Employee No Longer

Well, it’s official. Yesterday I turned in my 2 weeks notice at Wolf Camera. I’ve been planning this move since Christmas when I lost several jobs because I was working 55 hours/ week at Wolf, and another 30+ on my own photo work. I also felt that I was always giving my own customers second best because I was often tired by the time I got to their job.

When I got home from the Vegas conference I told Charles I thought it was time. Then, I get to work and find out that they are closing the Atlanta area portrait studios effective May 1st. It all seemed to line up. I’m a little nervous to not have a job to fall back on, but I’m also very excited to pursue my own jobs and leadings. So...if you know of anyone who needs photo work done...don't hesitate to refer me!

Vegas 23-7

I saw a teeshirt in Vegas that said “Las Vegas 23-7 (everyone needs an hour of sleep)” Now, I’m not going to kid myself, I probably slept a lot more than people went to Vegas to party hard, but I still only averaged maybe 4 hours each night and felt that most days I was functioning at about 40%. I was walking to class one day, checking the schedule and I turned to a man walking in the same direction and said, “It is Monday, right?” and he said “I have no idea”. A friend pointed out that the casinos want it to feel timeless inside. The hotel ceiling are high and have a blue sky painted on them. The lighting is the same all day and all night and the stores are always open. It is the other city that never sleeps.


As fas as the whole “Vegas” thing goes, it didn’t carry much appeal for me. From the sky, Vegas looks like a play city (which it is), a Disney Land for adults. Instead of the normal city white-amber glow, Vegas glows purple and pink and blues and greens. I figured I would at least throw a penny into a slot machine, but the casinos were so depressing, I ended up walking through barely paying attention to them.
There's a Vegas saying "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas". Sherry and I agreed that that is only applicable when there's not a photography conference taking place, in which case everything is recorded and displayed.



The conference bombarded me with ideas, many appealing to my mind and whatever small “business-sense” I have, and some appealed to my heart. There was one speaker who said that he had 11 employees, cranked out tons of weddings and a had never been more miserable in his life. Then late one night in his studio, he had the revelation that his name was on t he sign out front, so he decided to figure out what it was that he really wanted to be doing. This included the recent release of a book name “Souls: Beneath and Beyond Autism” which was written by a mother who has an autistic child & he photographed autistic children, many which documented the close family relationships.






The conference as a whole was very inspiring. I was surrounded by a lot of intelligent photographers who were passionate about what they did. It was like your senior year of college when you’re surrounded by others in your major who are beginning to master certain aspects of the trade (whatever it may be) and would stay up all night bouncing ideas off of each other and planning to go out and pursue all of them the next day, and some of you did, and others were working unrelated menial retail jobs that summer working their way up to management and depression, and wait, that all went sour. I was hoping it would go somewhere great, but with all of these ideas, how do you find the road?

I realized while I was wondering around taking candids of the people I was meeting and observing, that I really enjoy what one photographer called “livestyle” photography (which is also what Nikon calls their “budget” L series point & shoot digital cameras). Marcus Bell called it PJ style (photojournalistic). There’s a reason why in High School Sonya and I would go to Time Square & the Jersey Shore and spend hours just watching people.

I want the freedom, I suppose I have the freedom to just observe and record, without correcting someone if their hand is doing what they call” the claw”, and shoot a portrait without making sure there’s an upside down triangle of light on the far cheek- that’s where it all started, isn’t it?


Sherry and I received some attention from a female security officer for posing on the fountain. She said we need authorization.






Sherry and I went to see the sunrise one morning- very cold, very early- going on 3 hours of sleep, but doesn’t she look beautiful???



























A woman named Dorcas (Sherry's friend's Mother) let us stay in an RV in her driveway in Boulder City, which is about 20 minutes south of Las Vegas. She woke us up each morning, and had breakfast food out on the counter. She packed us snacks for the day, and her daughter-in-law let us borrow her car. We were very thankful for her generosity.

En Route to Vegas

(Written shortly after take-off, a few hours before food poisoning set in)
You know how a counselor will tell you that most irrational fears stem from a misinterpreted childhood memory? Like, for instance, my fear of flying. Charles asked me once if I remember possibly seeing a plane crash on TV when I was little, perhaps that could explain it. Yes, I probably did, but I don’t distinctively remember it. I do remember flying with my dad who was always delighted when the plane banked 90 degrees to our side and gave a “great” aerial view of the ground beneath us.
So as the plane was gaining speed on the runway and a child two rows up began to scream- I think that must be really terrifying for a child because they don’t understand why the plane is shaking and making noises and of course, as an adult I don’t have to be afraid (I tell myself) because I know what is going on- as the back wheel leaves the runway- why, of course, this large heavy piece of metal with my inside, is flying. Makes perfect sense, right?

Thunderstorm

Shortly after takeoff I noticed flashes outside of the window. We were just above the clouds and off to the right there was a heavy thunderstorm, with lightning flashing so often the woman next to me said it reminded her of flashes in a stadium at a football game. The top of the storm was a straight black cloud blanket and the flashes of light revealed a lower layer of rounded faster moving clouds. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen enhanced by the fact that it was also quite dangerous. Its like when I’m sitting on my longboard during a break between sets with my toes balancing on the tip of the board (so as not to appear to be dangling bate) and a dolphin surfaces 10 feet beyond me. Beautiful, and yet as “harmless” as dolphins have the reputation to be, I am in their domain, and want to admire them from a little more of a distance. Well, the thunderstorm gave us quite a show, but it also lived up to its reputation and gave us a good 30 minutes of turbulence and apparently reeked some havoc behind us in Atlanta that night.

Life Group

With Donna Marie due this month, we started hosting life group to give them a little break. This week we had a beautiful evening for barbeque. I love group meals because they always seem so effortless and there is always so much good food. When I was in college cooking for myself, I always just prepared one thing to eat- and tried to hit each a different food group each night. That way, I had a well balanced meal every few days. And of course, ice cream dessert every night…ah, the good old days.












Anyway, back to life group, our house guest Sandy provided the hit-dish (She wants us to believe that her face looks like a red cup- poor girl, it must be hard living with two photographers).



I’m not sure what they were called, but they were happy french fried faces. So while the guys were outside by the barbeque, the girls created this creepy amputee potato head. We had leftovers of everything, but not the happy fried faces, they were all gone- someone even ate the amputee's head.











We spent the night on the porch talking and singing.

Kathy Watson

This fall we had the privilege of photographing several portraits for an writer named Kathy Watson. Her 23 year old son was killed several years ago in a car accident and God told her to write a book, so she did. Today was her book release/book signing party, and Charles and I were both able to attend. She has become a special woman to both of us, because her faith is so evident in her life. We have only just started to read her book, and every page is just a passionate expression of how sovereign God is. I can’t wait to finish it. When I met her, and she started to tell me about her project, I just wanted to be a part of it. She is almost finished with her second book, and says there will be a third. It is just so exciting. Her book is called “A Mother in Mourning: When Life Is Over Living Begins”

Summer Camp

The upstairs of my house was 78 degrees and muggy when I got home this evening. I went to Sandy’s room to say hello and she was writing on the bed with a headband in, in shorts and a t-shirt and had a fan blowing on her. I said it felt like summer camp-she looked like she was laying on her bunk writing home or something. Then we sat out on the porch and Charles played the guitar. We sang songs which ranged from Liz Phair’s Polyester Bride all the way to I’ll Fly Away. It’s been a long time since he’s picked up a guitar, so we were a little limited in song selection.

We went for a walk through our neighborhood and all of the dogs barked at us in turn as we passed their property. We saw a girl get a beer from a mini van and we were like, so that’s where you keep the beer. She and a group of guys were playing poker in an open garage. We’ve got to make more of an effort to meet our neighbors- it could be really fun. I did a few cartwheels in the street (for the joy of it) and now I feel like I've pulled all the muscles in my legs...I'm getting old. That and the other day I tried a prune, a "dried plum" as they are now called, and thought it tasted like candy. You know you're old when you start liking prunes. (Sandy just called me an old goat)