Archive for October, 2009

October 24th just ended.

During the 24th we got to shoot an engagement session at the Winter Park Farmer’s Market. (Sorry if I bumped into you. It was crowded.)

We also finalized the contract that made us officially halfway booked up for weddings in 2010. (That’s you Sarah W!)

Tomorrow Nate and I have our first day off since… well, I can’t remember since when.

This weekend we got to shoot at one of our favorite venues (Cypress Grove) with our favorite coordinators (Blush)

365 days from now Nate and I make a big commitment. In Italy. And eat gelato. (And maybe pizza…or pasta…I’m not picky.)

But before going to Europe, we’ve got to make a quick trip around the sun.

One of my favorite portraits from Erin & Alex’s wedding “First Look” portrait time…

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When we first started our business, we started with just what we had.  Since we were slowly building our portfolio, we didn’t really feel the need to go out and drop massive amounts of money on getting everything for our business perfect right from the beginning. Both of us weren’t really sure where the road would lead us or if it would be something that we could make a living at full time. As things progressed, and we decided to pursue weddings as our primary goal, we knew that there was a whole lot of “stuff” we needed that we didn’t have and we were faced with the dilemma every business person comes to: Do we do it all right now, all at once, and be fully stocked but in debt, or do we build slow and steady and deal with the situations of not having it all from the beginning. We decided on the latter of the two. We put a good percentage of our income into savings for business needs and slowly started checking things off the list in order of importance. Cameras, check. Lighting, check. Website, check. Insurance, check… All the while making little sacrifices here and there, buying used when we could, and always trying to invest wisely in ourselves..

A few weeks ago though we hit a milestone. We actually had enough in our savings to buy three of the big ticket items we’d been dreaming of for years. Nate had no idea it was coming when he got in the car and I said, “Want to go buy a new camera and a new lens?” He looked at me cross-eyed and quickly agreed. (Probably afraid that if he moved too quickly, the dream bubble he was in would burst back into reality and I’d be taking him to the grocery store or something equally as lame.)

We are lucky to have an amazing camera supply store (Colonial Photo and Hobby) nearby. One of the guys who works there became our go-to guy and we built up a bit of a friendship with him over the months and now years. In the beginning we’d go in and say, “We need something that will work for this and that situation.” and he would bring out the best item for it, which was almost always out of our budget

We got to the store, found our friend and said the magic sentence we had only imagined for so long… “We want the new Canon 5D mark 2, and a 50mm 1.2. And we’d like to put a deposit down on the new Canon 7D”. A few minutes later as he was tallying up all of our goodies he looked up at me laughing and said, “I remember when you guys first used to come in here and I’d show you all the lenses and gear and you’d always say no. Now look at you guys. Buying up this stuff!” It was a big change for us.

We got in the car and sat. It was by far the biggest business purchase to date. But we had saved and saved, and worked our asses off for it. And it felt sooooooo good. When we got home Nate took photos of me opening the new gear. And a week later when his camera finally shipped in from Canon I returned the favor. It’s really amazing to see our dream coming true after so many months of stretching and scraping and working way more than 40 hours each week. I know there are lots of people out there struggling and frustrated and by no means do I want to brag. We still have a lot more to grow into, and by no means are we at the end of our road of learning and building. We’re just celebrating a mile-marker along the way. And for those of you out there still in the beginning of the slow and steady build, keep at it! Because the feeling as you reach your goals is worth every drop of blood, sweat, and tears. I promise!

It was kind of like Chistmas… times 10…minus the candycanes…

These are our excited faces…

The whole journey reminds me of an old song…

“Looks like we made it
Look how far we’ve come my baby
We might’ve took the long way
We knew we’d get there someday

They said, ‘I’ll bet they’ll never make it’
But just look at us holdin’ on
We’re still together still goin’ strong…”

When Sherrie and Shawn first met with Nate and I, I spent the first 10 minutes silently trying to figure out how I knew Shawn. (You know the drill… you go through a mental checklist of places you could have possibly met that person at (college classes… church… grocery store… HOW DO I KNOW THEM?!…)When I finally realized it, I laughed because when I first met Shawn I was probably 16 years old.  Shawn was best friends with one of my high school classmates named Rodney and I have vague memories of Shawn and his buddies randomly showing up at various events through the years. It’s so funny to me to remember back to that time and then flash forward to now. If you would have asked me in high school if I would be shooting Sherrie and Shawn’s wedding I would have laughed in your face and told you that I had different plans. (If you had asked Shawn he would have probably looked at you and said “Uh…Becka who?“)

To be honest it completely fills me with joy to see what an amazing man Shawn has grown into and what a great job he did convincing a girl as gorgeous, genuine, and funny as Sherrie to agree to marry him. (Nicely done Shawn!)

You may recognize these two gorgeous gems from their Old Hollywood Style engagement shots a few posts ago (and in our new Featured Content section above.) Well, we didn’t just stop there. Sherri and Shawn had a wardrobe change in store for us and we all decided that a little strip of old shops in downtown Titusville was the perfect eclectic backdrop. We wanted the second half of their session to reflect the playful and casual side of their personalities and style while still keeping a bit of vintage fun mixed in. Thankfully, Titusville has quite a few old buildings for use. The entire two hours (ish) were filled with tons of jokes and laughs and old ladies telling us to stop climbing on the buildings. I can’t wait for their wedding next year! It’s bound to be epic.

This one make me feel like we were in Mexico…

I just love this one. LOVE IT.

This was when we got yelled at by a woman who was way too concerned about the fate of the windowsill. (It was fine. In case you were curious.)

My FAVORITE!

We couldn’t NOT showcase Shawn’s awesome tattoos. (Or Sherrie’s awesome rock!)

Nates FAVORITE!

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