Giddy Up! A barbecue baby shower with an LA twist.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of shooting for Beth Helmstetter at a baby shower here in town.

I first met Beth on the Big Island of Hawaii.
She was the wedding coordinator/decorator extraordinaire, while Ryan and I filmed every detail of the couple’s day.  I helped her carry white chairs out onto the black sand beach and we chatted amongst the bus loads of Japanese tourists that nearly took over the wedding photography for the day.  We had a blast working together and kept in touch through the wonderful world of email and Facebook.
When she flew into Kansas City last year to do a baby shower, Jenae and I both went and shot pictures for her. It was the most amazing party I think I’ve been to in terms of personality and decorations.  I seriously felt like I was at one of Oprah’s gigs.

She’s one of my favorite people, even though she called me a “girl” for noticing all of her decoration details and just loving the awesomeness that is her ability to take a baby shower + barbecue and yet, make it so much fun and personal.  From the “howdy” tags she had hanging off of each straw to the wooden invitations and mason jars full of white daisies, I was in photo-heaven. I think I shot like 50 pictures of the little individual pies and 10 different angles of the pillow-topped hay bails lining the forever-long table covered in an awesome cowboy print cloth.

She’s got such an amazing website and blog and the pictures are just a glimpse of how talented she is.  She’s based in L.A. but does destination weddings all over the world.

I can tell you that when the day comes that I get married, she will no doubt be in charge of the whole day!

Here’s a few of my shots from the day, but swing on over to her blog to check out the rest!

(If you attended the party, please visit here and you can see more of the images – they should be up shortly)

Perspective.

In case you’re having one of those days where you need a laugh, I thought I’d share this photo.

I love how kids don’t seem to have a care in the world, let alone food on their face.
I get to experience that a couple times a month with the 4 &  5 year-olds at Heartland.
They say the funniest things too.
Last weekend as we finished the story in children’s church we began singing some songs.
One of the kids looked up at me and said “Who pees in the river? I’m not going to pee in the river”
“No, no, ‘Peace Like a River’, we’re just singing it”.

A few weeks before that I had a 4yr old walk up to me and say, “let’s not be weird about this, but I have shorts on under my pants.”
What do you say to that?  I just laughed.  I later asked his dad who explained he was wearing his KU shorts under his pants because that’s all he wanted to wear that day, but it was too cold.

It’s been a great perspective shift, and over the last year and half of working with the kids, it’s been a stretch in who I am. I don’t have kids and it’s not necessarily on the top 5 things I want to do in my life, but I knew so little about them when I started.  How old are they when they can walk, talk, understand things?

I could go through life being the sound-guy or the camera operator and stay hidden in a behind the scenes role, but I would never grow or become better at other aspects of my life.

I know now a lot more about them, how to hang out with them and fly them around the room in a giant bucket.  I also get to be a kid for awhile with them and look at life through a different lens.

So there’s your challenge after reading this. Maybe it’s time for a perspective shift.  Maybe you’ve been doing the same things over and over and getting the same results in your life.  How’s that working for you?  Maybe it’s time to try something new.  Just do it, and quit saying “maybe”.  Fear regret, not failure.

They know me too well

So I’m in Starbucks the other day:
“Hey Mike, you doing your usual Misto?”
“Yeah, thanks”
She turns around and starts to fill the coffee and looking over her shoulder says “do you have a milk preference on this?”
Another barista walks by without skipping a beat and says: “non-fat, but he’ll only tell you that when people aren’t standing around”.

I think I turned a bit red. I was momentarily speechless. Then I just started laughing. (So did they)
What’s the big deal? I’m trying to cut back a little. Why is it embarrassing to order non-fat milk? Not sure, but apparently It’s something I only do when others aren’t around.

a new website in the works…

I’ve got a new website on the way.

Let’s call it an update? upgrade? how bout just a change…

This site will feature just my wedding work. Why? you might ask. Well, let’s face it, I’m all over the place. From country music videos to corporate marketing to Food for the Hungry and other non-profits, brides just want to see wedding videos and photos right? I think so. I also think it’s just going to feature my video work – while I can shoot stills with the best of ‘em, I’m going to let my awesome friends in Kansas City handle that – check out the tab to the right with all the photographers I have listed – hopefully one of them will be available for your date – I LOVE working with those folks & you will too!

So, Mike Varel Weddings will be rolling out very soon – feel free to check it out and let me know what you think!

Grady is excited about it -

Craigslist scam

So this has nothing to do with photography, wedding videography or any other production that I do, but I want the internet world to know about this:

I was recently selling a broadcast quality video camera on Craigslist when I got an email from a “Sarah Dotson” saying she was interested in it. She said she wanted it for her nephew who had gone to West Africa to visit his parents and wanted it shipped to him there, and would happily add $250 to the price for shipping and was ready to pay instantly over paypal.  

Nephew? I thought.  Sounds like a kid to me.  What does a kid want with a $4,000 broadcast video camera? So as I begin typing that back to her I stopped and did a Google search for “Sarah Dotson, criagslist” and thankfully found another blog with her name in it and how someone sold her their laptop and that it was a scam and they almost lost all their money, but thankfully the Post Office had held the item for a confimation. The address the emails had been coming from was a setup – including a fake paypal address – “Sarah” didn’t exist. 

Long story short – BE CAREFUL who you’re selling to:

1. think about who’s asking for your item and if they’d really be the person buying such an item. (kid buying an expensive camera?)

2. Look at their emails – are they clearly written in English or is the grammar incorrect and uses a lot of lower case spellings?  ”i will like it to be delivered to him cos I am currently out of town” 

3. If you are selling it locally, don’t go to the middle of parking lot to meet the person.  Go inside a public place, and take someone with you. 

4. If you’re receiving a payment, or making a payment, be sure you are typing in the right address. www.paypal.com, etc. – don’t click on someone’s “included link” in their email to go to where they want you to pay. 

Just some thoughts.   I have successfully sold several things in the past through craigslist and think it’s a great thing – just be careful, and hey, do a Google search for their name before you sell it! It may just save you a lot of headaches!

an awkward moment at Starbucks…

So.  

Today I was editing at Starbucks.

(I was finding being at home too distracting trying to work  and instead reading through blogs and just not getting anything done.) 

I decided to go be friends with a coffee and was cutting some shots down on a recent video when Ryan and our friend Kyle showed up.  (They had been rehearsing for a studio session for Kyle’s new record.)  I was sitting on the couch by myself, then Ryan sat right next to me to see some of what I was doing, while Kyle sat in the chair on the corner with us.  

After a half hour or so, Kyle left, leaving Ryan and I sitting on the couch together with no real “buffer” between us.  ”This just got awkward” I said.  ”Yes, yes, it did” laughed Ryan.  ”Hurry up and go sit in the chair!” I said.  So he did. 

If it was two girls sitting on the couch next to each other I think it would be totally fine.  Us two dudes on the couch together, not so much.   

my completely random day…

So. 
5am. yikes. I’m awake, because I have to be.
530 – on the road – darn, coffee shops aren’t even open yet.  
630 – cruising down I-70 near Concordia, MO – 18 wheeler next to me in right lane, I’m in the left.
Deer season opens this weekend, and apparently it’s “mating season” as well.  
I’m cruising along when out of the corner of my eye I see this deer running full speed out in front of the Semi next to me.  The look in the beast’s eye is all to familiar as his hoof first hits the pavement – “I immediately regret this decision!” (said in Will Ferrell’s tone of voice) 
So you know where this is going already -
I had heard several stories recently of bad accidents because of deer, and all those stories ended with “don’t swerve to miss it, you’ll just have a worse accident.”  
That exact thought came to mind in the quarter of a second I had to respond so I grabbed the wheel with both hands and went for it – it was a-maz-ing.  It was quite an impact, which I won’t describe in detail on here, but then the rest of it flew over the top of my car.
My hood was all crumpled and I felt like I had been in a Nascar wreck – (only referring to the kind in Taladega Nights or Days of Thunder since I don’t really watch Nascar) – I kept on cruising another mile up to the next exit and stopped at a gas station. 

 

Everything seemed to be fine, other than the look of things – So I got back in and headed a couple more miles down the road until the coolant light came on.  Bummer.  Blew the radiator.  (I say that now, as if at the time I was one of those cool “car guys” that knew what was really going on)

(the sun is rising in the background)

So I wound up in Concordia:
 

I looked at it as a chance to meet some new people.  Gas station folks, tow truck guy, repair place guy, and Enterprise Rental car dude.  In all, they were incredibly friendly.   I almost felt like I was back in Nashville and was able to get my good ol’ southern accent out for a couple hours. 
2.5 hours in the gas station waiting on a tow truck, followed by several calls from Enterprise letting me know that everyone was out of cars and they had no idea when they were coming in.  The gas station folks were awesome, including giving me a free cup of coffee and half hour conversation about gas prices and how the biz is run and how the economy is killing their little mom and pop shop.  It was sad.  The gas prices have fallen so fast (which is good for us) but they bought 8000 gallons at a much higher rate, and now have to be competitive with their prices and are losing money. 
So back to my randomness. 
I was able to laugh about most of it – and keep good perspective on it.  I was supposed to be in Rolla, MO today filming – I knew it wasn’t going to happen by 1030am – another camera guy was able to fly down and handle it – done – no need to be in a hurry or anxious about anything – plus it wouldn’t have helped.
 - 40 minute ride to Warrensburg in a tow truck with a really friendly dude – we talked about his kids in college and line dancing (yes, we did) – my insurance folks handled things pretty great except for saying “you won’t have to pay for anything till later, we’ll take care of the tow truck” – then the driver says “they told me this was going to be cash and it’s $120″ – “oh, of course, let me just grab that…right…here…” then I ran.  Ok, no, I didn’t, but would’ve been awesome if I did – besides, the car was already off the lift.  
So I walk into “Bent & Dent” – the collision repair place in Warrensburg.  I figure I’m going to hang out a bit till Enterprise comes to get me whenever they finally get a car. I walk in with my laptop thinking I’ll get some editing done – dude there is like, oh, my son can take you Enterprise – making it clear that I wasn’t about to sit in his lobby and wait – it was a little strange.
Person #7 on my random run-in – this other dude that takes me in his sweet big ol’ diesel 4 door truck over to Enterprise.  In the south we’d call them Hillbilly-Four’s instead 4×4’s.  
I get to Enterprise and get the same kind of weird welcome that was clear 1. we don’t have cars and 2. we don’t want you waiting in our lobby.  I’m wearing a suit and tie folks, come on, what’s the big deal here?

I elect to go “walk” to a coffee shop since the dude at Enterprise says “all I got is a 12 passenger van and I don’t want to pick you up in that” – “oh…of course not, because, you’re Enterprise and you’ll ‘pick me up’ unless all you have is a 12 passenger van.” I think I remember seeing that on the TV commercial in the fine print… 

Long story short, I wound up getting a rental car, getting a bit lost, then finding my way back to KC by 1230 only to be called shortly after by this guy to go cover another last minute call-in that i’m currently sitting in – it could go till 8pm they think.  We’ll see if I stay awake that long. 

If you know me, you’ll see the humor in all this – if you don’t, welcome to my world. 

P.S. – Jerry is 65 and still smiling.  Happy Birthday big guy.

something random

So – a dude calls and is trying to sell me a “top spot” on google when people search for video production or wedding videos, etc, in Kansas City. His pitch is that he’s selected me out of all the videographers in the area and I’m the only video business he’s going to represent.

He started out great and talking smooth until he hit a hiccup and forgot what I do – the sentence went something like this – “well Mike, how would it feel to know everyone was clicking on your link, and you’d be the top…(pause)…video…producter in the area?” Video Producter? Pro-duck-ter? “I’m not sure I know what that is, or that anyone else would, so I better pass.”

They also wanted $4500 for their services. I got a call a week later from another company offering the same thing for $80/month. hmm.

Side note – A photographer is a photographer. A video person is a videographer. (pronounced: vidy-ographer.) I often hear the term “video-ographer”. Just like a photographer is not a photo-ographer, we’re not video-ographers. It’s all good, and I don’t correct people when I hear it, but incase you ever wonder, the correct way to say it is above.

This weekend…?

So – this weekend – I’m actually off from shooting weddings - 

I get to film Travis & Lisa for a creative wedding invitation video though – It should be a lot of fun, and something totally different – I really like the occasional non-traditional couple that wants to do something new – so their whole wedding invitation will be on a DVD – i’ll see about posting part of it for you to get an idea of what it’s like – I’ll just leave out the date/time/place so they don’t have any wedding crashers show up -

I’m also trying to catch up on editing – I have a commercial that has to go out as well as a really cool video for a non-profit org that I hope to tell you all about soon – this guy (and his awesome new dog) is producing it and I get to help- It very well may revolutionize the way we create awareness and support for causes and charities worldwide.  Once I’m allowed to let you all in on it, I may not shut up about it - 

I also owe several folks wedding videos before the rapidly-approaching holidays…

oh, and I get to work with these guys again – the 4yr olds at Heartland -

(there’s kid under that other bucket of course)

what is this?

I’m not about to pretend that I’m an expert on fashion…but seriously?
I came across this at Macy’s the other night and couldn’t help but laugh.  Are you telling me it’s ok now to wear a polo over a button up shirt? Please comment, because if this is socially acceptable now, I’d just like to be in the know – and not laugh hysterically if I see this on the street sometime soon –