Wendi Riggens Photography Blog – Burlington Iowa

Every year, my dad’s side of the family has a big reunion.  We have family that comes from all over, and we spent three days catching up, laughing, eating, golfing, swimmming, back-seat-driving, and just plain ol’ having fun!

This year was our biggest reunion ever.  And believe it or not, this isn’t even our entire family!  We were missing one of my cousins and his family from Texas, a cousin who is in Ethiopia adopting two beautiful little girls, and a smattering of cousins who just couldn’t make it.  Even so, it was incredibly impressive to see such a turnout!

Here is my amazing, incredible family!

This is my closest family, the Riggens clan.

Did I mention our back-seat driver contest? My dad and uncle and their cousins set up a course in the back acres of my grandma’s yard, and we all pair up to drive a lawn mower, blind-folded, directed by the back-seat driver behind us!

Here I am with my partner, my dad’s cousin Mike. Who says blind men can’t drive? We did pretty dang awesome if I do say so myself! And so did my mom, running around the course, trying to work my big ol’ camera to get a few shots of us!

I love this shot of my Grandma Louise, watching all of her kin in the contest. She is my sunshine! (shout out to you Grandma, LOVE YOU!)

This shot cracks me up! This is my grandma, my aunt Linda, my cousin Ryan, and his daughter Kiera. Grandma was the driver, Ryan was supposed to be a quiet passenger, but they all 4 ended up shouting at each other and the lack of direction was hilarious!!!

Here I am, riding with my son, being pulled by my dad and my twin nephews, as we take the mower back to the barn. It’s a little blurry as it was getting dark fast, but my mom did a great job getting the shot!

Here is my final share for the night. This is my dad’s cousin, Jim Scott. He’s a chiropractor down in Mexico, Missouri, and has always been one of the most supportive and influential people in my life. He sat Saturday night, in his trademark hat, writing out the sermon for the reunion’s Sunday morning church service, and I couldn’t resist capturing this quiet moment. Jim was the first person last fall to say the word “diabetes” to me, after I had a scary dizzy spell at last year’s reunion. This year he helped a lingering pain in my right foot from an injury earlier in the summer. And he is always a huge emotional supporter, always there with a smile and a loving hug. Thank you, Jim, for being your amazing self. I love you!

I love all of you, Scotts, Riggens, and Clarks!.

It’s been a while!  Life gets in the way sometimes, and despite my best intentions, my blog gets neglected.  That is going to change, though.  One of the hardest things for me when it comes to blogging is taking the time to select images and resize them and watermark them and upload them and then create the post.  It is quite time-consuming!  After a long discussion with my mentor Natalie Bradley, I’ve decided to change up how my blog works.

If someone wants to see my work, my website is the absolute best place to go.  If someone wants to get to know me, my blog is where they should come.  I used to use my blog for session sneak peaks and to share everything I have been up to.  Unfortunately, when I get busy, I don’t have time to do this, and most of my clients are on Facebook and prefer to have their sessions shared there.  It’s hard for me, too, to choose my favorite images from a session and especially a wedding, so I put it off, because I don’t want to post 20 or 30 images at a time!

So, from here on out, my blog is about me, my life, and my passion for photography, but from a different angle.  Instead of regular sneak peaks and shares, I am going to talk about what is interesting to me at that moment.  I will still post sessions and weddings, but instead of a huge image share, I am going to post the images that really speak to me, and I am going to tell the story behind them.

I am also going to start featuring other wedding and life professionals, and have a wonderful list of guest bloggers lined up.  The first post will go up later this week.  I hope to have one guest blogger a week from here on out, talking about weddings, pets, babies, and other relevant stuff!  I want to provide resources to brides, pet-owners, and families, particularly local resources that may be virtually unknown otherwise.

So, I hope you will stick with me on this crazy journey, and that you enjoy the changes!  Be sure to comment and let us know what you think, and always feel free to make suggestions for topics and guest bloggers!

Before I sign off, here is a shot of my inspiration and reason for, well, everything!  I can hardly believe it has been two years since he entered our lives, and I can’t imagine life without him!

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