Tag Archives: Friends

{Engaged} Nathalie + Brandon, Part Two

I did an engagement session for Nathalie and Brandon this Spring. When I met with Nathalie to discuss the photography for their December wedding (I’m shooting it! Yay!) I told her that I’d like to offer them a little second engagement session. This was because I thought it’d be nice for them to have some portraits made together that had a more “autumnal” feel, since their wedding is in autumn! Happily, she and Brandon took me up on this offer!

It was another super fun afternoon with the betrothed couple, making our way around Memphis for our photos. Here are a few of my faves from our little photo shoot:

 

I am oh-so-excited for Nathalie and Brandon’s wedding!And, of course, it will be detailed here on the SWP blog!

Tourist for a Day

I’m going to introduce you to Kayla today.  Kayla has lived here, there, and yon, being the child of a military family and all. She and I know one another because she lived here in the Mid-South for some years, and we ran in the same circles (hardcore circles.)


Flashback: Kayla, circa 2001/2002

Kayla and I hadn’t seen each other in years. MANY years. That might have something to do with the fact that she lives in England now with her British hubby. Though it’s been somewhere between 7 and 9 years since she and I have been in the same room, aren’t we lucky that social networking has worked wonders for our ability to keep in touch? I love her Tweets about her life “over yonder” and her cute baking ventures (many of which are up on her blog!) There may be 4000+ miles between us, but I’ve still got an open invitation to come over to her house for a baking date!

During Kayla’s most recent trip to ‘merica, she and I reunited over brekkie at Brother Juniper’s – my first time to hit that Memphis breakfast/brunch hot spot. It was awesome! Though I’m pretty sure our lengthy breakfast tête-à-tête nearly got us booted from our table! Are two and a half hour breakfast dates unusual??

Because Kayla’s parents have relocated to the Midwest, she isn’t sure how often she’ll be able to visit Memphis when she is able to make an appearance stateside.  She wanted to do some “touristy” things before she left town this time. I was happy to tag along for this! We took a jaunt downtown to see the Peabody ducks, to stop in at some of the souvenir shops on Beale, and to peek into the windows of the pretty shops on South Main. Kayla’s quest for just the right souvenir to take back to England for her husband led us to the Stax Museum – as well as to a new friend for Kayla and  my next opportunity to stare at Otis Redding’s jacket.

I am utterly shocked that these were essentially the only photos committed to film during the day Kayla and I spent together – considering how she’s photogenic and how our activities that day including many things that would fall into the category of being “photographically interesting.” I just didn’t feel like removing myself from “the moment” long enough to go into “documentary photographer” mode! Though there were too few frames of film spent on this glorious day, I think we really made ’em count! Playing the part of Memphis tourist was perfect fodder for some Polaroids taken with Impossible Project film! The perfect materials for tourist photos, in my humble opinion.

Oooooh, Memphis. A 1970 Caddy sitting in front of an establishment, advertising their brunch. There are normally a pair of longhorns attached to the front of the car, but someone took them off. No worries though, we were assured that the horns were back in the proper hands and WOULD be reattached. 

“What’s your sign?” Pshaw! Kayla asks, “What’s your punctuation mark?” Kayla actually felt like a semi-colon that day, but the camera turned her into more of an apostrophe. 

Luvbots

An unforgettable visit to the Stax Museum. Kayla’s tattoos and my hair were dubbed “swagnificent.”

I have to say that this was the ideal hang out session with a friend you haven’t seen in years. We brought each other up to speed on our respective lives, we reminisced about the past, and we forged new memories together. Success! England really is “home” for Kayla now, but I think it’s safe to say (in the words of Andrew Bryant) she “left her heart on the Tennessee border.”

Now. I think it’s MY turn to show up in Kayla’s town and play tourist…

Anyone interested in raising funds through a “Send Amanda to England Bake Sale and Crafts Bazaar”??

🙂

(Polaroids were taken with the Polaroid Sun 660 AF and Impossible Project PX 680 Color Shade Gold Frame film)

Edited to add:

I had a roll of film in my Yashica Electro 35 GT the day Kayla and I spent together in Memphis. I didn’t get it developed until September, three months after the photos were taken. Turns out I had committed just a few more frames of film to the day than just the Polaroids I originally posted here! Woo-hoo!

Photo Excursion Awesomeness: Memorial Park Edition

28. 02. 2010

Location: Memorial Park Cemetery, Memphis, TN. Equipment: Canon AE-1, Polaroid 250, Lomo LC-A, Nikon FE*

It was last year when I became sensitized to the existence of the Crystal Shrine Grotto, due to a small wedding I photographed there. Ever since since then,  I have been fascinated, I tell you! As per usual though,  I kept forgetting to go back to do more photographic exploration of the grotto. I mentioned this to my friend Ashley, who is both an adventurer at heart and a photo enthusiast. Ashley’s a GREAT friend, and wanted to help me remember that the Memorial Park grotto was on my photographic “to-do” list. She did so by scheduling a photo excursion to the grotto with me.

It was almost like kismet the day we went to Memorial Park. The weather in Memphis had been what I can only describe as “blah” for most of the weeks leading up to the end of February. The day of this excursion though, it was simply gorgeous outside! Blue, clear skies. Mild temperature – not too hot, not too cool. And Ashley had a few of her friends in tow with her, all of whom happen to be avid photographers as well. It was so awesome!

You’d think all of the above elements would mean all of us photogs would be intent upon running around, snapping photos of interesting elements of the cemetery and grotto. But really, this excursion was just the most chilled out thing ever. There’s this great seating area at the grotto that is meant to be like a large, hollowed out tree.  I’m pretty sure all of us would like to live in a tree if we could, so this was right up our alley! Some of the boys were climbing on top of the tree while we were inside having a cupcake picnic (comes in handy to work on Saturday nights at a bakery – you get to take home the leftovers!)

We did poke around the grotto’s cave for awhile, but I actually didn’t end up doing much photography inside – as you can plainly tell by the lack of indoor shots featured here today (except for this creepy photo of Aaron with a wooden Jesus.) Most of our time was spent sitting in that tree I told you about, just talking and making photographs of each other.

So, in conclusion, my sincerest of thanks to Ashley, Grant, Aaron and Alex for giving me such a refreshing and photographically fulfilling way of spending a pretty Sunday afternoon.

*(Yep. I went a bit overboard with the scope of equipment I used on this wee little photo excursion. Not to worry though; I wasn’t burdened with lugging all these cameras around. Clever girl that I am, my car was parked closely enough that I could just go back and forth for what I needed. I could leave a camera in my car if I were done and pick out a different one to take back up to the grotto with me.)

 

A lesson in travel photography (or “how I learned my lesson”)

Who doesn’t love to travel? I know I sure do! I, like a lot of travel lovers, do not get to do it as much as I would like to. Everyone likes to take photos when they travel. When a photographer goes on vacation, photography can become the most important thing. More important than experiences

Three years ago, I up and took a voyage to England. Alone. You can read a little about it here. Besides the fact that I was already in love with the Motherland before I set foot on British soil, I knew the main purpose of my trip was photography, photography, photography. I owned a dSLR, but I was so high and mighty that I didn’t take it. I documented my entire trip on film. There were times when camera malfunctions made me second-guess this decision, but I don’t regret leaving the digital camera back in Mississippi while I went to England. In the end, I was glad I’d gone to England on my own because when you are a photographer on vacay, it can be difficult to juggle your desire to photograph with being fair to your traveling companions. I could stop and go as much as I want, come and go as I pleased, all to suit my photographic needs.

Both the issue of film vs. digital and how to get in satisfying photography while traveling with others cropped up for me recently. I traveled with about 7 of my friends to St. Louis, Missouri for a quick visit. I, being me, left my nice digital SLR at home and opted instead to take my Nikon FE and Holga 120N. I didn’t stock up on film before I left for Missouri because I figured I could just do that when I got up there. When some of my friends realized I didn’t have my digital camera, they were both perplexed and slightly disappointed because they new the limitations of film might hamper the volume of photos I could take on the trip. I was somewhat offended that my artistic vision for documenting our time in St. Louis was being questioned. Then some things happened along the way that caused me to learn my lesson.

I am very stubborn about using film rather than digital in most areas of my photography. However, I’m going to have to admit now there are some drawbacks to basing yourself in film photography. For example, when my friends and I arrived in St. Louis, it was getting late in the day and the sunlight was fading fast. We went to the zoo, and there were definitely certain shots I couldn’t get because I had a slow film speed, 100 ASA, loaded in my camera. Sure, I am quite pleased with some of the photos I DID get, but the scope of my photography that first night in the STL was not what it should’ve been.

Nikon FE and Holga 120N at the St. Louis Zoo. 

Tragedy struck my plan of being too cool for school and do only film photography in St. Louis: I actually LEFT my wallet at the restaurant where we’d stopped for lunch on our way to St. Louis. Cape Girardeau, Missouri. I discovered this when I went to stock up on film and had no way of paying for it. D’oh! My lack of preparedness bit me in the rear. Yes, Amanda Raney did go out of town with only one roll of 35mm film in her possession. Oh how the mighty have fallen…

I ran out of film pretty early in the day Sunday morning. Before we’d even left our super cool hotel, in fact! And we still had hours of St. Louis awesomeness to enjoy before going home. What’s a girl to do??

Nikon FE and Holga 120N at and around the hotel Sunday morning

All was not lost, thanks to the darling Annie who decided I should use her point-and-shoot digital camera while we spent our last few hours in St. Louis before going back to Memphis. I’m sure she knew not being able to take photos like I wanted was just eating me up inside. If you think I’m uppity about not using my dSLR for everything, you should see how uppity I normally am about my ever having to use a point-and-shoot digital! Once again, I had to learn my lesson: some camera is better than no camera at all. And guess what: that little camera of Annie’s wasn’t half bad! It performed well, I’d say. We went to the St. Louis Art Museum, the galleria, and a cool pizza joint for lunch. I ended up being quite pleased with a lot of the photos. Just gotta know how to get the best out of these little cameras.

Further adventures in STL, taken with Annie’s Sony Cybershot 

For the events that unfolded with my photography in St. Louis, I am taking the “all’s well that ends well” viewpoint. I didn’t come back with a portfolio stacked with shots of that city, but I came back with a lot of fun (and some quite nice) shots that fulfilled my need to do photography while traveling.

So what is my conclusion in all of this? When you, as a photographer, are going somewhere special, you have to assess the purpose of your trip. Is this a trip that is going to be based mostly around photography? If so, how is this going to work out if I’m traveling with others who are not mainly interested in doing fine photography while we’re away? Even if I had had all the film in the world while I was in St. Louis, I wouldn’t have been able to do everything I wanted to photographically because I was with people whose purpose was to hang out with friends in a different city, not pack in as much photography as possible.

I had to learn that maybe it’s okay that I go out of town with my friends and have a main purpose of just being with my buddies. When I access the purpose of future out of town trips, I will decide if it’s to hang out with my friends, or if I’m planning on coming back with a body of work from that city. After my experience in St. Louis, if the answer is “my main purpose is to just have fun with my friends,” I’m honestly just going to throw my digital camera and maybe a small 35mm camera in my bag to take care of the type of photography I’ll do while I’m away.

It was my first time to travel to St. Louis and I just LOVED the city. I was just DYING because there were so many awesome things I saw and I wanted to capture in photos. It just wasn’t practical this time around. I resigned myself that I would be “forced” to go back to STL another time specifically for a photo excursion. Oh, the things I’ll do for my work!