Ode to Pomegranate

I know I've slacked off recently in posting. The fall semester is over and the holidays came way too soon. So when I haven't been running around like a chicken, I've been sleeping like a bear. With the new year only about a day away, I will most defiantly intend to add "keep up with blog" to my ever-growing list of resolutions. 

This was a photo of a lovely pomegranate from my final shoot in my studio lighting class. I have a small obsession with pomegranates. Oh how I love thee. 

Until next time...

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Twinkle, Twinkle

Even though I'm still struggling with whether I would consider myself a portrait photographer, every once in awhile I do take up the opportunity to take a portrait or two. And I find myself enjoying photographing babies the most. They are so sweet and pure and easy to work with (in my opinion anyways). I've always been a socially awkward person and with babies I don't have to worry about making small talk or being a "people person". Its easy just to say a few goo-goos and ga-gas and be a total fool around these babies who will only in return give you a big bright smile that's priceless. Not to mention it's pretty rewarding to be able to give the gift of capturing these moments that will last forever, to the proud parents of these children.

Little Star, Oh So Bright.

Displays of Affection

The end of the semester is near and I've been running around going crazy finishing my final projects. Here is one of my fairly recent photos from my studio lighting class. The assignment was to work with a shiny object. Using what I have and trying to be clever, I decided to empty out my kitchen drawer and bring forks.

With this image I shot on a light table with a light tent over head. Using multiple hot lights coming from the left, right, behind and under. Not to mention all the little reflectors that helped make these forks look extra shiny and spiffy. As well as using a gobo to create definition and to outline the curves of the forks. 

This was definitely one of my favorite shoots and I loved working with the light table. It amazes me how much work I put into such a simple composition. 

Oh the loveliness of forks.

Spoon Full of Sugar

Back in the studio again working with strobes, this time using hard lighting. I wanted a simple composition, with some help from my photo assistants I wanted to capture grains of sugar pouring into a silver spoon. I am relatively happy with this photo. The composition reminds me a bit of an umbrella with rain drops trickling down and bouncing off it's roof. And of course any mentioning of a spoon and some sugar reminds of dear o' miss Mary Poppins. 

Makes the medicine go down.

Daguerreotype

Just a few more of my favorite shots from my last shoot with Nataly. With this shoot I wanted to play with different poses and props. I used strobes. While editing I was really inspired by daguerreotypes (as if it wasn't obvious haha).   

Spooky 

99 luftballons

Recently I've been learning all about strobe lighting. It's such an amazing type of lighting to work with but oh so complicated at times! I'm still trying to get the hang of it. For my first shoot with using strobes, I wanted to play with capturing motion. 

With these images I wanted to have a bit of a dark whimsy in my model's appearance, her movements and poses, as well as the balloons themselves. 
In the first image, while mainly trying to capture just the pop of a balloon (and oh how this was harder to achieve than I could have ever imagined), I wanted the image to have a mischievous character. It's amazing that out of the 20+ balloon shots I attempted, only two actually captured the balloon pop. Despite the results, I had so much fun with this shoot and definitely would attempt this again. 
With the second image (with a little help from my friends) I had the balloons trickle down on to a dreary like miss N. I had a sort of "black celebration" in mind. 
The last image might be my favorite. I find it to be so delicate and beautiful with her body language and the single red floating balloon. 

The girl with the red balloon.      
 

A Wedding Story

Kind of recently (Okay like two months ago) I was a second shooter at a wedding. I'm still indifferent about how I feel about wedding photography. But I have to say as far as experience goes in general, no matter what, I always try to take up the opportunity when it presents itself. It has taken me so long to actually post some photos because frankly there was just too many to go through! (and I haven't had much time for editing or updating this abandoned blog of mine).  Heres just a few shots from the wedding, I have to say unfortunately I wasn't too please from my results and it's shame considering it was such a beautiful wedding. Photographing a wedding is definitely a whole 'nother ball game and I'm not sure I can keep up. All those people, the different shifts in pace, all those beautiful moments to catch! It can be quite overwhelming, oh the pressure! haha But with all rants aside wedding photography is a beautiful thing and kudos to those skilled photographers who are so successful at it. Possibly maybe one day I'll be able to be comfortable enough for wedding photography. 

Congrats to the Mr. & Mrs.

The Office

Photo by Nataly Marenco, Dayna Mulder, and Me

In my studio lighting class, as groups we were assigned the task of making a typical boring office chair look interesting. With free range in lighting and props, my group decided to use the studio and equipment itself to create a lifestyle photo of the chair. Using the lights to highlight the chair and the electrical chords to act as leading lines moving the eye to the star of the show: the office chair.

Just another day at the office.

Grow Up

 

In this body of work I wanted to illustrate the psychological aspect of growing up by my own experiences, feelings and thoughts. For myself, the dividing line from adolescents to adulthood is still muddled; and probably will overlap between themselves for the time being. Growing up is not only about the individual but involves the unit of people surrounding that individual. And there is nothing that represents that notion more than the relationship between parents and children. These images display various settings of perspective that depict the relationship between my parents and I and its effect on my “adulthood”, emphasizing on body language and habitual patterns.

To be Continued...

egg (n.)

55mm, f/5.6, 1/4, ISO:200

18mm, f/5.6, 1/10, ISO:200

Recently in my studio lighting class I have been learning the usage of multi lighting. Although for awhile we as a class were photographing people (which by all means I need some practice in that department) finally we were able to photograph objects again (Yay!).
I have to admit I had the hardest time deciding on what to use as my subject. Then luckily during one of my many trips to the refrigerator it dawned on me: eggs! 

I wanted my lighting to be very subtle with some heavy shadows to contrast from the common simple form of the white eggs. 

Who knew eggs could be so sophisticated?

Dayna

120mm, f/16, 1/5, ISO:400 

Hard and soft lighting: a person. With this assignment I finally understood what a difference lighting makes on a person's face. And in most cases soft lighting is definitely more flattering. 

In this portrait I am using one soft light. 

Throughout all the images I have to say this is my favorite. My "model" for that day is usually a bubbly, energetic character (which I still shot some images using her personality as it was) but I wanted her to have a subtle soft expression in the portrait.

I'd like to think, even with her calm demeanor, you can still see in her eyes and the corner of her mouth all the laughter she is so desperately trying to contain. And I like that.

I wanted this portrait to be a little funny, a little sweet, a little quiet and frankly a little quirky

(with the tight shot, large amount of negative space, slight off positioning and of course the expression on her face). 

It's hard not to laugh...  

Wake Up

The Wake Up project was a body of work that displayed the intimate morning routines of various individuals. Using a Canon AE-1, Kodak 200 film and all natural lighting, I wanted to document with a snap shot-like style to produce more organic images that would contribute to the tone of the context. The objective was not to exploit these individuals on how they looked in the morning, their living spaces or their habits but to capture them in a natural state of living, of waking up in the morning.  

I personally find the mornings to be tranquil and rather enjoy the slow pace of it (I know not everyone experiences calm mornings) and I can only hope that I was able to successfully depict my appreciation for the mornings in this work. 

Here is the rest of the collection.


Good Morning 

Portrait of a Girl

Photo by Nataly

As I grow as a photographer, I think more now than ever, I have been reevaluating the directions I want to go in this line of work. There are so many different ways I can use this skill and at times it can be a little overwhelming. Do I want to be a wedding/portrait photographer? Go into commercial photography? Be a photojournalist? Or just focus all my energy into fine art photography? (and then some). 

I think I've been struggling most with the idea of 'do what makes money' vs. 'do what makes me happy'.  Not to say that I can't have both, but being a realist, sometimes all the factors and possibilities have to be laid out.

Even now as I write this out, my thoughts are trying to paint a picture of what my life would be like in all these different situations. 

But I can honestly say my heart lies with fine art photography. 
It makes me feel comfortable and at home. 
And now I have just begun to tap into my ideas and explore and produce the images I really want. 

And all at the same time, I'm trying to refine my photographic style. I hope to express little pieces of my own self in every photograph I take. 

It could have been a brilliant career.

Get Your Kicks

36mm, f/16, 1/2, ISO:200

22mm, f/5.6, 1/30, ISO:200

Being that I'm back in school for fall semester with fresh new classes and fresh new professors, it's exciting that i'll be able to focus again on my photography. 
It's only been the second week of school and i've already soaked up so much interesting information and I'm feeling rather inspired. 

*Not to mention I'm going to make it a goal to publish more post on here. 

The first photo shoot of the semester. Hard & soft lighting: an object. Pretty much self explanatory.
I used hard lighting to emphasize the details of the boots.

These boots were made for walkin'

Mix Tape

Coming across old photos has always been a favorite of mine. Its an understated treasure. I always like to imagine how different life must have been. How I pine to be able to live a moment in those days. Any era before 1973 would suit me just fine. 

Being that it is summer I thought these specific photos were quite fitting for the season. Camping, road trips, short shorts and tank tops, splish splash, sunny weather, and plenty of photo taking action. I wish I would have been able to participate more in these summer traditions instead of feeling tired and uninspired and taking a summer anthropology class. 

And I can't forget to mention the fact that photos like these are what inspired the many digital filters we know and love today (and use over and over to document our own adventures). 

Give me some of that vintage nostalgia. 

A Day in the Life

pudding camera

I hate to admit it, but as of lately my measly little camera phone has been my main device for taking photos (but that reasoning will be saved for another time). 

Spontaneously (so out of character!) Steven and I took a day trip to Los Angeles. Starting the day with a stroll along the beach and taking in as much fresh air as possible. Headed downtown is a lovely little childhood favorite of mine called Olvera Street. The colors, the culture, the vendors and oh! the food, makes me feel so at home. I love nothing more than a dirty burrito. And what better way to end a great day than to end it under the stars. As many times I have visited the Griffith Observatory it never ceases to loose it's charm. 


So although at times I wanted to kick myself for not having my DSLR on hand, I still admire the simple quality of camera phone pictures. I like to think they captured each spur-of-the-moment in all it's raw, gritty, sweet, easy as pie gloriness.  


For a closer look


Say Cheese!