Two of my favorites… Paul Pruitt on the left top sneaking into my picture trying to not be so obvious… Zach – of Zach and Jody Gray on the top right demonstrating to the model “This is how we get the whoooooole beeeeg building” and directly above  demonstrating the side-lean-with-toe-on-the-sidewalk photography trick.

This week it is all about the boys… because it has been all about the ladies for oh, three or four weeks!

And you can’t have a post about the boys without adding some humor (because let’s face it – guys are super funny). This time the humor comes from
our instructors – a’hem – which makes it even more fun.

Anyone who tells you photography is not funny as well as fun, humorous, well, they just aren’t laughing at themselves enough.

Recently I had the opportunity to shoot a dear co-worker’s wedding.

It was lovely and intimate, and the fact that she allowed me to serve them through photography during this very sacred time for her family was such an honor.

In addition to working with the delightful bride… I must admit… I fell in love with her shoes!

They were absolutely fit for a princess and I loved them! I literally had to stop myself from taking pictures and give them back. They were just so pretty, just like the beautiful bride! Truthfully, I loved all of the incredible details from my friend’s wedding and the “feel” of the smaller ceremony. It was just so incredibly special!

Sidewalk

During the Zach and Jody workshop a couple weeks ago, we literally took to the sidewalks to search out the light. In between snapping portraits and working with the models were these captivating moments below the lens where expressions were just as real as if I were shooting a face. This was a moment when Zach was talking to one of our models about positioning her body just right to catch the light.

Inspiring

Washington, D.C. monuments will never get old for me. Each time I see them I am still inspired. The one benefit to a longer commute each day for my job is that when I drive into and out of the city, I see the Washington Monument. Sites like these still are awe-inspiring for me and make me very proud to live in a city with so much history and significance.

Time

Only in DC can you pay your parking meter with a credit card.

Close Up

Her eyes… they oozed “take my picture” so I did. She was not the model we had contracted with, but she was gorgeous enough to stand in for one of our models. Her name is Lucy. She.Is.A.Rockstar!

With Mirror

We were trying to act all awesomesauce shooting into a convex mirror thinking we’d go all photographic fisheye on our results. Didn’t work. But it was still fun to try!

One thing photographers know is that you shoot – rain or shine.

During the Fix Mix I we had a perfectly scoped-out location for our models. Then it started to rain.

For me, this was delightful since umbrellas are my signature… red umbrellas to be exact. So today’s Wordless Wednesday celebrates the love of a couple, under an umbrella, with a gaggle of photographers!

This will probably be my last Monday weigh in post.

I’ve reached my weight goals and by God’s immeasurably intentional grace showered upon me these last several months, I’ve created some new eating patterns to keep my weight stable. That alone is enough to make me celebrate!

What I’ve started to notice about myself in this journey is that the more I get my mind off of “what is wrong” with me, the more time I have to notice other people, celebrate their wins, pray for others, and encourage them in their own journeys of life.

Today, in honor of the “Her” prompt over at Three * From here and there, I want to celebrate Kelly.

Kelly is an online photographer friend who in the last year or so has spoken a lot of life into my photography journey. The way she sees light is like “painting.” This weekend I had an opportunity to photograph two of my friends in a “friends” shoot… but then I found out that Kel was coming into town. I quickly redirected my friends to Kelly’s calendar because something in me said that they needed to meet the woman behind “The Girl in the White Dress.”

What happened was astounding.

Not only did Kelly rock the shot with them, not only was she the perfect blend of the consummate professional as well as the funny, quirky, delightfully beautiful individual I saw her to be online, she was also able to take each of the girls into a very real and deep place within themselves to pull out their inner beautiful.

Similar to my friend Jill, who I have also had the pleasure of meeting in real life, Kelly’s heart for finding a woman’s inner beautiful has changed how I see my role as photographer forever. Kelly has “shown me the light” so to speak, about this gift of photography that God has given me and how I can use it to bless others whether it be weddings or portraiture.

Annnnddd… Kelly *might* have had an impact on my inner Nikonian. She *might* have had the new Canon 5d Mark III and I *might* have picked it up with her 50mm 1.2 lens on it. It is possible that I *might* have almost swooned when I saw the very first picture I took… and the second… and the third… and it *might* have resulted in me considering moving from Nikon to Canon.

See what I mean? Impact!  So today… I am celebrating Kelly! My prayer for her as she moves into this new year of her business is that she will know that…

“The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey… the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything. Deut 2.7″

Who can you celebrate today?

Shadow

Even in high-key photography, there are always shadows. I am learning that in order to see the light, I must also recognize the shadows where there is an absence of light. Sometimes the shadow is a gradual decline of light, other times there is a sharp divide between the light and dark spaces. Life is kind of like this too and requires that we keep an awareness of both the light and the darkness in our lives.

Keys

For me, these are the keys to life:  Faith,  God’s word, beauty, and creativity. I find when I keep these in their proper perspective and priority, everything else falls into place accordingly.

Smile

She is probably going to shoot me for posting this, but I have to brag on my friend Kelly for a minute. I had the incredible privilege of watching her do a “friends” shoot on Saturday. Her ability to connect with each of them was second to none, and the lengths she would contort her body into to get them to smile was priceless! For real though, Kelly has long been a “light inspiration” to me (you may remember my post The Kelly Effect) and even while I was learning from Zach and Jody last week, some of the things I have been inspired into trying from Kelly were impacting how I was integrating the new learning from Z&JFabulous. Kelly has had a tremendous impact on how I see light, and how I photograph weddings, portraits, and people in general and I’m so grateful for the chance to just see her in action – she is a rockstar! (More coming tomorrow… Kelly will be so excited!)

Unedited (SOOC)

Fish

Our model at the Zach and Jody workshop last week had dropped something that she was fishing for in the grass… I waited for her to pull her hair back and then took the shot. Ohmaword did I love the results. There is nothing better than a model-pose-mistake for portraiture!

***

The fourth prompt for this week’s Scavenger Hunt Sunday – unedited – challenged me to find five SOOC shots to post for this week’s SHS.

Last week, a lot of the learning that I did with Zach and Jody Gray at their In-Camera workshop challenged me to “do the work” IN camera, so I wouldn’t have to spend time post processing after.

This week, I spent the day Saturday with my friend Kelly Sauer and watched her work her magnificence on two of my friends (come back tomorrow for more!). I was ASTONISHED at the quality of her photos IN camera. She had no extra flash… just the light around her… and she created magnificent photos. People seriously… mag.nif.i.cent!

So that is challenging me this week to share a whole ream of photos – unedited.

Because only in dealing with the utter horror of posting a gaggle of pictures that I am not allowing my hands to touch up in post can I create the accountability to continue improving my skills IN the camera, not in post.

Zach says to the model “Just lean against the wall like this and make the model face… Let me demonstrate…”

Jody demonstrating the adorable as we learned about setting custom white balance – holla!

And some of our GORgeous models!

This week I had the opportunity to learn from the fabulous awesomeness of Zach and Jody Gray.

They taught on Creative Live several months ago and I was immediately taken with their style, their effective teaching, and their boomsauce of all things having to do with light and photography.

Awww, yeah!

Light has been the hardest thing for me to master in my photographic journey… whether it be natural or manufactured light. Trying to combine learning about light with developing my own style… well, let’s just say near impossible.

Zach and Jody have a way of teaching about light, exposure, color, and all things camera in a way that just made sense to me.

Their “focus” (no pun intended) of getting it right IN-Camera so that we photographers could be about the business of taking pictures – NOT sitting behind a screen editing, was SO refreshing.

And people… it worked! Everything they taught worked!

So beyond a little croppy-croppy and applying a few of Zach’s presets… all of these pictures are SOOC.

If you only have one photography class to take this year… invest in one from Zach and Jody. They are incredible!!

This weekend I have had the incredible privilege of spending time with my dear friend Keeda.

I call it “Keeda-time” – she calls it “Jenny-time” – we have both decided that this friendship is like a butterfly kiss in both of our lives.

Keeda-time has occurred for me because I’m in Charlotte for Zach and Jody’s IN-Camera tour (more coming tomorrow!) where I’m learning all things photography… but really, its just an excuse to hang w/Keeda.

After last Monday‘s exciting start at my new job, meeting my weight goal, John getting the news about his job (happy dance), and basically all things awesomesauce… the down time this weekend to just chillax has been a huge blessing.

As our crew was out photographing on Sunday afternoon… a butterfly decided to join our team and make frequent fly-bys for a photo-op or two.

He seemed to want to be a part of the party… and as we were shooting portraits would land on shoulders, arms, and even lenses to make himself known and to share some “encouragement” with us all.

Just his presence was a sweet joy… like my Keeda time. A butterfly kiss.

I’m grateful to God for allowing this time with Keeda

For His allowing me to reach and maintain my weight goal

I’m grateful that He is blessing me with a new job in this new season and for blessing my husband with some awesome news on his birthday too

I’m grateful for new beginnings and opportunities

And I’m grateful for unexpected butterfly kisses from heaven…

Model: Krystle Correll (of Krystle Correll Photography)

Event – Fix Mix II. Loved photographing this beautiful bride… dress was from her actual wedding.

This week, I officially reached my weigh-in goal!

Actually, I exceeded it and instead of being at 117, I’m at 115 1/4!

But the best part of today is not reaching my goal of weight loss.

It is not being able to fit into that one pair of jeans I love so much {and wore all weekend long!} It’s not being able to move more fluidly and efficiently during photoshoots. It’s not fitting into another pair of my favorite khakis for the wedding this weekend, or being able to finally wear my wedding ring again (above) because it fits.

It is knowing that God had a plan that was SO much bigger than just weight loss for this journey, and today I am living into part of the culmination of that plan as I start work at International Justice Mission, an organization that works for justice across the world.

Since I pre-post everything on my blog, twitter, and Facebook accounts, I can’t actually tell you how “today” (i.e., Monday) actually is going – other than the fact that this blog will probably go up as I am commuting home!

I’m praying that today went well. I’m praying that I am a blessing to the IJM team. I’m praying that I survived the commute and the pugs endured my longer work hours. I’m praying that I “get it” and can seamlessly transition into my position so that my new bosses are encouraged and supported.

And finally, I’m praying for my sweet hubby.

Today is his birthday. Today, Lord willing, we will have heard about his job that we have been praying for since – oh – 2010! Today, I pray that he and I will get to celebrate not only my weight loss goal, or my new job… but I pray that we will get to celebrate my husband… and HIS successes.

Because when God draws you into a partnership with someone else or a team of someone elses – their success is your success. Their triumph, your triumph, the agony of their loss, also yours.

Today I would like to celebrate the partnerships that God has allowed me to join hands with – both at IJM and also with my husband – as I prayerfully hope that we can all celebrate reaching our goals this sweet Monday!

Who can you celebrate today as they strive to reach their goals?