January 13, 2012
If you stopped by this blog in the morning, you’ll probably notice that Seba had written some text in Spanish and I hadn’t said anything yet about Ginette and Pablo…don’t take my silence to mean I don’t love them!
Last night I was working on this session when Ryan, Chris (my Moment Junkie co-curators) and I all realized that we were actually awake and on the computer at the same time. We had some things we needed to hash out, and seeing as how we’d never actually all three talked at the same time about the blog, I felt that was a good reason to put my editing to the side for the moment. BUT, we ended up brainstorming and talking over photos for our Best of 2011 contest, that we’ll be running in Feb. until 3am! So I closed the Google Hangout with them and had to get working on the rest of these photos because I’d promised the lovely Ginette a preview by today! That meant I finished editing somewhere around 4:30am and practically fell into bed while mumbling to Seba in my cavewoman voice, “You. Do. Blog. Post.”
Anyways, Pablo and Ginette are good friends of Amy and Mauricio. Apparently it’s true what they say — cool pretty girls run in packs 
Ginette is a total sweetheart who can rock red lipstick like nobody’s business and Pablo is absolutely hilarious — he keeps her laughing constantly. We had an AMAZING time photographing their session in Barrio El Golf and I absolutely can’t wait to get to know them better on their wedding day!
Stunning makeup by the super talented Rodrigo Farah.
I don’t even know how I could pick a favorite from these photos, but this might be it!!!
Actually, I think this is my favorite. Ginette looks SO gorgeous!
Ok wait, THIS is definitely my favorite. LOVE IT!
Going to close with this image, which is another from this session that I just adore!
December 28, 2011
This was a Sunshine State Christmas for us. We got flights up Miami for the holidays about a month and a half ago and I’d been looking forward to the trip ever since then.
The weather here is perfect right now — sunny, balmy, 80 degrees. Warm enough to make you happy but not hot enough to make you sweat.
We’re not huge Christmas people. Seba and I normally don’t even get each other gifts. I mean, we do. But more on random occasions when inspiration strikes than because we feel the pressure of a looming red date on the calendar.
But when I got to my dad’s house, I started getting in the spirit!
He had this adorable Christmas tree up. Charlie Brown, baby!
And it was filled with presents! We’d agreed not to buy each other anything, but happily, we all broke the rules. Which was convenient because if only one person had broken the rules and purchased gifts the others would’ve felt really bad.
There was even more under this tree when we first arrived. But my dad and I are the same in that we cannot stand to wait to give people their presents. So of course when he said, “Can we celebrate Christmas early?” using the excuse that we had to drive up to my Grandma’s and it would be inconvenient to take all the presents up there, we started digging into the stockpile.
And then every day we opened a few more
My dad spoiled us rotten with Godiva — all for me, Seba doesn’t like chocolate. Neither does my dad, so that made it obvious who the culprit was when in just four days I opened the empty box and sadly asked, “Who ate all my chocolate?”
He also gave me a gift certificate and along with some other Christmas shopping money I received, I went and did some damage at the mall! My main purchase was a pair of Helmut Lang shorts. I am crazy obsessed with them because they’re gorgeous. This was a big deal, as they were expensive (even though they were bought on crazy sale at less than half their original price!) and used up the bulk of my Christmas gifts, but also because I never wear shorts. 99% of the time, in life, you’ll find me in dresses or skirts.
But this year I’m challenging myself to break out and wear more separates. I want to make bolder fashion choices and not always stick to such a routine.
Hence the reason, in tandem with the beautiful, beige, linen shorts, I bought the world’s ugliest pair of crazy patterned hammer pants from Forever 21
To every ying there must be a yang.
And my dad spoiled us rotten in another way…he’s cooked for us quite a few times while we’ve been here! My dad is an amazing chef but works a lot and normally doesn’t have the extra time to spend in the kitchen. This holiday season he whipped up a couple incredible meals for us. Simple but delicious. See Exhibit A below. Note: that is not my steak. I am weirdly weird and don’t eat steak. I enjoyed chicken breast with that meal.
I gave Seba a fantastic and possibly relationship-destroying gift this year — noise canceling headphones. Now, when I talk to him, he looks back at me blankly, points the headphones then shouts at eardrum exploding levels, “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” You know, because he can’t hear himself either
But he’s been wanting those headphones forever so my dad and I went in together and got them for him. It was nice to give Seba a gift he was really into, he’s a hard man to shop for.
Did you receive or give any gifts you’re extra excited about?
December 15, 2011
I broke down.
Walking on the streets of Puerto Montt, in the dusk just before the sun disappeared over the horizon, tears came to my eyes and kept coming and coming and I couldn’t stop crying.
The past three days have been stressful. We were supposed to fly out from Puerto Montt to Santiago on Tuesday and then from Santiago to Miami on Wednesday. It’s Thursday and we’re still in Puerto Montt, with a flight scheduled for tomorrow and our flight to the U.S. also rebooked for tomorrow night. I’m not holding my breath.
I was also trying to get a friend traveling with us home. In between that and trying to stay on top of work I was going nuts.
Then I got a phone call from a couple I really wanted to book us. They’re going with someone else. Someone cheaper. Some people prioritize different things over photography.
It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I did what any normal person would do — I went on a walk with the smartest entrepreneur I know, drank too much champagne and cried on a street corner.
I went from happiness and THIS to bawling like a baby on the curb. It happens.
These are the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. One minute you’re on top of the world and the next you’re in the depths of despair.
On one hand, I didn’t want to post this. The haters will read it and be happy that I’m down. They want to see me fail. They’ll revel in it.
But on the other hand, I still think it’s important to be real. When my blog was just one sad girl living in Chile hating her life, it was real. Then things started going great. I became a photographer, I started traveling the world, then traveling the world for photography work, we bought an apartment (now if we can just move into someday, I’ll be even happier!). I was loving my life and it was still real.
But I began to receive emails from people telling me things like that I have “the perfect life,” or “the best career ever.”
And I DO. It’s true. I love this job and there’s nothing I would rather be doing. But it’s important for people to see that even the best career ever has it’s occasional Breaking Down Crying In The Street kind of moments. The good is real, but so is the bad.
The biggest downfall for me in this job is that some days the rejection feels personal. Those clients that I really wanted going with someone else feels like a personal loss. I’ll never get to know them beyond that one hour meeting we had at Starbucks. I won’t learn those little nuances of their love and be able to see them interacting with each other in front of my camera. I’m mourning the loss of my relationship with them and the photos I’ll never take. It sucks.
So today I’m focusing on the relationships I do have with my clients, past, present and future.
I’m focusing on the beautiful wedding we just photographed in Frutillar — not beautiful because of the gorgeous volcano in the background and the perfect scenery and the sun that peaked out just in time for the ceremony, but beautiful because of the couple. Who love each other so strongly. Who fight with their families like normal people, but then kiss and make up at the end of the day. Who let their photographers into their intimate confidence as if they’d known us for their entire lives.
I’m focusing on all the couples we photographed this year who let us love them, who let us photograph them and shared their worlds with us, who trusted us with their memories. And I’m focusing on all the weddings we have coming up for next year because so far 2012 every single couple we have booked feels like the perfect fit for us. There isn’t a wedding on the roster that I’m not over the moon excited about. It’s going to be a good year.
Even though I’m sure I’ll end up crying on the street again at some point But I don’t even mind.
Because without that little bit of bad, how would I be able to appreciate the rest of the amazingness I have in my life every single day?
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