I LOVE MY JOB!

Today was really great. I met Cindy, a model who represents Chinyere International Models . It was a kind of a spur of the moment shoot as the agency owner called me 30 minutes before the shoot desperately in need of a photogapher. I was freakin' stoked, but had NO time to prepare. So she just came over to my house and we winged it and we got some AMAZING IMAGES.

Cindy is a new model and stunningly beautiful. And here's the clincher 1) She is 47 years old. Hello!! I pray I will look as great as her when I'm 47. And clincher 2) is that this was her first time shooting potfolio shots. And she rocked it big time!

FILM...

So I met this photographer on Saturday who still shoots all film (click here to see his amazing work.) I felt so inspired by his work and even felt a bit nostalgic for the days when I used to shoot film. I really believe that people that still shoot film (and are REALLY good at it) are truly SO talented. Don't get me wrong, there are soooo many amazing photographers that shoot digital who are amazingly talented too (every single one of my photog friends for example). I guess I'm just in awe of people that still shoot film and do such an amazing job with it (click here to see another amazing film shooter). Shooting film isn't easy. In fact it can be quite difficult. You don't have the luxury of looking at the back of your camera to see if you got the picture right. You just have to know what you are doing with exposure, lighting, composition....everything. So that's why I admire great film shooters. They are so amazing to me!

Anyways, I felt really inspired to get out and shoot some film (I have a ton of film sitting in my refrigerator left over from my "film days"). So I pulled out my trusty Canon film camera and shot a roll of T-MAX black and white film. It was fun, and refreshing.

Things I miss about film:
-Less post-processing time
-It's fun to be surprised when you get to see your pictures for the first time
-The beautiful grain in true b/w film
-The sharpness and clarity of film

Things I DON'T miss about film:
-The cost. Man, it's stinkin' expensive to buy film, get it processed at a pro-lab, and get all the negs scanned.
-Running to the lab a million times to buy film, then drop it off, then pick it back up when it's finished, then take negatives back to get reprints.....
-Not being able to check the picture immediately to make sure they turned out.

Anyways, I love film. Always will. But I have totally embraced my digital camera and I love it too.

Here are some of my shots from the day. Kodak T-MAX film, all shot manually for exposure and focus with my 50mm 1.8 lens.

What's a photo session without pictures of my little Buggy....





My handsome hubby....

My trusty dog.... Random stuff around my neighborhood....










p.s. To all my photog friends...let's fashion a shoot after the two greats of our day (click here and here) and go on a photo safari. Who's in? If you want to go let me know and I will set something up for all of us.

Fabulous!

Wow! This was sooo much fun. My friend Darla and I went to a "In The Click" model shoot. I LOVE going to these because they are a very relaxed atmosphere with lots of cool people and lots of beautiful models. This shoot was particularly fun because it posed a good challenge. I am not a studio photographer by any means, but I do own a couple of "ghetto" studio lights. I thought I better bring one of them just in case. I knew the venue would be dark and I had NO INTENTIONS of using on-camera flash. So I went with two goals...1) being to mess around and experiment with my one studio light, and 2) To shoot with fast glass and available light. Darla and I totally scouted out these cool locations in the building we were shooting in because we weren't crazy about the provided makeshift "studio" that was already set up (consisting of a white sheet and a couple of studio lights). Anyways, we found this tacky orange chair and this KILLER red wall and MAN did we have a blast. It's so fun to get outside of the box and do something different. I've worked with both of these models before and they are both SO incredibley gorgeous and it's impossible to take a bad picture of them. So pardon that there are like 20 pictures posted here. But I just couldn't resist. I'm totally in love with the look and feel of these pictures. I especially love them because they forced me to get out of my "comfort zone." NOW....I WOULD LOVE TO DO A BRIDAL SESSION LIKE THIS! Please, if you are daring and want some cool, edgey bridals...LET'S DO THIS! How freakin' cool would that be?!

I kept telling the Stephanie (the model) to "look towards the light" and Darla would remind them "but don't go towards it." Hehehe!



This one was shot with available light. ISO 1600, 1/50th at 1.8. Yeah!! She's so freakin' gorgeous!


Available light on this one....

The Giant Pot Belly

So we just went to Violet's doctor's checkup this week and she is only in the 10th percentile for weight. Doctor said she is totally fine, but she just burns a lot of calories since she NEVER sits still. Anyways, Violet is skinny. Very skinny. Except in one place....her GIANT POT BELLY. It is so hilarious and my husband and I laugh at it all the time. I tried to get some pictures of the pot belly today. But they honestly do not do it justice. It is even huger. And after she eats it's so huge, and tight, that it looks like it might pop. What a freakin' cute little girl I have!


A fun one because I think it's pretty...