Meeting with fellow wedding photogs at Whistle Stop!

Here we are!  That is Melissa Roe on the left and Julie Pease to my right.  Aren't they beautiful?!  Before we departed, I asked a young lady that worked at the coffee shop to take this picture.  We had a joyful time of sharing and encouraging each other in our photography quest.  You might remember Melissa.  I had introduced her in an earlier post.  She was my 2nd shooter at Kristin and Michael's wedding.  I must say, she did a jam up job helping me with the wedding.  Melissa is so very attentive and instinctual about what needs to be done next.  She is a great photographer who absorbs everything like a sponge.   She had asked me if she could shadow me!  I was thrilled.  She didn't have to twist my arm.  I was very happy to have her by my side.  The images she captured were very beautiful just like her radiant personality.  I heard from Krisitin's mom who said that they loved both of us and were so very pleased that we were their family photographers at her daughter's wedding.  

Melissa set up this meeting at Whistle Stop Coffee Shop.  She and her friend Julie wanted to get together with me and 'pick my brain' about the wedding photography biz.  I don't know if there was much to pick, but, I was more than happy to meet with them.  Julie is a sweetheart and a half!  Her personality is so very kind, gentle and ladylike.  Both of these ladies are fine Christian women who have been volunteering their services at their church.  I know that their fellow congregation members have been greatly blessed by their photography.  Julie has been commissioned for future weddings and wanted to ask me some practical question such as pricing structure, etc.  She and Melissa have worked together in past weddings and family photo shoots.  It was so fun getting together with people who have a passion for photography.  In fact, I had already been thinking about starting a forum for local photographers to get together.  If you live in the Baton Rouge or Livingston Parish area and would like to join us in future meet-ups, send me an e-mail or comment.  For today's meeting, I brought along a few of my ideas to share that work well for me.  They took notes and we all  encouraged each other in the industry.  This was a great meeting of the minds and we promised each other that we were going to do it again!  

Coming soon in a later post... a few photo tips that I was able to share with them today!  I will put something together perhaps for post tomorrow.  Right now, I need to get ready to go to a dance recital that I am going to photograph!  Yay! 

Karmyn's Bday!

We celebrated Karmyn's 20th birthday a couple days late. She turned 20 the day of the Wedding that I had to photograph. She also worked that day so we decided to do her birthday cake on Monday because Father's Day was Sunday. As we were coming home Sunday night from visiting with her PawPaw, I told her it that we were making tomorrow "Karmyn day!" We went to get mani-pedi's together. I chose bright turquoise green for the toes and she chose a super neon pink for our fingernails. We got matching colors because we planned to go on a 'Girl's Day' shopping spree for her birthday. Also, she chose her favorite meal. She loves my spaghetti (Ragu Chunky...shhh! hehee...). So, I fixed a big pot of spaghetti, salad & Texas Toast. Oh, soooo easy & ordinary but if it makes her happy, her birthday dinner wish is my command! Our birthday cake tradition is homemade Funfetti Cake with Rainbow Chip frosting. It really is delicious. I started making that particular cake for the girls when they were little and it is now something they expect. They are still my little girls. I love it.

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I have more to post but Big Daddy is waiting in the truck....Post To be continued .... uh oh, I'm in trouble if he honks again. BRB!

ok. So, I'm back home now to finish my blog post. We had to go return some Redbox flicks before the deadline. Then, he wanted to go to Sonic to get an extra long cheese coney, onion rings and oreo blast!

Did that...So, back to the B-day story. "Now, where was I?" IDK. Anyway, I have a video clip of Karmyn's bday candles. I am going to try to post it. Sometimes I have trouble with uploading directly to blogger. It was pretty funny and we sound so countryfied! haha...I'll work on it.

Photo Challenge: 50 yards from my home

Today's Photo Challenge was "50 yards from your home".  I think I had to go a tad bit over 50 yards from home to get to the subdivision lake.  I waited until the sun was going down for the evening before I headed out to the lake in hopes for a good sunset image.  When I arrived I saw these two guys by the bank.  I asked them if I could take their picture.  They said, "Sure."  Then, I asked if it would be ok if I put them on the internet.  They smiled and asked if they were going on a Sportsman Page.  I fibbed and said, "Sure."   I guess I looked like a writer of all things angler!  Anyway, they cooperated and I think these are some great impromptu images. 

Then, it got just too dark so all three of us began walking away.  One guy said, "Are we really going in the Sportsman Page?"  I laughed and said, "..nah...just my blog!"  :)

I got their e-mail and mailed them these files.  They wrote back and said they loved them, their parents loved them and they were getting them printed.  sweet!

Our Big Daddy took us to eat at Not Ya Mama's for Father's Day!

I have been so busy with Wedding Images, I forgot that I had a couple Father's Day pics to post.  Here are a couple pictures that I took with my point & shoot with no flash.  We went to Not Ya Mama's restaurant.  As we waited for a table, we stood looking at the menu of delicious entree choices.  The food is so good here.  Then, you have to order a HUNK 'o cake.  No kidding.  They do not serve a slice.  You get a HUNK!  Terry ordered a strawberry cheesecake & the girls ordered oreo cheesecake with chocolate syrup.  Yes, we brought home 2 HUNKS o' cake!  We groaned and rubbed our stomachs as we walked out the door because we were too full.  As usual, when we walked into the door of our home after the ride home, up pops the lid on the styrofoam 'go' box with the HUNK 'o cake and the forks dive in!  yummmmmm.  I want to say Happy, happy Father's Day to my own Dad, Terry's Dad, Big Daddy (Terry) and all the Dads out there.  Hope you all had a terrific day and your stomachs hurt from too much indulgence on Dad's Day!

Kristin & her family getting ready for her big day!

Yesterday, I made a smilebox slideshow of a few pre-wedding images that I captured. Here is a little pre-wedding backstory... I noticed a beautiful piano in the foyer of Kristin's parent's home. I asked her who played. She said, "Mom". I asked her if we could get a picture at the piano when she and all the girls put on their dresses. But, the plan was to wait until we arrived at the Wedding/Reception venue to dress. Oh, well. The beautiful and positively romantic image that I was hoping for was not doable. Too bad. I asked them if, before we left, we could take at least one quick pic at the piano. Meanwhile, Dad was doing a mental checklist rundown on his fingertips. All the while, he was giving us the countdown on minutes-to-go before time to leave. I heard "SEVEN MINUTES!" at one point. While he was loading the car, I grabbed Mom (Norma) and her 3 beautiful golden haired daughters for my picture. Mom sat down to the piano. As she was hurriedly flipping through the songbook, I walked halfway up the stairs behind the piano for my first couple of images. Their backs were to me but I could see their faces in the mirror above the piano. I thought it was so lovely. I knew we were in a hurry and I didn't want to cause trouble so I said, "It's ok. You don't really have to play." But, Norma had found her song and her fingers were finding the right notes on her piano keys. She had her daughters around her enjoying music she was creating. I came around to capture a view of their profiles as they listened to Mom's music. Then, Kristin got up and said, "Mom, why are you doing this to me? She just HAD to play the Lion King song!" awe...I realized that the tears were flowing in the eyes of all the girls & Mom. Then they began to laugh together as they were fanning their eyes and trying to not get started again. It was the kind of touching moment that happens between family members who have such a close bond and understanding of each other. I almost started crying myself! They don't EVEN want to get me started. I go into the Ugly Cry with a flame red nose! Even though Kevin (dad) was in countdown mode, I asked him to come join the sentimental little group. What I was able to capture was a reflection of this tight knit family unit. I recognize this precious WINDOW IN TIME was a gift to all of us who were in the room that day. I am thankful to have been given the opportunity and honor of being their family's photographer on Kristin's Wedding Day. My gift to them will be these priceless images that they can hold near & treasure forever. What makes their moment even more poignant is the fact that their oldest daughter will be moving to another state very, very shortly. The smilebox that you will see in the next post shows a few images that depict the sweet interaction at the piano.

Wedding Day Moments...

Here is a smilebox that I sent to my bride's mom. During the reception, she so, very sweetly asked me if I would send her "one, or two ,... or a few" pictures of the wedding day. How could I resist? I have been going through and processing the absolutely beautiful images that I captured at Michael and Kristin's Wedding last Saturday night. I told Norma (Kristin's mom) that this is just a Tasty Teaser Trailer before the big reveal! I have to save the rest for Kristin and Michael to see before I am able to post them on my blog or smugmug. I can't wait!
Pause Playlist, then press play to view slideshow. 

Photo album created with Smilebox

Kristin's Bridal Session Slideshow went Live today!

If you would like to visit my client proofing site to view some gorgeous images of a beautiful bride, go to http://michellesibley.smugmug.com/.  Scroll down past my intro to view the bridal session slideshow.  OMGoodness Gracious Mercy Sakes...!!!  We had an amazing time this weekend.  Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Michael Scarbrough, better known as Michael and Kristin.  They were married Saturday, June 19th.  Melissa and I photographed their entire wedding day.  We captured some sentimental (lots & lots actually..), funny, charming & endearing moments that Krisitn, Michael and their entire family are going to absolutely cherish!  So, I will be working on preparing the images for printing & slideshow this week while the newlyweds are vacationing.  By the time they return, I plan to have the wedding day memories posted to the smugmug site as well.  I've got tons of files to go through so I better get to it.  I think I need to make a pot of coffee because I'll be busy for a while!