Mushroom Farming

Often times on my way home from school I want to pull off the road and take pictures about 5 times. I normally pass up the first 4 opportunities, and then finally the desire builds up so much that I stop by the time the 5th opportunity comes around. You know... something like that. :P Anyway, today I finally pulled over when I saw this old truck that was parked in amongst the trees. From where I was parked I had to walk like 40 yards to get to it. By the time I was about 10 yards away from the truck I saw a man walking to the truck. A scruffy man. I'm not trying to pass judgement, but those are just the type of people you hear crazy stories about. And he called to me and said that he was "looking for mushrooms." I was like "Oh, alright..... great!" And I was thinking to myself, "Ummm... Awesome! You just stay on that side of the road and I'll stay over here and we'll be fine." It would have made me look pretty weird to turn around and walk back to my car right then, so I just asked him if I could take a picture of his truck. It wasn't really the shot I was looking for because the man was still there standing close to the truck. But I didn't care about that then. He told me it was a '78 Ford or something and I was like, "Yeah? Okay, great! Have a nice day!" And I walked back to my car.

Hmmm... that was a little different experience. I really wasn't expecting that at all, but at least I didn't really feel threatened by anything he did. So, I'll just file this one away in my growing list of photography adventures. Ha!

-MarLeahJoy

Rehearsal Day!

Remember the post about Jacqueline? I posted the photos 10 days ago and Jacqueline sent me a message today: "Oh my goodness! I just got on and looked at the pictures you took of me, and I love them! They're the first pics taken that I actually like. Usually I hate about everything, but I really like yours. Can I order some prints from you?"
Then she proceeded to say that she was graduating in December and would like for me to take her Senior photos. :) That just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside ;) because I was kind of hoping/wishfully thinking that she would like them and some magical thought would drop into her head about Senior photos. :) And it did :)

Anyway, that's just a little side thought to today's post. What I really want to share is some less formal and more personal photos from my fun weekend. :) So here we go, back to the normal storyboard style of blogging that I used to do -- for today at least. (I'm really a big one for having the post formatted same on my blog, so it kind of makes me uncomfortable when I start "breaking my own rules" about the way I blog. :P But I figure you guys could care less about whether I'm just posting via flickr or if I'm blogging "normally" or whatever... :P So I'll just try to ignore that little voice in my head that's screaming "nooo!" right now)

On Friday morning, Ranelle and I headed out with Nathan (the groom!) :) to go down to the church Jenks, OK where the rehearsal would be later that night. Everything was going great until Nathan suddenly pulled over and was like "Ahh! No....!" He had a flat. :/ Pooh! So we all piled out, and of course I grabbed my camera while Ranelle was a little more helpful and started to take the lug nuts off the flat tire :P

We made it back on the road within 20 minutes, and only had to stop once more before we reached our destination (but that was only so that Nathan could pick some flowers for Cara ;) How sweet!)

Once we got to the church I did a little location shooting and tried familiarized myself with the 6D.

Then I got the obligatory shot of the chapel while there were no cars parked out front... But the picture really annoys me because it's not shot straight on. Why didn't I center myself in front of the church!?

Heather and I always take a picture together about every time we see each other now. I'm not sure how many we have together over this last year... but I love each and every one of them because it just makes me smile when I see us together. :) Anyway, we had someone take a couple of shots of us :)

At the rehearsal, one of the bridesmaids passed out whoopee cushions :P
And then there is the almost bride and groom :)

 -MarLeahJoy

N+C Wedding Overview

{Click to the right to view all 8 photos}

Okay, obviously I could share a lot more pictures right now. But I just had to choose. And I need to just share a few this week and then finish the session of Sacha and her daughter and Davis' senior photos...

And then it will be back to the wedding editing happiness!

But really, the reason I'm blogging is just because I want to just talk, hehe! :P I can't make a blog post of the wedding, though, without sharing photos. Soooo... these are the photos that I put on Facebook.

Enjoy while I blab about the wedding. ;)

I sent my rented gear back off to Lumoid today. I was a little sad to part with the Canon 6D. I love it's quieter shutter, and it seems to have a lot better auto picture style and coloring than my 7D does. (I left white balance on auto, btw -- that would have been a pain to change all the time, so I would rather adjust in Lightroom) Of course, it is a full frame camera (yay!), and it has better ISO capabilities. With the lenses, I found out that the 16-35mm was really great to have, but I wasn't aware that the edges got out of focus or I would have taken all of my pictures with a different crop. So basically, I'm going to have to go in and sharpen the people on the edge on most of the bridal party photos I took with that lens. Not cool. So that lens quickly became less of a favorite after I looked at the images on my mac. The 70-200mm is sooooo amazing, though. I thought I might hate it because it weighs so much. But really, it wasn't a pain at all and my hand wasn't nearly as sore as it was in the last wedding. Granted, my back was sore from carrying around the weight of two cameras, but I actually weathered it a lot better than I thought I would. :)
Speaking of "weathering" things... the wind was blowing like crazy that day. And of course with it being in Oklahoma, the wind never gave up. So some of the photos might look a little "wind-blown". :P But I actually like what it did for most of the photos, because it gave direction to Cara's veil without us even having to try. :) One thing I was worried about was my skirt blowing up, but somehow it never really did until after the wedding was already over, and then it really let itself go o.O But at least I didn't have to worry about that while taking pictures!! Haha!

Annddd... I know I could say a lot more, but my brain is actually shutting down now. So it's time for bed :P I'll be sharing more later anyway, so I can gab a lot more then :)

-MarLeahJoy

Davis Sr. 2013

This is Davis, my cousin, who lives on a farm in Kansas. :)

I think the reality of the wedding is hitting me tonight. :0 And I really need to go to bed, but I really want to blog these crazy packed moments in my photography because I think it will be cool to look back on. I know from my own personal journaling, too, that if I don't write it down soon... the crazy details that really make the event/day interesting kind of gets forgotten within a few days. So I'll spend a few moments writing my thoughts out tonight even though I'm about to crash! :P

I spent all day with my family in Kansas since my sister is back in the area visiting and wanted to see everybody. So after a full day of... um, well... visiting, (yeah somehow visiting and taking it easy can wear me out) I took my cousin's senior photos. It was actually really a fun experience because we were out on some property that had an old run down house and several barns and stuff. I have no idea who owned it, but I guess in Kansas it really doesn't matter too much.
After the session we went back and visited more with family and we sang in a silo. I have audio to prove how beautiful it was :)
We got home at 11pm which meant that I had an hour to complete all of my homework. Ha! But how could I do homework when my lens and camera rental and all of my flash equipment came in while I was out visiting all day?? Nah! So I played around with the 6D, 70-200 f/2.8, and 16-35 f/2.8. And just so you know.. the 70-200mm kind of scared me with how big it is. I'm not really sure what to think. Except that I will be really sore after the wedding. :P But I love the lenses already, especially the 16-35mm for inside when you are crunched on space!
I finally got around to doing my homework. I really don't know what to think about my attitude towards two of my college classes right now. I've always been a person that thrived and lived off of 100% grades, but I'm learning that other things are more important (one of those things being my stress level). It's honestly still quite the inner struggle for me to try to just lay it aside and not care about my grade in these classes if I have time in the week to properly complete the homework. Because no one likes to feel guilty. But, when it gets down to being 30 minutes away from being due, I just start guessing on quizzes and jotting stuff down on a discussion board post.

But like I said the reality of the wedding is really hitting me right now. I'm feeling a little unprepared mentally because this week has been so full of being with my family and the two other sessions. And then the whole thing about having leave the house by 10am tomorrow with all my clothes and photography gear that I haven't packed yet (and don't I dare forget one thing!) :P

But then a lot of little things are just kind of on the back of my mind:

- learning the new gear

- not forgetting batteries! somehow I keep thinking about batteries!

- my mac storage is getting full. so the way I normally organize my photos is getting a little disrupted because I don't have time to put the old stuff to the external. the new stuff I've been shooting is going to the external, and it's just throwing my balance off. ;)

- I normally like to edit sessions asap... but these last two are going to have to simmer on the back burner until the wedding is over

So yeah! This is probably the point where I just stop blogging and go make a thorough list of things to pack!

-MarLeahJoy

Mommy/Daughter Sneak Peek

I have to leave home right now and go to town with my sister and brother, but this is just a quick post of the session I did last night. It was just so wonderful! :)

I also posted another one last night... here's a link for those who aren't on facebook: Sacha & Ava

-MarLeahJoy

Trees & Locations

{click to the right}
I thought that last week would be my busy week with a session and our revival at church and all... But last week's session got rescheduled for today. So it turns out that this week is my busy week with a mommy/daughter session, a senior session for my cousin in Kansas, and a wedding this weekend in the Tulsa area. :) I couldn't be more happy, though. 

These two pictures are some locations where we might try to get some shots today if we have enough time. I can't wait to see how it turns out and share the results! :)

-MarLeahJoy

Workshops!

I'm so glad I decided to go to the Perspectives of Photography. I wasn't even going to go... but the week before the workshop I just decided to sign up! Decisions, decisions :P

It was only $50 for student for both days (including meals, prizes, and 5 workshops). And I was considering going to a wedding workshop in Illinois for $625?!? Okay, I wasn't considering it too much because there would just be no way! But it gives you an idea of what workshops cost (at their lowest).

Here's a quick, quick rundown of each session I attended:

The videography workshop explained sooo many things that I have always wondered about . The photoshop one solidified a lot of things that I knew how to do, but couldn't really remember how to do. The newborn workshop basically told me that I'm not extremely interested in newborns :P though I would probably still love to do it sometime, maybe just not as something I do all the time. The posing workshop was great... But the wedding workshop, though! :) I learned so many tips that are going to be so useful at the wedding this weekend! This weekend! Wow! :D

-MarLeahJoy

Jacqueline

My gorgeous cousin :) 

A lot of girls were at church for a baby shower yesterday and I was taking Alyssa's sister-in-law :) outside to use some of my different lenses. All of the other girls ended up tagging along, so I roped Jacqueline into posing for me ;P 

I love her unique dimples and "strawberry blonde" hair :) So special :)

-MarLeahJoy

Squirrel

I love being outside. I wish there was a way to just do everything outside. But I find myself stuck up in my room on most days, doing homework and editing photos. It's a little hard to see the screen of a laptop when you are outside. And I hate not being able to see properly. (I practically always have my screen brightness all the way up - even at night!)

But I stepped outside a little bit yesterday while I was on the phone with Alyssa and I decided right then that I was going to walk downtown. It was a gorgeous walk! Lovely soft breeze. Neutral temperature. Birds chirping. People outside planting flowers. All of this and I had my camera on my shoulder :) ...with the 75-300mm :) I actually didn't really take many pictures until I got home, though because my main mission was to go to the store to get something. But once I got home, I found this little squirrely that was running around, hopping from tree to tree -- likely to get away from me. :P

So I chased him across the road, into our neighbors yard :P And he didn't notice me for a while, but in the second shot, you can see that he had heard me then. And then he ran off :)

-MarLeahJoy