Wedding: Tim and Laura

Old 27 Tour

Blake Siefka, 7, of St. Louis writes the name of his favorite cars in his journal Thursday afternoon during the annual Old 27 Tour which stopped in St. Louis. "I'm writing the names of all the cars in my new journal I got today. It has my favorite band AC/DC on the cover," Siefka said.

This kid was awesome, I'm mean he is seven and an AC/DC fan.

I've been swamped with freelance work, creating a business plan, weddings, logo design, helping my girlfriend move back to college and every other lame excuse for not updating my blog.

Expect some real updates soon and maybe even a few other surprises.

Pete and Chelsea

Every wedding is different and each is it's own adventure.

On our car ride to where the bride and groom were getting ready Dan told me about Pete and Chelsea. More specifically we talked about how rainy it was on their engagement shoot. As we approached our destination it only became darker, cloudier and rainier.

After meeting both Pete and Chelsea I knew the weather wasn't going to be a concern. You see Pete and Chelsea have something special. They weren't concerned about the little things or the details. Today they were getting married and nothing was going to stop them.

Just for Fun

Every so often I take the back roads to visit my mom. I always past this small barn on the corner of a 4-way stop and I've always wanted to stop. Usually there is never anyone with me, but this time I had Ashley and I convinced her to stop with me.

We spent probably about 15 or 20 minutes playing around and took a few pictures.

Breakfast on the Farm

There is so much to say about those photos of above and I don't know where to start.

So I'll just say it was a drizzly overcast day that turned out to be one of my favorite assignments from the year.

Makes me want to start a farm family story.

Cheshire Cat

One of the things I missed about living at home is having pets. My mom and her boyfriend left to visit his family in Cleveland. I became the master of the cats. Actually I was their slave. They meowed I let them out. They scratched, I let them in and they ran to the food dish. They meowed more making sure I knew their dish was empty. Then they fought and I had to separate them.

Then I realized why I don't own pets. They are just to much work.

I made a new friend though. Her name is Tigger, she was the one being picked on at the food dish.

I found her in my room and she was too cute not to take a photo of. One problem. I was spotted.

So I did what any journalist would do, I sat and waited.

Animals are like children, keep the camera in their face long enough and they forget you're there. Which brings me to my next blog post where I was licked to death by a baby calve. Stay tuned.

Bob and Nikki Paschall

I made my usual weekend trip to Traverse City to work for Dan Stewart Photography to shoot the wedding of Bob and Nikki Paschall.

My wedding day journey typically starts with me waking up at 8 a.m. and being on the road for my two and half hour journey north. I should also mention that I usually don't sleep the night before because of nerves. I often toss and turn dreaming of malfunctioning cameras, bridezillas, rain, or not waking up on time. Yikes!

My biggest fear though is meeting the couple. Dan meets with all of his clients before hand and being the intern who doesn't live remotely close to Dan I don't have that luxury.

Why is this such a fear?

Because you can't make happy pictures of people who aren't happy. Well you sort of can but it's essential like asking a chemist to make COKE without sugar. It's just not as good.

Back to the story.

Dan and I arrive at the Park Place Hotel where the girls are getting ready and also where the reception is being held. As Dan introduces me to Nikki I extend my handout for a formal greeting and denies my request, but insists she is a hugs person instead.

Right away from her smile and enthusiasm I new this wedding was going to be a breeze.

The nerves settled and the wedding went on.