Learning to rest....

I really had to focus on resting yesterday,because on Tuesday I did a photoshoot with Rachelle and her twins. I can't remember if I already wrote about this, but I'm going to write again. I have been going steady for a week. I work on the photo biz after work, on my days off. On Sunday, I was going all day-literally, with half hour breaks in between. No joke! woke up at 6:30, was at worship practice for 8, sang for two services in which I sang a KILLER solo (yay me) for one song, that ended at 1:30, we were expecting kids to come at 2:00 for emily's birthday party (she turned 9!!), then we all went to the movie theater at 2:20, because we were watching Night at the Museum 2 (very funny...even better to watch a row full of girls giggle!), then came home and had cake and opened presents. Parents came to pick up kids at 6:00, and at 6:30 I had to go to work because they were having a storewide meeting. I'm not allowed to comment on it, but all I have to say is it wasn't fun. grrrr. It was done at 9:30pm and finally made it in the door at around 10:00!! I had to work at 6 the next day. I was suprised that I wasn't too tired in the morning. But Tuesday morning I went to Rachelle's first thing in the morning to take pics for her. The babies were finished eating breakfast a little early that morning, so when I got there, they were tired and ready for a nap! So I had to pull out the big guns, and get really creative. It wasn't easy, but I was able to get a few good shots of them. I've started to edit them and I'm really happy that they are turning out. There wasn't too much natural light, but I'm a Natural light photographer! What do you do when there's no natural light? Well...thank god for Camera Raw and photoshop! Here's a sample of what I've edited so far yesterday...looking at them now I feel like I have to edit them somemore...grrrr. I was good until about 11:30 and then I started to crash. Got home and couldn't keep my eyes open. fell asleep with my hand on my chin while browsing Facebook and woke up just in time to pick up Ally from school!!! Now that's bad and very scary. Poor teacher, he had to see me with my just woke up look face on...again, not very pretty. So yesterday, like I said I had to focus all my energy on not looking at facebook (because that's work now because of my online group) and not pick up a photography or photoshop book. It was SOOO hard! I made myself watch a movie, and a couple times caught myself trying to get on facebook...tsk tsk. I ended up starting on a poster at around 10:00 that night, and didn't finish till 4:00!!! I can't believe I did that! SO crazy! Sso needless to say, I'm starting to crash, the coffee is starting to lose it's power. I really need to learn to rest.

Seeds...

I have to say that things are not going as fast as I would like them. I have this vision of where I want to be, and a huge list of things to do to get started. I was very overwhelmed about a week ago, and then I had this thought

Every seed you sow will bear fruit

I pondered on that for a bit, and thought there is so many things that I could apply to. Parenting, relationships...the seeds that I sow will bear fruit - no matter how small. It has encouraged me to keep going. Like I say, I many times want to give up as a parent - especially at bedtime (i hate bedtime sometimes...grrrr.) I guess, I just want to encourage you that if there is something in your life that seems impossible, remember that even the little things we do - simple prayer, time spent together, a hug, a kiss, is a seed that is planted and that in time will bear fruit. Just give it time.

photography

I did my second photoshoot on Wednesday. It's funny, it seems like all my good friends either are photographers or are seriously interested in photography. Well, right now I'm taking pictures of as many people as I can. My friend Stacey and I went out on wednesday to scout out locations and to practice some shots. Tuesday night I was sketching some shots, and one of them was a subway shot. I imagined the model standing perfectly still, while the subway car is a blur in the background. Well, we did that! I was so excited when we caught it! I was on such a high after that!

I want to find some really cool graffiti walls in edmonton, and find some people with really cool tatoos and piercings. Today I bought a new lens. Brian bought me one for Mother's day, but it just wasn't doing it for me. I took so many pics and they kept coming out blurry. I used this lens with Stacey and I only got a couple mediocore shots..nothing wow. I was so embarrased to post the pictures from the photoshoot with stacey because of that. So I exchanged it, and was able to get a much better one...the only thing is that it was more than double what I paid for the first one. I didn't think about it too much when I was at the photoshop..I just wanted to get that problem fixed. But when I left the store, it slowly started to register....what am I doing?!! I've been so good about not putting stuff on my credit card, and then I pull a stunt like this!!! what is brian going to think?! He's going to be so mad! But we stopped at a skateboard park behind the rec center on 23rd Ave, and took some pics of the girls. I fit it on my camera...and the first time I held it..I thought, "wow this is so much heavier...what have I done?!" I got ally to pose for me on the field...I took one shot and magic! Amazing!

I feel so much better now. I think it was totally worth it! Hopefully it will get me some clients and get this business off the ground. I have a baby shoot on tuesday. (Tomorrow..I wrote this on Saturday) The twins have turned 6 months so I'm going to take some outdoor shots of them - weather permitting and almost all the people on the morning shift have said that they will be my models. Isn't that amazing?! So I have to follow up with them and schedule a time. It's so exciting. Even if I don't get this thing off the ground, I'm seriously having the time of my life.

the rest of the photos are on facebook. If you want to see them, then you have to be my friend...if you're not, then you should be :)

Taking risks....

It's so funny, that 9 times out of 10, when I go to church on a sunday morning, that the message will be about something that I am either going through, or that God is trying to teach me. Since I've stepped out to start my photography business, I've been so blessed. Not only have people been so encouraging, everywhere I turn God is guiding my steps and sending people into my life. I have this nervous excitment, it's crazy, and that was what the message was about yesterday. Live like your dying. If your not taking risks, then your not living. And that Jesus, not only knew when and how he was going to die, he knew the people he was with would desert him. So He literally lived like He was dying and the people around him were dying too - spiritually.

The message totally confirmed that I'm not doing the wrong thing, stepping out. I have to keep telling myself that I'm not taking a stupid risk. I do have the talent, everything is in me to do this. Of course I have lots to learn, but I have the ability to really make this work, and I have the motivation to see it through. I don't know why we're so scared of success, believing that we can do it and fulfill our dreams. It's easier to believe that we can't, and that we're not enough.

Have you ever....

Hey everyone.

I'm truly excited about my decision to pursue photography. The thought of doing jewelry or art (though I really like it), really didn't do it for me. When I think of photography, and taking pictures I get truly excited, and get butterflies. It's CRAZY! If I could bottle it up..I would! I'm toying with names. I was thinking of LG photography, and having my watermark be a my initials in the corner in a cute script. I also LOVE butterflies, bees, flowers, birds. From what I'm reading on my groups on Flickr, you don't want to have your name too "cutesy". But I thought about .....

a) Birds and Bees Photograhy - and use a modern silhouette of a bird and a bee for my logo.

b) Metamophosis Photography - with a butterfly (again, black silhouette...i have something definite in mind..I'm very picky).

I love this clip art...but not sure if I can use it for something.

So this is the link to my ad that I put on kijiji...let me know what you think. I'm thinking of opening another Flickr acount just for my business stuff. So people can look at it, and probably a separate blog. But...that's probably not for awhile, but depending on my responses, it might be closer than I think. ;)

1...2...3...hold breath...close eyes...jump.

Wow! My past few weeks have been a blur. I really try to keep my life low key, but slowly one by one things got added, and then before I realized, I was almost in over my head. I got through..barely if it wasn't for good friends at the right time. It consisted of taking LOTS of photos, makes lots of jewelry, a few lows (sorry brian!), Lots of highs, and a black eye! Where should I start. I've really been meaning to write, and I actually did. I saved a draft, but the next day, there was so much more to add, and it didn't seem that exciting anymore compared the NEW stuff I had to write.

K...well first of all I'll tell you about last weekend. Thursday, I was invited to join the photography team at church! So my first assignment was to help cover the Women's Day (which took place on the Saturday) that we had at our church. I said no problem, because I was going to be there anyway selling my jewelry (I'll talk about that in a sec). And they said that if I could only do it part time that would be ok. So I said great! But what I hadn't thought about was my jewelry, what if THAT doesn't go as smoothly as I would like it? Well, it didn't. Half of my beads didn't show up, and they were basically my favorite ones (cherry quartz and fluorite whaaaa) So Friday night I had a meltdown. Mentally I didn't finish planning what I would do if my beads wouldn't come in. Of course they would come in! I realized all the stuff that I had to do that hadn't been done - ya, brian took the brunt of it, and helped me get through. I stayed up till 2 am that night finishing the last of my bracelets, and pricing. I was so tired that I could hardly string the beads...it was quite funny..but not really. Woke up early the next day.



here's a sample of the pics I took from the Woman's Day event....



I ended up only selling a few bracelets, and I was suprised that my dollar store beads kept getting picked up, but my semi-precious ones weren't. oh well. On Sunday, I got to preform a song that I wrote. It was so neat, but very awkward to lead the band. I've only been a band member, and that's how I've always seen myself. So to switch roles, it was different. I need to work on my communication. Though, it is harder to convey an idea that has never been done before. When we do a new song on the worship team, it's been sung before, and it's a complete sound. so we just copy that. But to try and get them to be creative,and CREATE a new sound - when there is just one instrument to reference from, that's a different story.
I did REALLY good the first service. I totally nailed it - except for I forgot the first line to the second verse so I sang.."runny nose dirty toes.....runny nose, dirty toes" how gross is that?
I nailed the build and the bridge...(sigh) it was awesome.

My friend Sarah is the charge of mulitmedia team. So, I asked if there was a way she could get someone to videotape my performance. She was able to find someone for the second service. But what I didn't realize was the soundman messed with the levels on the soundboard, and he turned me down, because someone said that I was too loud. So for my second performance, I didn't realize I was oversinging, and when it came to the build and instrumental - I did the most HORRIBLE skreech/dying animal wail. I tried desperately to recover, but it didn't happen. When I get the video back from sarah, I'll put it up so you all can see. I'm sure it's not that bad...but to me it makes my ears bleed. horrible. too bad they didn't record my first performance! oh well.

Last night, brian made me take the plunge and advertise my photography skills on kijiji. I don't know why I'm so apprehensive. I think because, i'm scared of not being able to deliver a quality product. I feel like I really don't know that much, but when I compare my photos to people who have been doing this for awhile...i think why not? So I just took the plunge and did it. This morning, I got my first phone call! Unfortunately, she was looking to do boudoir, and didn't want to take pics at her house. I really don't have the place to do that. So we'll see. I'm scared and excited at the same time. 1 2 3...hold breath...close eyes...jump.