Sushi!

Hi everyone!  Just popping in briefly to say a word or two to my avid audience (ha!).

I've been so busy lately with finishing up school and the holidays.  I haven't had much time to shoot.  What I've done has mostly been family shots, but hey, I'm fine with that.  I'm kind of fond of my family!

This photo was taken at my favorite sushi place in Philly with some of my very favorite people!  Not a whole ton of post-work, just a little bit of color adjustment.  My old Photoshop teacher, Stan Shire, would probably give me a speech about how the color isn't "correct", but I like experimenting.  Trust me, I've been through enough color-correction drills to last me a lifetime, but it's fun to come up with your own shpiel.  Oh, by the way, Stan Shire was one of my favorite teachers of all time.  He's a phenomenal photographer, a genius at Photoshop and an all-around great guy.

This might not be Nobel-worthy, but it's full of people and things I love, so I like it.  I hope you enjoy. =)

I'm still alive!

Whooo, what a crazy past few weeks!  I am ecstatic to finally be done with the semester and resting for a little bit.  Next semester is a very exciting one for me- I finally start with *photo*journalism courses.

Also, in the past few weeks I've had the great pleasure of speaking with several women who either have done home-births or are going to, and one woman who is friends with a home-birth trainer.  Great leads to work with!

My sister is due to give birth to her third child in March- I am ecstatic.  I can't wait to show the world my beautiful new baby niece or nephew (I'm convinced it's a boy).

Shooting has taken a bit of a hiatus recently so that I can keep up with school more.  There's been a lot of writing-intensive work, a lot of hunting down stories and reporting and being GUTSY.  Eeep, it's scary!

I am so excited, however, to be where I am right now.  There have been so many wonderful events that are continually keeping me excited for the future.  I am head-over-heels in love with the man I am going to spend my life with and everything else is quickly falling into place.  To say things haven't been crazy or chaotic would be a lie, but they're coming together and it's been very exciting to be a part of.

A bit of vanity tonight, but only because I want to show you all my new hair.  I finally figured out sort of how my esteemed friend Corwin Prescott gets a certain look in post-work.  So Corwin, I'm copying you- I hope you don't mind.  Ladies and Gents, do please check out his work- it's phenomenal.

Candid

My life has been undergoing this incredible transformation in the past few weeks.  I don't know if I fully recognize myself anymore.  Or maybe I'm recognizing who I used to be.  I don't know.  I know that I am happy.

Just a candid moment, today.  Nothing much to say, other than I love this picture.  And this person.

Dave Grohl

So.... quick one, but I'm just so excited, I had to say something.

Among others, Dave Grohl is coming to the studio today to do some shots for the front cover of a foreign Rolling Stone.  There are two other guys coming in too- one of whom is in Queens of the Stone Age.

Brilliant Alexis, here, with her super up-to-date knowledge of pop-culture can't remember their names.

But Dave Grohl?  I know him.  And I am over the moon excited and utterly nervous.

Just thought I'd let you all know!

Dave Grohl: Stock photo

Obvious Epiphany

I know this might sound a little obvious, and you're welcome to make fun of me, but something has occurred to me over the past year that never really struck me before.  Some of the people I've learned great things from, whether it be lighting, posing, post-work, how to make your subject comfortable, or just some pearl of wisdom from the trade... some of those people weren't actually that good, themselves.

I've been looking back over some of the photographers I greatly admired when I first fell in love with this trade.  People I used to idolize, styles I longed to emulate.  Not that I'm a pro at this point in the game, but I'm learning how to judge work with a more critical eye and I'm realizing... wow, some of this work isn't that great.

Not that it's bad, per se, it's just not phenomenal.

Huh.

Time to choose new role models?

Come see me play!

Ok, quick one, guys.  Just wanted to let you all know that I'm playing at Lickety Split on Friday, October 9th.

It's at 401 South Street.  I'm going on at 9 PM SHARP!  So if you want to see me, show up a little early.  Get a drink or two!

I'll be walking around with a tip jar at some point, so if you feel like helping out a truly starving artist, that would be awesome.  But please don't feel obliged- I'd be thrilled just to see you guys!

Hope y'all can make it out!

Photo- Lickety Split staff.

Girls Drink 1/2 Off!

So the next Baroque is on Friday, October 2nd.  Here's the scoop, if you're interested.

~It's only a $5 cover and ladies drink half off all night.

~Two live performers: Sonkin (dubstep, grime, street bass) and James Shander (house, electronica, dance).

~DJ Duo, Dr. Ew & John Bean

~Upstairs at Liberties on 2nd and Fairmount, 9:00-2:00.

They're every first Friday, so if you can't make this one, check out the next.  They're always a great time- lots of awesome music and fun people and especially if you're a lady, you just can't lose!

I'll be there shooting until probably 1:00 or a little after.  Then I've got to head over to work at the studio from 5:00 AM until whenever my boss comes to take over for me.  Going to be a long weekend, but it's good to keep busy.

So anyway, come out to Baroque!  I'd love to see y'all there!

Self-Portrait Practice

I haven't really done much modeling in the past year or so.  I found myself getting way too caught up in the wrong side of the camera and not focusing enough on what's really important to me.  Not to say that there's anything wrong with modeling, it's just not my passion- it's not what I want to do with my life.  All the same, I do still have fun using myself as a practice subject.  I test a lot of ideas out on myself before I try them on other people.

I thought I'd share a few that I took the other day.  I was going to

 choose just one, but I honestly 

wasn't sure which I liked most.  I don't mean that to be narcissistic, I do honestly try to look at any photo I take, whether it's of me or anyone/anything else and evaluate it purely on a technical level.  I have to remember that any emotional attachment or particular fondness I may have for a photo may not be shared with others.  It's got to be first and foremost a good shot for people to enjoy it and form their own opinions.

They're all a little different, as far as post-editing is concerned.  The most obviously edited one is the last- I ran a few filters to make it look a little more like a painting.  The first two were just color and contrast adjustments.  So what do you think?  Favorites?  Least favorites?  And why?  I'm curious- let me know!

Baroque

So I've been doing a lot of shooting for Baroque.  Every first Friday at Liberties- 2nd and Fairmount.  It's been kind of cool to have a steady gig, working with a bunch of my friends.  That's got to be the best part.  It's been a lot of fun having this team of guys that all work together to throw an awesome shindig.  If you're in Philly on a Friday night, you should come out!

Nothing super special about this picture, I just liked it.  So there ya have it.

Finally all signed up for classes at Temple this fall.  I think I can complete the degree in two years- maybe three.  We'll see how it goes.  This is going to be a very challenging next little chunk of life, but I'm excited to see where it takes me.  Photojournalism, here I come!

Short one tonight, guys.  Hope you're all well.

Awe and Wonder

My niece was being especially cute yesterday during a rainstorm and I couldn't help but break out the camera.  I got a ton of shots that I really loved- she was really hamming it up!

Maybe my mom has a point about my work, though, because as much as I loved the ones where she was smiling, laughing, showing off, my favorite shot is the one where she's simply sitting close to Mommy, looking up at the rain.

The shot has an element of melancholy to it and maybe it comes off as 'dark' because of that, but I look at this photo and see so much wonder and vast imagination in her little face.  I wish I knew what she was thinking just then.  Whether she was thinking about the rain- how beautiful it can be.  I can't wait until she grows up- she's going to be such an amazing young lady some day.

Take Two

Sorry guys, just couldn't resist posting another shot from yesterday with Grace.  I can't help it, I just love the way these pictures turned out!

It's always nice working with someone who has a natural affinity for the camera.  I felt like we were working together on this- like we were both interested in creating something.  A good model understands that they are there to be a part of the creation of art.  I mean yeah, you can just stand there and I can move you until you look the way I want, but it's nice when you understand how to just... be part of the picture.  She was really wonderful to shoot with.

That's all for now.  =)

Grace B.

Wow.  I had such an amazing shoot today with Grace.  It's been a while since I've been this excited about a shoot, but we got some really fantastic photos!

We got some stuff done for my Scar Project as well as some really beautiful headshots.  She hasn't been modeling very long but she has a natural comfort with the camera that is really hard to teach.  It was so much fun working with her.

A lot has been happening in my little world!  I'm moving to a new apartment in a month- this one has grass and trees and is two blocks from two different parks.  Yay, it's almost like not living in the city!

So, if you want to see more photos from the shoot with Grace, go ahead and check out my myspace or my facebook.  Feel free to add me on either, as well!

Have a wonderful day, everyone.  I did!

Honesty

If there's one thing I never get tired of, it's photographing my nieces.  They are by far my favorite subjects.  They're very expressive- some of the looks they come up with have me wondering why they aren't Baby GAP models!

I like working with them for a lot of reasons.  A teacher I had once told me the worst compliment you can get on a photograph of a child is that it's 'cute'.  Well, of course it's cute- babies are hard-pressed to be anything else (frustrating, yes, but ugly?  That takes finesse).  To get a photograph of a baby being something more than 'cute' is the real challenge.  Alyssa has such intensely blue eyes and such a dramatic personality, I am constantly running for my camera when I'm with her.

I want to get the shot that tells a story.  I know there are twenty other people in the room with point-and-shoot cameras who will get the 'cute' shot, and that's important.  Everyone wants cute pictures from their childhood.  And certainly I take those, as well.  But my favorites are the ones where there's something more.  Something deeper.  Emotions they probably don't even fully understand yet.

I guess, I want to try to capture all aspects of reality.  The happy and the sad.  The hopeful and the forlorn.  Everything we feel, from birth to death.  Maybe that's the photojournalist in me?  I just... want to show things the way they really are.  No crazy set-up, no contrived facade, just... people captured honestly.

Making do.

Today is the family reunion, and it's raining.  Well, if I've gotten good at anything, I'd like to think it's making do with what I've got.  I almost never use professional lighting- I depend largely on sunlight and what's available in my settings.  The photo I took here was in a poorly lit bedroom with sea-green walls and piles of clothes.

When I'm not having fun with my digital-manipulations, I do try to avoid excess altering.  I don't mean lighting and color- I fiddle with those a lot, but I almost never add or remove objects from the original shot.

With this one, obviously I did a lot of work.  I took out the piles of clothes and shelves to her right, I changed the color of the wall and a few other little things.

I doubt I'll be doing all that with the pictures I take today- probably just color correction.  We'll see how it goes.

Catching Up

Wow, what an exhausting past few days.  I've been helping a friend move, shooting, trying to keep up with editing, meeting people in my department at Temple, watching my nieces so my sister can teach her natural childbirth course, dealing with a lot of personal stuff and trying all the while to keep my head screwed on straight.

On a positive note, I finally put up shots from Baroque on my myspace.  I edited this one just for the heck of it- I guess this would be one of my "digi-graphs".  Nothing crazy, just having some fun.

This Saturday, I shoot the family portrait.  We're a big, Irish family, so it'll be an interesting challenge to see how this all works.  Organizing photos has never been my strong point- I'd like to think I'm better at capturing candid moments.  So if nothing else, this will be good practice for me.  We'll see how it goes.  If I like the result, maybe I'll put it up here and y'all can see my gigantic family.

Suck it up- we're not as great as we think we are.

I've shot so much in the past few days, it's a bit overwhelming to keep up with it all.  This is a practice self-portrait from today- procrastination by means of creating more work for myself.  Hooray!  I have tons of work from Baroque to edit, as well as some portraits and animal shots from the zoo.  Fast approaching is the family reunion I agreed to shoot, as well.  And I'm coming out of retirement for a hair-model shoot, 'cause what the heck- who doesn't want a free haircut and style just for the fun of it.

Someone made an observation a few days ago about a photo I'd taken of my niece.  My favorite photo I've taken of her, actually.  The comment was that it was a bad photo.  Now, my initial reaction was defensive and a little hurt- after all, I obviously feel quite the opposite.  But in retrospect, my reaction was out of line.  People won't always like your work.  Hundreds, thousands, millions of people will either not like your work or never care enough to look at it.  That's just way it is.  It's nothing personal.

I still like the picture though!!!!

Creep

I look at photography and digital manipulation as two entirely different arts, and they really are.  I'm constantly going back over old photos and editing them new and different ways, just for fun and to practice.  Generally I don't do anything too crazy.  But now and then it's fun to tweak a picture just beyond believability.

Much to my mother's chagrin, I tend to err on the side of 'creepy' when I do this.  Yes, I take plenty of sweet, happy pictures of sweet, happy moments.  I love doing that.  But for whatever reason, I just get this immense satisfaction out of making something a little unsettling.

It's pretty funny, because I am the worst at watching horror movies.  I'm so squeamish and I have nightmares for weeks afterwards.  I think there's something about being part of the creation that enthralls me and allows me to forget my fear.  Maybe I just like conquering that fear through my own work.  Maybe I just like freaking you guys out.  =P

Alex

My good friend, Alex DiFiori is one of my greatest photographic inspirations.  When all else fails, I can always count on him to kick my butt into gear and get me shooting again.  What I admire most about him is that he's constantly experimenting- new mediums, new subjects, just constantly challenging himself as a photographer.  And his work is amazing because of it.

It's important to keep skills sharpened.  No matter how much talent you've got, you've still got to go out and use it or it just gets dusty.  I try to shoot pretty often, but Alex has me beat.  His goal is to shoot one really good photo every day for a year.  To me, this is way more challenging than shooting a hundred pictures on your digital camera and assuming one or two of them came out well.  Really forcing yourself to try and take the best shot you can get is an excellent way to get better.

In that sense, film has an advantage over digital.  I think digital gives the excuse of laziness, but I tell ya, when you're paying for film out of your back pocket and your back pocket isn't exactly overflowing with cash, you definitely want those pictures to come out perfect.

I try to keep that ideal in mind while shooting digital- I try to wait for the moment and capture it when it happens instead of shooting in rapid succession and hoping something comes out salvageable.  I'm no Alex DiFiori, but I'm getting better!

Polaroid

I'm part of an organization called The Notebook Army which has been a really big part of my life over the past few years.  You buy a marble notebook, fill it with whatever you want and at the end you give it away.  Leave it in a bookstore, on someone's front step, at the bus stop, wherever.

I'm working on my third right now but I've got to confess, I haven't given the first two away yet.  Maybe I'll scan them or something, but as of right now it's almost scary to think of parting with them.  I was going through some major life changes when I wrote them, particularly the first one, and it feels odd to give them away, even though that's really the whole point.

Anyway, I was looking through the first one today and found the first polaroid I've ever taken- I had taped it to the last page.  It was the first 'studio' type shoot I'd done, really.  I set up the lights, posed the model, figured out the exposure and took a stab at it.  For a first time try, I actually really like how it turned out.

I haven't done much with film recently- too poor, mostly.  But I really miss it.  There is something so rewarding about working with film- it's an entirely different medium from digital.

Safety Net

I was looking back over some of my old modeling pictures the other day and got a bit nostalgic.  I originally started modeling with the intention of meeting other photographers and learning from them.  I accomplished that, for sure, but I got so caught up in it that I barely worked behind the camera anymore.  As an extreme solution, I stopped modeling completely a little less than a year ago.

I still kind of miss it every now and then, I'll be honest, and although I never claimed to be a professional, I'd like to think I wasn't half bad.

The problem for me was how distracted I got from the original goal.  I tend to do that a lot.  I have big aspirations but too many sideshow novelties catching my eye along the way.  Sometimes it's difficult for me to remember that I've got to stay focused, that this business is hard and takes diligence.  I wouldn't exactly say I was raised on a silver spoon, but I've always known that if I'm willing to swallow my pride, I've always got a place to stay.  I've used that as an excuse for procrastination in the past, but I sincerely try to remind myself of my good fortune whenever I can.

Having a safety net to fall back on doesn't give you an excuse not to accomplish anything.

Photo: ©Terry Eggebrecht, Post-work: ©WrittenLightPhotos

It is HOT out today!!!!!

Today I supervised an Urban Outfitters shoot- pretty exciting to have well known companies using our studio!  Honestly though, for the prices we charge I'm surprised every photographer in Philly doesn't know about us yet.  Seriously, these are prices even I can afford!

As far as affording things goes, work has been really great- I wasn't sure how I'd do with the summer months since I'm not in school and my rent is paid, but in two days of work I easily made what I needed, so the rest is pocket change.  W00t!

Please check out the studio if you get time- lots of great natural light (windows can be covered if necessary), 15' ceilings and wide open floor space.  For CHEAP.

I've been 'hired' to shoot my dad's family reunion.  It feels kind of odd to be hired by family although I guess that's how a lot of people started off.  I guess I've just kind of been doing this photography thing on my own and haven't really shared a lot of what I'm doing with relatives so to be hired as the official photographer, not as the granddaughter or niece or cousin is actually new to me.  We'll see how that goes!  =)

I'm here.

So, I finally decided to create and hopefully update one of these things.  It seemed like a good idea to try and keep everyone informed about what's going on in my world.

I was recently hired at Studio 5 South Photography Studio and am working there as some sort of studio supervisor/gig booker/publicist/artist relations person.  I'm not sure what the official title would be, but thus far I like it.

Things with the Scar Project are looking up- I have a popular website interested in making a regular feature out of it.  They're also hoping to help me make a book!  Hooray!

Still shooting my nieces constantly- they're my favorite subjects.  Recently finally had the chance to shoot with my favorite model, Shea.  We've been talking about it for over a year and never got around to it.  The pictures turned out great!

Well, I think I'll keep it short for now.  Mostly, I just wanted to say I'm here, so stick around and see what comes out of this thing.  Crazy stuff is always happening in my world!