Smattering, Indeed

I've had a nice weekend, I hope that you (if anyone is, in fact, reading this) did too.

I took Friday off. I had some extra hours from earlier in the week and wanted to use a few vacation hours. A friend had asked me to help her shoot a wedding that afternoon. She was going to shoot the video and I would do the photographs. She said she'd pay me, so I thought that it'd be a great experience and a good way to spend the afternoon.

Friday afternoon served another purpose: I could experience a Mexican wedding. The ceremony was a catholic service, I've been to those before. But, it was in spanish. I do not speak spanish. I don't regret taking french, but spanish would've been more useful than french has been (I have been to France to visit twice. I've interacted with spanish speaking individuals way more often).

My friend Candy briefed me as best she could, and she was able to give me a heads up during the ceremony. Still, it was a different experience and the pacing seemed a bit quicker than some of the weddings that I've otherwise been to.

There are photos that I wish that I could get a second chance at, but overall I think that they turned out well. Candy has all of the files because it was her gig. When I get the disc and am able to pick my favorites, I'll post them at my photo blog

www.sieversmaphotos.blogspot.com I've created a second photo blog www.sieversmaphotos2.blogspot.com That one will have my miscellaneous images and the first will have weddings and portrait type shots.

The bride and groom were gorgeous. Attire at this wedding was different than I'm used to. Everyone dressed fashionably. Their dresses reminded me more of what one might see at prom, or a red carpet event rather than going to a lutheran church type function. :-) It was a lot of fun.

My legs were SUPER tired and I was exhausted on Saturday. I had spent a lot of time squatting on the floor to get some low angle photos and to stay out of the way of the wedding guests. My arms were even tired. I was able to use my friend's Canon 40D. I LOVE it! Pretty intuitive, though I know there are many more things that I could learn to use it better. I am confident that's the camera for me. I just have to figure out what lens to get.

I have a wedding that I'm booked for in August. I haven't learned if that will be a traditional Mexican wedding or not. I took notes after Friday's wedding and I will quiz the bride regarding the upcoming gig.

I'm looking forward to aquiring some new photography gear. I hope that I can land another wedding or two this summer. I have registered Sieversma Photography with the State of South Dakota (I can't imagine that the name is in use already) and will be aquiring a license to collect sales tax. That way I'm legit. I'm just nervous, I don't want to be the photographer that other photographers look at and say, "Just because she's acquired a digital camera, she thinks she can photograph weddings."

I have shot other weddings with film and they turned out okay, I was quite happy with them. But, wedding photography is a huge deal and I don't want to do anyone a diservice either. There are so many amateur photographers listing themselves on Craigslist already and the area is saturated with professional and high end photographers too. I'd love to book on average a wedding a month. Let's face it, with my full time job I'm really not interested in working 6 or so days a week indefinately. And, I'll acknowledge that I have much to learn regarding photography. I guess we'll see where I fall and how things work out.

In the meantime... If you know anyone looking for a photographer, we could maybe work something out. :-)

I planned to bike to Lennox on Saturday to see my grandma and mom. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Too tired. We had a nice visit, went to a couple rummage sales and visited my dad and maternal grandpa's grave.

Today I did get a great ride in. I meant to get going earlier, but hit the road around 8a.m. It took me awhile to get Max to stay on the yard instead of follow me. I headed toward Hwy 19, to Vermillion, north on University, east on 312 to hwy 77 and north to home. It was about 45 miles and the wind was quite brisk when I finished. That's the longest ride I've done this season. I'm only registered for the first day of the TDK. I may not be able to ride fast enough to keep up with you guys for the whole day, but should make it to Yankton in a decent amount of time. If the wind is particularly bad I will quit at my house (maybe 40 miles in) and get a ride to Yankton.

And finally, a tie between photography and biking - if you're still reading.

I've mentioned that I won't be doing the MS150 this year because I have a wedding to shoot that Saturday. I thought about riding on Friday. I like the Sioux Falls to Vermillion route. Today I was thinking that it might be nice to follow bikers along the route and shoot some photographs. I'll have a digital camera in hand. If it's the same route as last year, it'll go right by my house. There are a number of online photo printing services available. I thought that I could pick one and inform the ride organizers of my intent to shoot pictures. I only have dial up at home and it may take some time to upload all of the pics.

Do you think that riders would be interested in purchasing photos of themselves on the ride? The online sites allow you to set a purchase price for a variety of sizes. The site takes a cut of the price for their expense and the client pays for shipping themselves. I need to try a few sites out, but thought it might be a good fundraiser. I thought that I might donate the proceeds to the MS foundation if I did do this project.

It's not certain, of course. Just something I pondered on my ride today.