Joyful Girl Photography Blog » Randomness

Bring on the paranoia…

Jessie — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:09:02 +0000

I think I got a little carried away. My inner germ-a-phobe came out. The paranoid-mom-who-loves-her-children came out. My mellow dad will definitely roll his eyes when he reads this. I will wait for your call, dad.

I learned about the website recalls.gov so I thought I would check them out. You know, just to see what they were all about. Just out of curiosity. And then my inner mom stepped in. Do I want to be notified of flu outbreaks? Of course I do! Do I want to be notified of car recalls? Of course I do! Do I want to be notified of child safety restraint recalls and food recalls and drug recalls and and and? Of course! Doesn’t every good mom need to know these things? I realize that I have survived over fours years of motherhood without them, but in that moment I could not go another second without these updates. I worked myself into a frenzy. It was not pretty.

And because I share so much with you, I thought that I would give you the opportunity to let your paranoid self come out too. Yes, why should I be the only one getting bombarded with daily emails making me more paranoid about everything I give my kids? Why not share the love? www.recalls.gov. I apologize to you in advance.

Of course I always need to include an image, so why what one of Miss Rylee from a recent shoot to remind us why we must know of any tire recalls immediately?! {Does my poking-fun-at-myself-sarcasm come through in these lines?}

The Neon Sign.

Jessie — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:54:15 +0000

Sometimes we are given messages from the Big Guy In The Sky. Sometimes we have to strain to hear the whispering message. Some messages we are still waiting for (like whether or not we should go for child number three – although last week I had my 1 1/2-year old nephew for the week and I think I have my answer – but that’s another post). And sometimes the message is blaring in our faces. It is that big tacky neon sign outside our motel window, keeping us up at night (can’t you just hear the buzzing as you read this – or is that just me?). Early in my career I got one of those neon messages that changed the direction of my business.

When I first decided that I wanted to do photography professionally, my plan was to take awesome photos and hand over a disk of images to my clients for them to do what they would like with them.

A month after I purchased my first digital SLR, I gave a CD of images from Christmas to one of my sister-in-laws. I printed out a few for myself, they looked great. Then one day I was at my mother-in-law’s house and I saw a terrible picture. It looked kind of like one that I had taken but it was orange and dark and blurry. My mother-in-law said that my sister-in-law had printed out a few of my images from Christmas at Costco and had given them out to our family. So there were my images, with my name on them, in the hands of people I love…and they looked terrible!

And I saw so clearly how much I love photography and think of my images as my babies and how I want them to be the best they can be.

I saw what a difference a professional printshop (and Photoshop) made on my images. That neon sign said that I needed creative control from start to finish. I knew that I wanted to be more than a photography chop-shop. I wanted to give my clients full service. I wanted to spend quality time with my clients and not try to squeeze as many sessions in a week as I could. I wanted to make sure that all images bearing my name were as good as they could be. I saw clearly the direction I wanted to go and never looked back.

I can’t show you the print quality until you come to my office, but I thought it might be fun (and a little nerve-wracking on my end) to share some before/after Photoshop images with you!

Although a good image needs to be well-composed and exposed with great lighting and expressions right out of the camera, every image needs a little tweak before I share them with my clients. Some tweaks are so minor that no one would ever notice but me. And some images just cry to be played with a bit more like two recent images below.

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I liked this image. Beautiful Dani. The pose. The lighting. The blues. The wind in her hair. But straight out of the camera it deserved a little something. A little special Photoshop effort…

This is now one of my favorite images! So warm and soothing and I cannot take my eyes off of hers.

Again, right out of the camera this had potential. These two were so full of affection and they were having a great moment (on a cute bridge)…

But this Photoshop technique made this image even more special! This is also one of my new favorites!

I hope you enjoyed seeing a little behind-the-scenes and saw how I came to run my business the way I do. It was really guided by the love of photography and commitment to quality (that sounds like such a warm and cozy corporate moral phrase!).

This may be the first time I have publicly shown my straight-out-of-the-camera shots (I hope you still like me!). I am feeling a little naked at the moment but I know I will get over it. Maybe I should have paid attention to the flashing buzzing sign in my window now that says I should keep some things to myself! What fun would that be?

My laughs for the day (well, two of them anyway)…

Jessie — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:46:00 +0000

If you have read my blogs in the past, you may know that I have admitted to reading Reader’s Digest. This morning I read a couple things in April’s Reader’s Digest that made me laugh out loud, and thought you might enjoy them and be in need of a laugh yourself.

They are not jokes for the young and innocent. So to balance out the adultness of these jokes, I thought I would throw in a few images of my daughter from the other day.

Enjoy…

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A farmer pulls a prank on Easter Sunday. After the egg hunt, he sneaks into the chicken coop and replaces every white egg with a brightly colored one.

Minutes later, the rooster walks in. He spots the brightly colored eggs, then storms out and beats up the peacock.

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Nobody ever calls you up to tell you something good you did when you were drunk. Nobody’s ever said, “Jim, you got ripped last night and painted the orphanage.”

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Visit Joyful Girl Photography’s Website (My new website!)

Laugh! It’s the Best Medicine

Jessie — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:32:00 +0000

A few blogs ago I casually admitted that I read Reader’s Digest. At that time, I wanted to add all the young, hip and cool things about me to balance this admission off. To let people know that you don’t just have to be on social security and have given up eating popcorn for fear of what it will do to your teeth to enjoy this publication. But that was not the time.

This morning I was reading Reader’s Digest and laughed out loud at some of the funny bits in their “Laugh! It’s the Best Medicine” section.

As we can all use a good laugh now and then I thought that I would share some of the funniness with you. And perhaps after you too get a few laughs you will not think less of my coolness factor for subscribing…

The Zen of Sarcasm:

1. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt or a flat tire.

2. Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

3. Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, you’re a mile away – and you have the shoes.

A Kid’s Life Photography Website

Ode to Baked Beans

Jessie — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:42:00 +0000

Two days had passed and still no shower,

Feeling feverish my breath smelled sour.

Starving children pulling at my legs,

It was lunchtime, and I didn’t even have eggs.

No milk, no bread, not much else,

And I was so sick without any help.

But kids don’t care if mom is ill,

They just want it or they start to shrill.

And then I saw it, my lifesaver on the shelf,

A can of baked beans, I wanted to yelp.

No work required, just open and heat,

And just enough sugar to get them to eat.

A break for me, Yea! I could fulfill their need,

And without too much guilt, don’t beans have protein?

So today I dedicate this blog to the beans,

A bit strange I know, but heartfelt indeed.

A Kid’s Life Photography Website

The two-dog road trip…

Jessie — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:36:00 +0000

Had I received an invitation, not only would I have declined, but I would have laughed at the thought. Two women. Two large dogs. Driving from L.A. to New York City. In a Mini. Yes, you heard me, in a Mini Cooper.

But seeing these two women I must admit that I was a bit jealous of their road trip. As they drove off with the open road ahead, I got in my car and answered my two-year old’s question “Why?” about 100 times. They were heading for Chicago and unsure of their exact plans for the next day. Should they sleep in? What tourist things should they do? I was heading home to change the poopy diaper my daughter loudly announced that she had. But as we got home and I changed the diapers and gave the snacks and read the stories and got the kids ready for naps, my daughter turned to me and – completely unprompted – said, “I love you, mom.” It was followed by the biggest hug and smile. Maybe staying here isn’t so bad.

Enjoy the images from our photo shoot at the dog park…

A Kid’s Life Photography Website