Tuesday, October 19, 2010

I Turn My Camera On

-Spoon

Day 73 of marriage
Day 6 of blogging?

Is that right?  Yep, I've been slacking.


We, as a married couple, have taken the dive into entrepreneurialism.  Tough word to spell, and tough life to live.  We've started our own photography business, and we're attempting to support ourselves off of only our photography and our music.

What a beautiful life that would be, right?  But it's also scary.

Here are my initial thoughts:

-After working at 7:30 in the morning at a woodworking shop, I find there's nothing more beautiful than waking up, making coffee, and sitting with my wife on a couch - editing pictures together, building a website, designing advertising, or just researching photography techniques.

-It's scary not having a steady source of income.  Winter's coming, and I'm not sure how many people want ice-covered photo shoots for their families.

-However, it's really exciting how many different opportunities we have coming up that are *almost* within reach.

On the whole, it's exciting and scary and rewarding and wonderful and terrifying.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.  I am an artist, and now my entire life can be dedicated to two things:  Love and making art with my love.

-Mr.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Oh! Susanna

- James Hill

Day 51 of Marriage
Day 5 of Blogging

This weekend was the second ukulele festival that the hubby and I had the pleasure of attending.  They just keep getting better and better!  Ukulele-ists almost always have this unassuming air that lacks ego, judgment and airs of superiority altogether.  These festivals always turn out to be the most healthy gathering of musicians of any age and background.  But this last festival we become inspired.  Instead of just being a vocalist/violinist and bassist who attend these festivals with a ukulele-ist, why not be ukulele-ists?  Why not incorporate this instrument that we have come to love into our own music?

So that, my friends, is precisely what we intend to do.  We're taking our old recordings and finding the perfect spots for ukulele and re-recording!  We're be playing the uke at shows, jamming in the parks, (well, figuratively now because it's way too cold to do that now), "taking it to the streets" if you will.

Now just to learn the ultimate musical weapon:  A  D  G


or in ukulele:


(Yeah, I know they're not the same chords, but you get the point.)



- Mrs.

Friday, September 17, 2010

On the Road Again

-Willie Nelson

Day 41 of Marriage
Day 4 of Blogging

You would think that a pair of married musicians would go out and buy some new music, put together some new mixes on the ol' iPod, or in some other way prepare for a road trip with music.

You would think that, but you would be wrong.  Apparently, the way that married musicians travel is by listening to an audiobook of Walden by Henry David Thoreau.  If that gets old, we have some podcasts of NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me."  We must be getting old...

Anyway, we're driving to Minnesota today to celebrate our marriage a second time.  A second reception, with our family members from the North who were unable to attend the wedding itself.  It promises to be quite the shindig.

And for the drive, we'll have a manly Transcendentalist crooning in our ears...  and maybe a new Florence and the Machine album.

What's your favorite road trip music?

-Mr.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Non-Photo Blue

- Pinback

Day 40 of Marriage
Day 3 of Blogging

Sometimes it's wonderful working with your spouse.

The Mr. and I are currently in the process of beginning our own photography business.  We purchased a Canon Rebel T2i with our wedding gift money and spent our honeymoon practicing.  Sunday we took our final session of engagement pictures of our dear friends and are in the processing of finishing all the post-production, which is far more time consuming than most would think.

While editing pictures this morning I messaged another friend and asked if she might be willing to do a shoot with us to bulk up our portfolio.  Lo and behold, she spoke with her mother and we are now in the process of negotiating a Christmas shoot for the entire family - and their dogs!

So, it seems that this business venture of ours could actually turn into something promising.  And, as we were sitting on the couch together this morning, I became very thankful that I am able to do creative, and sometimes lucrative, things with my husband.  We sipped coffee and discussed photographing techniques, photoshop tricks and location ideas.  And it's those conversations about ideas and visions and passion that bring a couple closer together.  So if we can make a career out of pushing each other, encouraging each other and making art together, we have to be one of the luckiest couples out there.

- Mrs.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Rhyme and Reason

-Dave Matthews Band

Day 39 of marriage
Day 2 of blogging

Last night, I got my big wedding present from the Mrs.  She bought us tickets to see the Dave Matthews Band way back in April, and we finally got to cash them in.  She's not a She wasn't a Dave Matthews Band fan, so you can appreciate how sweet and kind a gift it was.  She decided to pay way too much money to stand for some three hours in a crowded arena that stinks with the stench of some 17,000 people (yes, 34,000 armpits); to be elbowed by the woman next to her, to cringe every time the woman next to her decided to scream her dog-whistle-meets-fog-horn scream;  to watch the five couples within our immediate vicinity forget that they were in public and press their bodies together (not with the beat, and) in vulgar ways.  And most of all, she overcame her fear of 24 minute long jam sessions.  Especially those involving her most hated instrument - the saxophone (which I play...  er, used to play).

It's the kind of selfless love that is a good sign for a budding marriage.

But I think she had fun, too.  A few notes:

1)  Dave Matthews Band has more control over dynamics than any band I've ever heard.
2)  Drum solos are more impressive when the drummer is blowing bubbles with bubble gum the whole time, as if to say "It ain't no thang."
3)  24 minute jams can be fun for a bored vocalist if you point out to her the bassist's funny dance, or fun things the drummer is doing.
4)  Crowds scream at the strangest times during violin solos.
5)  Most importantly, I love my wife very much, and am glad that we can bond over music.

That's all for today, kiddos.
- Mr.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

"Where to Begin"

- My Morning Jacket

Day 38 of Marriage
Day 1 of Blogging

When people look for someone with whom they wish to spend the rest of their lives, they look for different things; a love of outdoors, similar political views, a personal drive in their career, etc.  A musician usually gives up early in life trying to find another musician who is like-minded, yet different enough to not pose an artistic threat.  Musicians end up with visual artists, or better yet, people who can actually make money with their talents.  But when the Mr. and I met that fateful day in the music building, we knew that we could never be with someone who didn't make music again.

You know that feeling of knowing someone down to their very core?  With a musician, there is only so far down you can go before the music takes over and, those who don't speak music, can't go any further.  That is not to say that a musician is more deep than, say, a lawyer.  It is only to say that we speak a different language.

When people have found the person they want to spend the rest of their lives with, they generally leave their home in the morning and go to different jobs, coming back home to spend their evenings together and complain about the idiots with whom they work or the stress of their career.

We were foolish enough not to do that.

Instead we decided that we should go into business together - through our cover band, our ukulele jazz trio, our photography, our recording, everything.  We have made the conscious decision to be the idiots with whom we work.

So these will be our stories.  Of dealing with each other through work, art and marriage.

Maybe we all might just learn something along the way.

- Mrs.