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Going Up Tue, Mar 4th 2008 7:30 pm
More of Steph, as promised.
Taken on an elevator at the Old Mill in Etobicoke, this is one of many photos I took for her mom’s wedding. She (and everyone else) was looking stunning. It was all very movie-like.
Initially, when invited to attend as the photographer, I was pretty flattered. And, as you’d expect, nauseous from the anxiety that comes with knowing you’re in charge of capturing the single most important day of two people’s lives on film. Without a lick of experience.
BUT, I battled through it and emerged ever-the-wiser. Luckily, her parents weren’t expecting anything professional—and I made them repeat that at least a dozen times—so I was free to just be casual about it. Still, I wanted to impress.
I’ve yet to sift through them all and pick out the best of the best, but when complete, I plan on building some kind of web presentation of it all to be visited by their many friends and relatives in remote places.
And I’ll post some more here, too. Stay tuned.
Migraine Log: 24/02/08 Mon, Feb 25th 2008 8:59 am
The phone rang at about 3:30 AM and woke me up. I felt my tongue sort of “tingle”, and then the light show started.
Took two Tylenol 3’s and two Gravols. Slept ‘til 10:00 and didn’t feel a thing.
Migraine Log: 17/03/08 Sun, Feb 17th 2008 10:55 pm
Dangit. I was just settling in to watch “Dragonheart” on DVD… I have no clue what set this one off, either. I do recall weird feelings a day or two ago, though. But I didn’t think to log those. Ah well. Could be that I’m horribly incapable of acquiring a good night’s sleep these days.
I almost made it a full year, too. Lame.
Fuzzy Green Rocks Sun, Feb 10th 2008 8:20 pm
I didn’t want to post this one because I wasn’t really all that pleased with it. But looking back on it now, it reminds me of a better time… Summer, that is. God I miss it. And its fuzzy green rocks…
Steph Thu, Jan 24th 2008 9:03 pm
As promised, here’s a photo. Now, I did neglect to mention that Steph was of Eskimo descent. But, once I got past the fish breath and the sight of her eating raw meat, it’s hawt knowing that my girlfriend can defend me from giant seals. Plus, she looks spicy in her designer parka which, incidentally, is made with faux fur and synthetic orca hide.
*rolls eyes*
Actually, this photo’s plastered on both of my monitors at work, and is actually the only photo that exists in my screensaver’s slideshow. It was taken in very early winter and, like a pro, I wasn’t even looking through my viewfinder. Call it luck, or prodigious skill — it turned out well and I was holding the camera.
Furthermore, the majority of people who’ve seen this photo assumed that I simply admired the model and scanned it from some magazine (which is only half true). Still, I’m not sure if that’s more of a compliment to me as the photographer, or Steph as the model… I’ll give it to Steph though, but only because that whole “luck” thing is still up for debate.
Oh, and to the discerning few who noticed the subtle snowflake watermarks: those are actually much more prominent in the wallpaper version of the image. I toned it down because I thought it was a bit too “processed” for the site. Still, I couldn’t bear to completely remove them.
Enjoy. There’re more to come, eventually.
To Whomever it May Concern, The Finale Mon, Jan 14th 2008 11:04 pm
Okay, that was quite the intermission. There are probably even a few cob-web-covered skeletons in the seats. But! I’m back, and to the few surviving loyal patrons of this “blog”, I thank you for your patience.
Now, where was I… Right. A girl. I met one. How poetic! But there’s more, of course. And here it is.
It was June, I think. I’m pretty positive, really. But it might’ve been May. I do know that the month was fairly irrelevant, but the weather was nice around that time. Chris was starting to mention a girl at work whom he claimed was passionate about photography. He might’ve used the word “crazy” or something less flattering, but we’ll go with “passionate”. Either way, I was intrigued.
Now, slow down. I’m not so simple that the mere mention of a female photographer makes me salivate. I was mostly compelled due to my having not yet met anyone who shared this interest with me, and the thought of a “shutter buddy” — who lived nearby — is what got me asking him to tell me more. And yeah, he mentioned she was cute… There was that, too.
This went on for a while. I guess it might’ve been May after all… It was June, however, by the time we actually met — or, “digi-met”, if I may coin a stupid term. Chris mentioned that he’d given the girl my e-mail address so she could contact me through MSN. Apparently she was a dirty little film photographer up until recently — reeking of developer, stop, and fixer — and had decided to venture into the digital world. My experience with it made me the perfect guy to talk to, and I had my “in”!
It wasn’t until the day after he’d given out my e-mail address that her name appeared on my contact list. We talked for nearly two hours, and barely veered from our initial topic of photography. It was late, and we signed off. I can remember looking forward to talking to her again.
And we did. Again and again over the course of a couple weeks. And then, on June 25th, with not even a week left before I was set to leave town to start a new life away from home, I met her for real. In the flesh.
My drive to our meeting place was a bizarre rollercoaster. The landscape along the way was also very winding and hilly, which did nothing to ease my stomach. Nervous? I was very. We’d talked on MSN long enough to accumulate megabytes of log files, and I’d even seen her photo and all that. But still, our distance was convenient. It facilitated comfortable conversation, uninterrupted by my nervous stuttering or inability to stay on topic. This meeting meant spending time with her — and only her — for an entire afternoon. I would be her entertainment, and she’d be mine. So yeah, there were butterflies in my stomach, and I’m pretty sure that even they were holding back vomit.
My nerves grew exponentially weaker as I got closer to the meeting place. But, when I reached the parking lot, everything went away. I parked my car, stepped out, and approached the smiling brunette sitting in front of the corner store.
She appeared to be a little nervous herself, and I (obviously) understood. But I was at ease. She was cute. Very cute. She stood up, clutching a bag full of camera equipment, and we introduced ourselves as if to say “well, here’s the rest of me.” Afterwards, we headed off into the forest, armed with our digital SLRs.
June 25th was a very exhausting day. We walked for kilometres, I’m sure. We drove many more. We went through forests, over rivers, along highways, into the country, into town, into the mall… And despite soiled clothes and sore limbs, I don’t believe that either of us looked forward to the end of it.
The drive home felt like thirty minutes of level flight. I was ecstatic that the day had gone so well, and eager to do it all over it again sometime soon. But, as I foreshadowed earlier, it was June 25th, and July 3rd was fast approaching.
Nevertheless, as I trust you’ve gathered by now, we’re still together. More than mere friends, mind you, but plans change. Fortunately for us, she makes frequent visits to this side of the city, and thus our relationship is able to succeed by weekly doses of each other’s company.
Today marks the six-month anniversary of our first formal date, which took place on July 14th over take-out Chinese food. And, after six months of being together — through the inevitable good and bad times that two people would encounter in such a period — I can say with absolute certainty that I am as much infatuated with her now as I was when we met in the corner store’s parking lot.
I love you, Steph.
PS: Stay tuned for the photos…
