{a}strid photography blog » mylife

confessions of a wedding photographer:: part 3

{a}strid — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:03:39 +0000

1- i have learned how to not go to the bathroom for 14 hrs straight.

2- i can eat an entire meal in .25 seconds if i have to.

3- i have mastered the art of walking like a ninja in order to not make noise or be a distraction.

4- i still wish i could go and get my masters degree in Visual Arts and Technology/Photography.

5- the day after a wedding calls for ice, tylenol, hot baths, and having my feet up all day. from what i’ve heard, this is pretty standard with all photographers.

6- the best wedding cake i ever had was from this wedding. it was the biggest, freshest strawberry shortcake sheet cake i’ve ever seen.

6- i am still trying to find a way to convince my husband to be an office assistant. i think he is afraid office assistant will quickly become personal assistant :)

7- photographers live with our phones on silent. and if you hear yours ring between the months of april-november, you have a mini anxiety attack before realizing you are just at home, in pajamas, with your husband. oops.

just giving you the facts.

confessions of a wedding photographer :: part 1

confessions of a wedding photographer :: part 2

i left my heart in nola.

{a}strid — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:28:42 +0000

the city of new orleans had my heart within 24hrs. the culture. the food. the sounds of soulful jazz and the colors of all the historic houses. the ghost stories. the beignets. oh my the beignets….

i came once again for the Imaging USA photography conference. i left inspired by the city, motivated by the classes, and filled with the best of creole cooking you can imagine. on the first day before classes had started, my roomie/friend/workwife and i sat on steps outside the french quarter with cold beers in our hands, the sun on our faces, and just enjoyed the jazz players on the street. we were taking it all in, and it was one of those moments of pure happiness where i realized that one of my personal dreams had been fulfilled- to have a job that allows me to travel. without even realizing it, it has happened. san antonio, alaska, vegas, atlanta, myrtle beach, nyc are just a few of the cities ive been fortunate enough to visit through work. but… it never felt like work, and so i’m thinking this is a very good thing.

but seriously…you must go get the beignets. unless you don’t like the idea of fried dough covered in mounds of powdered sugar. but if you don’t, then you really don’t belong on this blog anyway ;-)

changes :: {a}strid photography.

{a}strid — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:56:57 +0000

as you can see, there have been some exciting changes around here. it has been a long road, but finally completing my branding seemed like a road that was never going to end. i started thinking about this process over a year ago… and was completely overwhelmed with what i should do vs. what i wanted to do. alot of thought into questions such as “what does my brand represent? how do i play a role in my brand? who is my target audience? how many different shades of robins egg blue can i possibly love?” my own flaw is that i love too much. so many ideas, colors, and themes that when it came time to make a decision i was just confused. i became victim to the whole “when there are too many choices, you choose nothing” effect. so at the beginning of 2011 i made the decision that i didn’t have to go all in right away. i would let my photography and business evolve, and hope that the branding would sort of just happen on it’s own. i was tired of stressing about it- and decided to simply wait for my Oprah “aha” moment. in the meantime, i kept it simple- black logo, white backdrop. turqouise details here and there. even knowing that the black was never going to stay, i actually like what i had. meanwhile, i kept a “home decor inspiration” folder on my desktop as well as a “photography inspiration” folder. what is interesting is how similar they are to each other in color, feeling, and style. without even knowing it, i had a vision for what i loved- i just had never put it into words.

well, here we are over a year later and i’m happy to say that in the end it really did all just fall into place. unfortunately, it fell into place a few times at 4 in the morning…but it was amazing all the same. to finally feel connected to my brand, and have a website that i hope represents what i do best, is a great personal accomplishment. so… i welcome you to visit the website, take a look around the blog, and stay tuned for more fun business updates in the future!

xo,

{a}strid

lattes and good books.

{a}strid — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:19:53 +0000

lattes and the smell of a new book. there are few things better than this feeling. in following my goals for this year, i’ve started The Hunger Games series, and i’ve succesfully read the first two books in the last 12 days. like i have mentioned, i have a love for books and always am looking for good recommendations. so with this same thought, i figured i would recommend some to you! here is some of what i’ve read lately.

Bossypants by Tina Fey :: read this one in 24 hrs and had me laughing out loud, by myself, on the train home from NYC. i wasn’t a huge Tina Fey fan before, but her book totally converted me. it’s her background to becoming a comedian, and some feminism mixed in with hilarious parenting stories. basically spans her life from how she got the scar on her face, through what it was like working on the set of SNL, and being a female in a male comedians world. READ THIS!

one of my favorite excerpts…

“I was defensive and grouchy whenever the topic (of breastfeeding) came up. At a party with a friend who was successfully nursing her little boy, I watched her husband produce a bottle of pumped breast milk that was the size of a Big Gulp. It was more milk than I had produced in my whole seven weeks – I blame Entourage. As my friend’s husband fed the baby, he said offhandedly, “This stuff is liquid gold. You know it actually makes them smarter?” “Let’s set a date!” I screamed. “IQ test. Five years from today. My formula baby will crush your baby!” Thankfully, my mouth was so full of cake they could not understand me.”

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld :: this book is said to be loosely based on the life of Laura Bush- which makes it that much more interesting trying to guess what is real and what isn’t. this book gives insight on what it’s like to be thrown into a position of power and influence, and into a life that you did not wish for, but agreed to for your husband. how do you simultaneously love your husband, but disagree with his Republican ways… when your husband is the President of the United States? it’s the constant battle between her personal believes vs being a supportive First Lady to the public eye, that made me fall in love with this book.

excerpt:

“My heart clutched – it was one of those moments when you feel time is a rug that’s been yanked out from under you; everything around you has changed so gradually that it is only all at one you look up and realize how different your life has become.”

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins :: i am only on the second book of the series but i fully engrossed into this storyline. based on the art of survival in a world where a corrupt governement dictates your future, makes this one of the best books i’ve read in a long time. i am now on the second of the series, and it’s the book i take with me everywhere trying to squeeze in extra pages when i can. intense read with an underlying love story.

excerpt:

Peeta- “I just keep wishing that i could think of a way to show them that they don’t own me. If I’m gonna die, i want to still be me.

Katniss Everdeen- “I just can’t afford to think like that.”

hope that helps anyone who was looking for a good book to pick up! and with that i leave you with this….

murmuration.

{a}strid — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:50:45 +0000

i felt if i didn’t share this with everyone, i would be doing a disservice to you all. please take the minute to watch- i promise you won’t be dissapointed.

completely and utterly inspiring. and a little reminder of just how small we are in this world.

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.