Now, onto the other news! I am going to start a 365 Project, and take a photo everyday. I have tried this before and simply become uncreative and slacked off in both posting and taking the photos. I am going to make this project very public and have made a blog for it this time. You can check it out here: http://365.heathergarlandblog.com I hope that everyone will check it out and leave comments so I have an incentive to keep doing this project. (Plus a few people to hunt me down if I don’t post everyday would be great too!) Here is my About page from the site to tell you a little bit more about:

This is my journey of a year in my life. A brief blog to document a year in photos.
Why am I doing this? I felt like during off-season I barely touched a camera, and it was a foreign object in my hands when shoots rolled around. I also felt like I wasn’t growing as a photographer because of this. So I am taking this journey in hopes that by making it a public journey, I will have an incentive not to give up. Also, by doing this that I will have an incentive to keep my photos as creative as possible, as everyone will see them.
Why is this a challenge for me?
Taking a photo everyday, and having it not be the same photo of the same things everyday, is definitely going to be a challenge, but hopefully it will help me grow as a photographer. I hope to learn to see light better, to find beauty in things that I normally would overlook, and just have fun.
So please leave lots of comments to encourage me to make a whole year and let me know someone is looking. I have tried this before and ended up slacking off, so I am really hoping to succeed this time around!

Also, check out the 365 blog for photos of my new frogs, because I know everyone is dying to see them!

Since Tuesday I have been in the absolutely gorgeous Canada! I have had very bad internet until today, or I would have posted something sooner. My family and I are here in Canada for a two week vacation that has just begun. As much as I have internet I will be posting snapshots and photos of the trip, so when I get home I don’t forget to share them!

Our first stop on this adventure, was West Edmonton Mall & the Fantasyland Hotel.

In the mall, they have this amazing pirate ship in the middle. It has beautiful blue water and artificial reefs.

The last time I went to Edmonton, was years ago, and they had these awesome submarines that took you around the pirate ship. Sadly, now the submarines are just sitting in the water. The mall also has an awesome waterpark & amusement park.

The mall had tons and tons of shops along with some really random items. I absolutely loved the Hendrix & Elvis paintings and wanted them both! However, I can’t understand why there are President Obama bobble heads in Canada.

Stop number 2 on this trip was Jasper, Alberta. It is in the middle of the Canadian Rockies and absolutely gorgeous! There were also lots of animals along the way, like mountain goats, mountain sheep, rams, and elk.




It is just so absolutely gorgeous out here.

So look for more photos and blogs about this incredible trip very soon, most likely Saturday! Sorry again to clients, since I am lacking a phone and am not as prompt in returning emails as usual.

Now, earlier in the year Our State Magazine contacted me about taking some photos of Captain’s Quarters Inn in Edenton, NC. I absolutely adored getting to work for such an amazing magazine and hope I can again in the future. Edenton and the Inn were absolutely beautiful as well, and I had so much fun getting to have this opportunity. Go out and grab a copy today so you can see my photos, they can be found at Barnes and Nobles or stores like this.



(mine are the two on the top)

Now onto the updates…

First, I have decided I definitely need to blog more often. I have been so busy, my blog has been neglected. I know I blog once a week, with my Get To Know Me Thursdays, but I have not even been posting these on time. I plan to keep these blog posts, unless no one but me thinks they are fun, but I also plan to blog two additional times each week, on Saturdays and Mondays. These will not have set themes, but I will still be posting new products, website updates, and new photos during this time. The other days I do not have anything new to post, I will be posting old photo shoots. I think it is really sad that my older sessions and weddings do not have a place on the blog, so I think they deserve a feature, as they disappeared with my old blog. So look for more blogs and know when to look now. Every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday there will be an update on this blog (and sometimes more!!), no excuses this time, even if I have to write them ahead of time!

Second, I plan to revamp (and am currently) the Facebook fan page and my own Facebook page. I realized I was only posting the slideshows to Facebook with my clients tagged in them, and that you were not able to use the photos as your Facebook photos. I will now be adding the images from my blog to both my Facebook fan page and my own Facebook page and tagging you in them. So now you can use the images as your profile pictures and show them off to your friends. I will also be cross-posting my blog posts as notes, for everyone who checks my Facebook and not my blog. I am sorry for letting the fan page get dull and never adding photos! I am working on this now, you should already see some changes, and will have this done this week!

I am working on lots of new products, blog posts, and fun stuff for all my clients. Plus, if you EVER have a suggestion for something you would like to see, feel free to ask.

(and yes, if you were wondering… I am obsessed with the Beatles and he is obsessed with America, seriously.)

So, who is this Walter guy that I always talk about? I bet, a lot of my blog readers have wondered this, and there is a good reason why. I just realized I never actually introduced him to my blogging world. As I was trying to think of what to post today, I came up with a great post, however what I needed was still packed. I just moved back to Belmont today, and since I was tired, half of the bags and still in the garage! Then I remembered Walter and I went out the other day before a wedding I was going to shoot and I decided to take some pictures of us. As a photographer, I should have good pictures of us both, but of course we have never had any pictures of ourselves, even close to professionally taken. The closest we had is arm-length self portraits I have taken of us. Well, we decided to go out and set up the camera on a tripod, and I took the photo with a remote in my hand. I have to say it is really hard to take pictures of yourself, half of your pictures do not focus on the right place or turn out right. I much would rather be behind the camera getting to set it up myself.

Who is Walter? He is my absolutely, amazing boyfriend of 4 years, 9 months, and 3 weeks (since July 19th, 2004). Ok, that was a total joke, I never actually count and I just spent that last 3 minutes trying to figure it out. Basically he is my boyfriend of 5 years, like I always say. He is an amazing musician (www.walterburks.com) and I am absolutely the proudest girlfriend ever. He is also very supportive of my photography business and is my incredible assistant at every wedding and almost every photoshoot. He helps me carry my equipment, organize people during formals, and load’s my cards onto my computer. He is also my lighting guy and carries around my lights and stands everywhere I need them. I do not know what I would do without him at weddings, he is absolutely essential. I just wanted to introduce him to the blog-world officially, especially since he is my assistant at all my weddings. I also wanted to show off that we actually do have 3 decent pictures together, and the real reason I am such a romantic! I am very sorry for never actually saying who Walter was, and I hope you enjoyed learning a little about us.

Well, I am officially back in Belmont, if you want to book a session! That also means, I officially have more time. I am finishing editing an amazing wedding, my designer is working on brand new look books, and I have 3 wonderful blog posts scheduled on my iPhone to post this week! So look for some great new stuff soon!

There are so many more things I love about my iPhone, but these are just some. I also find amazing new things every single day I can do and applications I can download. So tell me if you have any tips/tricks or amazing applications, I would love to download them!

With buying my iPhone that means I have an almost brand new phone I am not using. Normally, I wouldn’t do this on my blog, but I figure that one of you might need a new phone! It is less than 4 months old, and looks almost new. There are no scratches at all on it and I took great care of it. I never took it out of the hard case and screen cover I had it in. It also comes with a charger, car charger, computer connector, 3 hard cover cases, a 4GB MicroSD card & adapter, and all the instructions manuals. Just send me an email at contact@heathergarland.com if you are interested in buying it. You can see in the pictures there are no scratches, the 3 cases, the card (and that it fits!), and that the phone works. It just needs your AT&T sim card and it is ready to go! I absolutely loved this phone and it is great, I just had to pass it up for an iPhone.