Favourite Things (Present & Future)

I am lucky to have the free (and legal) use of Photoshop CS4 for editing my photos. I love it and could not imagine using anything else right now. I'm working on getting CS5:



Thanks to a lovely Best Buy warranty I was able to upgrade my laptop to a MacBook Pro. I've been
an iBook G3 and standard MacBook girl for almost 10 years, but I was ready to upgrade and I love it:



I also love this iPhone app called ShakeIt Photo - it turns your photos into Polaroids:



I'm working on saving up to buy a used Canon 5D. I will have to save for a while, and buy brand new lenses (as my current is a Sony), but I know it will take my photography to the next level:



And just for laughs, I love this blog called Catalog Living:

Wedding Shoot No. 2

I was privileged to do a shoot with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law as well. I had asked them ahead of time to do a shoot while we were together on vacation in Lake Nacimiento. When we got together, Rachael told me that she was really excited about doing the shoot, because their own wedding photos hadn't actually come out that well. I was so happy to do a shoot with them and be able to offer them a better set of wedding photos, 10+ years later!

Here's a sneak peak:

My Long-Term Dream

My long-term goal and ultimate dream for my photography is that I get enough clients and business to be able to pull in my husband, John, to be a full-time partner and photographer. He has joined me on a few shoots and has always been an amazing help; in directing, having a great eye for shots and locations and being a wonderful support. When my brain goes blank, he has an idea. When I'm stuck on one angle, he finds another which I hadn't seen. He can tend to think a bit more outside of the box than I do and brings an area of creativity which is so different to mine but which I absolutely love and need!

He joined me lately on my recent bride shoot with my sister-in-law, and took some amazing photos that I just had to blog them:

Experience

I'm discovering that experience is key when it comes to photography. I'm not always the best at trying to get the most that I can, but I did make the most of our vacation week with John's family recently. I set up two "wedding" shoots to increase my experience and my portfolio. I did bride shots with John's sister, Bekah, and bride and groom shots with John's sister and brother-in-law, Rachael and Matt. We were in a gorgeous location, at Lake Nacimiento, and were able to take advantage of the amazing light we found between 7 and 8:30 that night! If only I could have this much control over timing and lighting at all wedding shoots!

I'm working on the edits for Bekah's shoot and here's a little sneak peak: