Just Photos!

First day in England!

First of all I would like to point out that the time on the blog isn't correct. It's actually 4:35 pm.
Anyway! Im here in England, we had a little bit of a rough trip but we made it. Our flight was delayed coming out of Newark and flying coach overseas is never a pleasant experience. We finally made it through customs and 45 minutes of baggages claim and a 2 hr drive from Heathrow to Bury St. Edmunds where we will be staying. I just have to make it until about 10 or 11 pm and then I can go to sleep! Well of course the first thing I did when I got here was pull out my camera! So here's what Ive been up to so far!




This is Bob and Liz Huddlestone's house, this is where we are staying for most of our vacation. It is so gorgeous! This is a picture of their garden!I am so tired but there is so much to see!



This afternoon we went on a walk around Bury St Edmunds. It was really cool to see all of the things that I havent seen in 10 years. When we lived here I was pretty young and it's fun to walk around and remember things as we walked. We visited the Abbey Gardens, Bury St. Edmunds Cathedral, the market etc.







This is the Cathedral in Bury, it's a gorgeous old abbey. You can walk through the gardens and even walk around through the ruins of the old abbey. I will have to find out the dates that the old abbey was built, it's very old! The second is a picture of me, still not showered and very disheveled from the flight but I wanted to prove that I was here!


In the abbey gardens they have a gorgeous rose garden, the roses were huge but in between the roses they had gorgeous patches of lavender. I sound like an old lady talking about all of the things to see, the pretty flowers and old churches. It was so fun to just walk around. I felt a little strange walking around with my camera. For some reason it was a little bit awkward. Oh well, Im going to keep photographing and keep posting!

<3

England!

Alright everyone (if theres even anyone who reads this). Im heading to England/France for two weeks. Im going to be posting the whole time with pictures and adventure stories. It should be really fun so I hope you enjoy the pictures. Unfortunately I don't really have one to start you out with here so I cant post one right now but I promise, first thing tomorrow/today/yesterday, what ever day it will be when I get there!

Feeling Lazy....

Yea, Im feeling a little like this lately. This is a picture that I took of my sister's cat last year. I just thought that it perfectly described the mood I'm in today. I haven't shot anything new since my sisters graduation pictures so I don't really have anything to post. I think I am going to continue shooting some more pictures of katie tonight or tomorrow.
I have been looking into buy two more lenses for my camera, a Super Wide Angle and a telephoto. Im really excited, I don't have any other lenses than the one that came with the camera so it will be fun to try new lenses and see what kinds of things I can do with them. I am also hoping to buy a flash. I really want one that I can control the direction of the flash and one with a diffuser dome. It's hard to want all of these things for my camera and not have the money. I guess that that is the plight of every aspiring artist!
That's all I really have for now....

Experimenting

This is my "little" sister Katie. My mom took this before her baccalaureate ceremony tonight!



Today I shot Katie's senior portraits. It's so strange to think of her graduating! I really like photographing her even if I know that she hates it. She really does not like pictures of her, she's very self conscious. I made it a goal to take a least one shot that SHE liked. Of course my mom liked them all, and I like a lot of them.
Katie is the kind of person that is a challenge to photograph because she doesn't like pictures of herself. She is wonderful and nice and photogenic, but such a self critic. I took a lot of shots of her today and the black and white are definitely my favorite. Everyone looks better in black and white and I just really like the light and the way she looks in these. I am not sure if I like the setting for all of them but I am just trying to find what works best etc. I am trying to learn as much as possible and I know that no amount of analyzing replaces experience.

I have been trying to have my camera with me more often, as per my goal. I took my camera to work the other day. It's such a strange environment, I don't think that I take full advantage of that opportunity. It's so unique and so colorful! I have been there for years watching the people and the
excitement. I think I sometimes forget just how fun it must be for someone who doesn't see it everyday. It's also a beautiful place to work and I was just trying to appreciate it for it's aesthetic value. I don't think I appreciate how much time I spend here and how much a part of my life it has been.




I have definitely been learning a lot about where to draw inspiration from. I have been looking a lot of other artists work and I don't think I am appreciating my work enough. I have a lot of strong images and I am a little bit of a perfectionist and I tend to be overly picky sometimes. I think that that is a good thing because I am constantly challenging myself, but I also don't want to get in my own way!
I have a lot of family coming into town this week/weekend and I am really excited to get the opportunity to see and photograph them!

Black and White

This is one of the pictures from my trip to Ireland last spring. I have been going through looking at a lot of my archived pictures. This picture I originally shot in color and decided today that it would look cool in black and white. I manipulated the contrast and highlights a little but to make it look spookier. It got me thinking about why I don't shoot in black and white. Shooting in black and white, especially digitally, is difficult. It is more of a mindset. Black and white is all about contrast, shadows, lighting. When Im shooting, of course I am thinking about exposure, angles, light etc, but I don't think that I am really looking for black and white photographs. I feel like so many people now just upload their pictures in their computer and put them in photoshop and desaturate them to make them "artsy".
Why is black and white artsy, and is it really as easy as just desaturating images in photoshop. I want to be able to think in black and white. I think I just need to go out and shoot more. That is the most important thing that I am learning.
I love photographing people in black and white. Its fun to make a portrait free of distractions like color. I am going to keep up with my one portrait session a week and I am want to shoot some of them in black and white. I think that I have a lot to learn about black and white photography.
This felt very rambly. I hope that it makes sense. Oh well.

On another note, I have been noticing myself looking for photographs everywhere. I run in the mornings and I find myself "photographing" without my camera all of the time. I wish I could take my camera with me when I run. There are so many interesting views early in the morning. I think I am going to go out and photograph early in the morning a couple times this week....

thinking about lighting

Last night I was photographing Pete and Ben in their kitchen. It was dark and I had to use a flash but I really didn't like the way that the flash lighting is so harsh. I don't have an external flash yet so I have no way of directing the light. So I improvised a little. I picked up a credit card from the counter and used the back of it to bounce the light off the ceiling. I was really pleased with the results! The bounced light is so much more flattering. The picture with Ben in the hat is direct light and the picture sans hat is the bounced! The difference is amazing, I was really excited!


Eventually I will get an external flash that I can direct the light from. But until then I will keep using this impromptu method.


I even taught Pete how to bounce light so that he could take better photos too. This is one he took of me at the end of the night. Ive been saying that I think that these spontaneous little shoots are helping me learn a lot and it's definitely true. I am learning to figure things out on my own and it feels good. I know most of this from my classes and from shooting already but it is nice to use it in everyday things and not just a project I am working on for class etc.
My thought for the day.......when you don't have enough money to buy expensive equipment, improvise!