Your name: Melissa Pepin

Workshop:  week 1

If you have a nickname, what is it? Mel…but that’s kind of boring..???

Are you single, married, have children? Im married (2 years) to a smoking HOT Pharmacist!

If you have children: how many, what are their names, how old are they: Charlie and Sophie are my cocker spaniels…but they behave pretty much like children so...does that count?

What state do you live in ? Georgia

What do you spend way too much of your time doing? Working…

What do you wish you could spend more of your time doing? Sleeping (this 4-6 hour a night thing just ain’t cutting it!)

How did photography find you? I’ll warn you now…I write like I talk…so forgive me for the punctuation issues in the following! Part 1: I started taking pictures when I was in high school, just because I loved doing it. I disposable camera’d myself to death in those days! In 2003 when I was a sophomore in college, I was really big into the Passion/One Day movement with Louie Giglio and worship leaders like David Crowder, Charlie Hall, and Chris Tomlin and they announced that they were having another One Day event in Sherman Texas and that they were accepting art work for the 268 Generation Gallery that would display work all over different states starting in Texas, at One Day. I submitted some photographs that went along with the theme that they requested and that was the first time that my pictures were displayed for anyone other than myself. It was really cool, and though I don’t know if I was really ready to have my first experience like that in front of the 30,000 people that attended that event, it left me itching to see what else I could get myself into!

What is your favorite thing to take pictures of? Brides…and Food.

How long have you been doing photography ? 5 years

Do you have a photography business? If so, how long? YES! Almost 2 years

What is your favorite food? I LOVE French onion soup and field green salads…and strawberries Romanoff (huller strawberries covered in brandy cream sauce…ugh! Im having a moment right now just thinking about it!)

What is something you can’t live without? Bottled water…aquafina or desani…I don’t care if its really just tap water…as long as it doesn’t taste like plastic or iron then I’m good with it. J But I defiantly drink between 10-12 bottles a day…I RECYCLE EVERY BOTTLE!!!!! And my rainbows…and my Burts Bees… (and the husband is a given!)

What is something no one knows about you? Oh Lord..ya’ll are just ASKING for an emotional breakdown…  hehehe Money scares the hell out of me. I grew up with just my mom and we didn’t have any…any. So I have worked myself to the point of insanity (ex. 3 part time jobs in college while I toted a full load of classes…cant remember ever really sleeping…ever) because you would think that the US Mint was going to go on strict and I would be the only one of the face of the earth left without a cent. Money can make you happy…can make you sad...or angry…or insane and sometimes I forget about Gods provision and his promise to take care of me…its when I try to take it into my own hands that things get crazy...it makes my throat feel like its going to close up.

What is on your iPod or Playlist: Michael Buble’s HOME cd… Nelly Furtado…Matt Carney…Michael Tolcher…and John Legend

Are you a night owl or early riser? Night Owl…but I can get up early...and I do most of the time but if I don’t get a cup of coffee when I get up...its UGLY!

What is your favorite guilty pleasure? Expensive dinners and ….(gulp) shoes!

If you could have dinner with anyone in the world…dead or alive, who would it be? As completely cliché as it is going to sound…it would be Jesus…I just don’t know how a person can live…and live life according to how they KNOW God wants them to live it…yet know all of the horrible things that face you, and still be able to love people and forgive people and share yourself with them. ( I mean…Jesus was the word made flesh so I know that he knew that it had to be done…but from a strictly logical point how do you take all the junk he dealt with and still want to love…its mind blowing and more challenging than anything else. )

What are some things that you like? Singing (I was a vocal performance major when I started college and the perpetual wedding singer before I started shooting them! And I lead worship at my church in Athens, Ga…so I LOVE singing!), and a close second is COFFEE….COFFEE…COFFEE!!!!

What are some things you don’t like ? People that try their hardest to make those around them feel 100% inferior to them. I also don’t like the horrible things that are being done to women in the Congo right now, poverty, Pepsi, 0.7 lead , mint ice cream, my grandmothers thanksgiving Turkey…and when your dog eats your shoes…or underwear, or socks…you name it and she’s eaten it!

When you can do anything, what do you do? Romantic getaways with my husband…he works hard and helps me a LOT and I love getting to spend one on one time with him…hes a lot of fun!

What do you have to do before you die? Travel the world more….Ireland…Spain again…Italy…and be able to take my mom with me on these trips. J

Tell us something more about you:

Funny my nick name growing up was Tootie. Not because I had gas as a child...but it was my older cousins nick name until she grew out of it so I got it….unfortunately...and apparently I was never old enough to grow out of it! Boys would call my house in high school and my mom would inevitably say “Tootie!!!!! PHONE!!!!” shesh!

Serious Im terrified of death or of people dying…and disappointing people.

Entertaining When I was a kid I used to (now keep in mind I was an only child) play news, or talk show host…you get the point. Well, when my husband and I got married we got a Kitchen Aid Mixer…one of the big daddy ones….and I cant tell you how many times he has walked into the kitchen and stood there and listen to my “cooking show” before making his presence known! He’s also caught me in the bathroom making up jingles for bathroom products...if you ever heard my Listerine commercial you would think I was hilarious!

ALSO, I used to memorize those “monster ballad” commercials…you know, where it would be a collaboration CD set and they would play like 10 snip-its in a row just to show you a sample of what the box set it like…yea...I still sing them… the whole commercial that is… J

Philosophical You can't personally control everything.

Exciting I just got my first magazine cover!

True I tend to over commit and have a really hard time saying no.

Meaningful I always prayed for a man that I could be real with and that would want to take care of me (despite the fact that I want to take care of me more) and my family…and he gave me that in my husband…and life can be really sweet sometimes.

Powerful I have lived in a world surrounded by “youre not good enough”’s and “You cant do it”’s…and Im overcoming all of that…right at this very minute!

Name 2 of your weaknesses: Budgeting and admitting that there is something I cant do

Name 5 of your strengths:

I really love people

Im fun to be around

Im articulate and speak well

Im driven

and Im honest.