I will be out of the office from Saturday, August 25th through Monday, September 3rd! I’m going to be in Canada being a part of the wedding of my two dearest and best friends, Melissa & Gary, at the stunning location pictured!! I cannot tell you how excited I am, there just aren’t enough words!!

I am lucky enough to be in the wedding, getting to partially photograph the event (they have about 50 photographers in attendance, along with an actual hired photographer, so we’re pretty well covered and I’m pleased to say that my job is small!!) and also enjoy some VERY much needed time of R&R!!! It’s been a a SUPER fun but crazy, insanely busy summer…so I’m very much looking forward to a little down time!! If possible, please contact me by EMAIL instead of phone (the whole phone thing in the mountains of Canada isn’t soo trustworthy!!)!! EMAIL: jess@jessicastrickland.com

I’ll be in touch SOON with LOTS of fun pictures!! In the meantime, happy end of summer!!

TO TALK!!!!!! I want to do a series called TELL US!!!!! I love learning and I am always studying books, magazines, blogs, websites…to hear what other people love and to learn new things!! SO….I want to hear from you guys and learn from YOU!!!!

So, HERE GOES…..

TOPIC: ****WHAT is the ONE thing you could NOT live without, when it comes to photography!?!?!?!

Tell us in the comments!!

Wow, what a GREAT experience! I had a fantastic time in the twin cities and was SOOOO warmly welcomed by EVERYONE!! (pictured to the left is the group of nice people who took me out after for drinks!) The process of getting there was a bit of a challenge! I endured a major computer mess while attempting to transfer all of my presentation info over to my two laptops! It ZAPPED alot of info and resulted in me having to pull an all NIGHTER the night before the presentation!! THAT was LOTS of fun!! (THANKS to my brother, BEN who came to my rescue and helped me out!) I showed up bright eyed and bushy tailed (ha!) to the airport at 6am and was on my way! After some delays and typical airline frustration, I arrived in Minneapolis! It was SUCH a pleasant experience! Everyone was just soo kind and SOO complimentary!! I couldn’t believe the feedback I got…it was soo nice!!! I WARNED them that it was my first time AND that I was going off of almost NO sleep ANDDD to make matters even MORE fun, the AIR CONDITIONING was OUT in the AUDITORIUM where I gave my presentation and people were SOOOO HOT!! I felt AWFUL making them sit and listen to me and be MISERABLE!! I was afraid that the heat would put ME to sleep and they would be sitting there wondering WHAT they signed UP FOR!!! Much to my surprise, they ALL stayed through the heat and listened to me talk for 6 hours, stayed TOTALLY in tune the whole time, asked GREAT questions, had GREAT feedback and it was JUST GREAT!!!!

(we took alot of breaks, had some snacks, had dinner, etc!) It was SOO kind of them and I heard later that people don’t usually stay the whole time, so the fact that they DID stay and through the HEAT…was just SUCH an honor to me!!

I have some MAJOR thank you’s to pass out for some people who REALLY made this WHOLE experience soo wonderful!!

First, thank you to Amy Zellmer of Custom Creations Photography to asking me to come, helping make it a smooth process, driving around the airport a million times waiting for my majorly delayed flight to come in, treating me to a GREAT lunch, being my taxi service and MUCH MORE! Thank you to Mark Keifer of VIP Gallery for being in charge of the whole presentation, keeping me on track, setting everything up and for being very encouraging through the whole thing!! Thank you also to White House Custom Color for sponsoring me and for creating my beautiful programs!! I LOVE WHCC!! Thank you also to David Jones of David Jones Photography for being my BROTHA FROM ANOTHA MOTHA ;)!! Thank you also to David Grupa of David Grupa Portrait for buying me a MUCH needed COSMO (ok, maybe a cosmo and a shot of tequila!) after the whole seminar was OVER! (i forgot to say thank you to David, so THANKS David!!) I also have received very kind emails & voicemails from ALL of you and MANY of the seminar attendees and I THANK YOU all for you incredibly kind feedback!! I appreciate it SOO much!!

After the seminar, a HUGE storm rolled into the area and we were stuck in a restaurant until LATE…and I finally made it to my hotel and into bed at about 2:00am!! I had to peel myself out of bed at 5:00 to get to the airport in time for my flight! So, two nights with 3 collective hours of sleep is catching up with me!! In typical airline fashion, things were MAJORLY delayed and I rolled into my beloved Indianapolis several hours after I was scheduled to, so I caught a few ZZZ’s on the plane during the never ending DELAYS and all is fine and I’m about to head back out the door for a day of shoots!! It was all TOTALLY WORTH IT, though…and I had a SUCH A blast!!

THANK YOU MINNEAPOLIS & TCCPA!!! It was a GREAT experience and I genuinely appreciate your warmth, kindness and ALL that you did to make my experience GREAT!!

I was SOO honored when Amy Zellmer asked me to speak at the Twin Cities Professional Photographers Association conference in Minneapolis! She practically had to beg me…because I’m really more of a shooting photographer than a speaking photographer, but I finally agreed after some persuading!! I sort of overlooked the fact that I would be in the midst of the busy wedding season and so to halt all work for many days to prepare a daylong seminar and leave town would be a bit on the TOUGH side! DUH!! SILLY ME!!! It will work out fine…though and I’m SOOO grateful for the opportunity to speak to this great group of people!! Hopefully they will be patient with me!! I will be out of the office for Sunday, Monday & Tuesday! WISH ME LUCK!!

SO…the story goes like this…I was reading JAZZIE’s happy hour interview on the BLU BLOG and how her FAV lens of the moment was the CANON USM 28mm 1.8!! Funny she should mention that, I had heard about that lens SEVERAL time in the past week or so!! (In typical LENS JUNKIE style I think to myself, “it MUST be a sign!”) So, I then look at a SHOOT that she did with that lens, when she borrowed it from someone else and my ears perked up because the images were GREAT!!!!(images featured below!) THEN…on yet another DELIGHTFUL blog, I hear how MORE people are in love with this little lens! SEE…SIGNS, I tell you!!! Soo….what’s a GIRL TO DO other than to STOP thinking about it and GO OUT and GET IT!!! Plus, LENSES are one of my FAVORITE things ever and I will admit to having a SLIGHT obsession with them!! The BEST part of this lens is how CHEAP it is!! I’m usually an L glass girl so when I went into my local distributor, Roberts, and told them what I needed, they ACTUALLY responded by saying, ARE YOU SURE? That’s NOT an L lens, YOU KNOW!!!! DUH, i said!!! If you COULD get L glass for $399 then I would be homeless (ok, maybe just living on ramen!) but with every single L lens on the planet in MY POSSESSION!!!!! Anyway…where was I? OH…THE 28!!! Ok, so below are JASMINE STAR’s IMAGES from that lens and WOW….see why I was SURE it was a sign?? So, I now own the little guy…OH and I really mean little guy…it’s the SMALLEST lens I’ve ever owned!! I love cute little things!!! I have yet to really use this lens, but I know it’s going to be great!! So, I’m sure I’ll be back soon with my NEXT lens obsession story!!

FROM the LOVELY & TALENTED, Jasmine Star: