this is my LAST POST on this blog!!

Because I got a new look and a NEW BLOG! Why are you still here? Go check it all out:

http://www.andamarie.net/

my friend is giving away a FREE website & she's awesome

One of the greatest joys I've experienced since becoming a photographer is meeting like-minded people ... people passionate about their craft, about this industry, and about helping each other out. I've seriously been so lucky to meet authentic individuals from all over the world. We go through the same ups and downs, but thankfully, it's usually not at the same time. We all support each other, we all cheer for each other, we all teach each other a little something different and more.

I met Jennifer Brotchie, a California photographer, through Jasmine Star's blog. We both commented on the same entry when we were super new to photography (like we each had 2 blog posts under our belts). Jennifer came to my blog and left a comment and then I did the same for her. Months later Jennifer checked-up on my blog again and wrote me the sweetest email. We've been in touch since and an internet-land friendship has bloomed. I can't wait until I actually meet her one day -- hopefully this year!

Anyways -- to get to the point already -- Jennifer went to see the awesome Jasmine Star speak in Sacramento a few months ago and she ended up winning a FREE website from Showit Sites! The thing is -- she already had her own Showit site and so now she is being super awesome and giving the free site away! Showit sites are extremely customizable and the support staff/customer service is incredibly approachable and friendly. IF YOU'D LIKE A CHANCE TO WIN this free website (includes a free year of hosting and all that kind of stuff -- I mean, this is NO strings attached people!), you should head over to Jennifer's blog and read all about the contest. NOTE: You don't have to be a photographer to win -- you can be anything! NOTE 2: I am about to start designing my own Showit site and I'm really excited! Stay tuned for a new website and blog from me in the coming months!

And now here's a sneak peek of the rockin' couple I shot yesterday afternoon. Love them!

sunday brunch.

Hi, how was your weekend? Mine was good -- productive, tiring, and a little lazy too. The best kind. Troy and I converted our back storage room into my new office. It's beautiful and I want to be in there all the time now. I'll have to post some pics soon.

Yesterday we started the morning with our typical Sunday ritual -- brunch! I love brunch, breakfast, eggs, coffee, bloody marys, you name it. If it's related to brunch, count me in. Sometimes it's with friends and sometimes it's just Troy and I ... but a weekend is not complete without a lazy morning brunch.

This week we went to Old Fashioned and had a very Wisco breakfast of eggs benedict. My friend Cydney is starting a brunch blog in the near future. So for a few months she has been reviewing places while I take some photos. We aim for a new spot each week. Below are some shots I've captured at some fave locations -- Old Fashioned, El Dorado, Ironworks and Sardine. Stayed tuned for the launch of her blog -- I'll post a link when it's up.

Happy Monday!

on shooting for a magazine.

One of the nicest surprises I've had as a photographer was an email from the art director of Madison Magazine, asking if I'd be interested in shooting for his magazine. I thought at first he might have the wrong person -- I mean, I have always thought Madison Magazine was amazing and I especially loved all the photography. I actually knew all the food photographers' names by heart. I still have no idea how he found my work.

Of course, I agreed -- and the current issue features my work for the second time. I first saw the issue at a bookstore, and then I smiled embarrassingly wide upon noticing that I scored a spot on the Table of Contents page (What? -- that's exciting! You, as photographer, have no idea who will get that spot until it's published :)).

Shooting for a magazine is completely different than shooting a wedding -- and really challenging too (but I love a challenge!). You get to coordinate the shoot with venue owners, chefs, servers, models, the art director etc. Whether it will be a horizontal or a vertical photo is already decided for you, many times. I have learned a lot about lighting, that's for sure! I love natural light in most cases, but when you are extra-concerned about a photo's crispness (things look differently when printed in a magazine!), you are in a dungeon-lit lounge, you don't want to disturb the diners, and you hate using a tripod -- you have to get creative sometimes. All-in-all, I LOVE it, and I can't wait for more opportunities to shoot for this awesome magazine.

In other news, Troy and I are trying to buy a house and sell our condo. It's been exciting and already-frustrating. But I can't wait to have a garden and a huge front porch. We went to IKEA for the first time yesterday and we can't wait to return! Troy and I agreed that it's pretty overwhelming ... being surrounded by massive amounts of furniture that actually looks awesome!

book a week challenge & a new toy i'll love forever.

Yes! I am still doing my Book a Week Challenge ... but I'll be blogging about it once a month instead of every week. There are some weeks I can only finish part of a book and others when I can finish 2 or more books. So it's easier and more interesting to write about them at the end of each month.

This month I read The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman, Light Matters by Vicki Goldberg, Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami (my fave author!!), Purple Cow by Seth Godin, and Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. My To Read shelf has been reduced to 32 books!

A quick recap, or this could get out of hand (I LOVE talking about books ... so if you meet me at WPPI in Vegas this year and you are sick of talking photography ... I'll be your book talk girl):

I am in love with contemporary Japanese literature ... the magical realism, the way the authors describe clothing and food and the character development ... SWOON. So obviously the Murakami and Yoshimoto books were my faves this month. Murakami has a large body of work and I only have one more of his novels left to read. He always wins me over! I hope he writes for years to come.

The Goldberg book was about the history of photography and its role in society. She is a fabulous author and I enjoyed reading her words and learning more about photography's history. For a non-fiction book, it definitely deserves 5 out of 5 stars ... mainly for the poetic language (it easily could have been a snooze fest otherwise).

Seth Godin is pretty amazing but I often read his books after I've heard all the hype and I don't really get anything new from them. He just released a new book, called Linchpin, and I intend to get my hands on it before I read all about it somewhere else. Oh -- so I guess now my To Read shelf is back up to 33 books...

Much to my demise and my precious Time's demise, I hated The Golden Compass! I was rather bored and didn't understand from where all the controversy has arisen. I just wasn't impressed with a book praised for being so imaginative. Maybe it's all the Latin American Magical Realism literature I am prone to read -- but my idea of parallel realities and alternate worlds is far more awesome than this novel. At least hating this book meant I could remove the other two books in the series from my shelf, haha.

So ... the REALLY exciting news of this week?! I got a Fuji Instamax Mini 7 camera! It's seriously mega loads of SWEET. It takes the cutest little credit card-sized photos and I love little prints, so it's perfect! I can't wait to use it more. I think it's the perfect road trip camera, so who wants to road trip with me?! I might start bringing it to weddings and engagement sessions just to get a few shots at each one.

The first three photos I took are below. I got a new haircut yesterday that I adore. My stylist, Bentley, rules my world and if you live in Madison I highly recommend ANIU. It's gorgeous with waterfalls and awesome white walls and nice products and cutting-edge stylists (hard to find around here, sadly) and the best magazine selection ... and also a coffee and tea bar in the waiting room! I asked Bentley to keep the length and give me some straight-across bangs. She's sooo intuitive and brilliant. I just love what she did to shape up my old look and add some flare. The Instamax causes a little bit of distortion -- being so wide-angled and all -- I think my haircut looks cuter in person :)

I also took a photo of Troy and I (yeah, he was a little tired, haha) and a photo of the stack of books I read this month (too bad you can't read the titles, but now I know).

Well, I'm off to my weekly sushi Friday lunch (something I'll be sure to blog about soon)! xoxo.

a living room photoshoot with jenna.

Jenna might be my muse. I've asked her to pose for two creative shoots now and she just works it in front of the camera. This session was pretty directed and somber (unlike Jenna's usual high-spirited self), but she still infused the shoot with her fun personality. And I snapped tons of frames in between each directed shot.

This shoot was for the Winter Into Spring Creativity Workshop I am a part of, led by the brilliant Carol Bjerke. It's really going to stretch me creatively (which I assume is the whole point) and teach me more about photography itself (in a different way than workshops put on by wedding photographers). I am completely self-taught at photography, so it's intimidating and yet really exciting to be in a classroom-like environment for the next few months. The best part is that I get the chance to meet and know the other area photographers in the class -- and they are all awesome!

For this assignment we were told to work in directorial mode -- basically staging the entire shoot from beginning to end -- and having complete control (something that does not happen with wedding photography!). I love the photographers who work in this mode and stage children's nightmares. But I wanted to do the opposite and create a dreamy/lovely/ethereal environment -- like Dreaming, personified. I had to set-up in my living room (because is was zero degrees that week) and with Jenna's help, we styled everything from the outfits to the hanging stars (all made by hand at 4am) to the jewelry (all handmade for this shoot) and the dramatic headwraps (my fave things to make -- I should go into business, haha). I wanted every single part to be directed and pre-visualized, in accordance with the assignment, and almost in the manner of a fashion spread shoot.

I loved styling a full shoot. Shoots like this make me consider pursuing senior portrait photography -- but I'm pretty much loving the life of a wedding and engagement photographer -- so we'll see...

Thank you, Jenna, for doing this shoot in 30 minutes over my lunch break and literally 45 minutes before you were leaving for Mexico! You're the best! BTW -- these are all straight-out-of-camera (except the B&Ws) with zero post-processing. That alone made my day.

a random post and an update on my 2010/2011 wedding season availability

this might seem like a random post ... and it doesn't have a photo ... so maybe it is a little random. i watched conan's final tonight show last night and something he said really struck a chord with me ... in fact, i haven't been able to get it out of my head since he said it. about 5 minutes before his show ended, he took the opportunity to thank nbc etc and then he called-out "any young people who watch the show." what he said next was that he has had more good fortune than anybody he knows and that he doesn't want this ordeal with nbc/him/leno to make people cynical. he said that cynicism is actually his least favorite trait.

then he said, if you work really hard and you're kind, then amazing things will happen.

i used to be a very cynical person -- in fact i slip back into it quite a bit still. but doing photography professionally has changed my outlook on life. i have finally realized that it's true -- all those cliche things -- about dreams coming true etc. and what conan said is so true too. i wouldn't have believed him a year ago. but today i know that if you are passionate and work as hard as you can ... and if you are kind and authentic along the way -- that amazing things will happen. i promise!

i'll add that i've found it's so important to be true to yourself. to be authentic and to not chase a different person's dream. i did this most my life and i never felt fulfilled. i am now a photographer because i am the best me as a photographer. because, as a photographer, i don't feel like there must be something more or that one day i might be happier. i am not a photographer just because i needed a job and thought i might do alright at this. nope. as a photographer i am positive that i am sending into the world the very best version of myself. i've never felt that way before and i think that's why i was so cynical.

so; be the best you. and now i'll stop before i sound like oprah or something, haha.

on a side note, i am almost booked solid for 2010 weddings. i will be taking one more wedding only -- maybe two more. i am currently booking out spring and summer 2011 (it's crazy living so far in the future all the time -- but i understand how it works, as a former bride myself :))

happy weekend!