Amelia Strauss Photography Blog » Amelia Strauss >> Southern California Editorial Photographer / Destination Wedding Photographer

The conversation usually starts with someone asking me the question, “Isn’t it time for you to get a new hat?” My typical external response is to give a half-hearted laugh or not say anything at all, while the immediate response flashing through my brain is, “Don’t you know that there is a reason I haven’t?” While I don’t believe that I have any control over the outcome of a game - well maybe any is too strong, we’ll go with little instead - I, like many sports fans (all Red Sox fans), have superstitions around gameday. The most evident in all of us are the clothes we wear. At any stadium, home, or other place people watch their favorite sporting events you will see hats that have been worn down so much they are 15 shades a different than their original color, or sweatshirts with a team’s logo from twenty years earlier, or my favorite, the shirt that is a decade old that a fan still tries to squeeze into because they bought it in their youth or as their years have increased so have their pounds.

If my hat, that people suggest needs to be replaced, could speak it would tell stories of my first time wearing it at the first game I went to at the wonderful Fenway park, or its visit to St. Louis in 2004 for the World Series clinching game 4 which was Boston’s first World Series since 1918, or its travels to Croatia on a honeymoon, or the countless other experiences it has had in its five year life. So when you see someone in an old worn down hat, or t-shirt that is coming apart at the seams, don’t ask the person wearing it if it is time to get a new one, ask them to tell you its story.

On a trip down to the beach, Amelia woke up to the sound of the BS report, a podcast by Bill Simmons, a writer for ESPN. He happened to be talking about the upcoming release of the new 90210 series, so of course Amelia fell immediately in love. That singular incident was the catalyst for Amelia listening to Bill’s podcasts and reading his articles on espn.com, which has lead to this. In Simmons’ weekly articles during football season he gives his wife space to write about whatever she chooses, as well as make pro football picks against the spread, which she has beat him in every year and is running about 60% accuracy by choosing teams based on the mascot or the team color or whether she likes the city the team is based in or not. Based on reading these articles, Amelia thought it would be a great idea for me to have a “weekly” article on her blog, that could be for the husbands or husbands-to-be that are having to act like they are interested in reading the blog of their photographer that their wives or fiancees are showing them. I more-than-likely won’t have pictures to go with mine, so I will have to create mental images with my words. In keeping with Amelia’s themes, the topic of my first blog is inspired by the photo shoot I went on two weeks ago with Heather and Myles. It was during this shoot that I explained to Myles that when you get married, there is an unspoken understanding or maybe it is somewhere in the fine print of the marriage license that says that after the words “I Do” are spoken, the man goes from groom to mule, pack mule that is. I don’t mind carrying the bags on trips or all the photography gear from lights, to flashes, to lenses, to reflectors, to other gadgets that have never even been taken out of the box, but might be needed, but when it comes to going to formal events, that it gets uncomfortable for me, literally. Tuxedo pants in and of themselves are not the most comfortable pants due to their material and the fit, but if you throw in a compact, a phone, lipstick, chap stick, a brush, a license, and eyeliner then the tiny pockets with holes in them basically burst at the seam. So my advice to you husbands and husbands to be, buy a nice leather murse (man purse) to carry all the acoutrements of your wife to formal events. You may take some heat from other males, or then again, they will understand.