Great Day for the Ride of Your Life!

Today my sister and I took a lovely trip out to Hocking Hills to scope out the location of her wedding and nearby areas for pictures. After driving through some questionable areas and checking out a park with a very dry lake, we decided to head to Old Man's Cave. We finally found the address on the GPS, popped it on the window and followed our "trusty" friend. We took the road off the highway onto a much smaller back-road... okay, I use to live in the country, a lane and a half road does not bother me too much. But then the road seemed to disappear into what looked like a dirt driveway but the thing told us to go straight. I followed it for a minute and quickly regretted it as we came to a washed out part of the road. I squeezed my car to the side where it was much drier and we cringed as mud splashed up. I mentioned something about turning around but there was no possible way. This "road" was barely wide enough for me to drive on, not to mention to turn around on with the solid woods and cliffs on either side. We kept driving and laughing and nearly crying at the same time as we came to each mini pond and rut in the road. I kept saying that if we were going to die, no one would ever find us in these massive woods and there was not a house in site. There was literally no sign of human life! I clinched on to the steering wheel so hard and prayed at every turn that my little car would make it through the mud and over the holes. At one point we even saw a license plate hanging in a tree! Talk about scary!

Finally, the GPS told us we were coming to the end of the road and we saw a break in the trees and screamed "A REAL ROAD!" at the same time. And the weirdest part of it all, there was actually a stop sign at the end of this thing!! I wish I had taken pictures and had a video of it. I am sure it would be hysterical to listen to us scream every time we came to a plunge and talked about how our lives could so easily end on this desolate path. We were also pretty ticked off that it was considered a road and that it was carried into GPS space! For goodness sakes, the road I live on does not even show up on maps! But we made it through and we made sure the "highway only" box was checked on our trip back home.

But we have a terribly scary story that we will never forget and laugh at until the day we die (which will, Lord willing, be many years later and not today, thank God!) and it was actually a beautiful day for the beautiful country drive... even the scary parts.

I do have one picture to show. This was taken by my sister with her cell phone and it is actually probably one of the past parts of the whole drive.



And I got a couple afterwards of the mud and scratches on my car from the trees.

Planning a wedding?

Know someone who is? I'd appreciate it if you would tell the happy couple that Tygre Marie Photography loves to do wedding photography!

So many details go into making a wedding as special as a dream come true. Choosing a photographer that fits your budget and style can be daunting but do not sacrifice quality! I understand how important a wedding is, and I record the day with great care and attention to detail. I honor tradition and recognize the importance of whimsy and fun on a wedding day.

The flowers fade, the laughter and tears become sweet memories, the cake is eaten, but your wedding portraits last forever.

Call Tygre Marie Photography at 740.708.2481 now for wedding pricing. You've got so many other details to take care of. Trust me to provide portraits you will love.

Info for fellow photographers

Last week I came across a forum and someone mentioned this software for studio management. I have been wanting for a long time something that I could organize everything into and have all of the information I need like names, addresses, birthdays, anniversaries, invoices, etc etc. Well... I found it! This is a free software and honestly, I cannot believe it is! I even ran a Malware scan just in case and it came out clean! LoL. Anyway, this program is just absolutely amazing and I recommend it to anyone who is just starting out and looking to get organized. Already established? You can import all your information into this thing. It's incredible! I cannot explain how excited I am about it except to just keep going on and on about all the things it can do but you just need to check it out yourself!

Michelle and Tim's Wedding

Yesterday I had the wonderful pleasure and opportunity of capturing my good friend Tim's wedding! Michelle looked radiant and the love they have for each other was unmistakable. Their wedding was so beautiful and so much fun!

This was the second wedding that I have been blessed to capture and as with everything there were new challenges and exciting photo opportunities! My favorite was this modern cafe in the church and the reception was incredible with the low lights and colored stage lights from the DJ. They DJ's had everyone dancing and having a great time!

The Ceremony was performed at Grace Fellowship Church, DJ services were provided by The Dream Chasers, flowers were from Kroger. The most AMAZING cheesecake was made by a friend of theirs as well as the delicious food catered by friends.

Here are a few pictures!

Arnold Classic 2010

Last weekend my mentor invited me to work in his crew at the Arnold Festival for the second year this year. He has been doing it for about ten years and it's to a point where when Governor Schwarzenegger walks in the room, he walks right back to where we are set up, shakes the photographer's hands, jokes with them for a few minutes before the assembly line of sponsors and winners come through to get their pictures with him. It's pretty neat. Then when we are through with the pictures, Arnold speaks as well as others. This was a great learning opportunity for me. My mentor told me "I owned the room" and to not be shy walking around to get pictures I need. If I were the "hired" photographer I would have had no problem... but I wasn't... so I was a little shy. One thing he really taught me though was to not be. It is my job to take great pictures and I have to do what it takes. Well, it is something I will have to overcome as I have been shy my entire life but there's something about the camera that makes me feel more confident... maybe a little too confident. =)

This year included a couple of surprises. Slone accompanied the Governor as they chose a local artist and a woman was dressed as a character from Avatar. In this picture, Governor Schwarzenegger is talking about his "tiny little" part in Slone's next movie.

Happy Birthday!

Remember this adorable girl?
Well, last week I had the joy of photographing her 8th birthday! What fun! It was at Gameworks and everyone had a blast and I am so excited to get to document her celebration! Here a few that I have gone through so far:

Beautiful Snow!

In Ohio, it's pretty rare that we get a real good snowstorm. At least in central Ohio. But the past 30some hours have been an exception! Weathermen all week reported freezing rain and sleet on Friday that would turn into snow Friday night and into Saturday with a possible of 5 to 8 inches of snow. Well, Friday morning I'm teaching my students and look outside and notice snow is coming down like CRAY-ZEEEE! And it was 9:30am! No sleet or freezing rain (Thank you God!) but lots and lots of snow all day long (5 to 8 changed to 8 to 12). When I got home I noticed my fiance had shoveled the steps to our house for me as well as a path so when I stepped out of my car I wouldn't be buried in snow (which was so nice b/c silly me decided to wear slip on shoes with 1/2 inch heel thinking there wouldn't be snow until later.) But even his good deeds were of some vain as there was at least still 1/2" of snow on the ground. (I found out today that he actually shoveled it twice. It was coming down fast!)

Anyway, snow all night and into morning. We went out for lunch and saw a car sitting completely sideways on the other side of the road and cars were having to go around it. It looked like it had just happened, but then we noticed in fact that apparently plow trucks just went right around it as there was a V of snow surrounding it! I couldn't help but laugh and wished I had my camera!

By the time we got home from lunch the sky was clearing up to a beautiful blue and I had to take advantage of the opportunity and get some pictures of the snow. You should have seen me. I haven't had proper snow gear since I was 14 so I put on old stretchy jeans that barely fit over my stretch pants. Long sleeve shirt under hoodie. And b/c I thought knee high boots would be better than tennis shoes in the foot of snow, I opted for the 2" with no traction over the 3" stiletto. At least I had a great warm Columbia jacket that I don't wear often. Not to mention that I stuffed a telephoto lens in my pocket. I looked like a huge dork! (But when do I not? ;)) I didn't go far. Just around the community. We have a little wooded spot and I saw some footprints where some others have braved the deep snow so I trodded very carefully over there. I saw some beautiful robins sitting on a snow covered branch and a squirrel peering out of her nest at me. Here are just a few of those images!