The WPPI Experience...Continued

Sharing some photos from the convention. Nothing fancy-just good old snap shots of what it's like.

The Product & Vendor Booths:

The WPPI Experience...

Only being there will let you feel what it's really like, but for a little peak inside the world of WPPI read on. I say into the "world" of WPPI because for me it did feel like a whole different world. I mean I think the figure I heard was "over 10,000 photographers" were there! Talk about unreal! I am usually one out of a very few with an SLR in hand at the events I go to, whether in public or semi-private. To see 9 out of every 10 people walking by you with a camera and badge swinging from their neck is just a tad different than the norm. And let me tell you these fellow photographers weren't walking by any means, they were practically running to get to the next lecture, seminar or master class. I kept thinking the first day arrived, "what are they in such a hurry for?" I found out as soon as I attended the open forum of "young guns" that night. I think it started at around 7:30pm and went on and on and on. Seriously. It was way too cool! Young, successful artists sharing the secrets & logic behind their successes! And from that moment on I realized why everybody was rushing around-nobody wanted to miss a thing!

Here are the names of photographers that spoke that night:

Ryan Schembri
Jesh de Rox
Jim Garner
Catherine Hall
Gene Higa
David Jay
Mike Larson
JB & DeEtte Sallee
Jose Villa
Lori Nordstrom
John Solano

I'm sure you can google each of them and find their work. You know I'd love to summarize all the good ideas & thoughts I heard, but basically one motto stood out to me throughout EVERY speaker I heard...and it was TO BE UNIQUE-DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT-STAND OUT & TAKE RISKS!

MAD AT THE WORLD!

" Do not teach your children never to be angry; teach them how to be angry." ~Lyman Abbott

I wanted to share this one from the shoot with my daughter the other day. As soon as I reviewed the images I had this photo manipulation in mind for the photo. The first one is the original photo that my idea formed from. And the story goes like this-

My son was watching the photo shoot and my daughter wanted him to stop whatever it was he was doing when she stared him down as you see in the photo. I am so glad I captured the look on her face at that moment because as all of you with teens out there know-this look is the typical "Mad at the World" or "Stop Bugging Me" look we all can do without on most days. This day I didn't mind her being a little mad!


"The world needs anger. The world often continues to allow evil because it isn't angry enough." ~Bede Jarrett


So...how do you get a manipulation like this? Well, it's a lot of playing around in your favorite editing program. I knew I was going to use some of the cloud photos from my "Heaven's Above" blog, but didn't know which one until they were each tried one by one. I went with one that had both a dark side and a brighter blue side to it. I don't know why I picked it, it just looked good to me. My edit of the original photo already had extra noise added in to make it a bit more interesting and kind of deep. Sometimes I add noise to give extra interest to a photo. Normally photographers try to reduce the noise in their photos, which is at most times true for me too, but in some cases, usually when doing artist manipulations-adding noise is the better choice. I next added an adjustment layer to my existing layer (the original photo), positioning it just right. I then duplicated that layer and erased the clouds and sky from her face giving it the effect you see. I also tweaked the opacity on the second layer so that there was a bit of both layers (photos) present in my final piece. I think I added in some contrast and adjusted the hue on this as well. If you haven't tried this type of photo-reworking-do so! You may just find you love it like I do!

Anyhow, I loved the result...my daughter? I'm not so sure...I can say she didn't seem to hate it as she sometimes feels about my digital creations.

This brings up a topic to mention...what about ethics and photo manipulation? Is it unethical to alter photos in this way? Here's some interesting reading on the subject of digital manipulation and ethics if you're interested.

Also, I see your watching my posts closely...leave a comment now and then and let me know what you think-especially about my photo manipulations like this one...after all they are one of my favorite things! :)

Take this to bed with you tonight and wake with it in your head every morning-I dare you!

"If you're angry at a loved one, hug that person. And mean it. You may not want to hug - which is all the more reason to do so. It's hard to stay angry when someone shows they love you, and that's precisely what happens when we hug each other." ~Walter Anderson, The Confidence Course, 1997

You see...there is a message to find in every image created, there is something to be learned in every struggle we go through, something to be gained in every emotion-if you are willing to embrace it!

Congratulations Carlos & Sueng-Hae!

I wish you two NEWLYWEDS lots of romantic fun on your honeymoon in Hawaii next week! Sleep in late together, drink some fruity concoctions all day long, hit up the Luau's at night and squeeze in a little outdoor fun too!

Thank you for choosing me to help capture the memories of your beautiful wedding day...it was an honor I'll always cherish. Your thoughtful thank you note and trust in me for this most important day means more than words can say. This is why I love what I do!

Taking my blog readers back to last weekend...it was a beautiful, gorgeous, glorious and sunny day. Sunny being the most important part of that last sentence...you see I visited the garden where the wonderful Sueng-Hae & Carlos were getting married at a couple months back. I remember Sueng-Hae being just a tad worried about rain. It's known to drizzle some in March-even here in the mostly always sunny filled state of California. You can imagine my happiness on the morning of the wedding when I knew the weather was going to be one less concern for my bride-to-be.

The campus of Caltec College where the wedding and reception took place was a photographer's dream shooting location...from the gorgeous structures, open archways, ponds, statues & phenomenal greenery...to the enormous olive trees that filled the walkways...these are just a taste of the photographs taken that day.

My daughter

Once in a while there is a cooperative teen around my house...it's not often, but earlier this week it happened and I took advantage of the chance to photograph my beautiful little girl!

Thanks for enduring my photo attack Brit!

:)

Aren't I fortunate to have such a fun & adorable model available to me? I sure think so...

small things...BIG DREAMS

I think I mentioned the awesome wedding I photographed the other day, here is a small taste of some of the littlest details.

So true...

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence. ~Ansel Adams

A GIANT THANK YOU!

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to shoot a super romantic wedding for an old friend and her sweetheart. The wedding was in the garden at Caltec College in Pasadena, Ca. I was accompanied by my sister who assisted me the entire 14 hour day!

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you Stef for all your hard work on Saturday-lugging around my equipment, making sure everybody looked their best (no hair out of place) and for simply being the best sis around. It was great working with you...I'll always cherish experiencing doing a wedding with you! By the way...I just looked through the photos you took and they look fabulous...your attention to detail and the time you took to get the photos just right-especially with minimal lighting conditions really show. And to think you achieved all this with a CANON! Ha!

What's the saying..."A good photographer will capture a great photograph no matter what camera they shoot with." Unknown Author.

I agree.

I took this photograph of my sister at the reception on Saturday...I just love it!

I will be posting a few photos from this wedding in the coming days.

I'm Back!!!

WPPI was the place to be last week...it was my first time attending and I was blown away with new ideas and information on wedding & portrait photography. I can't wait to sit down and sort through the piles of information I received and put it to use in my daily work. I knew it would be a week to remember when on the first day I got to Vegas I went to check into the hotel and they were out of the standard rooms...I was upgraded to a suite for the entire trip (photo of my sweet room included above)!

I have to thank my friend Joe for giving me the gift of knowledge about WPPI a few months back. He was such a big help in showing me around and I was able to meet some phenomenal photographers through him and his friend Frank (an orange county Master of Photography). I've included a photo of Joe viewing an Album's Inc. Album up close at one of evening parties.

I wanted to say hello to a friend I met at the convention...hey Nisha! Nisha and I had a lot in common and had a great time looking over everything at the trade show all day on Tuesday. We'll be getting together soon since she's just a hop, skip and jump away in San Francisco. The last photo on here is us at the trade show together...the photo was taken by Hanson Fong himself (Nisha is his studio manager).

I got to speak with Hanson for a while and get some inspiration for wedding photography and specifically was intrigued by his ideas on posing techniques and on striving to photograph people (in particular-women) in a way that flatters them. Simple changes in posing make a huge difference!

There is so much more to share about this exciting event...so I'll be including WPPI tidbits throughout my posts in the coming weeks!

Nature Finale! (Maybe)

Whew! Are you as tired as I am? It's been a journey this week...I haven't shot this much of one thing-ever! I'm finding I kind of like it...

I think we all should take a fresh look at the things around us and appreciate the wonders they are...including the wonders we are!

I would go into detail on each of these, but I'm on my way to Vegas for the annual wedding & portrait convention. I hope to be able to share with you all the great things I learn while I'm there...and put them into practice in the coming months.

Beauty is all around us...in nature, animals and people...all you have to do is be open to finding it!

Enjoy your week! :)

Nature Part 4 (The Heavens Above)

The past few days I focused in on some small things in nature...this time I'm expanding to some of the largest wonders of nature...

Shall we start with the sky & clouds and the enormity of it? It's awesome when you think of it...the size alone. The shapes of the clouds is a whole different subject.

I decided to shoot the sky & clouds when I went outside today to do one of the days many mundane tasks and I was practically knocked over with the amazing beauty all over the sky above me-in every direction! This first one was taken of the sky and clouds above my very own home.












Then I went to an area about 5 minutes from home where I knew there were mountains and greenery surrounding. I was able to get the next few shots there. I really like this one b/c the clouds
seem endless the
way they are
climbing towards
the sky.












This next group of photos are a little more dark in contrast which gives
them a mysterious and spooky feel to them.




There were so many more great cloud photos-I just can't share them all today. Maybe I'll share them another day. Come back tomorrow and see the finale of my nature expedition!

I think there is rain on the way...hmm...how did I guess?!


My manipulation for this series...

"It's a Stormy World"

Nature Part 3 (Why Do We Make Wishes?)

WOW...nature is blowing my mind at the moment. I go out thinking I'm going to shoot a great landscape photograph of trees & sky or something and I end up with dandelions! Who would have thought? I've always wondered why the dandelion is a trigger for making wishes. It happens the instant we see one. We're almost born to use them as a tool for wishing. And whenever you put a child near a dandelion you are bound to find them blowing wishes into the air.

Why are they so fascinating? I don't know. I really don't, but they are something special. The texture of the soft ball that we use for wishing is light & feathery...the green stems grow long & high. This first photo was taken by a meadow near my home. I walk there often and it is usually so well maintained I cannot get photo opportunities such as this.


The following three I found interesting b/c the background actually helped isolate the dandelion making it stand out even more.


The white against the green is
just the right contrast to give
the dandelion a "look at me" effect.

I like the curve in the stem
of the last one for some reason.
It's odd how the smallest things draw us in.


















































I couldn't decide whether to post the color or black and white version of this one so I did both.







I'm hoping you're enjoying our walk through nature. I know I am! My desire is to get you looking at small things in a BIG way. No matter how busy we are each day it is important to take the time to find our own joys and share them with the world. Be happy...the weekend is finally here!!!

Nature Part 2 (Echoing Flowers)

So... I promised more nature and here it is! I finished editing the bright flowers and came up with some unique images to share. I placed the group of flowers (I believe there were 5 total) behind a single flower in order to get more color into the photo. I tried to do this without losing any of the wonderful reflections of the main flower. You will see that the background is blurred out which is called "bokeh" in photography terms. This technique isn't as easy as one might think and can take lots of practicing to get just right. This first photo has so many neat things going on. It has all the different colors in it, a great reflection of part of the flower and the wonderful flower bokeh in the background. I was super happy with this image. The next images will be a photo manipulation that I've made from this original photo.

This look is attained by making a mirror image of the same flower in the first image. Because the flower has the dark circular center it creates a look of "eyes" in the second image when mirrored. I think this photo looks like an insect and it has a feel of being made out of tissue or origami paper because of the petals looking like they've been folded and carefully crafted to make the mini creature. Some people won't like my manipulations, but I find them to be fascinating and fun to create...you should try playing with your photos this way too!




This image here is simply
straight off the camera.












This next image is yet the same photo, but turned into a "painting" style finish. The colors were enhanced a little by adding in more contrast to the photo. I think it gives it a very unique look and can be used as a great piece of art if printed onto the right material-such as canvas or linen textured high grade photography paper.













On to a different image all together. This next flower is actually one that I posted yesterday as the third image down on my blog. I wanted to show you how much you can do with a single image. It can have so many different looks. I basically used a one step editing tool to "punch" the image. What that means is the images becomes enlarged some and almost pops out of the photo. That's all I did...and you see it's so different from my previous post of the same flower! You can also "pinch" images to make them shrink backwards into the photo. I only encourage using these techniques when shooting objects or flowers. It doesn't work that well on people because it may make them look distorted.

This last flower is a twist on the previous one. It looks like I just converted it to a black & white photo, but that isn't the case. I used a special combination of effects to remove color from the photo while increasing the contrast and at the same time creating a "hot spot" within the photo. This is basically a more in depth way of brightening certain parts of a photo. So in the photo you will notice the flower is bright while the reflection is dull and barely noticeable. I sometimes find that creating several different versions of the same image-in this case-a flower, works well for collages or groupings to hang together as art.

That's all for now. Check back to see some wild dandelions tomorrow!

Nature Part 1 (Echoing Flowers)

Yesterday and today I worked on experimenting with macro photography. I am no expert, but I liked the results. I found that because I shot on a glass table there were some great natural reflections from the flowers that showed up in the images. I called this session "echoing flowers" because I imagine if they were to make noise it would sound like soft echoes off in a distance just like the soft mirror image echo they left on the glass table. I shot these with my Nikon D80 SLR camera and an 18-200mm lens using automatic focus and the macro mode on my camera. I am not finished editing them all for posting, but will share these few for tonight. Hope you enjoy the bright colors and reflections on these photos!

I have decided on a nature theme for my next few blogs. I find that being in tune with nature helps keep things in my life peaceful and light. I hope that you will see some of that shine through in my photography over time. When looking at these flowers they bring thoughts of hope, laughter, smiling, generosity and kindness to my mind. They are an assortment of all my favorite colors and maybe that is why they bring such happy thoughts to me. I love shades of yellow, orange & red. All of those are clearly seen inside these images.

I hope you are inspired to take time to smell some flowers sometime this week. Thank you for reading & viewing my blog on this beautiful evening...more tomorrow!

The Classic Beauty

I had a photo shoot with Chelsea last week. The shoot was a little over an hour long with a few wardrobe changes and one update to Chelsea's make-up. I was very happy with the results as I only had a limited amount of studio equipment to work with on this day. Chelsea's hair & make-up were done by her mother, an
extremely talented make-up artist. I hope to work with both Chelsea & her mother again in the coming weeks on some other projects. Chelsea is a great model and open to all my suggestions which makes working with her a breeze!
This is my favorite shot from our shoot. Her hair,
make-up and expression all make an impact.
I used a glamor technique on this photo during the
post processing that I feel gives it a smooth,
strong & classic style.

This is my 2nd pick for best photo
from that
same shoot.
I just adore
her eyes
in this one!
It's a
standard
black & white edit
with some
softening
in all the
right places.












Here's a look I had
been wanting to
try for a long time
on somebody.
I think it worked
great. Her
having something
to grab
onto changed the
dynamic of
the photo.















This is one of the wardrobe changes. A little bit of an intense stare gives her a more serious look, although the bright white
background and
dress make
for a softer image.
I did a vintage
style black &
white color conversion
on it
along with a lot
of extra contrast.














I couldn't pick between
these next
two for a last
photo so I'm
including them
both. It concludes the
"best of the best"
from this shoot-at
least until the
editing is
completed.
































I had to include these two shots of Chelsea's brother who wanted in on the action so bad I had to snap a few shots of him while Chelsea was switching outfits. Isn't he the sweetest!!?? Even though he isn't looking at the camera in these I think they show what a fun & friendly little guy he is.










Maybe you can see why I enjoy portrait photography so much. Every person has a unique personality and so many different looks. When a connection is found between the camera and the model it is pure magic. What a fun shoot!!!

Just The Beginning of Many More Blog Posts To Come!

Thank you for joining me for my very first photography blog! I'm excited to be here and to be able to share the unfolding of my life's work with you. Check back often to see what's new...and feel free to leave a comment on any blog you find interesting. The following photo is a newer photo from about two weeks ago. I took it at a lake near my home. I have been calling it Midnight Waters. You will find that I name a lot of my photos-especially landscape or artistic pieces. Please subscribe to my blog to get future updates.