So life has been a bit rocky lately. I’ve got a lot on my plate and a lot on my mind. I have been overwhelmed and tired. I had rented a beautiful, fabulous, much coveted, 24-70mm L series lens, for a wedding in June…and have since, extended my rental period, twice, in hopes of having some time to use it for something unwork-related, but to no avail. So, yesterday, when I found myself at the park, with my kids, right in the middle of the golden hour, I was so thankful I had decided to throw my camera in the car.
What is it about swings that are just so…..so…. awesome? I totally could have used a turn myself, but there were only two on the whole playground. Somehow, I just didn’t think it would be looked upon favorably if I were to shove some little kids out of my way to sit my butt on one. I suppose I could have stood there and loudly counted to 100, like in elementary school. Remember that? Or I could have used my longer legs and cat-like reflexes (snort) to beat them to it, and yelled, “Tap, tap! My swing!” Come on, it would have been a lesson in sharing….and respecting your elders. Kids have short attention spans anyway. They would have just moved on to the slide and been fine, right? Man, why didn’t I think of all of this yesterday? Sheesh.
Look at that… The sun in your face, feeling like you are flying……wood chips stuck in your hair…..Seriously, whose idea was it to put wood chips at playgrounds? Kids throw them, kids eat them, they get inside your shoes, they stick to your socks. Yuck. But I digress.
Would you look at this boy? Just exactly who gave him permission to grow up, I mean, really? He is practically a teenager. Hey, yeah….and teenagers don’t need turns on the swing….Hey boy! Get off my swing!
My daughter has such a interesting expression in this next shot….what could she be thinking about? The meaning of life? The Theory of Relativity? Um, neither, actually. That expression is the result of a lunatic mother, repeatedly telling her to look at the camera, wondering why she continues to look over my shoulder……all the while, I am completely oblivious to the little boy, who has managed get himself stuck straddling the outside of the tunnel slide, and is screeching for his dad to come rescue him. Um, ok, so it takes a special kind of…erm…focus…….to be completely unaware of a shrieking child…but in all fairness, by this point in my motherhood, I have learned to tune out almost all noise that isn’t one of my kids in danger. It is self-preservation. And…and…..you should have seen the light….The sun behind her hair….sigh……
Okay, so I don’t imagine anyone will be lining up to have me take their kids to the park anytime soon…..But I am ok with that…that means the swings are all mine. 
A couple of weeks ago, I shot a wedding, with possibly the happiest, most joyful, most excited bride I have ever seen. Because of the nature of the groom’s new job, I am not able to share any images of the bride and groom, but I did want to share a few of the details. Oooh, that makes his job sound so dangerous and mysterious, doesn’t it? Secret agent? Government spy? Celebrity? I want a job that makes me mysterious and cool like that too. Somehow mom/photographer just doesn’t have much intrigue attached to it. Oh well. It works for me, though. Besides, I would make a horrible spy….although I do wear a lot of black. Do real spies even wear black, or is that just in the movies?
Um…ok…rambling……what was my point here? Oh yeah…the details.
The wedding was so fun. The families were awesome. One of my favorite moments? The bride’s father pulled out a mandolin and sang “You Are My Sunshine” for his daughter. Awwww. It makes me sound like such a girl, and I hate that……but I just love weddings. So maybe being a photographer doesn’t have all of the danger and adventure of being a spy…but spies don’t get to watch an excited bride peek into the church as she waits for the ceremony to start….or get a shot of a younger sister hugging her older sister, and jumping up and down, squealing…”you are gettting maarrriiiiieeeeddd!!!!” So, I guess being a photogrpaher has its perks too. And it is not completely without danger. I mean, I did have to haul myself up onto a ledge and balance precariously, without breaking myself or my camera, to get a shot of the guests outside of the church. I mean, that is some secret agent level skill and risk taking there, right? Right? Heck yeah, it is. Psssh, so don’t be surprised if I show up at my next session with night vision goggles and a utility belt. Danger is my new middle name, baby.
I am going to try to act like the words Class of 2010 don’t make me feel like a shriveled old prune…..um…..but….2010? Really? When I graduated, I thought we would have flying cars by 2010. It seemed ages away. And yet, here we are…and my car so does not fly. What a let down.
So, this is Terry. He will be starting his senior year, completely devoid of flying cars, but I guess it can still be good anyway, right? Terry actually lives in Michigan, and I pointed out that he is probably going to be the only guy at his school to have palm trees in his senior pictures. Which I think is kind of cool. But I am easily impressed.
Terry does a terrific Forrest Gump impersonation, as well, as a mean Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. I don’t know how useful that is for him on an average day, but my kids were pretty impressed.
