Photo shoot two years later

Two years ago, I shot some pix of this family:

And I was honored that they asked me to take some new ones.  What a photogenic family--

So I got to play in Photoshop--

I love these 70s tones:

And of course, my favorites are the unplanned pictures:

I know I've said it before--I can't believe how much these boys have grown from two years ago:

Thanks again to this beautiful family!

SoCal Checklist: Vy Da, Indie Movie, Photo Shoot

Such a productive, satisfying day!

Got to enjoy these hard-to-find rice cakes at Vy Da (and they are PERFECT here) with my super trooper friend:

Got to check out an indie film (which are really hard to come by in Columbia, SoCar) with my indie-movie pal:

And I was able to squeeze in another photo shoot thanks to a very patient, game (and wonderfully photogenic) friend:

What a blessing she is to a growing photographer like me.  She totally came through for me.  I had a certain theme planned but I had to come up with a different shoot due to a rainstorm.  And frankly, I liked my new gameplan/shoot.  It kind of has a story and I would love to share it once I get my subjects' approval.  Because thankfully, she was able to dig up another subject for me who was ridiculously patient for my shoot.  Did I mention it was raining?  He turned out pretty darn photogenic too:

Unfortunately, one of the things that wasn't helping me was the rain that got on my lens (ugh-more than I realized!) and that the rapidly changing light proved challenging in terms of getting decent exposure.  It was very rare to get one that was the composition I wanted, with satisfactory exposure, and FOCUS (which proved the toughest in the rain).  But I did get a few, like this one:

Afterwards, we took our soaked bodies and got some hot soup and noodles at Ajisen Ramen:

Thank L and W for such a great shoot!

Great way to end a great day.

SoCal Checklist: Photo Shoot

Cute Kid Alert! Was able to snag a few snaps of this cutie after his parents and big sister went to work and school:

That look in the hoodie slays me!

Bonus! Got to hit Native Foods again. Man I LOVE their Reuben sandwich:

And color me satisfied when I can sit and free-refill-drink to my heart's content of their watermelon fresca:

(if anyone has a recipe for watermelon fresca-PLEASE let me know-I am ADDICTED)

Another thing on my checklist was to talk shop with a fellow photography friend, CJ, and get schooled a bit in photography outside my comfort zone: nature.  CJ has a natural eye and call to shooting in nature.  I'm not drawn to landscape and nature photography in general but sometimes I'm impressed by some of the epic pictures (Ansel Adams is a no-brainer) and what gets captured in some of these photos.  I asked CJ what makes him want to take a picture and he said it could be the way the light hits a flower or the shadows created.

I tried to see more through his eyes.

But it didn't come so easy for me.  Looking at the pictures I took, I was disappointed that I didn't catch the tree tops that I cut off until now:

I was attracted to this scene because it kind of had this post-apocalyptic feel, but again my eyes go to the tree tops I cut off abruptly.

Well, still learning! I totally appreciated branching out, learning, and trying new subjects.  Thanks, CJ.

Afterwards, a friend was having a St. Patrick's Day party, which I thought was really clever to have the day after St. Pat's--think of all the sales on St. Pat's merchandise the day after!  Of course what I really loved was hanging with friends, like the host and my super trooper friend (who put up with me so much on this trip!):

And these guys without their cutie-patootie:

And yes, what is a St. Pat's party without green jello shots?

Tasty way to end the St. Pat's celebrations!

Sweet Sunday

Today was an awesome Sunday. The weather was perfect. I know that sounds ridiculous given it's Southern California, but it was the perfect balance of sunshine and breeze that I could walk in the rays and not break a sweat (like I usually do). So the girl and I took a stroll to Starbucks and got some tasty beverages and the last chocolate croissant (heated, yum-o!):

Me: Hey Velina, do you know what it looks like you're eating?

Her: Sigh. What, Mom?

Me: A chocolate bar sandwich.

Her: (patient chuckling)

HA! Bet you all and her thought I was going to say "poop sandwich", right? Guess I'm a little more mature than that...

We strolled back sipping our drinks:

where we discussed topics like, where does the excess weight go when we "lose" it? Like after proper dieting and exercise, where do the lost pounds go? We both get that excess fat is "stored energy", so what physically happens to it when we burn it? Are we just expelling it through our various waste egresses?

The other thing on our walk back was teaching her the "Diarrhea Cha-cha-cha" song. I can't believe that hasn't been passed down the generations like "Jingle Bells Batman Smells". Well don't worry, despite a surprisingly reluctant student (I obviously should have taught her this at a younger age), the legacy continues.

The day continued on a positive roll when Michigan State made the Final Four today! Holy cow--do I dare dream they could go on further? Well after another Top Seed (Kentucky) lost this weekend, I say, why not?!

Though I missed watching the game (I did see the highlights), I was lucky to be shooting this angel's baptism:


Does it get any sweeter?

A better 3 weeks

So it's been 3 weeks since my abysmal failure of accomplishing anything in my last 3 (which became 7 lame) weeks challenge. I did better this time.

Though I was better about sticking to the WW points, I still stumbled a few times (darn girl scout cookie season!) and went over my allotment. The encouraging part, nonetheless, is that I managed to lose some lbs and dropped to 153 from 157.5. Needless to say, this has really encouraged me to re-double my efforts to stick to my WW points to break 150.

And I'm pleased to say I reached 3 resolutions in those 3 weeks:

I was able to donate another bag to Goodwill (#1):

I did another photo shoot (#2)! Thanks to a couple of friends, I did a themed photo shoot—quotes. I painted a quote on their bodies and tried to capture a portrait that helped tell a story about that quote. Here are a couple of my favorites:


I love her awesome smile with this quote—tells an interesting story depending on how you interpret her smile, know what I mean?


I love this one—perhaps this would work better with a cigarette, but since none of us smoke, we improvised with a lollypop, which has its own element to this story, don't you think?


Okay, obviously I'm not as photogenic as the others, and despite it being out of focus, I like the energy for this quote. Hey, does this count as a self-portrait (#3!)? If you want to be technical about it and not count this pic, then the hair cut pix definitely count, right?

So armed with a decent showing for these last 3 weeks, I'm kind of geared up to see what I can do in the next 3 weeks...

Family photo shoot

So cross one off the resolution list. This beautiful family let me shoot their pictures:

And I gave them a CD of edited pictures like a high-falutin' photographer:


I love these of mom and daughter (aren't they gorgeous):


Especially when the cutie's nose smooshes like this:


I got some nice candids at the playground like this one:


And I loved this one even though I actually got the adult in the background in focus rather than the sweet girl in motion. With the help of PhotoShop I vignetted and blurred the adult to draw attention back to center:


And I tried it in black and white:



I also got to shoot the Mrs. and her sisters and mom. Yeah, I know--good looks seem to run in their family:


I love candids or the "in-between" shots. This is one of my faves:


Thanks to this family! I had a great time taking these pictures and these guys had a lot of patience with me during the shoot. I also got to play with Photoshop more, especially Actions (man, those are awesome).

Obviously I still need to play with my f-stops more and get a better sense of depth of field, and need to fine tune my photoshopping skills (and not go overboard on the vignetting!), but it was a blast working on this shoot for my friend.

Definitely looking forward to another one.

Playing with Photoshop

With a little guidance from my blogging mentor, I was introduced to the world of Actions in Photoshop. I am still a complete novice when it comes to Photoshop but with the help of Actions, I kind of look like I know what I'm doing. Actions are like little programs that goes through a series processes to get a certain look, like this fun vintage look of my friend's two adorable boys:



Here's nice one that turned a color picture of my friend's son into a beautiful black and white:



And here's one of my friend's oldest (I can't believe how fast time is flying!)--this Action is more of antiqued version of black and white:



There are a lot of Actions for sale out there but this awesome set is available for free at The Pioneer Woman's website. Thank you Pioneer Woman--these are totally cool. And of course, thanks to my friend's beautiful boys--they make handsome photo subjects!

Expecting

This beautiful couple, my friends, Julio and Vero:

are expecting a baby!

And they let me take their pictures, including this one I dubbed the "Pregnant Prom Pose":

But my favorite pictures are the ones in between the poses:

Because I don't always have to "say cheese" to get a moment that makes me smile inside:

Thanks Julio and Vero!