back in the groove

last night at 6:30 or so, sitting in my room, backing up my hard drive before sending the macbook in to apple care for repair, my newly engaged roommate ariane comes in to ask me if i will take her engagement photos... ’like…now?’. as it happens, ariane is getting married on saturday. though the engagement is new, and the wedding quick, that is not the story arc i will be discussing in this post. but rather, the request for photos.

i wasn’t feeling all that well last night (female stuff), so i asked aynsley to come along and be responsible for the ‘posing’ of the couple. she volunteered to contact her ex, who has a much nicer camera, to see if he would loan it out. he agreed, which meant ayns would be taking the photos. that was fine, although i was semi-disappointed at the missed opportunity to continue building my portfolio. i went along for the ride nonetheless.

we picked up the camera and headed to the huntington beach pier to commence the photo shoot. i decided to go ahead and take a few shots around aynsley and her fancy shmancy camera. when all was said and done, and all of the photos from the three memory cards perused (ayns took about 200, i took about 30), ariane and her beau narrowed the pictures down to their three favorites. all three were mine.

– insert moment of triumph here –

the ‘winning’ picture, for use in the email invitation is:


every time something like this happens, i get frustrated and annoyed. my composition is usually pretty on target, but the picture quality between a point and shoot and a dslr is noticeable. i need a camera!!

based on last evening’s results, the couple have asked that i take the wedding photos, using a dslr belonging to ariane’s father. i’ve agreed and it will be my first actual wedding. and by actual wedding, i mean, it will be the first time i’m not hovering behind the ‘real’ photographer to get a shot. though I have been asked before, i have always declined as a result of my relationship with the couple. wedding photos can’t be redone. if you screw up, that’s that. But I know they are on a tight (virtually nonexistent) budget, and they’ve seen my photos and they like them. So it looks like I will in fact have another opportunity to build the portfolio, so that when i am really ready to do this, I’ve got some history behind me.

the wedding will be taking place on the beach, near sunset, which will hopefully allow for some amazing photos!