Warning: there is almost nothing about photography in this post.
2011 has been massive for us in so many ways. A little bit life-changing actually.
In February, a beautiful little girl entered our lives (I’d call her a miracle, but I’ve been listening to Bill Hicks tonight, and he really wouldn’t approve). Like all first-time parents we had no idea what we were doing but we slowly learnt how to keep her alive, clean and fed, and to keep our own sanity intact (sometimes). She kindly did her part too, by crying when we did something completely wrong and on the off-chance we got something right, she generally saved us the confusion of crying anyway. We’ve got a long way to go, and I’m sure we’ll be clueless again many many times in future, but that’s fine.
I remember early one morning Jo and I looking at the clock and working out that we had 45 minutes before Amelia needed us, and being tired enough to spend 44.99 minutes of that time sleeping…like babies…kinda. It seems so long ago. It’s amazing to think she’s sleeping right now in what was a very empty bedroom just twelve short months ago.
We’ve leaned on our friends and family more than ever before, and they’ve been amazing. Amelia has spent lots of time getting to know her grandmothers while we’ve been at weddings, and we’ve trained her to smile cutely at them to make sure the baby-sitting offers keep coming. We married my Dad off this year too, and although we’ve known Marilyn for a while it was great to welcome her and her sons into the family officially. And speaking of adding to the family, in October Graham and Sarah very generously gave us a nephew and a cousin for Amelia, Noah, who is quickly turning into a little man and we can’t wait to see him and his big sisters at Christmas before any of them grow any more.
It’s been a big year for Iain Sim Photography too. A bit of a makeover I guess – we’re still the same inside, but most things on the ‘outside’ have been rethought and reworked to match what we do a little better. The website was too dark and impersonal, so we scrapped it entirely and started again – we’ve had a few comments that the new one is brighter and more ‘us’, which is exactly what we wanted. A new album supplier, new packages, lots of changes (some big, some small) to software, shooting gear, shooting/lighting techniques and lots of other boring-but-important stuff kept us stupidly busy through winter and we’ve come into this wedding season feeling focused and fresh. Which is lucky, because turning up to shoot somebody’s wedding feeling anything less doesn’t seem fair on anybody.
We’ve been lucky to witness some incredible things through the lens, some of them very public (like a teary groom struggling through his vows – I won’t name names, but there’s really no nicer sight at a wedding) and some little moments that nobody notices on the day. We’ve met some amazing couples and caught up with others from previous years with babies and bumps (congratulations Liz and Mark, Maria and Leif, Janine and Lee, Ryan and Jackie and to parents-to-be Tam and Ben, Christy and Adrian, Belle and Phil and Rhonda and Chris!). It’s also great when we get to catch up (briefly – no time to slack off and chat unfortunately) with previous clients at a wedding of one of their friends that they’ve recommended us to, and even better when we get to do the opposite, like in October when we got to pay Ange back a little bit for all her referrals by shooting her own wedding.
Jo, Amelia and I would like to thank all of you for being part of our massive (to us, anyway) year. Have a fantastic christmas and I hope we see you all soon.
