Alright, I know I’m a NoBloPoMo failure. I guess I was a little ambitious with all the other things that are going on. Escrow….. weddings… portrait shoots… Thanksgiving….
But enough of that! Let’s talk about Mark & Lina’s super fun wedding. I mentioned before that these two just make me happy. Well their wedding made me love them even more! I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a wedding where there was more joy, especially in the midst of some sorrow. Mark’s dad passed away a week before the wedding. But still there was such a spirit of celebration and love. Like there couldn’t be anything more right than what was happening that day. I definitely teared up myself a couple of times.
The day started with a tennis tournament. Wait. What? That’s right. The “Nuptial Classic” is a wedding day tradition in Lina’s family. Mark & Lina played one game before heading out to get ready.
I love it when the guys come up with their own ideas for pictures. This was perfect since Mark always seems to be practicing his golf swing. These guys cracked me up.
Do you think they’re excited?
My buddy Steve Eicher provided the tunes.
Leme tell ya…. these party people can dance…. and they did.
This was so funny. Lina & her brother apparently had a whole dramatization for Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer. Watch the slideshow for more on this.
Mark & Lina, thanks again for allowing me the privilege of spending your wedding day with you. I love you guys!
I tend to be pretty open and share a lot of details of my life with people. I’m pretty much an open book. Especially when I’m excited about something! Well, I’m still not sure about the house yet. I’ve had the inspection and there are some things we might be in negotiations about, but I just need to share a couple of photos! So this may be my new home and the new home of Jennifer Disney Photography.
Just wanted to update those of you who know Mark or that have been praying for their family. Mark’s dad passed away yesterday evening at home surrounded by his family. A letter from Mark expressed “an overwhelming sense of gratefulness and relief that his 2 year struggle with cancer is finally over. His end of life wishes were accomplished and we were all here to be with him.”
My thoughts and prayers are with my friend and his family as they gear up for his wedding next week. With sadness, they celebrate “a life well lived, well loved and full of faith”. But with joy, they celebrate a beautiful new chapter for Mark & Lina and their families. Thank you, Lord, for your peace and your faithfulness.
Well…. just a quick update on the house. They accepted my offer and I’m in escrow as of today! Oh my gosh, I’m freaking out. So since I don’t have a whole lot of weddings booked for next year, I need y’all to A). pray for work and B) send anyone you know getting married next year my way! I’m going to need to pay for a mortgage! The inspection is on Sunday, so I’m not considering it official til after that. I will try to take some photos then.
Oh, and speaking of home buying, if anyone is in the market to buy, I’ve got a great realtor. Rich has been so patient with me through this last year of looking and offering and escrow falling out. Give him a call if you need a realtor.
I know I haven’t had much new stuff to post, but here’s something cool I was working on today. I make these rep cards for each wedding I do. I will set them next to the slideshow on my laptop and hand them out to the tables. People seem to like them and lets them know how to see the photos from the wedding. Here’s the ones I will hand out a Mark and Lina’s wedding.
*Side note: please be praying for Mark and Lina and their family. Mark’s dad has cancer and they have started hospice. He probably will not make it to the wedding if he’s still alive. So pray for them. Pray for a miracle.
I kinda hate the home buying process. The whole offer, counter offer, then maybe again…. it’s enough to drive me crazy! Just signed the papers for the counter offer tonight. This is the fifth house I’ve put an offer on this year. I need to trust that God’s got it all under control. Isn’t it funny how when you go through different processes, it shows you a lot about how you are in other situations. I think I realized tonight that I rely on other people’s opinions a lot. Maybe a little too much. I think it’s time to start trusting my own judgement a little more.
This afternoon I was doing a little retouching on some headshots. It’s amazing what a difference a little retouching can do. So I’m going to let the cat out of the bag. I’m going to show you some before and after’s on some of my photos. Talk about vulnerability!
Just about every photo you see in any magazine (even National Geographic) has been digitally enhanced. Because of the nature of digital photography, just about every photo needs a little bump in contrast and saturation or a little color correction. But look in the fashion magazines and you’ll see a WHOLE lotta retouching. I was looking through a magazine the other day and noticed that not one person in there had any hint of a bag under their eyes. Sorry people…. everyone has a little bag, even kids. But I saw none!
Every photo you see here on my blog has been retouched. I picked a few before and after’s that aren’t too drastic, just to show what a little retouching can do. Every image on my blog has had the contrast and saturation bumped up and has been sharpened using Kevin Kubota’s Magic Sharp action. Love it! I also use Totally Rad Actions sometimes and my black and white is an action I came up with myself.
My beautiful friend Shawnda didn’t need much retouching. But it’s amazing what the contrast and saturation does. I also used Totally Rad’s Pro Retouch to smooth out her skin a little and make her eyes pop.
Before:
After:
For Robin I touched up a few blemishes and used Pro Retouch.
Before:
After:
For Reggie you can see I needed to adjust the color balance to correct his skin tones. Pro Retouch and the normal.
Before:
After:
Here I decided that I liked it better in black and white. I ram my “mocha” action, my black and white action with a touch of warmth. I think I burned in the edges a little too.
I know that it’s been a couple of days since I’ve posted any photos. I’m finishing up some beach towel designs and such so I haven’t been doing any editing the past few days. But now worries, I will be getting back to that shortly. And for those of you keeping track…. I put an offer on the house today, so we’ll see what happens.
I’m co-leading a small group of people from my church. We’re going through the book Captivating right now and then we’ll be studying its counterpart, Wild at Heart next. It’s a co-ed group so we’ve been getting into some really interesting conversations. One theme of the book is the idea that women have a question that they ask from the time they are little girls. “Am I lovely?” The authors propose that when a little girl twirls and says, “watch me” she is really seeking for an answer to that question. Sometimes the answer is affirmative. “Yes, you are valuable and wonderful and i delight in you!” Other times the answer is, “stop that! I don’t have time to watch you. You need to do that better.”
Now, our group has found this book a little contraversial and we definitely don’t agree with all that the authors are saying. But it has got me thinking. Do I ask that question? If so, how do I ask it and how is it being answered? Who do I look to for the answer? When I read these sentences the other day, I had to pause and think. “Why is she always working on her life? Why is she always trying to ‘improve’ herself? {She} is always looking for something to work on. Prayer, exercise, financial responsibility, a new hair color, more discipline. Why is she trying so hard? Doesn’t she know how amazing she is? What makes her search so frustrating is that she doesn’t know what is wrong with her. She simply fears that somehow she is not enough.”
Wow! That describes me in so many ways.
And that makes me sad.
Now of course I realize that it can be good to want to improve things in your life. I think that’s part of life and accomplishment. But what is the heart behind that? Am I striving for perfection, feeling that I’m never good enough? If that’s the case, does that mean that I believe the answer to “my question” is no? Maybe?
Furthermore, where do I go to get that question answered? Boyfriend? Parents? Friends? Maybe. But honestly, then, couldn’t the answer always be different? Depending on my mood, their mood, or any number of things? I think there is only One who can really satisfy the deepest longing of one’s soul.
Well I didn’t do it. I missed a day. I had a plan for what I was going to blog about yesterday. My friend and I went to the Grand Californian Hotel to hang out in the lobby and get things done. If you’ve never been to the Grand Californian at the Disneyland Resorts you should check it out. It’s all done in the Craftsman style and kinda looks like the Ahwanee in Yosemite.
The details are amazing and there’s often someone playing the piano. Well my friend was going to read her book and I was going to blog. But you know how it is when two gals get together. No work got done. And I got home after midnight, so I figured there was no use staying up any later to write a blog since I was already past the deadline! My friend Heidi told me “you have to take a sabbath right?” So I’m claiming that as my reason!
I was going to write about something I’ve been learning, but now I’m way distracted and excited about something else. I’m in the market for a house again and I just saw one that I LOVE! In my mind it’s perfect. It’s a Craftsman home in downtown Fullerton and it’s beautiful. I’m going to look at it again tomorrow, so I’m enlisting your prayers, if you would. Some of you know that I almost bought a house earlier this year. It fell out of escrow and I’m convinced that God spared me from something horrible. So He’s gotta have somthing else in mind. My roommate Greta just got engaged (yay!) so everything seems to be pointing me toward moving to Orange County. But I need prayer for wisdom and discernment. If this isn’t the right one, I want to steer clear! So if you would…. pray! If it’s meant to be, it will be. But gosh, it’s hard for me to believe that somtimes!
I almost forgot to post! I haven’t been home most of the day. So real quick, before I run out for a night with the girls…. I think this might be one of my favorite photos right now. I took it last year when I spent a week in New York seeing a crazy amount of shows. I recently had it printed on a 16×24 canvas. I think I want to do two more similar photos and hang them as a sort of triptic (no idea how to spell that). I’ve got one in mind, but I need one more. By the way…. canvas prints are awesome!
Well…. so far I’ve blogged every day this month! I’m kinda proud of myself. Six down, only 24 to go! Aaaarggghhhh! Oh dear. It’s not like me to run out of things to say. But I may run out of things to post. I guess this is an exercise for my creativity! If you have any ideas about what you’d like me to write about, please leave a comment.I finished Mark & Lina’s custom guest book design the other day so I thought I’d let you see. I love these guest books! They’re just so fun and such a big hit at every wedding. Even the groomsmen, who, let’s be honest… aren’t impressed by much, generally come up to me at weddings to ask if I designed “that book”. Then they say, “I have to admit, that’s really cool. What a cool idea.” Huge compliment coming from them!
