A Fall Engagement Session

Last Wednesday I got to take engagement photos for the first really official time.

I loved it.

Of course, I had the best subject ever.

(In case you were wondering, that is what I mean. Just because they are the best couple ever does not mean that there aren't others who are also best. If you don't think this makes sense, just ask Ruthie. The best thing ever happens to her about once a day.)

So, I discovered I love taking engagement photos. (Well, rediscovered, I guess, since I've sort of done it twice before.) Although most probably aren't as easy and pressure-less as this was.

Perhaps what I enjoyed most was just watching them interact. They're pretty adorable.

Deanna came to school and after my class I met them down by the creek. It was a spot I had noticed a few weeks before when I had been thinking of spots to take their picture at--although just for a couple picture then. This was better. :-)

The lighting was awesome...absolutely perfect.

(Side note: I realize the editing of these pictures is lacking in many places. This is the first time I have done major editing aside from for my website, and for that I used a much better version of Photoshop. So I was using a version I wasn't used to, I haven't gotten my style of editing figured out at all, I was frustrated after a saving mix-up with the pictures at UT, and I already used too much time on them. All that to say I realize it needs some work, so bear with me.)

As mentioned, I enjoyed watching them interact.

Those of you who know Stephen will not be surprised that he was a perfect model.

Those of you who know Deanna will probably not be surprised to find she didn't know what to do.

These pictures were fun to take, as I went on a bridge and heard the comments of people passing by.

"Aww! That is so cute!"

"You've got the perfect day for this, don't you?" one guy said to me.

Even though the quality of these two pictures isn't the best (partially because the wind was blowing the leaves around, making focusing difficult, and partly because we were too far away to communicate), I love them. They look almost like something out of a magazine.

I told them they should go into modeling for couples.

They're so cute together, after all.

I told them very little of how to pose, as Stephen instinctively seemed to know what to do.

Deanna, on the other hand, kept asking and sometimes objecting.

And as I've discovered before, she can't smile on command. "Stop smiling like a dorky!" I told her. She needed some tickling to get a real smile, and Stephen supplied.

The sun...it was so beautiful.

I love these pictures...

Aww...I like these ones too. Doesn't she look happy?

Deanna started asking if we had enough pictures. (Which you were probably also wondering. Well, whether you think there is or not, there are a lot more to go. You can start scrolling down really fast now, wondering if you have time to glance at the rest. You probably don't. Be glad I was actually pretty selective for me. There used to be a lot more...)

So Stephen said we were going to do one with her sitting on his lap.

Deanna was not game.

"Why?" she asked.

"That's what people do," he said.

But she wasn't about to. However, resistance was futile, and we did it.

Most of them didn't turn out well as I wasn't sure how to get the right angle, but I liked a few of them.

Aww...isn't he cute?

I can say that. He's my brother-in-law. Practically.

They look so happy...even though Deanna was complaining about his tickling, she looked pretty happy anyway.

We were ready to move on, so we did. When I saw the stone wall outside the library, I stopped them. Stone walls are awesome.

I told them to stand by the wall, and Deanna misunderstood me as saying that she and Stephen should stand several feet away from each other. However, I liked the idea.

 
So cute...

Here Deanna was quite confused as to what she was supposed to do. She didn't get the arms-over-his-shoulders pose Stephen tried to get her to do.

It made her laugh.
 

We decided to go to another place, Ottawa Park. I'd never been there before. After Stephen returned from his class and we'd gotten a snack, we drove there. Following much debate as to what to wear (Deanna seemed to be following Stephen's lead and carrying a wardrobe in her car), we were off--to find a bathroom. Then we wandered down a path.

And there was a blue bridge. Which was awesome. Of course, we had to stop.

Once again, Stephen told Deanna how to act. "Just act like you normally do."

"I don't know how  I normally act!"

I love this picture. It's such a Stephen face to make.

Of course, a shoes picture. For Melody's enjoyment.

That picture was actually Deanna's  idea as she pulled back away from the bridge. Have I mentioned that they are cute?

We moved on from the bridge, and in the lane ahead with pretty leaves, I envisioned a beautiful photo. Deanna always wanted to get married in the fall and wished her birthday was in October. So a fall engagement was perfect.

I ran ahead to get the shot--and looked back to see those dorky people dashing into the woods beside the sidewalk, as if I could not see them.

Stephen declared that I couldn't. So I told him I would show him the picture of him that I couldn't see.

"Well," I said, "if you're going to go hide, you could at least stand by her so that I can get a picture out of it." Stephen complied.

 
As they were about to climb back up to the sidewalk, I caught a glimpse of the dry woods behind them. "Wait," I said. "Go stand over there."

"There aren't any leaves," Deanna said.

"I know," I replied. "It'll be cool. You'll be like the only color."

Once again, Stephen interacted naturally.

I told them, "It's a good thing Stephen always looks good. If I had to coordinate when both of you happened to be smiling nicely, it'd be difficult."

Aww...

 

Sometimes you have to wonder about her...

We moved on as I attempted to get the picture I had envisioned.

I enjoy this look they shared.

We moved to another location with fewer things in the background.

"What are we going to do now?" Deanna asked.

"I'm going to pick you up," Stephen said.

"No, you're not!" Deanna said.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a very good picture of it. But it was pretty amusing.

I'm not sure why they decided to do that, but it looks like that picture of the farmer and his wife that everybody copies.

I figured that if you haven't figured out that they're cute by now, you never will, so I shall restrain myself from repeating it.

Watching them interact was enjoyable.

They put leaves on each other's heads.

We were about ready to be done when I had an idea for a picture under the tree. However, the tree being near the pond, Deanna objected to the goose droppings beneath it, so Stephen suggested a spot on the other side of the road.

Someone's excited... :-)

I've mentioned they're cute. Have I mentioned how strange these people are?

Or how weird?

They were being quite goofy.

When we saw this big fence, we could not resist, and we took some...unusual engagement photos.

They're the best thing ever, aren't they?

Something to Say

There have been a few times I have posted on my blog in the past year and a half that I have considered tagging a post with Something to Smile About. But, unless it referred to the original "something to smile about," it never seemed appropriate. Sure, there were things that made me smile. But none of them were right. Nothing was special enough.

Until a week ago Sunday, that is.

After college group, Melody and I went to a corn maze with some friends. When we came home, they were doing the dishes and we talked about our day and asked where Deanna and Stephen were. They had gone somewhere to get something to eat. Pretty soon Eric and Ruthie came, and we talked with them.

Normal day. Nothing unusual.

Deanna and Stephen entered together, holding hands. That was normal--but I knew immediately something was different about them, though I didn't have time to think about it until I realized.

"She said yes," Stephen told Eric. Time passed surrealy. Melody thought he was joking until she realized he wouldn't be. The other kids grinned, having known already. In the kitchen Ruthie asked Mom if this was for real.

Suddenly we were looking at the pretty silver ring and giving them hugs.

It wasn't surprising, exactly, but it wasn't what we had expected when we came home that evening.

We made Eric move so they could sit center stage on the love seat and made both of them tell the story.

There was much smiling and laughing and jittering and teasing of Stephen, who was embarrassed and hid under his coat when we played the song he had sung for Deanna.

I think Stephen told Deanna she could ask the wedding party. "They already know," she said.

"You should ask anyway," I said.

"Jeannette, will you be my maid of honor?" she asked.

"Yep!" I smiled.

"Melody, will you be a bridesmaid?"

The ever-grinning Melody replied with an enthusiastic, "Yes!"

"Amy, will you be a bridesmaid?"

"Yes!" she replied.

"I'll be mother of the bride," Mom offered.

"Dad, will you walk me down the aisle?" Deanna asked.

"Yes," he said. "I would be honored."

"Stephen?" asked Timothy expectantly.

"Go to bed, Tim," we said.

"We'll ask you to be the flower girl later," Stephen informed him.

Naturally (in case you hadn't noticed) I took pictures. We had some fun with them:

Some of us stayed up quite late that night.

This is Stephen smiling because he knew Melody and I were conspiring to take their picture.

On Wednesday in ASL class, we learned signs about family. It made me happy to learn "dating," "going steady," "fiance," "husband," "wife," "married," "wedding," and especially "engaged" and "brother-in-law." And then to get to use them immediately!

The first few days, they needed to make calls and meet with people, so we had to keep our secret. Finally on Wednesday we were allowed to tell people freely. It was so much fun! I got to tell a lot of people, and their responses were so enjoyable. It was nice to have some friends that I could go up to and hug in order to get rid of excess energy.

That weekend I enjoyed being around people and talking about it. But sometimes, I would look around and everyone would be engaged in normal conversation and no one was talking about it. They seemed to be just fine with this, as if every day I had a sister who had gotten engaged last week. So sometimes I'd just have to say randomly, "My sister's engaged!"

Some people thought that was silly, saying they knew that. "I know," I said, "I just wanted to say it."

"I understand," my friend Merri said. "Sometimes it just needs to be said aloud."

Perhaps you wonder that I say little specifically about them. The day afterwards, Deanna, Melody, and I were riding in the car together, saying nothing.

Suddenly I said, "I want to talk about the engagement...but I can't think of anything to say!"

"I was just thinking that!" Melody said, and Deanna laughed.

"I guess," I concluded, "when something is good, you say it's good, congratulations, I'm happy about it, and then...there's not really much else to say. It's just good."

This Wednesday, I got to take engagement pictures, my first really-and-truly official engagement photos assignment. It was fun...but needless to say, way too many pictures to add to this post. Maybe I'll do one with them.

So, there it is. There's much more that could be said, but what else needs to be said?

Just that...

My sister's getting married!

And I've got the awesomest brother-in-law. (I know, not yet. Close enough.)

One teaser photo...aren't they adorable??

Visual Communications

Though I have enjoyed all of them so far, this semester has definitely been the most fun regarding classes. Though there haven't been any classes that I dislike and though there are several that I really like, Visual Communications has been my favorite. Even more than sign language and Creative Writing...well, that's pretty close.

When I signed up for it (rather randomly, since I needed something to fill a requirement and thought I might like it), I did not realize it was only an 8 week course.  I am rather sad to come to the end of it. Naturally, my 8-week course was actually more like 9 weeks, since you could spend any amount of time on it, and my professor is a very wonderful, patient, sweet woman.

Our assignment for the course was to create a photo album (a great trial for me, as I am sure you know), a brochure, and a website, all revolving around the same theme. You could choose an organization or a theme ("world hunger," for example) or a sports team or a business-whatever could use a website.

What could I do? I considered doing the Visualization Project. (When speaking of the class, I often accidentally called it my Visualization class, mixing Visual Communications with the Visualization project.) But really, the Visualization Project's blog is sufficient. Then, it came to me.

Of course. I would do Tiny Glimpses Photography.

If I used the website and brochure, then all is well and good. If not, it'd still be fun.

And fun it was. I spent every moment of class that I could and much lab time, discovering the glories of a good version of Photoshop (I'm spoiled now, doubtless) and enjoying designing. I went through pictures, trying to find families and animals and so forth.

Once when I was getting my website to come together and quite excited about it, I completely forgot I had sign language that day, until my mom sent me a message and it suddenly struck me: it's Monday, not Friday, so I have another class! I was over half an hour late. "There she is!" my professor said. I signed to her that I was having so much fun in Vis Com that I forgot. She teased, "How could you forget us?" but she understood. She is also taking a class from my Visual Communications professor. Thankfully I already know some sign language so it wasn't a problem.

On what was (supposedly) the last day, the lab assistant sat next to me at my spot at the Mac in the last row of the computer lab. ("I'm going to creepily sit next to you again," he says, as he comes into an almost empty lab and sits at the computer next to me. Previous days he had said, "Don't think I'm being creepy sitting next to you. I have a lot of stuff saved on this computer.")

"You fail!" he says. Surprised, I looked at him. "You're not the first one in here. I think that gives you an automatic failure."

I looked, and indeed there was already another guy in the lab. (Normally I was the first one in the lab.) I found it amusing that he would say that. As Ruthie would say, "That just happened. I'm so glad that just happened!" Ach, you can't understand, unless you can hear Ruthie's voice in your mind, because it doesn't have the same effect otherwise.

Anyway...

This is a copy of my brochure. It's a tri-fold, so in the first page the middle section is the back, the left is the flap, and the right is the front. The second page is the center.

I ended up being pretty happy with how it turned out, compared to how it was earlier, at least.

Doing the website was fun. I got to gather photos of different subjects and edit them. Most of the photos I picked were from this past year, though I thought it was appropriate to go back to 2009 and get the Heyerlys' picture for my family shot, since they were my first official job. I forgot how little they were.

There were so many pictures that I wanted to do. In order to include a gallery of photos that you can scroll through, you have to use Flash, which my professor said is part of Visual Communications II. But you can do rollover images, so I did that for my gallery, and thus fit in more without making it hugely long.

I think I'll look into doing something more next semester...

Today I officially finished, sent in my brochure and uploaded my website. It's tinyglimpses.zxq.net. Check it out and let me know what you think!

View of the Sacred

I said I would post on the less pleasant side of my Creative Writing class. So this is a poem I wrote after one class. During it, I was overwhelmed and saddened by the casual acceptance, even the embrace, of crudeness and immorality by my classmates and teacher. Afterwards, I could simply not think or focus on anything until I got these thoughts out, and this, best done in poem format. I am not sure if what I was trying to say came across clearly, but this is what I wrote.

I knew it
It is no surprise--
Or at least it shouldn't be.
You know no different.
How could you?
It's all you've ever seen.
What more is there?
You find nothing wrong.
That's how life is, y'know?
In the back of your mind,
You wonder why I don't laugh.
If I told you what I think,
You would understand.
I'm just a hick
A prude
A victorian, no-fun, toe-the-line.
You prefer your freedom
Your fun
Your carefree unrestraint.
You pity me for my rules,
And my ridiculous, old-fashioned,
over-active conscious,
Fed by indoctrination in my environment,
and fears.
And with the ache in your heart,
You pity me.
You pity me as I miss your jokes,
don't know your words,
blush at your descriptions.
To you,
they are normal, everyday scenes.
But to me,
they are unknown, and should be.
You joke at what I see
As violation of the precious,
the sacred.
You think with my rules,
I am missing out on life.
You want to taste all life has to offer,
But without separation,
Food becomes bland.
Without restraint of volume,
Enjoyment is lost.
While you gorge on the appetizer,
I'm waiting for the 12-course meal.
Learn to eat what is good.
Raised on sweets,
How can you appreciate the subtle flavors?
Your laughing cuts deep into me.
Life and joy and love pass you by
And you don't know it.
I may look foolish to you.
Waiting, refusing to indulge may be hard.
But beneath the heartache and trouble,
I have hope,
While beneath your joking,
Your mocking, your criticism,
You ache.
Am I naive? Foolish? A prude?
If it means that I reject your ways
And hold what is pure in high esteem,
Yes, I am.