I finally got around to posting just a few photos from Becky & Mike’s wedding in September!
This Past Eventful Weekend September 14, 2009
This past weekend was actually pretty eventful. On Friday I drove over to Chaska to shoot a wedding for an awesome couple and I think that went really well! I do hope that I grow out of feeling panicky and sick on days that I do photo shoots though. I’m okay once I get there and start shooting but the time before that is pure hell for me. Hopefully I’ll get more work from that past wedding because one of their friends just got engaged and one of them is a music producer that took my card so maybe I’ll be doing some artist portraits too? One thing that I’m worried about with that is I don’t have a studio or portable lighting because it’s so expensive and I haven’t even earned back the money that it cost to buy the equipment I currently have so hopefully natural light/outdoor portraits will be okay. The bride & groom also told me that they’ll be calling me in eight months because they just found out she’s preggers. So Jessie will have to give me some tips on photographing babies because I haven’t even ever held one (out of my own will) before.
Also on the morning of the wedding I was woken up by at&t calling me about a job and had me answer some questions. I’m just afraid that I might have messed up because I was literally half asleep and can’t even remember the conversation. I just know that I froze up on one of the questions and that she said she was forwarding my application to a hiring manager and I might get a call within a few days. So maybe I won’t be so unemployed and poor for much longer?
On Saturday the whole family (Craig came home for the weekend) went out for a movie & dinner. We ended up seeing Inglorious Basterds because my brothers and I are Tarantino fans and the previews looked so good. It didn’t end up being what I expected but it was still okay since I’m also a fan of Tarantino’s dialogue (there’s a lot of that) but I do wish there was more action. I thought that since he loved the original Inglorious Bastards film so much and was making this movie because of that one that it would be more like the original but wasn’t at all. Oh, and I would highly recommend the origional if you like campy and fun war films from the 70′s. After the movie we decided to try Baja Sol which was pretty darn good. They have their own salsa bar for unlimited chips and salsa (yum yum!) and the menu was pretty awesome too (lots of vegetarian options). We also had a very upbeat waiter that let me have a Dos Equis although I didn’t have my ID with me.
Yesterday Craig ventured back up north for school and I ended up taking a few last minute photos of Eric since he had to leave today to go to school in Birmingham, England for nine months. He says that he will keep a blog over there so he better uphold his word especially since he won’t be back home until May and he gets something like two months off to travel around Europe. So his blog for that is here: http://ericintheoldcountry.blogspot.com/ Now here’s a few of those awesome (I’m allowed to like my own work) photos from yesterday:
Eric in his cowboy/outback hat that he bought during our South Dakota Trip.
Of course I had to shoot some funny face pics:
Yup, I really love these photos and I think it would be fun to do a collection of friends and family in the same style. Too bad Craig didn’t want his photo taken too 
Wedding with Ashley July 26, 2009
Today (technically yesterday) I shot a wedding with Ashley as her secondary photographer. Wow, it was a long day! I had to wake up at 7am which is almost impossible for me because I’m used to going asleep around 5am. I tried going to bed at 11pm but then got an email from an etsy customer so I was online for a bit and then started worrying about Luke because he was still outside barking at something and it was past midnight. So I wandered outside in my pajamas with a flashlight calling and looking for him but no luck. A little later my mom woke up off the couch and let him in but I didn’t know he was let in so I was still in bed worrying about him. Finally I got up and listened outside and didn’t hear him barking so I searched the house for him and gladly found the little bugger curled up on the giant pillow downstairs. A word of advice, if you want a crazy little dog get a patterdale terrier because they are insane, fearless , love to run, and aren’t easily obedience trained. Of course I love him though 
So anyways, long story short I didn’t sleep a wink.
Despite being super nervous about today I ended up being fine and even had some fun once I got there and met Ray and Angie (the bride & groom). They are such nice people! It is also much less stressful to be the secondary photographer and also not be on your own. One first of mine today was riding in a limo which I had never done before. After the ceremony I rode around with some of the wedding party and bride & groom to a few different bars before the reception. At the first bar the groom insisted on buying me a drink which at first I refused but then accepted after he insisted. Shortly after getting the beer everyone decides it’s time to head to the next bar but I still have a full glass so let’s just say that baby had to go down quick and they now have a photo of me chugging one to always remember me by (their idea). At the next bar they offered to buy me another a few times but I refused trying to stay professional. One cool thing about the reception is they had one of those photobooths set up for their guests to take photos in and then put in the guest book with a little note. Of course Ashley and I took one and left a little note for them. :
Yeah the quality isn’t the best, I should maybe try taking a picture of it instead of scanning it. (and yes, I know I look like a dork.)
I’ll have to post photos later after I’ve gone through them but I don’t have any energy to even glance at them right now.
So yup, yup, yup, pretty good night. One funny thing, all night Ashley kept going on about how “yummy” Angie’s cousin is and kept staring at him. Of course I had noticed too because he was quite good looking. So later on he ended up coming over to us and talked for a while and ended up inviting us to a bar after the reception but we didn’t really know where it was (one that I was at earlier). Oh well, when we were saying goodbye to Angie she said that he mentioned that he wanted our number so it does lift your self confidence a little to be hit on by a “yummy” guy Well, hopefully off to sleep now and time for my achy feet to heal and my sunburn to feel worse in the morning.
Jessie & Max’s Wisconsin Reception December 15, 2008
The Saturday after everyone got back from St. Croix it was time for Jessie & Max’s wedding reception in Wisconsin.
mmmm, cupcakes.
Someone chalked my nose so Lynsie chalked hers also so I wasn’t the only freak.
Jessie gave Caitlin a personalized harmonica for her bridesmaid gift.
We won! But only because the guys knocked in the 8 ball.
hahahaha!
St. Croix Day 2 – Jessie & Max’s Wedding December 6, 2008
Ahh, my first day on the beautiful island of St. Croix. It started out very early because I didn’t sleep the night before so I laid in bed waiting for the clock to hit 5:30am before deciding to get up and take a look around. I took a little walk down to the beach where I sat and waited for the sun to rise and brighten up the sky. Of course I didn’t know what direction east was so the sun rose behind me and I didn’t get the sunrise over the ocean like I was hoping for. I still had a bunch of time to kill because the restaurant doesn’t open until 8:am for breakfast so I decided to videotape a little walking tour of the resort to take up some time. As soon as it got to be 8:am I sat down for my breakfast which was fantastic! I loved being able to sit outside overlooking the beach while enjoying the delicious food.
The breakfast I ate each morning, mmmmmmm
My view while eating
After breakfast I decided to take a long walk along the beach and then decided to head back to see if anyone was awake yet. We had some time to chill out since the wedding wasn’t until 4:30pm so we hung out around the pool and I decided to try out my dicapac (waterproof bag for my compact camera).
Then it was time for the wedding (which was beautiful of course). It did rain but that’s supposed to be good luck. I’m not alowed to show any of the wedding photos yet so that will come later.
The new Mr. & Mrs. Arco!
Chris & Jen-Married! September 17, 2008
Whoohoo, I’m done with those photos after weeks of mind numbing post processing! (that’s why photographers cost so much, we spend sooo much time on your photos, or at least I do) It’s 3:30am and I think my eyes are going to dry up and fall out of my head from staring at the computer screen too long.
Chris & Jen’s wedding August 31, 2008
Last night I shot Chris & Jen’s wedding with my friend Jessie, which made it a lot more fun. Chris & Jen are so nice and so are their guests. I think that everyone had a blast. There was LOTS of wine drinking of course because the wedding was in a vineyard (no, Jessie and I didn’t drink). There was also grape stomping and drunk people with swords. Fun, huh? To end the night on the way back to Jessie’s we sung along to 70′s funk to keep ourselves awake.
A quick one of Jessie in the vineyard:
I was browsing through the photos and just had to process this one right away!:
