New Header!

After many tries i finally have a header that i like! It was hard to get the size just right to fit with my blog. but I believe that its overall look works :) at first i wanted to have a header with more images and it was really hard for me to cut some images out because i loved all of them, but i decided to get a guy and girl, and different age groups. I felt it would be more appropriate. Let me know what you think!

Final Header

original, but it was too long so i had to cut some images

Older Photography

I have always loved photography ever since i was young. I was always the girl that had her camera everywhere she went. In 10th grade I actually took a photography class. It taught me all the basics like what an aperture and shutter speed was and it even taught me a little of the basics on photoshop. I took a photography class every year after that. My senior year I even went to Grayson Technical High School for Commercial Photography. I took some of these pictures that year and the others I took my first year at Gwinnett Technical College.

Some images from Photo Imaging

Photo Imaging was so much fun. It was basically a class on how to use photoshop the correct way, kind of like a non destructive way. I have taken photoshop classes for the past 4 years and I have never learned so much as I did in just a few months. We were using Photoshop CS4, then CS5 came out and we will hopefully learn some of this new version!! Til then..

Original Movie Poster on left, Mine on right

Billys Baseball Game!

Billy had a game last saturday and i was actually able to go to it. It was my first free day in for what seemed like forever!  He played at Bethesda Park right down the street from where we lived when we were younger. Billy is on a new league so he is meeting a lot of new friends. Even though Billy can meet friends anywhere he goes! He is the biggest social butterfly that I have ever met!

Model: Jon Solis

Jon Solis is one of my good friends! i have taken pictures of him a few times. He is just so easy to take pictures, he will do anything you ask him to! We were both bored one day and we decided to take pictures and a fellow photographer friend joiner, her name is Ashleigh Ice.. (check out her blog by clicking here!) We just drover around in my car and we found this abandoned house. we pulled in and it was perfect! We found this chair that we nicknames the "death chair" haha, it looked so old, and Jon kept saying that the old house looked like a murder scene. Here are some pictures! ENJOY! :D

Ut Oh, I Hear Sirens!

The morning after the party there was a ton of cleaning up to do. There was a fire pit which still had some ashes in it, so one of the guys at the party wanted to help out by dumping the ashes behind the fence to get them out of the fire pit. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but about 30 minutes later a guy on a bicycle came by and asked if we knew there was a fire in behind our house and everyone freaked out. It wasn't too bad, but it would get worse if it was not put out immediately. The house hose could not reach it so we had to call the Fire Department. They came soon enough, and once they got here I decided to go grab my camera!... why not make a good thing out of something bad right?

Its Party Time

Mike Owens wanted me to be his photographer at his birthday party.  He had his entire family come up from Flordia so it was a big deal.  He knows the band that i was talking about earlier called James Beard Experiment, and he asked then if he would play at his birthday party. It sounded like a wonderful photo opportunity for me! :)

Birthday boy in center, sister Susan on left, and brother Scott on right

Family Photos!

After I took pictures of all the girls, Susan wanted to get into some pictures with them as well! It sounded like a great idea to me. We got some pictures with the cousins, Kearston, Halie, and Katie together then some with Susan and her two daughters, Kearston and Halie, and her son Dylan. I could tell that she appreciated it alot.

Model: Kearston Powell

Kearston Powell is also Susan's Daughter. Like her sister Halie and her cousin Katie, she too is in Beauty Pageants. Kearston seems to like it the most. She is always in pageants every chance that she can get. And she is very good at them! We went to the park to take some pictures, which wasnt a smart move on my behalf because she is such an animal person that as soon as she saw the ducks, she was in heaven haha. All she wanted to do was pet a duck, it was so funny!

Model: Halie Powell

Halie is Susan Powell's daughter. Halie has been in beauty pageants pretty much all her life. She seems to enjoy it. Like Catherine, aka Katie, she too needed some pictures for the Most Photogenic part of the pageant. The girls and I decided to drive around and get some pictures done. We had fun with it, and I believe the images turned out pretty good!

Model: Catherine Owens

Catherine Owens has just recently moved in with her aunt Susan. Susan decided to put her into Beauty Pageants with her two cousins. No one ever expected her to do so well her first time! But she did Great!!! We all knew that she would be doing this for a long time. The only problem that Susan was having was head shots for their pictures to be judged for Most Photogenic.

James Beard Experiment

Kevin James wanted to start a band. He went onto Loganvilleonline.com to find a partner to start a band. He found Brian Beard. Hints the name James Beard. It is called an Experiment because Kevin prefers to sing Country music, while Brian likes to sing Rock.

Shanna's Baseball Practice!

Shanna Crawford plays Softball for Special Olympics. She enjoys it, her and my brother have been on a baseball team for about 10 years now. They played for Grayson Special Populations.  Their main playing feilds were at Bay Creek Park in Grayson, Georgia. My brother and his girlfriend Shanna still play basketball for Grayson Special Needs Association, but just recently did they start the Special Olympics, and I believe they will be sticking with it for a while.

High Key

Ashleigh was my lovely model for high key! :)

What is High Key?
-High-key lighting is a style of lighting for film, television, or photography that aims to reduce thelighting ratio present in the scene. This was originally done partly for technological reasons, since early film and television did not deal well with high contrast ratios, but now is used to suggest an upbeat mood. It is often used in sitcoms and comedies. High-key lighting is usually quite homogeneous and free from dark shadows. The terminology comes from the key light (main light).

ROTC inspection!

My boyfriends cousin, Brandon, had an ROTC inspection today and I was invited. I couldn't pass up the oportunity to take pictures!

Billy had a baseball game!!

My brother Billy is special needs, and he ADORES sports. He has been playing since he was very young, maybe over 10 years now. I thought i would take some pictures of his game.

CS5!

Im thinking about buying CS5 soon. so i thought i would look up some tutorials and reviews. here are some of the sites that i thought were helpful.

Photoshop Review!

• PHOTOSHOP CS5 TUTORIALS
• This site has many videos to help. extra helpful!
• Whats New??
• More useful videos!!

Good luck! I hope this helps you as much as it helped me!

got my 85 mm lens!!

Yay! i finally got my 85 mm lens today! I have been wanting it for such a long time! It was hard to choose between a 50 mm lens and an 85 mm lens, but im so happy with the one i chose :) Pictures will soon come!

Tips for Senior Portaits

So im going online to look for some tips for my photoshoot coming up. I found some really good tips so i decided to share them with everyone.

Some Clothing Tips:

Casual and Stylish

Casual portraits give you much more variety in clothing, color and style. We can also be much more creative with our digital imaging.

Girls

You can choose your favorite sports outfit, sundress, slouchy sweaters, shorts or jeans outfit. Pick the colors you really like. Chances are, they're colors others say look really good on you, too. Textures are great, as are interesting hats, belts, jackets and scarves.

Guys

You can choose your jeans, casual or sports wear, letterman jacket. You may want to bring your sports uniform and equipment.

Dressier Looks

Girls

Wear a neckline that is flattering to your face and neck: Round faces, square jaw lines, or shorter necks look best in a v-neck as opposed to a round or crew neck. Thin faces, pointy chins, and very long necks look better in a boatneck, crew neck, or round neckline.

Avoid tops with large, contrasty, distracting patterns. Solid colors are much better. Unless your arms are super-skinny, avoid short sleeves because they make arms look heavier and shorter. If you feel your arms are heavy, sleeveless looks are great but avoid "spaghetti" straps. They too can draw attention away from the face.

Guys

A sport coat and pants work great. An alternative look would be a dress shirt and a sweater that is a solid color or has a slight pattern. If you want to wear only a dress shirt and tie, wear a colored shirt. White shirts look best under a jacket.

Some other helpful sites were: 6 Tips for Perfect Composition in Portrait Photography , 

Model: Corey Clark: Senior Photos

Corey called me and asked me if I would take some photos for his Senior year. We set up a date and even though we did not have to  much time we still got some great shots! We have decided that we would continue our photoshoot onto another day that we have plenty of time to do as many photos as we would like! Here are some of the photos :)

Advanced Portraiture: Children Portraits

This week our assignment was to take pictures of children between the ages of 2 and 7. I instantly thought of my nephew Donovan. and since my family is such a big Steelers fan, I decided to dress him up in all Steelers clothing, and even throw in a Steelers helmet and face paint. :)

Football game!

In my Photojournalism class we had to do an assignment on sports. I asked around to see who was going to be having any football games soon and I lucked out when my best friend said her brothers Homecoming Football game  for Covenant Christian Academy was on Friday. Unfortunately, it was a night game. and my 70-300 mm lens largest aperture is on 5.6 which made it really hard for me to capture all the movement. But here are some of the pictures that turn out :)

Model: Lizz Haynes

Lizz asked me if i would take pictures for her to put into her portfolio for acting. So i called her up and set a date that was good for her, and we just had a blast taking pictures! It seems like we went all over the place to take these pictures!! lol. She was one of my old High School buddies that I haven't seen in over 5 years, so it was nice to catch up!

Drill Meet

So my brother is in ROTC at his high school, and he had his first Drill meet. He asked if we could go, and i said of course yes! Not only did it mean the world to him, but it also was a good Photo Op :) Strangely my boyfriends cousin was also there! They live no where near each other so it was surprising for all of us, but once again, it was just a DOUBLE Photo Op for me! :) ha

Italy!!!

So over my break at Gwinnett Tech, I went on a Study Abroad trip to Europe, specifically Italy! :) We went all through the Northern part of Italy like Milan, Flourence, Venice, Rome, and Lake Como. It was such a great experience! I can not wait to go back!

walking down the streets in Lake Como

At a winery when we were staying in Flourence

Amazing clouds in Lake Como

Beautiful Lake Como

In Rome, the Ruins

Gondolas in Venice

Colosseum in Rome!

The Duomo in Flourence

Advanced Portraiture: Pet Portraits

Last week we did an assignment to take pictures of our pets, or any animal, I chose to do my dog CoCo. He is a Havanese and was surprisingly very easy to take pictures of. My theme was a torn up throw pillow that he had gotten into. He played the roll perfectly, even started eating some of the feathers. Here are some of the photos I took of him.

Preparation: destroying pillow

his eye looks absolutely beautiful!

My First Post!!! :)

This is the beginning to my blogging obsession! :)