And, though embarrassing, please watch the out takes. They’re ridiculous.

I’m so excited about photographing the Stites family! As I was uploading this video to blip.tv, I got an email saying I had a comment on my post from yesterday. Awesomely (new word), Caitie Grissom was commenting to say the suspense was killing them, so that’s all the more reason I’m stoked that they won!

In other super exciting news, I’m blogging this from my BRAND NEW 24” iMAC!! Man, it is amazing.

Also, I’m listening to the new Third Eye Blind album that I downloaded for $3.99 on Amazon! Get it here.

One year ago I shot my first wedding, the awesome Dillenders!

I’ll never forget how terrified I was, how unprepared I was, and in the end, how sure I was that I wanted to shoot weddings forever. Looking back over the year, I’m embarrassed by the job I’ve done on certain shoots, I’m amazed at how much I’ve learned, and I’m excited about what’s to come.

Photography has been one of the only hobbies that I had as a kid and have stuck with. If you know me well at all, you know I get really passionate about things for a certain period of time, and then it fades away as quickly as it came. I’ll “get into something” and be all about it, hardcore, the biggest fan, and then fizzle, it’s gone. Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes I just wish I could stick with things. But photography is a love I’ve had since my first digital camera (because, really, how into it could I be with the throw aways?) Yes, I still have my first digital camera. And yes, it is a Nikon. And no, it doesn’t work.

In high school, my dad gave me his old 35. I hope that every person who is “into” photography has shot film at some point, and if not, do it. I want to start using this bad boy more often…

I want to be 100 times better than I am, and I want to already be at the place I’ll be in 2 years. But despite certain frustrations and my own feelings of ‘not being good enough’ at times, I feel so amazingly blessed that am still booking clients who want me to capture their Big Day. I pray that this will continue and I really will be able to do this forever (or at least until my back, fingers, and feet can’t take it anymore).

So anyways, HAPPY PHOTOVERSARY TO ME (AND TO YOU!!) To celebrate I’m giving away 50% off a shoot (YOU HEARD ME!) That means seniors, engagements, families, kids, bridals, headshots aka Facebook profile photo, you name it, you get half off (except weddings…nice try). To enter what will be a live drawing of the winner, just comment below or shoot me an email (caroline@carolinefontenot.com) with your name and what sort of shoot you’re interested in. And you don’t have to be a regular blog reader to enter, so pass it on to anyone you know who might be interested! And if you live in Texas, you should enter too, because you know I’ll be back at same point! And if you live in Fiji, you should enter, because I want to come there. So seriously, pass it on to anyone and everyone. I’ll blog the live drawing 1 week from today which means the contestants can shoot me their info from now until AUGUST 17TH 12:00 AM (MOUNTAIN TIME, BABY).

Remember my post yesterday where I told people to comment their favorite books? 1 person did it. C’mon people. Don’t make this like that.

On March 11th Steven and I started a conversation via Facebook about when he was proposing to my best friend in the whole world. He told be the general time frame and I quickly called Christie to share the news. And then, on April 14, Steven sent me this message: “D-Day=July 25, 2009. Talk to Christie. Plan accordingly =)” On that day Christie and I began our scheming to fly to Tennessee in July and be there for the proposal! The closer it got to the date the harder it was to lie to Allison. Listening to her on the phone wondering about when he’d propose, coming up with ideas, talking about how ready she was. It was torture to play along! As most of you know, Allison has been my best friend for over 15 years so I wouldn’t miss this for the world.

We flew in the day before the proposal and stayed with a friend of theirs. We hung out with Steven the night before and he showed us the ring and told us the whole plan. The next morning Christie and I woke up so giddy, like little school girls.We patiently waited to be picked up by some of Steven and Allison’s friends who were part of the whole planning process. We made our way to North Carolina to a place called Boulder City where Steven and Allison had their first date a year ago. Then, we all got in place. Cameras and video cameras were in place in multiple locations, walkie talkies were in full force…it was amazing! Unfortunately Christie and I were the farthest away and a group of ding dongs were in the background of all my photos, but, it was still such a gift to be there capturing the moment of my best friend’s engagement to a man I’m crazy about. They’re perfect together and I couldn’t be more thrilled!! Watch the video below via my point and shoot, mixed with some photos, of the great event. (Sometimes blip.tv likes to play an ad first, so if that happens, I apologize…just let it play through and the video will start right after)

To see the rest of the photos from the proposal and our trip out East, click here!

P.S. The song of the week is the song I used for the video. “All the Stars in the Sky are Mine” by The Candlepark Stars, straight from Austin!

So I’m still having trouble with ShowIt. I’ve tried tons of stuff but still, the resolution on the show is still low! I wanted to make it anyways, so HERE IT IS!! If you want to see all the photos looking a lot better (and a lot more of them) just check out the Facebook Album.

A few weeks ago I had the INCREDIBLE privilege of shooting Alex and Jessa’s beautiful wedding in Bergheim, TX at the Serengeti Resort! It was my first outdoor wedding and I would be thrilled to shoot outdoor weddings forever (even in Texas!) Alex and Jessa were also the first couple I’ve photographed who saw each other before, and I loved it. They were so calm, so into getting fun photos, and so perfect for each other.

This slideshow was the first I’ve made with ShowIt. It was super easy to use, much cooler than using Vimeo or Blip, but I still am bummed to see that photos that are full resolution when I open them lose quality when I put them in the show. Any photographers know how to fix this? It’s at 75dpi (the suggested resolution output) and I’d much rather be able to share the show at bigger pixels (this is only 500×500, when I make it larger, photos pixelate that shouldn’t). So anyways, just wanted to say that in case someone slideshow savvy could give me some advice! Either way, I’m pretty happy with it. Thanks, blog fans, for your patience as I try out new software to hopefully (very soon) NAIL IT!

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALEX+JESSA’S WEDDING DAY!!

If you want to see all 600+ photos, feel free to visit my proofing site. No password necessary to view their photos!