Carrie + Greg: Married!

In April, we got the pleasure of witnessing + documenting the lovely wedding of Carrie & Greg in Bloomington, IN. This wedding was very special to us because we photographed Carrie and Greg's first dance as a couple back at her sister Laurie's wedding. Ayron and I both noticed that Laurie & Garrett's officiant was asking her to dance. Or as we said, "Hey, the preacher is asking the maid of honor to dance!" Well, now almost two years later, it was an honor and joy to get to photograph these two on their beautiful day. 

Carrie was gorgeous, and Greg beamed all day long. These two have spent so much of their relationship long distance, and to see them together is pure joy.

Carrie + Greg, we are excited to see what God does with your lives together. He has great things in store! We are so grateful for you.

Without further ado, here are some of our favorites:

 

For a full slideshow of their day, click here. 

G R O W: Spring Garden 2014

This will be my third year of starting my own plants from seed and my fifth year of gardening on my own (in other words, not at my parent's farm). While I did three trays of 50 last year, I only did two this year. It only took me about an hour and I planted 2-3 seeds per peat pot (because like my Dad, I always feel like more is better). This year, I started tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and some herbs, while last year I started flowers too.

Last year, my garden was not a huge success. I don't have a lot of sunlight in my backyard (three mature maple trees), I battled squirrels stealing all of my tomatoes, and my leaf crops did poorly. My cucumbers, herbs, and peppers did great!

This year, I added lots of bags of topsoil and peat and made garden beds that are very slightly raised. This has made the soil much easier to work with, and as a result my garden looks twice as healthy as last year!

My spring garden this year also included forcing some bulbs indoors during the months of March & April. This looked easy on Pinterest, but in reality was not easy. Keeping the bulbs with enough water so they didn't die but not so much that they rotted was somewhat difficult. If I do this again, I might go the cheater's route, and buy already blooming tulips and rinse the dirt off of them....we'll see! Next year I will experiment again.

 

I've also spent some time discovering some plants I didn't notice at our house last year. Since this is only our second year in this house, some things that didn't come up last spring are making an appearance. These never bloomed...I'm wondering if they're tiger lilies or some other kind of summer lily?  Please excuse the leaves...I didn't quite get around to cleaning up our huge back yard last fall.

 

I planted my first square a little earlier than last year, on April  15. It was 40 degrees and chilly that day! In this square, I planted lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, beets, radishes, pok choi, and brussels sprouts.

 In just over a week they were coming up strong! (These are radishes.)

The columbine I transplanted from my parent's backyard in Iowa came back beautifully and much larger than last year. Columbine is an easy to grow shade lover if you have lots of backyard shade like me! I started this plant from seed in 2007 and it was fun to get to transplant it to my KC garden. I love it when plants have a history.

I also transplanted some rhubarb from my parent's backyard. It came back twice as large this year and very healthy! I made one crisp from it...but my Mom warned me that you aren't supposed to cut it the first year after a transplant. Dang! I had visions of rhubarb-infused cocktails and pies.

After my tomatoes and peppers get large enough, I split them and transplant them into dixie cups with holes drilled in the bottom. It's a little ghetto, but it's inexpensive and it works! I've been reusing these cups since 2007, too. I really only have space for a few plants at my house, but somehow I ended up with 50+ tomato plants! Good thing I have friends and family willing to take them off my hands.

In all, I planted 2 4x8 and 2 8x8 squares this year with tons of veggies! I am hoping things turn out better than last year.

You are your product

 Just a few days ago, I was exchanging text messages with my good friend Shareese, who is an opera singer working at the Princeton Festival this summer. Those of you who know her will agree that Shareese is one of the most inspiring people you'll ever have the pleasure of coming across! :) She mentioned that she wants to head to KC to do some promotional photographs that fit into her business model for herself as an artist (Music to my ears! I love it when artists view themselves as a business!). We started conversing back and forth about how important it is for singers to market themselves and to not just float around and expect success to find them.

Which brings me to something I've been wanting to write for a long time:

Why invest in headshots and promotional photography?

 1. We live in an image-driven world. 
Professional and unique images that radiate genuine emotion will always draw those looking to hire an artist first. These people are looking at your photos through the same lens that the public uses when they decide what entertainment, products, and services to consume, and your employers want them to want what you have to offer. Look at the promotional photography for some of the most successful artists and brands out there--it is more attractive, more positive, more captivating, more moving than those who are less successful.

2. It is your first impression on anyone you encounter who does not know you. 
Potential directors, colleagues, coaches, conductors, and employers of all kinds will have two basic places to gauge who you are and what you have to offer when they open your audition packets or websites: your resume and your photographs. Give them a reason to do a double-take, not to question whether you are a serious artist. Why spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on application fees if your application will not make you stand out enough to get an audition?

3. It is an example of how much you are willing to invest in yourself as an artist. 
 If your headshot is of poor quality or it doesn't represent you well, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. If you are representing yourself with outdated, low quality, or simply bad photographs, it reflects directly on the amount of effort you're willing to put into yourself to become a success. What do you want to say to potential colleagues and employers?

4. This is a business, and you are your product. Build your brand.
We live in a world driven by storytelling. The best brands out there all have stories to tell - and so do the best artists. This is a place where ability isn't enough on its own--it must be combined with hard work, a clearly defined sense of self, savvy networking, and understanding exactly what you have to offer that others may not. This is a business, and your success is related directly to the way you market yourself. Who are you? What do you have to say that is different from the thousands of others who are in your place or waiting to take it?

I have to ask myself these questions regarding my own business every single day. It is tempting to cut corners and spend little to no money on temporary fixes that will 'get us by' until we can get past the block that's keeping us in investing in them in the first place. But, time reveals that our unwillingness to adjust our priorities and invest in what is really important will become the block that keeps us from the success and identity that will give us the freedom we seek in the first place.

Are you holding back on investing in your business or yourself? Have you overcome your block in investing in yourself and have advice for others?

Happy Wednesday, lovelies. Thanks for reading and a HUGE shout out to all of my amazing clients who have taken the journey with me into finding out just how compelling and beautiful they can be.