Just Polish: Simple or Complex

I suppose I just expected to sit for an hour and leave with fabulous nails. I supposed I thought it'd be relaxing and a nice change of pace for the day. I was very clear about what I wanted: polish only. You see, I'm very particular when it comes to my nails. They have to be shaped JUST right and it seems that I'm the only one that knows how to do that correctly. So, before I came, I'd filed my nails just right and removed my previous nail polish. "Just Polish" and I'd brought my own color to make it all the more simple.

Instead of a nice relaxing experience, I was stressed and didnt exactly get what I wanted. I mean, what I got was okay, I suppose, but it wasnt what I asked for. I'd asked for just polish on my nails and I'd brought my own. Instead, I left with wrongly filed nails, despite my saying, "no, thank you, just polish" and clear polish instead of my color. My toes were done right, I will give the guy that. I convinced myself that it wasnt that bad, it was close to what I wanted, whatever. I pull out my wallet to pay and I'm told "We're under new management, we dont accept credit cards, cash or local checks only." Well, first off, I dont carry around my checkbook. And second of all, I NEVER have cash on me. I spend it too fast if I have cash on me. So I look at the woman behind the cash register and seriously contemplated walking out. She informs me there is an ATM across the street if I'd like to walk. So, with newly painted nails and toes in 63 degree weather and flip flops, I walk across the street to the bank. Luckily for me, this bank is my business checking account, so Olimb Photography paid for my nails yesterday. And I'm ashamed to say I told the woman at the teller "Dont ever use that salon, it was horrible".

As I walked back to the nail place to pay for an all around not right experience, something was re-emphasized in my brain. Just Polish: Simple or Complex? How many brides do I get that have this similar expectation in mind. They know what they want. They tell me what they expect and they expect some semblance of what they asked for. I dont want to ever drag a bride through a complicated experience. I want to do my absolute best to provide a simple and streamline process. I dont want to ever make my bride feel pressured or awkward, or that the experience she received was only close to what she wanted but too complicated or too confusing.

Olimb Photography: Simple or Complex? Hopefully, I can say the former. I want to be able to have brides that walk away from an experience with us and feel that it was simple, easy, that they could be themselves, express their opinion, and breathe throughout the process. I dont want to ever give them cause to walk away saying "Dont ever use that photographer, it was horrible" So, today, I'm doing my best to walk myself through our booking process and simplify it. I want this to be easy. I want to draw clients in and not have to ever overwhelm them with mass paperwork or confusing descriptions and timelines. Getting married shouldnt be stressful. It should be fun, enjoyable, and an exciting fun and creative time. And I want to be able to help my brides receive that.

So, as I pretend to be a bride booking Olimb Photography, I thought I'd leave you with a sneak peak of whats coming up. Our first 2010 shoot was just after the new years and I've been bursting waiting to post these photos to the blog. So here's a sneak!

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Bobbie and Daniel: Engagement

One thing that I'm noticing more and more about our work is that we are drawn to natural light. I'm sure if you were to ask most photographers, they would swear by natural light as well. But when it comes down to it for us, playing with the vibrant sun through our lens gives us this glow and a vigor that gives us this urge to continue shooting all day long.

Bobbie and Daniel are a prime example of that. We met the couple at their condo in Ft Walton Beach. It was FREEZING that day but I felt warm. The sun was nestling along the beautiful coast line and everything about Bobbie and Daniel was calm, warm, and gentle. I felt soothed as I began working the magic behind the camera.

There's something about the sunlight that makes me speechless. There's something about watching a couple together in the sunlight that makes me feel amazing. There's something about capturing those meaningful glances, those genuine smiles, and the warm and fuzzies.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Buying and Breathing

I think it's been keeping me calm...listening to you breathe at night. When you flinch and nearly snore, it makes me giggle as I stare at the ceiling. I have to admit, I'm a bit jealous that seem to whisk away into sleep so much faster than I can. The warmth of your arm around my waist is reassuring as my brain spins in a zillion different directions. We're buying a house...we're "growing up"...this feeling reminds me of when I was little and I was finally tall enough to go on the high diving board. I climbed all the way to the top of that ladder and looked down at the pool. Kids were lining up below at the ladder wondering what was taking me so long. I tip toed to the end of that spring filled board and looked down. No backing out...and if I was honest with myself, I didnt want to back out. I wanted to jump as high as I could! I wanted to feel the air rush by me and out of my lungs as I splashed into the water below. I stood there, ready to jump and took that last breath before the jump. That's how I feel...that last breath before the jump.

I love you Andrew. You're my perfect match. Our late nights at the gym, our dinners on the couch, our Criminal Minds marathons...you know what's good for me. I leaned over, whispered "I love you" and kissed the back of your neck, because it was all I could find amidst the comforter and your fuzzy green blanket. You moved a bit, your breathing settled and I let it calm me yet again. The last breath before the jump...so long as your jumping with me, I'm not afraid.

Why Me

You may remember I mentioned being dragged through questions of why and how I got into this in a recent blog post. I wanted to be sure that as we launched our new vision, that I took the time to share those answers. You may want to grab a cup of coffee because this post is gonna take awhile...

Why I Became A Wedding Photographer...it almost sounds like a school assignment. In order to answer that, you'd need to rewind to October 2007. The setting: Andrew had just proposed and I was at work, confined to my cube, trying my hardest to focus on work. Was I focusing on work? Um, I'll plead the fifth? I kept staring down at my gorgeous ring, smiling non stop, feeling warm and fuzzy all the time and I couldnt stand the 9 hours separating me from from work and planning my wedding. So I did what any awesome employee would do...I planned my wedding at work.

Enter the wedding blogs. I was constantly online looking for ideas, blogs, photos. Honestly, I have no idea how many websites I went through. But I was hooked. I loved wedding details. I loved the photos, the flowers, the feeling that I got looking through someone's wedding photos. And I absolutely adored the idea of making my wedding not only something memorable but that it would be so infused with meaning and myself. Eventually, I came across Cook Images. I remember walking out of their studio with my mom and Andrew and thinking "there are it". I couldnt wait for our engagement photos to see the first of what I knew were going to be the best wedding photos on the planet.

Fast forward to July 2008. Andrew and I had been back from our honeymoon for about two weeks, my birthday was approaching and we were thinking back over our wedding. Andrew loved our wedding. I've never met a guy who actually, genuinely was in love with his wedding day...but my husband is. We talked about the details, and how we felt, and about our photographer. I remember saying how neat it was that they were a husband and wife team; that as photographers, they got to relive their wedding day over and over again and be refreshed in why they love each other. And just like that, Andrew had an idea. "Cass, why dont we try it?"

Now, at this point, I'd shot two weddings in my life with a film camera. But I'd been taking pictures as a hobby, mostly nature throughout college. My roommate took a photography class and I asked if I could tag along with her whenever she went out to shoot. She taught me how to develop film; I remember being captivated in the room of red watching as an image slowly surfaced on my paper. I looked at Andrew like he was nuts. "Try wedding photography? You cant just try wedding photography. You've got to get a website and business cards and advertise and people have to like you! And then there's the taxes thing and the paperwork and becoming an LLC...and where's the money going to come from to buy equipment?" But, for my birthday, Andrew and I went out and got our business license. I remember going to my parents with the paperwork and my dad offering to build us a website. And it went from there.

The details of all the things involved in becoming a wedding photographer is a bit crazy and extremely time consuming, but I want to make sure that I've clarified the reason. I loved my wedding photographer. The images he created brought us so much joy. I could relive every moment from his photos. As Andrew and I look back over our photos, we can feel all the emotions that we felt that day. I wanted to be able to not only experience that over and over again, but I wanted to give that to other people. I wanted to be able to bring emotions to the wedding photography experience. I dont want people to look at our work and think "that's a great photo"...I want them to be drawn to the photo, to feel the emotion behind the photo, and to find themselves feeling connected to what they see.

Being able to blog is intimidating. I have no idea how many people are out there reading. I dont know if people like what they read. I dont know if expressing myself on this blog causes people to want to book me as their photographer...and to be honest, part of me doesnt want to know. Well, okay, so I want to know, but I'm terrified to know. But I feel that this blog is where I can really show people who I am. And I hope that causes people to get to know me, to feel like they can come up to me and say hey if they see me at a restaurant or something, and I want clients to book me on the basis that they like who Andrew and I are and that they feel that they want us to be there documenting their wedding.

So, now that I've written a small book, I hope that I've answered my school essay question and that you all understand why I wanted to become a wedding photographer. And hopefully I'm fulfilling that goal and learning every day how to better invest in my clients.

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

It's Here

Finally! It's here! As promised, it's January 16th and here it is, our new site, our new look, our new direction and goals, it's all live! I find myself kinda wincing hoping that no on hates it or think that it's like, the worst change ever. But at the same time, I feel that this is a better representation of who Andrew and I are.

So what's new on the agenda? I'm so glad you asked!
1. We have a new logo! Isn't it pretty! Andrew and I decided that we needed to change our logo; that it needed to have meaning. Our previous logo had no symbolism or meaning, it was just a pretty swirl around pretty font. We decided that we wanted our business to reflect meaning and our outlook on life. Andrew gave me free reign in the design process because he knows that the heart of this business is my heart and who I am...he embraced that, encouraged it, and allowed it to blossom. He continually supports, drives, and encourages this business. So what's the symbolism? It's actually something from my childhood. I lived in England for three years and there was this empty lot behind my house right outside of the air force base there. I used to lay out there in the grass and make these flower headbands with the clover flowers. I even tried eating them once because someone told me they were edible. That field had so many flowers, later in life I realized that they were all weeds, but in my memory, it's a lot full of beautiful flowers. Every time I saw one of those white dandelions, I would make a wish and kick it - scattering the little floaters all over the field. Awhile later, there would be more white dandelions and I would make more wishes and dance around kicking the little white poofs. So, when we started trying to make a new logo, I thought of our little tag line "dwell in possibility" an Emily Dickinson quote. I'm always dwelling in the possibility of what could be. I dont ever want to lose that. And I wanted our logo to embrace that idea that I always want to be dreaming, I always want to be wondering what could be and strive for that.
2. We have a new website! www.olimbphotography.com We decided to change up the focal point of our website this time around. We wanted to stop trying to be "the best photographer" because I'll be the first to admit there are so many other photographers I would consider as the best. But we wanted to stop trying to say "book us, we're good" and instead say "this is who we are, this is what we're about" and hope that it draws clients to us for who we are and how we fit with who they are as a bride and groom.
3. Giveaways. I love giveaways! So what I'm wanting to do is start holding "contests" of sorts and giving away free stuff from us!
4. We have a whole new mindset with our business...which I've mentioned, I dont know, maybe three times so far this year, but what can I say, I'm excited. Andrew and I have made changes to how we interact with our clients from as small as how often we email to these awesome welcome kits that we created to send to our new brides.

So here we are, "brand new" and ready to get 2010 started out on the right foot.

Dwell in possibility...
Cassie

Jello Sadness

You know how everyone seems to have the same new years resolution? Everyone seem to say something along the lines of eat healthy, be healthier, work out more, lose weight, etc. Usually, I dont say anything like that. Until this year...

I'm tired of not liking my body. I'm tired of seeing all the wrong with my body and none of the good. I want to stop wining about what I dont like about myself. I want to give Andrew a break from my constant "I hate my legs" type comments. So this year, I joined the masses in saying I'm changing that. I have no idea how long it's going to take or if it will work but it's on. I'm working out doing at least 45 minutes of cardio 4 days a week. I contacted a personal trainer and have a consult with her next week. I would love to lose 10 pounds...but ideally, I want to just like my body. I want to feel comfortable in my own skin and I want to see myself in the mirror and not tear myself apart.

Last Friday started a new year. A new year for our business and a new year for my self esteem. Friday marks the first day of grocery shopping under our "minimalist" dieting plan. We want to eat foods such as fruits, vegetables, chicken and fish, foods without cheeses or heavy creams or even lots of sauce. Andrew and I are really looking forward to Friday. And hopefully by the end of the month we will begin to see some sort of results.

I bought these 60 calorie Jello cups. They were dark chocolate and had no sugar and were super healthy. Since I decided I was cutting out the candy and deserts for January, I thought these would be a nice alternative whenever I had a sweet tooth. However! I put a spoonful of the deliciousness in my mouth, swallowed, then stopped. I never checked the ingredients. Rolling my eyes, I went back to kitchen to conduct my usual check for nut products. Yadda yadda...hydrogenated vegetable oil....yadda yadda...AND hydrogenated coconut oil. DANG IT! No happy little Jello cups of dark chocolate for me.

As Andrew looks over my shoulder, he asks "why are you writing about Jello". To be honest, I have no clue...

Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie

Brace Yourselves

I stared out the window from my desk..which probably isnt the most productive of activities when trying to complete editing. I realized a shift in my thought process and it caught me off guard. You see, I had been thinking about the weather and how cold it was outside and my dream vacation in a nice cabin in the woods, the fireplace cracking, hot coffee in hand, snuggling against my husband as we stared out a window to the lake view before us. I was along for the ride as my brain pictured the colors and smells of the woods, the moss covered rocks, the sun pouring through the trees...when suddenly my brain jumped to something completely unexpected. "Why did I become a photographer? Why did I want to be great at this? Why did I want to connect with people and invest in a key point in their lives and capture the emotion and the joy of their wedding day?"

So there I sat. Formulating the answers to those questions have proven a bit more time consuming then I originally anticipated. I scanned over my older blog posts and I realized that I never really ventured into my reason for why I wanted this. And then I thought to myself "How in the world can I build a substantial relationship with people and want people to want me as their photographer, when they dont know me, when they dont know why I'm doing this or what I want to get out of it and what I want people to get out of it."

This is been the reasoning behind changing so much of our photography brand. We started working on making changes. My dad and web designer: Steve Bishop with Web-Fish.com had to deal with his worst nightmare, his fickle daughter who has an opinion on everything. But together we started re-creating our webpage, our logo, our color scheme, everything. Lots of coffee and late nights finally brought about a start. My dad's amazing web developer, Mr Rich Snyder is quite possibly the fastest web developer I've ever met. I mean, the guy cranked out my site in less than a month!! I say start, much to my dad's cringing and wincing, because we're still evolving...while I love the direction we're now headed in, it's not the destination yet. If you need a new site, be sure to email them. They make an amazing team!

So, January 16th is the hopeful launch date of all the new stuff. It's killing me trying not to post any new blog entries or photos {because it's all coming reeeeeally soon and I want it to all jump off the screen together}. January 16th will have our first "new" post along with our new site. I'm working like a mad woman in the process to get my new logo imprinted on photos for new blog posts and Facebook albums and answering those questions I posed to myself a few months ago.

Please hold on just another two weeks and I'll have all sorts of things to share.
Dwell in Possibility...
Cassie