Simple Surreal

In between a thousand different photo projects (ok, I'm exaggerating a little, but it has honestly been hectic!) I had time today to do a little experimenting with post-work.  Photoshop does some pretty cool stuff!


I used various sharpening and color-correction tools to get this image to look this way.  Actually, I really didn't do that much, but it looks almost surreal when it's done.


Anyway, just having fun and thought I'd share.  Today, if things go according to plan, I will be in Yardley, PA watching my friend's belly-dancing troupe!  How cool!

We'll do it live!

So, I've been shooting a lot of portraits recently and I have yet to use a single professional light.  I actually have a lot of fun figuring out simple, natural ways to get the lighting I need.


This photo, for example, was taken against a small piece of black foam core propped up against a wall and perpendicular to a window on a cloudy day.  Not a single light-bulb.  I like how it turned out.  It feels like finally, after years of shooting, I'm finally starting to get an idea of what my 'style' is!


In the next few weeks I have several Mommy-Baby shoots lined up.  I'm really excited!  There are so many little people about to be born!


Anyway, I just wanted to share one of my favorite portraits from the past few days.  I hope you enjoy!

Mommy!

I never get tired of photographing my nieces.  Not only are they adorable, brilliant, wonderful little kids, it's so incredible to go back and look over these photos and see how big they've grown.


Taking this photo I asked if Grace could look at Mommy - she was so good for the camera.  We've got a model in the family!


I'm so excited for next month (is it really that soon???) when my sister is due to give birth to their third.  It's so hard to believe that he or she is that close to being here.  843,934,234 photos to come, believe me.


Anyway, I just wanted to share this one tonight with you all.  (By the way, if you're looking for easy, free silhouette lighting, sit in front of a window on a cloudy day.  Boom!)

Rings

Wow, it's been a busy past few days.  School was closed Wednesday and Thursday, but I still had to come in Thursday night to do some printing for my Friday class.  It was so eerie to be on campus when no one else was.


Yesterday I had some fun with my mom, staining these killer chairs she found for my kitchen.  We got the first coat done- a bright magenta underneath a glossy black, when all's said and done.  They'll match my custom-stained table!  Very cool.


Last night at my parent's house, we watched a video of an old church friend proposing to his girl.  It was sweet.  In my religion, the engagement and wedding rings are worn on the right hand.  I made this scan a few weeks ago about just the very thing!

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

Good grief, these past few days have been an adventure!  Two nights ago I stood in my back yard and looked in wonder at the tree branches so thick with snow that they were leaning down like willows.  It felt like something out of the Chronicles of Narnia!


The next morning there were branches all over the yard, including one on my steps!  Thankfully, no one was hurt.


I'm not normally a big snow person but I've had a lot of fun the past few days, even with a cold.  Sledding, shooting, climbing over mountains just to get to the post office!


Here's a shot of the main road in my neighborhood, a bit farther down from where I live.  The sky was this vibrant, gorgeous blue, it felt so surreal.  I hope you're all keeping safe and taking pictures to document this awesome feat of weather!

All our ducks are in a row.

Hello everyone!  For those of you in the Philly area, I hope you haven't been snowed in too badly!  What a crazy past few weeks for weather - at the start of this semester there were 60˚ days and now we're snuggling into our homes for the second major snowstorm of the winter!

Life has been eventful.  I've been kept busy with homework and photography, but I'm enjoying it.  Plus, with my love in paramedic school, we have study 'date nights' all huddled around tables in bookstores pouring our brains into textbooks and notebooks and fueling ourselves with the all-important college-age coffee addiction.  Yum!

Life has been great.  We are happy, learning new and exciting things and pursuing our strengths.  It would seem all our ducks are in a row!

"Digitographer"

Well, it's true I don't have a darkroom in my bathroom.  I haven't typically got enough money to feed myself, let alone feed my camera.  And I shoot more digital than film, it can't be denied.

I guess that means I'm not a photographer, after all.

Maybe, if I had a large collection of antiquated equipment and shot lots and lots of barely legal girls naked on endangered film I would qualify.  Trouble is, I have integrity and a tiny budget, and it just so happens this is what I'm working with.

Then again, I've never been important enough to claim that my form of work is the only one that qualifies - maybe you don't gain authority on a subject simply because you make a statement about it.

So, forget all that.  I'm a photographer.  And a damn good one at that.