New Photoblog

I have a new blog, which won't replace this one, but will be where I post my photography, thoughts and techniques, links to other blogs and tutorials. I wanted a little more control over how my blog looks, and am working toward integrating it into a website, so I now have a Wordpress blog. :)

This one will stay here, a place I may come now and then to drop a thought, but will probably for the most part, remain unused except for rare occasions.

If you have subscribed, or want to subscribe, to my blog because you have an interest in my photography, please consider visiting me at my new home :)

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Nature and the City

I know that wildlife can be found in the city, I've seen rabbits here and there, and even an occasional raccoon in the city limits. (Last year I sighted a coyote near my mothers house in a neighborhood just off of the freeway.)

Yet somehow I am always tickled when I see little wild things traipsing about in town. It's a shame they are being pushed out of their own homes, and that in times like these droughts mean that animals like cougars and bears come to town looking for food.

But I am strangely happy to see wildlife wherever it might be, even in suburbia.

So I was happy to see the following little guys nearby at a place I frequent for breakfast. There seems to be quite a few rabbits at this location. There are adults, but I have seen almost eight separate youngsters, all munching happily on the bight green and well manicured grass and clover that meets squarely with the desert. The desert foliage makes not only a visiable wall, but offers quick cover and protection for the cuties.

They were a little leary of me, but as long as I didn't make any sudden movements, and kept to the edge of the grass, they were content to act as if I weren't there.


My patience paid off, and I enjoyed several other birds swooping in for breakfast of their own, and even this Roadrunner. (Who was also strangely complacent about my presence.)

I need to find a blind, and a place to sit near the river or in the mountains all day with my camera and some quiet time. I love wildlife, and need to give myself the chance to photograph them in their own element. Hm, another good thing to add to my "To-do" list.

Last Photos of the Old Year

I ended 2008 on a good note, with a photography session with a gorgeous model and good friend of mine Maria Erikson. She's from England, though she travels so much I imagine she feels at home just about anywhere. Visiting the states again for about a month, Maria chose to spend the holiday with my family and I, which was a treat for everyone. She has a wonderful and winning personality and she fit right in as if she'd always been there. I only hope my rowdy family didn't make her wish she'd stayed in England. ;)

The day after Christmas Maria, Crystal (who has moved to Idaho and was also visiting for the holiday) popped in the car and drove to the top of the mountain and took photographs. Most of them are nudes, or close enough to being nudes, so I am not posting them here. But I have one head shot I'll share with you, and when I have a gallery up where you can see the rest of them I'll make a link for those of you who might want to see them.

Here's the Photo:

It's not my favorite, but I like it all the same, the backlighting particularly. Maria is a great model, very experienced and lots of fun to work with. I met her through One Model Place when I hired her for a day, and we hit it off. Lucky me. :)

"Fallen"

Well, as promised here is one of the images from today';s shoot.
It's titled "Fallen".
Not my fave, but my faves all have too much nudity for my blog. ;)

It was a productive day, which is the best I can say at the end of any day.

The Anatomy of a Photo Shoot

I go to extremes when I am doing shoots, spending way too much money, making costumes, investing in make-up and other supplies. I rarely, if ever, recoup my money from the shoots. But that's okay, I love doing it. So, for now, that's enough.

Crystal, (my friend and assistant) and I have been planning a shoot for over a month now with a model from Arizona. This shoot was to be a nude, and we decided to go all out on the props. It didn't work out as I had expected, but I have so far found the results to be satisfying anyway.

The first thing we did was to collect about 15 dead trees and sink them in a plaster base so they would stand on their own. No easy task in itself. For this shoot, the studio area was one quarter of my fiancé's warehouse. We set up boxes and ladders, and attached two backdrops high and low.

Next we laid a flooring of carpet padding, and set the trees where we wanted them. Added some sprigs of wild grass, and sprinkled the whole set liberally with plaster.

Then we set up our lights, and added homemade diffusers. (I was not happy with the lighting setup, or my diffusers. Add something else to the shopping list please.)

Below are some photos of the setup as we were working on it. I'll post some images later tonight when I get them done ;)

First Wedding Images

I shot my first wedding today, and it was an amazing experience.

The couple are friends of mine, Jonathan and Tina Baca.

So much went perfectly, and more than a few things went wrong. Some of the mistakes could have been avoided with planning, others perhaps not. Over all the whole day was a success and I believe Jon and Tina will be thrilled with their images.

If I could do it all over again the thing I'd change is that i would try and find a better place to do the after wedding photos, such as those for the wedding party. I am not sure there would have been a better option, but I wasn't happy with the areas and lighting we used.

What I was most happy about? I brought an assistant, Crystal, and without her I'd have gaffed the whole thing. A good assistant is everything.

I can't show you all the images, there were well over 500, but here's a sampling. :)

When Dreams Come True

I am a dreamer, I admit it. I spent more than a small portion of my youth daydreaming about all the places I hoped to go, all the people I wanted to meet, who I hoped to grow up to be.

Most every child can tell you what they want to be when they grow up. My first dream , when I was about five years old, was to have a family. My step-father, Ray Hise, built me a playhouse for Christmas one year. It was beautiful, but icy cold in the winter months. That didn't deter me. I spent every waking hour in that playhouse, pretending to have a husband and children I was cooking for. It was never a popular dream when I was growing up in the late years of women liberation, the sixties and early seventies when modern woman embraced her right to be single and work. As I grew up I understood the equality issues, and womens rights issues, but I never stopped seeing being part of a family of my own as something to be embraced.

By the time I was eight I was considering jobs, and my new dream was to be a veterinarian. I have always loved animals, and I saw this as a way to be near my closest friends. I wasn't considering money, I was too young to think about income those days. I never really pursued this line of work, but I dreamed about it for years.

As a teen my interests moved toward art. I had discovered painting, sketching, and pottery. I had a wonderful teacher at Lumberton High School in North Carolina named Betty McKiethan. She took a hobby of mine and turned it into passion that consumed most of my waking hours. She encouraged me and a few other of her students to make art our living. I didn't have a lot of confidence however, and I joined the Navy instead, hoping to see a little bit of the world and find out a little more about myself.

During those years and the years following, my dreams kind of buried themselves. I gave myself up to the idea that I would waitress, or work as a cashier for the rest of my life. By the time I was 21 I had experienced a failed marriage and so much heartache that I wasn't sure I had too many dreams left.

Life has a funny way of surprising you.

I turned 42 this year, and recently I realized that in some sense most of my dreams have come true. I have a beautiful family, and more love than I could have ever hoped for. Though I have never become a veterinarian, I have many animals that I cherish and care for, and I have plans to volunteer for a wild animals rescue in the near future. And as far as art, it is still who I am.

I am a full time photographer these days, incorporating my artistic creativity into every apsect of the shoots, and I am due to have my first public gallery show in a few weeks here in Albuquerque. My family will be there, and one of my pets is in the show. :)

If that isn't a dream come true, what is?

Good to smile :)

My sisters Birthday was last Friday, and we went to dinner together. It was nice, if you can get past the migraines I have been experiencing.

Anyway, she showed me a photo she keeps clipped to her sun visor:



Yeah, that she and me when I was about four and she was about two years old. I was a fairly happy kid, she was as tolerant of me as she could stand to be. We didn't become real friends until about four years ago. Now I'd venture to say we are best friends. She called me the other day and told me how much she loved me because of this picture and a few others she had come across. It seems she noticed I always had my arm or arms around her, laughing and looking as happy as I could be just to be in her presence, (which is not a far cry from the truth) and for years she just hated me touching her at all. Now she appreciates my love for her, returning it hardily.

Maybe the moral of the story here could be that if you love someone long enough they might love you back. But I prefer to think that the joy was just in loving at all.

I have been neglecting this blog in lieu of my Enchanted Ramblings. Posting pics and whatnot. It's so easy to get back into the groove of writing.