January 31, 2010
We arrived in Chiloe on Monday night after an hour and a half plane ride to the Puerto Montt airport, then a 30 minute bus ride into the city of Puerto Montt and from there another 3 hour 30 minute bus ride to Castro, Chiloe’s capital.
I fell in love pretty much immediately. Even in Puerto Montt, commonly known as Muerto Montt (dead Montt, because it’s supposedly so boring), I blissed out sitting in the sun on a rail overlooking the ocean, watching about a dozen people swimming, even though I knew that the water must have been freezing.
Our bus drove us straight up onto a ferry, which took us to the island and as soon as we were on land, it reminded me of Ireland — the climate, the suffocating/freeing feeling that comes with being surrounded by endless expanses of ocean, the green and the windblown.
We’ve been touristing the way we always tourist — zero information, zero plan — just walking. Well, today we switched it up a little and went for a jog. But in between good meals we just wandered and photographed at our leisure. That’s how we always travel. That’s how I like it.
I’m writing this to you on Wednesday night, but by the time you read this we’ll have shot the wedding and have been camping with the bride and groom that we came for! I’m so excited! It’s raining right now, but with a little luck the weather will clear up. It’s been nice the past three days so I have faith.
In the mean time I’ll leave you with a picture. I don’t have Photoshop or Capture 1 on this computer so the Raw-Jpeg conversion was done in a free program and then I used the same software to up the contrast and saturation (Fast Stone Image Viewer, if you’re curious). But, my travel computer is a little bitty netbook so the screen is tiny, and on top of that, is currently uncalibrated, so I have now idea how this even looks. Hopefully not too horrible!
Anyway, citizens of Chiloe, you have been tilt-shifted!
January 28, 2010
I am going to try to keep posting some of these tips for brides once a week, until I run out of useful wedding hints! As I said in the first edition, don’t feel like you are obligated to do any of these things just because you hired me to photograph your wedding!
Voy a tratar de seguir posteando algunos de estos consejos para novias una ves a la semana, hasta que me quede sin datos utiles para matrimonios! Como dije en la primera edicion, no se sientan como que estan obligados a hacer alguna de estas cosas solo por que me contrataron para fotografias su matrimonio.
This week’s tip is 2 part, both parts, involving the groom.
#1. Tell your groom not to stress out when you’re late. Because you will be late. Trust me on this one. Seba called me so many times on our wedding day while I was getting ready that he made me cry. This is a pattern I see. The groom gets stressed when the guests start arriving and the bride is running late or when he’s by himself and things go wrong (and at least a few things will go wrong, trust me on that too) and he starts to call over and over and over again as if being the most annoying almost husband on the face of the planet is going to help her put on her white dress and veil any faster. NOT HELPFUL GROOMS! So my advice to you is to either talk this over seriously with your groom beforehand and warn him that you will be late, things will go wrong, but under no circumstances is he to harass you incessantly about either of those factors. Or your other option could be to have a quick and sweet little phone call a few hours before the ceremony to say, “I love you,” one last time as boyfriend and girlfriend, and then have your bridesmaids take away your cell phone. 
El consejo de esta semana tiene 2 partes, ambas concernientes al Novio:
#1 Dile a tu novio que no se estrese cuando estes atrasada. Por que te vas a atrasar. Creeme. Seba me llamo tantas veces el dia de nuestro matrimonio mientras me estaba haciendo lista que me hizo llorar. Este es un patron que veo. El novio se estresa cuando los invitados empiezan a llegar y la novia esta atrasada o cuando esta solo y las cosas salen mal (y al menos un par de cosas van a salir mal, creanme) y empieza a llamar una y otra ves como si siendo el novio mas molestoso en la faz de la tierra fuera a alludarte a ponerte el vestido o el velo mas rapido. No ayuda !!! Mi ocnsejo para ti es, o lo hablas seriamente con tu novio de antemano y le adviertes que vas a llegar tarde, que hay cosas que van a salir mal, pero que bajo ninguna circunstancia tiene que llamarte y acosarte incesantemente respecto a ninguno de esos factores. O tu otra opcion es tener un pequeno y rapido llamado un par de horas antes de la ceremonia para decir, “te amo” una ultima ves como novio y novia, y despues tus madrinas de matrimonio se pueden llevar tu telefono.
#2. If you’re hoping for getting ready pictures of both of you, ask your groom to wait for Seba before he starts his grooming! So many times, no matter how often we’ve mentioned this, Seba arrives and the groom will be 100% ready to go to the church. Obviously there’s not quite as much there to take pictures of as there is with the girls, but when given the opportunity, I think Seba takes amazing getting ready photos. And getting ready pics is also one of my favorite parts of the day to photograph, so it makes me sad that Seba sometimes misses out on that.
#2 Si estas esperando tener fotos de ustedes dos haciendose listos, dile a tu novio que esoere a Seba antes de empezar a hacerse listo. Muchas veces, sin importar que tan seguido hemos mencionado esto, cuando Seba llega el novio ya esta un 100% listo para ir a la iglesia. Obiamente no hay tanto de que tomar fotos como en el caso de la novia pero cuando se ha presentado la oportunidad, creo que Seba toma fotos increibles. Y fotos haciendose listo es una de mis partes favoritas del dia para fotografiar, asi que me hace triste cuando Seba pierde esa oportunidad.
January 27, 2010
Life in Chile as an expat isn’t easy at first. Or even at last. There are challenges and trials and tribulations and all that jazz. After 5 years here, and probably a combined 30 years in Chile between my closest group of gringa girl friends that live here, I think I can pinpoint one factor that makes life happier. And unsurprisingly, it’s the same factor that keeps women around the globe happy in their relationships with their significant others.
Have a life outside your boyfriend/partner/husband/fiance. It sounds so obvious, but honestly, in Chile, it’s easier said than done. I’ve talked a million times about how making friends with Chileans is difficult because of the lots of factors (an untrusting culture, the fact that they go to high school and college in the same city so in general they keep the same group of friends from a very young age, it’s hard for a Gringo to read a Chilean etc). Many Gringas tend to cling to their significant other — it’s natural, you’re alone in a foreign country and he’s both the reason you’re here and the person who loves you more than anyone else on the continent, literally.
And Your So-Called Life outside your significant other will hopefully involve you pursuing your passions/trying to figure out what your passion is — not teaching English. Unless, of course, being a teacher is something you actually want to do. If you’re only a Meeees (the Spanishized way of pronouncing Miss and what profesoras de ingles are generally called by their students) because you think that’s all you can do in Chile, you’re barking up the wrong happiness tree, my friend.
I shouldn’t have made the title of this post so definitive because I don’t have the answer to all of life’s happiness in Chile or elsewhere. And I’ve said it before, if you’re a happy person in the U.S. or wherever you currently live, you’ll figure out how to be happy in Chile, regardless of the circumstances. But, I have definitely noticed a trend amongst my gringa friends — the ones that seem most well-adjusted to life here are the ones who have their own career, or a start of it, at least. I don’t think that’s because teaching English is so horrible. Well, it might be, I don’t know. I’ve never done it. I digress. I think that’s because if you’re teaching English because you feel like that’s your only career option. One of life’s biggest decisions has just been made for you without your input. Lack of choices make for very angry Gringas.
We grew up in the land of “You can be anything you want to be when you grow up!” regardless of how ridiculous that statement actually is. So to land in the country of, “You want to be a bilingual secretary? Only if you studied Bilingual Secretarianism! Regardless of your qualifications. MWAHAHA,” is a shock to the system.
But, finding a job in Chile, that will hopefully lead to a career, can be done. Or you can just start your own career, like me. Both take time, patience, hard work and a lot of schmoozing. And it’s worth it. Don’t sacrifice your own goals just because you’re in a foreign country. You’ve already moved away from your home country. That’s more than sacrifice enough. We don’t want anybody becoming a martyr, now do we?
Hey everyone, we are down here in Chiloe and LOVING it so far. This place really is magical, now I get what all the fuss is about. Tomorrow we’re off to a tiny island, aka The Land of No Internet, but I wanted to quick post about a good cause we’re participating in so that if you feel the urge, you can too.
The California Cantina is hosting an auction with 100% of the proceeds going to help Haiti. We donated photo session to the auction so go bid! The auction is tomorrow, and even if you don’t have a lot of money to spend they’re raffling off cool items too so you could win something. Plus, the California Cantina has some good gringo food if you’re into that sort of thing.
Details below:
TEMA: Beneficio en Ayuda para Haiti
CUANDO: Jueves 28 de enero, 2010, a partir de las
19:00 horas
DONDE: California Cantina Sports Bar, Las Urbinas 56, Providencia
AYUDANOS A ENTREGARLES UN POCO DE ALIVIO A LAS VÍCTIMAS DEL TERREMOTO EN HAITI
CALIFORNIA CANTINA DONARÁ A FUNDACIÓN AMERICA SOLIDARIA:
$1.000 por el consumo de cada Copa de: Vino, Pisco Sour, Champagne y Sangría, $500 por el consumo de Cerveza Corona
También tendremos una rifa con espectaculares premios y donaremos el 100% de las ganancias.
VEN A DISFRUTAR UN MOMENTO AGRADABLE APOYANDO ESTA NOBLE CAUSA
Más información (sí, se habla español):
SHELBY HIGGS, shelby.higgs@gmail.com, 09 811 4018
ADRIEN LOPEZ, adrienlopez@yahoo.com, 07 478 1273
DAN WORTH, californiacantina@gmail.com, 08 223 8298
January 26, 2010
I always wind up with a couple pictures every wedding and every session of Seba and he of me. I never know what to do with them. Now I’ve found a home for them on the blog.
By the end of most sessions, our clients have laid down, sat ground, climbed on things and generally acted ridiculous. So have we.
Seba couldn’t believe what I was doing with the dress. I made this face to show him that I’m perfectly sane.
Haha, Seba isn’t used to being with the girls during the getting ready process. He was scared
One of our lovely brides, Carolina, is a photography addict. So she had a camera during their whole session and she kept trying to take pictures of me! I believe she took this shot at the moment when I said, “Enough is enough! I’m here to photograph YOU, woman!” :P
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- @dregonzrob, hahaha, eating wall paper, that's a new one. Dog whisperer dato coming your way :)
- @lanapuckett, when we get back I'll have to introduce you to @gabrielrodriguez, @sebamilla and @sebastiankaulen!
- @dregonzrob, you need the dog whisperer!!!
- Brian McBride is announcing his retirement from the game today. He will go down in history for me as my favorite U.S. player ever. LOVE him.
- Caroline and Tommy should probably stop being this hot or somebody's going to catch on fire. http://tinyurl.com/2feozcy
- Writing w/ @imnotobsessed tomorrow early! Love catching people up on their daily dose of gossip and I <3 @inosherry, my online co-worker :)
