Speaking of heat, this wedding was from July 14. It was so hot that day, that we did all the photos inside at the Astor Hotel (the entire event was there). Altan is from Turkey, so it was a treat for me to see some of the Turkish traditions in place. For instance, it’s traditional for the family of the groom to give the bride jewlery before the wedding. All of a sudden there were about 10 people in the room that Emily was getting ready in, and they all had a different gift! It was really interesting to watch! Also, there were some beautiful dances to watch.

The other thing that was fun was the arrival of the Wisconsin Marching Band! That was amazing!

Some of my favorites:

Man it’s hot outside! I think they said it was 98 degrees. I guess I will have to be confined to my office today!

Anyways, it wasn’t *quite* as hot on Saturday when I photographed Nicholas and Julie! Here are some of my favorites:

Last Thursday I did my first weekday wedding ever! It was actually for one of my very first assitants. Her parents are missionaries in Africa and were only going to be in the States for a short period. Naturally she wanted her parents to be able to attend the wedding, and viola! A Thursday wedding was born!

She got ready at her grandmothers house. I really liked the photo of her in the bedroom, because in the background you can see an old photo of her grandmother and her sister.

She walked from the house to the church, so I thought the neighborhood walking photo was kind of cute!

Well! I don’t know what the deal is with the number 2, but I’ve won Second Place in two separate events this month!

First, I’ve won second place in the Portrait Category in the Vital Source Magazine Photography Contest.

On Thursday, August 10 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 p.m., VITAL will host Random Exposure at The Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design, featuring the Top 50 photographs submitted. The exhibit is free of charge and will feature food from Vucciria, beer and soda from Point Brewing Co. and music by Diamonds.

If you are available and would like to stop by, I would love to see everyone!

Secondly, I entered the 24 hour film festival put on by the Milwaukee Art Museum. My team consisted of myself, my boyfriend who is a filmmaker, and two actors. We showed up at 10:30 on the first day and received our subject matter, which was “Confess”. We then had 24 hours to write, shoot, and edit a short film. If you are interested in viewing this film, you can follow the link here:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2758016

P.S. The subject we picked was an attempt to be innovative with the subject matter, so don’t expect something like a priest or a long lost love confession.

I carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)
I am never without it
I fear no fate, I want no world
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root
and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;
which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

I had two weddings this weekend!

Here are two photos to tease you with. More later this week!

More photos from Becky and Peters wedding a few weeks ago! Peter is originally from the Netherlands….Becky’s family hosted a foreign exchange student, Isabel, whom they all became very close to. So when Isabel got married and invited Becky to the wedding…Becky met Peter, who was the brother of the groom, and as they say, the rest is history!

Some more of my favorites:

I have been selected as a finalist in the Vital Source Magazine 2006 Photography Contest!

I never enter Photo Contests, but am starting to feel that I should start doing this more. I am very excited to be a finalist. Wish me luck!

I am working on an updated look for my logo and would appreciate any feedback!! Please comment here, or email me directly at jessica@spirit17.com Thanks so much!!

Patrick and Martha are off in Puerto Rico right now, and I must say I am very jealous! My mother is from Puerto Rico and we would often visit my grandmother there when I was little. I havent been there in at least 10 years though, and I would love to go back. I wonder how things have changed there?

Something very interesting happened at this wedding! A gentleman came up to me and told me that his wife’s sister is a photographer. “Do you know of Joyce Tenneson?” he asked. I don’t think my eyes could have gotten any bigger. Joyce Tenneson, who is based in New York and has 11 books out, was one of my favorite photographers in college. I did a report on her in college and just for the heck of it, I thought I’d look up her phone number and see if I could ask her a few questions. Assuming I would get a represenative or something, you can imagine my shock when Joyce herself answered the phone. I’ve never been so nervous in my life!! So I told the gentleman this story and he took me over to meet his wife, Joyce’s sister. Her sister ended up giving me her business card and telling me I should contact her and get Joyce’s personal number.

I am so excited about this!! I would love to go to New York and see if she’d look at my fine art portfolio. Could you imagine if she said yes?

Anyways, Patrick and Martha are awesome. I actually saw them quite a bit because their wedding was over a two day period!

Here are some of my favorite images from the wedding: