Daytime of the Night

A week ago I spent an evening at the most excellent photography workshop taught be Sarah from Apple&Arrow (she is kind of a big deal). It was all about lighting, specifically using artificial light to imitate daylight. This class was so helpful, for so many reasons. And honestly, it erased my fears of artificial lighting.

A detailed list was provided to make a lighting set-up out of inexpensive materials.

Various lighting set ups for portraits were demonstrated as Chelsea from Tea Talk patiently modeled.

We were allowed time to practice different lighting figurations to photograph various products.

This was an enjoyable evening with very cool people, including my favorites, Jen and Camille. I can't wait for another opportunity to hang out with Sarah and talk photography.

Mi Familia

The week that I last posted was a crazy one. My grandfather passed away the week before and all my siblings came into town for the funeral. The last time we were all home together was Christmas 2006. My mom wanted to take advantage of this time to take some family pictures (our last successful family photo was about 14 years ago). Taking these photos was a relatively simple task since we did not include any of the (8!) grandchildren. That crazy photo experience may (or may not) happen this summer.

We may just seem like your average run-of-the-mill siblings, but...

we are actually super heroes! Shhh. Don't tell.

P.S. To my family -- Don't try and print from these photos. They are only internet quality.

Sister's Family

While my sister and her family were here for Christmas and the wedding reception, she asked for some pictures. Due to the level of cooperation, it was a quick session. Apparently getting pictures taken is not as fun as making Perler bead creations. Oh well, I won't take it personally.

This was the highlight of the experience - everybody make a stink face!

Prego Shanna

Right before Christmas I had a mini-session with one of my favorite college friends. I love that she married an AZ boy so we can meet up when they visit family. When she mentioned that she wanted some pregnancy shots, I jumped at the opportunity. It was a great little session.

a signature look

Everyday Pictures from my Everyday Life

I'm currently taking a photography class through a community college. I'm pretty excited. One of the semester long assignments of the class is to take a photograph daily. Sound familiar? Obviously that was a bust the first time around, but maybe getting a grade for it will be the proper encouragement to keep with it this time. Well, one of the presentation options for this assignment is to create a tumblr blog. And I did. Check it out.

http://loadedphoto.tumblr.com/

Techniques of Better Photography

This past weekend included half price day at Goodwill and it was fruitful. Say hello to 2 members of my newly established collection (since the Polaroid collection has slowed) - Photography books.


I found these at different locations, but couldn't back away from either one. One offers detailed info on developing color film (one of my dreams) and the other offers quality info on various aspects of Polaroid cameras. This brings my tally of photography books to 4. I've got lots to read and lots to learn. Life is good.

Easter

The weekend plans were to spend it with family and watching General Conference. I got a little sick, so I ended up sleeping a lot. What talks I did hear, I greatly appreciated. And I loved sharing Easter activities with baby over at my parent's house.

Baby loves to go outside and tell everyone exactly where to sit to watch airplanes and cars go by. While it doesn't really fit the series it was his favorite activity this weekend.

birthday photo shoot

baby got his pictures taken for his birthday. sarah hales took them and they are fantastic! if you are in the phoenix area and need some pictures, i highly recommend giving her a call.

second pin hole lens

here are some pics with the smaller pin hole. so much sharper!

compy

bridge over troubled water

letter blocks

alien bro

i <3 faces - feets!

i've decided to enter another photo challenge over at i heart faces this week is all about feet. this photo goes along with the on the town monday post. dancing princess leia was splashing in the water and it was too cool not to take a photo.

i <3 faces - lets hear it for the boys!

over at i heart faces they have weekly photo challenges. this week is all about the boys. since i'm a big fan of my boys, i thought i would enter in a photo. here is a picture for the kids category of baby playing at the park. he was pretty jazzed to explore the playground.


p.s. other than the crop, this is right out of the camera. baby's eyes are amazing!

look i'm famous

i know you are probably super sick of me talking about the photo class i attended on saturday, but here is something exciting. nicole posted a few pictures from the lighting demo and i'm in one! you can barely tell its me, but whatever. take a look to the left of the first picture and i'm behind the girl in peach. yeah. i'm cool.

look at how i've improved

before the class:
after the class:
i believe both had similar lighting. shout out to baby for acting natural and never looking at me once while i was calling out his name to get his attention. he is so supple.

ceremoniously switched to manual

man, oh man! the photo course was amazing!!! it was perfect to help me feel more confident in my abilities and also help me figure out how to properly use my digital SLR. for the life of me i could not figure out how to properly use the manual setting and i got that all cleared up today. good thing because the auto setting was driving me nuts and the pop up flash as well. i would have to say that my favorite part by far of the class was the lighting demo. i loved using reflectors. i'll post some pictures soon to show you my new skills.

nervous times a million

i am taking part in a crash course in photography this saturday. or at least i am planning on it. a few weeks ago i emailed the teacher to make sure she got the payment and to see if she figured out any further details about the class - namely where and when. she emailed back that details were still in the works. five days until the class and i still do not have the information. she has had very positive feedback on her classes, but i cannot help but feel nervous about how things are going to go down come saturday morning. i have really been looking forward to this one.

taken by dani via 2004

*update* i got the info this afternoon!!! hooray!!! turns out the class is way the hay out in north phoenix. crazy.

crash course in photography

i really enjoy this blog. the writer is a professional photographer who often shares her expertise with others in photo workshops - usually in utah and san fransisco. she announced earlier in the year that she was looking to offer classes in other states if she got enough response, and she posted today that she is offering a class in phoenix this june! i'm over that like a fat kid on chocolate cake. if you too are interested in taking her class, sign up asap. her classes in utah sold out within hours. june seems so far away...

why can't we all just get along?

i thought that i would just install photoshop elements 6 onto my macbook and start editing pictures this evening. unfortunately i failed to notice that the version i have is only for windows xp and vista. whiskey. tango. foxtrot. i will be the first to admit that i am not a computer genius - not even close - but last time i checked out a piece of software it listed windows and mac compatibility. all right, that was probably back in the mid to late 199os. other than world domination, is there a reason why pcs and macs can't get along and share software like nice little kiddos? does anyone out in the blogosphere know a wormhole to help me out here? lame-core. i still love my little macbook.

insomnia part deux

it appears that it is an epidemic - tonight it has hit baby. i should be blaming myself for it. he was crabby around 9, so i got the bright idea that he would eat his last feeding, go to sleep, and stay that way until the morning. he followed the plan until he woke up again after about an hour. i failed remember that he slept in this morning until 10:30 am (i know - woohoo!) so he took ] this opportunity to take a short nap. now i have a wide awake baby boy who just wants to play. if he weren't so dang cute i would sell him to the gypsies. since i have a new camera, and baby is pulling himself up on furniture to stand and walk, i have been having a blast using him as a subject to sharpen my rusty photography skills. here a few of my favorites so far (unedited).

what did i do to deserve such a sweet boy? i sure hope he gets sleepy soon.

snap shot

photography has always been an interest of mine. its an exciting field that is constantly changing and yet stays the same. i love learning about the history of how it has evolved and especially the differences in the appearance of cameras over time. since photography is all about seeing, it is only fitting that the device used to create such beauty is intriguing as well. i love old cameras. just take a look at this collection of old cameras. love it!

photo taken from flickr

within the next few years i hope to complete the photography program at a local community college. my little boy has given me an added drive to learn more about pictures so that i can capture all the special moments as he grows up. but i first have to finish my undergrad.