Breakfast Wedding

A bear claw for my dad, a cheese danish for my mom and donuts for my sister, my brother and myself. Saturday morning. If I close my eyes I can almost smell that delightful little German bakery.

Housing for Lindsey AFB was off base in Wiesbaden, Germany. That equals awesome. All of us military folks lived in a sort of neighborhood of houses, apartments and an elementary school right there in middle of town. We were surrounded by German neighborhoods, shops, parks, restaurants and bakeries.

I'm profoundly grateful that my mother didn't keep us in a bubble. She explored Germany with us in tow. We rode the bus and the train. We shopped at German grocery stores and Christmas markets. We ate 'street food' like spaghetti ice and pommes frites. We visited castles, museums and swimming pools.
It. was. glorious.

Out of all those memories, my fondest is walking to the bakery behind our house on Saturday mornings to get breakfast for the family. And now, thanks to pinterest, I've become obsessed with the idea of a breakfast wedding. I really, REALLY want to shoot one. OK?  K.

'They'

You know they say, "practice makes perfect."  Well, I am doing my part.

Pinterest | A Planner's Paradise

I looked at John from across the couch and asked, "so what are we doing tomorrow?" He looked back and smiled. I'd only asked him 15 times already and he'd answered the same every time, "I don't know."

'Tomorrow' was our anniversary and he took time off so we could spend the day together. Awesome, but I needed a plan. Look, I'll admit that my urge to plan weekend events and vacations can be a teensie-bit annoying (when it came to our wedding it borderlined on crazy-obsessive) but it's just who I am. I'm all for spontaneity but can it please be planned? Kidding! Sort of.  

My twitter feed has been all abuzz lately about Pinterest.com. Pinterest is a place to collect inspiration. It's a virtual cork board to pin images you like and catalog them. It's a planner's paradise. Here's how it works:

After joining pinterest you install a 'pin it' button for your browser. Then you surf the internet as per usual. When you see an image that you like all you have to do is click the 'pin it' button, add a description, click pin and then go back to surfing. When you want to see what you've pinned you log into pinterest and you'll have boards like the ones I've shared below. What's awesome is that when you pin stuff a link to the site is pinned too. That way you can always go back and find where the image came from.

The best part? All of these images are stored on pinterest instead of on your computer. I used to have a zillion folders filled with a zillion inspiration images stored on my computer. Pinterest replaced them and my hard drive sent me a thank you card. And, even better than that, I can access pinterest on my phone. So, I can now carry all my inspiration with me. Woot!

Pinterest isn't just a personal catalog of inspiration though, it's also a social site. Like twitter/facebook you can follow people and they can follow you. You can re-pin stuff you see others pinning and you can comment on pins too.

Pinterest will change your world if you are:
  -a bride planning a wedding
  -planning any sort of party
  -a soon to be mommy decorating a nursery
  -decorating/renovating a room in your house (or your whole house)
  -an artist who likes keeping a file of inspiring images
  -planning your early retirement with a 'bucket list' of places to go

My newest board is a collection of color pallets. I'll be writing a blog post about these soon.

And, here's a peek at my 'little girl love' board full of stuff for Olivia. 

Pinterest is still somewhat new and you have to be invited to join. Don't worry, you can request an invitation from the site. My invitation request was accepted in just a few days. Follow me if you're pinterested.

Also, any of y'all notice that I blogged every day last week? Number 20 on the 31 before 31 list. Boom.

Instagram Date. It's SO hipster.

So, I saw this blog last week about how to be a hipster. The blog outlined the interests of a hipster and I'm telling you that it was as if the writer hacked my computer and stole my iTunes library and then browsed through my netflix favorites. I'm 80% hipster? Pshh, hipster. This started a new running joke in our house and I just need to say something to John real quick if y'all don't mind... "Your face is hipster."  :)

I've since read many more posts on that blog and read the post outlining the appearance of a hipster and according to that I am 0% hipster. So, which is it? I think I probably fall somewhere around 50% hipster although, you'll never get me to say that out loud.

I would claim a lower percentage but I have a feeling that celebrating your wedding anniversary with an instagram date is 100% a hipster move. If you're not familiar with instagram, it's kinda like twitter for photography. It's an app that you use to take photos with your phone and upload them to a twitter-type feed. You can follow people and they can follow you.

Yesterday, John and I walked around downtown for a few hours reminiscing about our past, talking about our future and taking photos. It was one of the best dates we've ever had! Thanks instagram for the entertainment!

Emerald City

Help

Makin' Copies

Portrait of a Hipster

To the left. To the left.

Love Triangle

You can find me on instagram @jessidphoto. John is @jdrizzle. 

If you're a sucker for good composition, I'd suggest following @zarias and @fixelzero.  

An Anniversary

You know that feeling when you're driving home from work on the same street you've driven a thousand times, and the sun is bathing everything in pretty orange light and somehow it feels as though it's the first time you've been there?

The feeling when you are really good friends with a guy and one day you look at him and suddenly realize that you don't want to take one more breath if it means he won't be yours forever?

I love it when that happens (insert me smoothly winking at my husband) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Taking a note from J* I wrote a love list.  I knew I loved you when...

.. you cleaned your plate the first time I cooked for you

.. you told me that you loved my laugh

.. you gave me my first DSLR and the note attached read, “I believe in you.”

.. you suggested we get married at the beach

.. you let me have the left side of the bed even though it was 'your side'

.. you reached for my hand as we crossed the finish line at the Mercedes Half Marathon

.. you kissed my forehead after I gave birth to our daughter 

It's been an amazing four years. Here's to forever more!!

Photo courtesy of my Dad

Help-Portrait Tuscaloosa | June 5th 2011

"A picture is worth. Help-Portrait is a global movement of photographers using their time, gear and expertise to give back to those in need."


Number 16 on the 31 before 31 list is: Be a part of Help Portrait in Montgomery. I first learned about HP last year while the worldwide event was taking place in December. Jeremy Cowart was teaching a workshop on CreativeLIVE and Chase Jarvis interviewed him about HP. Help-Portrait was created in Jeremy's heart and has grown into a worldwide movement of photographers 'giving' photographs, not just 'taking' them. 


I quickly did some research and was SUPER bummed to find out that I had missed the 2010 HP event in Montgomery. I vowed then that I would not miss it in 2011. Little did I know that I wouldn't have to wait a year. Little did I know that on April 27th the worst tornado outbreak in the history of the state would leave so many Alabamians with nothing. Hundreds perished and thousands were left homeless. 


A group of photographers got together and decided to have a HP event early to give these families something they may have lost... a family portrait. I signed up to help and I hope you can too!!  


As of now, there are organized HP events for those affected by the tornados in Tuscaloosa and in Birmingham. HP needs much more than photographers. We need event operators, make-up artists, hair stylists, clothing and general volunteers. If you would like to help please visit the Help-Portrait Tuscaloosa page on facebook and click on the discussions tab (specifically the 'Roles' discussion). You will find what HP needs and who to contact. 


Tuscaloosa Event Details 
Date: Sunday, June 5th, 2011
Time: 10:00am - 5:00pm
Location: TBD

http://Help-Portrait.com

Montevallo, Alabama | Southern Magnolia Wedding: Alisha + Joey

One of the coolest things about second shooting is meeting photographers that I admire. I've been 'stalking' Meredith Rowlen Photography on facebook for quite some time and I finally met her last Saturday. We've exchanged emails and 'talked' on the internets but I was still nervous to meet her. Mainly because I wasn't only meeting her, but I was about to spend the next 8 hours working for/with her shooting a wedding at the beautiful Southern Magnolia house in Montevallo, AL.

Thankfully my nerves took a chill pill as soon as I started shooting. Then, I really relaxed when I showed some shots to Meredith and she approved saying, "look at you being all rock-star!" Meredith, YOU are the rock-star and I was happy to be your 'groupie' for the day ;)

Alisha and Joey spoiled us. Spoiled. They were wonderfully comfortable in front of the camera and beyond sweet to each other. During their first look, Joey could not stop gushing over his gorgeous bride. I think the word is smitten. Can you blame him? I mean, LOOK at her!!

Another thing I love about second shooting is photographing the details. Alisha and Joey handmade some of them together. Aaand swoon. 

 

To see more from Alisha and Joey's wedding check out their album on Meredith Rowlen's Photography page on facebook.

A+J,
Your wedding was amazing. I'm lucky to have been a part of it. Hakuna Matata to y'all!! (You had to be there, but trust me... it was awesome)

Second Shooting

Sometimes I'll have an idea for a blog post, but will get writer's block when I sit at my computer to write. When that happens I start the post with one or two sentences to describe the idea I had and then I'll come back when inspiration strikes.

I've had a post sitting in my blog queue for a while and I opened it to write this today.  The title was Second Shooting and it read, 'has been awesome.' I wrote that after second shooting for the first time and I'm not sure why I didn't just post it as is. Second shooting HAS been awesome.

I've had the pleasure of second shooting 4 weddings this Spring and I've been having the best time. A lot of established photographers will tell you that second shooting is part of 'paying your dues' in the photography world. While it's true that as a second shooter you are working as an employee/intern for the main shooter, it hasn't felt like 'paying dues' to me. I'm getting invaluable on the job experience learning the wedding day workflow and finding/creating good light when there seems to be none. I'm building my portfolio, making friends in the industry and watching my dreams become reality.

Maybe I've been lucky to work with the remarkably talented photographers I have because they've hardly made it feel like work. More on them (and pics too) coming soon!!

Sprucing Up the Internets

In hindsight, I should re-word #12 on the 31 before 31 list. 'Finish a branding project' should be 'get a good understanding of what you want your brand to be and then spend the rest of forever working on it'.

Branding, to me, is something that will always be evolving. Especially when it comes to the client experience. But, I've got a good start as far as branding my internet presence so #12 now has a check mark beside it.

This is only part of the Jessi D brand. I guess you'll have to be a client to experience the rest ;)