Time to get back…

to reality.  I suppose.  I know it’s been awhile.  I know most of my blog readers are also myspace friends.  So they know what’s been going on in my life.  But to those of you who aren’t myspacers, I lost my daddy one week ago.  He was the inspiration in my life.  Especially my photography.  I’m not sure yet how to go on with this without him.  But I know he was very proud of me.  Someone told me that he said I would be famous one day and take care of him.  Well I may not be able to take care of him, but hopefully I can be famous   It’s really hard to use my camera.  I hope it gets easier, but right now it’s terrible.  I need to work.  But I can’t bring myself to work.  So, to my blog, I’m sorry I have forgotton about you.  I’m just feeling a lack of inspiration.  It will come back, but right now, there’s just mush in my head.  So until I have another session (and there will be one, don’t worry), I’ll leave you with this picture from the other day.  This is my Aunt Donna and Uncle Chris’s neice, Harley.  She would only take pictures with the sunflower!  It was from a arrangement from the cemetary.  Isn’t she just beautiful!

And I would really love for you all to read about my dad. I have made my myspace page public now, so just go to www.myspace.com/photobyjessica and look at the top right. Click on “My Dad”. Keep checking back. I will be back. Thanks for all the support!

Love me.

Our Engagement pictures

3 years too late!!! But better late then NEVER!!! I’ll post them all later, but here’s a few for your viewing pleasure. Doesn’t Dawn rocks!!! www.myspace.com/photographybydawnq OR www.photographybydawn.wordpress.com OR www.photographybydawn.photoreflect.com.

She’s AWESOME!

More to come, she just keeps posting them, and I keep going “OMG I LOVE!!”

Thanks Dawn, you’re awesome (dunno if I told ya that already )

And some more…

 

There are several more up on her proofing site, but this is everything that she had on myspace. If ya’ll wanna see the rest go to www.photographybydawn.photoreflect.com

Love ya’ll!
 

Special photoshoot tonight.

Cause I FINALLY convinced my hubby to take some reeeeeal pictures!! You know, I mean, not the ones where you both squeeze in and hold the camera up in the air while trying to push the shutter with your arm in the weirdest position. Yea, something BESIDES that! The most awesome rockin photographer will be accompanying us. Cause you know, it’s kinda difficult to take pictures of yourself. So stay tuned and as soon as she has the pics up, I’ll let ya’ll know. It’s gonna be fun!! I’m not used to being on that side of the camera, so ya know, I had to practice. Me and my bathroom mirror has a great photoshoot about 10 minutes ago. This is the result!

Yea, this is what Dawn has to work with. I know, whew, she’s got a task ahead of her!

Me and Canon, we’re the best of friends.

And, yes, I do plan on actually fixing my hair for this shoot!

See ya’ll later!

**Update**  Just got home and havn’t seen the pictures yet, and already know that Dawn is the greatest!!!  My husband even had a good time taking pictures!! Which is definatly a first!!  She’s the bomb and we had a blast!

10 minute photo shoot

Terrible things always happen to me at the worst times!!! I’m out shootin some fun pics with my sis and my camera just breaks. Still takes pictures, just the screen and the menu won’t work. Geez. Couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m broke as hell, now have to come up with 150 bucks to rent a camera! Fun times. Thankfully Jade (the coolest chick ever) is letting me borrow hers for the kick ass bridal I have this weekend. So hopefully it’ll all work out. Sending it to Canon tomorrow, so fingers crossed that it’s not a big issue. We had some hot pictures lined up with some really cool outfits. Unfortunatly we only got to one of those. Had another really sexy shoot lined up for tomorrow with two adorably hot brunettes, but that’ll have to wait until next week! Anyways, so here are a couple we got before all hell broke loose.

My sis decided to die her hair black practically.  I didn’t know about it at first, but after the pics, I’m lovin it!

Is she rockin them cowboy boots or what!!!???

This one is a little different.  But I’m always up for new things.  And I do think I really like it.  The texture is a little strong.  If I printed it, I’d tone that down a bit.  But I really like how much she stands out.

Of course, this one is my favorite.  Definatly going up in my house.  My sis is so beautiful!

Trying to be sexy and not look mean

Thanks every for reading.  Wish I had more to share.  All this fancy equipement, you know there is bound to be a time when it fails.  But it’ll be ok.  Won’t have a blog post to share for about a week, well I’m sure I’ll find a way to post something!!!

Much love ya’ll!

My motto

This quote pretty much sums up what photography is all about

Photography isn’t about what everyone else is doing, but about what YOU see when you look through that viewfinder. Latley I’ve been looking at alot of other photographer’s blogs and getting a little discouraged. I find myself out on a shoot thinking….man if I could just shoot this shot more like Jessica Claire or Jasmine Star. I NEED TO STOP THIS. While I want my picture to be exposed correctly, I want my style to come across, not theirs. I need to get outta this mode. Me and my sis are going hiking tonight and we are gonna take some pics, so check back tomorrow. This was really a useless post, but not for me. Whenever I feel like I need to change my style to suit someone else, I will come back and read this. Here are a couple things I TRY to live by:

- Accept critique, but don’t apply it blindly. Just because someone said it does not make it so. Critiques are opinions, nothing more. Consider the advice, consider the perspective of the advice giver, consider your style and what you want to convey in your work. Implement only what makes sense to implement. That doesn’t not make you ungrateful, it makes you independent. <- That is a big one. I love getting compliments and critique. If something looks weird in my photo, I wanna know. But sometimes I meant to do that weird thing And at times I find myself looking back at something I thought was great and trying to change it because someone else said it looked funny. I MUST STOP THAT!

- You don’t have to go into business just because people tell you you should! And you don’t have to be full time and making an executive income to be successful. If you decide you want to be in business, set your limits before you begin <-Another one I need to take more seriously. Ok, so I have talent. I appreciate everyone saying that. But photography is a hobby for me. I don’t wanna have a building in town that says Jessica Hicks Photography. I want to continue doing EXACTLY what I’m doing. If that doesn’t make me successful, then so be it.

“- Style is a voice, not a prop or an action. If you can buy it, borrow it, download it, or steal it, it is not a style. Don’t look outward for your style; look inward. <-Don’t get me wrong, I buy alot of actions for photoshop. But my rule of thumb is, if it’s not good to begin with, running an action over it won’t do justice.
- Remember that if your work looks like everyone else’s, there’s no reason for a client to book you instead of someone else. Unless you’re cheaper. And nobody wants to be known as “the cheaper photographer”. <-I have nothing to say about this one. It pretty much says it all

- Never compare your journey with someone else’s. It’s a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never “arrive”. No one ever does. <-and DA DA DA DAAAA!! This is the best thing to keep in mind if you are a photographer (amatuer or pro). Yea, I’m 25 and I’m not exactly where I wanna be as a photographer. But I have time. I will work on my skill, I will perfect the things I want to perfect. No, I’m no Jessica Claire, and I may never be. AND THAT’S OK. My journey is different then hers, and I’m going to try to stop comparing myself to everyone else!

Thanks for reading my blog. Whether you comment or just read. It’s nice to share my pictures with someone other then my family. They probably get tired of me throwing my stuff at them all the time. I am so proud of the friendships I’ve made through this photography adventure. It’s just beginning and I’m so excited.

Much love

P.S. I guess I need to include a photo. This is old, from Samantha’s senior pictures. I loooove it. It’s one of my favorites.

P.S.  Ya’ll I found all these thoughts on a myspace page somewhere and now I see the awesome Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai is the author.  Much give her MAD PROPS for some awesome words of wisdom!  www.cherylnicolai.squarespace.com

Tomorrow.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service.

 

That pretty much says it all.  But we should also think about those still serving to protect us.  Tomorrow isn’t about a day off work, or the banks being closed, or the mail not running. Tomorrow isn’t just a holiday.  It’s a special day. Hopefully we will all be with family barbequing and celebrating.   But take some time out to remember what the day is really about.  It’s a day to remember.  To pray and think about all that is going on in our world.  The bad and the good.  Thank you to all the men and women in our military.  Thanks to all the policeman, the fireman, the ambulance drivers.  To everyone that dedicates their lives to keeping others safe.  Tomorrow is all about you. 

And to my Aunt Donna, I love you and I wish I could be with you tomorrow.

To my Uncle Chris.  You made the ultimate sacrifice and we will all be thinking of you tomorrow.  I miss you.

 

Thanks for reading.  And I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

 

Maybe baby.

No I’m not pregnant. Wouldn’t that be a nice post!!! I just want to share two pictures right now. These might very well be my most favorite pictures I’ve ever taken. I don’t have time to blog the rest of them right now, but I couldn’t go to sleep until I posted these. THis is Kolton!

Fill in post.

So I haven’t posted in a while.  I’ve been so busy, it’s nuts!  Got a new car   Love it!  Working this funnnnn job.  It’s awesome.  Had several shoots since my last post, so I’ll post a couple pics from each one.  I really enjoyed my lunch the other day with some fellow photographers.  I hope we definatly keep up with our once a month meetings!  It really helps, and it reminds me how fun photography is and how complicated the business part can be!!!  Anyways, not much going on this week, just workin and editin pics.  I’m still workin on that new camera.   I wanna do some fun stuff.  The things I have in mind:  I wanna do an old timey pin up like picture.   Red lipstick and all.  I wanna take pictures of someone in the rain.  I wanna take pictures of a really cool old headstone.  And I wanna get into night photogrpahy.  Those are the things I’m interested in right now!  So here are a couple photos for your viewing pleasure!

I’ll start with my friend Ashlee and her adorable family!

And here’s Dakota. He was nominated for “most handsome” at Vinton High School.

And here’s Kevin and Magen’s prom picture:

And they got to drive this kick butt car!

I also shot two seniors: Samantha and Holly

And I got to shoot some cows that kept following us!!

And these are the only two I gave edited for Holly so far.

Told ya I was busy!
See more at www.myspace.com/photobyjessica

Love me.

Not a picture post.

This is a blog post.  Not a photo post.  Make sense?  I wanna say how lucky I am.  I don’t wanna just take pictures of people.  I wanna make LASTING friendships.  Today I had a blast shooting this senior that I just met for the first time.  It’s so great when you just click with a person.  When someone tells you they’ll NEVER go to another photographer other then yourself, and you actually BELIEVE them, it’s awesome (Ashlee ).  I just wanted to put a short post out there saying thank you to all those I have photographed.  I hope you had as much fun with me as I had with you.  I’ve never had a bad experience (knock on wood) with anyone yet.  Everyone has been so unbelievably awesome.  And to those special photographers that I’ve become close friends with, it’s great having ya’ll be apart of this with me.  I’m SO DANG LUCKY!! I have a great job, great clients and so much support it’s crazy.  How’d I get so blessed

Love me.

A couple new things

Ok, so I’m making this post SHORT! hahahahah. Anyways, I started my new job last Saturday. I FREAKIN LOVE IT! I didn’t really think it would be this great. I pretty much couldn’t ask for more. Well it would be cool if I could bring my camera and take pictures of stuff.. .:P I am the new bookkeeper at Delta Downs and unfortunatly it doesn’t involve much photography But that’s the ONLY downsidE!! Love it! So alot of people from Vinton know me through my little sister. So luckily, a few that were nominated for most beautiful/most handsome asked me to do their headshots. You will see Samantha in a post below. She was nominated. And here’s Brooke:

That one is my favorite. She picked this one to turn it. I like it too!

Check out her long red hair, isn’t it gorgeous!!!

I will be doing Dakota’s headshots this week or next week. So look for those. He’s veeeery handsome! Now meet Clint. This guy is a freshman and is sooo gorgeous if you ask me!!! I love every picture I took of him. But I will just share a few. You can always see the rest on my myspace page.

He cracked here!

This is the one we’ve picked to turn in. We actually all agreed!!

Ok and next is Della’s family. I don’t do many family portraits. I’m just not a fan. It’s WORK. Getting everyone to pay attention at once, gesh! It’s hard. But I just love this family and I’ll NEVER tell them no!! Here’s my favorites!

I’ll share some more of these tomorrow. I’m tired and they take too long to upload! OK…well just a few more for tonight~

And Landon being a little tease!!

Thanks for reading ya’ll! Gotta go to sleep, I actually have to wake up and go to work!! Yay for me~!!!

Love me.