tuesday truths...the one where i babble

April 20, 2021 Arlene Giddings

the truth is
i have been slipping.

i started january
with big plans
and lists and goals
and i did really well…
and then, i slipped a little.

but now i am getting back
on track…
the days are longer,
the snow is melting,
i am honing my lists
and sharpening my highighters
(ok, well, not really
cause…that’s kinda bad for them)

this means
i am going to try to get back
to the page again…
and out with the camera
and back to the little blue desk
and…
ummmmmm….
so….i might even
be shooting a wedding again!!!
:)

for a sweet girl who has been a
friend of the family
forever…
i couldn’t say no.
but i do feel rusty and nervous…
it’s been a long time.

but if you don’t push yourself,
you stay stuck…
and i don’t like to be stuck.

i feel alive and energetic
and excited…it’s a
good way to feel.
♥♥♥

over half my life...♥♥♥

September 12, 2017 Arlene Giddings

i sat here in front of a flickering screen
and thought...what can i possibly tell you
that i haven't told you before...
in words and whispers,
notes on the back of bills,
letters with postage stamps and
envelopes covered in sesame street stickers...
love notes written in cards store bought and cards handmade...
phone calls and texts and blog posts
and facebook statuses...
conversations in the car, during supper,
while you are trying to watch a movie...
:)

i keep all my best stories for you.

when anything happens,
good, bad, funny, weird...
i can't wait to tell you.
you are my best audience...
you always listen, you always laugh
in the right places,
and you always, always make me feel better
when there are wrong places in the story.

i have shared over half my life with you.
and it doesn't feel like nearly enough.
♥ ♥ ♥

hello february!

February 4, 2017 Arlene Giddings

i have not been here on the blog for awhile.
i know i said i was going to be
but january was a mix of finishing up weddings
and tearing my kitchen apart to reorganize
AND getting completely lost in
snuggling on the couch with that guy i love
fuzzy pjs with blankets & diet coke & popcorn
watching true detective and the 100...
soooo good.
and so gawd damn addictive....
(both the shows and the snuggling)
heeheehee

so, to celebrate finishing and delivering the LAST of my weddings
for 2016:) :) :) :)
i decided to completely reorganize my little "corner".
SIDENOTE: one of the things i love about S. is that he does not care
at all
when i take over a quarter of the living room
to house my pencil crayons, markers and smurf collection.

SIDENOTE #2: i know have at least 80 smurfs...almost 99!
but, i have like 5 smurfettes so really, they don't all count.

i had totally forgotten about my ceramic mushroom
until i was cleaning out the kitchen cupboards...
the woman that owned our house had a ceramic studio
in the barn and had a ton of ceramics stored there...
when i saw the smurf mushroom house in the barn,
i took that as a direct sign that S was right,
we had to buy this house...it was meant for us.
she let me keep the mushroom...
but not the kiln...which i would have loved to have kept! :)

and yes...i know the smurf on the mushroom is wearing red
but shouldn't really be wearing red unlesssssss
he is a young papa smurf before the beard...
so...that's the theory we are going with.

i absolutely love how this looks now...
i didn't have enough space on the desk before
& i needed to find a place where i could put my camera
that would be both
accessible to me without too much work
but
NOT accessible to the cats/feline destruction team...
now that the weddings are over,
i want to try to get back to
actually using my cameras again
without being scared
something may happen to them
with a wedding coming up...
and now i can use them without fear!

so now instead of brides and
wedding bouquets, i hope you are ready to be
bombarded with photos of smurfs and pugs,
my feet, the felines,
and a multitude of sunrises/sunsets...
:)

here's a cute pug to start the bombardment off right....

endings & beginnings...

October 23, 2016 Arlene Giddings

yesterday, i shot my very last wedding
for a very long time.

it was a bittersweet day for me.

i remember the first wedding i shot...
i charged 60.00 for it because
i was terrified that i
was going to suck.

i drove to the church probably 6 times
before the big day at different times, in different weather
so that i could gauge the light...
as if i could prepare for that.
i knew nothing about shooting a wedding,
i barely knew anything about weddings.

back then, i didn't even have a camera bag.
i had a backpack...and i kept my one extra lens in a winter hat
inside the backpack for protection.
no external flash.
no extra batteries.
just a wing and prayer and a gut full of passion
and fear....a lot of fear.

that was in 2009.
i have shot roughly 100 weddings since then.
i have cried during the father of the bride speeches
(and most recently a mother of the bride almost brought
me to a sobbing cry as she talked about her little girl
always saying she was going to leave home sometime but never did...
until the day, of course,
that she actually did...
and my girl's move was still very fresh),
i have shot in churches and gardens, on beaches and decks,
in apple orchards, on golf courses, in hot sunshine and in rain...
i have said the phrases -
"just one more...well...i lie when i say just one more...it's always at least 3 more"
"get nice & close, like you like each other"
"one, two, three - JUMP...that was a good practice run...now lets do it again"
"perfect! that is perfect!"
countless countless COUNTLESS times...

i love when i feel like a relationship has been built between us,
when i don't just feel like the photographer paid to do a job
at the end of the day, but as a friend.
and i especially love the weddings that connect to a past wedding...
the family with 3 sisters that i was lucky enough to
shoot weddings for...and best friends of theirs...
so many times a couple that i shot for will be in the wedding party
of a new wedding...and seeing them there automatically feels less scary.

because yes, even after 100 weddings
it was still as scary as hell.

it is huge responsibility that i take very seriously...
to capture that once in a lifetime day for a couple.
that's worth a stomach full of butterflies &
checking & double checking that batteries are charged
and the bag is packed and ready to go.

but now...i know that i need a break.
i am sad to let go of this part of my life
but i am also very excited to see what comes next.

a huge thanks again to everyone
that has taken a chance on me
over the years...i can't tell you
what that has meant to me.
i do have a wedding booked for 2020
so it's not goodbye forever...
just a "so long for now".
♥ ♥ ♥

(& you'll still see me posting on the FB page for the next couple of months
as i catch up on my editing!!)

father's day weekend 2016

June 19, 2016 Arlene Giddings

i have not been here in a while...
good intentions
but life is starting to get busy again

but this was a good weekend.

i shot my first wedding of my last season of weddings
which i think i keep repeating
to make myself get used to saying that...
my LAST season.
this is it.

which is both liberating and bittersweet sad.

the wedding was beautiful.
and the fact that it was my sweet cousin getting married
just added icing to the sweet sunny day.
they had an outdoor wedding in my aunt & uncle's backyard
and i can't wait to post photos of how
GORGEOUS
that yard turned out.
it literally took my breath away.

and because it was family,
it meant i got to sit with my parents and
another aunt & uncle for the meal
which was so awesome.

and today was father's day...which
meant the building of a new bbq
and a subsequent meal cooked on the new bbq...
a new deck chair complete with it's own cooler
and a harmonica.

it's been a great weekend...
i'm sad to see it come to an end.
<3