There's something about waking up in the morning without an alarm clock. It's the greatest. Because I took most of December off, I rarely used an alarm clock that month. I found that not using an alarm became a standard thing to me. Waking up whenever my body wanted to. Going to sleep whenever I wanted to. The teenager in me came out. I think I maybe went to bed before midnight ONCE all of December?! It was back to work--and 6:30AM or 7:00AM alarms--in January and this past Saturday I remembered why weekends used to be the greatest when I was a full-time student. I slept until eight... leisurely grabbed a book when I woke up... read a few pages... went downstairs in my pajamas. Guiltfree. Saturday, folks. I love it. I intend to enjoy every one until the wedding season starts.

Something I desperate want to try and implement is email-free weekends. I gave it another go recently and the only non-lovely part is Monday morning. Ha! BUT, I will get to all of those emails later... in the mean time, I think something needs to be brought back to life. The frequently asked questions blog post. Yep! Lately I've realized I am not using my time in the most effective way. Email after email after email asking questions about photography and business... and I let them pile up. And then freak out once a week at the hours I need to spend responding. Halfway through, I start giving short little answers. I'm going to start responding less individually to emails and posting more of them up HERE, for you all to read. It'll also ensure that I actually provide some longer answers. ;)

(Oh and can I just throw this out there? Without being mean-hearted, I just have to say: probably the most frustrating, confusing email for me to answer is, "I'm new! Any tips for me?" -- I appreciate the time it takes to write those emails and to send them my way, but every time, I'll just say, "Keep shooting. Read a lot. Practice! Shoot. Read! And I've posted up FAQs before that hold most of my tips.") Okay. Now that I've been a big meanie, let me actually try and share some information.

Something I'm focusing on this year is stretching myself creatively with posing. I've posted a FAQ in the past about interacting with clients -- which is important to know, but before you have the vision in your head of what you want the shot to be, how will you instruct your clients? I am continually browsing magazines. I subscribe to Vanity Fair, Teen Vogue and NYLON. I buy VOGUE occasionally. I receive the J. Crew catalogue and the Urban Outfitters catalogue. I pick up the free magazines in the checkout line at H&M. The anthropologie catalog is also available online if you're Canadian and can't receive it in the mail like the lucky Americans can! :)

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Another one of my favourite resources lately is online style/indie/culture/lifestyle blogs. I'm loving LookBook.Nu, Indie Fixx, Bleu Bird Vintage, Our Paper Moon, Pop Culture Afternoon.They are a great way to find inspiration for brand boards, portrait sessions, photos that just make you happy. Below are some sweet photos I've found from my searching. Eee! These photos describe exactly the kind of emotions and fashion I love.

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I have two places where I store my inspiration: an online folder and then a hard copy of magazine cut-outs and that sort of thing. I have a big black coil binder that when I find time I paste ads in there and flip through before a session or a wedding. I try and keep one new pose in my mind while I'm shooting. It never hurts to try something. If it doesn't work, just throw the series of shots out! No harm done. I would say I have an arsenal of about eight different poses I consistently do in a session, that way, I'm never humming and hawing about what to do. But I always have one or two wacky ideas in the back of my head if the time is right.

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Okay, folks. I think that's all I got after writing for an hour on this lovely Monday morning. Let me know if you found this helpful or if there is anything else I can expand upon in a future post? I'm inspired! And ready for the engagement session season to start. :)

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I'm having another one of those days where I can't seem to sit still. I feel like constantly shaking: probably due to the adrenaline of my to-do list running through my veins, some really exciting stuff coming up in my business (EEE!) AND the very caffeinated green tea I had on an empty stomach in a client meeting this morning. And I had 86% dark chocolate for lunch. With an apple. I'm such a balanced woman. ;)

I want to talk to y'all (I don't know why I love typing y'all. I'm not Southern at all. I never say it. But typing y'all is just fun) a little bit today about social networking. I really don't like the excuse some photographers give for not blogging, for not twittering, for not facebooking: "I'm too busy." If you're too busy, I'd venture to say you're spending your time working on things in your business that you don't need to be doing: like editing or designing albums. Don't! (Oooh, I'm calling you all out now!) Take a break from the to-do list and spend some time working on your business, instead of in your business.

I think the world of blogging is brilliant. The world of social networking in general is brilliant. I've connected to a huge network of photographers through forums like OpenSourcePhoto, sites like Twitter and Facebook and my blog. These connections and networking sites have led to second-shooting opportunities, referrals to wedding clients in faraway places (like the wedding I'm shooting in Malibu next year) and great life-long friends I've made along the way.

Just a little reminder today to step back and look at the big picture in your business. Could you hire somebody to package those client DVDs and drop them off at the post office while you take a vendor you admire out for lunch and learn about their business? Could you let go of your control-freak nature and outsource your album design so you'd be free to spend one day a week refining you brand? Consider this a challenge. ;) GO!

[Edited to Add] Oh yes, before I go and receive a ton of questions about who I use for album design, that would be my brother Brandon Peterson. You can contact him at peterson.brandon@gmail.com - he will hook you up!

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My green tea and I. Taken by my friend Christi Ann who visited me last weekend! I did a quick session of her that I'll share in the next few days. ;) P.S. Christi and I met through the internet: there's a crazy little web of networking out there.

I sat down this morning at Blenz Coffee with my laptop and mug of strong, black coffee. I answered every email that had been sent to me (ha! okay that's a lie, but I got 75% of the way through!) and decided it was about time I wrote another FAQ post for my photographer blog readers. I tried scrolling through my "Photographers" folder of my email to look at past questions and what I could answer, and I wasn't feeling inspired. I tried to put myself in some one else's shoes, what would I ask myself? I couldn't think. Because I am myself. It was a little bit confusing and finally I gave up and twittered that I was about to write a FAQ post. Y'know, after all, when in doubt, don't actually do what you said you're going to do, just talk about doing it. Passes the time.

On facebook and my twitter replies I finally got inspired! So here I am world. This post is all about what to wear while shooting a wedding. Gentlemen, unfortunately there won't be much information for you here, but you have it pretty dang easy. Dress pants. Dress shirt. Shower before you go. Done. But for women it's a confusing battle between comfort and style and trying not to flash guests when you bend over, down or all around.

I'm no style queen. I try. I try hard. I love going downtown and people-watching and some people just got it going on! Maybe it's a struggle for all of us and they are simply doing a more convincing job of faking it... ;) I'll never know. Saying all this to say, I work hard trying to co-ordinate my outfits for wedding days and look halfway presentable and cute and stylish. Instead of guests saying, "Oh goodness me, that photographer dresses like she has no mother," I want them to say, "Excuse me, where did you get that dress, I LOVE IT!"

I'm not really a dress-pants kind of girl. I feel frumpy in them when I can't wear heels and I can't shoot in heels. See the problem here? :) On the odd occasion I do shoot in pants I'll just wear a nice blouse with some fun hair accessories or unique earrings. I mainly shoot weddings in dresses and skirts and my favourite stores are Banana Republic, RW & Co. (Canadian store), Ann Taylor LOFT, Reitmans (Canadian Store). Lately I've been loving shooting with black tights on underneath, so I don't have to worry about flashing anyone: and they are super comfy!

Here are some of my favourite outfits below--I hope this post helps you women photographers out! :)

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Get in touch with Jamie or view more of her online portfolio.