Monday, June 28, 2010

Project 365 Begins--Objects Describing Me

 I've been a member of an online photography forum for several months now where we're all able to critique each others work and bounce ideas off each other and learn tips and tricks to help us all become better photographers.  There is a wide variety of members from those who struggle just taking pictures in manual mode, to several distinguished professional photographers.  This forum has proved to be an invaluable resource for me, and I find myself pouring over the discussions amazed, inspired, and desiring to improve. They also have a forum specifically for challenges and "assignments" that I enjoy browsing. So I'm starting two new challenges that will hopefully help me develop my skills and creativity.

The first project I'm starting is their "Copy Cat" challenge where another photographer takes a picture each week, posts it, and then we have the challenge to re-create that image as closely as possible--with lighting, posing, exposure, everything--with no post processing.  It's a fun challenge that is helping me learn to get exposure and white balance perfect in the camera without having to rely on post processing to "get the picture right".   (I probably won't be posting "Copy Cat" project images here since they really won't mean much out of context with the original picture I'm attempting to imitate.)

The other project I'm starting is the "365" project to challenge us to use our cameras every day in order to practice and consistently work to get better.  So I decided to jump in on the project.  Each week a new topic is posted for the assignment.  So here are my pictures from this week's challenge which is: "Objects that tell something about you".  So, just in case you couldn't tell, daisies are my favorite flower, I love reading, I have 3 daughters, my oldest has Aicardi Syndrome and uses a wheelchair, I love my laptop, I'm a Mormon, and I enjoy playing the piano.




































Monday, June 7, 2010

Some Father's Day Portraits

A friend asked me to do some portraits of her kids as a surprise for their dad for Father's Day.  Here are some of my favorites from that day.