Thanks for coming back to read the second part of Photography Is For Lovers! I loved all the feedback on PJ's interview and here is what her husband, Martin had to say!

Who got into photography first?
I got into photography back in the 80's as a teenager growing up in the industrial North of England. I took it seriously all through high school and college but was discouraged from taking it up as a profession as family and friends were afraid I wouldn't be able to make a middle-class living for myself in the field - I guess that shows how much faith they had in me; I didn't really find that faith in myself or from anyone else until I met Patti.

During the 90's photography took something of a back seat while I established a career as a software engineer and then emigrated to the US. It was only with the advent with reasonably affordable digital cameras at the end of the millennium that I rediscovered photography - digital's greatest contribution to enthusiasts was allowing them to shoot like a pro (i.e. the equivalent of several rolls of film a day with instant feedback). I learned more in a couple of years of using digital cameras than I had in a decade of using film.  When Patti became inquisitive about what I was spending all this time on and started to take to photography herself I leaned even more from teaching her the ropes.

How do you inspire and challenge each other?
We have both been shooting and posting at least one image a day to Flickr for the last 3 years. Without the support and encouragement Patti provides I would never have lasted this long. When we take our turns at periods of self-doubt we are there for each other; there's no substitute for having someone to talk to about your art and craft who knows you better than anyone else and is totally empathetic to what you're doing.

We also set each other challenges. Going into the fourth year of the photo-a-day project we have spiced things up by setting ourselves a challenge subject each week. We both agree on a topic or technique and then use that as our theme for seven days. It really helps to narrow down a subject for the day. Sometimes the biggest challenge of taking a daily shot is deciding what to shoot - if you have a theme to work within it helps to narrow down a subject much more quickly than wandering around the house or the neighborhood, camera in hand, waiting for inspiration to strike.

Do you ever get competitive?
Of course but it's usually a healthy, good kind of competition. Where ever we go, especially if we're together, we both want to get THE shot. We can also get competitive via Explore; Patti has more explored images than I do which I think is criminally unfair as I've been on Flickr much longer than she has. Right now we're having a little friendly competition about who can be the first to get a million views; I'm a little ahead but Patti is coming up fast.

The good thing about competition in art is you can both win. Usually we are much more supportive than competitive though; you need a critical eye, your first viewer, your domestic editor to help refine you vision - that has to be someone you trust intimately and you question their motives; Patti is that person for me.

What are your favorite photos of each others and why? 

It changes weekly but I'll pick a few that consistently are in my top 10 faves of Patti's work in no particular order:

My Three Nuns 

I love that she saw this on the street and chased it down until she got the shot - the essence of street photography - she was also so excited to show me this shot when I got home in the evening the day she captured it.

Patti does some pro-bono work for a local neighborhood association and she has come back with a lot of great shots from here days there but, for some reason, this one just sticks with me 

it seems to capture childhood and play perfectly.

Patti tracked down a warehouse that stores mannequins and got permission to shoot there - I can remember being really jealous that she got that gig while I had to go to work but I was doubly jealous when I got home and she showed me this shot 

it's so beautifully strange.

Patti took this portrait of me while we were waiting to pay the bill for brunch at a local eatery - 

 

I think it's so cool I use it as my avatar everywhere.

This shot was taken when Patti was still getting into photography and wasn't even using a DSLR yet 

we have it framed and displayed in our hallway and it looks fantastic.

As a bit of a joke against the people who take pictures of themselves everyday on Flickr Patti posted a picture a day of our dogs for a year 

this is a great shot of our beloved Babalu, smiling, she managed to capture during that year.

I had so much fun reading how they take a favorite pastime and bring it into their relationship. I love their support and admiration for each other, not just as partners, but as artists. 

Thank you, Martin! To discover more about Martin, check out his website, his flickr, and his twitter. 

The Is For Lovers Series took a bit of a break, but now it's back in full session. If you are not familiar with the series, it's a glimpse at couples who have something fun, and uniquely different about them and how they make their relationship work in the process. Check out the other couples archives who have participated.

I'm happy to introduce PJ and Martin Taylor- married photographers who shoot for fun, a living, and for the love of each other.

I've been following PJ's work on Twitter for almost a year. She's creative, fun and can even make a toilet paper roll look endearing. 

Here's what she had to say...

Who got into photography first?
When Martin decided to participate in a photo a day project back in 2007, I wanted to be involved too as I was just getting into photography and I sensed he was embarking on a photographic adventure and I thought I'd tag along. A former poet, I found seeking out and composing images similar to the creative process behind writing a poem.

How do you inspire and challenge each other?
We've been shooting everyday for over 1100 days, posting our daily images to Flickr's Project365 pool. Through good times and bad we've been supporting each other to keep going.
Some people write everyday in a journal, we have a daily ritual of taking photographs and even though some days are harder than others, we have no plans of stopping.

Another way we inspire and challenge each other is that this year we've decided to try setting weekly challenges and that's definitely kept us going.

Do you ever get competitive? 
We have such different shooting styles there's not much overlap but once in awhile we'll snap different versions of the same thing like with this typewriter shot

mine

vs. his 

And yes, we get competitive. Flickr has afforded me some great opportunities like having one of my photographs in a Dell commercial, another one on a billboard and having had my work included in a couple of shows, but I'm in constant awe of Martin's keen eye for detail and his knowledge on the history of photography. I wish I had more patience in absorbing the facts, but I do love looking through our ever growing collection of photography monographs.

What are you favorite photos taken by each other and why?

Fast Food Interior Design

This is one of my favorite color shots taken by Martin. I love how he composed this in a busy fast food restaurant.

Security Camera

Blind Abstract

Atrium at Oracle

Boring Grey Bridge

Memorial Day, Santa Monica

Another of my very favorite shots that Martin took back in 2004, I love the contrast of girl's tanning next to the crosses.

One of my favorite "couple" shots taken on day 365 year 2007

Here's another taken on our 10 year anniversary

(ED NOTE: handsome fella!)

Thank you, PJ! I know most of us suffer from blog ADD, so I'm going to wait for Martin's post tomorrow.
For more on PJ- her flickr, her twitter. 

Thanks for reading!

Last year I began a series that showed a different side of couples, Is For Lovers Series- couples that not only were crazy for each other, but had something in common, something that bonded them, a common affinity that harmoniously brings them together. Married, engaged, together for 3 weeks, 3 months, the length of time doesn't matter, it's what make you stand out from other couples.

For past examples, I had Liz and Glenn discuss how they CSS each into each other's heart's (cheesy, but they can't deny it),  how there can be humor in the most mundane things in life like Chloe and Sean discover, and how creativity can bring you closer together instead of being competitive like Christina and B.

Why does your relationship stand out? If you think you have a unique bond, email me, I want to hear it and my readers want to know.

Photo by PJ Taylor

I know we can all appreciate a good font, a great design on a website, but have you ever met a designer behind that website or how much a font is appreciated or absolutely hated (looking your way, Comic Sans).
I've met a few designers, but not like Liz and Glenn. Liz is one of the hardest working people I know- she works, she creates, she designs, she takes care of herself, her blog, her priorities and doesn't skip a beat. I can only imagine how hard she works with Glenn, just like any relationship. Recently, she wrote an endearing story , a testament of how hard they have worked, and my hat tips off to them a bit lower after reading it. Read on how cascading style sheets brought two unique but adorable individuals together.

How did you know it was love like you love Helvetica?

Haha. Well honestly we had been friends for several years and had often suggested fixing each other up with friends until one day we were like, "Why don't we just date each other?" It's funny because the first time I'd heard of Glenn was through his old blog, glennscrap.com. According to Glenn, I was the cool girl on MySpace he had a crush on. Oh, god! We do love each other lots though--and Helvetica.

How do you encourage each other in your designing (work/hobbies/etc), especially when there is a deadline?

Living AND working together doing our own freelance business is definitely a challenge. We try to designate "design nights" where we block out the evening after I get home from my day job to just sit at home and do some work. Surprisingly we've managed to claim our own respective parts of the house to designate as our own home offices.
When we're both working on a project often times one or both of us will holler to the other from our desks, "Hey babe come check this out I need your opinion." We've even gone so far as to video chat from the same house LOL. We try to keep it fun.
It's important that we find time to unplug and just be a regular couple together. A couple times a week we make it a point to order take-out, curl up on the couch & watch a movie from our Netflix account. Glenn feels like we both try to embrace the nerdiness with one another to where what we do is more of a passion than a job.
We both welcome constructive criticism of our own personal projects but it's not just limited to that--If we're out and about together we comment to each other on if we see something specific to our own design tastes like cool signage or something.

Do you ever have friendly (or non-friendly) competition?

There have been a few instances where we'll *fight* over potential gigs because being web designers in a relationship, you're bound to network with the same groups of people. But we've never gotten in a legitimate argument over it. If anything, I usually concede to him because he's got so much more experience on me! Being male and female we kind of have designated areas on what we want to work with so instead of being negative and fighting we try to look out for each other and our niches whether it be bicycles or fashion related. Sharing is caring, says Glenn :)

Have you ever come up with a similar design not knowing you were both working on it? (like the term "Great minds think alike")

Our tastes are very alike in some ways and very different in others. That pretty much applies to our entire relationship as a couple, which I think is awesome. For example, Glenn likes really minimal, clean CSS and gridded designs as where I prefer decorative typography, flourish & bright colors. In contrast to that just look at our logos (twitter avatars). We didn't even notice until afterward and we just laughed about it. Glenn doesn't really believe we step on each others toes because we both have our separate tastes and flavors that we like to dish out.

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Thanks to Liz and Glenn for taking the time to answer.

Visit Liz's blog here and Glenn's blog here to get to know them more!

If you took advantage of the holiday sales this weekend, good for you on trying to save a few dollars. However, if you were like almost every other American, you joined the rat race of consumerism and gave in to shopping just to shop. It's nothing to be ashamed of, but considering Christmas is less than 30 days away, you want to be able to spend your dollars on your loved ones, supplies for crafting for your loved ones, or just to save!

How do you spend time with your lover without spending what could be the extra splurge on a gift? Jasmine from An Experiment in Poverty writes about cheap (but fun!) dates, the ups and downs of being broke, in love, and how to maintain a relationship on a budget, without compromising a dollar. Jasmine and Levi share their best advice on love and money (or lack of). Read on!

what is your favorite cheap date?

Jasmine: we really like eating out in restaurants so if we're dying to eat out but short on cash, we usually split an entree to keep the cost down.
Levi: we keep our eyes open for entrees that we both enjoy and are big enough to satisfy both of us.
J: yeah, that can actually be tough with levi. this boy can put it away. he has the metabolism of a hummingbird. it actually makes me pretty jealous.
L: jasmine has jealousy issues sometimes. annnnyway, after dinner, we usually like to get dessert. there's a liquor store with a HUGE candy selection about a mile away from our house. we really enjoy walking, so as part of our date, we'll take a walk down to the liquor store for dessert. sometimes we only end up with a couple now and laters, but we really enjoy spending the time together outside, talking to each other, laughing together. it doesn't take much to feel like we're spending quality time together.

what advice do you have for so-cal readers to do on dates?

L: the recession has been really good for date nights. restaurants have tons of deals if you pay attention.
J: yeah! we've noticed tonnnns of specials on tuesday nights. a little italian spot down the street from us has $5 tuesdays - $5 appetizers, wine, entrees, dessert. we definitely take advantage of that one.
L: just be sure to take care of your server! just because your meal is cheap doesn't mean your tip should be.
J: i would also advise socal readers to take advantage of our amazing weather. take walks! visit local free spots - rodgers gardens in newport, the getty in LA. we recently found a couple of historical ranchos here in long beach that give free tours. there are tons of amazing things to do for free if you just do a little bit of research.
L: and be sure to bring a camera with you to take pictures! a camera makes everything more fun.

with a low budget, you have to get creative. has your creativity ever surprised you?

L: i'm amazed at some of the recipes jasmine comes up with to make dinner at home. i think she gets really creative in the kitchen and does a great job feeding me.
J: haha! we talk about food so much. levi is a really creative person. we were really bored last winter with nothing to do. we wanted to play scrabble, but didn't have a scrabble set or any money to buy one. so levi decided that we should make our own. i researched what the board looked like, the rules, how many of each letter a set came with, etc. and levi put together this incredible scrabble board using stuff we had at home. seriously, this things is so cool. it's made of wire and illustration board. i love it! and for my birthday this year, levi made me an oil painting that is never allowed to be sold. his creativity always surprises me.

you and levi seem to enjoy the little things, what are the small details about showing each other you care by not overspending?

J: we haven't really had much opportunity to buy each other presents so we show each other we care by our actions. levi feels really loved when i take care of things around the house without him having to ask me. if i spend a day doing dishes and laundry or organizing the cupboards, levi knows i care about him....especially since he knows i hate doing dishes.
L: this sounds really cheesy and cliche, but i bring jasmine breakfast in bed a lot...i'll surprise her with her favorite pastry from peet's before she even wakes up (she's a late sleeper). i also do things like tell her how beautiful she is, how much i love her, and why i love her. she really seems to appreciate those things.
J: i do appreciate those things! we both have a really good understanding of how the other person shows and receives love, so we make conscious efforts to show the other we care by doing or saying something we know they would appreciate. it takes some thought and sacrifice, but it's definitely worth it. even though i'm really verbal, levi feels more loved when i do things for him so i try to remember that every day.
L: it's really all about putting the other person first in everything you do. if both partners are putting the other first at all times, then both partners feel loved, cared for, and appreciated. money is really nice, but you don't need it to have a healthy, happy relationship.

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Thank you, Jasmine and Levi!
Check out their blog, An Experiment in Poverty.