Winners!

Yes, the winners are Stefan and Brian!

Why two winners you ask? Well, because it's my blog and my contest and I want to have more than one winner! Stefan's name was the first name drawn from the bowl so he will get a print of his choice. Congrats on winning the contest Stefan and thanks for voting for myslef-portrait.

Brian's name was the second name drawn from the bowl, which was lucky because I was going to give him a prize anyways for being the MOST LOYAL BLOG READER 2007! Brian will also get a print of his choice.

So, there's a little motivation for all of my blog readers in 2008 - comment and participate because next year's contest is sure to be even better!

Stefan

Stefan, in his sketch comedy group Elephant Larry. I had a brand new digital camera, my D70, and Stefan asked me to come and photograph their dress rehearsal. I was terrified! It was the first time I had ever been officially asked to shoot anything for anyone. Overall, I did a pretty terrible job and delivered about 300 unusable photos because I had no idea what I was doing. At the time, it killed my confidence but now I know it's because it's not what I am interested in shooting and not something I would ever care to do. Just because you're a photographer doesn't mean you photograph everything equally awesome. I would still pretty much suck in the same situation today which is why I only shoot what I want to now.

Earliest Digital Photos - Brian and Dana's Wedding

On June 23rd, 2001 our very good friends Brian and Dana got married. At the time, they were really only J's very good friends. I was fairly new to the gang and this was my first big introduction as "the girlfriend". I was so nervous to meet J's friends that I pretty much made a horrible impression. Also, back in those days, I didn't want to be seen with my "big camera" because for some reason I was embarrassed (?!?!) so I didn't take it and therefore have no photographs from their wedding day. I wish I had them now because, come on, look how young we all are!?! But I also didn't know I would still be around as "the girlfriend" 8 years later and that we would all have attended each others' weddings by then.

This is one of my all-time favorite photographs of me and J together. It's not the best photo of J but it's the only time I've seen him in a tux, and, let's be honest, I look freaking great in this picture. I love my hair in this picture, I love my completely wrinkle-free face, and my "bemused tolerance" smile.


And now one where I don't look so good, but J does:


And now (almost) the whole gang:

from left to right: Spoons, Some Guy I don't know, Stefan, Andrea, Gordon, J, Me, Al, Kathy, and Liz. Spoons and Kathy are now married and both PhDs, Stefan is married with a baby on the way, Me and J are married, and Liz is married with her second baby on the way.

Drinks over Boxes

More goodbyes with friends...this time sharing a drink with our friend Stefan. I like that this one really feels like the last few days before a move - lots of boxes, no place to sit, scotch in plastic cups, and a few random things left to be done.

Cute

Me and Stefan. How cute are we?

Stefan's new tattoo, in honor of Katy Belle's impending arrival.

Stefan got a little baby holding practice, with a very patient Char, in preparation for Katy Belle's arrival.

The big event of the next day was Stefan and Biz's official maternity portrait session. This has been all over my pro site but I wanted to pick just a couple of my favorites to share here.

Camp III

Want to find out what this photo is all about?? I uploaded about a 100 photos to flickr so if you'd like to see things like Brian in a pie eating contest, J and Stefan dancing, and a crazy amazing juggler...you should go check it out.

You can also see the Manning's pics at Spinning Mud and all the pics from everyone at the camp at the Camp Spoonhowopic Flickr Page.

Stefan and Biz

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Larry

"Larry" loves to ham it up for the camera - these are pretty subdued. We thought he looked like a young Richard Petty...see below.

You never know what you may get roped into when you hang out at Stefan and Biz's house.

I have taken a lot of pictures of Stefan over the years, but this is my new favorite.