The SCAR Project by fashion photographer David Jay illustrates exactly why I became a photographer: there is beauty in everything and everyone, and those of us lucky enough to have fallen in love with our cameras can bring it out. Look at what I get to aspire to!

The site is LSFW, depending on how big of a douchebag your boss is.

The book is available on Amazon: The SCAR Project (Breast Cancer Is Not a Pink Ribbon) Volume 1

I shot my first paid wedding yesterday – so exciting! The bride and the groom were lovely, their families were great, their friends were fun, and the weather, which alternated between mildly overcast and wonderfully sunny – was a photographers dream. And look! I even managed to pull off this over-done-and-yet-really-fun shot of the bride showing off her bouquet!

You guys! I’m a photographer! (I’m so not over this.)

Apropos of nothing, here are Rob and Tino in our back garden, enjoying the setting sunlight.

My poor blog has gotten slow! It’s too hot! And, really, I’ve been thinking about only boring things these days: business stuff. It’s hard to picture now, but the sunny weather is going to go away sooner than we’re quite ready for, and with it, a lot of my business; most people want their family photoshoots on warm, sunny days. So I’m dreaming up ways to keep from going stagnant.

You want to hear what I have so far? Because, honestly, it’s all that’s on my mind, and also, that whole “don’t share business ideas with the world because someone might steal them” is overly-paranoid.

Focusing more on maternity and new baby shoots. Because people are constantly getting knocked up and having babies; that’s not seasonal.

Doing more studio shoots with people. This one is tough – I have a setup with a backdrop for headshots – one person – and fancy umbrella lights are being shipped to my house now (yay!) but I’m brainstorming ways to get an entire group in my setup. It involves rearranging the office, which I think will make Rob get woozy. (Sorry, hon!)

More retail shoots. As much as I love working with people, doing retail shoots in-studio is really exciting for me.

Building traditional freelance contacts and booking jobs. I have dreams of working with publications like Real Simple and Martha Stewart one day, as well as smaller indie magazines like Rue, Sweet Paul, and Kinfolk (have you seen this one yet? It’s new, and DREAMY!)

So, there it is – this is what has been rattling around in my brain these days. What are YOU thinking about?

I have start-up envy!

So many awesome start-ups are happening around me, with hip, thoughtful employees, and it feels like the whole world is working on really cool projects. I want in!

In the meantime, business is going really, really well. I’ve been consistently booking new clients and fun projects. There’s just an itch to work with other creative people, too, to create something fun together. I’m sort of tempted to start something myself, but I’m not sure what, and also, the thought of starting a new project from scratch makes me want to put my head between my knees.

So, readers: do you know of any start up thingies that need a fun photographer to join their team? A magazine, perhaps? How about an iPhone app? Hook a sister up!

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What a glorious weekend. Everyone can marry the person they love here in New York! It’s so wonderful, and everyone is giddy and happy. I can’t wait to see all these fabulous weddings happening!

I’m offering a free wedding photography to the first same-sex couple that asks me to shoot their New York wedding. (The only catch is that I only shoot weddings with up to 40 guests.) You have to email me at Amber@AmberMarlow.com, and if you know someone who would be interested please pass it on!

Taken! I’m so excited!

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Ohhhhhh my goodness. Go look at my photography website (click above). It’s delicious, right? It was created by the husband-and-wife design firm Super Runaway.

There’s still some sprucing to do (and you’ll notice my blog is horribly out of date), but we’re almost there. I have to pick a few more home page scrolling-through pictures. They have to be images that really convey my style, so the viewer is drawn in immediately. That’s MARKETING, bitches!

It’s 100% Flash-free, which I’ve noticed is unusual for a lot of photographers. I don’t know why; I’m so unenthused when I get to a site and find it all in Flash. Think of the iPads! The smart phones! The four people on the planet with a dial-up internet connection!

Anyway, I love my sweet, WordPress-based, HTML-only website. Further evidence my husband rocks: he helped me did the transition to our personal Blatt-family server (we are those people. Apparently.)

What do you think? Did I miss anything?

my first photo for Capture It, shot with my iPhone 4 using Hipstamatic

I have some really exciting news, friends: I’ve been hired by Aiming Low as a the host of their weekly photo challenge!

If you’re not familiar with Aiming Low, it is a group blog made up of really funny writers who celebrate the fact that perfection is a lie, but we are all going to be ok anyway. This couldn’t come at a better time; I’ve just been talking about this! These are my people.

My column is called Capture It. Every Friday, I’ll be thinking of a new theme for the week and inviting readers to send in their photographic interpretations of that theme. It can be a literal or obscure interpretation and can be snapped with a cell phone or shot with a fancy camera on a tripod. Either is fine; there’s no judgment, only fun. You can go to my inaugural post to read more about it.

You guys! It’s like my two favorite things, blogging and photography, colliding into one gooey, happy opportunity, and I’m giddy, people, I’m literally giddy!

Will you play along? Please do!

Check out that logo!

I literally “sqeeeeeeeeee!“ed when I first saw it a few weeks ago, and when I showed it to Rob he grinned and said it was very “me”.

It’s created by the the husband-and-wife design firm Super Runaway. I love that their name sounds like a Portland-based folk band. I chose them to work with for a few reasons, including the fact that they designed and built A Practical Wedding. Anyone that has anything to do with APW is someone I want to work with. They’ll be making my website next. It’s so exciting!

My $100 Blogger Headshot special has been extended; I’m running it until the end of March. A little press went a long way, and I’ve been booked solid for the past two weeks! It’s incredible, and I love it. The money is awesome, but meeting people, spending time with them, getting them to make fun faces or helping them figure out how to smile their best is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. I am really, truly doing what I love for a living.

GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

Ahem. Sorry.

I’m heading to South by Southwest tomorrow and I’m booked for some headshot sessions there, too, which I’m pretty sure means that I can write off at least part of my trip. Right? Right. There are still slots left, too, if you’d like.

See you down there?

John C Jay wrote 10 Lessons for Young Designers, and I feel like they work well for young photographers, too.

1: Be authentic. The most powerful asset you have is your individuality, what makes you unique. It’s time to stop listening to others on what you should do.

2: Work harder than anyone else and you will always benefit from the effort.

3: Get off the computer and connect with real people and culture. Life is visceral.

4: Constantly improve your craft. Make things with your hands. Innovation in thinking is not enough.

5: Travel as much as you can. It is a humbling and inspiring experience to learn just how much you don’t know.

6: Being original is still king, especially in this tech-driven, group-grope world.

7: Try not to work for stupid people or you’ll soon become one of them.

8: Instinct and intuition are all-powerful. Learn to trust them.

9: The Golden Rule actually works. Do good.

10: If all else fails, No. 2 is the greatest competitive advantage of any career.

It’s nice to hear affirmed what I have always had an inkling of: hard work is really important and can trump being cool, lucky, glamorous, or well-connected.

via Swiss Miss

A whole lot of you weighed in on my survey; there are more of you than I thought there were! Hi! (There’s still time to take it, by the way. It’s going to go until next Monday or 1000 responses, whichever comes first.)

It’s valuable information that will help me make my blog better, so thank you. It’s also, as you may have guessed, the beginning of a few changes around here.

Throughout the years I’ve dabbled in different “professional blogging” adventures, but I’ve never had anything stick because I didn’t know how to do it professionally and learning was never really a priority. I feel differently now, and I think it’s going to be awesome.

The most important thing for me is, as always, to be perceived as an honest, forthright, and a trusted source of information. (Hence I’m talking about this. In the blogging world, it seems talking about the inner business workings of your blog is about as taboo as blogging about sex.) I’ve consulted with a few smart people to bring some unique opportunities to light, and I’m excited.

Rob has worked with me on a redesign of the site. Meanwhile, if you know of a business, large or small, that might be interested working with The Amber Show in some way, please put us in touch.

Finally, I will always appreciate your feedback, either in the comments or via email. Hate something? Love something? What should I be mindful of? Did I totally fuck up? Lemme hear it.

You, after all, make my blog worth writing.

Fun and snarky handlettered artwork by Mike Monteiro, available for purchase on 20×200