Excited!!!

This post is going to have NOTHING to do with photography. Just a heads up ;)

I have this little obsession with books that I'm pretty sure I have confessed about before. Well some of my favorites are by Stephenie Meyer. For those of you that don't know who she is, she is the author of the Twilight series and also The Host. I have read all 5 books and I absolutely love them all. I don't think there is anyone out there that doesn't know about the Twilight books turning into a movies. If you haven't though you should go read all 4 books and then watch Twilight the movie.

November 20th, 2009 is when the second book, New Moon, comes out in theatres. I am SO excited. Here is the most recent trailer for the movie. It gives me shivers everytime I watch it!! Hahaha.



Now this was just released today on Stephenie's website... The Host has just been picked up and they are going to turn it into a movie!!!! Now a lot of people have read the Twilight books and not The Host. If you haven't, put down what you are doing right now. RIGHT NOW. And RUN to the book store or library and get The Host. It is Stephenie's first "adult" book and I will admit, it took me a while to get into it but it was soooooooo worth it. The only reason I like Twilight more than The Host is because there are more books in the Twilight series. Hahaha.

Next post will be back to your regularly scheduled programing :)

101 in 1001 | Update

I was going through one of my journals the other day and I stumbled upon my 101 in 1001 list that I wrote back in July. As I read through it I realized I was completing a lot of these goals without even knowing it. So I decided it was time to make an updated list and post it again. Here it goes:

1. Register my business
2. Launch my website
3. Photograph a baby that is less and 1 week old (hopefully do this this week)
4. Brand my business
5. Order my first sample albums
6. Attend WPPI
7. Meet someone inspiring
8. Intern w/ Jamie Delaine or Sarah Barlow
9. Create a canvas print from a vacation in Italy, Las Vegas, and the Caribbean
10. Upgrade to the Canon 5D MK II
11. Take a course/workshop in creative writing
12. Post in my blog 4 times a week (1/141)
13. Go for a shopping trip in Boston
14. Read a photography related book once a month for 6 months
15. Read a business related book once a month (2/33 - Love is the Killer App by Tim Sanders, 10-10-10 by Suzy Welch)
16. Read a book related to a topic of personal interest once a month (2/33 - Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Still Alice by Lisa Genova)
17. Paint 3 canvas paintings for our living room
18. Frame 100 photos
19. Take a homeless person out for lunch and learn about their life and their dreams
20. Bottle my own wine
21. Have my photography published
22. Go sky diving
23. Photograph a musician
24. Photograph an artist
25. Photograph a writer
26. Make strawberry & blueberry jam (07/07/09 – strawberry jam)
27. Run a marathon
28. Meet Jasmine Star
29. Take a hot yoga class (completed at Moksha Yoga in August 2009)
30. Photograph at least 5 weddings each year(2009 - 05.16.2009, 06.14.2009, 09.22.2009)
31. Become a member of Canon Professional Services
32. Learn how to make HDR Photographs (07.14.2009-Ryan's trip to Halifax, Post here)
33. Join a craft class/club
34. Do 20 consecutive pushups
35. Do 20 consecutive pull ups
36. Plant a tree
37. Take a photo a day consecutively for 2 months
38. Knit an Afghan blanket
39. Learn how to clean my camera
40. Don't talk for 1 whole day
41. Spend 6 hours blind folded
42. Bake a cheesecake
43. Learn about another religion
44. Host a social networking event
45. Solve a rubik's cube in less than 1 minute (got it to around 2 minutes)
46. Hike for 1 hour naked
47. Make my own candles
48. Make my own jewelry
49. Photograph for a not for profit organization/charity
50. Start a food fight
51. Bike the Cabot Trail
52. Have my own garden
53. Take a ballroom dance class
54. Get a facial
55. Blow glass
56. Actually send out Christmas Cards
57. Have a romantic weekend at a bed & breakfast
58. Get a touch up tattoo
59. Make my own ballpoint pen
60. Keep a journal for 1 year
61. Get another kitten
62. Make a sculpture
63. Learn how to play 1 song on piano
64. Buy a house
65. Coach soccer for a summer
66. Donate blood
67. Donate plasma
68. Bake bread from scratch
69. Spend 1 whole day in bed with Matthew
70. Do some macro photography
71. Organize our storage room
72. Volunteer for charity/non-profit/hospital
73. Get a 6-pack
74. Photograph 1 wedding for free for a deserving couple
75. Write a poem
76. Have Matt teach me to snowboard
77. Complete a 50 photo self portrait project
78. Have professional photos taken of Matt and I
79. Read the Bible
80. Blog a wedding within 12 hours of photographing it
81. Make plans with dad once a month (2/33 – 07.09 Harry Potter Movie, 08.09 Birthday)
82. Quit my job
83. Help a stranger with complete disregard for personal gain
84. Visit Ovens National Park
85. Go on a roller coaster
86. Photograph a hummingbird
87. Learn to french braid my own hair
88. Have a sexy girl party
89. Make corned beef and cabbage
90. Photograph a beach at sunrise
91. Photograph my grandparents
92. Photograph Matt's grandmothers
93. Organize my printed photos
94. Make a photo album of Matt and I
95. Take on a mentee (summer ’09 – Quentina Parsons)
96. Send a balloon with a message in it into the sky
97. Complete 5 cross stitch (1/5 completed)
98. Decorate my home
99. Have a girls night with all of my close girlfriends
100. Make an official business plan.
101. Tell the people that are important to me that I love them more often (every day)

Wow. Lots more to go that's for sure. I also just crunched the math and it looks like March 26th, 2012 will be my last day of this project. It seems so far away from now but I'm sure it will creep up quickly.

What I Use

In my last post I was asked "I'm looking for an Slr but dont know what brand to buy. What kind of camera would change for if you had the chance?". So for todays post I decided to talk a little bit about what camera gear I use and why.

I will be quite honest, even though I am a Canon shooter I think Nikon cameras are awesome too. I also have no idea why I decided to go with Canon, especially since the person that helped me get my camera shoots Nikon. Who knows? The first camera I bought was a Canon Rebel XTi. that thing is a kicker. It worked so well for my first year. It inspired me to photograph everything. I definitely recommend any of the Canon Rebel series to anyone that is just starting out. During my first year I bought a Canon 50mm f1.8 lens. Wow. This thing has also been a trooper. It has consistently produced some of my favorite shots in my portfolio. To this day it is on my camera at least 75% of the time. It's a great lens especially for its price.

A year ago I decided it was time to upgrade my camera though. So I bought the Canon 40d with the kit lens (Canon 17-85mm f4-5.6) and the Canon 70-200mm f4 lens. This camera has added so much to my business. I feel like it brought me from hobbiest to photographer. Even though I am not doing this full time yet I still feel like this camera has helped me raise the bar so much in only a year.

So far this year I have photographed 3 weddings and I have felt consistently limited to what I could do because of my lenses. The 70-200mm has been great for ceremony images when I don't want to get to close to the action and also for journalistic photos of the guests when I don't want them knowing I'm photographing them. The 50mm has been awesome at getting those great depth of field, sharp images I love. But I am not always able to get far enough away from my couple to get full frame shots.

Thats why a few weeks ago I purchased the Canon 20mm f2.8 lens. I have used it at a portrait session so far and it is unreal how different it is from my 50mm. I'm so far away from my clients now. Ha ha ha. I'll be posting images from the portrait session this week. I can't wait to go out and use it for my next sessions.

To finally answer my readers question I would love to get the Canon 5d Mk II. This camera is a full frame (40d has a 1.6x crop factor), 21 MP beast. It also has video capabilities and amazing ISO capabilities. I think that will be after next years wedding season though :)

So my gear list is:
Canon 40d
Canon Rebel XTi (backup)
Canon 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM
Canon 50mm f1.8 II
Canon 70-200mm f4L IS USM
Canon 20mm f2.8 USM
Canon 580EX II
ShootSac

A great website to read reviews on gear is Fred Miranda. Hope this answered your question and helps :)

Progress

The past couple of weeks I have been creating my website and my business design. I haven't been able to get it off my mind specifically the past couple of days. I have learned a lot about SEO (search engine optimization) and about branding your business. If I'm MIA for the next little bit it is because I am working on everything.

Here are some photos taken at the public gardens. Enjoy :)

Melissa & Justin | Wedding

In winter of 2007 I met with Melissa for the first time. She had contacted me on Facebook about possibly photographing her wedding. At this point I had my camera for 6 months and hadn't even thought about photographing weddings. When we met at Starbucks we hit it off. Melissa and I got along so well and she was just so excited about her wedding and having me be apart of it, how could I say no? We decided that since her wedding wasn't until summer 2009 we would not only do one engagement session, but we would do multiple. In the end we had 3 engagement sessions in all different seasons. They can be viewed here, here and here. At this point Melissa and Justin were used to being in front of my camera and I had gained a lot more confidence about photographing their wedding than I had originally.

Finally the day came and it was perfect. My second shooter Harrison and I went to t-off with the guys at 8:30am, then went to meet the girls while they got their hair and make-up done. The ceremony was beautiful, the Links at Montague was a great location and great vendor and the couple were happy when all was said and done.

Melissa and Justin, thank you so much for having faith in me from the start. You two are no longer my clients but my friends and I am so proud to say I photographed your wedding.

Melissa's gorgeous dress. She got it from the wonderful Dreams Bridal and Floral Boutique.



Melissa getting her make-up done by Naphtali Carleton from Caryl Baker Visage. Her hair was done by Genevieve Pettipas at the Golden Clipper.



Leona is so cute. So full of energy and loved jumping into photos. :)





This beautiful and delicious cake was created by the ever fabulous Jennifer Harrison of Layers Wedding Cakes.



The Links At Montague is a fabulous vendor. Everyone was so nice, the decorations were beautiful, great food and a beautiful golf course. They even let us drive around in golf carts ;)



This little guy did not want to walk down the isle. He was SO cute.

















I think this is my favorite. Such a beautiful smile.

The party was pumping because of the DJ from Atmosphere Entertainment.

Click HERE to see the slideshow with more photos!