Fangirl Issues

I love photographs and there is one photographer who's work I really enjoy. In fact I almost made an ass out of myself at last years Sullivan parade; while waiting on the float I was a part of, I saw that a photographer I admired had a small float too. I was overcome with my fangirl excitement and practically vibrated with the need to run over and introduce myself and gush about how I loved her pictures. Luckily I was able to control myself and just mooned from afar but still I love her work :)

Brook G Photography

Every Idiot

It seems that a common punch line one hears in photography is that "every idiot with camera thinks they are a photographer". But lets face it, with the advent of digital photography, lower to medium grade cameras at an affordable cost and Photoshop knock offs like Gimp or photo sites like Instagram with built in effects that can mask just about every technical shortcoming, it's getting easier and easier to make that statement true. But regardless of actual "talent" there is something to be said for those of us hobby photographers that want to learn to create the photo's we love to look at. When my kids were tiny I used to "plan" a studio visit. I would have a vision in my head of what I wanted then I would buy/make the outfits and props I needed. Then I discovered friends with higher end cameras who would allow me to borrow them to try to create the pictures in my head. Now of course I have my own equipment and I love the freedom to drop everything and run with an idea in my head. I still love pictures, mine and those made by both professionals and amateurs but even if I am just an idiot with an expensive camera, I am a happy idiot with a camera, much like a painter with new paints or a dancer with new choreography, I love my art outlet.

 

Studio vs Outdoors

So I own studio equipment...lights, backgrounds, reflectors, the whole nine yards but I personally prefer outdoor settings. This weekend I spent most of my Saturday helping out some fellow students in setting up and working with a makes shift studio and lighting in a spare classroom. From it came a lot of great pics and got me thinking maybe I am just prejudice against the studio because it takes so much to set up and take down. On the other hand I can see the ability to control the light and "setting up" the portrait can be fun too.  I think I will always be an outdoor girl but I think I may set the studio up in the basement and try doing some fun stuff with the family and see if maybe I can change my own opinion :)

Food Photography

I love food art! It is so fun and interesting and creative! I look at an orange and see an orange but someone else can look at it ad see a cat? How amazing is that! I need to find someone who likes to do art and offer to take pictures of it for fun because I find it absolutely fascinating!

Lightroom As a Storage Catalog

So I've been using Adobe Lightroom as a photo and batch editing software for I don't even remember how long; let's just say probably before I owned or even borrowed a camera with enough "umph" to require a program of this level. Regardless, I know Lightroom, we've been friends for many years. We have had our up and downs. I have spent countless hours banging my head against a monitor trying to get a particular fix or effect that I like; it has patiently waited for me to figure my problem out. What I never used Lightroom for was as a photo library! That is the first thing I learned this semester in my digital photography class. I was amazed that I never knew this wondrous option was available. It's like buying a Hummer when you never drive out of the city! If you use Lightroom and have not taken advantage of this fabulous feature, check out this link on setting up a fabulous photo library!!

http://thelightroomlab.com/2010/06/getting-started-right-adobe-photoshop-lightroom-3-setup-and-catalog-creation/

Moon Photography

I LOVE the moon and the different phases and colors and the surrounding sky. But capturing it on film has so far alluded me. I've tried on several occasions to capture it and all I got was a big over blown bright light that it totally unrecognizable as the moon. I am thinking this summer that capturing the moon may be a personal project of mine. In the mean time here are a few of my favorite shots.

Camera Lens aka Photographer Porn

The only thing more addictive than photo props is camera lens. Once you have experienced a SLR camera that allows you to alternate lens, it sort of becomes an addiction; a very pricey addiction. There are so many options though, how do you know what glass to spend your money on, you know when you win the lottery and can afford it :)  I found a great web article to help better understand what the differences are. Take a look when you get a few minutes!  Understanding Camera Lenses

Art vs Photoshop

Always in the graphic's world you hear the word "photoshop" which to some means a "created" image but to some relates a less positive term as a "false" image. I personally love photoshop and use it to create many fun projects and am always amazed by what it can produce. Like any "tool" it can be used for good or evil but it is all about the mind of the onlooker more than the intention of the artist that defines whether it is a successful image.

True Art

So as I sit here in the photo-lab on a Saturday afternoon printing my little heart out for an upcoming portrait assignment I come across an artist named Samuel Silva. Silva is an artist who draws realistic pictures with pen and ink that are so life like they look like photographs. As a person who can't draw a strait line with a ruler I find this absolutely fascinating! I am a point and pray photographer, I feel like the shots I love are often just pure luck, so the idea that someone can sit down and create line by line a picture that is beautiful is phenomenal to me.

Art or Gross?

In a magazine recently I saw a whole "artistic" spread of full paged layouts of moldy food displayed as "high" art and I have to say I was pretty impressed!! Even though it was rotting food, it had an way about it that made me want to keep looking and get up close to see the different colors and textures. In art classes they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but until now I really didn't get what that meant.