blog

This isn't the only blog I write on.

It's who I am, it's the things I love and all my quirks, but it's not the only blog I write on.

Adam has a blog for his business. While we started it with the intensions of having us both write on it so that our clients could get to know both of us, the two people they work with from booking to getting their final images, it's basically just me writing. We're coming to really see what each of our strengths are, and writing quickly but affectively is a strength of mine more than it's a strength of Adam's.

His strength is the beautiful images that I get to write about. So CLICK HERE to check it out, and get a glimpse of the great couples we get to work with!

daily

I am blessed, with one of the best bosses in the world. Or at least one who is the best boss for me. For my birthday, Adam got me a Garmin. So when I'm driving myself to weddings I don't have to print of directions every time, I can just type the address in and go. I've already used it once and I've only had it for two days!

2nd

One year ago, on July 2nd, Adam lost his mom. This year, on July 2nd, he got married. On a beach, to the love of his life. And I cried.

They had a wedding party full of their family, a mass assortment of friends to make the day beautiful, and a tribute to Adam's mom that was the reason for my tears. More directly, it was the reason for Adam's tears, which then were the reason for mine.

I sat on that beach with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders and wind whipping through my hair watching Adam watch Catie come down the aisle and thanking God for the gifts He gives us. For the gift Adam and Catie are to each other, for the gift of marriage and that special relationship that was created just for us, for the gift Adam's mom was and is to her family, and for the gift that Adam is to me.

During the ceremony the pastor read a devotional the couple had picked out. It was about how God doesn't always explain everything in our lives when events happen, but how that's okay, that's how it's meant to be, and that's what trusting God means. Adam likes knowing why things happen. He likes knowing why they happen before they happen. God designed him that way, designed him to be an artist who wants to know the deeper meaning behind everything, designed him to question. The awesome part is God can handle it, our desire to understand. Because when you dig deeper and look for greater meaning in things -- you'll find your answers in Jesus.

At the end of the wedding all the guest came up around the couple and laid hands on them and prayed for them. I love prayer like that, I love when everyone gathers for one purpose and focuses all their love on that purpose. What better way to start a marriage when you know there's such power in prayer?

photo by erin jean photography.

ruffled

Today was an incredible, incredible day in blog world. I'm going to post three seperate posts about it, but first off, the most exciting. Because it's so exciting I can't even make myself wait unti last!

ADAM GOT PUBLISHED!! Yesterday I spent the day submitting Jilane and CJ's wedding to different blogs, and today it was published on Ruffled. Which happens to be Jilane's favorite blog.

I was so excited. Jilane and CJ had a beautiful wedding and Adam did an amazing job capturing it, I'm so happy for all of them. :)

P.S. -- click on the image to see the posts!

thankful

Adam is my boss, and I'm so thankful for Adam. I'm thankful that God found me this job.

Adam text messaged me today and said that he'd just been looking at other photographer's websites and had convinced himself he sucked and needed to work to get way better. Now, he by no means sucks(check it out), but the fact that he's humble about his talent and wants to continually work to get better? This makes him a great man to work with.

I'm thankful that he's open to my suggestions and is allowing me, the not-even-out-of-college kid to have a voice in his business. He knows how to encourage me and give me confidence.

I'm thankful for the friendship we've created. I could have worked with someone who I didn't have any desire to ever see outside of the workplace, but instead I've got someone who I know is my friend, and who I know values the friendship we share. I'm new in the workplace, but I think that's a good thing.

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So, thank you God, for blessing me, for now, with a boss who has a mind that works like mine.

coffeehouse

Our coffeehouse at school is a haven of sorts. It's rich, warm colors, natural wood and stone, huge windows and soft couches. It's like this place that's just a little nicer than any other place on campus and this place that makes me feel more like an adult than like a college kid.

I like that feeling. The feeling of being on the brink of something new. When I can walk into someplace I've never been before and feel like I could belong there. Like the first time I met Adam, I walked into Cheesecake Factory...a new, slightly more mature setting than my usual hangout, and sat down and had my first 'interview' for something I really cared about, not just any old job to get me through college(even though I've loved all my jobs). And I sat there and listened as he said everything and so much more than I was hoping to hear. And it was so exciting and new and more grown up than almost everything before it.

I love growing up. They tell you with every new season in life that those years will be the best years of your life, and while that would seemingly get monotonous, it's so true. I loved aspects of high school. High school was choir, was something that I was good at that taught me how to be confident, with the help of some of the best mentors in the world. College brought a few day-long breakdowns as I figured out what I wanted to do with my life, but it also brought the beginnings of friendships stronger than anything I had in high school, and eventually did help me figure out who I want to be, and gave me confidence about myself as a whole, not just in specific abilities. And then there's the years that I'll be working, and the years that I'll be getting married and the years that I'll be having kids...see what I mean? There's best moments in all those years.

sinatra

As usual, my fears were ridiculous. Shooting the wedding with Adam was amazing. He’s so excellent when he’s teaching me things, letting me use his equipment and explaining what it can do and explaining how to use it and then sending me off to play and see what I come up with. He teaches exactly the way I learn, and there was no pressure for whatever I came up with for pictures, so I didn’t have to stress about it and I could just play around and practice on those beautiful people.

The budget difference between this couple and the couples Jilane and I usually shoot was just insane. What people can do with money to make a beautiful wedding…wow. Not that weddings with a budget can’t be beautiful, what makes a wedding beautiful is the love and promise surrounding that day, but the details and the things that make it extra fun to photograph are great bonuses.

Adam dropped me off at the house the groomsmen were getting ready at --- a huge country cottage covered in Pottery Barn products on the water. It was gorgeous. The groom had fallen down the stairs first thing in the morning and ripped his toe open, so when we pulled up they were outside and one of the groomsmen was taping up his profusely bleeding toe. It was a great moment to stumble in on, because it gave immediate insight about the relationships between the groomsmen. These guys loved to pick on each other, but they’d been friends forever and were super close.

The locations we were able to go to between the wedding and the reception just added more beauty to the whole day…on the water, up on a hill in a state park, so pretty!

My favorite part of the day was at the reception. They had hired a jazz band to play. The saxophone player was actually the sax professor at my college, and they were really good just as an instrumental group. But then the singer got up there…hello Frank Sinatra. Obviously not really him, but this guy had a great voice and sang all old ballads, I kind of fell in love with him a little. Nevermind the fact that he was in his sixties. That fact is completely irrelevant as soon as he starts singing.

intern

This Saturday is my first wedding with Adam, the photographer I'm interning with this summer.

He does such a good job, and steers away from the traditional unlike so many photographers in our area. I'm really excited to start working with him...but also kind of nervous. I have this problem, where I'm all confident in my abilities...except with some people. Like, with singing, I used to freak out when I had to sing for my choir director. I was always fine with my mom, I was fine with the gym packed for a regional game when I was on the radio, I was always fine with my voice teacher, but when I had to sing for my choir director I'd get nervous. I got better as the years went on and I did a lot of singing in front of her, but every single time my nerves would flare up.

That's how I feel with Adam already. Like I could possibly always be just slightly nervous around him. Which is so dumb, because he really does everything he can to make sure I'm not nervous, but I'm kind of a spazz that way.

Really, though, despite the fact that I am definitely a little nervous, the main emotion is definitely excited. Ridiculously excited. So excited to learn more even though I feel like I'll probably get a little frustrated along the way. And so excited to take pictures. I love wedding work. I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of all these special days in people's lives...I mean, seriously. I get to spend the whole day with people who are full of joy and totally in love. It's usually the biggest day of their lives to date, and my job is to capture all the emotions that day holds. My job is to laugh and smile and share in all that joy. How can I not feel so amazingly blessed?