Low Key Practice {Omaha Photographer}

January 17, 2013 By 1 Comment

My client tomorrow wants some low-key portraits of her son. Fabulous, you say!

Sure! Except for the fact that low-key is something I normally only accomplish by accident.

So, this morning I woke up in a cold sweat, remembering tomorrow is the day and I have done nothing to prepare.

Time to get my Learn On.

But first, a cup of coffee and a little physical therapy to start the day…

a funny video of people lip-reading for football players…

the sweetest gaggle of kittens rolling around in a basket…

And…Ahem!

It’s noon and I still don’t know how to do a low-key portrait on purpose. Eeek!

So, I decided to use my Interwebical Powers for good. Thankfully, except for that bad batch of fudge last Christmas, the interweb rarely disappoints. There are so many things I learned here and I found a number of awesome examples here. In addition to that, I tapped the knowledge of a few fellow photographers who have experience with low-key shooting. Like HUMAN BEINGS that I KNOW. It was via the internet, but I totally could have called them too. No, really. I’m sure I have the phone number here somewhere.

I was starting to feel like I could totally handle this and it was getting to be time to put all this new found knowledge to the test. But this is where it gets hard, because the only subject available for testing was

 

me.

Self Low Key

Low-Key Self-Portrait. Oh good Lord, next time let the neighbors be home when I need them.

 

Filed Under: Humor, Motivation, Photography, Words

Dear January, You Give Me Heartburn

January 16, 2013 By 1 Comment

Well hello, January! So nice of you to pop in. You know, right after December like that.

I know you’re just another month, but isn’t it funny all the hope and anxiety and heartburn that goes into you every year?

Thirty days have September, April, June and November…

But you, January! You are thirty-one days of vicissitude. (< My new favorite word. Look it up.)

The new workout, notebook and Christmas sweater are all staring at me, wondering why I’m afraid of them.

You love me too much, January. You have such high hopes for me and I feel like I let you down every time.

So, can we agree to disagree on the workout?

I’ll do the elliptical a few times a week, but let’s ignore anything with the words “race” or “run” in it.

What about the journal?

I love the notebook, but I think a daily journal entry would strangle my spirit, leaving it gasping by the side of the road, whispering gutturally, “Whyyy? Why do you care that I think I have more zits today than yesterday, and that I could kiss the person who invented soft pretzels?” It’s painfully true. Some things are better left unjournaled.

And as for the sweater?

I resolve to wear it and I will love it.

I promise.

Thank you for wanting me to be better. Just for that, here’s a kitty.

Kitty Croatia

 

Filed Under: Babble on a random topic, Humor, Motivation, Things I think you care about, Words

It’s a Major Award {Omaha Photographer}

October 9, 2012 By 4 Comments

I did a few things over the weekend.

I drank at least $20 worth of fancy coffee.

I drove circles around the town where the World’s Largest Ball of String resides (not to be mistaken for the World’s Largest Ball of Twine.)

I ate at Chick-fil-A two times. This is not a political statement. Good chicken is hard to find.

And I won a major award.

What’s that? You want to know more about my major award? Well, I suppose I’ve got a few free minutes.

FotoChaos Photographer of the Year. They never knew what hit ‘em.

 

It all started when I became friends with a fellow photographer who is incredibly encouraging and supportive. Her name is Jenny Gegg of Jenny Gegg Photography. You should really check her out. This nice person introduced me to a whole passel of nice people who are also encouraging and supportive. That group is called FotoChaos.

These introductions allowed me to see the door that was hiding a room of possibilities. All I had to do was kick it open.

Ha! I wish I could say that’s what I did, but in reality I knocked, peeked through the crack, and whispered in a fake British accent, “Would you mind too terribly if I came in?”

Bottom line, there was a contest. I gathered 5 of my bestest images, closed my eyes and pressed the upload button.

Four of them earned above average scores, which is good, but not award-winning in itself.

One of my images earned a merit. If you’re not bored yet and want to know what that means exactly, click here. Boiled down, it means the image was technically accurate, engaging and well done. This image earned the merit:

~ S’more Please ~ a michael and mom creation

Lucky for me, the combination of the above average scores and the merit image earned me the award. In addition to that wonderfulness, they also informed me that if I had been a member of the Professional Photographers of Missouri, I would have earned a spot in the TOP TEN in the points category.

It was a lot to take in all at once! Walking to the front of the room was horrifying. My legs were like poorly cooked pasta and all my images were up on the screen for everyone to see.

After spending the last 24 hours in close quarters with these awesomely talented people and having been protected by relative anonymity, it suddenly felt like the cashier was asking for a price check on that box of Rogaine for Women in my cart.

But they weren’t laughing. They were clapping. For me.

Here are the other four images. I have a long way to go. There is so much I want to do and so much I need to learn, but first, please excuse me while I find a place to hang that pretty plaque.

This Old House

In the Shadow of the Vatican

On the Ball

The Way to Hogwarts

 

 

Filed Under: Babble on a random topic, Humor, Motivation, Photography, Things I think you care about

Breaking the Rules

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We woke up in the middle of a cloud today. Billowy white surrounded us like First Communion at an all-girls school.

Then the sun broke through.

It’s simply gorgeous out there. But, speaking of breaking things, I’m breaking rules all over the place with these images. I can’t help it. I love the blur, I love the poor exposure, I even love the crappy composition. Rules were meant to be broken. Except the ones I make for my kids. Those are iron-clad.

Happy Monday! Go break some rules today.

Filed Under: Editing, Humor, Motivation, Photography, Things I think you care about Tagged With: , ,

Finding Inspiration

November 29, 2011 By 1 Comment

I was inspired this morning by this lady who actually has a knack for inspiring me quite often. She posts even when she doesn’t have much to say and is so kind and thoughtful that I’d like her to be my neighbor. I’m not sure right now which one I’d replace, but I’d find room for her. She takes pictures daily, even when the weather stinks (she’s in Wisconsin, so it stinks often), and finds constant inspiration in her children. If I had her gorgeous girls, I bet I’d be more inspired too.

So even though projects are looming and laundry is tumbling, I felt compelled to get these off my chest:

Around One Table

Silly, but I love seeing us all around one table.

We didn’t have Thanksgiving on Thursday like normal people. Friday was the day that worked for us and it was the perfect excuse for why we weren’t at Kohl’s fighting over the last pair of “jeggings” at 4AM.

Because of our backwards schedule, we had time on Thursday to enjoy the opening of the old/new bridge in town.

And because it was the warmest Thanksgiving we could ever remember, we brought the bikes.

Offroading

Apparently the paved trails weren't enough for this kid.

Thrill Ride

This is the same look he has on his face when Caleb drives the car too.

Old Meridian Bridge

Then it was off to try out the pedestrian bridge. It's been here since 1924, creating the final link on the highway between Mexico City and Winnipeg. Might be fun to drive that sometime.

New Bridge at Sunset

This is the new driving bridge, just down the river from the old one. I wonder when they constructed it if they knew how pretty it would be at sunset?

New Bridge

Love the colors in this one. Sigh.

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving! I’m starting to feel like I’m the only Christian on earth without Christmas lights up already. Is this true?

Filed Under: Babble on a random topic, Children, Family, Motivation, Photography, Things I think you care about

Don’t Start With Me

August 30, 2011 By 6 Comments

I don’t like to start stuff.

In fact, this particular blog post took several hours and more than a couple cups of coffee to start.

I should probably also mention the two loaves of banana bread that are now cooling on my counter due to this particular bout of blogcrastination.

I don’t like to start stuff because Stuff inevitably snowballs into bigger Stuff and bigger Stuff makes my life difficult. If you avoid the actual Starting of Stuff from the very beginning, then you avoid the Problem altogether.

Take My Advice and Don’t Start:

- Cleaning out the fridge. Because you’ll then realize the freezer needs it too.

- Taking the car in for the check engine light. Because that’s how you’ll find out it has a massive exhaust leak.

- Taking a casual nature walk around a lake. Because when you’re halfway around you’ll find a map informing you that this particular lake is six miles in circumference.

objects in mirror are larger than they appear.

And these are just the things I started this week.

But I started one other thing too.

I finally took the first step on a project I’d built up in my mind as being huge! gigantic! and almost insurmountable! In doing so, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the first step was the hardest one.

The next step will be easy. The step after that will actually be fun and all the steps after that will fly by as if I’d broken into a run.

because walking is boring.

I’ll be sharing details about this exciting project once it gets off the ground, but in the meantime, I want to hear what kind of crazy surprises you’ve had lately. And please don’t tell me you have a massive exhaust leak too. My husband has already seen me cry once this week.

Filed Under: Babble on a random topic, Motivation, Photography