The OFF Season

I've neglected my blog.  I've neglected many things, but I learned a long time ago that writing is good for the soul, and I told myself that I would write a little bit every day.  Well, I failed at that.



Wedding photographers usually don't do much business during the "Off Season".  From mid November to about the end of February, there just aren't a lot of brides getting hitched.  So what does a photographer do when it's too cold to take a camera outside?  The obvious answer would be to take pictures inside.  My family has learned to run whenever they see me with my camera.  Even my dog acts like she doesn't want her picture taken.  I get it.

So what have I been doing?  Working on my computer.  I had a RAM SIMM strip go bad, and had to replace it.  It's not crashing anymore.  Judi and I got married.  It was a very private ceremony.  She and I have both been married before, so we didn't need or want a big ceremony. And no, I don't think it's ironic that a wedding photographer got married without anyone taking pictures.

I've been shopping for a new camera.  I don't really *need* a new one, it's just a want.  I've been looking at the D3s.  It's not the newest or the greatest.  It's actually 4 year old technology.  But it's the favorite camera among wedding photographers.  I keep thinking that since the D600 and D800 came out, the price of the D3s would go down, but so far, not much.

I've been playing my bass guitar.  Before Judi and I got together, I wanted to teach myself how to play the bass, so I would spend a few hours every night learning with my Hal Leonard book.  So after two or so years, I plugged it in... and had to start over at page one.  It's not like riding a bicycle... I've forgotten just about everything I'd learned.

I upgraded my Photoshop and Lightroom software to the new "Creative Cloud" version.  That's Adobe's latest idea to make more money, so their software is now on a subscription basis.  I don't like it, but I depend on PS and LR to do what I do, and I didn't want to be stuck on an old version.

I've been playing in Photoshop, and experimenting with new techniques and styles.  I have a wedding coming up on Feb. 8, and I've been trying some new stuff with one of their engagement pictures:

I've also been creating some new templates for Save the Date cards.