Confidence = Choice

 I have many more miles to travel on this Photography road and I will always be learning, trying new things.  In these attempts I may fail, but I will also learn.    Usually after a photo session I am exhausted and feel beaten up, so I don't do this for my ego.

  I do Photography because during and after a photo scene I love how the girls react to seeing themselves in a new way.  

 I see their confidence build.  And yes, confidence is sexy, but it is fundamentally more important to have real confidence along with attributes such as intelligence, creative, nurturing, hard working and grace.  Confidence is the catalyst for career choices, marriage choices, Lifestyle choices, even the choice of where you will live in the world.  It is a powerful statement when a woman with tears in her eyes says to me "I never knew I could look like this!"  I usually respond with, I knew it all along.  

Project Houndstooth,  Model Jessica Stark

Project Houndstooth,  Model Jessica Stark

Project Houndstooth Model Jessica Stark

Project Houndstooth Model Jessica Stark

Project Houndstooth  Model Jessica Stark

Project Houndstooth  Model Jessica Stark

If You Like Poetry...

Last week was a fun, interesting, problem solving on the spot adventure when I agreed to take the head shots for a local college play cast of 10.  A sign up sheet was distributed and all the time slots filled in for a 2 day/5 each day head shot marathon.  I figured 30 minutes each sitting,  but allowed an hour time slot in case there was a magical moment to capture.  

Theatre folks are wonderfully funny and emotive and brilliant, and apparently they like to travel together, in groups.  They arrived in pairs or in a group of three and hung out while they each took their turns on the photography stage.  

Remember these are college age theatre folks, most dressed in jeans and dark colored t-shirts, which worked great for the type of head shots needed.  There were some "how to groom" oneself discussions and I did a lot of theatrics of my own with tips of deep breathing to focus, buzzing my lips as an example of how to soften and relax the mouth, getting into the different poses myself so they would feel comfortable and using the very limited theatre vocabulary I knew to connect.

I learned so much those 2 days, about Photography, about myself and how it takes a village to raise a theatre.  Brava! 

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JD Meyer, Eva Wilcox and Cord Courtney  3 of the 10 cast members of the play Mankind.  

60d is one HOT MESS!

Haven't taken many fotos with my Canon 60d the past few weeks.   Instead, I have been researching Nikon 7100 and trying to find a way to fund it.  I called Canon regarding my concerns of my 6 month NEW 60d and was not impressed with the response. Each time I think I may have found a solution to either keeping my 60d and investing into a much nicer lens or embrace the Nikon 7100 and its very expensive lenses a fresh, more confusing problem will arise sending me back to the drawing board. The current thought is to keep the 60d and purchase a Sigma 85mm 1.4 lens - primarily for Portrait work.   I had worked my way to being comfortable in this decision until further research showed that the Sigma 85 mm 1.4 is designed for FULL frame cameras and my 60d has a smaller sensor.  It can mount on a 60d, but it will set the frame to 136mm which for my small 200 square foot studio I just don't think will give me enough space to take in the whole picture.

So, the journey continues.  Do I "dump" my Canon 60d and its inconsistent focus, no sync port, but has a great battery life?  Or, do I run into the arms of Nikon 7100 super sharp focus, high contrast, but so expensive I will have to sell a kidney to fund it?

I have been abducted by Aliens!

... Alien Bees that is.  My two ab800s arrived today.  Easy to assemble.  Easy to learn settings.  The only hiccup was on my side with my Canon 60D. It does not have a sync port!   But, I dug around my speed light equipment and was able to use my radio trigger.  The light with the ab800 is incredibly bright and powerful.  I was instantly impressed.  Going to purchase a 22 inch Beauty Dish to get the most out of the light.  So far so good.  Will update.  

Glitter In The Sun...not exactly.

So, I wanted to try and test the Nikon d3100 with some fun shots of my friend Madi with sparkling glitter in her hair, on her face and skin...gently blowing "fairy dust" glitter from her palm.  The idea was to create motion with the glitter, catch the sun light and create some hippie-esk photos of Madi.  Maybe even add sunflower petals around her eyes with Photoshop? Madi arrived being simply beautiful as always.  Hair curled, makeup perfect.  Sweet, soft attitude...perfect glitter fairy.

With glitter applied strategically and Nikon in hand we found fun backdrops of ivy, wisteria, and willow in my backyard.

After many attempts, I decided I couldn't capture the motion of the glitter spray with the lens I had available (the Nikon d3100/18-55 lens) is a loan from a friend to try.  Shutter speed was 1250, aperture was 5.3 and it was a bright HOT sunny day.

Poor Madi was eaten alive by mosquitoes and so I took a few quick shots and called it a day.

Moral of story:  Some shots are not meant to be.

I did get some fun shots of Madi with the Nikon though.  She is extremely photogenic.  But the glitter looks like dandruff! Image

So I won't be posting on fb, but here is one so you can see how the Nikon d3100 did a great job on creating some sharp, strong contrast images.  They have a moody, hippie-esk feel which I adore.