De-Cluttering

One would think 2 TERAbytes of external hard drive space would be enough storage to last well until a newer technology is incorporated. Not so, my friend. Especially when dealing with video files. I recently discovered that an average wedding will rack up at least 100 GB of raw footage and the finished product will add another 20-30 GB once exported. I was coming to the end of myself, or the end of usable space on my hard drive.

Here's a little secret, which hopefully doesn't come back to byte (get it, "byte"...ha ha ha) me in the long run. In the process of creating feature films, I do lots of rendering. These pesky, little render files add up quite significantly. So here's the secret: I went in to my Final Cut "Scratch -> Render Files" folder, highlighted all of the render folders for finished videos, clicked "Move to Trash", and automatically gained almost 400 GB of my life back. It was like coming across extra health packs in Halo. I figure if I need to access these completed projects again, I can hit render, sit back and sip my coffee, and get right back to where I started. Was this a smart move? Only time will tell...

Falling For You: The Kaiser Family

We all took advantage of some of the last nice days of the season and headed down to Scioto Park early one evening. Scott and Laura have three amazing kids who were all angels throughout the whole session. We took some breaks to play around down by the river and on the swingset. Cole and Katelin showed me how to climb trees and Madelyn introduced me to a wonderful new food item: leaves. We had a grand ol' time and even got to sneak in a few shots of just Scott and Laura. I get the feeling from photographing the two of them that they're even more in love now as the years have passed. Thanks, Kaisers!

Newborn: Lydia Grace

This was a special trip to Boston. Steve and I spent a long weekend visiting our good friends, Dave and Katie, and meeting their newest addition. We'd seen pictures and heard stories from afar of Lydia, so it was a blast being able to all reunite. After a few days, Katie and I got pretty good at anticipating just how much primping and posing Lydia would stand for before proclaiming she was finished and would much rather eat instead. We plopped her in places around the apartment, ventured to local well-to-do towns, staged a picnic down by the Charles River, and even held her up in front of one of the regal MIT buildings. I think I should send her Hollywood-style glasses and a leopard print headscarf for such a successful celebrity shoot.

Newborn: Ella May

We had a little bit of time with Miss Ella May on a sunny, Sunday afternoon. She was very cooperative and we were able to use blankets made by Grandma (homemade quilt with Ella's name on it) and Great-Grandma (crocheted blanket). Momma Jocey was especially looking forward to being able to use headbands with this being her first little baby girl and all. We took a few quick snapshots of the entire family and I kept the colors bold to reflect the energetic bunch before me. For shots of Ella by herself, there's nothing like the soft afternoon glow from a window...