Meg and Bryan - April 25 2009

Lots and lots of good stuff coming up. I have been hard at work this past week developing a shiny new website. It's been on the back of my mind for a while, rolling around what I'd like to do design wise, and I think I've made some excellent progress. I've got almost the entire site built now, minus all the portfolio pictures. That will hopefully change after this year though. I should have plenty. I've been working on my branding a lot as well, deciding what I want to do on that side. I think Angela and I have come up with some good stuff so look for that in the next week or so. At some point in the not-to-distant future, my blog here will be re-branded and potentially moved. I will forward the domain so all your links still work, but at some point this will become my catchall blog for life and my photography. I have no problem with clients seeing the real me. In the end, I think anyone that hires me will feel like they know me, and it will make the whole experience that much richer. But I will have to lose the name Digital Congestion. Sad to see it go, but hey it was a good run.

Speaking of photography....If anyone is looking for free portraits give me a ring. I'll take any subject I can get my hands on, only it probably has to be on a weekday evening or a Sunday. At the very least, I'll buy you a drink and whatever single item you want off the dollar menu. I really need some lifestyle pictures. I also need Engagement session pictures. Which means I need a guy and a gal who are, or who will pretend to be engaged. I don't care if it's a guy friend, a girl friend, a boyfriend or girlfriend, a roommate, a sibling, or a cousin, or a wife who doesn't mind losing the rings for a bit. I'll take it. But you've got to be able to pretend to be in love!

Anyway, Meg and Bryan was my second wedding with the Kracke's. I was beginning to feel more comfortable with myself, and Esperanza Mansion is just beautiful. It overlooks Keuka Lake and it's just a wonderful view. Bryan and Meg were a fantastic couple. Warm and inviting, they welcomed the new guy with open arms. They were gracious and kind, and very much in love. I think the Kracke's got a ton of great pictures of Meg's son Grady right here. So rather than rehash any of that, I thought I'd at least post some of my favorites from the day. They posted a ton of great pictures from the day so I encourage you to go check their site.

They had some fantastic vows. They even made a few of the vendors cry! It was amazing how in love these two were. It reminded me very much of how I remember feeling on my wedding day.

I can't take credit for coming up with this shot. It's something that Julia and Kurtis set up, and I just fired away madly while I had the chance. It was my first real silhouette attempt to boot. Overall I think it came out pretty good. Even I have to admit, that since my very first wedding back in January, my photography has improved. Oh not to the point where I think I'm any good, but certainly better than where I started. Which I guess is a good thing. Anyway that's why I need more subjects. I need to take more people pictures out in the world.

I caught this little girl getting fixed up by her dad.

Meg gets her dress fixed by a bridesmaid. I snuck over her shoulder and snagged this real quick.

And the gratuitous balcony shot. I had to show you one where you could see the vineyards and the lake! The grapes weren't quite up yet, but it was still a fantastic view, and a very nice warm day. Not so nice when you're dressed in all black and carrying all those pounds of photo gear strapped to your belt though. Eh, better than rain, but not as good as overcast.

Oh Angela and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary this past weekend. I've got a post in the works on that one too! Stay tuned!

First Wedding - Dan and Nicole

Ok, so here's a few highlights of my first wedding with Kurtis and Julia. This was technically the second wedding I've ever shot, but the first time that I got to watch experienced wedding photographers in action. I spent as much time watching them as I did taking pictures. They've got a lot to teach me! Dan and Nicole were a great couple. They got married at the Lodge on the Green, which is where the reception was as well. One of the fascinating things is that I have gotten to see so many different ceremony and reception sites, and get a feel for some of the potential picture taking areas around them. Anyway, thanks Dan and Nicole, and Kurtis and Julia for allowing me to be there on their special day.

I really liked their cake topper. Whenever I see interlocking rings or the infinity symbol I think of the mobius strip. I'm a big fan of the infinity symbol anyway, and so I enjoyed this. I really liked that it was lit overhead by a single tungsten bulb which gave it a bit of drama.





The grooms cake was pretty cool. It was a Marvel comic themed cake with a whole bunch of characters on it. After it had been cut, I caught this little guy stealing a taste. The bride and groom had just turned their backs for a second, and I was lucky enough to see this coming by the look in his eyes.


After the ceremony I drove everyone a few hundred feet down the road to a series of little ponds and this cool bridge.


This was taken on the gazebo out back. I wish there wasn't such a highlight on Dans face here, but we work with what we got. They were a great couple, and very welcoming of the newbie.

Life Before weddings

Ok, I know it's been a while. So much to catch up on. Where to even begin. Well let's go back to May, because that's when I last posted. Mother's Day Brunch was a success for 2009! I learned how to fold napkins really well. In fact, I folded every single one!

The place looked beautiful! Things ran very smoothly, and while we didn't get quite the attendance we were originally hoping for, it turned out to be a good thing since it gave us a chance to see how things went. I think we'll be back next year.

So after that we went to Pennsylvania to visit the cemetery and say hello to Trevor in honor of his birthday. I often wish he would have met Gnome because Trev was a dog lover. He would have loved Gnome. Gnome loves to lay around in the sun, and seems to really enjoy the nice weather at the cemetery. I hope its nice when we go back in September.

We stayed at the farm again. This time we brought Ashley, and she played the tomboy very well. Normally she's...well 13. She's girly now most of the time. Worried about her hair, her makeup, all the stuff. Just like any teenage girl. It was great to see her take to the country the way she did though. She hopped in that dirty pond without hesitation, all in the name of frog hunting.

Because I'm a boob I forgot to dial the ISO down to a nice level. I really don't like having to think about my ISO on top of my other exposure information, but I suppose once I get used it, I'll be all the better for it.

Trevor used to love to skateboard. He had this one deck, with a little anime nurse on the bottom. Loved the thing. My cousin Tim remembered that deck, and got that image tatooed on his leg. But it wasn't any old artist, he did it himself! He did a great job, and by the looks of his first work, he'll have a career out of it.

Tim and his girlfriend just got a new dog. They named the little guy Jaeger. Like the liquor. He's a pitbull pup, with a lot of character. Too bad pitbulls have such a bad rap, because they are just the best puppies in the world. Full of love, and eager to play.

Whew. So in a nutshell, that sums up May. Oh we did take Max to the park to play. He has this thing for his jammies and he seems to always be in them. I had a few outfits like that when I was a kid too. He's a real ham on that swing. He loves it, and it seems he can't get enough of it. Push me higher! Higher! He yells.

Other than work, which has been....interesting. We've fired 2 people, brought one back, and we'll be losing another soon due to resignation. I've been shooting weddings every free weekend with Kurtis and Julia, and I have been given the OK to post the first 3 weddings we've shot. The deal is, I can post them when the clients have released their photos. That works great for me, because with my schedule the way it has been, I haven't had time to post, edit pictures, or accomplish anything really! But things seem to be slowing down a touch, so I've gotten caught up. Evenings are much lighter now.

P90x is going well. I'm down to my last 3 weeks in the 90 day program. I can't believe how fast it's gone. I don't see a huge difference between 30 days and 60 days like I posted before, but everyone keeps telling me there is. I'm getting ready to either start the program all over again, or switch it up to a new program that is coming out called Insanity. Here's the website: http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/insanity.do for the program, and here's another video of it: http://jasonarmbruster.blogspot.com/2009/05/super-new-insanity-preview.html. Looks crazy. But Plyometrics is one of my favorite workouts on P90X and this routine is very similar to that. Only worse, and more of it.

Hmm...what else is new...well I've been tossing the idea around of taking the civil service exam for the local or county police department. I've been back and forth with it for a while now, a couple years at least. My dad has a friend that was a Monroe County Sheriff, and I spoke to him about it several years ago. He just told me that I probably didn't have a chance because the competition was too high. Too many applicants to choose from. Of course, I've always said that the guy who says it can't be done, is usually interrupted by the guy who just did it. So I figure what the hell. Nothing to lose, so maybe I'll take the exam and see where it goes. I have a friend in the city police department and we're having dinner together soon, so I'm sure he'll have some input for me. Hey, the test isn't until November, and even then, I can always change my mind. But somehow I keep coming back here, and there's always some reason why I don't try. I'm tired of coming back here and not trying. Thanks to P90X, I could pass the physical peice as it stands right now, although I still need to improve on the 1.5 mile run to give myself a nice buffer.

I think the big question everyone asks me is why. Why would I want to do that. That's a tough one to answer. Maybe it's because I love helping people, and love the idea of being able to make a difference in the world. It somehow just feels like I should try. Kind of like most people fall into their careers because it lines up with some peice of their personality. That's the thing I loved about healthcare and going into medicine. Helping people, making a difference in someones life, and maybe having some impact on the world around me, no matter how small.

Anyway, that pretty much fills you in on May and the beginning of June minus the weddings which I already have drafted. I'm still doing P90X, still figuring out what I want to do with my life, still loving photography, still loving my wife, and still loving my life. I'm far less worried about losing my job now for some reason. Maybe it's the idea that there is something else I could do, or more to the point, something else I kinda want to do.

Quick update

Day 0, Day 30, and Day 60.