FEBRUARY AT BEBB STUDIOS!  Where does the time go?  January came and went so quickly this year, beginning with a trip to Nashville for IUSA and ending with a trip to Mexico for an incredible wedding celebration.

Style Collision is almost ready to launch. Many of you have already guessed what it is, and details will be coming very soon.  If you're not on the list for our exclusive launch, send me an email (info@bebbstudios.com) with I WANT ON THE LIST in the subject line and we'll add you. You don't want to miss this one! 

WPPI is just around the corner and we hope to see many of you there.  We're speaking in three different booths at the trade show this year, and we'll post our schedule as soon as we know what it is!  We're also getting our entire speaking schedule for this Spring organized.  I can tell you this much so far:  we will be speaking in Winnipeg and Toronto in April, and we have Bebbinars planned for Edmonton and Michigan in April/May.

The Vancouver SMUG is getting its groove on!  All the details can be found at www.smugmug.com/smugs or over at the Vancouver Smug Event page on Facebook  We will be back at it in March, as meeting space is impossible to find this month as the Olympics take over our city. 

In the meantime come and find me on Facebook and check out what we're up to (and don't forget to join our Business Page too)!  And if you're really into social networking, you can follow us on twiiter:  www.twitter.com/JenBebb

If you follow our blog at all, you know that Stef and Jim hold a very special place in our hearts.  They started as clients and have become friends - friends we don't see enough (especially during hockey season), but who are always in our hearts.

We've already shared many of the still images from their wedding day, and it's time to share something else:  Fusion.  What is Fusion, you ask?  Well, if you are a photographer, you already know, but if you are not Fusion is simply the mix of photos, audio and video in a seamless, multimedia piece.

Steve and I are humbled to have been to over 500 weddings, and we know the power of a wedding day - the incredible gift that is given to the couple, in the form of words, from family and friends.  For whatever reason, we only have videographers at about twenty percent of our weddings, and we hear words, spoken with sincerity and love, and know they are forever lost in the passage of time and fading memories.  So Fusion started as a way to ensure that our couples never lose that gift, those words that grow in value over time.

But I digress.  Stef and Jim loved the idea that we could provide them with the kind of coverage they wanted - audio and video of specific moments, still coverage of the rest.  We have done many Fusion pieces this past year, and kept most of them out of the public eye.  Not anymore.

In the spirit of Valentine's Day and the love that is meant to be shared...here is Stef & Jim's wedding day. (Let it load, and  crank the music - it's worth it!)

There are many different ways that love makes itself known.  Some loves are loud and boisterous.  Others are quiet and unassuming.  Still others run deep, underlying everything, but subtle in its surety.  Blake & Des have the latter: a love that runs very deep, yet quiet, as a subtle layer underscoring all they do.

It was with great personal pleasure that we boarded a plane, kids and grandparents in two, and headed to the Dreams Resort in Puerto Vallarta.  This was not just a wedding - this was a celebration with personal connections as we have known Blake for years and watched his life transform from teen, to man.  Desiree was, in no small part, instrumental and supportive of that change, standing beside Blake in all his endeavors.

We spent a week with Blake, Des, and their families and friends, celebrating a marriage that everyone know will last a lifetime.  And as much as we want to share the images from that week right now, we can't.  See, we have a pretty big surprise for Blake & Des, something many of you might guess at, but that they know nothing about.  They are having a party here, at home, this weekend where all will be revealed, and I will post their surprise here once they have seen it.  For now, though, here is a sneak peek of a week in Puerto Vallarta.

And for those of you that think Blake looks familiar, that is because we have photographed him before:

Remember the Y2K panic - the worldwide fear that as the clock hit midnight and the year became 2000, everything would change.  Financial panic, computer failure...the world as we knew it would never be the same.  And what happened?  Nothing.  Life carried on as normal and the fear of turmoil that had briefly joined us all together, faded as the weeks passed.

Yet for some of us the clock striking twelve and the year changing meant permanent change.  For Steve and I, that was certainly the case.

It was ten years ago this week that we made the decision to leave our full-time, real jobs and jump into wedding photography full time.  I was 34 weeks pregnant at the time, and we had absolutely no money in the bank.  We were like many couples who are just starting out - working hard to financially establish ourselves, build equity in our home, and starting our family.  Our journey was just beginning, and we knew that our future was bright.

We were young - in our twenties - and filled with the optimism that youth brings.  We believed that we could succeed at anything we tried, believed, in our innocence, that we would be ok, no matter what.

And so, when Steve turned to me, in that week between Christmas and New Years 10 years ago and told me he hated his job and wanted to do this "photography thing" full time, I paused for only a moment before saying "Yes!".   

It was exciting, and scary, and the perfect time to jump in with both feet (except maybe for the baby on the way).  We were young enough to know that if we failed, we could fix it.  We owned our home, and I was going on maternity leave, so we could pay the mortgage for 6 months.  We gave no thought to anything beyond that and we were truly stunned when our parents stared at us with disbelief when we shared our plans.

In hindsight, quitting a good job while you are expecting a baby and starting a new business with no back up plan or money in the bank may not have been the wisest choice.  But it was, obviously, the right one for us.

Steve managed to talk us into a Bridal Fair booth for January 8-9, 2000.  We had big plans - three large, framed images and three sample albums, from the three weddings we had photographed to that point.  We were bringing Steve's mom, a natural salesperson, with us, and we naively believed that we would book enough weddings that we wouldn't have to go back to our real jobs.

And then, the morning of January 5th, I woke up at 5:30am realizing my water had broke.  It was a scramble to get to the hospital and stop what was coming.  It was too soon - only 35 weeks - and I have never been more afraid in my life.  Once at the hospital, and being monitored, nothing happened.  My water had broken, but there were no contractions, and the baby was fine.  But we couldn't stay like this for the next 5 weeks...the risk of infection was too high.  They told us that if labour didn't start in the next 24 hours, they would induce.  One way or another, we were going to have a baby by the weekend.

I sent Steve home - nothing was happening and we still hadn't completed our bridal show booth.  And labour, after all, takes hours and hours.  Expect, apparently, for me.  The first contraction was around noon and three hours later, on Thursday January 6th, 2000 Logan was born. 

Two days later Steve and his mom went to that bridal show and rocked it out.  We booked 35 weddings on the strength of that show, and we have never looked back.

10 year ago this week...our lives changed forever. 

I love the end of a year, I really do.  Not only is the weather cooler, so I can wear my favorite boots and sweaters, but things seem to slow down as the nights get longer.  Business doesn't slow down, that never seems to take a real break, but I do.  I find this time of year is when I gather my loved ones more closely around me and hibernate for a time.  I sleep in, lounge in my pjs all day, read books, snuggle with my children and husband, eat loads of awful food, and prepare for the year to come.

This is a natural time to take stock of where we are, where we've been, and where we hope to go.  So I hope you will enjoy this year in review as I share some of the life changing and life affirming events of 2009.

As has become custom, we started 2009 with a trip to a convention.  This year we were speaking at the DWF convention in Phoenix.  It was our third time in a row on the stage, and we were looking forward to it.  We had just finished our Fusion DVD and we were excited about the possibilities for something new.

But, 2009 seemed to be destined to be the year of disillusionment.  At least that's how it started.

We were unprepared for the backlash against Fusion, and the accusations that were subsequently thrown at us.  The idea of Fusion proved to be divisive, pitting friends against each other in the debate.  Without ever having tried it, opinions were formed and we found ourselves in the middle of a controversy we never expected.  At the time it was challenging, even hurtful, to experience such attention.  We had seen it happen before - to other people - but we were surprised when it came our way.  

But we watched as more and more people were quietly adapting Fusion into their offerings, choosing, like us, to do so out of the public eye. And that was interesting.  Our reasons for flying below the radar were obvious - we had stuck our necks out, been shot at, and were trying to come to terms with it all.  But other people were staying under the radar as well.  It seemed that the age of putting it all out there, of sharing freely on forums and blogs, had shifted somewhat as photographers, turned fusion-ographers, were developing something away from public scrutiny.

And really, who could blame them?  Our disillusionment was sudden and complete, for a time turning us bitter and resentful. We moved away from forums, blogs, etc, turing our attention inwards are focussing on our own business.

But those emotions are not in our nature and so it wasn't long before we decided to leave the angry mob behind and move on to what was important to us, Fusioning the entire time.

We had other, more important, things going on.  While the debate about Fusion was raging in the background, we were involved in a Legacy Project that had us documenting the last months of a friends life.  At times more difficult than anything we had ever done, and at other times more rewarding, being part of this family's life as their daughter, sister, wife and mother fought her last fight was perhaps the most important thing we would do this year.

Crying behind the lens more than once, crying with her more than once, and raging against the fates for taking this woman away, we moved through the first few months of 2009 in a bit of an emotional blur.  And when she finally passed in June, the loss, though expected, was devastating.

She was the first person either of us had lost, and it was so very, very sad.  And for a time, that disillusionment from the beginning of the year once again reared its head.  We were tossed into deep sadness, not only for her death, but also for the loss of innocence and the reality that life is fleeting.  It's one thing to know in your head that all life ends, but it is another to see it happen right in front of you, and feel it with your heart.  

Heidi forever changed me, forcing me to realize that each moment has the potential for joy, and that the bitterness that had so hurt me at the start of the year was not worth my energy.  She helped me re-focus on what was important and what I love more than anything.  And so it was with equal parts sadness and joy that we said our good byes to her.

Our Spring was spent educating and traveling.  WPPI, a Bebbinar at home, and a 10 day adventure in Brazil where we spoke for FHOX and then had time to visit Ihla Bella.  Our dear friends Jeff & Juila Woods were there (as were Mark & Chantal Ridout) and we couldn't have asked for a better group to be with.  Julia and I, so similar in so many ways, were able to really spend time together and come away with a friendship that would survive distance and time.

This past summer was truly delightful.  We had deliberately taken fewer wedding commissions this year and enjoyed several weekends with our boys.  We watched them blossom, particularly with their dad's undivided attention.  We traveled with friends, had dinner parties, stayed up late.  It was a time of joy and playfulness, as we stay-cationed around home.  Camping in the backyard, mountain biking our local hills, exploring our city, enjoying our home.  We emerged from the summer invigorated and excited about the rest of the year.

It's funny how things happen - the year began with hurt, disillusionment and loss.  But by summer's end, it seemed everything had shifted.  It began, for me, with an email asking me if I would like to write a book.  At first I thought it was a joke, but I googled the sender and slowly realized that this was a real question.  And there my journey to fulfill a lifelong dream began.  

Since I discovered books at an early age, I have been a prolific reader.  Even now I spend at least 30 minutes each night reading purely for the joy of it.  I hear stories in my head all the time - my imagination is wild and untethered - and I have dreamed, since the age of 5, that I would one day write a book of my own.  It's been a goal that I knew I would get to one day, but it was pushed back as the realities of running a business and raising children took my attention.

That email changed everything.  Once I had spoken to the publishers directly, I did a happy dance that took on a life of its own.  I didn't want to tell anyone, even Steve, about this - this was mine and I wanted to relish the moment.  My dream, coming true.  I could barely contain my excitement, my joy.  And it was this wave of happiness that I rode into the fall.

September was, as it always is, a time of transition.  The boys went back to school and we went back to the studio.  The days flew by as we edited stills and video, dreamed of new projects for 2010, and my writing began in earnest.  Steve was so supportive of the efforts the book would require, taking on some of the studio and home tasks that were typically mine.  

Clients became friends, old friends came back into our life, and we realized how blessed we are with the people who surround us.  We spoke at the ONE Conference in September, once again organized by Jeff & Julia.  The ONE conference is such a fantastic thing, and Jeff & Julia truly give their hearts to it.  The best part, for me, was being able to have real time with the entire Woods clan, and saying goodbye was certainly difficult.

The fall has passed in a blur.  We have taught two Bebbinars - one in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the other here at home.  We are the hosts of the Vancouver Smug group, launching it during our November Bebbinar, and watching it grow into December.  Our dream of building a community of photographers in Vancouver seems to be becoming a reality as more and more people come, willing to share and grow together. The new year is going to bring incredible speakers, both local and from afar, as we all become advocates not adversaries.

The list of things we have done this year is long and varied.  Those of you that read our blog regularly are aware of some of what we have done.  But we don't always blog everything, so it's a partial view of our business year.  And that list of accomplishments is really not important anyway.  What is most important is the lessons taught to us by this challenging year.

This was a year of circling the wagons, of evaluating what is most important and of relegating the rest to the dark closet under the stairs.  This was a year of building stronger relationships both personally and professionally.  This was the year we invested in our own happiness and that of our family, learning to let unhappy obligations go and saying no to more than ever before.  This was a year that saw us rediscover what we love about our job, and let go of what we don't.  This was a year that we lived every single moment of, for better or for worse.  This was a year of disillusionment and discovery, of sadness and joy, of holding things close and sharing more than ever.  This was the year that we realized the only people we need to make happy are those we hold closest.  This was the year we realized the nay-sayers and the haters only had as much power as we were willing to give them.  This was the year we realized that we are the Bebbs, and that together, there is nothing we cannot do.

And so the year comes to a close, all the struggles and achievements fading in the excitement of something new.  Looking ahead to 2010 we see that anything is possible.  With a new associate, a new company, a new book, and a new lease on life, 2010 may just be the best year yet!

Our wish for all of you is that you go into to 2010 unburdened and open-minded, ready to embrace the possibility of new!

Happy New Year to you all!  

Yesterday's post about why YOU matter was meant to stand alone.  Yet, the response it received began a process, for me, of thinking further about you and how YOU allow yourself to matter.  And so it would appear that Why YOU Matter may become a series of posts over time.

Today:  INTENT.

We hear over and over again that there is nothing new under the sun, that everything we can put into a picture we make has been done before, that originality is, in essence, a fallacy.

I disagree.

While it might be true that there are a finite number of compositions we can use, I don't believe that has any bearing at all on the images we make.  Rather, I believe that every time we make an image with intent, we create something unique.

Let's say that again:  if we create images with intent, we are unique every time.  

I realize that on some forum somewhere, someone will link to this post and decry everything I am about to say.  After all, how can every image we make be unique?  How are we not all somehow derivative of someone else?  Well, we're not all unique in our image making, and some people are derivative of others.  But we don't have to be, and that is where INTENT comes into play.

Why you choose to make a particular image, at a particular moment, in a particular way is up to you.  No one is telling you when and how to make an image.  No one is telling you how to see the light and compose the frame.  That is all up to you.  And if you choose to look to someone else for inspiration and create a derivative, well, that is also up to you.  Your choice was to be the same.  Your INTENT was to re-create rather than innovate.

If your intent to is to make images that are not disingenuous, to make images that are reflective of your subject, than your INTENT is to be different every time.

Think about it this way:  at a wedding there are expected moments - the kiss, the recessional, the first dance, etc.  Yet those moments, although similar from wedding to wedding, are different every single time.  Not on the surface per se, but underneath the facade.  They have to be different - the people you are photographing are different, the relationships are different, the life experiences are different.

As wedding photographers, the greatest trap we can fall into is to believe all weddings are the same.  That is where your INTENT no longer becomes about doing your best for each client, but rather becomes about getting the job done.  You choose to see every wedding like the last.  But that is your choice and it is something you can change.

Whether we are formulaic photographers, sprayer and prayers, or deliberate shooters, it is the intent behind each frame that becomes the catalyst for mediocrity or ingenuity.  An image made by accident, without intent, cannot by its very nature everbe repeated.  But that same type of image, that you discovered by accident, can become intentional.  Remember the first time you discovered the magic of backlight?  It may have been intentional, or it may have been accidental - if you fell in love with it and chose to use backlight frequently, then you are making images with intent.  

Certainly, some of the best images I have ever made have been accidents.  And I could have left them as accidents, choosing to consider that moment a fluke.  Or I could have chosen to learn what it was that made that image compelling, why I felt moved by it, and taken the next step by intentionally incorporating that accident into my next shoot, and my next.

Why do you choose to make the images you make?  Are you comfortable with your methods and complacent with your subjects?  Are you moved to find something unique about everyone you photograph?  Are you content to merely follow the lead of photographer A or B?  Or are you willing to step off the well trodden path of those who came before you and to discover your own intent?

You see, every time you choose to make an image, you are in a place you have never been before.  How?  Simply because the people you are photographing, the environment you are in, and the Intent with which you are shooting will be different every time.

What is your intent?