The toughest part about this shoot was probably figuring out when I could do it. I had some car maintenance to take care of, a river float adventure to participate in, a Highland Games event to attend, and a last minute baby sitting favor to volunteer for. So, finally, I was able to get this shoot done last night.

It wasn’t too difficult, once I got everything set up. I made a hat, even if it was a bit tall for the photo. I put on a wide angle lens for an intentionally, slightly distorted look. I plugged in one shop light (make that 2, after the first one fell down and broke), aimed it at a reflector for a little fill light. Then I was ready to go, once I lit the candle. Then it was easy-cheesy. And if you’ve been reading my blog for even a short time, you know that the cheesy is almost always present in these self-portraits.

Anyway, enough about the shoot. Here is the final result…

This couldn’t have happened without my friend, Natasha Ali, who invited me to shoot alongside her  for this wedding. I also want to thank the bride, Renee, for providing the information for the rest of the vendors, which can be found on La Belle Bride under the featured wedding. I’m glad they have been acknowledged as well!

The wedding took place at Strathcona Lodge on Vancouver Island. The gorgeous setting along with the beautiful bride made for some great photographic opportunities! Make sure to check out the post which includes photos from both Natasha and me.

You can see them here at La Belle Bride!

And here it is: I just had a hard drive crash. I have been going through a lot to get back into the swing of things. If you’ve never had a hard drive crash, first thank your lucky stars. Secondly, read on to find out what a nightmare it can be…

This is my second hard drive failure in very recent history. The first one taught me to back up everything immediately. I did lose a few things, including precious, irreplacable photos. I fortunately had almost everything backed up onto DVDs and CDs, but it was still painful to lose even some of my things. After that crash, I invested in a RAID external hard drive. It is 2 drives in one, and everything that I put on one is automatically copied onto the second. In additon to that, I continue to back up everything on DVDs as well. I would say that I am less paranoid than prepared, especially considering my recent crash. Good thing I have that external hard drive, huh?

So, I didn’t lose anything that I couldn’t get back this time around, but this time it was my new computer’s internal drive that crashed. This time it was only a matter of inconvenience for me. Once I figured out what the heck happened to my brand spanking new Mac, I took it in and got a new drive within 2 days (still under warranty, woohoo!!). When you decide to purchase a new computer, you’re usually too excited to care about all of the updates and installations you have to do, but when you unexpectedly have to do all of that (right after having just done it weeks earlier), it can be quite annoying. I’m still in the process of doing everything. I seem to have lost some software since installing it the first time… I know it’s around here somewhere.

Anyway, it’s been a huge pain. I mean I JUST did all of this a couple of months ago! I had everything the way it should be and then bam! I had to do it all over again. I really shouldn’t complain since I didn’t lose anything important. I would just like to emphasize how important it is to BACK UP EVERYTHING! Hopefully you’ll take my word for it, because it’s not a matter of IF, it’s a matter of WHEN. Or so I’ve heard. And for me, I guess it’s a matter of how often?

So, this weekend is dedicated to getting my software installed, and then I can continue with my posts. I’m also in the process of updating the look of my site. So far I have added some social media buttons, including Twitter updates. Have you noticed the little sidebar drawer tab? Pretty cool, huh?  Next I will probably be updating my gallery pages to look very sleek. Just before the crash I was able to upgrade my ProPhoto 2 WordPress theme to the fabulous ProPhoto 3 version that you see before you. This one includes some gallery options that I’ve been searching for for far too long. I’ll let you know when those are up. I can’t wait!

Now if I could just find that software…

I will only have time for one photo session before the end of September. This means, you’ll have to win yours by leaving a COMMENT in response to THIS post, about why you want to do this and I will pick which one I like the best!

Find out about the organization, how you can attend a fun event, and how else you can help at www.gethitchedgivehope.com .

To be a photo giver yourself: www.gethitchedgivehope.com/2010/08/be-a-photo-giver .

I’m super excited about finally being able to process my photos fast! It’s been a long time coming. That means that I will be able to take on way more projects and post more often! I am getting a free iPod Touch along with it, so thanks Apple! I am debating on an iPhone purchase too, but I think the iPod Touch will at least suffice for the time being.

Anyway, I’m pretty excited about these new toys. They will serve me much better in posting new content here and on my Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tracie-Howe-Photography/179744273518 . Heck, I might even join Twitter at this rate.

The Victorian Valley Chapel was a quaint setting for the ceremony. The exterior was picturesque nestled in a grassy valley and the interior was beautiful with large stained glass windows as the backdrop for the ceremony.

The weather was ideal for pictures after the ceremony and we managed to get through most of the group shots pretty quickly. The bride and groom were great about trekking up the hill for some neat couples shots. They did a fabulous job posing on their own and taking direction to get a combination of natural and candid shots. Here is a cute photo from after the ceremony…

For more from this wedding, please visit my Weddings gallery.

I have some adjustments to make that I am aware of, but there are some problems that I can’t see. So, I invite you to comment on how it looks from your end. The more specific you are about the problem, and the browser, screen specifications, etc, the more likely I’ll be able to fix the problem. For example, because the “zoom” setting in my own browser was wrong, my header images looked off, so I easily adjusted for that.

Also, feel free to make any positive, “way to go” type of comments!

Meanwhile, please focus on what is currently the main substance of my site, the galleries!