Sarah & Adrian - Houston, Texas Wedding
April 25, 2008 | Filed Under Wedding Photography, Weddings | 2 Comments
One of the most wonderful things about my job is the fact that I get to work with some pretty awesome people. It is even better when my “geek life” crosses over to my “photography life” - and that was exactly the case with Sarah & Adrian’s wedding.
Adrian & I first met in April, 2007 at a NetSquared meeting here in Houston. We talked about many technology related things, and also talked about our shared love of photography. He mentioned having a server issue and I thought my husband might have a fix, so I connected them - and Mike was able to help him out.
Fast forward to last December, and Adrian contacted me when he & Sarah got engaged. They planned a beautiful, fabulous, intimate ceremony and I was SO honored to be a part of it. Even better, at the end of the day as the guests left the reception at Hotel Icon in downtown Houston, I asked Sarah & Adrian if they would be willing to play for awhile longer - we took some fun shots down on the main level of the hotel, and then out on Main Street. We had so much fun the whole day!
(I’ll be adding some of the images here later, but couldn’t wait to share their slideshow!)
We had such incredible weather for a January evening. It was warm enough that we were able to be out on the penthouse suite balcony for most of the reception - we even moved the cake out there for a stunning backdrop! It was getting a bit cold though by the time we were outside on the city streets, so we tried not to take too long out there!
Sarah & Adrian, January 10, 2008
Ceremony Venue: The Gallery
Reception: Hotel Icon
Cake: Three Brothers Bakery
Caroline Collective - Out Loud
April 15, 2008 | Filed Under Fun Stuff! | Leave a Comment
As I’ve been spreading the word about my upcoming move in just a few weeks into the Caroline Collective space, people often ask me to explain the overall concept of the Caroline Collective. A few days ago, ArtsHouston did a great podcast where they interviewed the founders (or would they be collectors?), and I just thought I would share! Check it out. (Sound warning: that link goes straight to the mp3 of the podcast, so you might want to turn on your speakers.)
It is truly the perfect marriage of my creative side with my geek side, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us all. Tentative move-in date is less than 2 weeks away!
Where Are the Photographs?
April 12, 2008 | Filed Under Fun Stuff! | 2 Comments
I’m a bit behind in posting photos here, and I apologize. I have several slideshows in the queue too, but they most likely won’t be online until next week.
When I moved from the PC to the Mac, I didn’t move PhotoShop to the Mac. I prefer to post images online that have my watermark on them so that if people want to download them to use for inspiration photos, they know where they came from. To put the watermark on the image, I have to open them in PhotoShop. Without the software installed, that meant going to the PC laptop with my photos on an external drive, opening them, making the edit, and saving them, then coming back here to write the post. Whew!
Tomorrow, I’ll be buying a copy of PhotoShop for the Mac. (I need to keep my PC license, otherwise I would just work with Adobe to transfer it.) I’m actually pretty excited about things getting back to normal around here with the postings!
I’ll also be working with Mike (my tech geek!) to get the software running properly that I use to create the online slideshows. Until now, I’ve been doing those on the PC too. It will be so nice to finally be completely moved over!
Check back next week for updates!
News and More News!
April 3, 2008 | Filed Under Fun Stuff! | 4 Comments
As some of you that have weddings coming up already are aware of, I’m migrating to using an awesome online client management system called ShootQ. ShootQ is really cool because I can do so many things with it, from sending you pricelists, tracking booked dates, and handling contracts online. Once I have a shoot, it will help manage the tracking of different things related to the shoot - getting the proofs into the online galleries, the album design process, and a variety of other things. A neat feature for weddings is the ability for clients to go in and enter in all of the vendor information - helpful for when I go to blog about your event, and also because I like to contact the vendors afterwards and share photographs with them.
All around, I am completely in love with ShootQ! I think you will be too - I can’t wait to hear your feedback on it as I get it all set up!
The one thing I’m still in the process of doing is manually entering upcoming events, and doing this has caused a few, ahem, interesting things to happen. Like the time the system sent out an invoice for $0.00. Or the fact that it didn’t add tax to an event, and then when I went to add it, it did all sorts of weird things. I’m working closely with the ShootQ team though, and if anything is sent out that shouldn’t be, I promise that it will be fixed as quickly as possible! I just wanted to post about it though so that you knew in advance - just in case. From now on, as I go to manually enter a contract, I’ll send out an email beforehand and afterwards to let you know that it is ready!
In other news, I will be moving into a new office soon! Back in February, when my contract with Two Be Wed came up, I realized that their hours and my hours weren’t working well together. I have a lot of evening & Sunday meetings, and they close at 7pm and are only available by appointment on Sundays. I love the concept and everything about Two Be Wed - it just wasn’t the best fit for me. Right at this same time, I saw on Twitter that my friend Matthew was making the dream of co-working in Houston a reality at last - and I knew immediately what I had to do!
Co-working is a really cool concept, and it makes so much sense as the digital revolution changes how so many people work. Basically, Matthew & Ned have secured an office building in the Museum District of Houston. They are setting up 8 offices in one portion of one of the buildings, and in the other portion there will be desks that are available for rent. People sign up to be a member of the Caroline Collective by renting one of these permanent spaces, or you can drop in and work when you want. Available for use for members is a conference room to use as a meeting space. There is an art gallery also, where there will be different artists having shows, and there are plans to do art movie nights in the summer. A second building on the property will be developed for artists to use - a place where they can have studios and the dust and dirt that some art mediums create will be far away from the computers of the tech geeks on the other side.
Dwight Silverman wrote about the Caroline Collective earlier this week on Houston Chronicle’s Techblog. (Really though, I promise the building isn’t as bad as they described!)
I love how Matthew described it as a “Hippie Executive Suite” - it is so true! And while I’ve had people give me puzzled reactions when I talk about working in such a tech environment, it makes perfect sense for me — while part of what I do is very creative and done behind the camera, the rest of what I do is much more geek oriented, from editing photos, posting things online, and blogging. After close to 20 years of not loving my job, I now have the *perfect* job that is a great blend of everything that I love - and I expect that working in such a creative setting will be fantastic for me. As an added bonus, I have permission to do photoshoots on the grounds (there is a fantastic tree and a cool gate outside) and in my office if I ever needed to do it. While I truly prefer shooting outdoors and looking for cool and funky backgrounds for shoots, I’m planning on figuring out a way to have a backdrop that we can use if the weather outside won’t cooperate.
So I’ve been a nomad since February, hosting all of my meetings at coffee shops and similar locations around town — but it won’t be that way for much longer! Soon, I’ll have a place to call my own! Although I’m still willing to drive to a convenient location if anyone prefers - sometimes, that really is easier for everyone.
Photos will be coming soon - I spoke with Matthew just yesterday and they were tearing down walls and making things happen! I can’t wait to see what is in store!
