Improvement over the years

While I cringe looking back at the first photographs I ever took,
I am still proud to call them my own simply for the fact of how far I have come
and how much I taught myself over the years.


Here is a little example of my improvements:


From the summer of 2007:


From the summer of 2008:



Taken just a few days ago:


It makes me excited to think about what I will be comparing that shot to in a year.
Hopefully improvements will continue to happen as I take more classes and get to use other equipment and such!


Granted, there were other shots in there that were better and some which were even worse. I chose these because they were all taken around the month of July of each year.


Anyway, right now I'm getting ready to measure some things for etsy, I will definitely have some things in my shop tomorrow (at least a few!)
I will be sure to make a post when there are things up, so expect an update on that later!


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Top Hats & Lace (7.26.09)

Yesterday I had a shoot with my friend Alexis.
(So thankful all my friends are such babes ;D)

The styling was a collaborative effort:
The lace cape and tutu is from a vintage shop I'm collaborating with to do some advertising stuff for. Hat and suspenders are mine from a Michael Jackson dance my team did last year. (Alexis was on my team, too!) the tights were my mother's and the shoes belong to Alexis. Some of the shots are really really over the top, but that's kind of what we were going for. I prefer the more subtle ones, but I'm glad I made myself do something crazier than usual either way.

Here is a preview of the shots:

This first one is probably my favorite:

And the lighting in this one is exactly what I wanted! very spotlight-esque. Plus, it incorporates the backlighting that I've grown obsessed over, yet presented in a different way than my last few shoots.


This was one of the more ridiculous shots, just because it's... so... much... stuff! I like the cinematic element of the style, though:


I had a few different "themes" in my head using this outfit. I wanted some to look trendy, some to look cinematic (like the above), and with these next ones, I was going for a soft look reminiscent of little red riding hood or a fairy tale:



Had the cape propped up so it wouldn't get tangled in the grass and it made a weird angle in the cape, I wish it was just flowing down. Might work on editing this next one later:
(I shot this one at the exact location as I shot the dreamcatcher ones, heh):



I took two rolls (48 shots) with the hasselblad, too. And we did some other things with it that we did not do with the 5d, so I look forward to getting those back so I can post them! :)
We didn't do much "behind the scenes" for this one, but I'll be sure to post the hasselblad shots as soon as the square beauties are in my hands!


After we did the shoot we spent even more time looking for clothes to wear to go get coffee than we did styling her for the shoot, ha! (gotta look stylish no matter where we go, of course) :P

I'll upload a few more of these onto deviantART, maybe will go through and look for others to edit since I did a lot of these at about 2 in the morning (or something ridic like that)

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Catching Dreams (7.24.09)

I apologize in advance for how long it will probably take to load this blog due to the amount of images in it, I think it's worth it though!

Today I set out to take some shots of my outfit for lookbook. I decided to bring along my massive dreamcatcher with me, since it fit the Native American theme I had goin' on. My dreamcatcher unfortunately had to experience my car being flooded about a month ago, so it's not in perfect shape anymore. I still love it, though!


Here was the combination I came up with for lookbook. I felt it showed off the outfit best and I liked the close up with it (you can also click this and go to the page of lookbook that it's on) :



As some of you know, I use a remote to shoot most of my self-portraits (or self timer).
If you are curious as to how I got the close up shot (since there is no remote showing)
here is the answer: I put the remote inbetween my knees and under my boots when my knees weren't together. I took a few with the self-timer, but it just wastes too much time!


Here is another with the red hands, except for just one hand since the other was hitting the remote. I kind of like them both, though.


Mother-naturey:
Crying in fields cuz my life is soooo hard. (jokes)


This was one of my favorites with the dreamcatcher! :



and my least favorite, but still obvs like it enough to have edited it and put it up:


Here is a silly one of me showing off the remote:

A better shot of my boots in the grass. I got them for $5 at a thrift store, love those tassles! :) :



Here you can see how my (cheap) tripod was set up. I was in the white glowy goodness:


Here is the ever so glamorous park I shoot at. it's pretty dull until you get really close to the grass and let the light shine just right. I should mention that just past that tall grass is a huge lake. (which I've gotten in before for photographs, heh) :


And just because I rarely ever smile in my self-portraits anymore, here is a stereotypical close-up boring shot. Easily passible for a senior photograph, no?



I'll be uploading these to deviantART, flickr and lookbook soon soon soon!
(I'm sure a few of you reading this were directed here from one of the uploads, ha)
Feel free to leave comments and let me know which ones are your favorite, and which you'd like to see me upload.


Hopefully I'll be able to do more behind the scenes stuff later on, it's quite fun :)

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revamping this blog (7.23.09)

I have had multiple people from both lookbook and deviantART to ask me if I keep up with a blog.
Before I was using a tumblr, but that really isn't suited for creating long entries with text and multiple photographs.
I do like the design, but not for what I intend on doing.


Anyway, I hope to post more photographs here than I do on deviantART,
such as images from commissioned shoots and such.
Perhaps I'll do some behind the scenes stuff, tips of thrifting, etc etc.

I've never really kept up with a blog, I usually get bored and/or forget about it.
I will try to keep this thing updated at least weekly!


If you have any suggestions for things to post, I'd love to hear!
I'm currently working on photographing/measuring things to sell on etsy,
organizing my terribly cluttered bedroom, and planning shoots.

I am hoping to have an art show before I go back to Georgia for school,
we shall see though! I also need to shoot more with my hasselblad,
I've got one roll so far, still undeveloped.

Anyway, I'm going to go work on all the stuff I just mentioned.
Like I said, please let me know if you have any suggestions! :)




(ignore my gross face) this is just a preview of one of the dresses I'll be selling on etsy later.

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new prices (6.13.09)

I have updated my price listings (to include more variety in price/photo options)
You can find links to the information on the side bar, where you can also find a link to extra information and a referral deal you might check out!


I recently purchased a Canon 5d!
(a MASSIVE upgrade from the starter camera, the canon 350d, aka rebel xt)


Here are some recent shots taken with the new gear:
self-portrait, tricky to focus, but fun! entitled "with grace like ghosts"



models are kymbre and alexis, styled by me, was supposed to be somewhere else but had a car accident (no one hurt, car was fine), so we ended up shooting here while we waited. this was my first attempts at trying out some fashion photography, I was pleased with the results!



model is alexis, wearing my dress from halloween (i was a little old lady, lolzzz) when i was seven, which i recently found and fell in love with.



model is kymbre! the horse was brought by a near by rancher, so we asked if we could use it for some shots (couldn't get too close, since it was rowdy) but i like how it turned out.




I recently had a senior session with Sarah Rock, which I'll post some of my favorites from tomorrow.


you can view all the images in full view and others that were not posted at my deviantART or Flickr (links are on the sidebar!)



Enjoy!

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A little update (5.14.09)

Here is an update for those of you who have wondered what I've been up to the past school year. I started my first year in college, majoring in photography. I got to skip the foundations photo classes (photo 1 and 2) to start the advanced classes, which was especially exciting considering I had never taken a photography class before and it was based only on my portfolio.

So one quarter I took black and white technique, which was a film class. We learned how to develop, print and all that fun stuff. I'll probably try to shoot more film over the summer.

This past quarter I've been taking color technique, which is usually a film class, but she has decided to let us do digital half way through. So I did film (about 15 rolls of it) for 5 weeks and I am now putting the finishing touches on my final project for the class, which is a series of self portraits. I'll post the entire series (which will be 15-20 images) closer to next week or the week of finals, once I finally have them all narrowed down, a few re-shot, edited, and printed perfectly.


In two weeks it will be summer, meaning I'll be back in Texas. I'm so very excited to see everyone and get back to shooting there. Then next fall I'll take the large format class (those crazy 4x5 cameras, sooo neat!), art history II and an advanced computer class where I'll learn a few more tricks in photoshop and things like flash.

But I don't even want to start thinking about next year yet! For now, I just want to get back home, buy my new camera (and perhaps some new lenses), and hopefully get a permanent website with my own domain name, but we shall see about all that.

I am going to clean my room now so that it is not so hard to move out in a few weekends. I'll see you all in Lubbock soon!




Here are a few recent shots I've taken. I know I don't post a lot of landscapey shots, but that's because I much prefer portraiture. Anyway, here's two, I'll post more in the coming weeks:

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