Um, I'm a wedding photographer?

So. You all thought that my first "all by my lonesome" wedding shoot was in February.

Well you were wrong.

And so was I, as it turns out.

My hubs sent me this text last Monday

"Want to take photos of a wedding on Sunday for free?"

My response:

"Haha. No?"

Please.

I have plenty of opportunities to practice weddings all the time.

Not.

It turned out that his coworker, Elashun, had gotten engaged two weeks prior and was getting married Sunday.

The only thing she bought was a dress and the rest of the wedding planning, her church was throwing it together.

Josh offered my amateur services as our wedding gift.

Well, alright.

I guess it's no pressure. 

It was either my amateur photos or no amateur photos.

I decided why the heck not. 

I had met her once before and knew she was super sweet.

So we arrived at church yesterday and I patiently waited with my handy dandy (and quite handsome) assistant.

(Amateurs are totally allowed to have assistants FYI)

It seemed like we waited FOREVER.

And then once it begun, it begun.

(now I know I promised all the good and all the bad. But I already deleted all the bad.

oops. But you can trust me, there were plenty of "blurfests")

So, I'll just show off the ones I'm proud of

(...at least for right now. I'm already going back and looking at photos thinking, 

"Seriously, Melissa? That was kind of embarrassing.)

All a part of the process, people

Oh and at this moment, I have a free trial of lightroom going on so that is what I have been getting to play with! if anyone wants to give me a hands on lightroom 101...yes, please.

:)

waiting to walk down the aisle! 

Now my favorites..

LOVE the tat. 

So I just realized this is like 99.9% the bride.

Can you blame me though?

Honestly?

She was stunning. 

Ok.

So lessons learned. 

1. An ISO of something in between 800 and 1600 would greatly benefit me.

1A. Grainy is better than blurry. Lesser of two evils.

2. having an assistant is great, even if it is only for emotional support :)

3. photographing a wedding is nothing but an adventure

4. I need to be confident and assertive

5. Not so great at posing people. I tell people kind of where to sit and tell them to do what is natural and hope that it looks good.

6. Seeing what a church family can pull off for one another is greatly encouraging

7. I still have A LOT to learn but it was a great experience

Family Shoot!

It's been a fun couple weeks. 

I've been on break. 

Josh has been on break.

So we play.

Or become semi-permanant couch potatoes. 

Call what you will, I call it a-maz-ing.

Relaxation at it's finest.

Unfortunately, Josh went back to work this past week.

But I did have a few fun things on my to-do list.

1. repaint the laundry room (which was definitely more work than I had bargained for but worth it. I think?)

2. help Jedi Liana get ready for the Bridal Expo (which was total madness FYI) 

3. get some good editing tips/lessons from Jedi Liana

I was just about to get started on painting when I got a call from my friend, who I will call J-Lo just for funsies.

(her name is Joy and her last name starts with lo. I can't believe it has taken me this long to make that connection) 

She had some friends that needed some last minute family photos for their son who had just turned one. 

(Back up, back up....I had met momma and baby before this and knew who she was talking about)

Let me just say this is what went through my head...

"So you are telling me I get to add photos of one of the cutest babies ever to my budding portfolio?"

YES, PLEASE.

Two days later I found myself at Anthem park with this fun family.

Here are a couple of my favorites.

You try to tell me he isn't one of the cutest one year olds.

this may be one of my favorites

a treasure that was found in the grass

after a while, it was time to snack on a stick

Love him.

Love the family.

(Learning to) love editing.

Actually, I'm lying. I love editing. It's the user errors that are no fun (and cheap wireless mouses? meece? mice?)

But that will get better over time.

And maybe I'll stinkin stop way OVER ANALYZING everything I do.

Everything. 

I annoy myself.

Oh. and still no zumba job. 

(why is one not just falling in my lap? For real.)

Yep. I'm that (un) cool.

Come join me in my kitchen every Wednesday night at 6:30 to shake what your momma gave ya.

Real Padawan Updates

Apparently this is what I look like when I am using the camera.

A constant state of confusion and analyzing.

Over-analyzing, really.

Yep.

So I was gonna give this big long spiel of whats been happening

(because it's exciting, trust me)

BUT really what it boils down to is that I have been taking a lot of photos.

A lot.

Like an obnoxious amount.

But it's cool. 

mainly because it's a blast. 

There have been issues here and there.

There are issues that are mine.

Or the cameras'

Or the little girl editing tools that I am using. 

Really, they are all my issues but we'll just blame it on the technology for right now:)

So let's look at all the photos of late.

Here are a couple that I have taken with A Moment In Time Photography with my mentor, Liana. 

(edited by Liana using big girl photography tools and skills)

FYI, I'm just gonna shorten A Moment In Time Photography to "AMIT" for the rest of this!

A close friend at a fundraiser from church

very first engagement photo used for a real album for AMIT

another engagement shoot I got to do with AMIT!

 I have also gotten to tag a long on a couple of weddings.

Will some of my photos get used in the real set of photos??

I don't know! 

It's always exciting and nerve-wracking to get feedback from Liana.

She has been nothing but encouraging

But it feels like the equivalent of giving a famous chef a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and hoping they will at least just taste it.

I have also done some of my own stuff

Three family photo shoots?

The Barney Family

Pretty much models, right?

And from these photos I got 2 more shoots!

The Sauer Family

And also

Christy and Mike

These two just so happen to be getting married in February

And guess who gets to photograph this wedding?

This little padawan right here!
I'm so lucky, it's ridiculous

It has been lots of fun
and I love getting feedback from people
and like I said there are still issues

nervousness

I barely know what I'm doing

blurry photos

little girl editing tools

But I'm banking on the fact that these things will come with time 

(and dinero) 

I hope at least.

And then one day I'll have a facebook page and website and my own photography blog and a legit company name... (you just got a small glimpse into my way too optimistic head. I also am hoping that Santa and/or the city of Phoenix will get me a Sprouts and/or Sunflower Marker and a Super Target within 2 miles of my house) 

I'm so realistic.

But like I said at the very beginning of this adventure...

There will be good photo days and not-so-good photo days

And learning how to make the first outweigh the latter is a crazy good adventure.

Also random fact: it is a really odd experience to airbrush yourself

 I guess that's enough of an update!

And I'm positive this is way longer than anyone intended to read for.

 I will leave you with some of my favorite Christmas photos

GQ, right?

 Merry (early) Christmas from the AZ photography padawan!

Padawan Updates

Oops!

So it's been a while. 

Some might say a long while. 

BUT it's been a little crazy.

good crazy.

Prepare for multiple photos. 

Here's what's been going on

1. Zumba!!

I attended zumba instructor training and LOVED it. 

Finding the actual job seems to be the hard part :) It is very different from the professional world, rather informal actually. Which is odd to me. After 4 1/2 years of learning how to be a professional and 2 1/2 years of being one, shooting somewhat informal emails to people is weird. 

I HAVE taught 1 class to highschoolers at PDSD. So that makes me semi official. AND I have a zip up hoodie that says "INSTRUCTOR" (and a tank on the way:)) 

I'm pretty much legit, really.

(But seriously, this poor zumba instructor is looking for work. Call me if you want to shake your booty)

2. Visitors

we had the parentals in town for thanksgiving

we hiked.

we ate.

we shopped.

we hiked some more.

A beautiful Thanksgiving morning

At the top of my mom's very first hike!

It was a blast. 

2b. Thanksgiving

Had to recreate our dessert photo from last year!

photo from 2010

A bit of a blurfest.
Meh. Oh well.

3. Random

3A.  Javelina sighting.

This happened. 
It may have been a near death experience. We may also have ran back home screaming like little girls.

3B. Spreading Christmas cheer. 

I made a tree skirt and was avoiding the sewing machine at all costs. 

Were all the glue-gun burns worth it?

The jury's still out.

4. Visitors part 2

We had some close friends from college visit for a long weekend

I'll use the phrase loud and proud: These are my besties! Reunited. Sweet long last.

bahaha.

I can't get over the high-school homecoming dance esque-ness of this photo.
Although I am fairly certain none of us would have been as close of friends, let alone dated each other in highschool.


5. Teach DHH students


(insert too many pictures of cute kids with hearing aids)


6. Start children's ministry


(insert expense report that is so close to being done it isn't even funny)
(No cute pictures yet. Although the purple shirt I am in above is our shirt. Pretty sweet)


7. Photography


Oh bummer! I am pooped. And this is going to be the longest. 
And the best.
And so much fun.
Let's save it for tomorrow. 
Or this weekend.
Probably this weekend.
yeah, this weekend.
Expect the real updates of this photography Padawan shortly.


And I don't mean to toot my own horn but I will.
I know you'll be back to see it :)
I have gathered quite the little following. 
And I am not just referring to my whole 17 followers.


I'm referring to my stalkers who catch me off guard by creepily knowing about my life
or they automatically refer to Josh's (very serious) masters program as "principal school"
that's my personal favorite. sh.

 

So come back. 
This Padawan has been a very busy kind of busy.