I wrote, in part…

We started off 2009 very different than it ended. At this time last year Maria had been in and out of the hospital more than once in her struggle to carry our 3rd son to full term. But the new year started with a bang. On January 6, we welcomed Paul Phillip Vigil into the world

Well, I think that Paul was feeling just a little bit nostalgic because 3 days shy of one year and he was back in the hospital… this morning.

It started out like any other morning (that is, I was asleep), and just before breakfast Paul decided to take a dive off the high chair onto our hardwood floor. He calmed down and ate breakfast but was still out of sorts. We ruled out a head injury (concussion of the like… uh, been there, done that) ’cause he wasn’t vomiting and all the body parts seemed to work just fine. He napped and when he awoke and still just wanted to be held we decided to go ahead and take him down to Children’s Hospital.

After winding our way through “the system” and a traumatizing (for Paul) trip to the x-ray room, I snapped a few pictures with my Palm Pre. Can you tell that sleep depravation and the Motrin were starting to kick in by the last photo?

UPDATE: I left out one important detail. Paul fractured his collar bone… I guess that little bit of information is kind of important to the story.

PAUL PHILLIP

We started off 2009 very different than it ended. At this time last year Maria had been in and out of the hospital more than once in her struggle to carry our 3rd son to full term. But the new year started with a bang. On January 6, we welcomed Paul Phillip Vigil into the world…

Paul came about a month early and he spent a couple weeks in NICU, but it marked the end of months of bed rest for Maria. It was truly a welcome time for us as a family. And he’s grown into quite an adorable little kid. Much better than the first two

Here he is back in October in our foyer…

…and just a few weeks ago trying to stay awake with my wife Maria at a family wedding…

FIRSTS

2009 was a BIG year of firsts. In the past year I’ve had my first $20,000+ bride, my first book cover was published (even if it was in German), I was invited to shoot my first magazine cover (more on that in a minute), and I shot my first military wedding and first high school sweetheart wedding that was 50 years in the making.

In 2009 I also took my first and second “serious” forays into commercial advertising work with Blanqi and 4Laces, both of which launch in Q1 of 2010 as women-owned and -driven apparel businesses. I’m super excited for both of these companies and where they are going. Commercial work (headshots, architecture, advertising) has never been a large part of my business and I’ve never targeted that market segment but if the fit is right and I’m confident that I can serve my client well, I’ll take the business.

WEDDING INDUSTRY

2009 saw a big shake up in the bridal magazine industry. A whole spate of bridal magazines have closed and a few more have popped up. January saw the first anniversary issue of The Atlantan Brides, a sister publication to the Atlantan. The Atlantan Brides was a key part of my marketing efforts in 2008 and 2009 and I still think they represent the pinnacle of luxury bridal magazines in Atlanta.

I was fortunate to be able to work with Celeste, the [now former], Publisher of the Atlantan Brides. She continues to be one of the most impressive and talented people I’ve ever met in this industry. I credit her with starting my “vendor headshot side gig” when she asked me to shoot her headshots when she became associate publisher, and then, publisher. Alas, she was married and we were all sad to see her go as she followed her new husband on a great new adventure across the big pond in England.

Meanwhile, as The Atlanta Brides prepared for their 4th issue to go to print, there was a celebration taking place down in Hampton, GA as Heather Vreeland was preparing to launch the first issue of Atlanta Occasions Magazine. She flattered me by asking me to cover the launch party which took place in July.

Heather has since become a good friend and I’ve had the opportunity to work with Atlanta Occasions, including a photoshoot and event imagery for the Winter 2010 issue and shooting the cover for it too. The new issue officially launches today and in a day or two I’ll have a full post on all our work for this issue.

In addition to shooting Heather in a magnificent Anne Barge dress in October, during the magazine cover photoshoot we managed to squeeze in a moment and shoot her headshot for the new issue of the magazine…

I’m already looking forward to the incredible work Ben Vigil Photographers and Atlanta Occasions will do in 2010!

WEDDINGS GOING STRONG

2009 brought a number of really amazing weddings but one of them sticks out for a personal reason. My good friend of many years now, Skotti Ray Frese (I love her new name! It sounds like a super hero character, doesn’t it), married the man of her dreams in June. I actually spent 3 full blog entries on it — Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

To this day, I still credit Skotti with almost single-handedly launching my photography career. She’s been a constant cheerleader and personal inspiration to me. I can’t thank her enough and I wish her all the best in 2010.

BEN v2.2

Today, January 1, 2010, also marks the beginning of a new stage for Ben Vigil Photographers. We’ve rolled out a slightly tweaked branding, an entirely new pricing structure and we’ve laid all the ground work for a new stage of our business, the upcoming Ben v3.0

Here’s evidence that I’m still a total geek at heart: as a holdover from my days in software and web development, I’ve started giving version numbers to each stage of my business. You may or may not have noticed that for the better part of the last 6 months we’ve been sitting at Ben v2.0. Today marks the upgrade to Ben v2.2.

Thanks for coming along for the ride and I look forward to sharing a fantastic 2010 with you!

I think being in the NICU does something to their tolerance for pain and discomfort because as soon as they get disconnected from all the tubes and wires they just sleep and sleep and sleep like they are in a total happy land. Joseph was the same way and he will get deathly ill before he complains about anything. One time his school nurse called saying he wasn’t feeling well — they knew he was sick because he was complaining and they had NEVER heard him complain before. Back to Paul…

It’s so funny to watch him every time he feeds because he acts like he’s drunk and is out like a light in no time.

He’s back up to birth weight now (about 5 1/2 lbs) so he’s still a tiny guy. Just like Joseph, he looks like a little old man with all his wrinkly preemie skin.

Ben Vigil, speechless

But first things first.

My third son, Paul Phillip Vigil, was born last week…

This image was taken just a few seconds after the cord was cut. Our amazing doctor, Dr. Fredrick, had pulled him out and was handing him to our midwife, Diane Tandy, the second most amazing woman in the world.

Not only was Paul our third son, he was also C-section #3 for my wife. The first was an emergency section, when Abraham decided that he wanted to go breach. Then Joseph put her into the hospital for two and half weeks before he decided to make an entrance at 32 weeks (that’s about 2 months preemie). Paul made it to 36 weeks which was a real blessing, but that meant a lot of bed rest for Maria over the last couple months. The last time we did this it was difficult, sure, but this time we have 2 boys in school with school drop-off and pickup, packing lunches every day, breakfast and showers, and holiday programs to go to, and, and, and… and the respect I already had for Maria was really hammered home and I’m so so so thankful for the amazing wife she is and has been for her 3, now 4, boys.

Paul is doing great but he’s still in NICU working on breathing a little better and we hope he’s home in a few days. Your prayers in this regard are greatly appreciated! I’m so proud of Joseph when we kneel down to pray at night and he prays that “my brother, baby Paul, gets better very soon and comes home” or when Abraham tells me he’s sad because he misses baby Paul.

I’ve been in the O.R. for each one. At the same time as I’m there holding hands with Maria, I’m snapping away. When I try to put the camera away, she tells me to keep taking pictures. Before long the staff are into it and both Diane and Dr. Fredrick are prepping me and telling me what they are doing and making sure I don’t miss an important shot. I’ll spare you blood and gore ’cause this is a blood-free blog and Maria probably doesn’t want her insides all over the internet.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and help!

Ben Vigil, blessed to be Paul’s father