We’re up north, participating in and photographing one of our best friends in the worlds wedding!� I’m leaving in just a bit to capture the Bride getting ready and then my husband and son who are the Best Man and Ring Bearer respectively.� I’m so happy for our friend Sean and his wonderful bride Danielle!

We’ve been up here for three days preparing and being with their families, my emails are a bit behind!� I’ll get back to everyone soon.� Hope you all enjoy the weekend!

About two weeks before Michael Jackson died I was driving to a shoot and I set my pandora radio in the car to Michael Jackson.� I hadn’t thought of him or his music really for ten years and had been surprised when at one of my last tattoo sessions Thriller came on the speakers.� We listened as Jeff worked on my back and after two songs I said, surprised “Wow he really was very good wasn’t he?”� So there that is probably the first time I’d thought of Michael Jackson other then as a blip on the news regarding something crazy.

Honestly I don’t think up until that moment I’d thought of him as a musician for a long time.

I would suppose I’m not the only one.

So I am seeing that the whole world now has done what I did tuning to Michael Jackson radio on my iphone and remembering that oh my, he was amazing.

I saw this post of all places on pdiddy’s twitter -� why did I go over there I’m not sure but he’s right:

I guess for who knows how many years we forgot about what we loved about Michael Jackson.� I did, I forgot that I sat up, letting the kids I was babysitting for stay up late on a hot summer evening to watch the Thriller video, and that as it played I called my mom at home and we talked about it, making sure that we watched it every hour on the hour for the next day…

I don’t think cryogenic rumors and bones really were more interesting then the music.� And looking back on the trial and the craziness I don’t know.

But I think whether we are talking about Michael Jackson, or a friend, or a non-friend, or anyone, Mr Combs advice seems about right to me, and personally I would like to be sure that I apply that to the living while they are here, as well as to those who have left us.

My Bean doesn’t know a thing about elephant man bones or balconies but every once in a while I see him practicing the zombie moves from Thriller and humming different songs, Ares is in it for the music and that suits me fine.

“I don’t know why I like this but I just do.”

You know what, when I hear someone say this from flickr to facebook I wonder what does that mean.� Are they saying it because they really aren’t sure why they like it, or are they saying it because they feel they can’t say they like it because maybe it isn’t up to some standard they think it should be.� They are worried about being judged..

I don’t think there is any kind of cold hard set list of rules that make an amazing image.� There are some good guidelines to follow or learn as you are starting out perhaps, maybe, but art is about creation and creation by definition implies attempting to break the rules…

It also gets me when someone shares their work and apologizes for something that they think ‘should’ be a flaw.� Light flare (love it), motion blur (moves people), focus shift (different is quite often nice).� I think that this is another version of the above statement but this person has bought into the “only one way is right” school of thought.� When I hear this I always think of this one of my favorite quotes:

“Every time someone tells me how sharp my photos are, I assume that it isn’t a very interesting photograph.� If it were, they would have more to say. ”

I am asked what it is about my photographs that make them what they are, what makes them special.� What am I doing to get what I get.� I can’t say exactly.� I sometimes take offense when someone says “Well of course that picture is amazing you shoot with x, y or z.” � Robert Doisneau said “If I knew how to take a good photograph, I’d do it every time.”� But I can say that while I technically know my camera inside and out.� I can shoot in noon sun and I can shoot after dark, I can take a technically great image with a cheap plastic toy camera and a 5k dslr.� I can use natural or artificial light with the same confidence.� I am very rarely concerned about capturing something beautifully and well because of the CONDITIONS..� The technical side of an image will never make anyone’s soul sing.� If all you are focusing on is making the exposure perfect and the image sharp you are missing the point entirely.

I believe a photograph that fulfills its purpose does steal a little of someones soul, it lays bare the real person from underneath the mask we all try to wear all the time, it is a wisp of a moment, the hint of love, anticipation, fear, hilarity, magnetism� – it carries with it more then can be described in words and oftentimes shows what can only be felt.

It isn’t f stop or shutter speed or focus that does that, it is the heart behind the machine that does that.

And let me tell you another secret.� While we are unique creatures if you love it, someone else does.� And if you do not love it why are you shooting it at all?

It’s the busiest time of the year and this year is twice as busy as last year, and next year is looking to be twice as busy as this year and I’m sorting and processing and yes even getting to shoot in between but oh there is a lot of stuff going on and then I open a folder from Penny and Matt’s wedding and everything stops and there is Sean and I and we were waiting for everyone to arrive and here we are and well, you know, everything I do I do because for me, cliche and simple though it may be I love it.

All the photos up there are taken and processed on my iphone… I’ve been attempting an iphone photo of the day for a few months and only recently started getting into the groove of it.� The biggest thing that was holding me back has been I’m scared to take a bad photo… seriously, I don’t pull out my iphone to snap something because um yea I think it might not be good, I might make a “mistake”, I may not be snapping something that could grace the walls of MoMa… um, what an ego huh?� I’m slowly snapping out of it, taking more and more and I may get a mini blog that features them.. I’d LOVE to do a photo a day project with my “real” camera but right now there isn’t time and so I’m using the iphone frame a day to work on getting over being scared of well, trying new stuff.. It’s working :)

The photo in the lower left corner of my sister with flower eyes is something I saw my friend Hailey do.. I’ve been dying to try it, she brings a whimsy to her work that always makes me smile and makes my heart skip.� I’m letting my inspiration take me a bit and it’s a good thing, we all feed each other and that is just as it should be.

I used to be scared to take pictures of the clouds, I wanted to but I thought they were too ordinary, I got over it by taking cloud photos, a lot of them, one day I just shot and shot and shot the sky.� Whenever I feel like I shouldn’t or couldn’t do something, I try to make myself jump off the ledge a bit… taking photos of clouds is silly to be scared of but our fears aren’t rational..

What have you have always wanted to try, taking pictures of flowers, taking photos that are “dark” not “happy”, taking nudes.� Do it, start in your back yard, let your imagination go wild, take a photo of your naked foot :)� it’s a start.