Tales of an Ametuer Photographer

My very first and only Wedding.

2011-12-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

Quite a few months ago, I was asked by a dear friend to capture her wedding. Some complications had left her without a proper photographer (he bailed), and she was in high need of one. However, since I had never, ever photographed a wedding before, fear took over. I quickly responded to her request by politely declining, and urging her to find someone else, while visions of me ruining the most special day of her life with horrid "snapshots" paraded through my head.

After a few emails of her insisting that she believe I could deliver just the kind of shots she wanted, I conceded. In the days that followed, and up until the wedding, I scoured every wedding photography website, blog, forum, magazine, picture, and tutorial I could find. I was determined to produce the most beautiful, elegant, and professional-esque photographs that I could.

While I will probably never be 100% happy with my work, the Bride and Groom seemed somewhat pleased, and as of yet, have not sent a flaming bag of poop to my door. I take that as a good sign.

Below are just a few highlights from the Wood/Catalano Wedding, 2011.

A DAY AT THE PARK

2011-04-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a session from last fall (I'm a slacker, I know!) during a trip to the park with my stepdaughter, my Best-friend and her son, and her niece. If you've never tried taking pictures of kids at a playground, let me tell that it's just about impossible. They..don't..stop..moving! Ever.

But it was fun, they had fun, and I think I got some good ones.

THE CAST:

FIRST STOP, THE JUNGLE GYM!!

NEW HEIGHTS:

HANGIN' ROUND:

PLAYTIME WAS IN FULL SWING:

TAKING A BREAK:

BUT THE BREAK DIDN'T LAST LONG!:

AWW, IT CAN'T BE TIME TO GO ALREADY!! JUST 5 MORE MINUTES...P-P-P-PLEASE????

THERE'S ALWAYS TIME TO JUMP IN THE LEAVES:

Sports

2011-01-15T19:01:00.000-08:00

It's that time again, where I try to figure out why I haven't posted anything in months and resolve to start posting more. But who am I kidding? I am a sporadic person at best, so I should probably just give up and roll with it. It's just my nature, after all...

So, anyway, here's some "action sports" photography for your viewing pleasure. No, its not the kind of "sports" with guys in sweaty, dirty uniforms, wrestling each other on a mud soaked field, but there's guys (and 1 girl!) and mud, so it's close.

This is what's called a rail jam. This one was sponsored by Colorado Ski Shop. - which is not located in Colorado, for that matter. Riders compete by performing tricks on rails, boxes, pipes, wall rides, and several other creative features. However, the winner of this rail jam was whomever did not fall on his (or her) face and seriously embarrass themselves. I tried on my "pretend photojournalist hat" that day and I sort of liked the way it fit.

Colorado Ski Shop Rail Jam 2010

Life's a beach! Through a child's eye.

2010-08-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

Ever notice how kids are never stationary at the beach? They're always in the water, throwing a Frisbee, flying a kite, digging in the sand, or building some architectural monstrosity on the beach. They know the best way to enjoy a day at the beach is to dive right in, get wet, get sandy, and have a blast doing it.

Here's a few other things kids know...

1. The beach is the best place to make a fashion statement. The brighter, the better.

Check out those glasses!! Celebrity in the making!

2. It's a great place to meet and make friends.

3. Don't forget to say hello to the locals.

4. Test your skills and strength...

...and perhaps beat out the competition!

No one is ever a sore loser.

5. And always take a minute to check out the scenery.

Lesson learned #2

2010-08-11T06:41:00.000-07:00

I should have known better, but here's another goof up. *blush*

Always, always check manual setting on your camera before you start shooting. Otherwise, you could over- or underexpose your shots. Case in point - While hiking with my stepkid, I turned back to see the sunshine illuminating her in such a pretty way that I was compelled to whip out my camera and capture it.

Well, smarty here forgot that she was shooting sunsets the night before, and all my setting were adjusted for darker conditions. Needless to say, my poor skid was over-exposed. *pouty face*

So not pretty! Aw well, live and learn, right?!

Abstract

2010-08-11T06:13:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago I stumbled across this assumable machinery graveyard...

And I figured I'd snoop and play around, and see what interesting things I could find...click on the image to see it bigger.

Flower POWER.

2010-08-11T04:39:00.000-07:00

When I first bought my camera, my intentions were to learn portrait photography. Not the stale, boring, all-dressed-up-with-forced-smiles-family-portrait type, like you see at Sears or Wal-Mart, no. I have some new ideas that I was kicking around and itching to bring to life.

However, apparently flora and flowers seem to be my talent, or the thing I'm drawn to the most. Strange...

So, here's a few glorious freshies in full bloom.

Lesson Learned.

2010-07-01T04:30:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to a wakeboard competition and I brought along my camera, hoping to get some shots of the competitors doing their thing. Yeah, well, no such luck.

What I didn't know was that the course was set up perpendicular to the beach, and the boat pulled the boarders away from us, instead of along the beach. It wasn't until then that realized the benefit of having a few different lenses. *slaps forehead*

Needless to say, my one-and-only little lens just couldn't go the distance, and becuase of it I was off my game the rest of the day. Luckily this wasn't a paying gig, so it's not a big loss. But if it had been a gig, I only hope I would've had enough foresight to scope out the course ahead of time.

So, now I'm off to do some extensive lens research. ;-)

Just a little decoration.

2010-06-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

Recently I discovered something called "Textures", which is the process of adding a textured layer over an image to give it a creative and artistic boost. It can take a seemingly drab image, and instantly give it a moody, happy, grungy, dreamy or whimsical vibe. Pretty cool, eh? I can tell we are going to be great friends.

2010-06-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Been busy again! But that is what summertime is all about. Right!? ;-)

I would like to say that it's hard to stay focused on my photography with all the "fun in the sun" going on around here, but that's a complete and utter lie. I am compelled to take photographs all...day...long. I can't resist. It is, however, very hard to find the time to upload the images and chit-chat. But, here I am.

Now, is it me, or are flowers not the most naturally photogenic things in the world? I mean, they were created to be attractive, to attract things, and it's only normal for our human eye to fall pray to the flower's charms. And me, being so very weak, fell victim to their spell and could not resist the urge. I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed my photographic over indulgence.

2010-06-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

My Nikon, my baby, my weapon, my artist brush...

What a thing of beauty it is! I love feeling the weight of it in my hands, feeling how majestic yet delicate it is at the same time. Most of all, I love what I can do with it.

Here's a few of my first images. None of which are awe inspiring or award winning.Trust me when I say I had absolutely NO idea what I was doing. ;-)

2010-06-03T11:52:00.001-07:00

Been M.I.A

All right! It's been almost 2 months since I posted anything! Whoops! If ya can't already tell, I'm not a very dedicated person, which is my huge downfall. I start things, get all wrapped up in it obsessively, then I drop it like a hot tamale. But photography is the one thing I am NOT going to let that happen to.

I am not going to do that 365 project thing, because I don't think forcing yourself to create art is the right way to make it happen. Howver I am going to post more often, regardless if my stuff is good enough for anyone else to see, or not.

So, I'm going to start at the beginning, and post a few of my early pictures. These are the first "serious" shots I took. That means I put effort and thought into them, as opposed to just snapping away (which I never do anyways! Haha!) These were taken with my Sony Cyber shot before I got my Nikon D80.

Blogitty-blog-blog!

2010-04-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

My first blog ever!

So I’m just going to do the basic “About Me” thing here, since I’m not feeling particularly creative today.

Lets see…I like chocolate, music, dancing and singing (even though I’m horrible at it.) I love to laugh and I have an over-developed sense of humor, which means I can find almost anything funny. Most people don’t like this, because I end up laughing at inappropriate times. *blush*

Presently, I’m searching for that thing that I want to do for the rest of my life, that makes me money and makes me deliriously happy as well. I’m hoping that’s somewhere within the field of photography.