Bleh

Oh man :( This week has sucked. Lots of you know already, but my boss is retiring in 7 short weeks and I have to get a new job. I haven't been sleeping, I've been eating too much, and I've only had one person call me for an interview. Plus, on top of it all, the weather has been messing with my photos again :(

Two months is a pretty decent amount of notice to give someone who needs to get a new job. And I can also use time at work to search and interview. I'm just feeling really stressed out. It's already been a whole work-week! I've been working here for just short of 4 years. It's sort of scary to think about being somewhere else. My life could be drastically different in 2 months than it is right now.

Trevor and I have been doing so well paying down our cars and our credit cards and saving the last year, I don't want my job to be the thing that messes everything up. So I'm looking for jobs that will pay me the same amount I'm making now. I'm sure this happens to everyone who looks for new jobs, but my confidence in my experience and abilities is rollercoastering. Sometimes I feel so confident, I have no doubt I'll be able to find something excellent in the next 2 weeks. And sometimes I feel like there's no way I'll be able to find something in 2 months and that I'll have to take a low paying job just so we don't die.

Today I just feel like I need to relax. I want to be able to use the weekend to relax as much as I can, but it's not like I can only look for jobs during work hours. We'll see. I for sure need to sleep. A lot.

On a brighter note: I'm getting some pictures taken of ME this weekend. Crazy, I know. Travis, Trevor's brother, also does photography, and he has agreed to take some pictures of me so I can use them on my website and stuff. Hopefully I won't have bags under my eyes, and hopefully my body won't show the possible 5 pounds I've gained this week :) I sort of know how my clients feel now though: I have NO idea what to wear. It seems like such a huge choice! This will be good practice for me though. It's good to be in front of the camera sometimes so that I can remember how people are feeling about how much direction they need.

Dude Shoot

It's a relief to have these done! I took some pictures of my friend downtown at the library a week or so ago. I haven't really been able to get that much practice taking pictures of men by themselves. It's different when they're with a woman. A man automatically looks more manly standing next to a girl. He's the rock. He's the thing that compliments the woman's beauty. He makes it okay for her to be as pretty as she can be. And when you're taking pictures of a couple, there's sort of a story going on. As the photographer, you're sort of telling the story of their love, or something like that. But when you're taking pictures of an individual--at least, when I take pictures of an individual--there's something else to it. You have to come up with the story all on your own. And I've done that with girls... but a guy? Ugh. It was hard. Let's be honest. I was nervous, and excited, and and worried that none of the pictures would turn out. And let's be even more honest--a lot of them didn't. But I think enough turned out :) And no one has to see the bad ones, right? That's what counts, haha.

Link to the album in case you can't view the slide show:

Elijah Finals

In the last two weeks, I've discovered some cool features on Photoshop that have really helped at depth to my pictures. I started adjusting the exposure and color levels on the person and the background together, and then on the background separately. I've always messed with the background on its own, but never the levels, and I've been very happy with my discovery :) I'm sure lots of people already know about that and LOTS more things that I DON'T know about. But I like that I found it. It has let me find the right skin color, and really make the person pop--and then make the background the colors that I want it to be. Most of the time.

Editing for me is interesting and engrossing. I always get caught up and spend way too much time. It sort of makes it so I actually don't want to get started a lot of times because I know I'll lose track of time. Two of my sessions I had scheduled for last weekend had to be rescheduled because of the rain and snow--which sucked, but is also probably good so I have more time to do normal things. I haven't been spending as much time with my family, and doing normal things around the house as I would want to. So this week it's probably a good thing I only have 1 session I'm editing. And I'm taking a break next weekend so I have lots of time to get ready for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's baby shower.

Lots of stuff happening.

So I've been so incredibly busy! It looks like the last photo shoot I posted was Brandy's, and that was 4 shoots ago. Here's a slide show of 3 of the newest:

First there was Erin and Robert. They were my first shoot with my new camera :) Using my camera was intimidating, to be really honest. I was nervous. I was worried that I would have to relearn everything. That I would suck. I was really glad that I was practicing on my really good friend Erin. She and her husband are great friends and made it really easy for me though. I made a lot of lighting mistakes, but I also got some much needed time with my camera. We tried a new place for me--Exchange Place. It's downtown, and there is some really neat architecture and secluded urban spots for pictures. If anyone has ever looked into photography in Utah before, you've probably seen at least one picture taken there :) Great place. It was FREEZING though! And there was a LOT of shady areas--which makes for great pictures, but freezing subjects!

Next, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law let me take pictures of them! Travis and Robyn are expecting a baby in a month or so, and oh boy! It was a great experience working with Robyn's belly :) I actually felt a little weird taking their pictures. Travis is an aspiring photographer himself, and has taught me a bit of the editing skills I know. So on top of feeling weird because they're my family, I felt uber intimidated! But I got over that after a few minutes. A lot of my shots got ruined because of lens flares though. We ran out of time, so I didn't get to do all the stuff I wanted to do with Robyn's big belly, but we still got some really great family-to-be pictures. I think their daughter will really appreciate those pictures one day :) It's pictures like those that make me really LOVE modern photography. Old-fashioned studio photography would have NEVER gotten the kind of pictures Travis' and Robyn's shoot gave them. We were outside, at Wheeler Farm. Everything was very casual, less "posed" than a studio photo shoot would be, and more like just a family outing than a photo session. (Oh! And awesome side note: Travis and Robyn were my first paying customers, haha!)

I also did a shoot with some sort-of-friend/acquaintances--Rachael and Kris. I suppose they're more friends than acquaintances now. We went to Exchange Place again, because I thought it would go really well with their style :) They're sorta hip, haha :) Plus they only had pretty much exactly one hour, so I thought a familiar place would be best. I was right. I was able to go quickly to the places I'd already scoped out. And I didn't have to spend as much time messing with the exposure, or the angles because I already did that last time. I had more time to explore a few more places in the area with them. Rachael and Kris were so happy the whole time and really made it feel like we were just having a good time together. I think a photo session is actually a really great date idea for a couple. You just go and talk with your significant other, and are forced to be all lovey dovey and kissy the whole time! It's perfect!

Last weekend I did a session with my long-term friend from when I was little--Elijah. It was quite a different experience taking pictures of a man! Maybe he's more of a guy? Or young adult? But whatever. With girls, it's like, they're beautiful, and it's okay to make them look AMAZING and stunning. But with a guy... You have to be all subtle. And careful not to make them look silly! It was hard. I'm working on editing those right now though. So hopefully I'll have them up soon. We went to the downtown library--great location! I'll show you later :)

This weekend I have 3 more! I have some children this weekend too! I'm really looking forward to getting more practice with kids. I can feel the challenge looming... but I just want to get the hard part over with! I also am going to be doing some pretend bridals with some friends. So if anyone wants to dress up in their wedding clothes again, I would looooove to take some pictures :) I want practice with more brides, boys, kids, and families the most. I still love girls and couples, but I have the most experience with those already and I'm starting to charge for those.

I got a UV filter, a polarizing filter, and a florescent filter this week on amazon for like $12 total. Super sweet! I'm excited to use them this weekend. They should help with the lens flare problem. I also got a spare battery ($10) and car charger ($3) in case my battery decides to run out... It would definitely not be MY fault if it did... Everything for cameras come in little pouches or carrying cases. It makes you feel so cool, haha.

At home, Trevor and I did some spring cleaning last week. Trevor went 99% insane and cleaned a bunch of stuff on his day off, and bought a bunch of new stuff for organizing. We've kept things clean for 1 week and 2 days, as of today. We also got a new dresser and bedroom curtains because we hated ours. Mmm, IKEA...

Aaaaand the last thing I feel like commenting about is FOOD. I made a creamy potato cheese soup two nights ago, and it was SO good! I have always wanted to have Riley's potato cheese soup whenever I want, and thought it impossible. While this soup was NOT Riley's by any means, it was a welcome substitution during the famine. Here's what I did:

• Peel, cube, and boil 8 (at least) medium potatoes along with 1/2 cup of diced white onion for 15 minutes. Drain.
• Reserve 2 cups of the cooked potato and onion. Mash the remaining potato/onions with 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth.
• Broil some bacon (I used 4 slices of Amber's leftover turkey bacon--thanks Amber! I'll pay you back!) for 3-4 minutes, turning over.
• Melt 2-3 tablespoons butter in your pot you just used to boil the potatoes. Add 2-3 tablespoons of flour and simmer and whisk for a minute or so until it turns a nutty color.
• Add spices, like tsp salt, tsp pepper, 1/2 or 1 tsp basil (depending on if you like it), 1/2 tsp paprika (yummy) or season salt, and 1 tablespoonish of parsley (I like the color mostly). You can flavor this puppy how ever you want.
• Add 2 cups of half-and-half, and 1 cup-ish of cheese (whatever kind you like). Let it heat through and get thick and bubbly.
• Add 2 more cups of chicken broth, the potato/chicken broth mixture, and 2-3 stalks of celery diced. Mix it all together and let heat through and get thick and bubbly again.
• At the end, add the cut up bacon and your reserved potato/onions. You can add more cheese, salt and pepper, or half-and-half at this point too depending on your taste.
• For the best results, serve it in a BREAD BOWL! K, seriously. This was amazing. I have no pictures, but just trust me.

Whew! I have been needing to get all that out for like a week! So I think I'm all caught up for a while.

Trevor was my Valentine

Amidst all the excitement of the new camera, I almost forgot to post about our awesome Valentines Day and my birthday! Seriously, the things I do...

I wanted to surprise Trevor with something, so I thought I'd mess with his car while he was at work on Saturday. I got out there, 4 giant garbage bags of blown up balloons in my car, trying to be all sneaky, and he was SITTING IN HIS CAR! What?! So I had to hurry and drive away hoping he didn't see me. I sat in the parking lot across the street until he finally went inside. Yeesh, Trevor.

So I stuffed his car full of balloons and crumpled tissue papier (that's paper, but spelled fancier for fancier people), and taped cut out hearts all over inside. It was awesome :) I also included a giant box of miscellaneous candy that I knew he'd have to bring home to share with me. I found these super cute stuffed monkeys that I couldn't resist too, and other assorted valentiney items such as a giant lollypop, boxed chocolates, and roses.

Then when Trevor got off work (which was pretty late, grr), we grabbed the bags I'd packed and headed off to the Little America for a night of relaxation. We picked up some Chinese take-out from David's Kitchen on the way. GOOOOD stuff. I took pictures of the room, but they were after we'd already ruined it all so they aren't that pretty, haha. Just imagine a super rich classy room with a giant tub and king sized bed. We had sparkling cider and chocolates while wearing those fancy robes they lay out for you. We took a bath together in the enormo tub and used all these crazy scrubs and scrubby items I found at the store. We vegged out and watched Zombieland and ate Oreos and Baked Lays till 2AM. Checked out at noon, had the breakfast buffet at JB's, and $20 in tips and parking later we were heading back home. Aah, so nice :)

Sunday night we had a family dinner with Trevor's family for my birthday and it was so nice to have everyone together! We had spaghetti (made with Prego--of course, because it's the best), and salad and garlic bread. Yum :) And we had one of my favorite kinds of cake (that Trevor hates, so we never have), party cake with confetti frosting! UGH, so good :) Birthdays are awesome.

Like I said before, I wasn't expecting any of the stuff that people got for me :) Among the new camera stuff, I also got the "Alton Brown's Gear for Your Kitchen" book and some much needed new kitchen brushes, and a bunch of other stuff. Wow, birthdays really ARE awesome!

Tomorrow night I'm going out to dinner with my family to celebrate my birthday and my brother's birthday at the same time. I always love being able to get together with everyone, and it's almost mandatory because it's someone's birthday. More people always show up when it's a birthday. And this one will be TWO birthdays.

Tomorrow I'm also starting the photography class and taking some good friends' pictures downtown. I get to use my new camera for the first time! I'm kind of nervous and super excited at the same time. I never really know how they're going to turn out until I get home after the shoot and take a look. And the new camera is so much more sensitive to movement and the particular settings, and I'm not going to have very much free time in the next 8 weeks because I've booked so many free sessions... ugh, I can feel the heartburn already.

...breathe...

It's going to be good. And I WILL get at least one good picture tomorrow. And I will have all week to edit them. And then I get to start taking pictures of lots of different kinds of people every Saturday. It's going to be a crazy crazy 2 months. But I'm SO excited :)

New Camera!

Wow :) Trevor got me a brand new DSLR camera for my birthday! It's a Canon EOS Rebel XS, and it came with an 18-55mm zoom lens. I thought I was going to have to wait at least 6 more months to get one, but he totally jumped on board before I did and just GOT IT :) It used up 75% of our savings, but who really needs savings, right? Emergencies don't happen. Especially when you have a fancy new camera to sway the forces-that-be to your favor, right?

Oh but honestly, I wish I cared, but I really DON'T care that we'll have no savings for a while. I love my camera and all that it brings way too much!

Trevor also got me a camera bag and a new 8 GB high speed memory card. We went and picked out a fancier camera bag with more pockets and straps, but now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure I like it more. The first one is colored and kind of girly :) It's smaller but still sturdy. It has all the space I'll need for a while. The second one is NICE. It's professional and has compartments everywhere and it's big. AND I can strap my tripod onto it... Oh the hard choices I'm burdened with... ;)

Here's the big bag. Totally cool (although, perhaps a little overboard...). I don't have a picture of the other bag, but just imagine a totally cute smaller bag:

Now my timeline for everything has to be all re-thought. I can start getting more serious about photography way sooner than I thought! I'm still going to be taking another small photography course starting this weekend, which will be nice since I'll be able to re-learn everything with my new camera! But once I've familiarized myself with all the settings and whatnot, and gotten a few months of picture-taking under my belt, I can at least start breaking even on my costs for taking the photos, and maybe even make some money some time soon :) Whatever happens though, I'm just happy I can take pictures. I love the feeling! And I hope I can start giving more people pictures that make them happy.

I was mentioning to Trevor last night, that now my problems have just shifted to wanting more lenses and more kickin' accessories! Haha!

This weekend I'm going to be working on scheduling more groups, couples, and dude photos. And also editing some more older pictures to put up on the Facebook page.

P.S. I am wearing leggings today. It feels fitting to be trying something new with my clothes since I'm sort of exploring a new side of myself in other ways too!

Holy Canoli!

So HO-LY. My photography stuff has exploded in front of my eyes in the last 2 days! I think I can still breathe though :)

Pretty much, I decided that I wanted to make a Facebook page for my pictures so it would seem a little more professional. I wasn't sure, since it's just me, and it's not like I'm making money or anything. But I did it. And I was pretty much bombarded with support :) I have 1 shoot scheduled for February, 5 shoots scheduled for March, and 3 more in the works for later. The majority of those are individuals, so I'll need to get in a few more families. But I think this is going to be SO helpful for me! I'm looking forward to different kinds of people, and different settings.

And Trevor's family got me some frickin' awesome photography accessories for my birthday! So now I'm pretty much doing it for real now. I got a tripod and some light reflectors. They are my first pieces of photography gear that are legitimately mine, haha :) And they mean that I am officially DOING THIS.

Lately I've just been thinking about how much I really enjoy the actual taking of the pictures. It just fits me :) I feel like it is challenging but I can find the groove pretty easily. It's neat to be able to focus in on how I see things.

Yay! I'm excited for the next few months! And hopefully I can fix my memory cards, haha!

Brandy's Pictures

Wow, so my most recent photoshoot with Brandy was probably the best one yet. I had a major fiasco with my memory cards wigging out (that I still haven't solved yet...) but I was able to make my old-school 128MB memory card work eventually. I'm used to having at least a gig... that's like, 1/3 of the space!!! I felt really crammed for space because I could only take 75 pictures instead of the usual 150. I know that sounds like a lot of pictures, but I really try to exhaust the options so I can have as many photos as possible turn out good. When I get impatient or run out of space, I end up having to waste pictures because the one shot I took in a pose has their eyes closed or something.

Anywho, I really thought Brandy's style would work best in a rough environment, so I went back to the Sugar Factory area in West Jordan. We explored more of the back of the lot, so we got some way cool pictures. Brandy had this super cute little black dress, and a couple other outfits that had great colors. It was nice to have the variety :)

Brandy's pictures gave me the chance to improve some of the things I've been wanting to work on. I'm excited for some more so I can keep learning. The editing is getting easier and faster--even though I still have A TON to learn.

Brooks Family Photos

My brother let me take pictures of him and his family a couple of weeks ago, and I totally spaced putting them on my blog! How could I?

I think my niece is the cutest thing :) She definitely knows she's getting her picture taken. I want to take some more pictures of them when the weather is better and it's not so freezing outside. It was hard to have a kid be cold. Plus she was just getting over having a cold, and had a runny runny nose. I definitely want to take some more when it's a little warmer!

Blood Oranges

Hiya,

Last night I made up some cool sauce for our fish! I saw some blood oranges at the store last weekend and I immediately knew I could do something cool. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go fish, or go salad, or go chicken with it, but still... I knew.

Just in case you've never heard of a blood orange, I promise I didn't make that name up. They're oranges that are red inside. They're still really orangey tasting, but they're a tiny bit more sour, like a grapefruit--only not disgusting like a grapefruit. They're super pretty too :) I'm sad I didn't take any pictures. Next time.

We've been eating more fish lately because it's good AND good for you if you make it right. And so far I have really enjoyed all the different ways to prepare fish, even if we rarely branch out of salmon, cod, tuna, halibut, you know, the normals.

I squeezed the juice out of one orange, and added it to about 1/4 cup of water mixed with a tablespoon of corn starch, and added 1-2 tablespoons of honey to sweeten it up. (I didn't thicken the sauce before I started cooking, but next time I may try boiling the sauce first and then brushing it on. I think this will give it more of a sticky sauce rather than a sauce that cooks into the fish.) The way I did it last night, I just brushed the juice mixture onto some fresh salmon portions and grilled them in my grill pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Depending on how thick the fish is, just about 5-7 minutes/side. I added more juice mixture after they cooked part of the way. I served it with rice and salad, and topped the salmon with chunks of more segmented blood orange. I loved it! It felt really fresh.

Then for lunch today I fork-crumbled a leftover salmon portion with a few chunks of orange mixed in, with a tablespoon or 2 of light mayo, and voila! I had a salmon salad to have on Wheat Thins and Thin Crisps. Yum :)

I highly recommend experimenting with fish, AND blood oranges. I think next time I'll try a salad.

Taxes and Getting Older

Bleh :( We have been sick at our house for over a week, and it sucks. I'm just sayin'.

And we found out we owe $2100 in taxes. That stinks too. Apparently that little number on your W4 (you know, that thing you fill out when you get a new job) stands for "exemptions" and not "people." You'd think they'd give you a little bit of layman's definitions or something. I mean, I was only 18 when I filled it out, what can you expect? I'd done a total of 2 tax returns my whole life.

Again: Bleh.

So now, on top of the money the IRS takes from my checks every month, they are taking an extra $55 every month to cover last year's, at a "small interest rate." What is going on?? I'm cool. Right? I'm not ugly. I work at a normal job and don't sell drugs. I'm not rushing into making the population of Utah any larger. I support the economy by going to movies on Fridays and eating out. Shouldn't I get a break or something?? I sure think so. A $2100 break. That's all I'm asking. Really, the only thing that stopped me from throwing a fit was seeing Trevor throw his fit. It wasn't pretty. And I try to be pretty, you know?

I decided to not let it stop us from paying off our credit cards by September though. It's going to suck. Even more than I was thinking. But, in the words of Kristen Humphrey: Whatev. It just means one less date-night or a couple less nights-where-I-get-home-from-work-and-don't-want-to-cook-so-we-eat-out's per month...yes, just. I really don't think the government knows what they're asking of me! Or maybe they DO?! Maybe the president has a secret vendetta...? Hm...that's something to consider. This never happened when Bush was president...

The IRS said they'd send me a bill, so until I get that, I think I'll just act like it doesn't exist.

February is going to be pretty awesome actually. We already have a couple of dinners scheduled with people who are as equally awesome as we are (that's always important, you know, when you're scheduling entire nights away from the comforts of your own home and WoW--that the people you're visiting can provide adequate lovin'). We've got some wedding shtuff. Some Girls Night shtuff. Some GroudHogDayin'. And for some reason my calendar has this day of Valentine's on it... ? Anybody know what that's about? I'm going to be taking a fun photography class with my friend (! yay, actually super excited for this). It's Washington's birthday on the 22nd; did you guys know that? As in George. He's the general. And I'm also foreseeing a few nights out with the newly reunited R&R.. yeah, you know who you are.

Oh yeah, and my birthday.

I'm going to be old. I'll be Trevor's age! Yeah, like I said--OLD. When I turned 18 I was free; when I turned 19, I was gloriously young. At 20, it was awesome because you're officially 2 decades old, but still young enough the government can still tell you what you can and can't drink. At 21, you're officially liberated in every possible way--except for candidacy to run for president, I suppose. But at 22... I'm just OLD. I have nothing to look forward to except 30. I've been graduated from high school for way too long to have my '06 tassel still hanging on my rear view mirror, but my life isn't anywhere super-fantastic enough to warrant replacing it with something else. 22 is gonna be weird.

At least I'm not gonna be 23 :) haha Trevor. I think Trevor should have to make me a huge castle cake this year--a pink one. Or one of these:

Yes, that's a cake.