Engagement: Kathleen & Rich

Kathleen & Rich are so much fun!! I'm posting a lot of the funny images, but there were a lot of tender moments as well. I think it's a great sign when a couple has no problem being silly with each other - and it's even better when they can let go and relax like that in front of the camera!




We did half of our shoot at Meadow Brook Hall and the other half a the Oakland University parking garage (by the way, I love shooting in parking garages). It was such a c-c-c-cold day that Kathleen & Rich never really got to take their coats off! To top it off, the wind was blowing like crazy, which of course made it colder! As we were walking, I noticed how raindrops from the morning storm had perfectly beaded up on some of the leaves on the ground, so I asked Kathleen for her ring and basically laid on the wet ground to get this awesome ring shot. I love it!


I've been working on being able to give better "direction" when it comes to guiding people from behind the camera. The only problem is that I don't want to give too much direction because then it's too much of my personality and not enough of theirs. Well, for some reason I asked Kat & Rich to "frolic" and this was the first thing that came to mind... too funny! (Note to self - stupid word choice!)


I like lines and different angles, can you tell?




They both do a pretty mean Blue Steel impression...


Kathleen designed these awesome save-the-date magnets which she included in her holiday cards!! For printing, she used VistaPrint. They always have a sale of some kind going on, so you can usually score things for a pretty good price. Not to mention they have a pretty quick turnaround. Check out her crazy cool graphic design!!


Both of them can roll their tongues - now that's REAL talent! If they're THIS much fun during the engagement shoot, I can only imagine how much fun they'll be on the wedding day!! I can't wait!

LOVE IT: iPhone

I WANT AN iPHONE!!!!! I admit that I have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with Apple products. It's not a bad obsession to have, but it's definitely not a cheap obsession!! (Come to think of it, most of the things I'm obsessed with aren't cheap... perhaps that's why they're an obsession- because I can't readily have them all the time?? Hmmm.. deep thoughts.) To top it off, my husband is actually more obsessed than I am- regularly scouting Mac rumor sites. For us, the MacWorld Keynote is just as, if not more, important than the Presidential Address (sorry prez, you're losing your street cred.)



One of the first little signs that Alex and I clicked so well together, was during our VERY first encounter in the music technology lab at OU. I poked my head in the door, saw the Mac computers and said, "YES! I LOVE MACS!" Then, when we went to get each other's email address (notice I didn't say phone number), we pulled out the EXACT same Handspring Visor PDA (which was available in like 5 different colors). Who knew that being compatible on the geeky tech level would be so endearing?! Some people have favorite cult movies - we have computers. ;-)

Our household is already a shrine to Apple-made products. We have a G4 PowerMac, PowerBook, iMac, MacBook, 2 iPods, Shuffle, 2 Airport Express Stations, 2 iSights, and I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting... but you get the idea. If it's a breakthrough technology made by Mac- we probably have it laying around somewhere. So, last month, when it was time to look for a new cell phone and cell phone plan, we decided to wait until the MacWorld Keynote to see if the iPhone rumors were true before purchasing anything pre-emptively. Alex's cell phone looks sooo ghetto right now because he's got the battery strapped on with clear packaging tape, but you can bet he'll keep using it like that until he gets the iPhone in June!! For a while there, we were thinking about switching to Verizon because I loved the Chocolat and Envy phones, but a rumor that Mac had partnered with Cingular kept me holding on for the announcement of the iPhone. I used to sell cell phones for CenturyTel, back when cell phones were still a novelty for the wealthy, so I know a lot of the deep seeded weaknesses and strengths of the top 3 companies. I like Cingular the most because it uses the WORLD standard GSM. Which means that when you go to Europe or Asia, you can actually just purchase a pre-paid sim card to slip into your regular phone, rather than getting a whole new phone... plus, Cingular really does have the best service and business philosophy (IMHO).

I'm a huge fan of becoming a paperless office. I try to do as much as possible through email with .pdf files and image files in order to preserve more of our green resources (have you noticed my *subtle* love of trees and all things green?) I don't even have a fax machine anymore because I've figured out a way to send and receive faxes by email - which is the so awesome when you're dealing with contracts. One of the things that has really hindered me from being a completely paperless office has been not being able to view my contracts when I'm away from the office, unless I load them to my laptop and take my laptop with me, or carry them around on paper in a binder. What makes the iPhone cooler than anything else out there, is that it's more like a handheld computer than a phone. So, I can be on the phone with someone, check my email to receive their fax while I'm on the phone, and then instantly pull up their faxed contract paperlessly and wirelessly while I'm on the road (side of the road, that is - driving and reading don't mix) and process their credit transaction right then and there, all online, no wires, no papers, while they are still on the phone. How sweet is THAT?! This is also a great thing to have in an emergency situation on the job, because I would be able to post a message on a message board and get a ton of people to help me at once rather than trying to call a bunch of individuals- that alone makes it worth the $499 price tag. It doesn't seem like it will have GPS support in its first generation, but it does have Google Maps support - which is all I really need for now. I'm sure that future versions will include a location tracking feature as well as video phone features (yep, write those predictions down folks!)

When my last PDA busted, I didn't replace it because I couldn't find any breakthrough products that I really liked, but I still held onto my Palm Desktop software to organize all of the information. When Apple released their version of iCal which automatically syncronizes calendars with people you've subscribed to, I decided it was time to transfer all of my information into the Mac address book & iCal, and now I'm soooo glad I did, because it will wirelessly syncronize with the iPhone - so that if I make changes to my schedule on the phone, it will change the schedule on my computer, which will also change the schedule on all of my subscribed calendars across the world. Can we say, "BOO-YAH!!!!!"? Like I said before, the iPhone is soooo much more than a phone. You have to watch the presentation for yourself to really understand how powerful this thing is!!

Man, I could seriously go on FOREVER because I'm soooooo excited about this!!! As a side note, my husband is drooling over the iTV, so that it will be easier to have YouTube parties on the big screen. I kid you not... a bunch of us, sitting around our big screen, watching our favorite YouTube finds... yes, we are big time geeks! Speaking of YouTube.. check out the new iPhone features in this YouTube video. The little white dots you see on the screen are finger touches. The multi-touch technology is what makes this software beyond amazing.



OK, I PROMISE that my next post will include pictures of the wonderful people who help support all of my geeky habits!!! I'm just still overcome with joy about the whole iPhone thing!! Why do I have to wait until JUNE?!?!?!?!

Hot off the Press!!

On the wedding side of my spamtastic new website, I added the "Personal" gallery which is full of images chosen by clients. The coolest part is that they also have captions about the image or why the client chose the image as a favorite. There are many times when I'm amazed that someone chooses an image as a favorite, but I know it's because there's something that they connect to that goes much deeper than the image itself. This is also one of the reasons that I have a very hard time editing down my number of images!! I know there are photographers who can take 1500 pictures and edit them down to only 300-500 for the client to see, but it's seriously impossible for me to take that big of a cut. Part of me is really sentimental about each and every click, and the other part of me worries that I'll be throwing away something precious!! In any case, check out some of my clients favorite images, and see what they love about them - you may be surprised! (To my wonderful brides & grooms who aren't featured yet - I can add your images to the gallery at any time. ;-)


On the lifestyle side of the website, I added a new section called "Beauty" which (for now) features some of the headshot and fashion work I did before I really got into weddings. (As a side note, most of those images were captured on good ol' film.) At first I was going to call it "Talent" and include some of my live music photos, but I think I'll end up putting those in the "Art" section (which is really just a collage of things I do for my own enjoyment - or whenever I feel like I've been away from my camera for too long.)

ONLY 7 WEDDING DATES LEFT FOR 2007!!!

Now that my availability calendar is easy to access on my website, you can see what dates are still available. While there are more than 7 weekends availble on the calendar, I'm only taking on 7 more wedding clients for 2007 in order to give my current (and future) clients as much personal attention as possible. I'll still be accepting lifestyle and portrait work above and beyond weddings, so if you just HAVE to have some Anne Ruthmann photos, we can still do a portrait session before or after your wedding day. ;-) If I do have your date available, make sure you get in touch with me soon! There's nothing that breaks my heart more than having to turn someone away because I'm already booked! Especially when it's an awesome destination wedding in the Caribbean!