Whirlwind Wedding Week

For as bad as last week was.... this week was so great. I wasn't sure how I would feel about doing wedding photography. But the enthusiasm and passion of our instructors, as well as all the practical information that they shared with us, was awesome. I almost want to be a wedding photographer. I also have a few shots from my friend, Sue... she dressed me up while I was shooting my bride and groom.



I am trying a new way to share some photos with you since I wanted to share a lot of them. Enjoy!



Oh, and we had a bonus session of Trash the Dress that I will do a separate blog about.

Personal Portrait Week

This week was all about the Personal Portrait. It was quite a disappointment for me. There wasn't a lot of new information and I wish I had taken a week off and saved the money... oh well. I tried to make the best of the situation. We did get to experience paid models and location shoots. Here are some of my favorite shots from the week.

But one of the best things I leaned this week is that I already know a lot.

Tonight I start a week of Wedding Photography. I am really praying that this week is worth the money I spent on it.

What's Coming Next

I finished the Summer Intensive, the first 11 weeks of my adventure. Tomorrow I start an intensive week of personal portrait photography. It will be long days of just portrait photography. I should get a lot of time in the studio with studio strobe lighting. Next week will be wedding photography for a week and then adventure photography for a week. Following these week long intensive classes I start Advanced Intensive that focuses mainly on the computer side of photography and developing a portfolio. We'll keep you posted on the next chapters.

The End of an Adventure

Week 11... finishing up projects, last classes, final presentations, critiques, special speakers, inspirational pep-talks, last good byes, graduation, tears, knowing that things will never be the same again. Yep, that about sums it up.

Here are the images I included in my final project about dreams.

Week 10

Things are wrapping up with the end of Summer Intensive (my first half) on the 15th. This week we had two finals. In Business and Marketing we had to turn in a business plan. I dreaded this final all summer, but it turned out ok. And it was a good exercise to think about how I would start a business. I also had a Lighting Class final that was five of my favorite images from studio. Which I have included for your viewing pleasure.

This week we also had final days in the print lab before our big Visual Studies project is due. We had an open studio time where we could do whatever we wanted with the studio strobes. And there was one last computer class and a help session for the on camera hot shoe flash.

I didn't do anything very exciting this weekend as I had to go to school on Saturday morning and work on my Visual Studies project. Cora had family in from out of town so we spent several hours on Saturday cleaning the house and cooking for dinner. It was a fun evening with lots of good food. Today I went to the Western Montana State Fair for a city-wide church service. It was a beautiful day to worship outside. The best part was that I met a guy from Wasilla who goes to WBC and knows a lot of my AK friends. What a small world! I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing my Photo Studies final. This final is a photo journalistic essay with a magazine query letter to an appropriate magazine. It felt a little like being back in college.

next week will be a week of finishing up and saying good bye to some of my friends that won't be staying for the rest of the program. Friday is graduation if anyone is in the Missoula area and wants to see a lot of photography.

Too Late...

I picked the blue one but turned it as a vertical. Thanks, Laila!

Graduation is coming....

Summer Intensive graduation - my half way point- is next Friday. I have to pick 5 photos to show at graduation during a slide show. I am going to put some of my shots from my Visual Studies final but have to choose another one to go with it and I am having a hard time deciding. So if you read this before Saturday afternoon, write me a comment on your vote between these three.

I also put some new photos on my school web site.

Week 9

It is high time I caught you up on last week. It was a short week of class with only two full days. Most of them were in lighting and studio. We had one class to get ready for our big final project where our classmates looked at our images and gave us feedback. It was good, but confusing for me. Some of what I had in my head didn't translate to my classmates so that was a bit frustrating as we are in the final days of this project.

We then had a 5 day break from class. Wednesday I spent all day writing my business plan for my business and marketing class. Thursday I worked on my final project, ran errands, and went with Cora to her parent's house for dinner. Friday I worked on a few things and then headed north again. This time for a "photocentric" view of Glacier. Cora's brother, Lucas, took me to some of his favorite spots in return, I brought along my older digital slr and gave him some photography pointers. So with dueling cameras, we hiked a little in the Two Medicine area, drove up to the Chief Mountain trail head (but it started raining just as we got there), stopped at one of the most iconic photo spots in Glacier, took lots of pictures of waterfalls, and had coffee at Many Glacier Hotel where we saw the other side of the peak we climbed last weekend. Another great weekend and fun adventure.

Alaska Friends

Tuesday night I got to hang out with my buddy, Rachel Kroon, and her kids. They were in town visiting family and I got to sneak in on a little of that time. I have known her for 8 years and for 4 of those years we lead a group of middle school girls together at church.

When I left Alaska 2 years ago she only had one little one... now she had three. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Rach, but here are her little ones.

Thanks Rach! What fun to catch up with you and play with your little guys!