Spring! It's here!

Hopefully.

The weather has been absolutely wonderful this past week. Today was so lovely that I kept hoping I would have to park a few orders at work so that I might get a chance to walk outside for a moment. ;)

With this great weather comes all sorts of great opportunities for me as a photographer. I'm really itching to have a new shoot. I'm also itching because I have a bad sunburn, but that is neither here nor there.

Well, to have a shoot, I'd need a subject. And as of right now I am lacking in that department.

To compensate, have some random pictures of my nephews:

Look! Look into their sweet faces...and ignore the fact that I forgot to insert my logo. ;)

Editing is going nicely. I've finally fallen into a nice rhythm, so I no longer want to throw my work across the room. No,  I'm actually having fun! *gasp* And I'm also seriously thinking about putting up an excerpt...What do you think? Should I?

Amy and Daniel's Wedding

I had the wonderful privelege of shooting a wedding here a couple of week's back, and now I've finally gotten the chance to show some of my favorites!

The beautiful flower girls.

The groom and his father. I really liked this one.

Walking down the aisle...Can't miss her lovely smile!

They were such a wonderful couple, and I had a great time! Lots of blessings and thanks to Amy and Daniel. :)

Photo Shoot in the Backyard

That's right! I had a photo shoot last week with my mom in our very own backyard. Personally, I wasn't sure the pictures would be very captivating since it was a usual windy day and all I had to work with was a rusty red barn (thingy) as a backdrop. I snapped a hand-full of photos and we headed back inside after just 15 minutes or so.

Surprisingly, I was more than happy with how the pictures turned out, especially after I got them edited and tweaked. It also helps that my mother is wonderfully photogenic.

About two weeks ago, I bought a new editing software based on the fact that I am scheduled to shoot my first wedding the end of this month--yay! I fell in love with the new software within the first few minutes of using it, and thankfully, it's very easy to use. With just a few simple adjustments it can make any photo brighter and more appealing to the eye. I think I'm in photoshop heaven.

Aren't I lucky to have such a gorgeous model?

Oh, notice the logo? I am sort of proud of myself for figuring that one out (even though it was really easy to do...shhh). Now it almost feels like a kind of business, especially since the wedding shoot is coming up soon. I really am thankful for all of my friends and family that are helping make this possible. It seems like I am getting closer and closer to fulfilling my dream.

And on that note, I think I'll leave you with one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies:

Click here--I've Got a Dream

Go, live your dream. <3

Starting the First Cover!

I know I showed one cover that I was working on a week or so ago. That was supposed to be the cover for my first book....but as I was drawing it, it took on more of a look for the second book. *sigh* That's the problem with me; I just let my imagination reign, so even though I have a time limit and SHOULD have been working solely on the first book, I accidentally started on the second one right off.

And now that that cover is finished, I had to start again, this time with the first book in mind. Thank goodness, it worked out this time and I ended up with this:

Right now I'm working on putting it to color. It's actually a nice reprieve from all the editing.

As I'm making the cover, I'm listening to -this song- on replay. I love it for some reason.

I feel like I'm not doing all that well with blogging and making it interesting, but this is pretty much all I got. :)

The Joys of Editing

Ah, the joys of editing! I've begun to edit my first book so I can start the process of getting it published, and it's going absolutely swimmingly.

Oh, who am I kidding? Editing is terrible. Terrible, I tell you. It makes me want to curl up in a corner and never look at a book again.

Seriously. And I'm only on chapter one.

I finished the cover some days ago, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. So I thought to myself, "Wow, that went well! Maybe editing the book will go just as easily!"

Nope. Not at all. I think my characters are in a conspiracy to give me as much grief as possible. They are decidedly boring in the first chapter when they should be grabbing the reader's attention and positively shouting, "Hey! Read this book!".

But that's all changing, hopefully, as I edit out all those boring, thoughtless paragraphs and replace them with flowing words that are supposed to be full of action and interest. Slowly but surely, this book is going to be edited.

And once it is finished and beautiful, then I shall begin the process of getting it published. Which, from what I've heard, is a million times worse.

Doesn't that just make you want to become a writer? ;)

In truth, even though a lot of it is full of frustration and worry over how my writing will be received, most of the time writing is my most favorite thing to do. It's a part of me, and I don't think I'll give up just because one particular character has the personality of a slug.

__________

(EDIT: After I saved this post, an ad saying "Self-Publish Your Book!" appeared, and it was from the very site I am using to get published. How awesome is that?)