6 months later...

The last time I posted on here was 6 months ago when my niece was still a newborn.  Now she is 6 months old;  I can't believe how quickly time has passed!  In honor of her half birthday we did another set of pictures.   She is super photogenic and has the best expressions.  Happy half birthday my little Madi J, you are too cute for words!!!

Click here for the slideshow

Madison Jean

My beautiful niece, Madison, was born on February 15th. She is the most beautiful thing in the world and seeing her fills my heart with so much love. Congrats Mike and Asheena, she is amazing!
 

Click HERE to view the slideshow.

Oh Baby!

I know I've been MIA for a couple weeks now, but I'm back with a vengeance!

On Sunday I shot some maternity pictures with my brother, sister-in-law, and their near-due baby girl.  I haven't had time to finish editing all of the photos, but I just couldn't help myself with a few of them.  Besides, editing is a great distraction from studying.... 

There are more to come, but here are a couple of my favorite shots from the day

LOVE this one!

I can not wait to meet this special little girl!

Happy Monday!

Camera Obscura

Most people have never heard of "camera obscura".  Those that have know how sweet the phenomenon is! 

Camera is Latin for 'room'; obscura is Latin for 'dark'.  Put those together and you get a dark room, right?  Right!  But where it gets interesting is when you use a lens to let light from the outside world filter into the dark room, projecting a picture on the opposite wall.  It works in much the same way our eyes do. 

It might sound kind of lame, but seeing it in person is incredible.  And when we talk about Camera Obscura you can't leave out the master, Abelardo Morell.  I had the pleasure of hearing him speak a couple years ago at Sac State and was in absolute awe of his work.  You can see all of his work here, but this is just one example of his photos:

Beautiful right?

What Abe does is find a landscape or cityscape that he wants to capture then finds a room with a view of the desired landscape.  He blacks out the windows, attaches a lens and a mirror to a small hole carved into the black-out sheets, and lets the image appear.  Even though the room is very, very dark, he captures a lot of color and clarity using a tripod and exposure times of 2 or more hours.  Sweet!!!

Naturally, I had to try this myself.  I blacked out my windows and attached a lens to a hole in the black-out sheets.  I didn't use a mirror to flip the image so it is upside down.  Also, my walls at the time were painted black so for the image to appear I had to hang a white sheet on the opposite wall.  Here are some pictures:

Light coming through the lens- you can see the grass and the sky.

I flipped the image in my computer so it's a little more clear.

Okay, so it's not quite as spectacular as Abe's photos, but it was still really cool to do.  I made all of my family members check it out, too.  My mom even went out and ran around the yard so I could watch it on my wall.  It's like a movie!!!  

If you ever feel so inclined, it's worth the set up!

That's it for today, hope you enjoyed the camera obscura!  Have a happy Wednesday!

PS:  The next two months are going to be extremely busy for me.  I will try and keep posting once a week, but it might not happen.  Just a heads up!

PPS:  I totally forgot to announce the winner of the giveaway!  Shayla Murchie has won herself either a portrait session or a print of a photo that's been posted on the blog.  I will keep you updated as to what she chooses.  Thanks to everyone who became a follower, I appreciate all your support!



1/1/11

It’s the first day of 2011 and I am thoroughly excited! This past year has held so many ups and downs it’s hard to count them all. But looking back at the big picture, it was a pretty amazing year; I married my best friend, got a new job, met a lot of great people, and found myself walking in a new direction.

As good as 2010 was, I feel like things are only going to get better in this new year. There is something deep inside me that is awakening- it’s a sense that amazing things are on my horizon. I feel upbeat, happy, and full of life! This year is my year! Big things are going to happen!

Honestly, I’m just sooooooo excited that the new year is here. I can’t wait to meet my little niece, Madison, in February. I can’t wait til AJ and I to hit the one year mark. I can’t wait for the 49ers to make it to the playoffs! Ok ok, I won’t get ahead of myself now…

Here is to a happy, memorable, love filled new year!

Happy New Years Everyone!

 

Happy Holidays!

I know it's a day late, but I've been under the weather:  Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you all had an amazing day! 

Don't forget to click the 'follow' button on the right (or on the top left) to be entered into the giveaway.  Names will be drawn tomorrow night at 9 PM sharp!  So make sure you're entered before then!

Perception

In my color theory class I was taught that there is a bias in all photography; the photographer. I look at life a certain way and it is reflected in how and what I shoot. But there is another bias in all photography and that is the viewer. No matter what the content of an image or emotion I feel I’ve captured, it’s unlikely we will see the same photo in the same way.

It reminds me of that old fable about the blind men and the elephant. You can read the whole poem here, but the just of it is this: Several blind men gather around an elephant to try and understand what exactly it is. One man feels the elephant’s side and thinks it’s like a wall. Another blind man feels the elephant’s trunk and thinks it’s like a snake. Yet another blind man feels the elephant’s legs and thinks it’s like a tree; And so forth and so on. The moral being that we all experience things differently and can't get the big picture from a little piece.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and on a different level than photography and elephants. A couple months ago I was talking to a coworker of mine who is greatly misunderstood. This woman has been called a number of bad names, been told she is lazy, and laughed at to her face. Yet she takes it all in with a grace I envy. I know it gets to her, she has told me that, and sometimes her frustrations get the better of her. But she keeps her head up and pushes forward. What most of our other coworkers don’t know is that she has been through a lot in her life. I don’t want to get into specifics because of anonymity, but she really does have quite the story. After she opened up to me I felt immediately humbled. My struggles are nothing compared to hers. She has overcome bad circumstances and even now works two full time jobs to support her family and future dreams.

I feel like I was one of those blind men that only knew one piece of the puzzle.

My coworker’s story reawakened something in me that had long been sleeping. I love people. I love their stories and histories and hopes and dreams. When I was younger I longed to hear what people had to say- what advice they had to give and what tales they had to share. I wanted to know their triumphs and where they faltered. I wanted to know how they saw the world.

I guess life got to me a bit. I got wrapped up in my own world. Not that it’s bad to take time for yourself. But when you are too focused on looking inward you lose sight of everyone else around you. And even though I hold a piece of the puzzle, too; I can’t do much with just one piece.

We have to remember that our perception is biased. We can’t hold the trunk of an elephant and make conclusions about what an elephant is. Life just doesn’t work that way. An open mind and understanding can work wonders on even the blindest of men.