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide!...It's got fangs!...It leaps!...

Unlike Arthur and his brave knights, we lost neither life nor limb. The rabbit did leap, right into Janet's hand. Here is the terrifying creature, the cause of the great ruckus -

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And no that's not photoshop, those are blades of grass, and he was that small. Once baby rabbits are eyes open and ears up, they're on their own. There's no shortage of good meaning people who kidnap fresh babies like this, convinced they must be orphaned. They're not. They're fine.

It's the dogs you have to worry about.

Posted by E.J.

Tuesday, May 13. 2008

Yes, I call it artsy

Hope you're all having a wonderful start to the week! Do you ever feel like you must have been abducted by aliens because it just doesn't seem possible that an entire week has passed? I don't know what happened to last week ... we got back from Arkansas and were out every day last week with meetings and sessions, and I'm very glad to be back in the office today catching up on things. I have so much to show you!

Two weeks ago, we did Courtney and Matt's wedding. We've been looking forward to this for a while, because we know their group of friends from Allison and Tony's wedding, and from Jennifer and Bo's wedding, so we knew it was going to be a blast.

Here is Courtney. I have a theory that every woman has some supermodel inside, just waiting for the right opportunity to show itself. How's this for some supermodel? Tyra would say she's connecting with the camera.
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The bridesmaids also proved my point. They had no problem slipping into supermodel mode. P.S... don't you love the dress? I've never seen anything like it, and the fabric was made for a breezy day like this. It couldn't have been more perfectly flowing in the breeze.
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Speaking of the breeze, there were a few strong gusts of wind coming through. Courtney and Matt ran with it... or should I say "flew" with it?
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Flowers were done by the amazing Heather at Stylish Stems. It has been a long time since we worked with Heather, and we were so happy to see her again!
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Here is Courtney coming down the stairs...
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And then finding a spot to enjoy twirling.
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I'm going to post a couple artsy things now, and then I'll be back later with more of my favorites. This picture is one of my favorites... Sometimes as photographers we see envision something cool, and often the result comes out different than what we wanted. In this case I didn't think I was going to be able to do what I wanted because I had to move fast to get it, and it turned out exactly like I wanted it to. I used a slow shutter speed to get a blur of Courtney and her bridesmaids walking past this gorgeous mirror.
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This is Courtney and her dad watching the wedding party line up before the ceremony.
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And I love this one of Courtney holding her dress while it gets bustled.
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Posted by Janet

Thursday, May 8. 2008

Kabloom

Things are busting out all over! I'm always so happy when my flowers are blooming, and right now the front yard is FILLED with irises. They all bloomed at the same time, which I lovingly call a "Kabloom!" Our whole yard smells like heaven, which just makes me happy. I can just sit outside and breathe in the aroma of springtime.

And, also on the topic of busting out, I am thrilled to say that I have gotten a call or email every day this week from our couples who are expecting! A big (no pun intended) congratulations to Amy and Rich, Laura and Chris, Jan and Larry, Krista and Kevin, Brandi and KC, Jenny and Kelly, Kelly and Jonathan and Emily and Sami! I'm so excited to be doing the maternity portraits, baby photos, and maybe even another birth! I loves the babies. But, as a word of warning, I think maybe photographing little Annie Lynn's birth has somehow made me baby-contagious, so if you're not ready to conceive, you may want to not shake my hand. I won't be offended.

And for those of you who are either expecting, or are residents of NewMommyland, check out these blogs.... Diapers Ahoy is written by a friend of our fellow photographer Courtney Goldman, and she's really funny. And although I'm not a mommy (and won't be), I'm a big fan of Dooce.com. They're both hilarious and entertaining whether or not you're a parent. This post got me saying "Don't even think about it, DOG."

I know you want to see photos, so I'm going to show you some others from Kristi and Keith's engagement session a few weeks ago. I've been wanting to post these for a while, and even took them with me to Arkansas, before I knew we were in no-man's-broadband-land.

Kristi and Keith are using their photos for a very cool unique idea for favors for their wedding. I'm keeping it on the down-low until after their wedding, but I'll show you pictures of it and tell you about it then. But, basically, for this project and for the setting they chose (Serenbe Farms), I thought their photos would look great in a kind of half-toned, aged, kind of dreamy look.
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Love this shot of the ring (and them).
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Nothin' better than leaning against a big tree on a warm spring day.
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This one is just for me... walking by the pool.
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Here, they're both looking very supermodel-y.

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And I'll end with this one. They've got a cool in-ground trampoline at Serenbe, which allowed us to get some very fun stuff. Keith and Kristi are both very lighthearted, and I thought this was just perfect for them. I love people who are in touch with their inner child. Although for the record, the term "inner child" kind of gives me the psycho-babble heebie-geebies, and I can't believe I just used it. Let's blame that on the Benedryl.
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Posted by Janet

Wednesday, May 7. 2008

Optimism

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

I'm in a very optimistic mood today. Even though there's something nasty going on in the refrigerator, I'm feeling good today. Maybe it is because we had an amazing session yesterday at Agnes Scott College. We've driven by there before, but never gotten to walk the campus, and I just want to move in there now. Maybe it is because we followed our Agnes Scott time with a stop at The Brick Store. Their arugula salad is one of my favorite things in the world. Oh, and then they had key lime pie for dessert, which is one of my other favorite things.

Or maybe I'm feeling good because I have a new face cream that makes my skin look pretty darn good.

Or maybe it is because I just read about a bookstore in Ojai, and a bakery/cafe in Kitchener, Ontario that both use the honor system for their customers to pay for goods and neither one comes up short. I know there's lots of dishonest people in the world, but it makes me happy to live in a world where businesses can trust people and be rewarded for it.

Or maybe it is because I'm really happy about the success of Kiva. You've probably already heard about the idea of micro loans, and Kiva is a great way for anyone to get involved. The issue of African economic development has been important to me ever since I saw T-Shirt Travels. On Kiva.org you can find a person or group that appeals to you, and loan them all or some of the money they need for their business. You can search by region, type of business, or gender, and loan as little as $25. I chose a group that makes clothing, because I love that they got away from the used clothing business. Here they are:
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Have a great day, everyone!