I am SOO grateful to have been nominated again as one of the best photographers in Indiana by the INDY CHANNEL’s A LIST! I was lucky to be on the top 5 list last year and it’s VOTING TIME AGAIN!! I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOUR VOTE!! Please click HERE TO VOTE: http://wrtv.cityvoter.com/a-list/weddings/photographer

Simply find my name on the list and click VOTE…then it should send you an email to CONFIRM YOUR VOTE!!

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!

There are really few words to describe the incredible devastation from the recent earthquake in China and cyclone in Myanmar. The loss is indescribable and frankly, I can hardly believe it isn’t getting more attention or more coverage. With over 55,000 dead and 30,000 missing in China and over 134,000 dead or missing in Myanmar, it’s beyond catastrophic, there just aren’t words for the immense depth of the tragedy. CAN you imagine if 219,000 people died or were missing in the US!?! THE WORLD would practically come to a stop and come to focus on us…and all media would not talk about any other topic for years!!! Interesting how different countries just don’t get the attention we do.

This story is pretty incredible…a photographer was shooting a wedding when the earthquake hit! CLICK HERE to read the story…it’s pretty incredible and really makes you stop and think….about how our jobs can be SOO much more than we realize…how grateful I am to be alive….and soo much more…

It’s VEGAS time, DUH!!!! Gosh, this is like the superbowl of wedding photography and I freakin LOVE IT!!! I cannnnot wait!!!

Sooo…..just in case you have been living in a hole (j/k!)… I thought I would let you know that the WORLD’S LARGEST PHOTO CONVENTION is coming up!!! HOLLLLA!!!!

WPPI is March 15th-20th in LAS VEGAS BABY!!! It’s one rockin’ time and if you aren’t going, well, you are missing out…so change your plans and get your butt there!!!!
It’s at Bally’s & Paris right in the heart of Vegas and it’s just such an amazing experience! Every photo vendor know to MAN is at the tradeshow and all the hottest people in the industry are speaking! It’s super INSPIRING and I HIGHLY recommend it!!! This is the LAST year for it to be at PARIS & BALLY’S so you must come just because of THAT so you can say “wellll….back in the days when wppi was a paris & bally’s” and then you can sound smart!!!

I’m going to be spending my time in the GARY FONG BOOTH(you should click that link to see what you are in for at the GARYFONGINC BOOTH…..so stop by and say HEY…and if it’s BONKERS at his booth, like it uuuuuusually is, BLOW ME A KISS!
Can’t wait to see all you PARTY PEOPLE there! CLICK HERE for more info!!!!

If you haven’t heard, Indy has turned into QUITE the hub for photographers!! I remember a day roughly 6-8 years ago when I was among the only 10 wedding photographers in INDY (i feel like I should be a grandma or something! ha!) and last I heard there were over 350 wedding photogs here! YIKES!!! I guess we are just the cool place to be…and we’re growing!! So…that means we have our own seminar here….it’s OSP INDY and it’s coming up SOON!!! It’s March 24th - March 26th at a wedding photographers home away from home (or at least mine!) the Omni Severin Hotel in Downtown Indy! There are some ROCKING people involved this year including the LaCours, Garrett Nudd and Kevin Swan!! There will be food, fun, live shoots, awesome people and MORE…so if you are local and if you are cool, you MUST COME HANG OUT!!! CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON OSP INDY!!!! OHHHH….and did I MENTION that it’s only $50!! That’s a STEAL……so don’t even try and say you can’t afford it because you will be a LIAR!!! SEE YOU THERE PARTY PEOPLE!!!!

OSP INDY, OMNI SEVERIN, MARCH 24-26th, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

Soooo, the rumor on the street is that my uber-fabulous album company, Leather Craftsmen, is UNVEILING a NEW kind of album at WPPI!!! I am MUCHO excited about this and I just HAD to tell you!!!! So, if you are at WPPI…STOP by and SEE what it is! I REALLY have no idea, I just have heard rumors!!! I LOVE rumors about photo stuff…i’m SUCH a geek!

I get email updates on the topics happening over at OpenSourcePhoto Forum and I just read the FUNNIEST post that someone put up!!

Read this: (from Lizzie on OSP)

I’m selling a lens on Craigslist and got an inquiry from a self-professed “amateur photographer” asking me why I was selling it. We ended up corresponding, and his last email was so funny! I thought I’d post it for you guys:

Lizz -
I greatly admire any photographer with the self confidence and courage to do a wedding. It would have to be photography hell. My first dread would be lighting and then shooting constantly moving subjects and being blocked by constantly moving non-subjects with constantly changing lighting. I shiver just thinking about it. Your camera skills must be totally instinctual like a race car driver, I would pull my hair out or somebody else’s hair. My second dread would be suddenly all the bridesmaids, friends and in-laws would become photography critics. That’s to dark or, that’s too light, why weren’t you closer, or that’s not my good side. And then you have the ‘duckers’, do you get them at weddings? I have done our employee Christmas party, you frame a nice candid group shot and suddenly two people see the camera pointed their direction and duck under the table, ruining the memory for everybody. No Lizz, you couldn’t make me do a wedding at gunpoint. But you have my admiration and best wishes. Do have a web site? Hoping you a wonderful and prosperous New Year, ***

LOL!!! Isn’t that HILARIOUS!! What I LOVE is that she really doesn’t even state the MAIN things that make wedding photography CRAZY….SUCH AS….. working as fast as you can, with tons of people surrounding you, while staying on a strict time line, while being organized, friendly, staying in charge but not TOO in charge, keeping people where they need to be and all the while, actually being CREATIVE, finding GREAT light and locations and taking LIFE CHANGING photographs that will remind these people of the happiest day of their lives, FOREVER!!! And…while that is happening, kids are crying, people are asking 50 questions, you are competing with 5 “photographer” uncles wanting to shoot every shot you are taking, the Mom’s are asking you to do 10 extra breakdowns that aren’t on the list and you DON’T have time for, your assisting is staring at you wondering when dinner is, the wedding coordinator is staring you down reminding you that you have exactly 4 minutes and 28 seconds until you HAVE to be out of the Church and all the while, your feet are KILLING YOU because they just DO NOT make cute shoes that are comfy… and you haven’t eaten since 8am and you are on the verge of passing out!!! PHEW!!!! But…call me crazy….after just finishing my 40th wedding this year…I still LOVE THEM and probably will forever!!

CLICK HERE to read the OSP post!! SOOO FUNNNY!!!!

After a CRAZY series of events set off by an upgrade to Leopard on my MAC, I’m finding myself FRUSTRATED with my external backup system!! I currently use Seagate push button back up drives. I have 6 of them total and they conveniently stack one on top of another when turned on their side and are all stacked up on my desk!! I have them daisychained so they connect to one another and only one has to connect to the computer, saving use of the FIREWIRE hubs on my G5! For about 5 years, I was happy with them and their stackable factor made them really handy! Well, after having two of those fail AND the leopard upgrade causing them to go haywire…and only allow for ONE to connect at a time and not allowing me to access my data all the time, I’m about DONE with them!! They are moody, as well….and always cause me to wonder how secure they really are! THEN….when I just went to buy another, which I do about ONCE a year, I learned that they stopped making the stackable ones and now make ones that don’t really “connect” at all and will basically require alot of desk space!! WHY would they make LESS convenient products?? DUH!!! So, I’m just curious…WHAT DO YOU GUYS DO for external storage and backing up of events once they are edited and finished??????? HELP!!!! Tell me in the comments!! Thanks!

I’m putting my FAVORITE LENS up for SALE!!!! Only because I upgraded to the Mark II version of the lens!!! However, this is my absolute favorite and MOST used lens…I could NOT have lived without for the past several years!!! 80% of all of my work has been shot on this lens!!

I take very good care of my equipment so it is nearly in PERFECT condition!!! The only thing is that there is a small amount of dust on the inside of the rear element (visible in the image)! It does NOT effect the image quality in any way and would be an easy fix if you are used to taking the rear element off for cleaning! I am not so I was planning to send it to Canon for a quick cleaning once my season ends in January! Again, it has been VERY well taken care of and is an AMAZING LENS…the BEST Canon has ever made, in my person opinion!!!!

I have the caps, box, paperwork…the whole nine yards!!

I am asking $1000 for the lens and $25 for shipping…and for the lens to go to a good home!!

Please email me at jessica@jessicastrickland.com if you are interested!

THANKS!!!!

in terms of PHOTOGRAPHERS!!

OH….and I want you to GUESS what I did DIFFERENTLY at THIS WEDDING (speaking of images, not my wild dance moves!)…that I have NEVER done at ANY wedding before!!!

SOOO, there is this crazy game going around in the “PHOTO WORLD” and it’s called TAG!! You are supposed to TAG people and then they have to share 10 little know facts about themself! Well, I have OFFICIALLY been tagged by 15 PEOPLE (I would list them if I had kept track of them!!), so I GUESS I better get on this TAG THING ALREADY!!! Sorry for being a slacker, guys!! Thanks for thinking of me and TAGGING me!!

SO, a few LITTLE KNOWN facts about me….

1. I’m colorblind!! (but don’t worry, it doesn’t affect my picture taking abilities! Just don’t ask me to pick a color for you to wear, it could get ugly!) (oh…and yes, it’s very true! most people think I’m lying!)
2. I grew up in California, on the beach!! (literally, we lived on the beach! who knows WHY I’m now living in the middle of a bunch of cornfields in Indiana! I love Indiana, though!)
3. I was once on the TV SHOW Growing Pains!! (have the tape to prove it!)
4. I was raised in a Roller Skating Rink that my parent’s owned…my parents have always owned businesses and still do to this day, that’s where I get it!! NOW, we’re all in the wedding business! Go figure!! They sold the Rink…when the 80’s roller skating fad was over! ha!
5. One of my alltime favorite things is sleeping!!
6. I’m not really a blonde!! (SHOCKING, i know!!!)
7. I’m a majorly hopeless romantic….luckily, so is Mark! We’re soo gushy and sappy that it’s SICKENING!! It’s SOO BAD that we both often make fake puking noises at ourselves when we just get soo lovey that it’s nauseating!!
8. I was the prom queen! HA!! (although, it’s not something I’m terribly proud of!)
9. My favorite color is GRAY (blame it on the colorblindness!)
10. My maiden name is HEAD, yes…h.e.a.d. (needless to say, I was RUNNING to the altar to get Strickland!!)

I am now supposed to TAG like 10 other people, but I’m SOO late in this game that I’m am nearly SURE that there is NOONE LEFT to TAG and so I’ll just let that part go!