Hello, friends. Once again, I’ve been neglecting you; there’s something about Gutenberg that uses every last drop of my writing-thinking-philosophizing brain… I’ve come up dry every time I’ve tried to draw something out for this blog.

But although I may be short on words, I am not short on pictures; in fact, I have two photo-related pieces of news I would like to share with you:

One: This is primarily for people who know me in real life, but I’ll share with all. Gutenberg is hosting its annual Student Art Show next weekend (on the 8th), and if all goes according to plan I will have some lovely 8×12 photographic prints for sale in that show. I have not yet decided how much they will be (any suggestions?).

These are the four photos I will be showing:

Anyway, I just wanted to let anyone who might be interested in owning an Erin Julian original know that this is their chance. (Of course, you are perfectly welcome to purchase prints of my photos from me at any time, but this will be an especially convenient and fun opportunity to do so. )

Two: As you know if you have contacted me about a wedding or portrait session in the last month or two, I have not been doing a particularly good job of juggling my photography business and the demands that going to school (and just living life) have placed upon me. I apologize deeply to those who have had to wait so long for replies to their emails; but I am very hopeful that this time of delayed responses is at an end. My dear friend Kari (She’s in this photo; I will have to post a better one of her soon) has offered to help me out with some aspects of my business.

So, if you were to email Erin Julian Photography sometime in the near future, you will most likely receive a reply from Kari, who is a delight to work with and talk to. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to have her joining me. (By the way, any inquiries regarding Erin Julian Photography should now be directed to info[at]erinjulianphotography[dot]com rather than to my personal address.)

And on that note, Erin Julian Photography’s website has undergone a few changes itself; it is now much simpler, and I believe, more elegant; I would love it if each and every one of you went and checked out the new slideshow featured there.

That’s all for now! I hope you have all been having a lovely February, and that your March is splendid as well. Talk to you soon.

Here we are, already at the end of a year which feels as if it has hardly begun. Thank you all very much for your support and encouragement this year; I’m sorry I have not been as faithful a correspondent as I might have.

Here are twelve images from 2007: each one either carries particular significance for the month it was taken in or is simply a favorite of mine. Enjoy.

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

2007 has been a great, full, and character-building year for me; I wish the same for you and yours in 2008. Happy new year.

Hello, old friends. It’s been too long. So long, in fact, that to be completely honest I feel terribly out of practice and have been stressing out a bit over what to post here first. So, to break the ice while I attempt to rediscover my blogging voice, here are some photos from this quarter:

(Click on each photo to see a description of it at Flickr.)

Yesterday evening, I worked my very last closing shift at my anonymous retail location. I helped my last customer, I made my last 10-minute announcement, I answered the phone one last time. And after three years, even though it was not always my favorite place to be, I can safely say that I will miss the place.

A large part of what made this job fulfilling (in addition to many great co-workers) was the fact that my brother worked there with me for my first two and a half years. Our time working together saw us develop a unique bond (at family gatherings, we never tired of swapping work stories), but it also saw Brian tirelessly chipping away at my immaturity with his constant encouragement to do a good job even when I didn’t want to. I really can’t thank him enough for taking the time to chide me when necessary; I truly believe I am more responsible because of his efforts.

So, why did I leave? The short answer is: it was time. It was time because I had worked there almost three years; it was time because I am moving back to school in just a few short weeks; it was time because my photography business is picking up and I intend to pursue it with all the gumption I can muster; it was time because I can’t do that and work at a store during the school year.

Oh yes, I really am going for “this photography business,” as I have taken to referring to it. It has been at the forefront of my mind through the entire summer, and lest you think I haven’t been taking pictures just because my Flickr stream has not been updated, I can assure you that I am sitting on all kinds of delightful photos that I can’t wait to share with you. Patience, friends. Patience.

But for the time being, I am editing like crazy and taking care of mundane (but kind of exciting) business details—and trying to absorb the fact that I am no longer “employed.” I’ve called life “an interesting ride” many a time, and it seems like the next year will not disappoint. Hold on tight.

(WARNING: This post contains a picture that might make you throw up a little bit in your mouth.)

… I will go the extra mile. I will throw myself into the effort of getting that perfect shot.

Sometimes more literally than others.

It’s funny how, when one is so focused on capturing the perfect shot of the bride and groom leaving the building, one can completely miss the existence of a step down from the sidewalk to the driveway.

It’s also funny how, when such a moment of neglect occurs, the sidewalk can decide to take a chunk out of one’s knee as a keepsake.

See? It’s pretty:

I’m sorry. I know you didn’t want to see that. But you know what? I didn’t really want to fall down those steps and rip my black pants that I payed $26.50 for at Old Navy. I know exactly how much I paid for them because the receipt for them is still sitting on my desk—because I bought them last week.

But, as I told all of the concerned onlookers at the time of the incident, at least my camera was fine. As long as my camera was alright, I was alright.

In case you haven’t been keeping track, I am developing quite a knack for falling down while carrying expensive equipment. And you’ll notice—none of the equipment has been damaged YET. So, to anyone out there who might have been thinking about lending me their expensive camera equipment: BE ENCOURAGED. I will die before it will.

But if you’re thinking about lending me pants? Um… Not so much.

P.S. I should mention the fact that this wound was acquired at the amazing Friday the 13th wedding of two dear acquaintances who are some of the most truly awesome people I know. So it was for a good cause.

Dear Boston: See these people?

You might recognize them. They flew in over your borders early Monday morning; I thought I should let you know that they’re going to be with you for a while.

That one on the right is my brother. He graduated from Gutenberg several years ago, and so did his wife; that’s her on the left. He always wanted to go to grad school, but he had a few things to do in the meantime. Now, though, he’s going for a PhD in Philosophy and an MA in Classics—which should set him up perfectly to come back and teach at Gutenberg. Which is great. The only catch is, he had to go to… well, to you to do it. And you are just a little farther away from Oregon than any five-year program which my brother is attending should be.

So take a good long look at them, because I have a very important job for you. I need you to take care of these two. I want you to make sure that they are fed, clothed, educated, encouraged—make them at home, but not too at home; comfortable, but not too comfortable. (After all, we do want them to make their way back over here at some point.) Make sure that Brian does well in school and that Melanie finds a job she likes—and make sure that they both can feel the motherly, fatherly, and sisterly love emanating from this little house on the other side of the country.

Oh, and, Boston? You just received a couple of first class folks. I hope you know that.

Sincerely,

Erin

Wow. My freshman year is over. I’m a sophomore now. How on earth did that happen?

I don’t believe I have any poignant observations to make about this year’s passing that didn’t come spilling out in my last entry. Suffice it to say, it came and went more quickly than I would have thought possible—and my surroundings have changed so dramatically from two weeks ago that I’m having a hard time calling up the details of my life for the last nine months. It was a relief to see a couple of girls from my class at a small social gathering last week; their presence reassured me that this whole thing hasn’t been a bizarrely-detailed dream.

As I observed at the end of last school year, summer always sneaks up on me and then rushes by before I’ve had a chance to properly enjoy it. But at least, as I head into this summer, I already feel like it is practically over; this either means that I’m finally becoming more realistic, or that summers are getting even shorter. I guess we’ll see.

Part of my increasingly fatal practicality is the realization that summer ‘to-do’ lists rarely get ‘to-done’. But because I would hate to let that long-time optimist living inside of me die for good (that was sarcasm), I’m going to make one anyway. Here, to keep me accountable (and to give you an idea of what I’m up to if I’m not posting here) are some of my goals for the summer:

• Once again, I need to make some money. Quite a bit of money, actually; I want to cover as much of next year’s rent as I can before the school year starts. My primary source of income will still be my anonymous retail location, but I have several photography jobs lined up as well.
• As a corollary to that, I would like to develop my photography business further. I have already taken steps towards this—especially to improve my post-processing capabilities. More on this later. (Maybe.)
• We all know what very important book is coming out on July 21st, right? RIGHT? My goal is to read all six Harry Potter books in a row before the seventh and final book is released.
• As loathe as I am to contemplate schoolwork at the moment, I suppose I ought to practice my Greek a little bit—I’d hate to lose my whole first year over the summer.
• I want—no, I am going to build a bookcase. After expressing my desire to buy an unfinished bookcase and paint it up for my room at Gutenberg next year, Dad suggested that I just build one. That sounded pretty exciting, so with my Dad’s help, I’m going to do just that this summer. I’ll keep you posted on its progress.
• If you ask me, Lylium.org could use a little freshening up. It’s been almost a year since I unveiled the current design, and although I love it, feel that a nip here and a tuck there could help me set the site’s design perfectly in alignment with its evolving purpose and style. Wish me luck on that.
• Oh, and… I should probably finish moving into my Parents’ house before it’s time to move out again. (My mom just almost had a heart attack when she read that—my boxes of crap are currently lining all of our tiny houses’ hallways—just kidding, Mom! I’ll be done in a few days! )

So. There are some of my possibly-underwhelming-but-quite-a-relief-from-the-school-year plans for the summer. What about you? Are you doing anything exciting this summer? Let’s hear about it.

… but when over 173,000 people (which, I might mention, is more people than actually live in Eugene, OR) have seen you dressed up like Princess Leia, you can’t help but act a little bit like a star:

Sorry for the lack of updates on the “Send Teal (a.k.a. Princess Leia) to Cambridge fund” and other exciting tidbits, like the fact that our humble photo has traveled to the four corners of this world wide web-o-sphere, but life and schoolwork have to take first priority, even for two newly-minted internet celebrities.

Of course… who are we kidding? Our limelight has passed. The collective interweb has already moved on to watching more YouTube videos and laughing at more LOL Cats. But for our fifteen seconds of fame, it was kind of fun (and scary) to imagine hundreds of people crawling all over my website at the same time.

In any case, the whole thing has been a fun adventure. And hey—y’all are a generous bunch! All together, so far, you have given Teal almost $450! This is, admittedly, not going to cover her tuition any time soon, but it is still remarkable—we really owe you.

This will probably be my last post on this topic for a while, unless something else exciting and unexpected happens. Teal is exploring her educational options for the fall; I’ll post an update sometime in the coming months about her decision. In the meantime, thank you again for looking at our photo. I’m so glad you all like it.

And now *sigh * back to our regularly scheduled programming.

So. It was Easter today. You’re probably wondering: Did she do it again? Did she make the trek up Spencer’s Butte at dark-thirty in the morning? Did she toss her proverbial Easter cookies at the top?

Of course not, silly! Here’s what my friend Noah thinks of that idea:

Instead, a couple of us less-intrepid folk climbed ALL THE WAY to the top of the stairs at our house and watched the sunrise from our back balcony.

And then, after a blindingly bright ten or fifteen minutes, we retreated inside for coffee. And then we ate sticky buns.

All in all, it was a much more relaxed (and far less pukey) Easter morning than last year. I hope you all had good ones as well.

And so, another spring break hobbles to a close, and another quarter takes off from the starting line.

That is my way of saying that you will not be hearing as much from me for a while. I enjoyed posting every day during spring break very much; it did, as I hoped it would, re-enchant me with Lylium.org. So I hope to avoid any more month-long silences.

But the sad reality is that school is an all-consuming force, and if I am honest with myself, I know that posting every day is not a feasible reality. At least, not if I hope to also attack my schoolwork vigorously—which I do.

I have great hopes for this quarter. It is a fresh new start—and it is my last chance this year to really get in there and apply myself to the task of learning. I’m looking forward to taking on that challenge.

So, for now, auf wiedersehen. I hope it will not be too long.