Abundance Winery Wedding

Since I turned down the staff photographer job in Lubbock, Texas, I've been blessed with many many great opportunities - none of them photography related - but all of them glimmering jewels I will always cherish.  I have become a zumba fitness instructor, worked in graphic design, and fallen in love.  In fact, I am engaged to be married in just 6 months.  It will be a new experience standing on the other end of the camera.

I've shot a lot since I turned down the Lubbock job a few years ago... snap shots here and there... a wedding once in a while for a friend or family member... but this was the first time I felt compelled to post.

This is a wedding I shot at Abundance Winery in Lodi last weekend.  I loved how much this wedding was focused on "fun,"  In fact, after shooting their "first look" I've decided to have one when I get married in April

I hope I will have as much fun at my own wedding as this bride did at hers.

A REALLY Difficult Week

I hope you're sitting down for this one... 'cause I've been on one hell of a ride the last week.  On Friday 3/25 (the day after my 26th birthday), I flew to Lubbock, TX for a face-to-face interview for a staff photographer position at the Lubbock Avalanche Journal.

At the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport - I had a two hour layover.  

I spent three days learning about the city and the paper - swinging back and forth from "Yes, I want this job," to "No, I don't want this job."  After 3 sleepless nights, I'd decided that as long as I could survive financially, I could put up with any and all problems I'd have to encounter working in Texas and at a paper that everyone told me (and I saw for myself) had a lot of problems.  

The "AJ"

From the Press Box at Texas Tech - they'd opened a window to watch the game.  I'm a reflection junkie... so naturally I couldn't resist.  Would have been great to wait for a moment - maybe some cheering and game action... but I still like my reflection pics! :)

On Monday, I received the official job offer via email.  The salary offered would put me short of paying my bills $500 every month.  Maybe if things were different, I could tell you I've spent the last few days making travel/living arrangements and looking forward to my first day at a  new job... 

My responsibilities and obligations made the choice for me.

Monday afternoon, waiting for my ride home after work, I made one of the hardest calls I've ever made sitting on the side of the road outside Starbucks.  

Call me a coward, but I turned down the job via a voice mail - if I'd had to actually talk to a person, I probably would have lost it. 

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I was pretty upset.  When I got home from work I grabbed my camera and burned up 1/2 tank of gas just driving and stopping to take pictures I'd already taken a million times

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Then Tuesday came... and my inbox had a message from my local paper, The Record, asking me if I'd like to go out and shoot a couple freelance assignments for their magazine, "San Joaquin Woman."

YES!!  When life beats you bloody, sometimes it also sends you a band-aid.  :) 

I'm still working full-time doing sales/data entry/etc etc at my temp-to-perm position (which should become permanent within the next few weeks - and hopefully include a raise...).

I'm going to shoot the first assignment before work tomorrow (Monday) and on Friday I'm going to shoot another freelance assignment during my lunch break.  

Turning down that job because of money made me feel like a wage slave.  I know I did the "smart, logical, correct thing..." but I can't help but wonder if, in the long run, I did the "right thing...."

Anyway... some pretty pics to close out the post.

Flying home from Texas - I tried to sleep, I tried to do a cross word, I tried to listen to music, I tried to play sudoku... I couldn't do anything but sit there, look out the window and turn my brain over and over thinking about the job.

The scratched and smudged plane window distorted the image, but it's still a beautiful thing to see a sunset from the above the clouds! 

Horse Detail

Meet Dimples.  She's been my cousin's horse and friend for many years.  These two have a special relationship.  We took a lot of pictures, but this first one is my favorite - it captures their connection beautifully!  

Country Graffiti

Last weekend, I did a photo shoot with my cousin and her horse (photos to be posted soon).  On the way home, I drove by this train.  I was in a rush, so I could only stop for a few moments.  I plan on coming back here to shoot more - how can you resist country graffiti?!   

Finally Fog!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I give you...

FOG! (finally)

It's 10:00 am and I just came in to dump my card and recharge my batteries.  Within the hour, I'll be heading back out to do my pond and sky time-lapse.  Yipppeee!!

 

 An oak tree stands alone, isolated by thick fog, in the middle of a field off of Comstock Rd in Linden, Calif.  My recent fog obsession is credited to this amazing tree.  Every morning, I woke up thinking about this picture.  I love the tone and the simplicity of this image.  My one critic - the sun is rising to the left, disrupting the evenly diffused light.  If I choose to print this picture, I need to work from the RAW file to control the highlights - my computer screen forgives more than a piece of paper.

Early in the morning, a white crane flies through a foggy orchard off of Comstock Rd in Linden, Calif.  These are beautiful birds - but they're a bit camera shy.  White on white is never easy, so I'm especially proud of how this image turned out.  I really enjoy the branches in the foreground and that I caught the bird flying.  I had to crop this in quite a bit so unfortunately, the image will not print well.  It's still pretty though.
 

A funny thing happened when I used the keyboard short-cut to resize this image... I inverted it... and I think it looks really interesting!  :) 

Forecast said Fog...

For the last week, I've been driving into work at 7am through a blanket of fog.  Over and over I told myself I'd be out with my camera on the weekend to capture the images I saw on my way to my tiny cubicle.

The forecast said fog... but what I got was just a light mist.  :(  Oy!

I'm coming back here when I have a cloudy sky to do a time lapse.  Can you see it?  Picture it this way - the sky is a deep blue littered with chubby white clouds, the land is a brighter green and I stop down the aperture so more of the image is in focus.  It will be like a tiny strip of land sandwiched between moving clouds!  I'm so excited to get started!

I'm posting this as an example of how important speed is to a photographer.  Right before I pressed the shutter release, there was a beautiful hawk sitting here.  It would have been awesome... alas, I was not fast enough.  

Tilted horizon + low POV = a fun picture!  If I had the fog I was looking for, or a different sky, I think this picture would have been much better.  I still like it though. :)  

Farewell 2010

My New Year's Resolution for 2011 is to become a positive person and focus on the good more than the bad.  So... I've chosen to look back and highlight the best things that happened in 2010.

Top 10 of 2010

  

My life:

Mom mom (left) and I smile for the camera after I ran in the 2010 Stockton 1/2 Marathon.  Thanks to a fellow runner for snapping the picture.

Meredith Goodrich (left) and I give our "Rock Band" pose.
 I take the drums and vocals while she rocks the guitar

1. Seeing my picture published in Newsweek Magazine
2. Running in the Stockton 1/2 Marathon
3. Singing Karaoke at a bowling ally in Sacramento
4. Dressing up like a Rock Star and taking pictures with my best friend
5. Making two dresses with my mother the day after Thanksgiving
6. Making Thanksgiving dinner (with my mother’s help)
7. Running 5 miles with my Aunt at the Asparagus Run in Stockton.
8. Going to Temecula to visit with my friend from college
9. Playing with my new timer on my camera (time-lapse)
10. Watching House with my cousin

Music (discovered):

1. Human Nature by Michael Jackson
2. Aphrodisiac by Bow Wow Wow
3. Get Back by the Beatles
4. Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin
5. Next to Normal (Broadway soundtrack)
6. Untouched by the Veronicas
7. Turn the Page By Metallica
8. This Thing Called Love by Elvis Presley
9. Her Name is Alice by Shinedown
10. Welcome to Mystery by the Plain White T’s

October

A lot of changes going on in my world these days.  I'm trying to redefine myself in the midst of the chaos.  A very talented photog friend of mine suggested we push through the world of "no's" greeting our photographic identities, and have a monthly photo chat.  So, despite working from sun-up to sun-down nearly everyday this month, I did manage to pull my camera out of the car a few times to document the holiday as it came to my home.

Here's to goblins, ghouls, pumpkin faces and orange lights!