Satya

RocketRascals1
Originally uploaded by juliet.c_morgan

Just had to share this photo! Satya is getting so big, and dressing so stylishly.

Evan + Dogs = Funny

Evan is one of my favorite assistants for working on location. For some reason he keeps getting stuck with the job of dog wrangler. :)

Mustache Mafia

Hmmm... Disco and I feel left out. We are the only ones around here with out handsome 'staches.

Jingle Ball

The famed Jingle Ball was this weekend. This annual event is always a Who's Who of Austin movers and shakers. Our politicking friend Andy Brown is on "The Committee" so we got an invite. :) It was great to be a guest and not "the photographer". The Nash Hernandez Orchestra kept the crowd entertained. Notable guests included style avatar Stephen Moser, lobbyist extraordinair Lawrence Collins, Do512 founders Jimmy Stewart and Scott Owens, and MANY MANY others.

SXSW is coming!!!

Iggy276
Originally uploaded by SleddPhotography

The magazine requests for SXSW are pouring in. Today I heard from teenVOUGE and PLANETmagazine. Looks like I'll have some photos in some big magazines so watch the March newstands. Yipee!

Super Fun Print Pricing

I'm happy to announce I'm changing my print pricing for 2008 weddings. The new prices are "at cost" to encourage guests to make as many prints as their hearts desire. :)

The inspiration for the change is the amount of fun I've had ordering prints of my little niece who lives in Seattle. I've loved being able to order all of the photos her mom posts and having the bill only be a few dollars plus shipping.

Professional photographers are encouraged to mark up print prices because it adds to perceived value of the services. (read this) I'm not buying into that strategy anymore!!! All of my brides own their digital negatives so their is nothing stopping them from posting all of the images in an online gallery for friends to order. I'm making it so they don't have to go through the trouble! This does mean I'm giving up a couple of thousand dollars of print profits annually, but I'd rather have my photos in the hands of potential future customers.

What's funny is my boyfriend has been telling me to do this for 2 years. Babbling on about scarcity and abundance and how the internet changes the economics of such things (here's an article he sent me that tells part of the story), but i haven't really listened until now. :)

Okkervil River

I photographed Okkervil yesterday at the recording studio. The photos are for the cover of an Australian music magazine. Fun! The band wanted 4 different looks in less than an hour. We used Elinchrom Rangers, Visateks and 580ex for the light.

The Studio

Austin Bridal Extravaganza

It's almost that time of year again! The Bridal Extravaganza is just around the corner. I'll be there sporting some new prints and books so please stop by and say hello if you are at the show. Do512 is giving away a handful of free tix so be sure to sign up for those if you want to save $12.

Plantable Cards

I'm a big fan of novelty products. :) These cards made by Gilah Press are plantable. Thats right. These pretty letterpress cards are embedded with wildflower seeds... you bury the card in the dirt and it grows. Fun.

OMG - TMI

My goal for this week is to consolidate my 7 TERABYTES of information. The last three years I've changed file management systems three times and a full overall is long overdue. At the end of the week I'm hoping to have 2 copies of all "historic" files and a new systematic approach to handling live files. If everything goes as planned I'm going to put together an art show of "lost files". :)

Our old house...

Our old house is back on the market. For just over $650k it can be yours! After we moved 5 blocks away in the summer of '06 the new owner made a "few" improvements - like mahogany cabinets and 2000 sq ft. We walked through the house a few times while it was under construction and have peaked in the windows since its completion. It looks nice inside, but the lot is TINY! The only thing about the old house that I really miss are the ancient live oak trees. :)

oh fun

:) have a nice day.

Honeymoon Planning

Wow! I have a new found respect for my grooms (and brides) who plan honeymoons. We are going on a trip in February (not a honeymoon - just a trip) and I've been AMAZED by how much work it is to plan a big trip.

We knew we wanted to go to Costa Rica and we booked plain tickets months ago, but we didn't make any other plans. :) We've spent the last few days scouring Trip Advisor looking at info about the different parts of Costa Rica. Scott wanted to go surfing and spend time in remote Osa. I want to spend time riding horses, reading books and walking on the beach. Scott is much better at being "cut off" from the world so we've decided we are going to spend part of our trip in Osa at an eco-lodge and the rest of our trip in Mal Pais.

I booked our hotel rooms and regional flights today. It is soooo nice to have the planning done. Now it's time to do some shopping! A girl needs a great back pack and some lovely dresses for being on the beach.

Advent

Hey look who it is!!! I photographed her wedding AND her lovely daughter's wedding. :)




Today I photographed an Advent service at a local Catholic school. The photos are going to be used in the schools brochure. I'm going to do gym and technology photos in the spring. Yippee.

Nikon vs Canon

I read an amazing blog post at Photo Business News about the new Nikon D3 vs Canon 1ds Mark III. I've been a loyal Canon user since I started taking pictures 10 years ago. I regularly upgrade my equipment and until now Canon has been the best option for top of the line gear - especially in low light. Now Nikon is offering a body that is better in low light than anything Canon has to offer. I had never thought about leaving Canon until all of the recent problems with my Mark 1d Mark III. My camera body has been back to the factory for service 4 times in 5 months. For a product that costs $5k that is UNACCEPTABLE. Now I'm starting to entertain the idea of becoming a Nikon girl. I'm not happy with the low light primes Nikon offers, but the reviews of the new D3 have been VERY positive. One of my local photo friends (who shall remain unnamed) is making the switch to Nikon. It's very tempting.

Kate and Baker

Chumby!!!

Yea! Scott surprised me with a very cool birthday gift... a Chumby. I'd never scene or heard of the Chumby before today. Here is the description from the Chumby site...

The chumby is a compact device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web using your wireless internet connection. Always on, it shows — nonstop — what's online that matters to you.

I've already downloaded a few fun widgets - I have icanhascheezburger , Chumby 9000 and The Daily Puppy. (remember when Disco was on the Daily Puppy?)

The Chumby software is still in beta, but it will auto update. Yea! I'm going to try and add my Do512 widget and see if it will load on my toy. This is REALLY nerdy -- My user name is Mary on the Chumby site. :) I love getting to be Mary on websites/social networking services.

27 Dresses

Ok. I admit. I love wedding movies. Who wants to go to see 27 dresses with me?? The movie comes out in January. I hope it has wedding photographers. I find it very annoying when wedding movies don't have photographers.

Happy Birthday - To me!

Today is my birthday. To celebrate I'm having a party on Thursday. If you are reading this I'd more than likely love to have you stop by and say hello. Leave me a comment if you need times/directions. Hearts and stars! Thanks for another great year.

More time please...

Ok. I promised a post about Kate's wedding today. I edited most of the photos, but didn't quite get all the way through. There were just TOO many great ones. :)

Fun times!

Kate and Bakers wedding yesterday was AMAZING! I'll put lots of photos up tomorrow.