Mega Issues on the Mega Bus

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I spent the last couple of weeks as a travel bug.  We went to Nashville for a week and then I went to my home town in Minnesota for several days.  To end my travels I had to book a bus to get myself home.  I have used the Mega Bus a handful of times and never encountered issues, not even with fellow passengers even though the clientele can be a little rough sometimes.

I arrived at my pick up spot in downtown Minneapolis just in time expecting to load in immediately, but I quickly spotted a stagnant, gimungo line pile waiting outside the bus.  I thought the line was big but I figured I just hadn’t seen the full bus capacity waiting outside the bus before.

I got in line and a cop car pulled up.  The bus driver started talking to the two cops in the vehicle.  Then a couple people walked over and joined the conversation.  Then a whole pile of people walked over and joined the conversation.  Then another cop car with two more cops pulled in. Then there were frustrated arm gesters and hood slang popping around like popcorn.  I heard bits, put my bits together, and deduced that the problem was an already overbooked bus trying to accommodate a group of people that had been left behing by an overbooked bus several hours previously.

One hour after our original departure time later, a hoard of cop cars rolled in.  We had two other traditional cop cars, a cop holding tank sort of vehicle, and a cop golf cart looking thing and the eight or so cops that came in them on the premises.  Admittedly, this struck a flutter on my nervous chord.

But no rumble or dispute broke out physically.  Instead, about ten minutes later, one cop got on the mega phone and announced that there were 77 people waiting to get on a 47 passenger bus.  He started calling ticket numbers and mine sounded at about the #10 mark.

And that is all I know about that.  What a trip.

A Photo A Day | June 3 – 9

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1Monday 2Tuesday-2 3Wednesday 4Thursday-3 5F6Sa 7Sunday

MONDAY just grass

TUESDAY baby ducks (blog story and photo post coming soon)

WEDNESDAY engagement shoot in small town, historic downtown Buffalo, MN with Michaela and Cole (full photo post coming soon)

THURSDAY newborn shoot of my high school best friend, her first little boy, and her hubs… I am such a proud Auntie! (full photo post coming soon)

FRIDAY more baby ducks 🙂

SATURDAY a church community gathering with food and art – Section 106B Creative of Willow Creek, my church family

SUNDAY 9MO maternity shoot with Becky (full photo post coming soon)

see more “A Photo A Day” blog posts HERE

Sunday Challenge | Radical Generosity

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But it surely isn’t Sunday already?!

Nope. But today is my last blog post of the week so I want to leave you friends with a simple, but very important challenge.

I worked for Starbucks from October 2009 to December 2010. Shortly after I started I had observed a peculiar influx of customers with trepidation. Sunday mornings brought in a downright nasty and stingy crowd of customers. And I quickly learned that Sunday mornings were the loathed working slot to all of my co-workers.

Every Sunday following my first observation of this particularly rude, impatient, and frugal bunch of customers I asked my co-worker John why we had such mean people on Sunday mornings. His reply pointed out that they were actually the church crowd. My heart shattered.

I defended my fellow believers but faltered quickly. Our busy time intervals matched up too perfectly (8-9am, 10-11am, noon-1:30pm), these customers in drive-thru were groups of families mostly, and we were the closest Starbucks to the mega church up the road.

In that moment it became glaringly clear that establishments that serve coffee and brunch are keenly aware that the customers they receive at these peculiar intervals on a Sunday morning call themselves Christians. That being said, shouldn’t we be the most loving, giving, and patient customers they receive all week?

Truth be told, I was one of only a few Christians working at that Starbucks at the time. Most of my co-workers held very negative views of Christians and one was even agnostic. My heart longed to lead them to Christ, but after experiencing the reality of a Sunday morning at Starbucks I felt like my presence and love would never be enough to bridge the gap.

So, to all you dear Jesus loving friends, I challenge you to be particularly generous, patient, and loving on your Sunday mornings. Let’s start with this one.

SUNDAY CHALLENGE radical generosity – tip you’re barista or waitress outrageously well.

Nashville Road Trip | Northern Girl at Heart

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I never thought I would see the day I got excited to come home to dreary, 61 degree Chicago. But last week I saw that day and relished it.

On Monday, May 27 my mom, Joshua, and I all loaded the car and set our sails for a week in Tennessee. Our trip served a few objectives: scout out the area in pursuit of the possibility of a move, a job opportunity meeting for me with Food for the Hungry, and, most importantly, the KLOVE Fan Awards festivities surrounding Citizen Way.

But Nashville was muggy. Every day we were there, outside was an 85 degree wet blanket. We kept asking the locals if the weather is always that consistency and they all replied that it was and that, in fact, it gets worse. At this, I definitely had an epiphany about Taylor Swift‘s awesome, big hair while I was there because the moment I stepped outside everyday I could have been her twin sister. She just seems to have mastered making the big blonde frizz look purposeful. The local Nashville folk also say the pay off is the mild winters, but I actually enjoy winters in Chicago. I mean, compared to Minnesota, Chicago winters are my haven. We still get snow but not as much and my eyelashes and nose hairs don’t freeze in a split second in the outdoors of January and February like they did while living in Minnesota. I’ve actually come to prefer the milder Chicago winters even to summer.

I dare say, I’d like to keep my Chicago weather, even with all the curve balls, over a constant wet, heat blanket. This body is built for the cold, but wet heat makes me grumpy.

6 Tips to People Photographers

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Advice to Photographers
Some quick words on photography business.

  1. Ask Lots of Questions
    The best sources to start gathering info for your photography career are other photographers. Some photographers may let you down, they may even be rude, but most photographers will kindly chat.
  2. Get Shot
    In order to best understand your clients you need to get in front of the camera at least once a year. And not just any camera, you need to hire a fellow professional. Why is this important? If you don’t put yourself in your client’s shoes you might not realize that some of your requests are confusing, or that their questions actually aren’t stupid, and that maybe you need to change your direction during a shoot. This is crucial research for your business. Besides, you’ve gotta have some good pictures of yourself anyway right?  My husband and I do an anniversary photo shoot every year and I often have portraits done every now and then as well.
  3. Research
    Not only is getting in front of a camera important but reading some books, blogs, and essays is also of the utmost importance. You need to know how to fairly price yourself for your skill level, how to put together effective and balanced packages, how to invoice, how to build a fail safe contract, how to properly correspond to clients, how to build an effective and beautiful website, how to prepare for taxes… and that just scratches the surface.
  4. Invest in the Good Stuff
    Almost every photographer starts out with a starter DSLR and a kit lens. But when you are thinking of launching a photography business plan to upgrade as quickly as possible. And, until you do, price yourself accordingly. Better equipment gets you a higher price. More importantly though, better equipment delivers better work. But lets be clear, a better camera doesn’t make you a better photographer. The framing, posing, and editing is all up to you but the equipment makes the difference in image quality.
  5. Professional Branding
    Hire a professional. I got my branding wrong the first time and had to do it all over the next year. The second time around I actually hired a pro to help me put the pieces together. Branding is a lot of work, don’t do it twice! So, in order to do it right the first time, hire the professional who knows how to brand and have them help you, even if it’s just with the concept.
  6. Do Work for Free
    This is perhaps the most important thing you can do for your photography business. Getting paid for doing what you love stifles creativity. Going from session to session like routine produces stagnant material. You want each of your clients to have fresh, creative material that they will cherish for a lifetime, not the same shot you’ve done a hundred times over. It is so important to fuel your creativity. I just recently started doing this again and the change I’ve seen in myself and my work is insane! However, it’s important to note though that the free sessions to be doing are those that you request the models for, rather than gifting an originally paying client their session. Why? If you ask for the models you have all the artistic freedom. And artist mind needs room to wander and experiment so that artistic freedom unleashes creativity.  One of the other ways I encourage my creativity is by doing “A Photo A Day,” makes me pull my camera out every day 🙂