Separation Anxiety

I have just given myself a bad-blogger spanking.  I plan to come back to this world soon. 

Until then earthlings.... I'll show you a photograph that was too cute not to post.  This is what my little pup does when I'm in the bathroom and she can't get to me....

Hello, I am Ron Burgundy.

During today's senior session, I was crawling all over the place.  I was a "professional" monkey.  It's not at all below me to get on my stomach and lay down with clients while shooting.  But tonight I just happened to lay on a street that a dusty tire had just left its tracks all over.  When I stood up, I looked like I had just fallen out of a chimney!  One leg solid black, both feet speckled with black spots, and my yellow sundress completely black on my butt.  Totally worth it for a good shot though, so I unsuccessfully dusted myself off, got up and carried on.

Due to the blazing heat waves that were striking like lightning on me, I wiped my face off with my black hand.  Unannounced to me, I just continued to take pictures when my sweet senior burst into laughter saying "you look like a pirate!"  And I was going "huh? a pirate?!"  Then Matthew proceeds to tell me I had just created a black moustache on myself with my dusty fingers.  He hurried over me and starting wiping his fingers across my face and when the black soot didn't budge, he used his t-shirt- like a dad wiping off his kid's snotty nose.  That is love.

Later in the car he started laughing again and said he couldn't take me seriously because I had looked like Ron Burgundy.  That's a shoot with me.  I'm the girl with the handlebar moustache.  It's just all kinds of professional, people. 

The Photography Workout

That's what they should call the hours that wedding photographers put in. As I have repeatedly proclaimed, I hold a pretty strict "anti-wedding' strategy. However, this was for family. Plus it was a little different since it was a renewal of the vows. A more laid-back scene which I enjoyed. I still stand by my anti-wedding tactic because it literately kept me up at night worrying over something going wrong and me missing such a key moment in someone's life. I don't know how yall do it every weekend! I would burst into a million pieces under the pressure. But my goodness is it a workout. My arms were sore the whole next day like I'd done a full day of conditioning for volleyball. Holding that camera with the larger-than-life flash for hour after hour will do a number on your arms! I hereby grant wedding photographers the right to skip all workout regiments on the weekends.

I'll share some of the pictures that I took of the event which was held at Dana Point, California. And may I just mention that I am crazy madly in love with the weather there? I went on a 3 mile walk and did not sweat. This would never happen in Austin. A 3 mile walk would entail jugs of ice-cold water, an oxygen tank at the 1.5 mile marker, and a stretcher to load me up on at the finish line.

No, I did not tear this page out of a Ralph Lauren ad. The family is just that pretty!

This little guy was so cute that my camera was a magnet for him. He was so perfectly attentive.

A shot of the vow ceremony, which was filled with lots of laughter...

Love the enscription on his ring...

The Temperature Wars.

At our place located halfway down the main hall is a little square box that has great powers.   Powers strong enough to control my mood.  Powers strong enough to cause a small war to commence between my husband and I.  This little power box is the thermostat.

I've always had the curse of being hot-natured.  The one who begs for just one car air vent to blow my direction.  The one who searches for the nearest water fountain so I can splash some cold water on my face to cool down.  My argument against cold-natured people has and will always be: you can always put clothes ON, but when you are hot...you can only take so many clothes off.

The little cold-natured minions seem to haunt me wherever I go.  At my house growing up my dad used to tape "threatening" notes like "IF you touch this one more time you shall breath your last breath." But when you are the last person to go to sleep at night, you have the last touch on the thermostat. [cue evil laugh]  Message to the "cold hands warm heart" crowd: grab a blanket unless you want to see me running around like a loony in my skibbies.

The Tree.

If the heart is the root,

then actions are the branches

and words are the leaves.

One of my pet peeves has always been when people say "well, that's just the way I am" in regard to a negative quality they portray.  I think I feel that it's not a good enough excuse.  So usually the first thing I do is try to change it about them...or find a way to help them see what a problem it is.  When they don't care to change it, it drives me crazy and continues to gnaw at me. 

Then God told me something that completely contradicts what I've been doing all this time:  I dont have to love them FOR it, I have to love them in spite of it.  Perhaps the lesson through all this is to show me how to love those who make it hard.  If everyone morphed into the way I wanted them, it would be altered love.  I know there are many things God wishes I would change about my lifestyle and attitude, yet He loves me in spite of it.  And the irony is that my tendency to find flaws in others only reveals the very flaw in myself.

Our hearts are the center of who we are- but they are only revealed to others through actions & words.  That's why I have the compelling feeling that if I work on getting my heart matter strong and rooted, from it will bloom kind words, a gentle spirit, & the desire to extend a loving hand to those who need it.

*I took these shots to try to challenge perspective and think "outside the box".  This week I'll be out of town doing some [human] shoots and will be back to post photos.  Sorry for my absense, this poor blog is starving for words!