398

So how does it happen that I don't read the blogs that I follow for a couple of days and now I have 398 to go through?? If you need me, I'll be at my computer for the next few hours. :)

Kasey's First Blog Post!

What do we crazy photographers do when we aren't shooting weddings???

We take pictures of everything else silly! Once you have the photography bug, you can't make it go away. (Why would you want it to anyway? lol) So the last couple of weeks I have been able to get some great shots just around our house. Who would have imagined it? I first got excited when I started to get out of work and it was still light out. Sunset shots!

Then when little purple flowers began to sprout up, I thought to myself, Spring is finally here!!

Who cares if the flowers are growing right in the middle of our front lawn...It makes for good pics! Besides, it gives the neighbors something to talk about when they see me all crouched down in the front yard with my camera!

Now I really started to get excited when Jeremy (my hubby) spotted a bunny in the backyard. So I quickly grabbed the camera so I could try to get a shot of the bunny just in time for Easter! I quietly opened the door and tiptoed onto the deck. I snapped a couple of photos and the bunny stayed still. I then decided to take a couple of steps closer and sit on the stairs and I got yet another couple of pictures. The bunny didn't move.

So this is when I started to look stupid to the neighbors....I got down in the grass and was doing an army style crawl (you know when you are flat on your stomach and using your arms and elbows to slither across the grass) to get closer to this brave little bunny. I would crawl forward one foot, take a pic, crawl another foot, take a pic, crawl one more foot and bam! The bunny just took off!! My opportunity was over. Don't worry though, I would get another shot to photograph nature...

It was Saturday morning and Jeremy and I were on our way out to run some errands and I spotted this little bird in our front bushes but I was in a rush so there was no time to grab the camera. We got back about an hour or so later and the bird was still there. How exciting! So guess what I did, I had Jeremy stand guard and I went in for my camera. I came outside and started to get a couple of pics and the bird didn't fly away!

So I decided to get a little closer, and closer, and closer. I thought, "wow, this bird must like me because it's not moving!" Jeremy began to get curious and grabbed a stick and poked the bird. It didn't move. What a fun killer! The bird was indeed dead! It didn't stop me from taking pics though...who would know it was dead when they looked at the pics? LOL!

Val - Thanks for having me on the team! Always remember to keep smiling!

-Kasey :)

At the Mohegan Sun - Wedding Photography

The Mohegan Sun for a wedding? Yes!! A very intimate affair with just the Bride and Groom, me and the JP. I can't put their names here yet because they haven't told their families they got married! Oh, I should say we weren't alone, there were about a million other people there who decided to head out to the casino Saturday night!! It was absolutely the craziest I've ever seen that place!

I gave myself an hour to get there and check it out and to meet them, we hadn't even talked on the phone! And even though it only takes me about 15 minutes for the drive to the Casino, I was lucky to get there at all. As soon as I took the exit and the cars were lined up, I started to wonder what was going on.

Then I started seeing the signs... Valet Closed. Parking Garage Closed. Uh oh. I headed out to the Winter entrance where I usually park...Closed. I mean CLOSED, torn up and fenced off closed. Uh oh. After circling around, I decided the best and only way to get there was the shuttle bus, along with those million other people, of course. When I got on the bus, the driver tells me that no way are they going to let me in with the gear bag I had. Really? Huh? Didn't figure on that!! So he said to go to the hotel, and then cross over, etc, etc, etc. ....yeah, right... like I have time for that...did I mention it's almost 7 and the wedding is supposed to be taking place like...NOW??

Hmmmmm... now what? I went back to my car, dumped everything out of my purse and loaded George (yeah, I name my camera!) and a flash and my license and barely zipped it up and headed back to the Shuttle bus station... and waited while 2 buses full of people go by!! Agh!! My turn!! Yay! And where does this bus go? Some 'who knows where' place somewhere in the casino...sheesh!! I get there, get out, and try to find where the heck the bar is from where I am and, I'll tell ya, it wasn't around the corner! lol

Finally found the bar, the staff there was great...met my couple and a few of their newfound friends that stayed for the wedding. The JP still wasn't there (same problem) but everything was cool. Whew!!

I have to say it was so much fun regardless of the craziness and it made me think that there certainly wasn't a recession that night!

So here's a little preview shot... I love secret weddings!! :)

What not to do with a $45,000 car!

Under this pile of snow is was a really nice BMW convertible, want to bet he's hating winter right about now? BTW, he parked it there on purpose before the storm.

Superbowl, oh yeah!!

So... did you happen to catch that game last night? :)

~ Valeen Thivierge

4 going on 14!

I'll post the series of shots I did with Katelyn working her new sunglasses with some attitude later this week, but gotta love those baby blues!!

I love this shot and love my D-3! Right out of the camera! :) Yeah!!

~Valeen Thivierge

Monday, Monday!

Okay, I'm not a Monday hater. How can I be? For me it's a chance for a new start to a new week, and heck, I don't work a 9-5 M-F so that makes a difference. And yes, I'm an optimist. Oh well. I tried to be a pessimist, how depressing!!! I tried to be a realist, but I like my rose colored glasses too much, so there!! :)

Today I realize I read way too many blogs, so I'm deleting some that aren't fun, or interesting or informative. Or in some cases, there's this one...that has just way too much information. I could read it all day and still not be caught up. So that one's going too. Simplify!! Yeah!! That's it!

And I realize too that I'm just not that big a fan of video on blogs. I wasn't sure why, but now I know. They take too long. I'm a super fast reader (thanks to a speed reading class in 3rd grade, not kidding!) I can read a novel in a day and I just don't have the time to sit watch the video. So I don't feel bad about it anymore. But I know that they can be really good, I'm going to try to watch a few more, if they are interesting and I just might be posting more too since I got one of those little pocket size digital video recorders. We'll see. Confused yet?

Okay,so I was watching this one and found it funny because just today I read that some group wants to ban all cell phones in cars, even hands-free. Hmmmmm... so here's the video from [b]ecker. And here's some other things they should ban, as they are just as distracting, right?

***And before anyone goes all postal on me, it's from a blog post of someone being sarcastic, ok?***

No cell phones
No CB's (if the still exist)
No pets in the car
No kids in the car. Multiple charges for multiple kids.
No passengers in the car
No radios, CD players, etc, in the car.(Knew of a girl who hit the guardrails while changing stations!) OMG, arrest her!!
No Makeup.
No shaving.
No reading a Map.(do they still make them?) Okay...so No GPS.
No naughtiness.(Yep, saw it myself from the bus window!)
No... jeez, what did I miss?
No heat controls.
No AC Controls.
Come on now, people, let's focus!
No.... How about no more stupid laws and just have a law against Stupid People. Now that one I like!!
Enjoy your day, and don't leave the house!:)

Smile everyone, it's Monday!

~Valeen

Too Cute!!

I couldn't think of a better title for this because I'd just laugh each time I'd look at the picture! :)

~Val

Sexy!

I got a link this morning that made me smile... according to an article from CareerBuilder.com, photographers are #8 on the list of "10 Sexy Careers You Never Thought Of"... but heck, we already knew that!!! :)

Click here if you want to read more! Sexy!

(Only #8, what's up with that??? Come on guys, we gotta work harder to get to #1)

Happy New Year Everyone!

Wishing everyone a wonderful, crazy, happy, fabulous, silly and prosperous New Year! Kool-aid Smiles, everyone!!!

Hitler rants about the Nikon D3X

Ok, ok we're camera geeks here at TSD but hey I know how many questions we get about cameras and photography and I KNOW how many of our clients are camera geeks too so I know some of you out there in blog-land will enjoy this one ;)

Apparently the Fuehrer is upset with what Nikon is trying to soak us charge for the new flagship D3X top of the line camera. Poor guy. He can throw quite the hissy. Who knew!

-Bruce

We need a bigger house!

I have a problem, at least according to my family and there must be a support group for it somewhere. It has something to do with picking a tree that is way too big for the house, every single time!! So this is AFTER we cut a foot off the bottom, and a foot off the top...

Got out the landscaping tools and trimmed it down a little...okay, okay, a lot!! And right when it was almost done....Crash!!! In slow motion and just missed the little guy on the floor! He thought the garland was nice though!

Tom was not amused.

So after some intense work on the stand (which was brand new!) and the trunk (too soft!) and vacuuming for an hour, and redecorating the whole thing...oh, by the way, nothing broke... it's perfect! (Well, sorta!) And what the heck, the Barbies love it!

I have been officially banned from picking out the tree next year!! :)

~Valeen

Note to self...

When multitasking and feeling oh so very efficient, don't forget you were thawing out chicken in the microwave till the next morning. Yuck. And no, there won't be any picture of that. ;)

I Wonder?

Unbelievable. I want to believe it but several things about it make me think it's fake. Actually, I kinda hope it's fake. It is fake, right??

-Bruce

Halloween!

Ahh, the holidays. Nothin' like it. The sound of screaming goblins. The smell of decomposing zombies. And my daughter son with a wig on. Yep.

Anyway, I'll get over my failure at parenting and my first-born's cross-dressing tendencies, no worries, but in the meantime enjoy some scenes from Portland this evening...

-Bruce

 

 

 

 

Water Slide

Now this is my kind of commute!

Fascinating...

Go ahead. Click it. Ya know ya wanna.

Jack O. Lantern

There were pumpkin guts flying all around my house tonite. One even lost an eye. I think he was playing with a Red Rider BB gun. Gruesome...

Ninja Suits

Ok, ok, I know Val and I have talked about our dress code probably a little too often on this blog. We like to blend in. It's the "unobtrusive" part of what we do. So we wear black and we joke about our ninja suits.

Did you ever have a friend that just takes everything a little bit too literally? Yeah, you know, that friend...

World meet Kasey, Kasey meet world. More about her later too ;)

-Bruce

Bridezilla

I have bragging rights.

Not once, in all the years that I've been shooting weddings have I ever had a Bridezilla. Not kidding. Not one. Ever. So when I thought about this post, I tried to find a cool picture of 'Bridezilla" and I couldn't even find that. :)

But I did find lots of stuff about the show, which I've never watched... I don't think I want to... and this hysterical picture of an actual wedding cake that someone had. (Oh, and I will say it wasn't one of my brides that had it either!!)