Something Blue

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Two weeks ago, I dipped my toes into the wedding waters again. I take weddings on a case-by-case basis and for Lauren & Don? I could not refuse their amazing love story in a beautiful garden here in my backyard in SE Portland.

something blue

Lauren emailed me nearly one year ago, on November 15, 2011. She said, "I love your photos and am looking for someone outside the regular wedding photo 'world.' Is this something that you do, or would be interested in trying, or maybe just chatting about?"

So after the crazybusy holiday season, we met for coffee one morning at a totally cute, totally Portland cafe. And we proceeded to spend over two hours together chatting about her and Don and her life and her wedding plans. I walked to my car afterwards and said to myself, "So I guess I'll be doing a wedding somehow!" I simply could not say no to Lauren. 

As I listened to toast after toast at her reception, behind my lenses, I realized that Lauren has this effect on people. She is the most charming, down to earth, sincere, beautiful woman and you just are so lucky if you happen to cross paths with her in this lifetime. I know her new husband Don feels that way!

I promise to share more photos as they are edited. :)


The Color Run

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Even though I was still sick, I participated in the 5K Color Run on Saturday with my friend Jamie who flew up from California for the event (and her friend Marnie who also lives up here in Portland). At every kilometer, they threw a different colored powder on you and you could choose how much you wanted depending on where you ran through the station. It was a really fun experience and the massive color explosion at the end of the event was the absolute highlight!




I am so happy Jeff and his dad were there with cameras to capture it for me, as I left all of mine at home. The Noodle cheered me on too and took such sweet care of me for the rest of the day at home (as I was wiped out beyond repair sadly).

You can watch the whole finale unfold here on YouTube.

Giveaway Winners Announced!

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Hello friends! I apologize for the massive delay in announcing the winners of my Loads of Ranunculus iPhone 4/4S case. I photographed a beautiful wedding on the day the giveaway ended and then promptly got attacked by a mean virus! I'm up and at 'em today though! With no further ado...


Congratulations to Annie and Beth! I will email you today. :)

Thank you all for entering!





Sweet Eventide Photography iPhone Cases Available Now

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It is with great pleasure that I announce my new shop for iPhone 4 and 4S cases!




I have been working hard over the summer to prepare this new shop and I chose to launch it with five of my most popular photographs. I will be adding more photographs and device types all the time, including cases for the brand new iPhone 5, as well as cases for the Samsung Galaxy S III.

I have partnered with Case Mate as my supplier for these cases and I have been using a test case all summer. I can assure you that the cases are made with the utmost of care, they are very sturdy and it fully protects my "little precious." :) All of my cases will have a price of $40 and I will be shipping these out once per week on Mondays (for all orders I have received by then). 

I would greatly appreciate it if you would help me spread the word about my newest venture. I will be giving away two of the iPhone test cases (that fit either the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S) with the ever-popular Loads of Ranunculus photograph on them! The test cases have very minor superficial imperfections on them that do not affect the functionality of the case. 

Here are all of the ways for you to enter the Loads of Ranunculus iPhone 4 or 4S case giveaway:

Pinterest: 
You can pin a case and receive one entry per pin for a maximum of five entries (five cases) Note: your pin MUST link directly to my Big Cartel shop in order to count. You can also follow me on Pinterest for an additional entry. 

Facebook: 
Like my Facebook page for one entry. Share the shop announcement for two entries. 

Twitter:
Tweet about the shop launch and receive an entry.  Note: your tweet must mention me in order to count.

Newsletter:

Sign-up for my newsletter for one entry. Receive one extra entry for every person you tell about my newsletter, receive a double entry if they sign up.

Blogging:
If you leave a comment on this post, you will receive one entry. If you blog about my shop, you will receive three entries. The post must include a link to my shop.

I know this is the most complicated giveaway I have ever hosted, but I really want to get the word out. This giveaway ends at midnight in Oregon on Sunday, September 23, 2012. Two winners will be chosen the old-fashioned way, with their names drawn out of a basket! I will verify the winners entries before shipment.

GOOD LUCK and THANK YOU!




Summer

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I have succeeded in my two summer goals: see more of Oregon and go camping more than once. We have gone camping three times and seen some of the northern coast of Oregon and some of central Oregon. This is one of my favorite photos from August.

September will bring grandparents who are relocating from the Bay Area! We are overjoyed to have Papa and Tutu moving to Lake Oswego. Equally exciting, we made it into a charter school and the first day is Sept. 5th. We are overjoyed to be joining a compatible school community again.

In the Moment

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Enjoying a magical moment at Cape Lookout, photo by Jeff


I'm forever battling the eternal planner parts of me with the life-is-short parts of me. I've been looking for those magical everyday moments all summer and trying to keep my worries about the future (schools, specifically) at bay as much as possible. 

Here are some of the moments I've found so far:  hosting a house full of loved ones, even amidst the chaos of cousins who were fighting one minute and giggling the next; the feeling of sand under my feet and a cool ocean breeze on my face; enjoying the warm, sweet juice from a freshly-picked berry; dancing to country music in the farm field with my husband while our son took photos of us; seeing how much our cucumbers have grown since yesterday; choosing the day's ice cream flavor; downloading more pictures from my big camera and less from my iPhone; these are but a few of my favorite memories from the summer of 2012 so far.

I have a greeting card on my bulletin board right above my laptop that I'm typing on right now:

Live in the sunshine,
swim the sea,
drink the wild air.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The everyday moment is all we have, really, in the end. Are you healthy right now? Do you have a loved one within reach? Do you have a song that makes you feel alive, a favorite food and a cold beverage on a hot summer day? Hold them all tight and memorize the feeling, because not everyone is so lucky. 



Pastel Sky in July

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I have been going on a lot of mini-walks lately. I have always found it hard to exercise so I'm operating on the "more is more" principle. When I think of it or the mood strikes, I pop out my front door for a quick toodle around a block, or two, or maybe more. Yesterday, this mood struck me just as the sky was soft and pastel and dreamy.


I know it's a rather abstract photograph, as far as my usual style is concerned, but this is straight out of my camera and it suits me just right these days. I have been very busy with visitors (yay!) and work (learning about licensing! yay!) and gardening (we installed a square foot garden, yay!) so to see a soothing, pastel sky helps me clear my mind.


Sail Away

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I attended my Uncle George's funeral on May 12, 2012 and that evening I dropped off his brother (my Uncle Bob) and his wife at the airport. The timing was impeccable as this is the scene that greeted me right after. Somehow it was just what I needed after a sad, emotional day -- I pulled my rental car over to this packed parking lot on the side of the docks. I couldn't find a parking spot, so I put on my hazard lights, got out and started snapping away. 

I figured anyone who needed to get by could wait a moment for me. The sun setting is such a fleeting thing, even though it happens daily. I wanted to drink this one in as slowly as possibly. 

This one's for you Uncle George.


The Next Chapter Begins

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an a-ha moment for Jess

I painted this little venn diagram for myself early in my Hello Soul, Hello Business coursework. We did a worksheet on dreaming big -- really, really big -- and I started out thinking about my business dreams. As I continued on the worksheet, I was asked to think about what I would do if I reached all of my biggest goals for my business? I had the answers ready to go and it turned out that they had nothing to do with photgraphy at all. Instead, they were my biggest dreams for me, Jess, my family and my life.

My husband took me out last night for a little bubbly to celebrate quitting my day job

That is when it hit me: my dreams for my life and my dreams for my business intersect within ME. I am my business and my business is me. It is a truly symbiotic relationship. It seems simple in hindsight but it was one of the biggest a-ha moments of my life (to date). 

And so the next chapter begins!


Things I am Not Afraid to Tell You

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I hope what came through in my last post is the message that I crave a balance in blogging, just like in life. I like the pretty, I like the real, I like the happy, I like the sad, I like it all mixed up, just like life.

"All is Well just the way it is; 
all weird and broken and wonderful." 
Mandy, on Little Brown Pen's post


I thought that was such a wonderful way to sum up the whole idea! So here is a bit of weird and wonderful news from me, something I am NOT afraid to tell you: yesterday I gave my notice at my day job of the past 19 months!


Do you know that I walk or drive under these trees on my street every single day? I look up through them and get all lost, so happily lost. I dream and dream and dream. Dreaming is but half of the equation though. It is time to act. These big, old, stately, beautiful, strong trees started out small, mere saplings and now look at them! I definitely see myself in these trees. With my husband's amazing support, I will now be able to grow Sweet Eventide into her fullest, most abundant potential.

I have been on Kelly Rae Roberts' email list for a long time and last night, she happened to send this image out to her subscribers:


Synchronicity! Amazing, right?!

Things I'm Afraid to Tell You

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Graphic designed by Ez of Creature Comforts

Have y'all seen this movement going around the blogosphere today?! I am exhilarated by it. I am energized by it. I am in awe of it and I am proud of it. I am inspired by it! Please click on the graphic to read the back story and see the full list of bloggers participating in this truth-telling spree. So far, I have made it to only a handful of blogs to comment and cheer, Nichole, Erin and Rena but I plan to make my way around the entire list. I am committed because it is so important to support this kind of heartfelt bravery and honesty in our saturated, perfection-inducing online world.

I'm going to get straight to it, but if you've read my blog for any length of time, I hope you have seen glimpses of this kind of honesty from me already. I have fought against making a perfectly pretty blog, because it's not true. Life is not perfectly pretty.

Things I'm Afraid to Tell You:

When I look in the mirror, I say hateful things to myself. And then I feel deep shame because I am a cancer survivor and I should be grateful to be alive and who cares how I look? Except, I do care. It's sad but true. I actually took "aging gracefully" off the list of things I like on my Pinterest profile page recently because I realized it was pretty much a lie. I mean, I love the idea, but I'm not living it right now.

Although I'm a Virgo, I am hopelessly unorganized at home. My files are a mess, especially the digital ones. I have over 25,000 photos now on my external hard drive. I cannot access them quickly, they are not rated or tagged with keywords or anything. I have so much work I could share and promote and this is a huge hindrance to my progress as a photographer. Don't even get me started on emails. I save almost all of them, I have five email accounts, it is ridiculous. It is an enormous, inefficient part of my life. Sigh.

I pick at my lips when I'm stressed or worried or tired. Now the Noodle is mimicking this behavior of mine which makes me want to vomit. More shame. 

I think the last thing I want to share is how lonely I have been since I moved to Portland. I really miss my friends and family and school community at home in California. While I have some community here (thank goodness!), I have felt very disconnected overall. As a result, I have developed a ridiculous attachment to my stupid iPhone. I check Facebook on it all the time! I don't even like Facebook! It is a real symptom of my need for a community. Not finding a school community yet has been a big setback in feeling settled here. I know this won't last forever, but I did notice it and it feels good to say it out loud. I feel like I read stories of people packing up and relocating and it's a breeze! Happy kids, easy transitions, no problems at the new school or making new friends and that has not been our experience. 

Oh boy, this movement is really scary! I'm going to hit publish before I over-think it because I love it, I love it so much. I feel like sometimes my tag line is a sham, "photographing the magic of the ordinary" because I don't find myself really showing the un-magical sides in my photos. I use a fixed lens with a shallow depth of field on purpose! So you can see the parts that I want you to see and blur out the rest. But sometimes, wouldn't it be nice to see everyone's dirty dishes, and not just their pretty coffee cups? 

I think we can take this movement to the next level with photographs too.

Are you in?

P.S. I deleted one thing and I'll admit it right now. It was just too much, I felt too vulnerable. I am human.



Glimpses

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I thought I would share a few glimpses of what has been going on this month, all via Instagram. I am @sweeteventide over there if you would like to connect. You can follow even without the app over on the website Statigram. Descriptions are at the end.








1. My wrapping on one of the little gifts I gave Jeff for his birthday 
2. My mini-me at a rest stop on the very long road trip back from Cali 
3. This caught my eye later on the road trip in Roseburg, Oregon
4. Portland's beautiful "welcome home" scenery
5. We had an appointment at the children's hospital after we got back to Portland. The Noodle
is 100 percent good to go after that awful CRPS event with his foot.
6. Our beautiful front yard tree saw a lot of action in the glorious spring sunshine this weekend
7. I always wanted to take take photos from the Burnside Bridge at eventide & Saturday I finally did!




Spring Pretties + Email List

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Recently glimpsed in Portland....




and recently glimpsed in California...



Also, I recently launched an email list which will include specials in my Etsy shop, new Sweet Eventide products, inspiration and exclusive images just for subscribers! I hope you will sign up, I will operate my list with utmost integrity -- no spam or anything icky like that from me. You can sign up using this link.

It's Nearly Spring

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Good morning! I wanted to share some new but quintessential photographs I've taken recently with you, because although it is still quite wintery here and we are headed to the snow no less, I know that spring is nearly here. I love rain and clouds but even I can't deny I am looking quite forward to the joyful energy of spring.


Portland is starting to bloom
© Jessica Nichols, Sweet Eventide Photography


Updates: the Noodle is walking, running and playing again after the past few weeks of work with an amazing pediatric physical therapist at OHSU Children's Hospital. He is not done yet, but the progress has been amazing and uplifting. We are headed to an extended family getaway in the snow, and we miss them all so much so we are very excited. Hello Soul Hello Business (HSHB) is still changing my life and I'm in the thick of it, and behind on the work actually. We are applying to charter schools for next year here; meanwhile we quietly began homeschooling about six weeks ago and we're quite happy with that transition. Mostly, I am anticipating all the photographs I plan to take as I document my first spring in Portland.

Thanks for visiting, I will be returning to regular blogging at some point as it has become very clear in my HSHB work that this space is of prime importance for me.

Much love,
Jess

Peaceful

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Ashland, OR -- January 1, 2012

Hello my friends! I have been wanting to come in and say hello this month. We had a lovely holiday season with our family and friends in California. We are enjoying having several visitors in Portland which is wonderful for us. We also have an injured little boy (his ankle/foot) so it's good I am still not committed to any extra things as the Noodle needs his mama. As for Sweet Eventide, I am taking photos almost daily with no expectations and much, much joy. I am enrolled in Hello Soul, Hello Business which is offering me the much-needed introspection I was intending to do when I began my sabbatical. 

I think of my blog often and miss being in this space regularly. Until next time, I wish you all a peaceful, beautiful new year.

Love,
Jess