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! :)

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.

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.

Here’s an example of an ad I saw in J. Crew and the resulting photo from Lesley & Adam’s wedding. Obviously it’s not exact, but it’s my own take on it and provided some inspiration for the shot.

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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