Unplugged

This is one of the best articles for planning your wedding I've read in a while. Check it out, pass it on, and spread the word!

http://offbeatbride.com/2011/06/unplugged-wedding

New Phone Number

Just in case you've been trying to get a hold of me and haven't been able to, I wanted to just put a quick shout out that our business line has changed and the old phone number will no longer work for us. If you need to get a hold of us the new number is 520-405-2985 which you can find under the contact info on our website now. Thanks everybody!

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

by Robert Frost

As lame as it may be and as many english lit students and poets that will cringe at this statement, this is my favorite poem. I know it's over used and sort of like the mona lisa of poetry and therefore lame to be one's favorite, but non the less it is. From the very first time the words rolled off my tongue I was in love. There is something about this poem that grabs my spirit, speaks to my heart and in some ways has always been a guiding light through the years. Which is what brings me to my point.

Almost six years ago my amazing husband and I got married, packed up our few measly belonging and moved to Tucson to make our way in the world you might say. Both of us planned on finishing up our degrees at the U of A and then wait and see where life would take us. When we first moved here Joey worked at a gas station and I didn't even have a job... we'll just say we weren't really rolling in the dough. I kept telling Joe I should go out and get a job to help with bills and he would always reply "No, I don't want you working and having a job just to make money. I want you doing something that makes you happy, and if that means sitting at home, that's what I want you to do." (I know... I don't deserve him, he speaks french and writes poetry too.... swoon...) So I sat at home, and I worked on my business. I taught myself HTML and how to design my own website, I worked on making business cards, and my photography itself. I read book on the subject, listened to famous speaker and started taking photo classes. All the while my husband worked two or three jobs to pay our bills while going to school full time. I would say that this was silly and I could help if I just got a job and he would reply "No, I'm investing in you now and later I know it will pay off." And it did, my business grew and prospered and gradually began making more and more money until I was actually helping with the bills more and more. And the only reason any of it ever happened was because my husband was willing to take the road less traveled.

However, during this time I could see that Joe was never truly happy, he has dreams and goals of his own after all. After graduating with a degree in Journalism and working as a full time reporter at the same paper for nearly 5 years he was ready for a change. Except with not only the economy being in the state it's in but the newspaper industry falling on hard times, new opportunities were slim and hard to come by. And even if one had arisen, I don't think he was really ever dead set on that being his whole life. So we started looking, and back in September we heard of an awesome opportunity he could apply for with the military, working as a civilian employee. Intrigued by the job description of logistics management Joe began really looking into and researching the job, and the more he saw the more he really felt like it was what he had been looking for. The position would not only play to all his major strengths as an individual but would give our family the opportunity to live all over the world. So we talked it over, and in September he applied for the job. Then after three rounds of interviewing and a in person interview in Washington DC we finally got the word 2 days before Christmas that Joey got the job (one of about 32 spots from around 800 applicants).

We were elated... and to be quite frank, terrified.

As much as we really want this opportunity, it means a lot of changes. The biggest of which is Joe has to begin training for the position February 28th in Virginia at Fort Lee. Which is soon, and scary. And because it is so soon and we own our house here and the fact that well... I have weddings I have to photograph here, I am staying behind for a while. Which is probably the hardest part. It would just be to expensive for all of us to move there together just yet. So we'll have to be apart for about 6 months while I get things taken care of here, and figure out what to do with our house. I am not looking forward to that.

But he let me have my time to work on my dreams, the least I can do is to let him have his...

That's our big news. Joey and I are moving to Virginia, for now anyway. After training for 18 month he'll get put in his first position which could land us anywhere in the world from Italy to Japan to New Orleans, we don't really know. After that he'll get to have more of a choice of location on where he'd like to be working.

And don't worry, I'm not shutting down business. I'll still be here and taking photos wherever life may land us, the only thing that's going to change is the scenery.

While on one hand this entire thing terrifies me, that element of the unknown is an amazing and exciting feeling.

So with that, I'm walking hand in hand with my best friend down the road less traveled...



Photo of Joey and I Courtesy Of SunStreet Photo

Riding The Wake Of Tragedy

I don't usually post about current events but since they seem to be consuming my life the last few days I thought it would be ok.

When I first got into photography one of my very first gigs was as a photojournalist for a small paper, since then I've done some here and there on the side. Mostly because Joe is a reporter and I somehow get sucked into little assignments here and there.

As you may have guessed the journalism community has converged upon Tucson the last few days to cover the shooting and the aftermath of a city in mourning. Joey asked me to take few pictures here and there for a couple articles they will be running and I thought I'd share some of the images I've gotten so far:

This is the Safeway where the shooting took place, we used to live across the street before we moved into the house we are in now and this is where Joey and I had our very first grocery shopping trip together as a married couple... the whole thing is surreal...

There are still mass amounts of media camped out in the parking lot broadcasting non-stop it seems...





This is image is one of my favorites, all the stores around the scene are open for business again but all you see are the employees peering out of windows in sceilence and watching the FBI agents at work... we are all just in shock still...

Yesterday it seems like they were in their finishing stages of gathering evidence as they started to remove some of the caution tape.



After I had gotten a few images at the scene I decided to drive by the school the little 9 year old girl, Christina Green, who was killed in the shooting attended. This is the part that broke my heart. I pulled up to find mass amounts of students and parents constructing a tribute to Christina on the school fence tying up ribbons and making posters for her... If the images look a tad grainy that's because the sun had already set by the time I got there and I was basically taking pictures in the pitch dark...





I chatted for a bit with these three girl's mothers and all three of them were in Christina's 3rd grade class with her...

The whole thing is just surreal and heartbreaking.... I'll post up any more images if I take any later this week...

Jesse + Mickey

Ok... I just couldn't wait any longer! Here are some more of the awesome images we got during the session I did with Jesse and Mickey. Mickey is an amazing songwriter, singer and guitarist and she is married to my bro-in-law Jesse who is one of the best drummers I know, and they have been creating some great music together lately and will soon be featured in the Phoenix film festival! For the festival and for some music reps they've been talking to they asked me to take some images for them to put together some promotional materials and things. Here's what we came up with!!!!

This first half of the images were all done at our studio...

Normally I comment on each photo and tell you which ones I love the most... but in this case I adore ALL of them! So it would be pointless for me to simply say FAVORITE on every image lol... So just know I am pretty proud of these!





















Then I wanted to head downtown and take some vintage inspired images to go along with Mickey's super cute outfit!











Did they both not make the best models EVER!? Mickey has such awesome style and Jesse even GQ'd it up for us! So excited to put some of these up on our website soon!

Sneak Peek - Jesse + Mickey

I'm in love with this shot I got on Saturday... more to come later...

Happy Twenty Ten!!!

I feel like I'm living in a Sci-Fi movie! It wasn't so bad when we were all just referring to it as "Two Thousand Ten", but when those grammar heads jumped in and declared we were living in "Twenty Ten" it suddenly got very futuristic lol... Although I am really really really looking forward to having kids or grandkids one day and saying things like "back in aught five". How cool does that sound!?

I am so excited for this new year though! We have some amazing opportunities coming our way this year, it's going to be awesome I can just feel it!

I've never really been one for making New Year's resolutions... but this year I felt like I needed a change, in many things so I figured I've give it a go! So here goes:

1: Start going to bed earlier and waking up earlier

I know this seems silly, but I LOVE sleep. I also love staying up late. Like really late. I am a night owl, that's just how I am built but lately I have been up every night until 4am. This just has to stop. I know I'll never be a morning person, it's just not who I am but I would love to be at least awake by 8:30 every morning. It should help that I signed myself up for a morning class at the university this semester that starts at 8am. Eeekkk! My poor little body is freaking out already! So it's going to be either sink or swim with this one I think.

2: Eat at home more, learn to cook more things, eat healthier.

I know eating healthy is great and wonderful, but I just really never felt that compelled to go crazy about it. However after recently watching Food Inc. with Joey I will never look at a Big Mac the same. However, eating at home kinda requires one cooks. Something I'm not BAD at by any means, I just only have like 10 things I know how to make.... or at least make well... which after a while those ten things get to be kind monotonous. I then find myself pacing the isles at the grocery store searching for some new food/dinner idea to jump off the shelves at me... which never ends up happening so I buy the same stuff I always do to make the same 10 things I know how to make. So this year I want to branch out, learn to cook new things and actually just take the time to cook! Because my main problem here is that I don't think about cooking until I am starving. At which point I don't want to spend an hour in the kitchen making something, I WANT TO EAT! So I just grab some sort of frozenness out of the fridge defrost and serve. This needs to change!

3: Keep my house clean

Lol I feel like a 5 year old with this one. But it's true. I just wasn't born with the cleaning bug. In fact I hate it. If I could do anything besides cleaning I probably would. I tend to put it off and put it off and put it off until our house gets to the point that I'm ashamed to even let people in the door, let alone, God forbid, into one of the bathrooms. At this point I am so overwhelmed by how much I need to do it scares me. So this year I am going to change that! As busy as my life may get this year and as much as I hate it I am going to keep my house clean!!!!! I am going to learn to modify my messy behavior once and for all! Friends of ours always ask when we're going to have kids, and I always joke back saying "when I learn how to keep my house clean" since I'm sure that is a pretty good indicator if someone is ready for parenthood lol.

So far that's all I've got, but I'm also working on a list of a bunch of little things I want to work towards as well, so I'll post that up later this month.

And since posts are always better with photos here is a snapshot my little sis took of us at her New Year party...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Joey and I had a super cute portraits session done of the two of us by our awesome photographer friend the Roby's this year, I can't wait to show off some of the great shots they got! This one we used for our cards is one of my favorites!!!

QUESTION - Photo Classes & Workshops

Hey All! I know I've been lagging in blogging again... I really am trying :(  Time seems to keep getting away from me and then I realize it's been yet another week with now blog updates.  So I am going to REALLY try and get better at this.

But!

I wanted to ask all you guys a quick question!  I am thinking about teaching two photo classes at my studio this January

one beginner class for newbies to photography who want an uber fun crash course on how to use their SLR camera and how to take a decent photo.

and maybe a more advanced class for pro photogs wanting to improve upon their photography where I'd go over all my little tips and tricks I've learned myself over the years.

What I really need to know is if there is enough interest in either of these two classes for me to start putting one together. 

So here's the deal.  If you yourself or a family member or friend or whomever you know is seriously interested in taking one of these classes from me, shoot me an e-mail at inquiries@pangburnphotography.com so I can get an idea of how many people would actually want to sign up for something like this.

Thanks guys!

Don't Worry I'm Not Dead...

I know I have really been falling off the blog train lately. :( But I'm working super hard I assure you!! Right now I'm deep in designland putting together a super chic album for one of my favorite clients. Thought I'd share a few of my favorite spreads to show you I really have been up to stuff! This is actually not a very typical album design for me, I usually like lots of belles and whistles (tastefully done of course) but everything about this wedding screamed elegance and you really can't get more elegant than a simple clean chic design like this.

This is the first page of the book, so when you open up the cover this is the first thing you see....


This is my favorite favorite spread, I loved the detail shots I was able to get for them at the wedding...








Hopefully they'll like it as much as I do when I get all done!!!

Please ABC save my new favorite show!!!

Ok if you know me, you know I LOVE a good mystery, or any mystery at all actually even terrible ones, but good ones are preferable.  And I have a new found love obsession with ABC's newest mystery tv show CASTLE!  It is so great! I love everything about it, the wit, the humor and the actors have some of the best chemistry that I have seen on a TV show in a long long time and the mysteries are awesome!  It is the ONLY show I actually tune in every week and watch.  And so you can imagine my horror when I tuned in last night and saw them advertising the show's season finale when it only began in March!  I was heartbroken.  I know this sounds dramatic for a television show, but after the change over at CSI vegas with the cast I'm left with an empty place in my heart for a great crime drama that no other show until now has been able to fill.

So please ABC RENEW CASTLE!!!!   Help a girl out by tuning into the season finale on monday night after dancing with the stars!

EXTREME UPDATE!

...ok that sounded much cooler in my head lol. Just wanted to post up some updated info for you all on the Extreme Home Makeover that is going to be happening here in Tucson. They are still in need of volunteers but if you want to help out you need to sign up fast to make sure you get to! To sign up simply go to this link: http://www.extrememakeovertucson.com. I signed up to help out on the last day from 10am-6pm. (mostly because I want to be there to see the look on the families faces when they come home since that's my favorite part!)

It's Us!

So remember that photo I showed you I took of Casia and her hubby Eric (you know the crazy one with their feet in the tires), well this past weekend Casia took some photos of Joey and I!  It was fun to be on the other side of the camera for a change.  Although I think the two of us (more so Joe) are quite a handful and get easily sidetracked acting goofy lol... But we had a lot of fun taking pics and getting to dress up.  Here's one of my favorites from the shoot (I know you can't see our faces but I promise it's us.. lol)  I'll post up more later.  You can check out the rest of Casia's awesome work at her website: www.purplenickel.com



Lol ignore my logo on this pic, since obviously I didn't take it lol... All credit goes to the awesome Casia :)

The Super-Secret Spy Lens...

Ok... I am not a techie usually... but I do like toys and THIS IS AWESOME! So this new lens attachment thingy lets you point your camera one direction and shoot in the other, so the person you're photographing has no idea you're doing it! How awesomely cool is that! I remember when I did a lot of photojournalism how weird people would get the moment they realized you were taking their photo, THIS WOULD TOTALLY SOLVE THE PROBLEM...

Ok... so if you think this sounds as cool as I do, you can check it out here: SUPER-SECRET SPY LENS

umm... you have to see this...

Worst Best Man Ever @ Yahoo! Video

HOLY CRAP!!!!! I feel like Ms. America!

I am finally able to officially announce some BIG NEWS! Rangefinder Magazine has written a 5 page article about me and my photo biz!!! I can't even begin to describe how over the moon I am! I mean come on... Me!!!! Little old ME!!!

I'd like to just take a moment to thank all the little people who have gotten me to where I am today LOL!:

My Mom: With out whose help I would never have become the creative individual I am today

My Dad: For always being there to encourage and support me

My Grandpa: For giving me my first real camera

My Sister: Who has modeled for me and let me practice on her since she was 11

And my hubby, without whose love and encouragement and support I would have never taken the leap to start my business

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! 

Ok enough with the mushy stuff on with my fantastic news!

They wrote an awesome 5-page article on me and my biz and included some of my favorite pictures.

For those of you who aren't in the photo world Randfinder is a national and I think even international magazine that goes out to professional photographers everywhere. So being profiled by them is a huge honor!

I'm so excited and can't wait to get my official copy of the magazine this month in the mail, I've been stalking their internet site waiting for the issue to go up so I could download the PDF all day!

You can find a link to the awesome article they wrote about me here: READ THE ARTICLE