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- Oy. What a week.
I’m tempted to just leave it at that – a 4-word Abby Saturday post.
How would that go over?
Who is out there reading my Abby Saturdays?
Raise your hands – okay, I see you hiding in the back (it’s mostly my Mom & sisters, but that’s okay). - Let’s start at the beginning (the very best place to start). I book a handful of family portrait sessions at Deep Creek Lake (where my family has a lakehouse, I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about it) every summer. It’s basically an excuse to spend some extended time at the Lake, but shhhh don’t tell anyone. Vacationing families are always a lot of fun to work with – everyone is on vacation, so they’re happy to have their photos taken. Plus, we’re in one of the most beautiful, relaxing places in the world – so it’s fun.
The tricky part of taking portraits of vacationing families (while I myself am from out of town) is that, if the weather doesn’t cooperate, we have a very limited window of rescheduling. So, I watch the weather like a nutcase & attempt to make the best plans.
I talked to my sweet portrait session family on Sunday & we decided that 4:30pm looked to be the best time for us to get together the next day. There was a chance of rain almost all day on Monday, so even though I would prefer to shoot later in the evening in the summer (6:30pm would be more ideal), it’s better to be dry than hold out hope for that golden light. So, we made our plans.
Monday rolled in – and it was beautiful all morning, until about 2pm when it started to get really dark & windy. I checked the weather & sure enough, a storm was on it’s way in – a storm that was forecast to bring strong winds & possible hail & maybe tornado-conditions: awesome-sauce. It looked like it would be over by 4pm though, and we’d then have a window of dry weather before another big storm looked like it would roll in. Since we were planning for a 4:30pm start time, I told my portrait session family that we were still going to go for it!
And thankfully, they trusted me, and we did! At 3pm, it was dark as night – thunder & lightning & downpouring rain – but by 4pm, the rain was gone & the sun started to peek back out! We had a glorious 90 minutes of perfect weather – not too hot, not too muggy, a slight breeze, & the sun even came out for a bit – all just in time for portraits! And, by the time we were finishing up, the clouds were rolling back in & the rain came back about 20 minutes after I got back to the lakehouse. It was literally crazy, but perfect. - We considered staying at the Lake another day after my portrait session (and by “we”, I mean my Mom, sister, the kids & I), but ultimately we decided to come home on Tuesday afternoon. And I’m so thankful we did.
Tuesday afternoon, we got the call that Derrick’s Grandfather had passed away. I’m so thankful that the kids & I were home to meet Derrick at the door as he came in from work. It’s been just 3 months since Derrick’s other Grandfather passed away, so it’s been quite “heavy” for all of us.
We are traveling this weekend to be with the Abbey family & celebrate the life of Derrick’s Grandpa. - Needless to say: I have been working long hours to get myself caught up with work-stuff. Get this: in the last 4 weeks (that’s the last 28 days), we have only been home 10 days (and one of those days, I photographed a wedding all day, so does that even count?) Insanity. Fun! But whew. Thankfully, my business is very flexible & I can do so much of it from anywhere. But, let’s be honest: editing thousands of photos on a 15″ laptop just does not compare to editing thousands of photos on my 27″ desktop in my office.
Speaking of editing: I decided it was finally time to bite the bullet and learn how to edit in Lightroom (cue an audible gasp from the audience). I bought a course over Memorial Day that walks you thru Lightroom, how it works, and how to make it work best for you. If you’re into technical stuff: up until this point, I have edited all of my images in Adobe Camera Raw & Photoshop. It’s what I learned in college (Lightroom wasn’t out yet, wow I’m so old) so that’s just what I’ve stuck with! I knew it was time to switch though, and after my sister bought the same course & went thru it & just raved about how amazing it is – I decided that it was time.
It’s definitely been a bit of a learning curve, but I think I’m finally to the point where I’m starting to get it. And I’m seeing the benefits of it. Give me a few more sessions to edit thru it, and I think I’ll be able to edit even faster than I could in ACR & Photoshop (and I was pretty fast in those two programs).
It’s just been really reassuring to watch an educational course about editing & realize – hey, I actually kind of know what I’m doing! What I mean is: so much of the “back-end” of my photography business has been self-taught – lots of trial & error. And, over the last 10+ years, I’ve developed quite the solid system for myself. And it’s just a really great confidence-booster to have someone walk thru how to edit a photo & to realize: I’m doing it “right”. I have the right concepts down. Now I just need to apply those same concepts to this “new” program & then I’ll be better than ever. - Leander cannot say: “popscicles”, it comes out “pop-shorties” or sometimes just “shorties”. It’s hilarious.
- Did you buy anything good on Amazon Prime Days this week? I didn’t buy much, but I did grab a few things: blue light glasses, this face stuff, popper fidget toys, more of our favorite kids cups, and 2 solid state harddrives.
