J & D Photography

Love this guys work! His lighting is amazing! And he's creative and artistic too!!

Check him out at: http://blog.jdphotography.co.za/

The Ugly Chair

I purchased this old chair at a garage sale for a dollar. I thought it would make a good prop, once I cleaned it up! Brett just thought it was UGLY!!! hahaha!! I suppose I can't really disagree... it IS ugly - but I still think it can make a great prop. What do you think????


This afternoon as I was lamenting my backdrop, trying to figure out what to do.... I decided to try adding some gels to my lights and hopefully alter the color. This was my result! hmmm.... got some more thinking to do!!

Busy May

I'm gearing up for a very busy May! Besides the Apple Blossom Festival and several portrait sessions, I have been asked to photograph couples that will be attending "date night" at my sister's church. There will be approximately 80 couples.... I ordered a backdrop just for the occasion. It's a lot more purple than it was supposed to be... It was supposed to be browns and greens.... So now I'm hoping that no one wears red!

Around Town... again!

Well, I did my weekly walk. This time I had a goal - 1 out of every three pictures be keepers and as close to perfect as possible. That would slow me down and make me THINK before snapping!

There was a squirrel out in the front yard so I decided I should attempt to get a good shot of him.... Problem with squirrels - they move without warning! I snapped three pictures.... One out of the three was a keeper!!

The only touch ups to this picture was to boost the saturation, crop (he was still too nervous to get that close to me!) and a vignette around the edges oh and a slight sharpening of his eye.

I saw some signs of spring.... Little flowers popping out. I snapped a picture in front of this one house... but I wasn't excited about it in the least and moved on before wasting another shot!!

I went up to Ridge Road and decided to get the stained glass windows of this church. I got this one - nice exposure on the 2nd try. Again I boosted the saturation and added a slight vignette.

There were some more flowers in the front of the church.... I snapped 3 times - adjusting the composition a little with each as well as the exposure. I wasn't happy with any of them. :(

Then I went to the side of the church and decided to attempt the stained glass windows over there.... The entire side was in shadow and I attempted to include the sky. But with such a dark brick wall and windows against the bright blue sky... well, I should have known better! Either I ended up with a white sky and a nicely exposed building or I ended up with a pretty blue sky and a dark, dark church. *sigh* Three more pictures wasted. I was really behind!!!

There is just something about this fire escape and building that keeps capturing my attention. I like the lines and then the shadow play. I think I also like the grunge look in general! I got a few keepers from this one... Here's my two... (I think I took 3 or maybe 4 of this scene.) The only adjustments were boosting the saturation, adding a bit of warm color and a slight vignette.

Then when I got home I decided to try the squirrel again as he was still out in the front yard. I only got one more out of several tries. I'm blaming that on the fact that he is still so jittery and well... it throws off my focus! ;)

Same adjustments to this squirrel and also cropping and sharpening the eye.

Well, I didn't make my goal.... but it did slow me down and cause me to think before clicking!! And I had fun and hopefully learned something on my little walk. And with each try, hopefully I will get better!!

I hope I didn't bore you to tears with my little game.

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Just a few photos from my nephew Andrew's first birthday party. Admittedly, I ended up taking more pictures of another little guy at the party. Not because Andrew isn't ADORABLE (cuz he is!).... But because I didn't see much of him and I guess I also figured my mom had him well covered. hahaha! This little guy seemed to be quite willing to let me snap away!

Caught!

So... how would you feel if you looked out your window only to see some good friends (at least you THOUGHT they were good friends) walking right on by without stopping in to say hello?! Yup! That's exactly what happened to me yesterday afternoon. I caught 'em right in the act!!

Photo Walk

Monday night I went to a photography seminar. During the seminar they showed a video clip of a guy who goes out at least once a week to photograph anything and everything that looks interesting. He says it helps keeps his 'edge' and reminds him of why he fell in love with photography in the first place. Admittedly, it's easy to get into the "all business" mode of photography! And you stop taking pictures except for business. So, yesterday I went around my block with camera in hand. Admittedly, I couldn't keep 'stock' out of my mind. *sigh* But I tried. I took only my 'bad boy lens' (70-200mm) and I found that I missed being able to switch lenses on a whim! I'm trying to decide if the next time I should force myself to use the same lens or if I should choose another and see what different things I find!

Anyways, here's a few that I took on my little jaunt....







I went out again while Jessi was at gymastics. I guess I got a little patriotic! :)

This statue of an eagle was is in front of my bank. Every angle had tons of distractions.... but I really liked the McDonalds in background.... After-all you can't get much more American than McDonalds. hahaha!! I had to work at it quite a bit to get it just the way I wanted. For this shot I had to get down low. Otherwise you got all the cars in the parking lot.... I wanted the McDonalds sign blurred in the background - but not so blurry that you couldn't tell that it was a McDonald's! I'm thinking about getting rid of the flag pole!



Another angle where I was able to totally blur out all of the background.


I caught the last few minutes of Jessi's gymnastics class! Don't ask me how they manage to jump like this and land on the balance beam! But I think Jessi only fell off once! Needless to say, I was impressed!!!!

I hope you enjoyed my photo walk! :)

X-Box Champ!

FINALLY!

I FINALLY got out with the camera today. Seems like forever since I've done any kind of photo session! I've just been too busy with the other end of business. I've enjoyed all the learning I've done lately - but I have to say, it felt really, really good to be out taking pictures again.

I really needed an assistant to hold a reflector during a lot of this session.... but it was just Jessi and I.... But I still managed to get some I liked.





These first two were taken against our garage. I liked the texture from the pealing paint. haha!! I also liked the giant shadow from the 90 degree lighting on the top one though a reflector would have been nice to open up the shadow a bit on her face.

The second I converted to black and white and added just a hint of color back. I love doing the tones you get with that technique!


I took some shots of her just walking down the street. I was playing with a different focus mode... gotta read up on that cuz several were totally blurry. One of my goals this year is to master all three focusing modes!





Three pictures, same location, same basic pose... yet different edits can give them each a unique feel. The top is a sepia tone with a hint of color, the second a black and white with a hint of blue, and the third is a different crop.

This was one pose where I really could have used a reflector! I did fine with the head and shoulders shots but I really wanted a full body and well, it just didn't work out.

I loved this door! I love the red and green and the texture. And so I almost didn't convert to black and white... but I guess I'm a true black and white fan cuz I ended up liking that one too!! Actually I added a hint of blue tint to it.

I love the busy-ness of this photo! Usually you try and simplify a photo - especially portraits! But I wanted to emphasize the location. And I love the shadow play from the stairs.

This one is my FAVORITE from today!!! She doesn't smile much for pictures - so I was thrilled to get a bit of a grin! And a whole lot of attitude. And I just LOVE that door!!!!

A very fun afternoon!!!!

About Me Page

Maybe you all could help me....

I'm working on redoing my website and trying to come up with an "About Me" page. I don't want the normal, boring, I'm an award winning photographer, graduate of New York Institute of Photography, blah, blah, blah.... put anyone to sleep kind of page!

Do you ever click on the about me pages of websites? What kinds of info would you like to see??? Have you seen one that stands out from the rest???? Ones that either gave you the information you were looking for and/or that were memorable and fun?

HELP!!!!

Spring Showers....

The toilet overflowed today....
Causing it to rain inside the house.
From the bathroom,
to the kitchen below
and even down into the basement.
YUCK!!!

And even after a second shower
and mopping the kitchen floor 3 times
everything just FEELS gross!!

There's not a single clean towel to be found.
It was interesting trying to dry off after my second shower
without a towel! haha!!

There is now a lovely hole in our kitchen ceiling.

Yes, it's been an exciting day today!!!
I'm looking forward to a dull evening!!

Is it Really Spring????

Today is wonderfully warm outside. It gives me a little bit of hope that winter is finally over!