The Justice of the Peace asked us if we had rings. Umm…no, those things are so over-rated! Right and it wasn’t like we were engaged! So no, no rings. Okay, you can still get married he said. Do you have family or witnesses here. Umm yeah, we kind of haven’t mentioned this to our families. His last question and the one I really, REALLY, wish we could have said yes to.

“Do you have a camera so we can get a picture.”

Camera? Yeah, left that back at the barracks. So ring less, witness-less, and camera-less  we said “I do” before rushing back to work.

After living in Germany for a year and a half we visited the states where my Mom, who is an incredible and giving person, surprised us with wedding pictures. She had a tux rented for Dustin and a dress, veil, and bouquet for me. We went to a local portrait studio and got this…

I refuse to get all sappy and wax poetics about what a marvelous and extraordinary man my husband is. I won’t mention, how being married to him has made me a far better person. How everyday he encourages me, cares for me and loves me. I won’t mention that because that would seem so uncomfortably out of character and he may worry about my mental health.

We talked last night about our wedding day, If we could do things differently would we have?  We agreed, that Yes, we would have. We would have brought my camera and got a picture of us dressed in our BDU’s, my hair pulled back in a tight regulation approved bun. Dustin looking so nervous and pale that I thought he might pass out. Not sure if we should kiss because we were in uniform. We would have gotten a picture of that so that we could look back and laugh at how crazy-in-love, foolish and desperate  we were to stay together.

Twelve years later and I am still pretty crazy, foolish and desperate to be with him but we wont mention that.

Even if I have no point.

Children certainly have me juggling priorities but reading has managed to stay, firmly planted in my life. I mean not reading is like… I don’t know… not eating, or even more overly-dramatic, NOT BREATHING!! I simply can not do it! That being said I still read. A lot. I think I’m rubbing off, though.  Gavin and Adalay seem to be heading down the same path. Even Dustin has come around to sticking his nose (or ears) in a good book.

Yesterday, the Amazon-fairy left these on my doorstep and I am very much excited for you to meet them…

Mocking Jay is the third and final book in The Hunger Games trilogy. If you like a story full of break-neck action and suspense, then these are the books for you. Who cares about Edward and Jacob?! What I want to know is who will Katniss choose, Peeta or Gale? Sure Gale is the obvious choice, but Peeta, what about poor PEETA!! I have a feeling I will know the answer within the next 48 hours, because Im pretty sure I will have the book finished by then!

A friend of mine forced me to read The Hunger Games and after becoming enaormed with them, I feel like I need to return the favor to her. SO I ordered one of my favorite fiction books of ALL time, Life Epectancy by Dean Koontz for her to borrow. I even ordered it in paperback (against Dustin’s wishes, he has this weird thing for hardbacks) so that I could highlight important segments. I have this serious issue with highlighting in hardbacks. It just seems wrong. If you have not been introduced to the life of Jimmy Tock then use the nearest car, bike or trapeze to get it. Seriously, if you don’t like it, you’re just weird.

I recently completed an exhausting personality test that labeled me as a loyalist. This is not too surprising to me. I think this is one of the reasons why you will see me blogging on the same people, websites, blogs. Once I find some one I like, I stick with them as long as they will have me, sometimes longer. I blogged about David duChemin before and was lucky enough to watch his live workshop through Creative Live several weeks ago. Amazing guy willing to share everything he knows about the art and practice of photography. I was especially excited about his third book Vision and Voice: refining your vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Now when it comes to post-processing, I am a Lightroom girl. Photoshop is great for when I want to do something special with one or two photos but I don’t consider it convenient or as easy to use as Lightroom. Lightroom has changed my (photography) life. and so I can’t wait to see how duChemin illustrates using this awesome editing tool.

Now of course I have to mention my sewing books! Every week or two I get a coupon in the mail from JoAnn’s our local fabric store and I almost always use that coupon to purchase a new book from their selectopn.  At 40-50% off, I can’t even beat that by scouring the internet. I have had my eye on Martha Stewarts Encyclopedia of Sewing and fabric crafts for quite awhile and I made that jump after seeing it blogged about. I also picked up Sewing Clothes Kids Love because I am somewhat delusional and think I can actually sew something like this.

Yes this post was longer then I planned but what can I say I am serious about books. Now I am going to sit down with Katniss and figure out this whole Peeta/Gale mess.

Now several days ago I posted that I went to GR to attend Amy Wenzel’s Photography workshop. Which is technically true but the major and deciding factor in flying to Michigan was that we would get a chance to see our good friends who just happened to live minutes away from the workshop location. Win, win…win!

We had such a awesome time with Steven and Amie Jo and they have left such a hole in our lives by moving so far away. A funny, make us laugh friend shaped hole to say the least.

We went out one night, just us adults, to a super cool restaurant and as we walked form the car to the restaurant we had an impromptu mini-shoot.

Amie Jo is beautiful, Steven is, ehhh, not bad.

At some point I thought they should have a serious pose. Why I thought this I am not really sure. They are not serious people and forcing them into seriousness was unnatural and no fun for anyone. Don’t they look miserable…

Like a second later. One of the reasons we love these guys so much!

We ended up eating at Sanchez a Tapas Bistro, which I loved! I had never had tapas, which are small plates and I loved that I could try and share half the menu and not be forced into making a decision. I do so hate decisions. Too bad it was so dark inside or I would have documented all our food for you to enjoy.

Amie Jo and Steven we do so love you! Thanks for introducing us to Tapas and for making us leave Grand Rapids with a major city-crush. Let’s get together again!

p.s. Dustin says to tell you “You’re the best ever.”

On one of the days we were treated to watching Amy photograph  and lead us through one of her sessions. It is always very interesting and educational for me to watch how other photographers handle a photo shoot and Amy was no exemption to this. Here are some of my captures from the day…

Now the models were awesome and it was great to watch a talented photographer like Amy work her mojo. All that being said I am not in love with these pictures because they look too much like pictures taken at a photography workshop. Of course they are pictures taken at a photography workshop and maybe I am the only one who can tell but it bugs me all the same.

The models were all cute and gorgeous (as it was appropriate).

The senior girls were working it big time.

So yes, If you are looking to grow in leaps and bounds then take a workshop!  Amy’s workshop would be a great fit for those new to the business and/or looking to enhance their skills fashion-style senior photography and children.

Since I have nothing spectacular to blog here is a recent picture of Ada and Dustin when I dragged the entire family out for several hours of hard-core location scouting. Amarillo has a lot to offer! I am so excited for my next sessions and can’t wait to find some willing clients to trek out to my new favorite locations.

I may or may not have hounded Kristen since early spring about this session. I admit, I wanted it to happen. Bad. I am so glad we finally had a day that worked for all involved and I just loved working with Kristen!  She was a bit nervous about her performance for the shoot, which I thought was sweet and funny. Funny because umm, look at her, I really wasn’t worried about if she would be photogenic or not. Kristen is a personal trainer and fitness instructor at Zachs Club 54, which is a great gym here in Amarillo. I love taking her classes and having my booty smoked by her during training. If you are in need of a personal trainer I would highly recommend her! I could go on about what a great job she did, or I could just let you see for yourself…

Now I have a confession to make about this session that I am quite ashamed of. I really didn’t treat my sweet husband that well. I gave him no opportunity to shoot for himself and I basically ignored him except to ask him to run back and grab my flash, or bag, or batteries, or whatever-you get the idea. I love having him on sessions with me so you think I would make the extra effort to be especially kind to him to make sure he comes back. Alas, in this case I failed. Big time. And I feel terrible and he has heard my apologies several times. Maybe he thrives with no wife hanging over his shoulder and checking his exposures because the few images that he did take were his best yet.

The next set is an ode to my Husband who rocks. I love seeing images through his lens…

I title this next picture group of images “My inability to make decisions collage”. I liked them all, don’t make me choose!

She is ge-ORGEOUS!

We put a little friendly pressure to go ahead and walk through the little alien life forms, snails perhaps?

This next image was taken with my lumopro 120 flash held by my husband, who sometimes doubles as a walking light-stand (which I appreciate, of course!). I thought it turned out kind of mysterious and cool…

Sooo just maybe Kristen was being poked by a evil sticker at this point and maybe I did not help as quickly as I should have but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make!

My PFF (photographer friend forever-duh!) Karyn, drove all the way up from Sweetwater to partake in the picture taking fun. It was great having her there with us to share her knowledge and expertise. Plus she let me let plug into her Alien Bees flash, which I LOVED! These images are sooc (straight-out-of-camera), so cool!

For those interested in the technical specs of an image. This next shot was taken 5 minutes before the  two above at an ISO of  8oo and no flash with my Canon 5D Mark II. It was minutes from 9pm and we had very little light left. I love my camera *happy sigh*

Big thanks to everyone who helped out for this shot, especially to Star (and Brenna) for coming to the rescue at this last minute with the kiddos and to Lesa who was so gracious to offer and show me around the amazing property .  I can not wait to do this again! If you are wanting images in the Palo Duro Canyon get in touch because I would love to go back!

Apparently I was really into geometric shapes that day.

Bailey I had such a blast with you! You are gorgeous inside and out. I will be calling you to watch my kiddos soon!

What is a senior rep you ask?

Senior reps are fun and out-going students from Amarillo, Canyon, and surrounding schools who receive a ton of perks including (but not limited too) a complimentary session, rep cards, gift cards, print and product credits in exchange for telling everyone about your uber-awesome experience with The Salted Image. The more students you refer to me, the more free stuff you can get! It is as easy as that!

So how do you qualify?
-You need to be a class of 2011 Senior
-Attend any area public, private or home school.
-Schedule your shoot for a date before September 1st.

Interested? Then fill out the following information and email me at leah@thesaltedimage.com to find out more.

-Name
-School
-Extracurricular activities
-Facebook/Myspace
-Any other information about yourself (interests,music, movies, hobbies, etc)

*Not a senior, but know someone who is? Please feel free to forward them this blog entry and encourage them to submit!*

Here is a sneak peek from Bailey’s (my first rep!) session…

Bailey, more pics to come soon I promise!!

Several weeks later I threw our high-chair cover in the wash and  it ripped. Maybe the tag that said not to machine wash actually knew what it was talking about, go figure. Anyway, I can’t claim this upset me  because it was boring, plain, and the color of putty.  Plus, this was the  the perfect chance to bring my neglected oilcloth out of hiding.

After weeks and I do mean WEEKS (professional seamstress I am not) it became this…

I still have over half a yard left. Any ideas?