Anniversary!

This past 7 days has been very marriage focused with a weekend marriage conference and then my actual anniversary right after it. My wife and I still have our wedding attire and try and put it on each year on our anniversary as a kind of reminder and celebration of deciding to live our lives together. I'm lucky to have a very cute wife who is willing to step in front of a lens. As such, I've been making portraits of her each year in her wedding gown and this year we actually ventured out past our home and I'm very happy with the results!

Below are photos from 2009 & 2010:

As I mentioned, this past week has been very focused on marriage, and that brings me to a thought that the confluence of all the happenings instigated. Why doesn't every couple get anniversary portraits? Considering how so much emphasis is put on the wedding day and how it's only the beginning of what is designed to be a lifelong journey, doesn't it make sense to make a big deal out of every year you beat the odds and national averages? It is an accomplishment to keep loving someone year after year while getting to know the person in more and more unfiltered detail. You've made it through merging housekeeping differences, financial decisions, general misunderstandings, emotional events and swings, and more. They're still there, you're still there, and you still love each other. What's not to celebrate and memorialize when you find someone who's agreed to put up with you come hell or high water? Don't lie, you know you're a handful too!

So now I'm thinking that I need to put together some sort of package for you married couples out there that want to make a portrait each year of you and your significant other. You could include kids but really I'm thinking the focus would just be on you and your spouse because that's a special pairing all it's own and if you are a parent, I'm sure you're familiar with the extra complication getting them in on the plan! The session could be like an engagement shoot or bridal session with a variety of fine art takes as well as playful romantic shots and really be tailored to your taste. I like the idea!

Having already shared these on Facebook, you may have already seen a number of these shots but I really can't help but use them again. :)

WaterNow Benefit @ The Nutty Brown Cafe

And now for an update!

Back on the evening of May 29th the benefit concert did go down and it was full of good times as I got to rock out with Paul E, Marc B, Cullen F, and Ryan T. on the stage of the Nutty Brown Amphitheatre. It was a warm day with some stiff breezes that occasionally caused small dust storms but we had a grand ol' time. I wound up taking photos pretty much the whole time we weren't preparing to get on stage with a couple breaks. #1 was when we found out that the back line drum kit did not come with a snare drum (I had only brought cymbals, hardware and sticks). I wound up having to drive back into town for my snare and missed a set or two but thankfully was in no danger of missing our scheduled 7:30 start. Somehow the set got behind by 30 minutes so I really didn't have anything to worry about. #2 was right after we wrapped up and I wound up keeping an eye on a very cool little dude while his dad went to grab him some juice. I wound up missing most of Todd Agnew unfortunately but, like the whole concert, it was a for a good cause. :)

As always, the Nutty Brown was a fun family venue and it was cool to see so many familiar faces out there. Many thanks to all those who came out to support us! As I was predisposed on the drums, I handed out my two cameras to a couple friends and a third had his own to snap away with. The collective of all those shots can be found at the address below and the images are color coded depending on who shot them. I must give credit where credit is due after all. Just know that I didn't actually take any of the pictures of our band playing but there's a 2 out of 3 chance it was taken with one of my cameras.
http://oneseventwo.com/photos/concerts/WaterNow2011

There is also a small gallery of highlights that I've posted on facebook that is more condensed and primarily features members of the various bands that performed. It can be found here.

Without further ado, let me post a few of those pictures out of the several hundred... 

JR Taylor jamming out to open the show.

Miranda Dodson striking a pose.

Cullen, Ryan and Ryan's fiance' chilling before the show.

Todd Agnew & Paul Emerson hanging out in the green room.

Nate Navarro of Music For the City plugging WaterNow between sets.

Sara Overall and band. You can see the dust kicking up just down and to the left of he bud light sign.

Matt McCloskey jamming acoustically.

This kid was rocking out!

We were rocking out too. :)

Cullen & Ryan rocking it out.

Paul was having a good ol' time too!

My arms were a'movin'!

Marc Byers wailing on that guitar.

This shot of Gelan's, thanks to the flash really helps illuminate all the dust particles the wind kicked up!

Cullen and the kid head banging.

This was one of two guitars signed by the artists to be auctioned for WaterNow.

Courrier rocking it out to close out the show.

Don't tick off the comptroller...

As part of my evolving self-education in the realm of entrepreneurship, I recently was alerted to the fact that there are several things one needs to really get set up right.

• Set up your business structure (which can be as easy as setting up a DBA)
• Get a Tax ID (Also pretty easy)
• Get a Sales & Use Tax permit (not the same as the Tax ID)

The last one there is what just bit me. The permit is what many of you have probably seen hanging up in a public area of any business you've been in in Texas. It's a piece of paper with a Texas flag watermark and basically it allows you to collect the sales tax you're supposed to be collecting. Places get shut down if they're not in compliance or don't have one. The standard nowadays is to file quarterly and pay the state comptroller those sales taxes you've collected. Again, this is completely separate from your income tax filing.

I'm in the process now of filing an annual report for 2010 and another for the first quarter of this year. Let me tell you I'm not having fun finding out I've not been in compliance. In case you missed it, you need to file (and pay) sales & use tax reports quarterly. Also, know that photography as a service is still taxable. I am not a tax professional but so far what I've been directed to is a special publication by the Texas comptroller that directly addresses photography businesses. That publication is located here. One of the opening statements contradicts what had been my (mis)understanding of taxable products has caused me to re-visit my pricing structure and categorization of products in Quickbooks. Here is that paragraph with my added emphases underlined:

All expenses directly related to the production and sale of photographs and billed to the customer are subject to tax regardless of whether the photographer bills lump sum, atan hourly rate, or by itemizing each expense. Such expenses may include travel, meals and lodging while shooting on location, costs of acquiring props and models and “professional services” in shooting the photograph.

So there you have it in a nutshell, unless I'm working for an exempt business/person, or in very specific circumstances, everything I bill is subject to sales tax. For some reason I thought only physical products were subject, things like CDs or prints. Boy was I wrong. But wait, there's more! Depending on the location of services rendered or sold, the tax rate might be different. I'm still looking for clarification on this. What if I take pictures in another city on my own recognizance but then sell a disc of those images while at home but to another state or city? Where is the sales tax needing to be reported? This is a lot to keep track of for a one-man operation like myself. I see hiring a tax professional in my not-too-distant future. 

Luckily, I've not been busting at the seams with business and hopefully the burden will be minimal. Still, I owe the government money and they can be jerks about charging interest and fees. Let's hear it for mercy for the little guy! I encourage anyone out there with a small service based business to check into what their responsibilities are because it's something you want to deal with sooner rather than later. As I think I mentioned before, the government tends to be pretty unforgiving in their charging of interest and late fees...

Time to play some tunes and get this business taken care of!