Gearing Up

It seems as if there’s a package per day coming to the house these last couple of weeks in my beloved B&H or distinct Amazon boxes.  It’s the sure tale sign of wedding season approaching!!!  My UPS guy & I are on a first name basis by now.  And I think it was fate for him to be my guy in brown…he’s a hobbyist photographer.  The B&H boxes always get a little tender love and care on the way to my address.

“New lens?!”, Bill exclaims as he hikes it up our front stoop stairs.  (Because Bill knows lenses & cameras require pain-in-the-butt-to-make-sure-you’re-home signatures.)

“You’re here! You’re here! Yup, it’s a new lens. I have been tracking number stalking you all week.”, I reply like a little kid waiting for Santa.

“Well you have fun with that.  I remember the days of discovering new equipment.  Maybe I should buy something new myself?”, Bill ponders.

I smile and send him off with a “I don’t think I’ll ever stop!”

All of the learning I’ve been doing the past year has been a home-schooling adventure of sorts.  Tangently clicking into the wee hours from You Tube video to Vimeo link on the in’s and out’s of how to set custom white balance, how to meter for the sky, how to use strobe lighting.  Some nights my head felt like it was going to burst like an overfilled water balloon when it hit my pillow after way too many hours of dude’s with accents from all over the world using the word aperture a bit too much.

But thanks to a notorious slower winter season, I’ve had the opportunity to really invest some daylight hours into professional online workshops hosted by some of the top photographers in the world.  It seems now as if my Amazon shipments are equally proportional to the number of workshops I’ve watched.  Bravo to the sponsors who sucker us into their genius products.

Reflectors, strobe lights, white balance cards…man, what a great enhancement they bring to the table.  Maybe I was a bit naïve before claiming not to be MGM Studios with intimidating equipment in my bag, but I’ve learned it’s only intimidating if you don’t' know how to use it! 

Gear bag is stocked.  New lens is kickin’.  Second camera is so crisp.  Softboxes are loaded.

Let’s do this!!!  2012 Wedding #1 kicks off the season in Costa Rica next week.  Yes, I said Costa Rica.  And I am so very thankful to be able to deliver it’s beauty to you all very soon.  I can envision the plush green jungle-lined cliffs filled with miniature springing monkeys and Toucan Sam’s in the trees. (Toucan Sam has to live there.  It’s only right.)

Now…onto packing my suitcase!!