I wanted to wait to show off more of Ashley and Dallin’s photos until they had gotten their dvd of photos. It’s just a little quirk of mine that I want the couple to see all of their photos before I let the world see a bunch of them. Eccentric much? Maybe a little. But that’s just how I feel and how I do things.
Enough with my ramblings, I will let the photos speak for themselves!
Today I’m posting some more personal work that I’ve been working on lately. I have a certain lens called a Lensbaby 2.0, it’s quite a fascinating lens that I don’t use often at weddings because they tend to take a while to focus on what you want. I’ve used it for bridals and portraits, though, with awesome results. It does not focus automatically, the lens is compromised of some glass and a bellows-like body. By twisting and tilting the bellows of the body you can shift certain subjects to be clear while the rest of the picture gradually fades into blur. The part that’s most in focus is referred to as the “sweet spot”, while the blur is referred to as “bokeh”. Here are some photos I took of a vintage necklace of mine, and I really love how they turned out.
A photo colleague, Edric Morales, has encouraged me, along with many other photographers out there, to do something for Haiti victims. I intend to help in the the best way I can right now, by using my photography skills.
Now hear me out, for $75 for the first hour and $50 for each consecutive hour you will get a portrait session for an unlimited amount of time, all photos edited, a DVD with all high resolution images, and 50% percent of the proceeds will go to Haiti victims. Get great photos, a good feeling, and give a little to those who need it so badly right now.
Same thing with family sessions 
Contact me with how many are in your family and I will give you a quote. 50% will go to Haiti relief efforts.
I’ve decided on #4! I really do love it, so you’ll be seeing it soon when I order some new business cards. Thanks for your input!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
In my humble opnion, eveery good photographer needs an equally good business card. I realized that I do not have a really great business card, so I’ve been in the process of designing some business card ideas over the past couple weeks. Drumroll please….
Tada!
So what do you think? I’m going for awesome/elegant/fun/pretty/appealing/creative/not-too-in-your-face… Vote for a favorite I may just use them all, people can collect my business cards like they would Pokemon cards! In my dreams, right?
Around Halloween I bought the most awesome vintage wedding dress, I believe it’s from the 70s, in the Gunne Sax style. I bought it with the intention of doing a shoot. Well, unfortunately, school and work got in the way and I had to put off the idea. But now, now I wanna get a shoot done. It’s much smaller than I thought (maybe a size two? I’ll have to measure later), but I guess that’s what I get for shopping online.
I also have another concept in the works, more along the lines of a goth type shoot (very different from what I normally do), and I have a black knee length dress for that (never worn, size large), so pretty much any size model coud wear that one.
If you’re interested, or know of someone who might, please contact me. If they like the dress they can keep it, plus they’ll get a dvd of the images.
I’ve been writing so many of drafts of blog posts, it’s ridiculous!
Today, today is the day I will actually post a blog. Amazing, isn’t it? Not really, but for me it is.
I’ve been a busy little bee over the last little while. There are tons of photos I know I should post, but haven’t. So today I’m gonna post a little of what I’ve been up to (when I haven’t been watching movies like The Princess and the Frog, Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes, anyway. For anyone who hasn’t seen any of those, they are all awesome).
Since I was doing school full-time last semester in addition to working, I didn’t have as much time as I wanted for photography and coming up with new looks in Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4. Now that I’m taking a break from school I’ve been able to really have some fun.
Ashley Bridal Shot
This is one of my favorites. I was going for a fun, classy, pretty vintage type of look. And I loved how this turned out.
Gorgeous Mikael
Normally I love my black and white photos to have a lot of contrast, but like I said, I’ve been expanding my photographic horizons, so for this I wanted to make it a look a little antique and a tad flat, with the most contrast being around the eyes to make them stand out.
Mems with Fireflies
Every girl loves to sparkle right? Even some guys do (Edward Cullen, anyone?) But anywho, I just wanted a really fun image that was beautiful. For some reason it makes me think of Owl City’s song “Fireflies” (which I used to like at one point… but alas the radio killed it like the radio does to almost every good song out there).
So there you have it, this is a little of what I’ve been doing. Oh yes, there’s a lot more where that came from!
*that’s what she said!*
I thought I’d write a little about Christmas, seeing as it’s that time of the year. Christmas brings both fond and sad memories for me, but mostly fond ones I imagine Christmas has this effect on most people. If you have any memories please feel free to share. I love to read a good story. This post is probably the most personal I’ve ever posted online, but it really made me realize what the season of Christmas is about, and so much more.
The most poignant memory for me is about my dad. I’m the youngest of six kids (my oldest sibling is 15 years older than me), and I was always a daddy’s girl. I’d hang out with dad, play card games, go fishing, and I’d always refill his Coca-Cola for him. I loved and looked up to my father, he was my hero. He wasn’t big on expressing his love vocally, but he’d always find a way to show it. There was one thing always concerned me growing up. My dad was a smoker. Even at a young age I could hear his coughing bouts in the middle of the night. In the back of my mind I sometimes wondered if he’d stick around to see me grow up, graduate, and get married.
Eight years ago, exactly one week before Christmas, my mom and dad went out to dinner with his siblings. The rest of us stayed home, we played rummy and watched tv. The phone rang and one of my brothers answered. We didn’t think much of it until he came in and told us that dad was in the hospital. He had a heart attack. Needless to say, we were all shocked. We all thought that maybe someday something might happen, but we ( and by ‘we’ I mean ‘I’) never expected it so soon.
I grew up going to church, I was always a good kid. I prayed most every night. But I never prayed like I did after I heard that my dad was in the hospital. I hit my knees, bawling, and said all I wanted for Christmas was my dad. That’s it. I would do anything for that.
That was a rough night. We were able to go visit my dad at the hospital. My dad, the gruff n’ tuff railroad electrician who was tan from years of working outside, was pale as could be with an oxygen mask over his face. In such a situation what can you say? I said probably one of the worst things a person can say, but in my mind it needed to be said. “Dad… are you going to stop smoking now?” My brother nudged me, but I still don’t regret saying it. My dad motioned for me and my brother to come over. He started touching his oxygen mask, so my brother rearranged it, but my dad shook his head slightly and started trying to tug the mask down. My brother put it down for him, and my dad looked at me and puckered his lips a little. I leaned over and kissed him, and we put the mask back on.
We then went to talk to mom, and she told us he’d have to be moved to St. Mark’s downtown for heart surgery (triple bypass).
The next few days are a bit of a blur for me. I still went to school, but I could hardly concentrate. I remember the day of his surgey I was freaked out all day. All went well, however. My family visited him the first chance the doctors let us. It was hard to see my father, excruciatingly pale with stitches running down his chest. But he was alive. Tired and sore, but alive. I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d be able to be home for Christmas.
Here’s the most spectacular part. The day before Christmas the front door opened, followed by dad with an oxygen tank in tow. He was ginger in his movements, and tired easily, but we were all so happy we didn’t even care. Needless to say, that was the best Christmas ever. I don’t remember many of the gifts I received that year, but I do (and always will) remember the joy of having him be with us. There were many smiles and some tears.
As an added bonus he quit smoking, cold turkey, something that must have been hard for someone who smoked for over 30 years. Eventually he started going to church with my mom again. Just over a year ago he and my mom were sealed in the Jordan River Temple. And this year, 6 months ago, he was able to attend my own temple wedding at the Salt Lake Temple.
If you ask him today about giving up his habit cold turkey, he usually says something to the effect of “It was a no brainer. I wasn’t done living yet. I had to get to the temple with my wife and see my first grandson!”
Every year at this time I give a little prayer in my heart in thanks and I think back on that Christmas for a few moments.
Have a story you want to share? Tell me in the comments or send it to my e-mail at sheadaisyphoto@live.com.
And Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Kwanzaa and Festivus!
I know I already posted this photo before, but it’s the most recent one I have of my dad
My dad with his second born grandson just a few weeks ago
Doesn't that just scream out "Awwwwwwwww!!!!!"
Fantastic news! My brother and sister-in-law had their baby boy today! He’s adorable. His name is Jameson. I was able to drop in at the hospital this morning before work, and he’s the cutest thing ever. What was even more adorable was to see how everyone melted as they looked at him, especially my gruff n’ tuff dad. I plan on going back later tonight, because that kid is just so stinkin’ cute!
In the spirit of the holiday season, I’m offering limited time discount on Utah portrait photography up until the New Year (Jan. 1st, 2010). Crazy right? Well, not really. Instead of 75 dollars for the first hour and 50 for each subsequent hour, I’m offering a portrait session for up to an hour and a half for $50. That includes a high res disc of photos (all edited). No travel fees for those in Davis and Salt Lake Counties.
What could make this any better? Giving these portrait sessions as gifts! Buy a gift certificate for one hour and a half portrait session for $50 and give it to a loved one for Christmas. Gift certificates will be valid for up to 4 months after purchase and the the receiver of the gift certificate can call me and we’ll schedule a time and place to do the shoot. I have a great list of places, or if the receiver has a place in mind, that’s great too.
If you have any doubts about just how good of deal this is, the $50 pretty much covers gas/maintenance for my car and the cost of the DVD. I will spend at least 2 hours editing each shoot, plus the hour and a half shoot itself (not to mention driving time). That said, these prices will not last long (less than a month), so better hurry and snap them up!
This here is Memerice (Mem-er-iss), my teenage niece, and one of the coolest, if not THE coolest, teenagers I know. She pretty much made the perfect model for an assignment I had at SLCC’s studio, not to mention that she has wanted to do a shoot for quite some time now. She wasn’t afraid to have fun or look a little goofy, and I pretty much love her for that. Not only was she willing to be crazy, but she was very patient with me since the modeling lights on my strobes went out so we were working in the dark. We got some fantastic shots, and were even able to do some light painting at the end too (thanks to my husband Jordan for running around with lights and gels with me). Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!
|
