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the big orange house
Summerside, PE
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wordless wednesday

November 16, 2016 Arlene Giddings
In #geeklife2016, wordless wednesday Tags i heart dirt roads, that day i got lost, fall, leaves, all the pretty colors, PEI, driving aimlessly
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just a bunch of words...

November 13, 2016 Arlene Giddings

i have been pretty quiet here...

i'm not really sure why...
i just feel
quiet.

where have i been?
catching up at work,
catching up at home..
trying to catch up on editing...
catchingupcatchingupcatchingupcatchingup
it's a never ending race
and i never seem to feel
like i have crossed the finish line.

feeling like i am spinning my wheels
a lot...
but not gaining much traction.

i don't know if it's the whole presidential debate
and how i am avoiding social media now because
i am a bit of an ostrich
happier with my head in the sand
than reading the apocalyptic facebook statuses...

or if it's the time change
and the deep darkness falling at 5:00 pm...

or maybe it's sinking in for real
that my boy will be graduating this year...
and that now, when i am alone in the house
(which used to make me very happy, by the way,
to have the house all to myself),
but now, when i am alone,
i get this impending sad feeling that someday
this is how it will be a lot of the time...
a quiet house...no blaring tv, no game cube,
no bickering, no playstation, no vine videos,
no one yelling out of the blue just because that's what she does...

or maybe it's a little bit of giving up the weddings...
on one hand, i keep thinking how great next summer is going to be
but, still makes me sad on another level...
change makes me sad.

and then leonard cohen died...

and i feel like time is playing tricks on me.
it's messing with my head.
it's making me think too much.

or
maybe it's just the chicken i ate that was over 2 weeks old...
:)
 

In she's so weird, words Tags words, midlife crisis, my boy, my girl, family, change, leonard cohen
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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!!)
 

In #geeklife2016, grateful, i take pictures, words, 2016 Tags weddings, taking a break, letting go, who am i if i'm not shooting weddings?
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17

October 16, 2016 Arlene Giddings

on saturday,
my boy turned 17.

17.
how can that be.
seventeen.

and on friday, he got his driver's license...

i feel like time
is playing tricks on me...
it is speeding down a highway
with the windows wide open
and the radio blaring
and the trees & the mailboxes
are flying past
in a blur.

i would like it to slow down a little...
you know...maybe do 40 kms for a bit,
on a quiet country road
with a warm breeze
and the sound of crickets and frogs...

i want to pump the brakes a little.

my little big-headed boy with the dark brown eyes
and messy hair...now taller than his dad
(but still with messy hair)
cars, music, gaming, future plans (a and b)...
always so sweet and funny and thoughtful ♥

happy birthday, bighead.
it's gonna be a great year.

In 2016, my boy, we are family Tags 17, seventeen, my boy, birthday boy, family, the nest is emptying, where has the time gone
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Wordless Wednesday...on thursday

October 13, 2016 Arlene Giddings

There is something magical about this tunnel of pretty trees....like there is a story on the other side waiting to be told.

 

 

In wordless wednesday Tags island girl, so pretty, fall
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