Posted on March 6, 2009 by rebeccaclaire

Nate’s birthday

Yesterday Nate turned 30, so I bought him a video game console. My mom seems to think that’s kind of weird for a 30th birthday gift, but I’ve found that most of our peers also own a variety of video game stuff. It’s a normal adult activity now. If you read farther down in the blog, you will see that I got him a Wii. We have wanted a Wii since they came out, but we only saw one about a year after their release and didn’t have the money to spend. The second one we saw was in January and I wouldn’t let Nate buy it. I didn’t pick that one up (or it would kill the surprise) and started looking around. There were none available still! So on February 5th, I saw ONE at Target. I bought it and hid it for a month! Nathan had no idea (he did know I had his gift and that it was in the closet in my office but he was not to peek) even when he had the wrapped box in his hands. He was so excited (as was I)! We had to go to the store to pick up another controller (thanks, Mom) and Nathan wanted a zombie game. Nate’s mom gave me some money to put toward something too, so we bought a remote charger, but we may return it and buy something else since we have rechargeable batteries. We had so much fun playing Wii all night! It was 3 a.m. when we finally calmed down (after making Miis for about an hour) and looked at the clock. Off to bed for a full day of cleaning (and Nathan had a few work things to tie up) so we can host Nate’s family and a few friends for a fun filled party.

I think Nate’s favorite game is the boxing because apparently, I have a really funny stance.  Every time I was up, he couldn’t stop laughing.  There’s part of the boxing game that teaches you to dodge and punch and whatnot.  Best part is, they start with the trainer throwing tennis balls at your head.  I got so into it, I was yelling at the guy to quit it by the end (and about to fall over laughing).  After that, you practice punching by aiming for the trainer’s gloves.  You lose points if you hit the trainer, so don’t hit him.  Yeah right!  That twerp had spent the last half hour throwing balls at my head.  Plus I’m really bad at the punching part, so my aim just isn’t that great.  I had 1 point every round because I somehow managed to hit the gloves one more time than I hit the trainer.  Again, we had tears streaming down our faces by the end.

The lady at Target suggested that we buy the controller that came with a $10 game. So with our controller, we got a game that basically teaches you how to use the Wii system. But it comes with this cow racing game that is AWESOME!! I also rock at golf & bowling which was a surprise. We are both so sore today. It was great! I should have bought this thing sooner. I guess we’ll just have to make up for lost time. 🙂

Oh, and we LOVE Guitar Hero (and rock it!) and wanted to get either GH World Tour or Rock Band for the Wii. Any opinions about which game has the better instruments? I know you can use the instruments in both now, and they cost the same, so I want to buy the one that works best and we’ll just get all the games separate. Also, anyone have $200 laying around to buy GH or RB for us? We spent up all of our money yesterday on the peripherals. 🙂

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Posted on March 6, 2009 by rebeccaclaire

Jacqueline & Don

Jacqueline & Don got married at The Garden Inn at Bee Rock.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding.  Happy Fourth Anniversary!

Jacqueline baked a cheesecake just for Don.

After the wedding, everyone hung around and enjoyed the view.

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Posted on March 5, 2009 by rebeccaclaire

Happy Birthday, EvaMag

I have been known to do a bit of work for EvaMag over the years, and I think it’s time to get my act together and post some of my favorite shots.  I shot the cover this month for their third birthday as well as a few shots of Leah McCall of Whimsical Gatherings and some of her work.  Leah told me this was the first picture of her that she actually likes! Aw, shucks!  I think she’s so pretty, so it was easy.

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To be honest, this was shot at the base of my front porch stairs (with me standing on the porch) using natural light.  Nothing fancy.  It was 8 a.m. on a Saturday and Leah was dropping off the giant 3 before setting up for the Studio 54 gala.

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Giant 3 made out of my favorite flower (ranunculus) and feathers and bling.  I shot it on the floor of my office with natural window light and three synced canon 580 flashes.  I was impressed the kitties didn’t try to eat it.

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This thing was huge.  It took 2 of us to carry it upstairs.  Look how thick it is.  Pretty darn amazing!

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I love these flowers. They’re so dense with super thin petals.

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Leah had a few smaller arrangements for me to shoot as samples of other work.  These are much simpler than her normal designs, but they’re still beautiful.  This was shot with window light on the floor of my office (bamboo that we laid ourselves and handmade 6″ baseboards we stained black.

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I just really liked this shot.  We used to have hydrangeas growing outside our house when I was little, and I’ve always loved them, but these are extraordinary!

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I just thought this one was adorable! The base is actually an $8 black folding stool from Wal-Mart that I bought back when I first starting shooting headshots (I prefer for people to stand now, they don’t hunch their shoulders as much) Again with the window light.  Oh, and all of the flowers were shot at 1600 on my 20D Canon and I believe I used the 24-70/2.8 (my trusty sidekick).  I shot Leah with my 50 1.8 at a much lower ISO since we were outside.

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Posted on March 3, 2009 by rebeccaclaire

Same price, new product?

Sometimes people surprise me.  Luckily, this isn’t an issue with MY clients (I’ve been very lucky), but a friend of mine is a freelancer here in town working with a variety of silly issues.  His clients book him for blocks of time as well as a specific end product.  Every job last year went a good 2 weeks to a month or more over the designated time period.  He ended up triple booked a few times because of this, and his clients just didn’t understand.  They think a postponed deadline is great!  Well, it would be, except they don’t expect to pay for the extra time because they have booked him by the job.  Because of this, he has had to be a bit more hard-nosed in the bookings this year and not only does the job have an end date (after which an hourly rate applies), it also has stricter rules on the client changing the parameters mid-job or making more rounds of changes than allotted (again an hourly rate or a new price applies).  It sounds great, but now clients are trying to weasel out of this.  They don’t think that the days spent waiting on them count toward the deadline (but it’s days that can’t be booked with other clients because they are booked and this waiting is because the client doesn’t have their act together).  They also try to get out of the revision count by pretending it’s my friend’s fault (despite having approved the project the week before).  It’s insane!  Good thing there’s a signed contract.

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Posted on March 2, 2009 by rebeccaclaire

Leslie & Ambyre

Leslie bought a portrait sitting from one of the many benefit auctions I donated to last year. She and her sister Ambyre decided to use it for a great Christmas gift for their parents. I met them at Leslie’s house and we had a great time! 

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I really love Leslie’s mantel.

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Everyone looks good from above.

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They cracked me up with their goodnatured sisterly ribbing.  Sadly, this one did not make the Christmas cut.  😉

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Posted on March 2, 2009 by rebeccaclaire

What do I do all day?

Well, a lot of my day is spent waiting on Photoshop to finish an action or for a return phone call or the mail or the appointed time to make a call. What do I do during that time off? Why I check to see what my tweeple are doing over on twitter. Some of them post nice updates on their day (like what they had for lunch. I had clam chowder from the Shrimp Dock, thank you very much) while others post amusing links. Some of those links are amusing enough that I like to share them. So here they are, my top links (not exactly all amusing, some are just interesting):

This reminds me of our four-legged family members who twitch while they’re asleep. None have gone quite as far, though.

I present this in my ongoing quest to convince my world of peeps that eating local and organic are best.

As a little help to people who need more fact checking, here’s a great blog that goes through the above article with a finer toothed comb.

Because I have so many friends in the job market, this is a little bit of helpful advice.

One more addition to the food category.  I love local food!

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Posted on February 28, 2009 by rebeccaclaire

Where did it all come from?

Today we’re at Nathan’s dad’s house going through all of the stuff Nathan left behind when he moved out to go to college. It’s been a decade or so since he’s seen much of this stuff and even longer for some items that never got unpacked when they moved into the house just under 20 years ago. We’ve barely scratched the surface so far, but I’m interested to see what oddities we discover in the far recesses of the garage shelving unit. I don’t know if we’re going to venture into the attic. I’ll keep you posted on any fun finds.

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Posted on February 28, 2009 by rebeccaclaire

When did a tabloid become a legitamate “news” source?

I just wasted 7 minutes of my life skimming a ridiculous “news” story pulled straight from the supermarket tabloids. The reason I spent so long was that I couldn’t pull myself away from the comments section. Do people really read the tabloids for actual news? I always thought they were just there to be funny. Batboy, the president (whichever was in power at the time) meeting with aliens, human remains on the moon and what not. Seriously, folks. I suppose the cover shots have improved. Now they’re actual photos with inflammatory headlines rather than hack and slash photoshop (or cut and paste back in the pre-digital days) dreck. I’ve just always lived with the understanding that the National Enquirer et al were there purely for amusement while you waiting in the checkout line, but apparently that’s not the case all around. Has the “journalism” improved, or has the internet just given an international voice to the readers and believers.

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Posted on February 28, 2009 by rebeccaclaire

Heather & Chris

Heather & Chris celebrate their fifth anniversary today!  They had a fun wedding in Nashville all those years ago, and I must say, Heather is just as beautiful today (don’t tell her I said that, she might get a big head.  😉 )  I had a great time photographing them at Brush Hill Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the VFW on Lebanon Pike.  Chris’s dad officiated, which brought a really personal touch to the ceremony.  Still no babies, though.  Heather, 2009 is the year of the baby!  I’m ready to do some maternity portraits.  JK!  No pressure.  🙂

The view from the VFW was beautiful.  Be careful, though!  The land ends just behind Chris!

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Posted on February 26, 2009 by rebeccaclaire

Ann & Melvin

Ann & Melvin called me up the summer before their wedding to find out about my wedding packages.  They booked me, and then we put 2 and 2 together and realized, I had been friends with Mel’s oldest, Susanna, in grade school.  Turns out Atlanta is a small town!  Their wedding was beautiful.  The entire event was at the Mary Gay House in Decatur.  Affairs to Remember catered.  Event Cafe was the florist.  Margie Sikes with Affairs of Elegance coordinated.  It was a wonderful evening all about family and friends!  HAPPY 4TH ANNIVERSARY!

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