What an awesome year.
This morning I’m sitting in my office looking out over a suburban landscape that finally has some snow on the ground. A virtually snow-less December here in Wisconsin kind of helped a brand new year to sneak up on me a bit. Usually by this time of year we’ve endured inches of snow and cold temperatures. Winter is one of those solid signals that a year is drawing to a close, but when it brings 50-degree days with sun that nourish new blades of grass, it throws me off a little. And trust me, this year I was not prepared for New Year’s Day. This year went SO. DARN. FAST.
It was fast, but it was amazing. Simply amazing. As someone who loves to write, I am not often left without the words I need to write a blog post. Today I’m having trouble summing up the year that marked the second anniversary of my business, the third anniversary of my marriage to my wonderful husband, the addition of a new little pug to our family, and oh so many more things. So instead, I’m going to let the photos do the talking! I hope the images below can convey how exciting the past year was for me. Please enjoy this little recap, and keep coming back to this little blog of mine to see what 2012 will bring.
There is certainly one thing I can say for this ridiculously long blog post… It is really crazy to look at an entire year’s worth of images in chronological order. You might see pretty pictures… I see growth, challenges, how far I’ve come, and how far I have yet to go. The learning is never over. I will never be as good as I want to be. The moment I feel I am as good as I would like to be, I’ve stopped evolving, and that would be terrible. I tried to get most of my shoots in here with at least one image per shoot, but if I forgot something, I’ll be happy to add it in! Enjoy!
February brought the beginning of the Madison protests, which drew me from my studio downtown for several days. Some of my images were even included in an amazing book by a neighbor & friend of mine- check it out, it’s called Cut From Plain Cloth. Here are just a few of my images:
March ended and April began on an amazing note: I took a memorable & inspiring trip to Amsterdam and Paris with some of my favorite photographers in the whole wide world. And yes, I mean the whole wide world! Friends both old and new came together for one of Scott Robert Lim’s life-changing international workshops. They came from all over the world, including India, Canada, the UK, and lots of US cities and states. We had the kind of time you just can’t describe with mere words.
My beautiful girlfriend Michelle endured all the travel with me. Planes, trains, and automobiles- we held together through them all!
Another wonderful friend of mine, Kat, joined us in Amsterdam from Texas.
Proof I was there!
Once we arrived in Paris, it was time to do some serious shooting and learning with Scott. Inspiration abounds not only from Scott, but from the phenomenal community he has attracted. The Scott Robert Workshop peeps that I have met have all been amazing photographers and artists with a burning passion to learn. It is an indescribable feeling to be among these people and to watch them learn from and share with one another. If you’re looking for some life-changing motivation, CHECK OUT HIS WORKSHOPS.
I got to shoot the FABULOUS Piano Fondue in 2011, too! These guys are amazing!
Shooting for Rebekah Jacobs to show off her new collection…
Summer for the Panda…
July was by far my busiest month, though it was a close race with October. The peak of the summer is just such a popular time for weddings and engagements.
Another new development this year was the beginning of my quick bridal shoots for Rebekah Jacobs Couture. When her custom bridal gown clients come into the studio for their final fitting, we carefully walk them outside the studio for a quick shoot of the gown while Rebekah is present. Rebekah’s gowns are TO DIE FOR.
On July 23 of 2011, I had an extra special opportunity to photograph a wedding for my father-in-law and his new wife, Barb. Just love these two- and how lovely it was to be able to give them the gift of memories for their wedding!
And then it was back to work and back to Madison.
Another very exciting event in August was a workshop that I organized for my favorite photography mentor- that’s right, the very same Scott Robert Lim with whom I traveled to Europe. No matter how many times I’ve attended one of Scott’s workshops, I keep learning new things at each one. This was an awesome workshop because it featured gowns by my gallery-mate Rebekah Jacobs Couture, hair by my favorite Madison Salon called Hybrid, and make-up by the ever-fabulous Barb from BZ Artistry. This amazing group traveled to Chicago with us and made the workshop a smashing hit. Scott even created some award-winning images there! Here are a few of mine…
August was a fun month because my only wedding was a two-day Indian-Western wedding. So many fun new things to learn about and shoot!
More bridal shoots, too.
After a busy season, the hubby & I took a third anniversary vacation to New Orleans, where I shot a bunch of fun Hipstamatic images. The photographers down there don’t even like to work in the heat, so I didn’t feel too badly about being a tourist with my iPhone!
September and October seem to be some of the most popular months of the year for weddings, so those two months were back-to-back weddings. Ready, set, go!
September also welcomed GEORGE to our family!
Eric & I took a road trip through Chicago and I got the chance to wander around at night and capture some fun shots. This one was popular on Facebook!
The first day of October brought a much-anticipated wedding: Susan was a friend of Eric’s before she moved away and found the love of her life, Jeff. I just adored their geeky wedding with tables named after World of Warcraft characters and music from Final Fantasy.
Once we were back to Madison, the fall weddings went by fast…and beautifully.
Another fun band shoot…this time with the Mad Polecats!
I was also fortunate to have Anna along on my November wedding… You’ll see much more of her work this year!
And then there was Christmas…
by Mandie Haberman
2 comments