My Life As A....

Photoshop skills....

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 01:46:00 +0000

I got those! hehe Well, I am working on obtaining them. Photoshop is it's own universe with an infinite amount of possibilities. So much so that it can be overwhelming but I am working on increasing my knowledge on the subject.

Here are some samples I finished today, Enjoy!

Increasing My Exposure and Spending Money!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:54:00 +0000

I have spent the last few days really working with various sites to increase our exposure.

I have advertised on Atlanta Bridal for several years but am now increasing our presence on their site with various ads as well as being listed in their featured vendors (beginning in May 2009). I am in the process of revamping my brochure on My Atlanta Wedding (member since January 2008) and have recently purchased space on The Knot Georgia's home page for the next year!

I am really excited to see where this will take MyLife!

This is the ad that will appear on The Knot until I find or take a better image.

I am also in the process of submitting a wedding to a magazine and I am also beginning the process to submit weddings to The Knot, Atlanta Bridal, and Weddings Unveiled for their "real weddings" features! I will keep everyone posted on our progress.

Here is my new purchase! It is a digital balance card. I am planning to use it in conjunction with the light meter I already have in order to obtain even more well balanced light in my images! I will let you know how it goes! It is in route and should arrive in a day or two!

My light meter by Kenko. It is a great product for not a ton of money.

Here are a few more of my Party Booth (photobooth) trials. They are so much fun! I hope all my brides start to take advantage of this feature!

Playing in the dirt again!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:21:00 +0000

Today I took Owen outside to play! The weather was beautiful! Owen loves his new playhouse he received for his birthday and I got some great shots of him! He is really hard to photograph, very energetic I think is how people put it :)

Owen has also recently started digging in the dirt. He didn't do this last year and it seemed like an amazing new discovery the first time he did. Needless to say he took a long bath tonight! However, we had a great time.

If I posted a link for this blog for you please look and the entry below :)
Thanks

Photobooth? Phototag?

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Input please!

I have seen a trend going across the wedding world for photobooths at the weddings. Often set up by the photographer. I am thinking of adding this to my services. I set it up in my studio today to try it out. Basically it is a backdrop about 5ft wide and 8ft high with a camera on a tripod and strobe (light). The people control their own photos and use a wireless remote to snap the photo. I think I can figure out a way to tether the camera to a monitor and have the images pop up so that they can be viewed immediatly but may just go on and try it out first without the monitor hook up. I do think people will enjoy it more if the images can be viewed instantly though.....hmmmm. Tricky.

My issues:

it takes up a good amount of space and often I have found that coordinators at weddings sometimes have an issue about photographers invading their space. The overall dimensions would end up being about 5ft x6ftx8ft(high). Too big?

Pricing.....it takes a few minutes to set up and take down, I would need someone to man the photobooth aka guard the equipment, and then all the extra editing from the images taken. People can take as many images as they want. They don't have to just take one they can take several so that leads to some additional editing time.

Would you want one of these at your wedding? What would you pay for it? I have a price in mind but I would love to hear from all my readers first :)

Here are my trial photos from today. Sorry....I am still in my pjs and without makeup :) oh well!

I am hoping that this would encourage silly, funny photos from all the guests.

Here is my phototag from Heather

The 4th photo in the 4th folder of your pictures

This is me and Big Nick Calhoun, he is famous around these parts and is one of my greatest friends. Nick comes to our house atleast 3 nights a week and it often seems weird and empty if he stays away too long. He is very smart and funny and maybe one day will rule the world. He loves Owen and is like an Uncle to him. He has even babysat him before just so I could go get a pedicure! No joke!

Nick is our: Chuck buddy, Guillotine and Risk opponent, Political dictionary, Philosopher, Playhouse helper, Food critique, and best friend.

I love you Nick!

Here are my tags! Have fun!

Owen't 2nd Birthday Party!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:12:00 +0000

This is what Dustin has been doing a lot lately. We bought Owen a cedar playhouse for his birthday which has required a great deal more work than any of us anticipated! It still isn't done but Owen already loves it!

The birthday boy before all of his guests arrived!

The party theme was Spongebob! I left a few decorations up so that we could continue to celebrate a bit :)

We rented an 18ft inflatable slide. As you can see in the photo it had been raining in the early part of the day but thankfully it stopped at 10am and the party was at 2pm so we were set! We did have to slide down a time or two with towels underneath us before the kiddos got on!

It seemed that Owen really loved everyone singing to him :)

The presents were a hit too! Thank you so much to everyone!

Some sliding goodness! The slide really was worth it! We had a ton of people here and this truely entertained everyone. I somehow didn't end up with a photo of everyone playing on it. The day was a little chaotic but so much fun! It was so much better to me this year than his 1st birthday. He was playing and into the presents and the other kids seemed to have a lot more fun with the slide and the toys! I really can't express how great it was. Thank you to everybody that came!

Owen's Birthday...officially.

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:18:00 +0000

Today is Owen's 2nd birthday! We aren't having the "real" party until this Saturday but we did manage to have a little cake today!

It only took one bite....

...and then it was on!!!!

More to come after the weekend!

New Year's Eve!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:02:00 +0000

It was a blast and I am very lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends. They are there for all the times I have: good, bad, funny, tragic, drunken, and sober :)

I love all of you!

Our first photo of 2009!

Me and Heatherbean!!

Happy New Year and I am excited to see what happens for all of us in 2009!

Christmas Week!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:25:00 +0000

This week is filled with lots of exciting events.

Tuesday the three of us went to the Georgia Aquarium. It was Owen's first time and he was amazed! The last time Dustin and I went to the aquarium was the day he proposed to me. So it is a special place for me. Dustin did great taking lots of photos and this was my favorite.

Also this week Owen graduated to a toddler bed! He is growing up so fast. He really likes his new bed and has taken to it well. I was worried about him constantly getting out of it but last night was pretty good. Today he is taking his first nap in it and is still fast asleep! Yay!

Tonight Santa comes! I will add to this post later.

Later.....

Santa has come! He was really good to us this year!

Thanks Grammy for the tricycle too!

Owen loved his giant tent...which we somehow stuffed into his room with all of his furniture. When I told Santa that Owen wanted a tent I didn't really mean one soooooooo big!

His favorites were Buzz and Woody!

The aftermath!

I took this with my new Nikon cool pix that Dustin gave me. Thanks babe!

Santa!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:58:00 +0000

Owen and I got to see Santa today! It was great, a little hectic, but great! We went at 11am this morning thinking that the line would be short but I must have been an idiot to think Santa wouldn't have a line a mile long no matter when or where he was! :)

Owen did really well, ok pretty good. No crying atleast. I was half expecting to walk out of there with the classic kid screaming on Santa's lap photo. But as you can see we survived!

It was his first experience with Santa Claus in person and I am glad it went well. He even gave Owen a candy cane.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Growing up...or atleast pretending....

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:11:00 +0000

This morning Owen sat at the table all by himself and ate his breakfast. I have been pushing his highchair up to the table recently but today he sat in a big person chair all by himself. You can tell he loved it!

Also his latest obsession is wearing Daddy's shoes and walking all over the house. Pretending to be Daddy I suppose, but it is so cute!

Christmas Time is Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:03:00 +0000

It is Christmas time and I love it! I am super excited about it this year. Owen is nearly 2 years old now and I am looking forward to seeing his reactions to all that is "Christmas". I can't wait for Santa to come and watch Owen come into the living room for all that awaits him!

We started our family traditions after we returned from Thanksgiving in Statesboro with my sisters this past week. We always decorate our tree on the Saturday after the turkey holiday. We bake cookies all day and listen to nothing but Christmas music. Owen was very involved this year, it was wonderful.

Dustin making his famous ham for Sunday dinner with the Park family.

The sugar cookies were Owen's favorites!

CB and Nick were here to help.

CB even brought Joy a present....hehe! It was a picture of Obama....funny but not Joy's favorite I am sure.

Our tree is a collection of memories. This one from 1982 that I made as a child.

These candles are atleast 20 years old. They were in my parents home when I was growing up and this year we placed them on Owen's book shelf.

My favorite from my childhood. (The last unicorn)

The finished product of our living room. You can see that I am way ahead on my Christmas shopping! I am not usually one to put things off and I am nearly done with all of my shopping! Yay!

I hope all of my blog readers have a wonderful holiday!

New Kids and New Experiences!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:13:00 +0000

On Wednesday night me and several of my girlfriends went to see the New Kids On The Block! We had so much fun. We screamed so much that I don't know how I spoke for the next two days! Many of us that went have been friends since middle school and remember the days of teen beat covered walls, puff paint, jelly shoes, and new kids tunes! It was unreal to be there, this had been the soundtrack to our preteen lives, memories almost forgotten. I was so happy to be there with my girls and can't believe it actually happened.

We were so close it was amazing. When they came down of the center stage you see here I actually touched Donnie and Joey! OMG!

Our new experience for the week was trick or treating! Owen wasn't even a year old last year so we spent the night passing out candy in 2007. This year, however, we went downtown to the fall festival and received candy from the local shops in our community. Owen ate 4 suckers while we were there and would not reliquish the pumpkin filled with candy for anything! It was cute.

My Little Superman!

We also had our family portraits made this morning by Heather! Thanks girl!

So needless to say it has been a crazy busy week with all of that and just our normal lives. Will we slow down? Not yet! We are off to my friend Jessica's tonight for another Halloween bash with the kiddies! Wish us luck!

Wedding Weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:20:00 +0000

This past weekend me and my girls went down to Jekyll for a wedding for a woman that is very special to me. My little Lori who's not so little anymore. We had a great time and enjoyed the sights, seafood and the freezing water!! I acutally worked too! I photographed the wedding :)

This picture is how I think of Lori (2004). Me, on the other hand was dressed up for an 80s party so please excuse the makeup and hair! :)

I taught public school as an art teacher for 6 years and one of the greatest connections I made during those years was with Lori, my student. Never did I think seeing her sitting in my classroom paisting and painting that we would become such great friends, peers, and confidants. I love her so much! I do believe that meeting Lori was worth all those days of stress, tears, and begging for art supplies.

This was Lori last Saturday!

I am so happy for the both of you, as I told you "twice" this past weekend! haha! I love the both of you and I am looking forward to the future and being in our 70s while still having our monthly cookouts!

Four girls, one hotel room, one bathroom, causes for extreme closeness! haha! Love you girls!

The view from our room (sunrise).

Freaky Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:45:00 +0000

Friday night me and three of my friends gave Lori a bachelorette/lingerie party! We had so much fun!

We had the best cake ever made by April , Lori's Sister. It was AWESOME!

Here is Lori modeling the cake for us!

The four best hostesses ever and the guest of honor! Kristin, Joy, Lori (the bride), Catherine (me), and April.

Lots of great presents. Some I wouldn't want to post for all the world to see.

Lots of pretty drinks to quench our thirsts!

We had another guest of honor! ;)
I have censored to photo to protect his identity!

Apparently Kristin can't drink Jessica under the table....only herself! :)

The last ones of us that made it to the end, a.k.a. the wee hours of the night, somehow ended up on the floor. Always a sign that it was a great party!

The Perry Fair!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:28:00 +0000

Owen and Daddy

We took little Owen to the Perry Fair on Sunday! It was a blast! I was truly suprised at how much he loved riding all the fast stuff! I thought we were going to just ride simple, easy kid rides...oh no! He loved the crazy kid rides! I am so glad that he is getting to the age that he is so interactive and loving the world.

Owen and his Papa on our way into the fair.

Me and Owen riding atleast one easy ride!

Getting ready to go for a drive!

Yes. That is me and Owen on a roller coaster!

Who knew 1 1/2 year olds liked this kind of stuff?

Heather's little girl....

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:35:00 +0000

I took some photos of Heather's little Mallory today. Here is my favorite! You can see a few more on my photography blog.

So cute!

Random Photo Of The Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:58:00 +0000

Biggest Mushroom Ever!!

Weird! We found this in our yard today!

Encouragement...

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:34:00 +0000

Check out my photography blog. I spent last night photographing an adoption finalization party for a sibling group of 3 children. It was truly encouraging for me to see them all there with all their friends and family. It gave me a boost. :)

Shooting like mad and a new website!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 12:20:00 +0000

This is what I have looked like for a while now. I know that I am working like crazy but I must say that I love it. I am a work fanatic, I always have been. The weddings are going well, I still have a ways to go before a decent break. I just have 3 weeks left with my art history students so we are on the downhill slope of the quarter.

The best thing I have done lately is finish my NEW WEBSITE!! I am super excited about it! I just got it going live late last night and you may not be able to see it yet. It takes 72 hours to propogate. But you might! You may also need to clear out your cache on your internet or simply refresh the page if you have been there before.

You should go to a black screen.
I really love it!

Here is one of my favorite photos from last weekend. We got some really lovely ones yesterday as well. I will post a blog on my photoblog in a day or two.

:)

A day in the life of a wedding photographer

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:48:00 +0000

As I was going through the images from my weddings this weekend, yes I shot two weddings, I began to really think about what an unusual job I have. I really do love the act of shooting a wedding. It is a day that is always filled with joy and celebration. I never have a bad day, some may be more stressful than others but really I have a good time at all of them.

Here is a glimpse into my thoughts as a wedding photographer:

I imagine that I go to more weddings in a year than most people do in their entire lives (somewhere around 30 for 2008).

I am very organized and it is all business until the reception where I can let things unfold in front of me.

During the Mother and Son dance I always wonder what it will be like on the day I have to dance with Owen. The last act of him being mine alone.

I often feel invisible. I am in the thick of the conversations, laughter and celebration but do not take part in any of it. I am often not acknowledged and am given freedom to move in and out of the crowd. It is an unusual feeling, almost like watching a movie, seeing intimate moments of strangers without consequence.

I place increasing pressure on myself to be a better photographer.

Numbers of exposure times, ISOs, focal lengths and light outputs run through my mind constantly while shooting which makes it increasingly difficult to just let my self be creative.

I have a weird thing about photographing people taking photographs or looking at them. There is something about their desire to stop the moment forever that I want to capture.

I often dance as I am weaving in and out of the dance floor for those upclose party shots!

I will on many occasions sing along with the music.

I usually long for a martini but resist.

My neck aches after carrying 10lbs of equipment around my neck and on my hips for 9 hours.

I truly enjoy going through the completed photos, editing, and have a feeling of accomplishment when I see that one photo that captures the atmosphere of the whole wedding in a single shot!

I am lucky to have a job like this one. I am thankful for it.

Quick update!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 02:08:00 +0000

Dustin came home yesterday! Thank goodness! I feel so much more at ease with him here.

I begin a 12 wedding marathon tomorrow that last until the last weekend of October! Wish me luck and that I keep my sanity! :)

Biting Nails and Sleeping Alone....

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 11:54:00 +0000

This week has been very busy for everyone I know! So here is the quick rundown!

Sunday, August 3, Dustin left for LA and won't be back until Thursday August 14!!! I am not too happy about being alone for that long. I think it is beginning to effect Owen and I can tell he misses his Daddy.

Tuesday I spent the day scurring around for a sitter so that I could rush up to the hospital because Heather was in labor. It was a hurry up and wait situation. I took my uber camera so that I could get some decent shots for her and in return I got some interesting looks from others waiting in the lobby! haha Really the camera is huge! ha

Me biting my nails in anticipation!

Owen also received a baby pool from his Papa!

I have been meeting with clients and booked 2 more weddings for 2009! I am also trying to resist purchasing the new Nikon D700!!! Ha! I have a weakness for new cameras!

Today me and Owen are off to his cousins birthday party in Thomaston and tomorrow we are off to visit with Heather!!!!

It has been a tad bit insane around here and probably more so since I have been playing single Mom all week.

No one really reads this anyway...right?

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:32:00 +0000

Ok so I posted a blog the other day about our adoption and took it down because I felt it was too personal. But then just now I was thinking...."no one really reads this stuff anyway"....so I might as well vent out my excitement and frustration.

We are still waiting, waiting, waiting, to finish our classes with the state. I had thought we would finish this coming February 2009 but it is kind of like those moments when you are young and you think "I'll do this when I am 25". Twenty five seems an eternity away but then you turn around and you are 31! Yikes! So even though I complain about waiting and time being very slow it is actually very fast! February seems so soon!! I am already booking weddings for March and April of 2009 so it seems as if it is around the corner. I am terrified of adding a new child....just the unknown....trying to balance it all. But I do find myself longing for her. I see other children, of all ages, and think "I could love her". I am not so much worried about the attachment to her, although others in my family circle somehow think that is the biggest issue, I am more worried about balancing time, activities, attention, ect....between the two of them. I think I have that Mom guilt where you love your child that you have now so much that you can't imagine loving anyone else that way or somehow sharing/dividing that love. I know it is common and I will get over it but it is a weird feeling.

In the meantime we have deceided to sponsor a child through AHOPE! AHOPE provides support, medicine, and education to children in Africa with HIV/AIDS. I am so excited about our photo and info on our sponsored child coming! I received an email today saying that everything should arrive within a week. I am one of those people that are adopting because I want to give a child a home, love, tradition and opportunities that might otherwise not have them. I feel that this is something I am meant to do...that it is part of my purpose here. I can't really explain it. Anyway, I feel that by becoming a sponsor the pain/anxiousness of my waiting may be eased. That my soul will be able to rest a little knowing that there is a child out there who's life I am contributing to in some small way. I plan to sponsor as long as possible!

Here is a link if anyone is interested in finding out more about AHOPE.

4th of July!

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:30:00 +0000

We had a great fourth of July this year! We were originally going to head toward Savannah to visit with family and enjoy the beach but due to a nasty virus going around down there we stayed home. I was a bit bummed about it and still wanted to do something special for the holiday. I searched and searched the internet and found Callaway Gardens! So we all loaded up and headed south for a road trip! We had a great time! Owen played on the playground and had several firsts for his little life!!! He saw his first trapeze artists, his first experience with a sandy shore, and his first fireworks! He loved the fireworks by the way!

Dustin, Owen and Me

My best friend Joy went with us too!

Trapeze Artists and Ice Cream went well together.

Owen loved the water...that is him on the bottom right!

The fireworks were nice and Owen loved them!

Heather's Maternity Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:59:00 +0000

I know almost all of you follow Heather's blog so I wanted to let you guys know I did her maternity shots yesterday! Check them out on my photography blog!

They turned out really great!

So Heather,
I am working on them!!! I promise!!! hehe I will have them all done soon!
Love you.