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what happened at the valentino show

when ryan and i were dating, everyone told us how cute we were together because we were so different. and i, being the smitten girl that i was, was like, isn't it cute how ryan is more quiet and i'm more loud? and how he's so methodical and i'm so impulsive? we are so in love! ISN'T THAT SO CUTE??

ryan likes to know every little thing in full detail beforehand. if he is going to pay a bill, he sits down, opens the bill and reads it. the whole thing. every little listing, note and number. and then he questions it. you should see him in action. it's totally impressive. those poor office managers are nearly melted into puddles of frustration and exasperation at the handsome man who is standing before them, chopping their seemingly simple and user-friendly invoice into pieces of mulch.

"so, let me get this straight," ryan will say, calmly, completely unaware of the frazzled woman before him, "when you charge me for this, it's a one-time fee?" the woman nods. "and why is it that much?" she doesn't know. "does this fee include anything else, or is it just the fee?" it's just the fee. "are there any other fees that will show up on the next bill?"

i'm the opposite. i get a bill, i glance at it and then, if you're lucky, i'll pay it. but mostly, i put it aside in a special place reserved just for bills that i'm going to pay later and then i never look at it again. and then it gets turned off. and after that happens, i heave a great sigh, go to the special place reserve for bills to-be-paid, dig through the pile, find the bill pay the amount, plus the late fee. if i lived like this now, ryan's hair would all be white and he'd be wrinkled with stress. this is why i only play dead when he attempts to do finances with me: because secretly, i am very grateful for his thorough attitude.

it's amazing where else you can see these traits spill. ryan and i, though we were married for the last two years of ryan's degree, never had a college class together (too cheesy), but i think it would have been interesting to see the kind of students we were. ryan asks questions, reads directions, follows things carefully. i sit in front, listen and take notes and then haphazardly make my way through the rest of it. i don't read directions carefully, i don't ask questions.

well, on thursday night i took a page from ryan's book and i have to admit, it worked out really well for me. thursday night i was at the moca (museum of contemporary art) taking pictures of the valentino tribute show and i was NERVOUS. i had just finished taking pictures backstage and had made my way out to the foot of the runway where the platform for press was set up. already, it was full and buzzing with all sorts of polished looking individuals. i stood there, at the edge, fingering my camera with uncertainty. i heard someone say, "they say there's no flash allowed?" and i felt my heart sink. the lights were dim, the runway was dark and i had to somehow work my courage up to climb aboard the press platform and stand among all of those photographers.

it took a moment before i gritted my teeth and caught the eye of a man holding a very impressive set up. and then i did what i often do best, i blurted everything out, "i've never done this before and i need help."

to my relief, the man smiled. he offered to move aside and let me stand next to him on the platform. he took my camera in his hands and showed me which changes were best. with a frown, he acknowledged that perhaps i could use a bit more zoom on my lens, but no worries! he pointed to a spot where i could stand--front and center and gently asked a few photographers to make way for me. i was so nervous, even with his kindness and his gentle tutorials, so i asked a bunch of questions. and he answered all of them. but i was still nervous. the light was so bad! what was i going to do? and then the show started and the lights turned on and the model came out and i snapped my first picture. with hesitation, i looked at the shot. it was wonderful. what a relief! i snapped another. and another. my friend tapped me on the shoulder.

"are your pictures coming out?" he asked.

i nearly dropped everything to hug him. instead, i gushed. it probably terrified him.

i wanted to blog this because i wanted people to see the kindness one can offer another. more especially, the kindness one professional can offer a beginner in the same field. i also wanted to blog this so i don't forget. one day, i'm going to be just as kind.

of course, i owe this moment to ryan. if it weren't for his example of unwavering attention to detail and his quest to understand the things that are before him resulting in my wish for the ability to faint on command many, many times, i don't know if i would have had the experience that i had.

so ryan? thank you.

and heather? thank you.

and the man with the camera who took such good care of me? THANK YOU.

ps for pictures, go here.

miss morgan

there's more here. and you know you're just dying to take a peek!

let's face it

you can't afford to say no

look what i made

more mammoth

thse are my in-laws, the whole of them. these are the people ryan came from and this is us in mammoth. it is hard taking pictures of a big group like this. there were so many people! and they didn't know where where to stand or what to wear and they all had different ideas and places they wanted to go. sometimes it was just the lot of us, standing on the side of the road. some of us were holding children, some of us chairs, some of us sunglasses and sweaters and blankets and some us very small princess dresses. and we all stood there and talked about the photoshoot at the top of our lungs until one of us would stand a little taller and shout, "ENOUGH! we're going _______ and we're doing ______!!" and then all would be quiet and we'd move over to where the loudest family member had told us to move.

i appreciate these in-laws. in this family, you take care of each other. you work hard. and you laugh. those in-laws, let me tell you, are hilarious. i am so grateful to know them, so grateful for their hugs and their jokes.

love

i mentioned my thing with babies, and of course, after seeing this baby, i was fighting my urge the entire time. do you see those eyes? DO YOU SEE THOSE EYES?? good heavens. those eyes. and, actually, his hair. and his cheekss! oh! his cheeks! delicious baby.

i've learned a few things about photography this year. one of those things is the "feeling" of the subjects spill out of the picture and into the hearts of the people who look at them. so if a family is in love, i don't really have to do much, i just take the picture and do some editing. and then everyone who looks at it has a "love experience". i think. i do, anyway.

this family was one of the easiest shoots i've ever done because this family just loves each other so well. and watching them all help one another, smile at one another, play together and lovingly touch one another warmed my heart.

and now, i've decided that i'm going to be more loving like them. and also, that i love that baby.

brand new baby

brand new baby is the best. i say that like it's something you can buy in a store and eat after a long day and your children are finally in bed and then you can climb into bed with your blankee and an episode of arrested development and a spoon and just savor it all. . . but that would be ice cream. or dibs. have you tried dibs? try them. brand new babies are to humans what dibs are to ice cream.

so this brand new baby comes over to my house and all i want to do is send the rest of his family away (even though they are cute, too) and curl up in bed with him and just eat him like a dib. so i picked him and started back toward my room only to discover that his family was coming too. because they knew a good thing when they saw one and they weren't about to let me go in the bedroom and savor the dib without them.

really it was rather unfair because they can have him whenever they want and i'm stuck here with an enormous former dib and a toddler (no frozen dessert comparison avaible for her at this time). i ate my dib. i want theirs.

so i took pictures of him instead. and now, late at night when my little motherly heart starts feeling the craving for brand new baby, i pull these pictures out and drool.

teen choice awards

there's been an awful lot of lazy mothering going on around here lately. i'm really excited for this next week because it is the week i wrestle all of those bad habits into submission.

for example: betime. for some reason, it's just easier to let the kids stay up late rather than fight the epic battle of rounding them up, putting diapers on them, brushing their teeth, saying prayers, reading stories, singing songs, tucking them in, kissing them goodnight. . .

i am exhausted by the list. but it doesn't matter. this. week. is. the. week.

last week i did all sorts of things like buying soda. i know. and drinking it. i know. and letting seth eat his breakfast cereal off the floor. i know. and i wasn't really all that into cleaning the house. instead, i took off with my friend heather and went to take pictures of celebrities at the gifting suite for the teen choice awards. heather went early and set up the table with her true birds and bumpits stuff and i came later with lunch (avocado sandiwches and water that had negative ions in it. guess what? that water tastes just like the water with the positive ions in it. bummer. i was hoping a lack of ions was going to lead to something spectactular. like levitating) and my camera. and then they came. in throngs (not to be confused with thongs). and i had no idea who any of them were until CARLTON from fresh prince of bel air came by. and for some reason, i all i wanted to do was giggle and dance the carlton dance which caused me to wonder, WHY DO I REMEMBER THAT DANCE? i mean, i went to college and do i remember half of what i experienced in college? not at all! so why on EARTH am i looking at some short man with a pencil mustache and remembering some really cheesy (and awful) dance he did on a television show when i was a preteen?

so heather and i stood there until someone came up with an expectant look on their face and heather and i would suddenly gow expectant and we'd all just stare at eachother until they said, "HI."

and we'd reply, "HI."

and then we'd wait. for something. like, for example, your name? who you are? do we even care about you? should we give you this bump it so you can walk around with a really funny looking fake bump on the back of your head?

my favorite was a girl who walked up and said, "HI. I'M ________ from ________." and i honestly had no idea what she was talking about. so i just sort of stood there, awkwardly holding my camera in one hand and wondering how i respond.

do i say, "good for you"? or "hi. i'm miriam from miriam's life."

good thing heather was there. she immediately became enthusiastic and cheered this girl on, asking her about her character and encouraging her in the way of bump its. then this girl left and, had i not known better, i would have thought them long lost friends. so i said, "who was that?" and heather shrugged and said, "i don't know." it was a good lesson to learn. i think i improved from there on out.

that girl was really cute, by the way. i just have no idea what to say to people who introduce themselves in a way that screams, PERHAPS YOU'VE HEARD OF ME?

so i spent an afternoon childless and meeting the entire cast of hannah montana (except for the hannah montana character herself) and watching the best boy band in the world, WOW do their brightly colored polo shirt thing and feeling slightly glamorous, even though nothing glamorous actually happened. i mean, did i mention carlton from fresh prince of bel air? perhaps it was just the high of not having something clinging to my pant leg. i mean, that feeling that at any moment i might be able to walk about the room without having to detach myself from something rather mollusk-like in its attachments? liberating.

then i went home and changed seths poopy diaper and wrestled ava into pajamas, prayers and songs and put both of them to bed far later than i should have. funny thing about being amongst all of those expectant people is the fact that it made me miss the other expectanct people in my life. i mean, i practically walked in the door to find ava with a list of expectations. for example, feed me was written down, oh, about thirty times. of course, i fed her. then i hugged her tightly and demanded that she stop eating her hair. because that's gross.

i like having the opportunity to miss the little people. i also like spending time in awkward conversations where the person speaking thinks i'm really impressed with them while meanwhile my mind is racing as i struggle to figure out what the hell she's talking about. but also, and this really needs mentioning, i really love spending time with heather. when we saw who we deduced to be barry bonds wife, we stuck our heads together, widened our eyes and just as heather began what i can only imagine was some juicy tidbit about mrs. bonds, i interrupted her to whisper and dramatically gesture that barry's daughter was right behind her. and then heather closed her mouth, widened her eyes a bit more, so i could widen mine in return and wonder for the rest of my life what she was going to say. i'll bet it was good. but i gave it up for heather! i am such a good friend.

oh, and that band WOW? wow. really, wow. look 'em up. (hint: enter the keywords WOW boy band because i just learned that wow stands for world of warcraft and guess what? there's like a million world of warcraft videos out there. i know.)

also, i think it's about time i subscribed to us weekly because who knows how many celebrities i've bumped into and instead of gasping and knowing what kind of toothpaste they use, i wonder why in the heck this person has a freaking entourage and how can i get rid of them?

meanwhile, back at the ranch. . .

my photography's featured on the true birds blog today. click here to see the adventures surrounding true birds and their stunning hair accessories!

family

so i posted an engaged photo session that was really a family, and i'd thought i'd throw some family photos on here, a portfolio of sorts until i get the real thing going.

i met jenalyn when my parent's moved to where we are currently living when i was about seventeen and a half. if i hadn't been homeschooled and if the move was more than fifteen minutes away, this would have all been very devastating. jenalyn was in my early morning seminary class and, when we both weren't totally bleary eyed from lack of sleep, we'd chat.

and then we were young single people and we were getting together at the cheesecake factory to eat avocado egg rolls and talk about boys and school and future plans.

and now here we are, holding our babies against our hips, discussing things like exercise and breastfeeding, marital bliss and what we're making for dinner that night. and darren is a good dad. he's funny and kind and mellow--perfect for jenalyn and perfect for baby liam.

engaging

i'm going to be honest: these two aren't engaged. they're married. and i bribed them to pose for me with a family picture. they have a little boy named liam who is cute! cute! CUTE! i'll post those another time. this time, i want to focus on this, the most realistic of engagement sessions.

"if you could do the wedding thing all over again, what would you do differently?" i asked.

both: "we would've kept the money."

yeah. it's amazing how much all that stuff matters one second and the next, it's all just silly.