Workshop Reunion

Back in October I had a blast at two workshops put on by Me Ra Koh Photography. These workshops were full of fabulous, fun photographers from all over the country. Last week Julie Watts hosted a workshop reunion at her new studio. We had a blast!

Julie showed us around Studio 36 and we got to play with studio lights and backdrops, practice posing each other, and just playing around. We did get a few nice shots of each other, and I've used one for my new picture for my blog. It's about time I had a bio picture! Unfortunately since we were all shooting with the same camera I'm not sure who to give the photo credit to, it's either Julie Watts, Amanda Mays, or Sara Montgomery. Check out Julie's blog post with some of the other fun shots from the night.

However, mostly we were talking about everything. Between the four of us Julie said we only shot 100 frames! It's great to meet up with photography friends and get to talk non-stop about photography stuff, I can't wait to do it again soon!

Exploring the neighborhood

Niall got a new tricycle for his birthday and he loves it! After some initial practice in the living room, we went out to explore the neighborhood.

Around the corner we found a house that was about to be torn down. We had fun taking pictures with the big excavator.

We came back the next day and the house was gone! Mostly. . .

On the way home we stopped to look at flowers, motorcycles, fire hydrants, and anything else that seems fascinating.

Have you ever seen a picture in a magazine. . .

and wondered how they set up the shot? It turns out you can see some major clues by looking closely into the eyes - it's called catchlight. You can often see the lighting setup reflected in the subject's eyes! In this example you can see I'm using window light:


Studio lights are more interesting, but I don't have any samples of those. Look for round umbrellas, square or rectangular soft boxes, big reflectors, different shapes of windows, and every combination.

Thanks to Julie from Julie Watts Photo for cluing me in on this little secret! I don't think I will ever be able to look at a magazine the same way again!

Kelly and Pat's Engagement Shoot

The weekend before last I was lucky enough to tag along with Gerald and Airika from Gerald Pope Photography for a shoot with my good friends Kelly and Pat. I had so much fun shooting with them! One of the areas I need to work on is posing, so it was especially interesting to watch them work out a pose, explore different angles, and get the shot. Also it's easy to take good pictures if someone sets up a good pose ;)

Of course I couldn't help taking a few shots of Gerald and Airika working:

Gerald and Airika got some really great shots that day, check out their blog post with some of the highlights.

Niall is Two!

Niall turned two this week and what a crazy week it was! I was busy preparing for the party yesterday, making seven batches of play dough, all the food, and red velvet cupcakes. We had a great time! I'll try to get more pictures up later in the week, but for now here's a fun shot of the cupcakes.


Now it's time to clean up! Luckily play dough is easy to sweep up after it's fully dried on the hardwood floor.

On Location with Gerald Pope Photography

What a day! My friends Kelly and Pat are getting married next month and Gerald and Airika from Gerald Pope Photography are shooting their wedding. I was so impressed with the pictures from their first shoot that I just had to blog about it. Can you imagine how thrilled I was when they decided to do a second engagement shoot and invited me to tag along? I was over the moon!

I learned so much and had so much fun, I can't thank them enough! Now I have a lot of processing work to do, but I just had to post this picture. We were set up somewhere under a bridge and Gerald was literally climbing up in the rafters to get the shot. Talk about dedication!

On a Beautiful Day Five Years Ago. . .

Jude and I were married at Seward Park. It was the ultimate low-maintenance wedding. We invited our friends and family to join us and dress for the weather. Lucky for us, it turned out to be a warm and beautiful day. Hard to believe it was five years ago! I guess time really does fly when you're having fun.

To marry us, our very good friend Jay dressed up as Elvis. Isn't he the best? Both our mom's were swooning over him!