Wedding Photographer?

Written by jamie on September 5th, 2011

I think I actually have my first “professional” photography gig. A good friend of ours is getting married in a little over a month, and they’ve asked me to photograph the wedding. Gulp.

The possibility totally excites me, but also kind of stresses me out too. I mean, if I screw up, it’s only lost memories of their big day. No pressure.

It’s going to be a small, low key, low stress wedding, so I honestly think the whole thing will be lots of fun and a great experience. But I’m definitely going to take some time and read up on photography tips for weddings and look for fun shots for inspiration.

Does anyone have any tips? Good shot ideas?

 

Gratitude list

Written by jamie on August 29th, 2011

I am suffering from major Monday blahs. Which means it’s time for a gratitude list. I think I’m overdue for one.

– I have power this morning. I feel for the thousands (millions?) of people without power after Hurricane Irene. I can’t imagine being without A/C in this summer heat.

– Watching meteorologists practically be blown away while reporting on hurricanes. What can I say… it amuses me.

– Fall is slowly coming. When I took a walk this morning, it was 66 degrees. Still muggy, but nice to have temperatures slowly dipping. (We won’t talk about the record high scheduled for the day.)

– An upcoming three day weekend. I feel like Drew and I didn’t get a real weekend. He had to work all weekend, and I had to work Sunday. I feel like we barely saw each other and I don’t like that. I’m looking forward to three days with him.

– A fun day shopping with my sister on Saturday. We perused Goodwill, I gave her a short tutorial on CVSing, and we found cheap jewelry. ($2.49!!!)

 

Time for a bullet post

Written by jamie on August 25th, 2011

– I’ve had some proud of me moments this week. I put a whole chicken in the crock pot for dinner on Monday, which is super easy. After pulling out all the meat, I left the bones and skin in the crock pot and added water. I turned it on low and left it while we went to bed. In the morning, I strained out all the bones and skin and had homemade chicken broth, which I then turned around and used to make chicken noodle soup that night. I used the leftover chicken, along with some onions, carrots, and celery that were still in my produce drawer.

– Drew and I took a day trip to Jacksonville this weekend. We are contemplating buying a new bed and are researching all our options. We bought an off brand (i.e. cheap) memory foam bed from Costco a few years back, and it’s been alright, but we both definitely agree that we wake up stiff and tired every morning. We just can’t seem to get a good night’s sleep, and since it’s both of us, we figure it’s probably the mattress. Drew remembers sleeping on a friend’s waterbed in high school and how it was the best sleep he’s ever gotten. All I remember about waterbeds is sleeping on my best friend’s bed in middle school. It was fun then, but I had visions of getting seasick every time Drew rolled over. We agreed that we needed to go lay on one. Unfortunately, no bed store in Tally has them on their showroom. We had to drive to Jax to be able to lay on one. We found a small bed store that was furnished in 80s style and an overzealous bed salesman. He insisted we try the soft side waterbed, which has a layer of foam on top of the water compartment, as well as two separate water compartments. No seasick motions when Drew climbed in. It was rather comfy, but I had a hard time really testing it out, as the bed heater was cranked up to 90 degrees. It took me awhile to figure out why I was dripping in sweat. After we left there, we found another bed store that sold Tempurpedic mattresses, our other option. We wanted to compare it to the waterbed, and didn’t have the heart to tell the salesman we wouldn’t be back to buy a bed from him.

– After finishing our bed shopping, we had dinner on the water. We weren’t terribly hungry, so we split an appetizer platter that was quite tasty.

– I love couponing. I have recently discovered how to shop at CVS, and am really loving the Extra Care Bucks I walk away with. Yesterday I walked out with $15 worth of stuff for free! I paid a little in tax, but not too shabby. I love going to the grocery store each week and seeing what deals I can get. What can I say, I get a high out of getting my granola bars for 15 cents.

 

Part 3

Written by jamie on August 22nd, 2011

I read once that everyone has at least one good book in them. I’ve already shared several times on this blog the book that I feel I have inside me and that I have been attempting to write.

It involves music, worship, and my life. It is currently taking the form of a memoir, and I am digging deep and searching into every musically related memory I can remember. What I hope to get out of it is to figure out why worship is now so difficult for me. It used to come so easy and now it’s a major struggle.

I don’t think I’m the only one. In fact, I know I’m not the only one. A friend just recently told me how she struggled singing some of the songs during church because she didn’t feel she could honestly believe some of the words. It’s hard to sing, “You’re all I want,” when you’re going through some tough struggles. “You’re all I want to want,” seems more fitting. I just can’t get to the total surrender that some of these songs insist on.

Church is a tender, touchy subject for me anymore. Church committees have become my worst enemy. I’ve watched decisions be made that I can’t agree with, and it makes it difficult to go into worship and stand next to these people. Actually, I don’t even know who “these people” are. It’s just some faceless void. Regardless, I go into church on Sunday mornings incredibly guarded.

I hope to not “attack” the church in this book, no matter how much I might want to. Instead, I hope to simply take a good, long, hard look at myself and figure out what’s going on inside me. Maybe then I can make sense of what’s going on.