Why I Don't Want To Be A Wedding Photographer

1) I don't want to be the person that ruined someone's wedding by
- Missing a shot
- Being too bossy
- Talking too much
- Not talking enough
- being in all the guests' photos
- Being more nervous than the bride

2) The chance of booking a "Bridezilla" and being totally squashed by them because I am not a confrontational person by nature

3) Being totally excited about what I shot of someone's big day and then having them be exactly as disappointed as I am excited.

4) It's HARD WORK.

5) A million other reasons that ran through my head yesterday before 2pm.

Another Week in Review: Karaoke, Zane, Emma, the Katies, George and a Fantastic Fourth. (whew)

What a week! I feel like we were running, running, running all week- there were some big ups and downs, and like so much of life, they make the time fly.


The week started off with a bittersweet Monday. We joined friends from college in celebrating the life of their almost-three-year-old son who passed away the week before. We hugged them tight and said goodbye to Jake.

Megan and I started taking my bicycle as our mode of transportation on Tuesday, with the addition of a sweet $8 score from a thrift store- a kid seat! Unfortunately, I've been hard on the bike for almost 2 years now, and the back tire tube gave up unceremoniously on Wednesday when we were about 1/2 mile from the house. We slept well that night.

Wednesday, a star was born. Megan sang Karaoke at the local Double Dave's Karaoke night, and you could see it in her eyes- she was born to do it. You could also see in her body language that she was a little bit nervous about it, but boy she was proud- almost as proud as Kip and I were!







We are all still run-down from waiting and waiting for news on our visas, but that's covered so boringly and extensively covered in the other blog, I just won't go into details here.

Megan rode in the Garden Oaks 4th of July Bike Parade again this year, and unfortunately we missed the judging so all her hard work was just for show. IT was one of those mornings- we got up late, had no breakfast and were on the run from the moment our feet hit the floor... she was NOT happy with me, and most of the pictures I managed to take reflect her mood. Regardless, I think she had a nice time being in the parade and seeing our friends and neighbors.



Our biggest up and down was with our friend Emma- she had a brain tumor removed about 8 days ago, and is by far the bravest 3 1/2 year old I know. We were so elevated by news that the tumor is out and scans look good, but fell with the news that the mass was cancerous and her road to good health will be a difficult one. Meg and I went up to visit them at Texas Children's Hospital, and Megan managed to make Emma smile and giggle, which brought a little relief to her tired parents.





We spent the evening on Friday with our other family, Katie and Luke. If you ask Megan, Luke is her little brother. Gets plenty of raised eyebrows with school and work friends. They do look like siblings, but then again, Katie and I get asked if we are sisters or twins, which neither one of us sees. It was a great way to cap off the week, and it was wonderful to see "the other" Katy, Luke, Katie and her parents.





Can you believe it? I also managed to squeak in two client shoots. First was Zane, the cutest little one year old boy. Megan came along to be my assistant (and sort of managed to help). We tromped around Thursday evening at Discovery Green, a skill Zane had picked up a week prior. Little boy giggles really get me. And his squinty-eyed smile. SUCH a doll!



Today (er, or yesterday- it's already 1am- I should look into sleeping sometime) I got to photograph three-week-old George V. Not the French King, obviously. (I think the long hours are really doing a number on my sense of humor.) Another wonderful family, and beautiful baby boy.



Ok, that's my week in a nutshell. How was yours?

Snoopy and Dock Dogs

It's been a bit hectic- we've had 2 friends with very sick (ie, in the hospital) children, so I saw my fair share of the Med Center this week. So, when I wasn't holding Megan, praying for our friends, or thanking all the powers that be that Meg is well and wonderful, I managed to take a few shots of my sister-in-law's new production of "Snoopy" which is playing at The Company Onstage, and the Dock Dogs competition at Discovery Green.

First, Charlie Brown:


Kathryn is Peppermint Patty, who carries a torch for Charlie Brown.



Snoopy and Woodstock:


Megan has seen it almost 3 times now (she missed part of one rehearsal), and was singing along with the cast from the audience when she saw it this weekend.

Yes, she has her feet on the stage.

A little food pr0n:
Waffles and Wings, The Breakfast Klub.

I have never been so stuffed and miserable, and yet so totally happy after brunch.

Dock Dogs- now, this was fun. Basically it's a dog (with a serious affinity for water) with an owner that chucks a toy into this GIANT pool from a platform that resembles a dock (elevated above the water a few feet) and they judge the performance by the distance of the dog's jump into the water. Megan was SO up for this.


Of course, there were a few dogs that were hesitant to jump:


But for the most part, we saw some great doggie athletes.







And of course, the day couldn't have been complete with a little humiliation of my favorite Nikon shooter:


Good times. GOOD times.

Child Overload

I have had the fun and good fortune to be able to stay home with my 5-year-old daughter, Megan, for the last 2 weeks- since school is out and we're getting ready to re-locate (some day), I currently am without an 8-5 job. Now, mind you, Megan has been in daycare or school since she was 8 weeks old, and I have only been at home with her a total of about 4 months total out of the entire 5 years she has been alive, so this is a very new thing for both of us.

I have only been about to kill her 11,543 times in 2 weeks.

Ok, I may be exaggerating just a little bit, but I think you catch my drift. But there definitely have been some beautiful highlights to the last 2 weeks, and it is so fun to get to see her from the minute I get up (because she wakes up first) to the minute she goes to bed (because I am in the terrible habit of staying up WAY too late).

For example, she left her very first prank voicemail message. (I am still looking for the page in her baby book that commemorates that landmark developmental step.) One of the actors/writers that was involved in the 48 Hour Film Project, Adam, had quite an impact on Megan.



I am sure you can understand why. He wears makeup.

He challenged her to a dance-off during filming, and she was quite taken with him, until she decided that he was too tall, too cute, and too funny for her.


A few days later when Kathryn was calling around to see when people would be arriving for the premiere of the film, Adam told her that he and Megan had a 4:30 reservation at Chuck-E Cheese, so he would be arriving sometime after their date. So, it is fair to say that he opened the door for this.

The following Sunday we were all gathered at my in-law's house for Father's day. Kathryn recounted what Adam had said earlier that week, and I said, "Well, I think Megan needs to call him and tell him off for not showing for their date!" This is how awesome my kid is: she did it. After several rehearsals to make sure she remembered everything (lines supplied by Kathryn and myself), we called and got Adam's voicemail. Here is her message:

"Adam. It's Megan. I waited for you at Chuck-E Cheese and you never showed up. I am very disappointed. CALL ME WHEN YOU GROW UP. Bye."

I tear up with pride just thinking about it.

No Autographs, Please.

You know, fame can really change a person. I mean, I still put on my pants one leg at a time, just like the rest of you, but the difference is that after I put on my pants? I'm "Woman in Cafe."



So, after catching up on sleep for 2 days, I am down to the last 250 images (of around 1300) from the 48 Hour Film Project. It was the most amazing experience - I watched a film go from a room of people throwing out random ideas to the first "action!" to "that's a wrap" to "crap, it's 22 seconds too long" to "oh my god, WE DID IT!" The crew from SWD was top notch- brilliantly creative, resilient, hilarious, gung-ho, and damned good looking. It was a delight to capture them, and I am overwhelmed to have been included in the project.




Update:
Here is a blog post from our director, Dutch, about his experience:
Dutch's Blog

48HFP - 28 Hours In...

OH MY GOD I AM SO TIRED. We had a 6am cast call, so I've been up since 5:30. I am emptying my 8 gig card, 890+ images (and there at the end I was deleting anything I could tell was crap from the viewfinder). They started out over in the Heights in an old garage/barn/storage thing that someone owns, then moved around the corner to the market there at Heights and 6th, then shot at a building that is being built-out from the studs that is sandwiched between the barn and the marketplace, then finally to an office building over in the Galleria (where they were shooting the last scene when I left them an hour ago).

Let me just say this. I WANT TO BE A FILM NERD. It is SO FREAKING awesome to work around creative people, and the affinity for good lighting gets a cinematography nerd just as bad as a photography nerd. Basically, I stood around with the lighting techs, the director of photography and the director and we snorted and geeked out over the cool set-ups and AWESOME sunset we had today. I am so glad I got to do this.

I'm not the only one who geeked out about watching the filming- Megan and Kip came by to watch for awhile, and Megan was completely intrigued by what goes on behind the scenes of a movie. I think what helped a lot was that Kathryn is the star of the show, the genre they drew was "Film de Femme" so they needed a strong female lead actress. She acted her ASS off, going on only minutes of sleep. I was totally impressed by everyone involved in the production.

Oh, yeah. AND I'M IN THE MOVIE.

BOO-YA, BITCHES!!!

I'm gonna take a nap now, until the composer calls me to come shoot him while he is working with the initial cut of the film.

48HFP

I am totally having the most awesome weekend ev-AR! My sister-in-law, Kathryn, is part of a film crew making a movie for the 48 Hour Film Project here in Houston, and I'm photographing the "Behind the Scenes" shots for them. They have an amazing group collected for this project, and are frantically writing the script and planning the shoots for tomorrow as I am at home editing their photos (and, of course, blogging like a tween after a Hannah Montana concert).

Oh, yes. I have a lanyard. AND a black binder. I'M A PART OF IT! I GOT MELON SQUISHINS ALL OVER ME!

So, if you check out my Flickr photostream, you'll see gobs of stuff from this evening- the team drew for their film genre, and got some of the required elements (prop, line of dialog and character), I was there to snap away (and even participate in the creative process) at their creative genius.