I’m still here.  Been working hard.  I’ve always been a really hard worker; it’s certainly one of my better character traits.  People sometimes say my life is ideal … but they often have no idea how much determination, long hours, and preparation have gone into creating that illusion. Any success I’ve had is the result of getting my hands dirty every day, taking risks, failing, trying again, surrounding myself with people who push and inspire me, and staying 100% true to myself no matter what’s “expected” of wedding photographers or what anyone else is doing.  I wasn’t born into privilege; luck and money are not what got me here.  It was all hard work and over-the-top determination to never work another job that didn’t inspire or challenge me.

Launching my new branding was such a weight off my shoulders … almost a year of working 24/7 that has already proven to be the hugest return-on-time-investment.  Thank you so much for all the kind words here, on Facebook, on Twitter.  My heart was so overwhelmed and so full.  I couldn’t be happier or more at peace about it.

I have another huge project underway.  It has me tossing and turning at night and wishing sleep was never necessary.  I’ll be around … but a little more silent here for a week or so yet.

Until later…

Ummmm, you have no idea how nervous I am right now.  My hands are totally shaking.  In fact, I’m writing this post at night and not planning to publish it until morning.  I just got off the phone with my friend, Gladys.  I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing.  I think I’m so nervous because I’m already anticipating some of your responses.   I get it.  This is different.  Way different than my old “brand.”  Way different than my generic grayscale brand that couldn’t offend anybody.  You may think this doesn’t seem like me.

But, really, that wasn’t me.  I kept wanting it to be me because it was so dang safe and nobody had a real opinion about it.  I’ve very slowly been grasping the difference between a *brand* with fancy graphical elements … and a *brand experience* — about which I thought long & hard this time.  Before I even touched the design part.  What do I love about life, about being a consumer, about not being a consumer, about the subcultures I choose to be part of?  How can I take those elements and pour them into my own business and brand experience?

I’ve worked on this brand for months & months … keeping in-mind both who I am and who my ideal client is.  I already know that my ideal client gets me and will get this new look.  They are looking at this blog right now and nodding along with me.  They will see my new website and understand the format and why it’s no longer flash-driven or wedding-esque and *pretty.*  It’s scary to alienate the others, but I know that is exactly what I need to do as I move forward.

So if you like what you see, my guess is that we already get each other.  And I like you :)

New print collateral is so fun.  Here are my new DVD inserts (front and back).  If you open them up, my print release is inside.  Clients get these with their image DVDs.  New sleeves for the DVDs are on the way in a couple weeks.

New business cards:

I’m packing my business cards in little clear bags … filled with heart confetti and 1-inch buttons (all unique, based on my mood/interests at the time :)).

And … new postcards!  Excited that I finally have branded correspondence.  Until now I was using generic notecards from completely random stores and desk drawers. Go ahead, give me your address.  I promise to write.

Along with a new look comes a new portfolio website.  It was important to me that my new site not be flash-driven.  I wanted it to look just as good on a 27 inch iMac as it does on the iPad and iPhone.  And nothing drove me more crazy than waiting for my old flash site to load each individual image.

**Updated to add**  It looks like there are still a few kinks with my new site’s servers and sometimes the portfolio link will bring you to my old flash site (you will recognize the old branding, obviously) and other times to my new portfolio site.  Sorry about the confusion … should all be good in less than 72 hours.  Until then, feel free to keep trying.  Lots of people have gotten it to work.  All works here on my iMac, Macbook and iPad :)

Ahhhhhhh…I did it!  A huge thank you to my talented in-house designer and husband, Troy.  I think he did a brilliant job of really listening to what I wanted and executing it so well.

Thank you for being here.  I hope you stay around. xoxo, AM.

Once upon a time I earned a Masters degree in Library & Information Sciences.  During those grueling (ahem, boring) two years I made a friend (whom I had met previously as an undergrad, working at the same library) named Kathy.  A couple years later Kathy saw my photography work on Facebook and left a comment predicting that I’d soon be shooting weddings all the time and simply moonlighting as a librarian.  Fast forward another few months and I’m a fulltime photographer not even working as an academic librarian at all anymore.  Kathy’s friend, Liz, gets engaged and Kathy tells Liz about me.  Less than a year after that I am in Austin, TX shooting Liz’s wedding.  Kathy is a bridesmaid and so is Meagan.  Meagan is the assistant editor at BRAVA magazine.  We all have a great time on the wedding day.

Months later, I get an email from Meagan asking if I’d like to submit some weddings for consideration in BRAVA’s wedding guide.  I submitted Ryann and Tim’s rustic country-vintage wedding and it was chosen to be featured as one of three weddings in the guide!  I was extra-extra excited when my image of Ryann and her vintage bike was chosen for the cover!!  Yay!  Ryann and Tim had an amazing wedding — simply beautiful, creative and so reflective of who they were.  I felt so honored to be chosen to capture it; it will forever be one of my favorites.

To top it all off, BRAVA’s art director, Kristin, has asked me to start shooting fashion and cover stories for them — which is awesome!

And it all goes back to Library School…there is a reason I got that degree after all :)

I’m back from WPPI — the largest photography conference and tradeshow in the world.  And it’s large.  And sometimes overwhelming.  Last year was my first WPPI experience, and I was only 9 months into shooting weddings at the time.  Maybe I went too early … I barely enjoyed myself at the conference at all. Or maybe I just wasn’t taking enough risks yet — to meet the people I admired and to open myself up.

But this year — almost 2 years into shooting weddings — I had an amazing time.  While last year I felt like I was drowning in a sea of photographers who simply intimidated me … this year I felt happy, content, and blessed to share life, dinner, heart-to-hearts and walks around the tradeshow with many now close and talented friends.  I’ve grown so much since last year and I’ve learned that getting out of my comfort zone (if only even a couple times) is what I need to do in order to get to where I want to be.  This year at WPPI I felt surrounded and overwhelmed, yes.  But in a different, better way.  Surrounded by love & encouragement, and overwhelmed by talented & beautiful friends I could have missed-out on if I hadn’t pushed myself.

The best things come on the other side of scary. My friend, Jesh, said these very words (or something really close) during his WPPI presentation.  I feel like that sums up my past year for sure.  I still am far from being as brave as I’d like to be … but at least I can muster the courage to say ‘hello’ to seemingly intimidating people now.  And many of those simple ‘hellos’ have turned into beautiful friendships.  I think it was Jesh who also said that all our best friends were once strangers.  Good point.

A big part of why this year was special is owed to my dear friend who helps me to be more brave, Gladys Jem (thanks for introducing me to the dancing fountains at the Belagio — my new favorite thing!).  We shared a room and countless heart-to-hearts.   One night we sat in an amazing Mexican restaurant, crying over our margaritas about how happy we were, truly living our dreams.  I know it sounds cliche, but it’s still unreal to me.  Absolutely unreal.

I didn’t carry my own camera around (so much walking and all day long), so I relied on other cameras to get a few snapshots.  Below are Smilebooth shots from the Airhorns & Blazers party (with Gladys, Michelle, and Chris) and a couple Instax shots of my new friend Lara Casey and I.

One of my favorite WPPI memories is running into Lara in the hall and her getting this photo.  I was smiling so big that I closed my eyes and she said we should re-take it.  So I was getting ready for the next shot when the following conversation happened:

Lara:  Let’s take an eyes-closed photo.

Me:  Okay. Really? (already closing eyes).

Lara:  No. (laughing).

Clearly, some parts of WPPI will always be a little overwhelming for me ;)

To all my new friends … I love you!  xoxo, AM.

I think it’s awesome … working in a profession where many of my clients become friends.  I shot Ryann’s amazing barn wedding last year and this week we did some solo shots of her all dolled-up in cute dresses.  This winter I have been especially working on indoor lighting and shooting.  Using reflectors and window light — or strobes/constant artificial lighting when necessary.  I’m learning a ton and finding that window light is one of my favorite things ever (as long as the window is facing the right direction).

Here are a few from our mini shoot.  Thanks for a fun morning, Ryann!  And for the mimosa, of course :)

Shot with the 35L, 50L, and 85 1.8 (thanks for all the tips on the 85L; I decided to pass on the seemingly frivolous upgrade :))  Besides, I firmly believe that it’s the vision … not the gear.