Ceremony and Reception

I am finally done the long and tedious job of editing the ceremony and reception photos. The reason I say long and tedious - dim lighting + wood paneling = extremely yellow people. Every photo needed to be colour corrected and, sometimes, then converted to black and white. However, it's done! Hooray! Now I can focus on the good stuff - the formal portraits we did afterward. Those will be up over the next week or two. Here are a few from the ceremony and reception (none are sharpened for web). Hopefully their joy shines through more than the lingering yellow hues in a few of these. ;)

What's going on.

July has been busy. Why, I can't really say. We have no family birthdays, no major holidays after the 1st. We have done no traveling. I have only done two shoots. And yet I find myself stretched to the limit.

My quest to finish editing the wedding photos went on hold last week as we had a minor medical crisis with my son. You know, he's been a fairly healthy kid. I've gone through the typical mom things. I've survived first colds, throwing up in public (ice hockey rink), throwing up in bed (ugh), week-long bugs that keep us all in our pyjamas. But I've also done two hospitalizations with him, both times for perioribital cellulitis, and there is always a niggling worry in the back of my mind that some underlying issue is causing that.

Two weekends agohe was exhausted. My nap-hating, rarely cranky kid was so, so tired. He complained of nothing else but tiredness. Too tired to eat, to play. He looked bad; pale, dull. On Tuesday morning of last week, my husband thought he looked thinner. Yup: three pounds off, which is a lot for a little body. He'd be laying on the couch within an hour of getting up. That same morning, he suddenly started asking for drinks more often. My husband noticed his breath smelled different. We both came to the same conclusion on our own: this could be potentially bad.

To the doctor we went. She shared our fears and sent him for bloodwork. And you know, by the following day, he seemed better, and I knew before the doctor even called that he did not have diabetes. But the scare took me out for the whole week, it seemed. (Turns out, it was some random virus. An eerie one at that.)

Aside from the early haze of post-partum anxiety and depression when I wondering what on earth I'd gotten myself into, I have to admit that the only times I've ever fleetingly wished I was not a parent have been in the midst of illness and the fear and anxiety that surround it. Why me? I'd moan dramatically, and my own issues with illness would be brought to the forefront, and I'd secretly seethe at the people who'd brought their sick kids to whatever event we were all attending, etc. But you know, why not me? We're no better than anyone else. Doesn't matter what we do - our child will get sick. Sometimes with very little, and sometimes more serious, like the times he's been hooked up to an IV for four days so he doesn't lose his sight.

So that, along with with my own illness treating me poorly (Crohn's disease), the two shoots I've done being big ones (wedding and a album cover shoot), I've been overextended. I have a couple of shoots coming up, including one wedding. Because of this, I have to say - I will not be accepting requests for photos from this point on until mid-September, and even then it'll be a limited amount. I just have too much on my plate, and I cannot spend my entire autumn at my computer, editing photos, however much it helps me learn.

And before I show this week's Project 52 photos (a letter of the alphabet was the theme; I chose S for sandals, splashing, and summer), I want to send my love to a couple of very special people in our life who have lost something precious. I cannot begin to fathom their heartache, for my own seems nearly unbearable and theirs is a thousand--a million--times worse. My love to you, S & A, and goodbye sweet Marty.

Getting ready.

As I said in my last post, I shot a wedding on Saturday. I am not a wedding photographer, but Chantal had only a few weeks to plan her wedding, as she (and Colby) wanted to get married on their vacation home from Newfoundland. Knowing it'd be next to impossible for her to secure a professional wedding photographer in a mere three weeks for a July wedding, I said yes. And I am glad I did, as it was a beautiful celebration for a wonderful couple, and I am thrilled I got to be a part of it from start to finish.

I haven't edited too many photos yet; in fact, I still need to go through all of them (nearly 2000) and make note of the ones I want to keep. I couldn't wait on these first ones, though; I just love the excitement of a bride preparing for her big day. I went to Chantal's parents' house amidst rain and grey skies, but Chantal was cool as a cucumber and I knew right away it was going to be a wonderful day. By the way, when Chantal walked out with that dress, I was almost stunned into speechlessness. If you think it's pretty in pictures, you should have seen it in real life! Most beautiful gown I've ever seen.

Note: these have not been sharpened for web, because I plum forgot!

First up: getting ready!

Catching up.

I have been an absolute slacker for the past month. And I just dumped most of my photos onto my hard drive, so at the moment I can't even post the past few weeks' Project 52 entries. They weren't terribly inspired so you aren't missing much. ;)

I've been extremely busy. We went to PEI with my husband's family for a weekend, which was busy and fun (and cold, and rainy!). Once we got back, I had a prom photo shoot and a week of festivities for my niece, who graduated from high school. Then we had Canada Day, and last week I spent the entire week teaching the middle school class at my church's DVBS.

The biggest news: I did my first wedding yesterday. It was for an old friend who was getting married with a small window of time to prepare. I said yes, and boy, was I nervous! Especially when the forecast changed from sunny and warm to rainy and muggy. I was really worried that the ceremony shots would be difficult with the dim weather, and that we'd have to do the formal portraits in the sanctuary.

Thankfully, the rain stopped just before their horse and cart arrived after the reception, and we were able to go to a few outdoor locations for photos. It was a blast. The bride and groom were laid-back and happy and easy to order around. ;) And really, one of the best-looking pairs ever. Congratulations, Chantal and Colby! I'll be doing a proper wedding photo post in a week or two.