05-16-2012

Life Behind the Lens: Hershey’s Kisses, Taxes, and Ripped Pants

Personal

I’m excited to introduce a fun new series on the blog – I’m calling it Life Behind the Lens.  We’ll see what comes of it, but I’m hoping to share more stories from sessions and other fun things, whatever that might be from week to week :)

For this weeks Life Behind the Lens…

I’m excited about:
Anna & Calvin’s wedding this Saturday at Salisbury House. I’ve been dreaming of shooting at this location ever since I saw pictures, and I can’t wait for their gorgeous wedding to take place there!

Working with another wonderfully talented photographer, Robyn. I’m so glad we met via Facebook, and that we hit it off!

FINALLY organizing personal photos on my computer. I’m great at keeping client work organized, but up until recently, any personal photos were just a mess and impossible to find. Now that I have a system in place, things are much better.

 

Yes, this happened:

- I ate a Hershey’s kiss that had probably been hiding in my bag for 6 months
- My husband Jerod took me on a repeat date to one of my favorite places – Shelbourne Falls (instagram pic) and then topped it off with a concert
- Got the addendum for our tax return after a bit of a miscommunication with our CPA and nearly choked on my juice when I saw how much I owed after factoring everything correctly from my business. *sigh* Such is life.
- I had a good laugh when my capri pants ripped right up the leg immediately after I got into Cindy’s car to head to her engagement shoot. Thank God we were still in the driveway!

 

Things on My Mind:
Whether I should start a separate Facebook page for seniors or weddings to split things up more clearly (yay? nay?)
How much I love the beautiful weather we’ve been having lately!

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05-14-2012

Sneak Peek: Cindy & Ben’s Engagement Session

Des Moines Wedding Photographer + Engaged + Iowa Engagement Photographer

To say that I am excited for Cindy & Ben’s upcoming July wedding would be an understatement.  I’m ECSTATIC!   Cindy is a dear friend of mine that I’ve known for several years, and she has been so patient to wait for the right guy for her.  I remember praying with her 6 or 7 years ago when we were both single, and let’s just say that a great percentage of our prayers were about guys and our  hopes for the future!

When I heard a little bit about Ben and the way Cindy talked about him early on in their relationship, I knew it was something sweet and special.  And when Cindy called me last winter to let me know he popped the question, I was overjoyed.  I couldn’t be more happy for her!   And as I’ve gotten to know Ben a little bit over the past few months, I can just see how they have fun together, make each other happy, and really are an answer to each others prayers.

Here’s a sneak peek from their engagement session on Saturday, shot around Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA and a few nearby fields.  It was full of LOTS of sweet moments, but this one was one of my favorites!

More to come soon!

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Jenne Dunham - Beautiful image! I’m leaning toward loving the b&w best but I can’t decide – they’re both gorgeous!

AshleyS - love the peace between them.

Christy Harper - Great job on this session. I love the light :)

Life Behind the Lens: Hershey's Kisses, Taxes, and Ripped Pants | Jennifer Weinman Photography - [...] capri pants ripped right up the leg immediately after I got into Cindy’s car to head to her engagement shoot. Thank God we were still in the [...]

05-11-2012

Colorful Ring

Des Moines Wedding Photographer + For Brides + Iowa Engagement Photographer

I spent some time today looking back at some workshop videos I’ve had for a while, and was inspired to do a little macro ring practice.  It’s also very timely, since I’ll be doing a LOT of ring shots coming up!  3 engagement sessions, a couples session, and one wedding, all in less than 4 days!  Hopefully I can make it through the marathon of sessions and weddings in one piece:)

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Tanzyn - Gorgeous shot!!

Trudie - Great shot. I hope you survive all those sessions.

Christal Stockwell Boxberger - Beautiful!

Kim Miller - Beautiful photo!

Jo Clark - Wow I LOVE this! Gorgeous colors. Very creative!

SimonaN - Really beautiful!

05-10-2012

Invitations & Thank You Notes: Thoughts on Being Old-Fashioned

Personal

This seems to be the week that things are starting to take shape for a busy wedding season!  I’ve started receiving invitations in the mail (3 this week!), and at the same time, I’m also rounding out some thank you notes and gifts for brides later this year.

Yes, I still try to do written thank you notes.  And gifts.  I’ll confess to not being 100% organized this year and perhaps forgetting a few, but I’m trying my best to make sure I send something to every couple letting them know how excited I am for their big day, and how grateful I am to be working with them.  I mean, who doesn’t love receiving a little surprise in the mail?  I know I love it!

(Can we just talk about how pretty Ben & Cindy’s wedding invite is?  I love how it perfectly reflects their bright summery wedding!)

Maybe I’m a little old fashioned in terms of etiquette.  The funny thing is that I know my mother would scold me for how many times I forgot to thank relatives and friends for gifts over the years!   Case in point: I’m still working on some thank you notes from Christmas this year…

I think perhaps the ONLY time I hit 100% with thank you notes was for my own wedding.  I cranked those babies out in less than 2 weeks!  Obviously the trend didn’t stick.   But I still LIKE them, even if I’m not always great at sending them out. :-)

I’m curious:  Anyone else a fan of good old-fashioned thank you notes?  Am I the only one who struggles to remember to prioritize them?  I hope not!

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Kerri - I try! I also used to have my children write thank-you notes after they received gifts, but now that there are four of them, it’s very difficult to make it a priority :) . Beautiful images!

Jenny Owens Photography - I’m a fan although I have to admit to not being very organised enough to writing them for everyone!

05-09-2012

Abby & Glenn’s +Site

Des Moines Wedding Photographer + Iowa Engagement Photographer

One of the super cool things I love about the website I have, which is through Showit, is the ability to have +sites for clients. They’re like mini websites that feature a specific session or wedding and can be easily shared and viewed via Facebook. This is one of the gifts I give to brides & grooms that makes it SO much easier for them to share their wedding photos with friends and family. It’s seriously AMAZING.

One little feature I just discovered today is that I can actually embed the site right here on my blog! How cool is that?

Check out Abby & Glenn’s +site for their upcoming wedding at the Scottish Rite in September. And if you want to see the full-sized version, head over here and leave them a note in their guestbook!

Flash Required to view this area.

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Kim - Great post and lovely invitation. I need to make thank you notes a priority as well – thanks for the reminder!

05-08-2012

Another one checked off the list!

101 in 1001 + For Photographers

I will sheepishly admit that this post has been in my drafts folder for over a year.  Yikes!  Once wedding season kicked into high gear, other things took precedent, so I’m playing catch up on some blog posts that I want to share with clients and photographers.

You may remember that last week I did a bit of a recap of how my 101 in 1001 goal adventure is going.  One of the things I realized is that while I’m busting through the list pretty fast, I’m not so great at blogging about how and when I’ve accomplished these goals!  So today’s post is my first effort at jumping back in…and obviously, that means backtracking a bit.

Last spring, I FINALLY upgraded to a new computer, a 27 inch iMac!  Now I can check goal #56 off my list: Replace my laptop with a desktop computer, more suitable for photo editing. Woohoo!

apple imac

I’m a Mac-lover at heart, so the choice was a no-brainer for me.  I knew I’d need the extra screen real estate for editing, so I opted for the larger 27 inch screen.  I choose the fastest one I could get, and upgraded the RAM myself to save some money.  Apple is notorious for overcharging for upgrading RAM, so going the DIY-route can save you a good chunk of change.

So far, I looooooooove it!  Working in Lightroom and Photoshop is so much faster than my 6 year-old ancient laptop, so I can deliver photos from weddings and senior sessions about twice as fast as I used to.  It’s pretty wonderful!

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05-07-2012

At the Pool

Grinnell Senior Photographer

Over on Facebook, Jodi’s mom asked for a little sneak peek of a few more photos from Jodi’s session back in April  (she’s patiently waiting for her REP shoot in June to see the rest!) and so, I thought I’d throw a few fun ones up for her to share with friends!

We started at the Grinnell Aquatic Center, where Jodi is a lifeguard, showing off some of her guard gear.

We then headed over to the Grinnell College aquatic center for some racing photos.  This was only a few days after the pool was undergoing repair for a piece of ductwork that fell from the ceiling into the pool (crazy!) and so we had to be all stealth-ly and get special permission for use of the pool.  It was definitely worth it, though!

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Jenn Jones - Love these lifeguard photos! Colorful and just awesome!

Susy - What a fun session! I bet mom will love them!

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