a few of my favorite things

things I love right now:
1. my mom
2. my job
3. my love
4. my grades!!
5. how much my new equipment DOESN'T suck and DIDN'T leave me hanging last night
6. the way the sky looked Saturday evening:

NEEDED: GIRLS WITH DRESSES!

I have been having so much fun and getting some awesome shots second-shooting at weddings with awesome Emily of Emily Lockard Photography. It's corny and I hate myself for saying it but it really feels like I have been living the dream these past couple of months. I am having more and more people ask me about doing sessions for them, (which is so, so, so exciting!) but the one thing my portfolio is lacking is some bridal portraits.

Seriously. I have like ... twelve. Total. Of one client. They're beautiful, but I don't know if using the twelve I have in my portfolio is very good incentive for potential clients. So my grand solution is to offer FREE bridal portraits to friends and family, as well as HALF-OFF any print orders made. And since I consider suffering through my ramblings a rite of passage into friendship, you're all in :) The only requirement I have is that you have your own bridal gown to wear. Even if you are already married, even if you have bridal portraits you love, let me know if you are interested! I am especially interested in doing some pictures that won't look like everyone else's bridal portraits. If you have some artsy, edgy photos you want made, now is your chance!

This would also be a GREAT opportunity for a Trash the Dress session! Contact me at 409.201.4519 or joannahmorgan@gmail.com for more info!

bad blogger.

It's true. I'm a bad blogger. If there are any possible, plausible excuses, it's the fact that I have been second-shooting and editing my booty off and loving every second of it. More on that later.

For now, a big shout out thank you to my sister, who is also becoming my business manager. Jayne, I thank God everyday that you were the one born to crunch numbers. You keep my artsy fartsy self operating in more ways than one. Counting down the days until Twisted Sister becomes a reality ;)

I feel so grateful that my sister has been helping me put together some collections and studio packaging and pricing, especially when she could be doing what I do while she is toiling away, which looks a whole lot like this:



photo of me and my nephew by jayne morgan dennis, on the rare occasion that i allow her away from her pro-bono duties.

Exciting new details coming soon :)

mis-moniker.

so, minor setback which i am completely blaming on the world of technology. JoAnna Morgan Studios is now JoAnna Morgan Photography. just so's you know!

meet Ollie.

This is Ollie. Sometimes, when he's being suspiciously good or extraordinarily bad, his name is Oliver. When pronounced correctly, Ollie's name rhymes! (Ollie Truncale. Imagine there's an 'i' on the end instead of the 'e'). Ollie's birthday is December 18, 2008. He likes long walks, his ball that makes noises when it bounces, belly rubs, baths, and cantaloupe. We adopted Ollie from the City of Pasadena Animal Control and Adoption Shelter in Pasadena, TX in September of 2009. When we first got Ollie, he was scrawny. He was eaten up with a type of mange that mothers pass to puppies within their first week of life, so his hair was spotty. He had no hair around his eyes, and they were red and puffy. And we noticed he kept bumping into things, but the shelter had not done a very good job of keeping him groomed, so we were unsure if it was the hair in his face or what.




A visit to the vet later, we learned that Ollie was completely and definitely blind in one eye, and that the other eye was impaired by a cataract. The vet isn't sure what amount of sight he has left, but it's not much. She offered to refer us to a surgeon in Houston who could remove the cataract for the small fee of $2500. With a wedding and a house and a life to pay for, we said we would have to think about it. The vet assured us that after he got used to his surroundings, that none of us would ever notice he was blind. I was having these horrible flashes of him spending the rest of his life running into things and begging on the corner with some sunglasses on and a little cup for alms. In truth, I was more upset about it than he was. The vet was right. Within a few weeks, Ollie got used to where the furniture was, where the rooms were located, and he started getting around without bumping into things. The same little hitch in their brain that allows dogs to go exactly back to the place they buried something is what allows blind dogs to get around so well. He literally draws a map in his brain.



We have been unfair to Ollie. I haven't been training him correctly. I've been so caught up in his disabilities and the hard life he has had so far that he has almost been getting away with murder. He chewed Jake's new Droid Eris one night. He destroyed the book light I bought a week ago. He chews on the welcome mat if we go outside and don't take him with us. He trails behind you, nipping and biting at your heels as you walk through the house and then immediately darting off in fear of backlash. He knows basic commands, like 'sit', 'stay', and 'down', but lately he has been trying to exercise his perceived alpha dog status. He listens less and less.




At first we thought it was the move to the new house. It had him disoriented and out of his routine, but its more than that. For the past week, Jake and I have been tormented by this devil dog. Time to get back on track. Time to unearth the sweet boy I know is in there. Pray for us.

the pleasure of your company.

photo by me.

I got swallowed up in wedding invitations this weekend. So far, most of the planning and crafting and DIY'ing has been done by my mom and I. There have been plenty of offers to help, but I find myself with a lot of time on my hands here lately and honestly, there really hasn't been much to do just yet, although things are starting to pick up speed alarmingly fast. Jake usually takes a "If you're happy, I'm happy" stance which will make me eternally grateful. Sunday, however, he saw me struggling and got right in on the action. He punched the edges of the maps that we're including while I cut paper and my mom tied ribbons. We had quite the assembly line going on. Somehow, we managed to get around 45 of the maps done. I have no idea in this entire world how. The more time that passed, the more it seemed as if the stack of invitations to finish were getting bigger rather than smaller, and I still have another two boxes that I haven't even opened yet. I am just happy with what we got done!

Everyone keeps asking how the wedding plans are coming along, and my standard issue reply is always something like "They're going!" or just some positive adjective that I toss out without thought. The truth is that this is so much fun. I really am having a blast with this wedding. With all the stress and worry that is going into it, I know that when our wedding day rolls around none of it will matter. I will have done my best, I will have had amazing help from my wonderful friends and family, and at the end of the day we'll have had a great party either way. And we'll be married! Huzzah!

hmmm.

Normally, I can get websites knocked out in a couple of hours, but I never realized how picky I would be when it was my own! Everyday this week, I have been staring at the screen wondering how it should look, what sort of message it should send, etc. I am probably overthinking, because that's how I roll, but I promise to be much, much more patient and sweet and angel-faced with my web design clients in the future. My bad, homies.

I like to play around with the design in photoshop first to see how everything fits together visually before we start wasting time with coding (and I say we because my web design career would be seriously crippled if Jake didn't know how to speak computer languages). I've only come up with one so far, and I go back and forth between thinking it's the nicest thing since sliced bread and far too plain for my shiny, fancy new website. I need second (and third, and fourth...) opinions. Halp.

spring, spring, spring.

I looked out the window this morning, and I saw these guys stretching towards the sun. I have never been a huge fan of roses, but these are just too lucious to pass up. And so fragrant! The whole house smells delicious just from the bunch I cut.

Happy spring, everyone!

the lovely miss s.

sweet baby boy