Becoming a Photographer: Inspiration

As I get closer to taking classes, I have been consumed with thinking about what kind of a photographer I want to be. I have perused blog after blog and web site after web site. There are soooo many that inspire me!

1) bobbi+mike. My favorite. Hands down. Seeing Bobbi’s work is what inspired me to take this step toward becoming a photographer in the first place. She and Mike’s work is vibrant, fun, edgy and unique. AND she’s a fellow Sycamore!!

2) Jessica Claire. I covet one of her Shootsac bags. However, I’ve resolved not to get one until I’m a true photographer (and until I have a camera…I wouldn’t have any use for it until then, and they’re too pretty to just be left sitting around). But I truly love her work. It’s always so crisp and looks like it came straight from a magazine. And, she definitely knows how to capture those details. I love that she’s so driven, too. She sets goals (one of which was design a new product, and voila, we have the Shootsac!) and works hard to achieve those goals.

3) I just stumbled upon Jasmine Star. All I can say is, Wow. Her work truly takes my breath away. She not only has a true sense of capturing a moment with photos, but also with words. She always includes a little story with each couple she photographs. I feel as if I’m right there with her subjects, feeling what they are feeling. And, she’s a Christian and publicly professes her faith on her blog and Web site. Love that!

4) Anne Ruthmann. I truly love that she strives to make her business green. She also likes to help others make their businesses better. She does both by blogging about her efforts, tips and experiences. One of the ways she decided to help other photographers is by offering to include them as a second shooter at one of her many weddings (she was booked for 2008 before 2007 was even over!). I emailed her about it, and I hope that I’m advanced enough to accompany her sometime in May or later. I can’t tell you how excited I am about the possibility of doing that. Her work is definitely something I strive to emulate!!

5) Me Ra Koh. She used to be a writer (like me) but found healing through photography. After seeing Me Ra’s photography of her kids, friends started asking her to take photos for them. It took off from there and now she’s one of the very best in the business. Best of all? She gets to watch her kiddos grow up since she’s at home with them instead of in an office all day. I would love, love, love to be able to do that one day.

Each of these five women encompasses a little part of what I want to be as a photographer. They have talent, business know-how, giving hearts and great personalities. Just thought I’d share these five photographers who get my creative juices flowing each day when I check in on their photography blogs.

 

Highs and Lows of 2007 and a Fast-Forward to 2008

Highs:

1) Finishing the Evansville Half Marathon without passing out. As many of you know, I wasn’t that lucky in 2006. And considering how hot the weather was in October this year, this is definitely something to be proud of.

2) Tyler’s band, BorrowedTime, got off to a good start. They played a handful of local shows and one in Columbus, Indiana. Tyler, BJ, and Cassie are the core members and they’ve had some turnover throughout the year. As of now, it’s Tyler on drums, BJ on vocals and lead guitar, Cassie on vocals and accoustic guitar, Logan on the saxophone, and Daniel (aka Dandy) on bass.

3) I really grew spiritually. Much of this is thanks to a little book called Captivating but mostly to some really awesome, authentic Christians in my life. I’m even unofficially getting the youth group at our new church, Sojourn Newburgh, off to a start. I’m very excited about what the future for this church holds.

4) Tyler and I celebrated our second anniversary with a trip to St. Pete Beach, Florida. We had some rough times in our first two years, but we made it through. And we’re stronger than ever. It was a great trip, but we found out we’re kind of boring when we don’t vacation with at least one other couple.

5) We found out Tyler’s sister is pregnant (I can’t WAIT to be an aunt!). It’s a girl and her name is Elizabeth and she’ll be here in April! We were totally shocked by this because Adam and Kyla swore they’d never have kids. In fact, when Tyler’s parents tell people they’re going to be grandparents, everyone assumes it’s Tyler and I who are expecting.

6) I earned some extra income by writing/photographing for the Courier & Press and also by doing some copy editing. There were some really fun stories that I was pretty proud of and that allowed me to be creative. It was a lot of work at times, but I was glad to earn the extra money so I could buy Tyler an iPod Touch for Christmas.

7) I went on Accutane for my acne. It sucked that I had to do it, and there were times that I hated the medicine with a passion (dry skin, always thirsty, blurred vision, fatigue), but I’ve been off of it for about 3 weeks now, and my face is clearer than it’s ever been. I’m praying that my face stays clear, because it was a lot of effort and it was NOT cheap.

8) I got to go home for Christmas. I hadn’t been up north since May so the trip was long overdue. It was great to see my family (although I only got to see my mom’s side) and share in a tradition that was such a huge part of my childhood. There was nothing like Christmas at the Jones’.

Lows:

1) Tyler’s papaw had a decline in health, thanks to Parkinson’s and Alzheimers. He is now in a nursing home, where we don’t get to see him too often because of his eating and sleeping schedule. I would love nothing more than for him to have a complete turnaround and get better. It saddens me to see a man once so full of life ravaged by these horrible diseases.

2) My allergies were horrible this year. I had to take several days off to take care of them and to basically sleep them off. I’ve been on Allegra for over a year and it still didn’t help. I’ll soon be going on allergy shots soon, which I’m not too thrilled about.

3) I was really sick for about three weeks. In fact, today is the first day that I actually feel better than 90%. This not only made me cranky at home, but also really made me miss a lot of work and get off of my running routine. It was a nasty virus that I just couldn’t shake.

4) I have lost touch with a lot of friends I hold very dear. Life is busy, plain and simple. But that’s no excuse to forget about friends who have made you who you are.

5) We didn’t have any measurable amount of snow. My poor Tyler’s only wish was to have snow to go out and play in. Every time we’d have snow in the forecast, he’d wake up in the morning and check outside, only to be disappointed. It would be great to have a big snow so we could go out and throw snowballs at each other and also so Lola could try to eat all the snow in sight. Seriously, she has her tongue out the entire time just licking at the snow. It’s pretty cute.

Up for 2008:

1) I start classes at Ivy Tech in January. I’ll be going back so I can learn the basics of photography and hopefully build up a clientele so I can have a business. It would be great to be able to stay at home when I’m a mom (one day).

2) Borrowed Time will record a demo in Nashville in January. They will spend an entire weekend as well as the following Monday recording about 5 songs. (I’ll spend much of my time taking pictures and scrapbooking with Rachel.) The band hopes to make it in the lineup for some summer festivals. It would be Tyler’s dream come true.

3) I’ll be running the 500 Festival Mini Marathon (the biggest half marathon and 8th-largest road race in America) in Indy with my college friend Jaimie. She currently lives in DC where she is a law student, but she’ll be coming back to practice law and live in Indy a couple weeks before the race. I’m really looking forward to connecting with her and catching up on things. 

4) We’ll be going to Hawaii for our vacation. A woman I work with is graciously letting us stay in the home she owns on Oahu - for free. I’ve already purchased all the plane tickets and booked our hotel for while we are in Maui for one night. We’ll be going with BJ and Rachel, so it should be a lot of fun.

5) I’ll be doing less work on the side so I can focus on family and friends. This means turning down some stories, but it will be worth it. I haven’t had a chance to breathe lately.

6) Sojourn Newburgh will launch at the beginning of the year. New year, new location, and a lot of faith in what God is doing we hope will equal helping to change the lives of people in the area. We could certainly use prayer, but if you’d like to give, you can do so online at www.thesojourn.org. I’m going to be trying to find interesting ways to decorate the youth room, so if you have ideas, let me know. Right now, I’m thinking chalkboard paint on the walls.

I may add some more later as they come to me, so check back.

 

A Weekend Without My Man

This weekend, I was left to my lonesome since Tyler went on the men’s retreat for our church. I came to the realization that I’ve never really been on my own. I’ve either lived with my parents, in a dorm surrounded by people or with Tyler after we got married. Add to this realization my biggest fear, and it was an interesting weekend to say the least.

Picture this: me in bed on Friday night, pepper spray and cell phone on my jewelry stand, all the outside doors locked, bedroom door locked and my dog in bed with me. Could you tell I was terrified? As if all of that wasn’t bad enough, I had horrible dreams and woke up early Saturday morning and nearly had a panic attack. I calmed myself down by praying and eventually went back to sleep. I had to get up at 6 to be at the YMCA by 7 for our final Saturday run before the big race. I was groggy, but nonetheless able to get up.

Saturday was a busy day, and I think it’s a good thing it was (you’ll see why later). After my 5-mile run, we had continental breakfast at the Y so we could socialize with our fellow runners. Some of them approached me with the idea of running the Country Music Marathon in Nashville on April 26, 2008. I’ve always wanted to be able to call myself a marathoner, but after the half last year, those dreams were shattered. However, I’m hoping this year I’ll have a better run and will be able to gain the confidence back. So, the CM Marathon hinges on how I do this Sunday. I’m pretty confident that I’ll end up doing well, but only time will tell.

After the run, I went home to get a quick shower and then headed to the West side of Evansville to take some pictures for the story I’m doing for the WestSide edition of the Courier. It is a story about the Evansville Pigeon Racing Club. Sounds odd, but actually I think it’s going to be a pretty interesting story. After that, I headed home and worked on the house all day. We still had a lot of things we hadn’t put away from our trip to Gatlinburg, so my work was cut out for me. I did laundry, dishes, scrubbed the shower, cleaned off my sink, mowed the yard and picked up everything laying around in our bedroom. Then I made a trip to Walmart (yes, I went to Walmart even though deep down I hate it) to get some necessities for our family dinner at church on Sunday. I was so tired that I headed to bed early. I was still a little nervous about sleeping without my man to protect me, but I think me being so exhausted really helped ease my mind. All I wanted to do was sleep; I couldn’t get to bed early enough! My head hit the pillow and I was out. It felt so good to rest. And I think that being alone all weekend really forced me to rely on God’s strength and not my own or Tyler’s.

Sunday I got to church late since I had to get all the salad fixin’s together for our lunch afterwards. Cathy, our pastor’s wife, taught the story of Mary and Martha. It was so good to hear that story. It reminds me that while working for the glory of God isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, it’s about where our heart is. If we are doing these things for the wrong reason, it isn’t pleasing to God. We should follow our hearts, especially if that means we should sit at the feet of Jesus. Jesus wants our hearts to be at rest; sometimes tradition or pressure from others makes us think that we have to be busy all the time so things can get done, but really he is just after our hearts. Makes me sit back and think that there are times when I distract myself with these “things” rather than do what God really wants from me.

Tyler finally showed up after church was over. It was so good to see him again. I just wanted to jump in his arms in front of all those people. I’m so glad that he has such a great group of guys to go do “guy stuff” with out in the country, but he belongs with me. God has really blessed me with a great man. Sometimes you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone, and I realized this weekend just how much it means to me to have him in my life. I’m really looking forward to catching up on our quality time tonight. Neither of us really has anything going on, so I think it will be a good night together just doing nothing.

 

Getting off the Ground

I just want to say a special thanks to Billy and James for helping me get this blog going. Billy provided some much-needed expertise since I obviously was as inept (as icing) at interpreting blog lingo. I had no idea what a “widget” was nor how to differentiate between the blogroll and links.

And thanks to James for commenting on the blog. It’s good to know that people actually do read others’ blogs. Although I don’t necessarily write just for others (mostly for me since it’s one of my favorite pastimes…I have a journalism degree, so it’s in my blood), it’s encouraging to have a complete stranger comment. Kind of makes me feel like a rock star.

Head over to their blogs for some interesting content. Much more interesting than mine thus far, that’s for sure.

 

Emerging from My Cocoon

Metamorphosis: n., A profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly.

I decided to start this blog because I want to document how I change over time. Hence the name. And the quote just seemed to fit perfectly: “The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.” I don’t want to let time pass me by; I want to savor every moment, make the most of the life which I’ve been given.

God has given me so many passions, many of which I’ve just discovered. Realizing these passions makes me so excited to be alive and about what lies ahead. Fitness, music, travel, photography, scrapbooking, writing, and the outdoors are just a few of the things I adore. You’ll see those topics come up several times as I write about my life.

You’ll also read about my walk with Christ. Life as a Christian can be a bit of a rollercoaster at times, but it’s all a part of the journey. Although He was perfect, Christ didn’t have an easy life when He came to this earth; he was mocked, spit upon, ridiculed, and, ultimately, beaten and crucified. What could I endure that could even compare to that? I’ve also come to realize that being a Christian is not all about rules. It’s about a relationship, a romance with Christ. It’s so freeing to know that. 

I hope that what I write in this blog will give you a little glimpse into my world, but also remind me that I am alive. And always changing. Hopefully, one day I’ll see myself as that beautiful butterfly. Because I know Jesus already does.