"My Fair Lady" 2012

So I am doing some photos for the My Fair Lady show being performed by Spanish Fork Community Theater from July 19 to 28th. I have been taking images from rehearsals and a couple of images of the characters in costume. I will keep adding them to the SFCT Facebook page. In the meantime, I am posting one of David who plays Pickering. I need a new 28-200mm lens. No matter what I do, it will not focus properly. I think it's because I use it all the time and it's worn out. Pain in the rear really.

Spanish Fork Community Theater

Be sure to check out some of Spanish Fork Community Theater's official photos from their play this year "My Fair Lady". Not only did I take their official photos, I also was their dialect coach for the proper and Cockney accents that the cast had to have. This show is amazing. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to pop along soon. I feel blessed and extremely grateful to have been included in this production. I hope that I can work with everyone again next year.  There is a link to the page with some event photos on it to the right of the page here. Thanks for looking. Comments would be welcomed and appreciated.

10 Tips to Take Great Family Portaits

I love this article and the photographic examples too. I might try some of those. Great ideas.

11 Tips for Better Candid Photography

11 Tips for Better Candid Photography Great tips I need to integrate into my photography.

Graduation, Prom and a little bit of Seniors

I have really enjoyed working with the people who have helped me out with my practices. Now I need the business I am excited to get them back for more. It looks like I have two sessions set up for Seniors and one Graduation and one (freebie) for Prom photos. This business will be good, not great but good and I am happy that people are trying me out. Shame I never got Kami's daughter's baptism after all. Maybe my prices was too high but hey she ended up wanting all six kids photos done. I am enjoying this a lot. If you are reading this and want to sign up, check the column on the right here and sign away!

Disheartened: stupid idiot!

Do you know how terribly disheartening it is to have someone you don't know tell you your photos are of lower quality than their lowest requirements? Totally, that's how. Nothing worse than them telling you that the three photos you love the most are crap by comparison to their lowest requirements. Remind me not to go trying to sell stock photos. I am crap! But then again, I didn't spend much time actually composing them, which was one of the main criticisms of all three. I suppose I really should try again with new photos and not send them from my Macbook as I seem incapable of doing anything even remotely photo-y with it. I'll need to use my desktop that I loathe and detest. Suppose I'll try again.

Easter family pictures for a steal!

I am offering a great Easter deal. Book a location session for your family Easter photos anytime between now and April 3rd and receive two 10x8 family shots, one 5x7 of each family member and a cd or dvd of up to 25 shots all for a steal at $150 (+ tax) and in time for Easter on April 8th. Be sure to book quickly as the slots will go fast. I can do the following times:

Weekdays: 4pm to 530pm (weather permitting)
Saturdays: 9am to 1030am
11am to 1230pm
130pm to 3pm
330pm to 5pm
Sundays: please call for times

See you and speak to you all soon. Best wishes.

Post editing Amanda

Wow, I hadn't realized quite how tedious and boring editing photos was going to be. Funny thing was, I had done 35 out of 47 shots and found some other software. So I ended up putting the first 35 through the new software and therefore it took forever! Sadly the software I was using will cease to exist from April 19, so i have to find something similarly easy and quick to use. I got Photoshop Elements, but it is so damned tedious to use. Another reason why I took until last night to finish editing. I have to sit and learn PSE before I try to incorporate it into my photography. The blemish removal is just far too intense and the skin of the subjects ends up looking like porcelain and I hate that. The images look so utterly fake. So I suppose I am going to have to find some PSE classes that I can take that specifically deal with blemish removal and skin smoothing effects. The rest is easy enough in Picasa. And overall my thoughts are, if you have to edit your photos you are doing something wrong, unless it's blemishes and poor skin.

Hi res pics, well, a couple at least...

So as not to encourage stealing of my copyright, I am only posting three hi res images. Let me know what you think. Rather more editing than I would normally do, but they look kinda cool.

Official business...

Today was my first official day as a "professional" photographer. I couldn't get to see anyone about getting my licence, but that's what Monday is for. The woman I needed to get the licence from wasn't around and I had so much to do I couldn't wait for her. But I got my EIN yesterday and some business paperwork stuff today. Need to figure out what to do with it.

So Amanda and her mom, Alicia and Amanda's boyfriend came for the sitting. My first official sitting. I was nervous but not as much as for Chante's sitting. It was a lot of fun. We did lots of shots. Some were similar to others, but in different outfits and slightly different poses and positions. I am surprised at how tiring it can be. My biggest problem is coming up with new poses, so it's useful that the clients have at least a little idea of what they want too.

Here are a few of the shots of Amanda...

New hair requires new photos!

So my hair gets really heavy when it gets long so I got it cut....

And Natalie's lack of style was just ugly so she got this....

I am bias but this is a stunning image of her. Love it.

Success!

I had a big photos session with my friend Chante and her three gorgeous daughters on Presidents Day. It lasted two hours and forty minutes. I took 400+ photos and after processing and a little bit of adjustment on shadows, sharpness and blemishes, they look fantastic. I decided that February 29th is the very last time I don't charge for my photos. Obviously there will be some exceptions, but that's it. It is four days away and then I hope to start making a little money at this. I really like taking pictures. It's still nerve wracking but I love it. I purchased two brown sheets for backdrops for boys in particular. Now I need to ask someone to make me a platform I can use to raise my subjects off the floor and make it so I don't have to lay on the floor in order to look up at them. So I will ask the husband of a friend of mine and see what happens. I guess I also need to pay for a business licence now too. Here are some of the shots I took.

Mr Unco-operative!

My son, king of all things unco-operative, was a little less unco-operative than usual today. He knew I wanted spring pictures of him and his sister so he helped me a bit. But, he was in a rush, so I had to accept the opportunity I was given and make the quickest best of it. So here we are....

I love these actually they really have picked out his personality; from happy and sweet, to cheeky and moody. All things lovely about my son!

Johnson Shoot

Saturday saw me borrowing my friend Michelle's daughter for an impromptu practice shoot. Always fun, her daughter was most helpful with following instructions too. Thank heavens for that. Here are some of the photos from that shoot.