Slowing down for what matters & 365:32-40.

I have to admit that these days with work and wedding planning, it's easy to get self-absorbed and be too busy for anything else.  After going through the Purpose Driven Life with my small group (more about that on another blog), I feel the need to make some changes in my day-to-day.

I love the quote "it's all the tiny decisions you make daily that make up your character."  Or "your life is the sum result of all the choices you make."  I can't keep making excuses with my "busyness" and push certain things off until after the wedding.  Changes never happen overnight, and if I keep waiting, I may never run out of excuses.

At the end of the day, it's not about finishing X amount of tasks that day.  I want to be able to know that I've been a good friend, a good fiancee, a good daughter, and a good neighbor.  I guess sometimes I need someone to tell me to slow down and just be available. :)

"Busyness is a great enemy of relationships.  We become preoccupied with making a living, doing our work, paying bils, and accomplishing goals as if these tasks are the point of life.  They are not.  The point of life is learning to love - God and people." - Purpose Driven Life.

And speaking of 2010 resolutions and 30 before 30 goals, it's really embarrassing to see that I haven't maintained or achieved much out of my list (I'll have to have a separate blog post of my progress there).

At the very least, I started p90x all over again and we are keeping up with the 365 project for 2010 resolutions... but we do have to work on posting them up to date.  Here are the next set for the 365 photo a day for 2010.  Just 32-40 this time (see previous here).  We decided for the month of February, we'd do something different and have vertical/portrait photos.

02.01.10 Snacks straight from Japan!  CVS.  I have no creative caption for you.



02.02.10 Organizing is not my nature, but I can stack!  Dinosaurs are so much more fun to eat.



02.03.10 Yane's engagement ring and cute card from Ben.  Late-night tennis... in freezing weather!



02.04.10 Fortune or advice.  Still temporary business cards.



02.05.10  After and before.  I made the alfredo sauce (for the recipe).  It's great when recipes say quick and easy.  Jacob cooked the rest.



02.06.10  Yane and Ben's e-session.



02.07.10 Brainstorming ideas with a florist.  Superbowl Sunday.



02.08.10  My inspiration wall.  Saegye: our inspiration to grow plants!



02.09.10  One of my girls trying on my bridesmaid dress.  Praying for Haiti.

365: 11-20.

Whoa, it's almost the 30th!  Time sure flies.  Guess we should catch up on the 365 posts where we take a photo a day for 365 days (first set here).  Again, if you are here for wedding/portrait work, please navigate using the links to the right.  Esther: left, Jacob: right.

11: Monday night bowling.



12: a) I love free Swiss Miss!  b) Bristow.



13: a) Guess who's picture showed up in Atlanta Weddings?  Mine.  b) Save ussssss!



14: a) Ben's headshots.  b) Maintenance needed.



15: a) Glass of wine a day keeps the doctor away. b) Hotel for the weekend.



16: a) Will you? b) Oh, nuts!



17: a) Carol's new bling.  b) Which of these things is not like the other?



18: a) New studio sample guestbook.  b) Home sweet home.



19: a) Mmm, charcoal.. tasty.  b) Hulk smash!



20: a) Spring Hall. b) Visitor at pre-marital counseling.

Re-igniting that passion for photography.

If you are on my blog to see wedding and portrait work, please use the links on the right hand side to navigate through the site. :)

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As glamorous as it seems to be a photographer that travels the world and shoots weddings, and as much as I do love and appreciate my job and the people I work with, sometimes work can become just work.  The majority of it really is sitting in front of a computer editing, which can become rather boring.  Running the business, doing all the business related stuff - IMHO since I'm not business savvy is absolutely no fun for me (but thank God I have someone by my side who is!).

Sometimes you just get busy and personal projects get pushed to the back burner, but I find them absolutely vital in keeping the soul of a photographer alive.  The more I am going through the 365 (it's only the end of the second week), the more I realize how important it is to take photos purely for yourself and your love of photography.

Of course it would be easy to take random photos.  There are random objects all around me that are dying to be photographed.  But for me, I wanted this project to have more purpose.  To force me to lug around my heavy camera waiting for a perfect photo opportunity.  To document the important details of my day to day.  To inspire me.  To remind me why I love what I do. :)

Although I would love to post a blog everyday, I realize it would be way too time consuming, and it would most likely interfere with my work-related photos and make the blog harder to navigate through.  This is why I decided I'm just going to combine them into one post weekly or bi-weekly (ten at a time).  If the site becomes too hard to navigate, I may set up a separate site just for these photos.  Tell me what you think.  Feedback would be much appreciated!

Again, mine are on the left.  Jacob's are on the right. :)  First one's a repeat.



E: My favorite two things to eat and sip on at Maum while I chat it up with my brides. :) J: Chloe's two front teeth.



E: Wall-e and our christmas tree that's still up.  J: Juiceboxes at an indonesian restaurant.



E: Taking my shiny, new bowling ball for it's first spin.  J: All the players.



E: My grandma = my favorite model.  So precious. J: New sign? at bwb.  Doesn't this look like an ad together?



We cheated and collaborated on this one.  It was late, but we decided to play around and paint with light.



E: Catching snow in my mittens! J: Nachhhoooooooooooo....



E: Omgoodness, the snow stuck!  J: friendly helper scouting locations for the proposal.



E: This is what the boys called a power hour after a long day of work.  J: What's my future?



E: I'm engaged! J: Hanging out with the girls.



Thank you for your interest in our day-to-day. ^^

XOXO,
Esther & Jacob

Cheers to 2010!

First of all, since it is a new year, I wanted to start up another 365 (a photo a day for one year)...  not that any of my previous attempts were successful, but why not start off on a new slate and give it a go.  I've done random photos and portraits, and the furthest I've probably gone was a month or two.

This year, I was thinking about doing something different, perhaps more of a collaboration (maybe that can be 2011?) or a photo pairing where two people take a photo a day not knowing what the other is shooting, and then posting them side by side.

Not only is it good practice, but every photographer needs to have personal projects to spur creativity... and a little teamwork may help motivate me to keep it going longer.  So here's number 1!  Mine will show on the left, while Jacob's will be on the right.  Rest assured, no bunnies were killed to make the soup.  Click the photo to view a larger version.



Looking back at 2009, I can honestly say I feel like I've accomplished more in this one year than my entire life.  I hope I can say the same about 2010.  I revisited my entry on 2009 resolutions, and I'm surprised to see that I've achieved quite a few of them.  I visited two continents I've never been to: Europe and Africa.  Made a new friend from a completely different culture, language, etc.  Read more.  All sorts of books.  Even finished the bible twice.  Pretty good for not being a book person, yeah?  I've slowly learned to cook (easier dishes like green bean casserole, but cooking is still cooking).  And I may have never learned conversational German while I was in Germany, but I guess it's not that useful anymore now that I would have no one to speak German to.

I have grown A LOT...

personally. with photography. with owning a business.
peeled off another layer and gone a little deeper with God.
mended a lot of broken relationships with friends and family.
learned more about grace and forgiveness.
learned more of what/who love is and through that learned to love just a teeny bit more.

but I also know there's so much more growing to do.  (which is why it is taking me forever to put together my resolutions list or rather my S.M.A.R.T. goals which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-sensitive.)  I'll have to post the resolutions later.

The growing sure is a lifelong journey.... but I'm looking forward to it.  Cheers to 2010! :)