Wendi Riggens Riggens Photography

Life.  It’s crazy sometimes.  Especially with a toddler.  :)

I have loads to post over the next few days and weeks.  Lots of posts from summer weddings, follow up on other posts, recent sessions, lots of fun stuff!

There are a lot of great things going on with Wendi Riggens Photography.  Trisha has joined me in the office, helping out with bookkeeping and office stuff.   Doni and I are putting the final touches on the last albums of 2009 weddings.  Custom guest books are coming in for 2010 weddings.  We have several new album samples and canvases in the gallery.

I’ve been busy, not so much shooting, but teaching.  In November, I cohosted a workshop in Burlington, and it was a huge success. We had ten photographers from around the area attend, and I had a great time getting to know everyone and sharing my love for photography!  We are building Click! Burlington, a group for professional photographers in Southeast Iowa.  I recently started offering one-on-one virtual and in-person mentoring programs, and am working with some wonderful up-and-coming photographers. I was also recently asked to teach two classes at a weekend workshop that my print lab is hosting in April, and I am very excited about this!  I’ll be presenting on weddings, working with a bride and groom, and leading a shooting session.  Overall, there are a dozen or so instructors and around 140 people attending, so it should be a fun weekend!

On a more personal note, as I sit here in my bed, my 18 month old son at my side, I am amazed every day at how special children are.  One truly cannot understand what it means to love someone else more than anything or anyone else in the world until you have a child of your own.  He’s a boy, through and through, but he’s a mama’s boy, and I love him to death!

On that note, I say adieu, and keep an eye out for lots of fun posts soon!

The images show up rather small on my blog, so if you would like to see them a little bigger and with more detail, go to to my Flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wendiandtravis/sets/72157603210251836/

I noticed the collages are also a little soft.  I’m trying out a new program to create these in and save myself time, and for some reason it reduces the quality of the images.  I’m not going to change these, but will not be using the program in the future, so that no sharpness or quality is lost!

One nice thing about meeting a bunch of photographers is that one ends up with really nice shots of themselves!  One night several of us decided to start handing off our cameras to each other to do headshots.  I believe my camera made it into the hands of the extremely talented Jeanann Wilkerson, and I must say, she made me look good! :)

On Sunday, a handful of us traveled to the marketplace in Tonalá.  Wow!   It was amazing!  From food to clothes, Christmas decor to glass blowers, candles and knick-knacks, jewelry – you name it, you can find it at Tonalá!  I picked up a lot of little things for home, including the most unique metal photographer sculpture.  We spent a couple hours walking around and still didn’t see everything there was to see.  I had homemade helado de fresas (strawberry ice cream), pomegranate seeds, fresh meats and cheeses, and a yummy lunch at a local cafe.  We conversed with the locals and bartered with the vendors.  It has been a few years since I’ve had to speak the language on a daily basis, and I was amazed at how easily it came back to me!  (in case you all didn’t know, I was a Spanish minor in college for a couple semesters before finding my real passion, and have studied the language since my mom first enrolled me in a class in the 5th grade).

Going to the market.  On the left, that is a house, sort of.  Yes, someone was living there.  In the middle, the line of cars waiting to get into the market.  On the right, ruins.

Here are a few from the Tonalá Market.

Yes, you have to pay to use the restrooms.  :)

On the way home, we stopped at this beautiful cemetary and walked around.  The way they honor their dead is admirable.

The following are a few from the different pueblos that we visited.  The people were so friendly and welcoming, and I am especially thankful to the family that let me use their bathroom during our shoot.  I drink a lot of water!

In the one on the bottom left, I asked the two men if I could “tomo un fotografia” of them, and they scowled and shook their heads no.  I gave them a smile and asked “con mi?” (with me?) and they got these big smiles on their faces and scooted over to make room for me!  It was so funny!  Look how happy they are!

Now that I am done shooting for the summer, I figured what better time than to sit and go through my images from Mexico and figure out what to blog?  It wasn’t an easy task, but I narrowed it down to my, oh, 100 or so favorites!

I’ll split this up into a couple different posts so that it isn’t totally overwhelming! :)

My trip started out in St. Louis, where I hopped a plane to Houston and then to Guadalajara.  It was a lot of waiting!

I’m not going to be chronological here, and instead will just share a bunch of collages of highlights of the trip.  First, the hacienda!

We stayed at La Hacienda El Carmen, a beautiful resort tucked away about an hour and a half outside of Guadalajara in Ahualulco del Mercado, Jalisco.  It was breath-taking and amazing!  I shared a suite with Erin Glaser, a talented photographer from California.

Our suite, the Alcoba Dona Ampara (I can’t figure out how to do tildes on here!)

There were real, live peacocks roaming the grounds, and they were so entertaining!  I spent several minutes during lunch one day playing with this guy, who kept hiding behind the ferns and peaking out at me, trying to figure out where to go to get around me.

I’m exhausted, and don’t have a lot of energy, but wanted to share just a few shots from Mexico.  I will post more later, once I’ve gone through and sorted them out.

I also want to extend a special thank you to Jose Villa, Jesh deRox, and Dennis Orchard for the life-changing experience that the past week was.  These three individuals are amazing photographers and amazing friends, and I can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve given me in the last few days.

Credit to Citro Modelos, Jose Villa, Mar of Team Hair & Makeup, and Songi Bridal.