AKA MLK Jr. Day? While the ice and constant freezing temperatures have not been fun, the frozen snow and clouds have been beautiful and more than made up for it.
Early Evening Shoot
Seeing the great responses from this mornings little session, I was inspired to shoot after class today too. Taking inspiration from an Advanced Lighting assignment last term, I conjured up this little guy to befriend this mornings image. Thanks for following mis amigos, I really appreciate all the love!
Early Morning Shoot
Had some fun this morning before school shooting in the Pearl. Thought I’d share the love. Happy Hump Day, Friends!
A Winter Break Black & White
Ok, so it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Winter break is delightfull so far, I’ve really enjoyed sleeping. Although I do have gems from this term, which was fantastic and challenging, this is a little something I was inspired to shoot today.
I do hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I wish you all a happy New Year! Please comment, share, and enjoy!
Erika and Devin Davis Wedding – October 2011
Finally, the Davis Wedding album is complete! It feels good to say I’ve shot my first wedding (and it wasn’t a disaster). I was anxious to show Erika Devin and the final product but relieved to hear they loved the pictures. Again it’s been a great learning experience, and I’m thankful to Erika and Devin for taking a chance on a friend’s inexperienced photographer friend. I definitely feel like portrait photography is the avenue for me and I hope to grow in this field as a photographer and a professional.
As always please comment, share, and enjoy!
Davis Wedding Preview
This past Sunday I shot my first wedding for friends Erika and Devin Davis! They had a beautiful service, and I’m very thankful they gave me the opportunity to photograph their wedding day, and test my skills as a photographer. Here are two edits of Devin and Erika; there are many more still to go but I’m enjoying this whole process. Happy Fall everyone and please comment, share, and enjoy!
Portrait Fun with the Lovely Girlfriend
Some photos from a just for fun portrait session with the lovely girlfriend, Alicia. Comment, share, and enjoy! Thanks!
Style Shoot with B. events
This series is from a style shoot from the also up and coming B. events by the lovely and wonderful Alicia Bennett! I’m very excited to see Alicia pursue her dreams as an event designer, as you can see she already has the eye of a seasoned pro. Her talent is highly representative of herself with genuine class, unique style, and a true vision to see, her style shoot was a great success. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the coming B. event style shoots! Thanks for following, please comment, share, and enjoy!
Recent Life Musings and Photos
Again, it seems I’ve gone and disappeared into a cave of academic stress and exam denial brought upon by excessive projects, reading and homework. First though, a life update. I’m pretty good. Really though, in recent life I have gone to visit family in New Mexico, helped Alicia move back home with her parents, been broke and been rollin and broke again, busy balancing work and school, and in this present moment I’m waiting for my lighting class.
These past few years my family has visited family in New Mexico during the Summer, and we’d usually go camping at the lake, go out, the time before was my cousin’s wedding, but this last trip was brought by the passing of my Aunt. She was a very passionate and vivacious character and though we cousins and extended family were together again it was odd not visiting to enjoy company like before. Of course I brought my camera and was determined to get pictures of all the cousins, their families, grandparents and I ended up with some gems; portraits and things I found interesting which I’ve posted at the end of the blog.
This week is the third week of my second term at AI and though I thought I signed up for breezy afternoon and evening classes, this term is exponentially harder than last. Digital Photo Techniques has been the easiest to far, looking in-depth at aperture, shutter speed and ISO but next week we start taking shots on assignment I believe, each with a focus on the aforementioned. In Color Theory we’ve studied types, uses and properties of color; our next assignment is to create a design using one hue and several de-saturated types of that hue with equal value; the over all effect being if turned gray-scale, the design would look like one grey square. This afternoon I had Art History which I like and am really interested in (any one who’s taken an art history class would probably love this class too, we’re using an edition of the Gardner’s Art Through the Ages; Western Perspective). We look through so many images and stylistic periods in class and I take such tedious notes that I’m getting the callous on you middle finger one gets from writing so much. I literally haven’t written like this since high school AP Lit. This evening I have my lighting class; I see as being one of the most helpful to me in terms of working again on the technical aspects of photography. I set up and used a 580 Flash, set it up on a tripod (simple, I know but I’d never used one) and today we’re going to be working with the speed lights. Along with class being in the studio, the instructor has been a commercial and product photographer for Nike since little before the beginning of digital photography. Just looking at his portfolio makes me drool. First day of class he talked about how much work students get after taking his Lighting series and mentioned a few who dropped out of school because they’d been so successful. Though I’d never drop out, it makes classes much more intense and the learning curve pretty steep. My last class is Computer Graphics class where we look through Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign and tie them all together in project use. Again, I say, this is my breezy term!? I’m lucky I suppose, it could all be stuff I’m not interested in and the afternoon commute so far this term hasn’t been bad at all.
Changing gears, between class and even after evening classes, I’ve done some shooting just for fun. It keeps me sane to an extent after an eight-hour day of classes before I drive back to Salem. Loaded up with my backpack weighted with my laptop and books; my camera bag, and any other miscellaneous baggage from the day I hang out around Pearl with my Camera and take the photos I want to. It’s proved to be a great relaxer and it’s also great to look and see how what I learned/what I’m learning is helping me and my portfolio grow.With that though, I look through my recent catalog and think about the many directions I could take my photography and where that will in turn take me; how exciting! I get anxious even thinking about the wedding in October I’m shooting but I know it will be a great learning and very rewarding experience.
Here are the pictures I’ve recently taken and fell in love with. Some from Class, some from New Mexico, some from after class, and ones for fun.
Thanks for reading/skimming this far amigos, I hope you enjoy the pictures! Comment, share, and enjoy!
Big News and an Art School Update!
I can finally say my first term at the Art Institute of Portland is complete, and I dominated. Art school is not easy, the intense workload and high expectations are tough and I definitely felt the pressure towards the end of the term with an overload of projects; websites, papers, group presentations and debates, and post production edits. Though it was tough, I’m excited for summer term. I’m taking a lot of courses related to my major like Digital Photo Techniques, Color Theory, Lighting, Caves to Cathedrals; an art history class, and Computer Graphics. Another full term but I’m interested in these classes so the term will probably fly by. The goal, for now, is to not get bogged down by the heavier classes and to keep myself motivated. For now I have a couple of days off work every week these next few weeks until term starts, and I’m rediscovering rest, sunshine, and my camera; all were dearly missed at the end of term. I went out with my new-found freedom and my camera and took some landscape/nature shots, let me know what you think! Comment below or via Facebook. Thanks for checking in and thanks again for sharing my photos; with help from my little Photo Gluttony experiment and a recommendation from a classmate, I’m shooting my FIRST WEDDING in October! This is still the beginning but we’re making big steps, my friends a I have you to thank for supporting me and my photography! Thanks!
