Wow.  What a year.  October 20 was my one year anniversary of owning and operating Gregory Photography in the little town of Hawley, Mn.  Over thirty weddings.  Twenty-eight high school senior pictures.  A couple dozen family portraits and almost two hundred toddlers have come into my studio with their proud mothers and fathers for pictures.  I've gone to the hospital four times to shoot newborn portraits and am having the time of my life.  It's also terrifying owning a business.  I never know if I'll be able to pay rent etc etc etc.  But I have and on time, too for over a year.  I've had nothing but compliments on all my work... the first major diss is probably going to send me spiraling.  It's not a matter if, but when.  Lots and lots of valuable lessons were learned this year.  Advertising... uffda.  Boy did I learn some tough expensive lessons with advertising.  Paper phonebooks will not be part of my plan this next year except for one.  He's local and owns the local paper and I value my working relationship with him very, very much.  Other phone books?  I will feel no loss.  Backing everything up on a second portable harddrive.  That was a really, really expensive lesson learned.  My bride finally forgave me after I spent a couple grand retrieving her pictures off a frozen portable.  It took two months and a few free gifts (wedding book, double the prints, etc.) for her to finally feel 'okay.'  Now, everything I do is doubled right away.  Everything.  I  bring the cf card to the studio, I copy it onto my two hard drives.  It's funny, but weddings are kinda like a vacation for me.  I have so much fun shooting them.  Exhausting, but terrifically fun.  I'm very active and amiable enough that I get my bridal parties to do almost anything.  This next summer I have a wedding way up near the Boundary Waters Canoe area.  I'm hoping they follow my advice and have their wedding in a canoe and way out in the middle of the lake.  That would be a dream for me.  It's gonna be one heck of a fantastic shoot to begin with.  I have no specific hours and yet I regularly work twelve hour days.  It can't really be work, if I love it.... right?

Anyway... I do miss spending hours and hours shooting snakes and frogs and turtles and flowers and insects.  Didn't have time to breathe very much in that direction.  Maybe this next summer.  I will have a bottle feeding baby lamb for three days in my studio for portraits this Easter.  I'm so excited.... giddy excited.



Create your own visitor map!