Jody is freaking gorgeous.  I keep looking at these photos and thinking she’s Anna Pacquin.  On top of this, she is super sweet and down to earth … I adored her instantly.

I absolutely love shooting bridal sessions.  Before or after the wedding — it’s an awesome way to get some photos of any bride looking her best.  Jody looked extra amazing thanks to Jenny‘s (of Jennyface) hair and make-up talent.  Professional make-up makes such a difference in the success of any shoot.  And Jenny is a blast to work with!  I recommend her to any bride for engagement, wedding, bridal or boudoir make-up.

Unique and whimsical hairpieces always add something special to a bride’s look.  The flower piece Jody is wearing was custom designed for me (for my own wedding a couple years ago) by Myra Callan of Twigs & Honey.  She’s kind of a big deal now — designing pieces for celebrities even.

Photographer’s note:  If you follow my blog, you know I’m a 35L girl.  It’s my favorite lens ever.  But for Jody’s bridals I didn’t like the perspective I was getting with the 35 and I used the 85 1.8 instead.  I forgot how much I love this lens as well. It’s super sharp and focuses quickly.  Now I’m interested in checking out the 85L — do any of you have experience with it?  What do you think?

Much more tomorrow.  Any guesses as to which actress I think Jody looks like?

I love this girl.  Nikki and I found each other through the blogosphere sometime last year and finally met in real life yesterday.  I felt like I was hanging out with a long lost friend — we could have talked forever I think … we had so much in common.  We did a shoot for a few minutes until my fingers went numb (I am not into winter outdoor shooting at all — even though I want to be).  Nikki was amazing though — trampling through the snow in just her TOMS shoes.  She’s also a killer photographer and blew me away with her fashiony posing knowledge.  It was so much fun to have her shoot ME.  I’m really not good in front of the camera, but she put me at ease unlike almost anyone else (i can’t wait to see the photos — no pressure or anything, nikki ;)).

Nikki was also awesome enough to let me experiment with my tilt shift lens that I have hardly used yet.  It’s all manual focus and has 4 crazy knobs — I feel as if I really have to pay attention to what I’m doing technically with this lens.  In most cases I shoot very much from the heart and in the moment.  I expose for the scene correctly and then just go with what feels right — rarely taking the camera down from my face again — focusing quickly in between shots.  Can’t do that with a tilt-shift.  It was a great lesson in patient shooting and composition.  I’m not sure I’m sold on the TS lens thing yet, but I’ll likely pull it out here and there in the future because I love its ethereal dreamy look.

Nikki, thanks for a truly great day.  I cannot wait to hang out again and more often!

I’ve been reading a lot lately.  Not in the same way I read when I read 49 books in 2010 (as quickly as possible).  But rather in a more engaged manner … allowing myself to get lost in the ways a sentence can be strung together.  In the way certain letters meet each other and make a word more poetic just in their visual unity.  I’m writing down quotes again and not simply skimming all the articles I bookmark.  This is my bliss — getting lost in the written word.  Feels like being at land’s end, on the ocean.

Some quotes I came across this week:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us — Marianne Williamson

The greatest human temptation is to settle for too little — Thomas Merton

To not settling in 2011.  To going big or going home.  I might bow out of the bloglandia for a bit here (days or weeks, not months … don’t let me disappear for months, please).  I have some things to sort out on the business and creativity front.  I don’t want to feel guilty about not maintaining my blog right now.  When I return I want to be blogging with more enthusiasm and more regularly because I want to  — and not because I am triggered by guilt or the feeling of missing out and being left behind.

Photos taken of unknown girl with my point & shoot camera, the canon g11.