Flirt Photography

Happy New Year everyone!

I do owe you all an apology for the lack of posts lately. The truth is I have been out having fun…visiting family and friends, working hard and shooting lots of engagement photos for the weddings coming up in 2011.

At the moment, I am out of town visiting family and having a great time catching up with the people nearest and dearest to me.

Yesterday I went to a local park with my parents. We fed chickadees and nuthatches:

I actually just realized a few moments ago that today is New Year’s Eve. Traditionally I bouycott the event so the day itself is not necessarily cause for celebration. I had a friend killed by a drunk driver on New Year’s Eve many years ago and as a result I stopped celebrating it. I also feel there are exponentially more impaired drivers on the road today over all other days of the year so I choose not to expose myself to the risk of driving or otherwise being out on the roads. In any event (party or not) this is the last day of 2010 and as such I feel compelled to reflect on 2010 and look forward to 2011.

What a year 2010 has been. I met many new friends that started out as clients and also had a great time fostering and nuturing working relationships with other photographers, film-makers, wedding coordinators, venue managers, florists, caterers, make-up artists, hair stylists, etc. I shot weddings all over Ontario from Toronto all the way out to Niagara On The Lake. I also had a chance to travel again for work (to India and New Brunswick) and frankly I don’t think it gets much better than that! While I love any excuse to get a camera in my hand, somehow the addition of travel makes an assignment that much more fun and exciting. I will be shooting another wedding in New Brunswick next summer (hi Patty! hi Mark!) and I am very much looking forward to another road trip out east (I will see a moose, I will see a moose, I will see a mouse). I also plan to travel to Alaska in 2011 to shoot photos of some humpback whales…details to follow as the plans get confirmed.

Part of the reflection of the past year has been professional and some has been personal. I made some really great new friends over the past year and a couple of them happen to be incredibly talented film-makers. Regular readers will remember Andrew & Emily Sorlie as the producers of my promo film (shot in May 2010). They have since launced a new business called Honey & Dear producing top notch wedding films all over the world (in fact, they will be jetting off to Australia in a few weeks for a wedding!).  If you are getting married and you haven’t booked a film-maker yet then call these guys…really…you won’t be sorry!

Andrew & Emily wrote their own blogpost to ring in the new year and their words really struck a chord with me. They spoke of being better listeners (something nearly all of us could work on). I really loved what they both had to say and I have been actively paying more attention to my own words and those of others over the past couple of weeks. With permission…here are some excerpts from that blog post:

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One of my personal goals is to rid ‘one-upping’ from my repertoire.

One-Upping is basically when you tell someone something such as “Man – I was up so late last night (say 1:00am or something) and now I’m tired” and then that other person saying – “dude – I was up until 2:00am and I had to get up at like 6:00.”  This essentially is like saying – what you’re dealing with isn’t nearly as big of a deal as what I’m dealing with – and it really isn’t helpful, constructive or even nice.

We all shrug it off as sarcasm – but what if you were telling someone something you were really sensitive about?

When I tell you something I’m dealing with – the point is to share and be open and honest.  Now, I’m not really talking about bedtimes here…what happens though when you get the ‘one-up’ response is you feel bad and less interested in opening up with that person next time. Why would you want to if they are probably going to tell you whatever they are dealing with is (bigger/better/harder/more expensive/blah blah blah).

So, instead try this…if someone shares something with you take a moment to listen to them – really listen. Ask them how you can help them with what they are going through (especially if your first reaction is to one-up).  If your first reaction used to be one-upping you could probably help people a lot by taking a moment to think before you respond or react.

Does that make sense? 

I’ve been thinking about it a lot.  If you catch me doing it – call me on it.  That’s what friends are for.  Hopefully you’ll give it a try too.

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So there you have it – what a simple and yet life-changing idea.

I am definitely adding “being a better listener” to my list of New Year’s resolutions!

To each of you now, I wish you a year of health, happiness, prosperity and peace.

Please do feel free to share your own ideas for 2011 below – perhaps we can all hold one another accountable to our resolutions.

All the best,

Amelia