2 Hours Traffic

We are off...

We are flying out tomorrow afternoon.  England, Ireland and France...here we come!

I will hopefully be able to check in and post a few updates along the way!

Finally I am getting around to posting.

I have been busy loading, editing, and creating a video of the wedding I shot last weekend.  It rained again!  Go figure!  We did have enough time to get in all the photos .

Kayla, the bride,  is a scrapbooking friend.  I met her when I worked at Scrapbooks Plus.  She is just one of those people everyone is drawn to.  She has such a "true" personality, and I always looked forward to working with her.  I am honored she wanted me to take her wedding photos.  The fact that she had that much confidence in my abilities that she trusted me with this amazing day in her life, almost makes me a little emotional.  WOW.  HUGE and scary honor, but she was a beautiful bride and it was a beautiful wedding!  Everyone helped to make things run very smoothly.

You can see other images from the wedding right here in my album. 

If you are interested, click here for the slide show .  You will need to type in careyayn22 in the Browse member collection.  If you haven't already downloaded the Photodex browser, it will have you to do so  It is a safe file to download.  There are a bunch of slide shows in there.  The Beccue wedding is the one you want.  (the only other one I currently lay claim to is the Europe one LOL...the rest are pretty old)

Hair

Tiffany Tillman Posted this little challenge to her blog.  Um, her hair looks a bit more put together than mine ever did.  These are some pretty scary photos below.

My little avatar is how my hair looks most days. 

The photo below was a quick one I took today...not looking so great...hence the bad photo and cropped half face. LOL  Overall, I am very happy and comfortable with my hair now.  I like the longer hair.  I am told by many that I look younger.  I do color with highlights to cover the silver strands that like to come out of the crown of my head...I don't have the grey sideburns yet, but I am sure that is coming.  My hair is very low maintenance.  Once in a while I will get out the hot curlers for a special occasion, but overall...super easy. 

Today.  Longer than it has been in 15 years.  Just got it highlighted (I am a bit of a redhead the last couple years), so it needs a good washing but I am trying to hold off until tomorrow.  Ugh!

Circa 2004 (Blondie)

The following is my Hair Hall of Shame:

Circa 1999 (on top of the World Trade Center).  Not the shortest...but pretty close to the shortest my hair ever has been.

Circa 1989 (Jr. Prom)

The aqua-net phase.

Um, really, this is the only photo where I look like this.  My mom got a little crazy with the curling iron or something.  YIKES! Circa 1982

A couple of our trip and one of Saturday's wedding....

Just a few digital layouts I have done as of late.

An Honest Living...

If anyone thinks being a photographer is easy work, they should try it for a while.  My grandpa was a professional photographer....and every day, I admire what he did for so many years.

I shot my first paying gig on Saturday.  Seriously hard work.

Physically: My arms hurt from holding the camera all day (that lens is heavier than my old one)  My lower back ached, and my fingers felt like arthritis set into the joints.  Surprisingly, my feet were pretty good.  I wore "sensible" shoes, but more importantly, I think everything else hurt so bad, that was the least of my concerns.

Mentally:  I am sure that with years of experience, weddings become somewhat predicable, but really there is one rule in wedding photography everyone knows...expect the unexpected.  It rained.  Now remember, I am a natural light photographer (for the most part), so rain is a difficult obstacle. Now it didn't just rain a little...it rained so hard while we were driving down the interstate that we almost had to pull over.  Somehow... we lucked out.  Outdoor photos took about 1.15 hrs and we had no (or very little) rain for 1.30 hours.  Almost as soon as we were done, it started to pour again.  I asked my muse, my grandpa, to put in a good word for me.  I like to think he pulled some strings.

Also, wrapping my brain around configuring large groups of people, remembering names, thinking about composition, lighting, exposure etc..  Is REALLY an immense undertaking.  I am so glad Bob helped me out.  He helped me so much.  I realize why most photographers have assistants  (however, I don't think my grandpa used one....)

Emotionally, I was pretty even keel during the day (other then a minor morning meltdown during the heaviest of the rains).  I think my biggest emotional hurdle came afterward.  My photos are nice.  I think and I hope the couple will like them (I was dirt cheap).  However, I set high expectations for myself.  See above mental issues...it is one hard job with TONS of things going on... I have some pretty strange family configurations, off lighting, goofy kids, blurred ceremony shots, etc... All those cool poses, and funky depth of field stuff I was intent on doing went by the wayside.  Survival was the word of the day.  It was a bit disappointing, but I did at least get all the wanted shots and I did pretty good with the photo-journalistic aspects.  I have a TON of work to do....but, I suppose I have to start somewhere.

Now I just have to get ready to do it again next week.  Hopefully I can make my grandpa proud.

First of all...

I am now linking to my Vagabond Creations blog.   I decided to start a side photography business a year ago, and in typical Carey fashion, I am finally getting around to being official now, a year later.  I am quick like that.  You can't keep up with my cat-like swiftness.

<----------------------- So it is over there under my floating head.  It is nothing too exciting, but at least I have some kind of portfolio started.

Next, as of today, I finally have our Ireland trip finished.  I finally (sense a theme?) got around to really planning on Sunday (like had the map out, E-mailed  and researched hotels, booked on Ryanair and booked the rental car).  I finished today.  I am pretty excited about the places we are staying.  Lord only knows what we are getting ourselves into (mostly staying at B&Bs and Guesthouses), but it will be an adventure.  Here is one of the places we are staying, Virginia's Guesthouse.  The owner was quite friendly in her E-mails and Trip Advisor had great reviews.  We are staying in Kenmare for two days and driving the Ring of Kerry and checking out the peninsulas and then moving around the coast and up to Dublin.

And finally, I really wanted a new pair of comfort walking shoes and a messenger bag for the trip.  I couldn't afford both (or really even one, but that has never stopped me), so I ordered a Crumpler Bag and held off on the shoes.  Even if you do not like the bag or are not in the market for one, you have to check out the website.  Annoying, hilarious and just plan freaky.  Love it!  Go back more than once...the little disturbing stuffed animal changes. I have a camera bag from Crumpler...which I love, but it is just too bulky to walk around Europe with that hanging and banging into everything.  I hope this is going to be a bit better.  I guess Iwill know in a few days when it arrives.  I will need to baby that camera though.  I have a tendency to schmuck it.

My Friend, the Rockstar

My friend Melissa is super talented.  She does amazing makeup.   I love to hear what exciting things she is doing in  London (and Minnesota when she is here).

Here we are in London this last fall.

The photo in the below link was chosen for the agency's (Kaiz) new business card, was featured in the Metro Wednesday edition (last week), and is on their website...

Melissa's work

I am so proud of her!

A few more to share

A few photos from my shoot on Thursday...

Jack wasn't in the mood for photos, but we still got a few good shots.   His most genuine smile came when we let him jump in the lake.  Ella is a doll as always.  I will post some more tomorrow.

I'm squishing your head....

I am trying out for My Minds Eye's design team. I haven't tried out for a team in a couple years and I thought it might be fun (and I am in love with their papers).  Anyway, I did a couple extra so I would have some to choose from. One of the extras had a fatal run in with wayward stamping and was destroyed and the other one is posted here.

Now all in all, I like this layout.  It was lacking a little bit of pop, and my friend, Jen agreed.  However, what sealed this layouts fate (as the reject) was that I realized that the way I placed the photos...looks a little strange.

Poor Kathy.  I can't tell if her foot is kicking the back of her head or stomping on it.

(sorry Kathy.)

What is with this shoe?

I am 33 years old and I am still buying Chuck Taylors.  I bought them in high school, college and now...in my "olden" years.  I keep thinking I will grow out of this style, but when I saw these choclate brown slip ons...I was in love....again.

Feeling a bit sentimental

I met my mom and sister-in-law, Kathy, for some shopping today at Marshall Fields,Fields Day Sale.  I realized that this is the last time I will be able to do this.  Soon, seemingly very soon, all the Marshall Fields will be changing over to Macy's.  They were bought out over a  year ago, but they have retained their name and signature until now. 

I actually grew up with Daytons.  When I was little, my mom would take us to Daytons to shop.  I remember hopping up in the big concrete ledges surrounding the walkway and pretending it was a balance beam, and I remember eating Chicken Wild Rice soup at the Boundary Waters restaurant as a kid.  That was one of those special things I did with my mom when we went shoping by oursleves.

When we moved to a small town that did not have a Daytons, it was a big deal when we "Went to the Cities, " shopping and we would always go to Daytons.  For many years Dayton/Hudson corp. owned Marshall Fields (and Target..they started Target), but when Target became the money maker and the department stores the drains, they split off.  I was very sad to see Daytons turn into MF, but at least they were sister companies for many years and they were both Midwest icons.

I have no problems with Macy's (not my favorite, but I can handle it), but the sentimentality of my childhood shopping trips played through my mind today.

Another era gone.  Another tie to youth severed.

Photo taken at the flagship store in Chicago July 2005

Strike up the "God Cloud" Music

Last day of school for students.  I have to admit that it hasn't quite sunk in yet.   Maybe after tomorrows end of the year luncheon and golf tournament tomorrow night (which ALWAYS leaves some interesting stories), I will feel like summer vacation has arrived!

Anyway, this rainbow appeared tonight. Crazy little squall came through.  for about 10 minutes it was really dark, really green and really windy...and then this appeared.  I am taking it as a sign of good things to come.