Looking back (so as to better look forward)

(Warning: Seemingly never-ending blog post below...)

It seems like just last week were were popping the Prosecco in welcome of 2008. I remember sitting at the table in our farmhouse kitchen, flute in hand, as I hammered out my resolutions for the year ahead, imagining that if I posted them here on the blog for all to see, then I'd be more likely to hold myself accountable to them. Wishful thinking. Today, I sit at the same kitchen table, in a colorful cape far from where I was (on many levels) this time last year.

There seems to be a general consensus of "Bring it On...Like Yesterday Already!!!" when it comes to 2009, both in our house and our nation. While 2008 brought about milestones to celebrate -first African-American president, Michael Phelps, gas back under $2 a gallon, my discovery of the Chelsea Lately show...- its seems there was much more to be sad about and five minutes with any major media product will confirm that. With earthquakes, an Elliot, and of course, the economy, it's hard not to feel harried with all of these headlines. As a Mass Communications major in graduate school, we often considered the so-called "Mean World Syndrome" - which theorizes that people who see a disproportionate amount (to reality) of violence in the media think the world is more dangerous that it actually is. I think many of us have been experiencing something similar lately- with all the negative news, it's easy to get down. I am guilty of this, and as a result, am one of the many who keeps saying how relieved I am that 2008 is hours from history.

It wasn't until I actually pulled up that old list of resolutions yesterday that I realized I actually did better than I thought in 2008. While I didn't get to Paris or read all the books Kyle bought me for Hanukkah last year (that's because Nikon, who was six-months-old at the time, decided they were chew toys within a few days of writing that resolution), I did get to check-off some of my loftiest goals for 2008 like selling our house and moving to Portland, rebranding my business and starting to exercise (I just got home from a vigorous hot yoga power hour). Here are the highlights, and look for a Best of 2008 image slideshow coming to the blog early next week.

January began with a trip to Tampa to the DWF convention and Imaging USA trade show. Kyle came with me to lounge poolside by day and keep me company by night as I attended four days of wedding photography workshops taught by the industry's leaders from shooting to tell a story with the LaCour's to promoting your business with Jessica Claire. The trip also included lots of shooting and a little shopping, but the true highlight was meeting Texans Kate Mefford of Juxtapose Photography and Maile Wilson of Relish Photography, two fabulously hip moms, photographers and now friends. Upon our return, I headed back to UMO for my final semester of grad school, and learned I'd been awarded first prize in both graduate feature writing and graduate news writing in the college's Grady Journalism Awards. And, the premier issue of Real Maine Weddings, a colorful new Maine-focused wedding magazine published by Bangor Metro hit newstands, showcasing a slew of my images, including one from Jess and Greg's Portland Headlight shoot on the cover and a feature (that I also wrote) on Erica and Barrett's County wedding. I also was profiled in the University of Maine at Farmington's alumni magazine and was part of an industry wide panel that talked about Maine's wedding market on the delightful Deb Neuman's Back to Business radio show. Phew! It was quite the month!

In February, Sam and Scott became the first of the 22 couples whose weddings I would have the honor of photographing when I traveled in the snow to Saddleback Ski Area to shoot their wonderful winter wedding, which I am excited to say will be featured in the 2009 issue of Real Maine Weddings. The next day, it was south to Spring Hill Lodge in South Berwick to shoot Alison and Keith's wedding. And then the next day after that, it was back to Rangeley on a bluebird day to do a "day-after" shoot with Sam and Scott around the grounds of the Loon Lodge and Saddleback. It was a wild three days, but I loved the opportunity to shoot off-season. At the end of the month, Kyle and I decided to take the first step toward out dream of moving to Portland by putting our beloved Farmington home on the market. Sigh.

March was more lamb than lion, a quiet month spent skiing, writing, researching and grading over the college break and keeping our house clean for countless showings. The business highlight for me was the announcement that I would be offering my albums, and sharing shots of my first album sample on the I Do Click blog. At the time, I wrote that I was never so excited about a blog post, and I still get that same giddiness whenever a client album arrives on my doorstep. I am thrilled that so many of my 2008 couples opted to upgrade to these albums, which are now included in most of my wedding packages.

April was also so a mellow month, call it the calm before the storm. I was in the final full month of my graduate program, and busy getting my students ready for their exams while I prepared myself to present my thesis prospectus to my committee and finish writing my own papers. I began offering photo canvasses, which are almost as awesome as albums and certainly make a more dramatic impression. My blog and my efforts to engage past, present and future clients with it was featured in the Maine Public Relation's journal in an article actually written by one of my brides who is also a great friend!

May was the start of what would be a very intense and emotional summer! On the 9th, I celebrated my birthday, and was hooded in the graduate recognition ceremony at UMaine-Orono, marking the completion of my coursework (I still have to finish that pesky thesis). But I skipped the official graduation the next day to head to the Samoset Resort in Rockport where I photographed the wedding of two of the kindest people I have ever met- Stephanie and Brian. The following week, I attended a shooting seminar in Kennebunkport, hosted by the David and Linda Murray and led by the famed David Beckstead. Shooting models for three days (including in a dusty old barn- see right) was way out of my element, but an enjoyable challenge nonetheless that encouraged me to see lighting and space in a new way. The workshop ended with me heading to Boston to celebrate my good grad school friend Diana's bachelorette party, getting me even more eager for her wedding, which I would shoot in June. Memorial Day weekend was spent at the York harbor Inn where I spent a delightful day on the beach shooting Kristina and Jimmy's wedding.

Though I only had four weddings in June, it was one of the most physically demanding months for me. My poor Subaru thought its cross-state commuting days from grad school (220 miles a day, three days a week) were over, but it was all really just a warm-up for this month. On the first Friday of the month, I drove to the Tewksbury Country Club in Mass. where I shot Sarah and Adam's evening wedding and late night dance floor action! A bit after midnight, I drove back to Farmington (arriving around 4 p.m.) and was up and at'em again early in the morning en route to Bangor, where I photographed Chrystal and Ben's beautiful outdoor wedding.


Two weeks later, Kyle and I made the 250 mile drive north from Farmington to the crown of Maine- Caribou, for Diana and Jason's rehearsal dinner and then sweet strawberry-themed wedding the following day. Both are dear friends to both Kyle and me, and so it was such a pleasure to be there celebrating as both photographer and friend. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for the entire reception, because I had a wedding 12 hours later nearly 500 miles away, in Rhode Island. Kyle drove through the night on the deserted highway and just before the sun rose, we arrived in Portland where we slept a few hours before driving the remaining few hours to Providence, where I photographed Leah and Darrell's wedding at the stunning Squantum Association. Leah and Darrell had actually eloped in Las Vegas a few months before, so the evening because just a really fabulous dinner party on the water with everyone in really fabulous clothes, including Leah, who wore the most adorable dress (see left) and !yes! -a bird cage veil. It was especially fun to catch up with all the friends I'd made shooting Jess and Greg's wedding the fall before, many of which were also at Sarah and Adam and Leah and Darrell's wedding. I love my Wheaton brides!

In between the miles and the marriages, Kyle and I were also fielding a flurry of offers that had come in on our house, which put the crunch on our Portland house-hunting. The final Saturday of the month was spent with the world's greatest Realtor, friend and also a former bride, Martha O'Connor of All Points Realtors, doing a mind-numbing tour of 13 houses around Portland and South Portland (haven't we seen this one already?) and then putting in our first offer on the Kent Street house we'd fallen in love with.

As ridiculous as all that was, nothing could have prepared us for July, a month from which I am still recovering. Easily the most emotional month of my life, these 31 days brought about more changes in our lives than any entire year before. The month began with what has become our annual July 4th weekend beach bash in York with clients turned friends, Jimmy and Cady (and now Emily.) Thanks to some deft negotiations by Realtor extraordinaire Martha, we finally came to an agreement with both the buyers of our Farmington home and our Portland house. Moving day was July 25. As excited as we were to purposefully begin this new chapter in our lives, there was much sadness over leaving behind our beloved Farmington home. It was our first house together and the first place where I think I truly felt at home. My business was born there, I earned a B.A. and an M.A. while under its roof, and in large part, it's where I became the person I now am. More important, it was a place that defied numbers: where two became one - when Kyle and I were married in the backyard on a perfectly imperfect fall day- and three became four became one again - the day Kyle brought home this puny little puppy that would eventually grow into this dire wolf we now know as Nikon.

But first, I was off to Cape Cod for the Roots Workshop, a week-long intensive photojournalism experience that was so pivotal in my life and powerful in my profession that I've yet to find the words to write about it. Suffice to say, I have yet to recover and I think that is a wonderful thing! My days covering a student-actress at the Monomoy Theater in Chatham and my nights spent alongside some of the nation's finest wedding photographers peering at a projection screen and into our hearts and creative souls was "see-changing" and not an image I take goes by when I do not reflect on my time and tutoring there.

On the final day of Roots, my new Website and new blog, both of which had been in the works for months were finally launched, under my new business name, Samantha Warren Weddings. (You can read all about my decision to rebrand and that process here.) I am thrilled with my new look, and being patiently proactive as Samantha Warren Weddings builds up its brand (and same name recognition and SEO) that I Do Click Wedding Photography had. On my way home from Roots, I photographed Emily and Liam's incrediably powerful (yet literally powerless) wedding day at the Greystone Manor in Cape Neddick. Like my Root's experience, it is a day not soon forgotten.

Six days later, with tears in our eyes and the heaviest but most hopeful of hearts, we drove for the final time out of our little Farmington driveway, and hit the highway south to our new lives in Portland. Our closing there was at 9:30 a.m., and our closing at our new home in Portland was at 2 p.m. When we moved onto Kent Street later that day, we were welcomed so warmly we knew we'd made the right decision. That night, I took a break from unpacking to attend the stunning studio opening soiree for my friend Emilie and hours later, I was on the road again, this time traveling north to Waterville where I photographed Angela and Jason's wedding- I couldn't imagine a more delightful distraction from the piles of boxes waiting to be unpacked!

With six weddings spanned over three weekends, August was not the month for those boxes to be emptied. Bethany and Brian's Dunegrass wedding kicked off the month in a wonderful way, and Katie and Courtney's lakeside wedding at the Alamoosook Inn in Orland sent it out in style. In between, I worked with Kaity and John in Belfast, Lani and Steve at the York Harbor Inn, Nikki and Victor at the Atlantic Oakes in Bar Harbor and Leslie and David in my home away from home hometown of Rangeley. I could write pages here about each couple and the celebrations that reflected their passions and personalities, but I already did in their individual blog entries, so I invite you to check them out.

Usually my busiest month, September was actually slow this year, with only two weddings. This ended up being a blessing, because it allowed me time to finish editing the images and slideshows for all my August weddings, and get all my August couples' albums designed and ordered (and in same cases even delivered). As a hurricane bared down on the coast, I shot Aubyn and Tim's sunny seaside wedding early in the month in Warren and the next week, went to Waterboro where I photographed Erin and Jay's nuptials and canine-themed receptions, one of my favorites of the year! And though three years isn't a milestone anniversary, 9/24/08 was meaningful for Kyle and me because we got iPhones. Just kidding- making sure you were paying attention. Yes, we got iPhones, and we adore them, but after such an aggressive year, it was so nice to fully realize what we could accomplish together while still keeping each other laugh hysterically. Finally, we were starting to feel settled- in our new home, our new city, and in our (still) new marriage.

October is my most favorite month and October in 2008 reminded me why. The fall foliage was technicolor and I got to see it at its peak as I traveled around the state, photographing Sarah and JT's wedding at Sugarloaf, Sara and Dean's green wedding at the Asticou Inn in Northeast Harbor and Rachel and Clay's wedding at the Samoset. Each wedding was as different from the next as could be and though I could have had an end-of-the-season creative lull, I actually felt as inspired as ever, as my couples each humbled me with their affection and appreciation for each other and their families and in Sara and Dean's case, for the planet (and for me as an artist). And I could think of no better way to end such a productive and progressive season than with Sandie and Kendall's wedding in Buckfield, my first where the bride and groom were both grandparents and their wedding party was comprised of their grandchildren). How cool!

There is not much to report on when it comes to November and December, and that's perhaps why I am feeling a bit down as 2008 concludes. After focusing so much on my clients for the first 10 months of the year, I've spent these last two focusing on myself and my family. Of course I've been busy finalizing 2008 albums, booking clients for 2009 and preparing for the future of Samantha Warren Weddings by strengthening my relationships with other industry vendors, but I've spent a lot of time relaxing and regrouping and reflecting. Why this is actually more exhausting for me than working 80 hours a week is something I am still trying to figure out!

There is much I resolve to do and become in 2009. Today as I hovered in half-pigeon, the most ridiculous looking of all yoga moves, my body slick with sweat as it was put through its Vinyasa paces and my mind working just as hard, our yoga instructor encouraged us to make lofty goals for the New Year. It's easy to make easily obtainable goals but far braver to make those hard-to-reach ones, she explained. And what's best is that it doesn't even matter if you achieve that goal, because it is your attitude - your passion, your volition and heck, your very faith in yourself- in your attempt that will define who you are and what you will become in 2009. And so, the first resolution I will write for this New Year is to not be so hard on myself. I encourage you to do the same.

We'll be ringing in the New Year at the home of SWW couple turned great friends, Ashley and Greg (and now Yos). And tomorrow, we have an early start, as another former SWW couple and now dear friends Cady and Jimmy come for a visit and a day of exploring Portland with us. Sometimes I laugh at how much our social circle has been shaped by my business and the lasting-beyond-the-wedding-day relationships I've formed through it. I love that! And it makes me so grateful for all the opportunities my passion for people and telling their stories through pictures has brought to me and my family.

With my thanks comes cheers and may 2009 be all that you work for and want it to be! It's going to be a great one!