Artist rendering of Grace

I thought this looked kind of neat. She is a cutie. And I know she loves the Lord very much.


a silent prayer by ~deftbeat on deviantART

Sadie Hawkins 80's style

Here are a couple of pics of Sam and his friend Jordyn before going to the Sadie Hawkins dance. The entire evening left me feeling very old. Not only because Sam was going to a dance but because when I went to Sadie's it WAS the 80's.

Sam's Waterpolo Experience

Sam was on his high school waterpolo team this year. He did a great job and even got the coaches award. Here are some pics from the season that I just haven't had a chance to post until now. Here are some pics to enjoy.

You may ask - In the midst of the holiday rush why am I posting now?

It's your basic procrastination...don't want to wrap, shop, decorate or bake. So I'll post instead. :) The holiday spirit...I'll get there I'm just not there yet.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I had the extreme pleasure of photographing little Jovie again, this time for her very first Christmas card. She was the little one I did with the angle's wings when she was just first born. Hasn't she grown into a lovely little girl?

I got to use my studio lights on a set for the first time instead of a backdrop and I loved loved loved using them this way.

I felt like I was doing a shoot for Martha Steward living for something. It was so much fun.

And Lauren, Jovie's mommy saved the day by bringing along her laptop with Jovie's favorite Elmo tunes on DVD. HAHA! It definitely held her interest!

Kiddos

Here is a new pic of Sam which gives me a good excuse to tell him how proud I am of him. He got Student of the Month in his Geometry class recently and also got the Coach's Award for Waterpolo this season. He's hangin' in there with high school! Way to go Sam! And you are still one of the cutest kids I've ever seen! :)

Okay maybe cute and kid isn't as appropriate as it used to be.

I Love you - MOM



Here is one of Grace after she got her hair done. I've found a new hairdo is good motivation to pose for Mom...

A man I respect and admire...

Pastor Garrison from New Genesis Bible Church in New Orleans spoke tonight at the Harvest Mission meeting on being vaccinated by religion. He commented how many people who go to church have only been vaccinated, they get a little dose of God but not enough to infect them and give then the disease. Just enough to feel religious but not enough to give them dis-ease from sin. But that God wanted to infect us all so much so that we will be contagious in our disease. Speaking from James 1:19-39 - he urged us all to not only be hearers of the word but doers as well.

My kids left full of praise for his preaching style and how they felt like they were interacting with him and how he made the time go by so fast and made everything sound so interesting. He made a huge impression on them. Not only that but when he met them, he looked at them in the eye and spoke to them like they mattered. Asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up and remembered their names. And then there were the hugs. He hugs everyone. An incredible man with an incredible gift from God as a pastor. And a wonderful end to our weekend.

Fire

No picture just reaching out for prayer for the hundreds who have lost their homes this week in the fires. My mom had to evacuate today. The fire was on her street. And she was faced with having to decide what to take and what not to take. With fire literally all around them my mom and sister made it out okay. We are hopeful that her home is still standing because her answering machine is picking up. But there are many who will find out in the next couple days that they no longer have a home. And my heart breaks for them.

Sorry for not posting anything recently. Been busy and work and at home.

Hopefully I will have something soon to contribute.

By the way...my previous post of the twins? Scott and Kim had to evacuate from their home too today. They had to leave so fast they didn't have time to take anything with them. They just scooped up their four kids and drove away. So pray for them too.

Thanks

Ava and Jake

Here are some pics I took for my friends Kim and Scott. These little ones round out their family of six with 4 kids under 4. My oh my. We had pee, poop, tears and a lot of laughs doing this shoot! I hope you like the pics.

Orange Circle

The gals and I had a blast down at the Orange Circle today on our photog outing.

Jeanette - thanks so much for coming prepared to teach. You did a great job. And thanks for lunch too!

I focused on the architectural abstract type stuff which is not what I normally shoot but here are some I liked. I played around with photoshop on some of these but only adjusted saturation and contrast and then did some dodging and burning.

Hope you like em!







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Louisiana bound

The Harvest Mission Team is headed to the New Orleans area on a scheduled trip to continue their work rebuilding churches in the region. Because of the recent hurricane, Gustav, we might also be doing relief work with Samaritan's Purse.

And I'm going!

I've wanted to go to that region for some time now and I'm thrilled at the chance to serve and experience relief work first hand. Not only will it make a practical difference in people's lives but I think it is also important to show God's love to others, especially to those in need.

The trip is Sept 19-28, so please keep us in your prayers that we will have opportunties to make a difference in people's lives both materially and spiritually. And for those of you who know me...pray for my physical stamina and for restful sleep. I don't think I've ever done 10 nights on an air mattress before!

You know I'll be bringing my camera...taking pics of everything except for myself because I expect to look like I do when I go camping! I don't think I'll have an internet connection while I'm there but I will definitely blog my trip.

I'm really excited!

Friends

Its good to have friends!! I am just reflecting late at night tonight the value of friendships. No matter what kind or how deep, they are all valuable. I cherish the friendships I have now more than ever.

I have never been one for socializing as such. I tend to keep to myself and keep my nose clean of gossip and all that. I don't usually mesh well in any one clique.

But we went to Disneyland tonight with a group of former co-workers who are now just friends. And I have to say I really had a blast. You are all great people.

All you all...that were there at Disneyland tonight. You are special to me and I'm so glad I have you to count as friends.

I recently reunited with friends I haven't talked to in a long time. High school friends who "knew me when". And I love being able to email Patty and talk so openly and honest and after so many years we just connected again like sisters. Linda who has been such an example to follow and a friend in time of need.

I have David and Karen who feel like family to me. You guys know me better than most and have been there for all of life's bumps along the road, encouraging me in my walk with the Lord and I encouraging you.

And all my photog buddies who support me and I them. It's just so great to have people in my life.

And I wanted you all to know that. No pic...no flare in this post. Just heartfelt gratitude.

I am blessed in more ways than I can count. And my best friend of all - Brian.
I love you.

More From Sedona

I finally had a chance to go through my images from our quick 2 night trip to Sedona, Arizona. We really did have a good time. The place we stayed was top notch, set outside of town in the middle of a canyon. And we got a killer deal. Here are some pics to enjoy If you look closely on the far left of the first picture you can see our casitas for the resort we stayed at. I took this pic on a hike. You literally could look as far as the eye could see. Just gorgeous.




The next picture was taken during our off roading Jeep tour. This rock is called Submarine rock. We happened to be on it right after a shower with lightening all around us. Yeah - it was kind of dangerous...but oh so beautiful. Check out the kids hair standing on end...you could feel the electricity in the air.






More from our Jeep tour. Brian had a blast driving on rocks and down utter cliffs. We did scream and cringe a bit but it was a blast. Sheryl Briggs pointed us in the right direction with this one. Here is the Jeep at Seven Sacred Pools and a big cliff we were glad we didn't drive off of. It was a giant sink hole in the middle of the desert woodlands.








Here are the kids having fun at Slide Rock, a natural rock slide river. It was very fun. Sam ended up jumping off this cliff with my permission and prayers.




If you guys ever need a place to for vacation this area is chocked full of things to do. I highly recommend it.

For those of you who haven't had enough pics of Sedona - feel free to visit my picasa album with all of the pics from our trip. Here is the link: CLICK HERE

Sedona Skies

We are here in Sedona, Arizona and as we were eating dinner on the patio where we were entertained by the most amazing light show. I hope you enjoy the result. It was quite a site. This was done hand held.



More pictures later...

Please keep the Laurie family in prayer. They lost their son Christopher today in a car accident. He was not only a great husband and father of little Stella, but Christopher was a great asset to Harvest as art director. He will be missed terribly by so many for his creativity and kindness. His wife Brittany is expecting their second child. Thank you.

Crissy

Quick Trip

I will be doing a photo shoot tomorrow on the campus of USC and I've never been there so I piled the kids in the car and we made the drive to check it out yesterday. After scrounging for any quarter I could find I managed to come up with 32 minutes worth for parking and we were off on a mad dash to "scope out" what we could.

Here are a couple of pics I managed to capture despite Sam being grumpy because of a hurt pinky toe. Yes, a hurt pinky toe. :)

100 miles and a few hours later we were home again. But it was worth it because now I know where to park and for how long and I've picked out a few nice spots.

Wish me luck!

Summer Fun

What a party it was! Here are some pictures of Sheryl's beach birthday party. It was a great time of fun and fellowship and music! It gave me an excuse to pick up my camera again after a little break and it felt good to look through that lens again. I played a lot with manual settings with these because of the bright sun and glare from the water. Thanks Sheryl for giving me the excuse to dig in once again. I hope you like the result. Here are some of my favorites.

Embedding Slideshows

I just found out that you can do this... And I thought huh...I should try it.
So here are some good pics and some throw aways from the hike we did in the spring and some of a concert the kids had for Jazz Band. Family shots mostly not "artsy" ones.



what do you think? If you have a gmail account you can upload pics by clicking on the photos tab and then you can select the slideshow option. It gives you a code to paste into your blog and that is it. Sweet and simple. I'm sure other sights provide this too but I'm a gmail user so...there you go.

:) If you guys know of others please comment and let and me know what they are!

Crissy

New Chapter

I know I've been terribly delinquent in posting lately. Aah what can I say? Guilty as charged. I would love to say I've been honing my photographic skills but dare I say, I have not held my lovely camera in my hands for the past few months. Just taking a creative break and dealing with some other stuff in my life.

Part of which is praying about what to do for a job. Believe me I considered everything not really knowing the direction that would be best. But you know how it works...when it's the right thing...it is so clear.

I will be beginning a new chapter in my life next Wednesday when I begin a new job with the apologetics ministry called Stand to Reason. It is a fantastic ministry that I will be proud to be associated with. I am so excited to grow in every way. It had the perfect balance for me as a mom and I'm so grateful for the opportunity.

It is bittersweet leaving Harvest because I truly loved working there. But of course we will be there every week in fellowship and I hope that I won't lose the great friends that I've made there.

My first day is Wednesday, June 18. Please pray for me and my family as we make this transition.

I promise as I get settled in...I will break out my camera and take some awesome pics of flowers (per our latest challenge girls). And I can't wait to meet soon at Mariann's.

Take care and I promise I will post a new pic soon.

God Bless you all.

Crissy

Portrait of A Gentle Spirit

I took this portrait in Mexico last month. This woman came to the medical mission outreach. She was standing waiting for a family member who was getting seen by the doctor and I asked her if I could take her picture. I love this picture not because of anything I did, but because her image shows strength of character and quiet resolve. The community that was being served was extremely poor, living in lean-to's that had dirt floors. Despite the hardship, there was still gentleness in this woman's eyes. Kindness and gentleness. And I will remember her.

WPPI 2008 delayed

Okay, I know its been just about a month since WPPI. I'm slow. Really slow. But I sat down this afternoon to go through the pics and have a few to share. I had so much fun hanging out with Mariann, Dawn and Jen. I'm so glad we were able to swing that trip girls. We need another trip but no convention this time. Just our cameras!

Yard Sale!

My kids have a really cool band teacher and she has a really cool husband! :) They are in a band called Yard Sale and they play a couple of times each month at Java Joe's in Yorba Linda. We went to hear them last weekend and we really had a blast. I took a few shots. Here is their website






These are teachers, administrators and counselors from El Cerrito who came to enjoy the music and cheer for the band. How cool is that?

Tim's Studio Shoot

Hi everyone! This is Tim. He's graduating from high school this year. He did a great job modeling for these pics. I told him he could be a model but he told me he'd rather enlist in the Army and JUMP out of airplanes. I couldn't talk him out of it. Congratulations Tim on graduating! And God Bless you in your future.

(color settings are washed out on this post of the blog...trying to determine why true image color is richer).

Just for Fun!

Well we had a blast tonight.

Sam's friend Kendall came over to hang out with us tonight and we just laughed and posed and giggled and smirked. Totally fun. I love having kids this age. I'll trade this for diapers anyday! haha!! Sam turned on his charm again with these photos...he's getting to be quite the photogenic one isn't he?!

Mexico Mission Trip

Last weekend Grace and I had the privilege of going on our first mission trip to Mexico.



I was invited to take pics and while I was completely pooped by the end of the day I was so encouraged by the generosity of spirit I saw that day from my fellow travelers as well as from the kids we came to bless. They turned around and blessed us more than we could have ever imagined.

Please visit this link to check out the slideshow of all my pics.

CLICK HERE for the slideshow

Harvest Christian Fellowship Blog

Hey folks,

We are launching a new Harvest Christian Fellowship blog to give church members a way to share, connect and grow in the Lord together. I'm excited about this project and have been working on building it up since late December. It will soon be unveiled to the public but I wanted to share it with you all. Please visit and comment on what you like about it.

My favorite aspect of this blog is it is a tool we have to make a big church feel smaller and it builds community.

I hope you enjoy!

Here is the link:

www.blog.harvest.org

Oh Baby Baby!!

I had an amazing time with Amy and her little one Troy who just celebrated his 6 month birthday. I fell in love instantly with his quirky little smile and bald head. By the end of the session Grace and I were competing for who got to hold him while Amy packed up. And I think you'll agree that he is a great little model too!

I still have a card to go through but here are a few favorites so far...

Mt. Rubidoux or bust

It took us 8 years but we finally made it up Mt. Rubidoux. Dawn inspired me as she has been going up almost everyday. We packed a picnic dinner/lunch and ate it here on these rocks where I took this first picture. The sun was RIGHT THERE but to me it just seemed heavenly. So warm and bright.

The recent rains have wiped out all the smog and given us lovely green grass. It was the perfect thing to do today. I'm pooped out! Going up was hard for me but I made it!




The kids asked to do it again tomorrow...so I think despite the 24 texts to their friends during the hike...they liked connecting with nature. I included this picture as proof that their phones are their constant companions.

Raymond Gregory

Ray's new CD is coming out soon and he asked me to take pics for the cover. He wanted a clean studio look so we set up the lights and here's the result. You look like a rock star to me Ray!
Thanks to his wife Erin for being his inspiration during this session! We are all looking forward to an on location shoot in the coming weeks...so stay tuned.
In the meantime check out his myspace page

Little Jovie

What a blessing it was to photograph Jovie!!
Some of you might recall the pictures of her parents, Lauren and Ty a few months back. Oh I just love these pictures. What a sweet sweet baby and a beautiful family. God Bless you Jovie.

Welcome Asher

I had the privilege of shooting some baby pics of the newest Wiggins on the block. Mr. Asher Israel Wiggins. Steve and Misti now have four little ones and they are all gorgeous! Welcome little Asher to the world. We love you. Hopefully there will be more to come...he's a cutie isn't he??

A New Day

Praise the Lord for everything that happened in 2007. I was challenged to grow, to look at my motivations, to see God working and to follow His leading in so many areas. God is good. I pray that I will be as open to what the Lord has in store for me in 2008...and I pray that it will be a little smoother road. :)

God bless you all and I pray that you will have a wonderful coming new year. Tomorrow is a new day and a new year!

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new

The Ives have it!

Well, what can I say. We had a great time on Saturday. It was a joy to photograph the Ives, and there are so many pics that were good! But I chose I small sampling to share. I hope you enjoy!

Grace's new do

She was adamant that she wanted her hair cut. How could I say no? It's her head right? I am still mourning the loss of the long locks but she is thrilled with her new hair and I have to admit it looks pretty cute. For those of you who haven't seen it yet. Here is the new Grace!

And Baby Makes Three

I had the pleasure of shooting Lauren and Ty and their bundle of joy that will be coming this January. Who could ask for a better model? She was gorgeous. This was the shoot I bought the lights for and while I still have a lot to learn I know I'm gonna like having them around. Here are a couple of my favorites so far. I haven't gone through them all yet. Hope you enjoy.

chip off the ol' block

Grace took this picture of me tonight. She learned a lot and asked a bunch of questions. She did a good job.

This photo was taken with one light a softbox at -3 power and about 45 degrees to the left of me. 2.8/250 and ISO 100. We decided to start simple and then build from there. Tonight we just focused on the one light. I have to admit its quite complicated balancing what God does for us outside. I appreciate the sun SO MUCH! It is the best light there is in photography.

This was taken at the end of a long day... :) more another day...

my space and slide

I've taken the dive into the my space realm. I figured I would share with you who check out my blog. Take a visit and let me know what you think. If you have a my space page make me a friend. I need friends. :)

go to www.myspace.com/dolcevitaimages

Here is a little preview but its not the same without the pictures moving and the music ;) One of these days I'm going to have to have a session with one of my photographer friends to get a better picture of myself!! haha

More Practice

Well, we only had about 10 min before Sam had to go to Friday night...but here is the result. I like this one. After about three quick sessions I still find myself fixing things in photoshop but on Sunday I am going to make adjustments from full power down and take notes to learn how these lights behave. In the meantime...meet my son, Sam the music man.

All in the family

Did a quick shoot at Citrus Historical Park on Sunday for John and Jennifer. There were about 20 people for a formal group shot but afterward we stole some time to do some of their family. The two younger boys on the right play drums and piano and are in a worship band with my kids. Here are a couple of good ones. I was reminded how when you do families and large groups that there are fewer great shots..but given the time we had and the number of people...I was happy with what we came away with...now back to my lights!! :)

WOW

The woman has lights!!! I'm so excited I can barely stand it. I'm having so much fun with these guys. It is so much fun playing with them. I got them today and set them up late this afternoon. I haven't had a lot of time to play yet but I like what I see so far. I think I will have a hard time sleeping tonight cause I'll want to sneak out to the garage and take more pics! HAHA!!


Here is one more of my cat Jack...anybody want a pretty cat?? Grace is allergic.. :( Just thought I'd throw that in there... :)

Those Eyes

I have had a love affair with eyes my whole life. As a kid I would draw faces and I would always start with the eyes. I think that is what drew me into photography...capturing the life that lived in eyes.



This Saturday Constance and I had a great time getting some new headshots. Her husband Greg even got in on the act carrying around equipment for me, providing water and making Constance laugh! :) It was a great time!

California Fires

To friends and family - we are fine and far from any of the fires.

But there are thousands of people who are hurting at the loss of their property. It is a very heartbreaking situation.
We are praying for all who have lost and for the massive amounts of people who are displaced out of their homes.

(images courtesy of www.noaa.gov taken with NASA satellite)

Lets get down to business!

Learning from experience is a valuable lesson but it is also extremely painful at times. Part of the reason I began this blog was to help fellow photographers -

Most clients are wonderful people who are a joy to do business with....because of this we tend to lean toward believing or hoping that this will be true in all cases. For the rare case when it is not true. It is important that you protect yourself from being taken advantage of by practicing good business principles with ALL your clients....just in case.

So let me share with you some ways to avoid nightmares with your clients.



1. Be flexible.

In as much as your schedule allows be as accommodating and flexible as possible. This is just good customer service and shows them that they are important to you.

2. Get it in writing.

No matter how small the job, I am finding that it is critical to have the agreement in writing. At the very least an email that stipulates what you will do and for how much and when you should be paid. I will be writing up a general contact for all my clients to sign before I take one picture.

2a. Include fees for custom editing.

I am also finding that many people love the quick touch ups done by we photographers who know Photoshop well...but there are those rare few who want plastic surgery and while I am happy to do this for them...it takes a lot of time. I have spent an hour on a photo before only to have the client choose a different one in the end to purchase which leaves me feeling I did a bunch of work for nothing. So I have learned that I need to charge a fee for this kind of editing in order to place a value on it for the client.


3. Use a storefront such as exposure manager.

I use exposure manager for my storefront on the web. They process all prints and orders and mail them to the clients, in return I pay them a small fee for each transaction and yearly subscription fee. This is helpful because the client is required to purchase the prints before you spend your valuable time editing, cropping and uploading the images. It safeguards you from the client backing out of an order as well. Once they paid with their credit card it is a done deal. I learned this the hard way.

4. Deliver your orders in a timely manner.

There is nothing more aggravating than to wait months for pictures you want. Its one thing if your client waits months to order them...but if you wait months to process them...that is just bad business.

5. Be a good example.

If your client gets upset about a situation take the high road. Let them rant and rave all they want but stay focused on the business and the facts. If you made a mistake admit to it quickly and offer ways to make it up to them. If you must stand up for yourself then do so in a way that will not come back to haunt you. Be courteous, be polite but don't let clients railroad over you. (that is where the contract comes in nicely)

All of this is common sense but I know that many of us over look especially the contract when dealing with clients in favor of keeping things casual and loose. But people respect us when we have our ducks in a row. And that is all a contract ensures....respect.

Here are some links to web resources that help you with contracts and professional questions.

SAMPLE CONTRACT (very simple)
The link above will open a pdf but on the site there is also a version that you can open in word to change as needed to suit your business.

American Society of Media Photographers have some good tips for running your photography business.

There is also the professional organization WPPI that assist photographers in many ways. There are 5 different levels of membership from about $50 per year.

click here for the member benefits and make SURE you click through to the second and third pages where the really good benefits discounts on things like data recovery, insurance, equipment and software.

Liberty of the Seas

Here are the last pics I will post of the trip. Our cruise was on the ship Liberty of the Seas. It was a beautiful, very large, new ship. Now it is time to get back to the real world. If you are just checking my blog to see my photography...these last four posts have been for family and friends. I'm just sharing vacation with them!

This was the Promenade on the ship. Full of stores and eateries. This was taken at night after a parade so there were a lot of people. The windows on the sides are people's staterooms and you can see the different floors in the distance. There were 15 decks in all.


We spent a lot of time here. This was the adult spa. We could see it from our balcony as it hung out beyond the ship over the ocean. Pretty cool.



Here is a girl having a blast on the flowrider system they had. People could boogie board or surf on it.


This was the kids pool area. I played in it once.


This was the main theater on the ship.

This was the main pool area. There were three, the kid one, this one and an adult only one.

This was the sunrise the morning we docked in Miami.

St. Maartin

Here are some pics from St. Maartin. It wasn't my favorite place but that might be because we had a cranky cab driver and it was extremely hot. As you can see it was also beautiful.

This is a bay on the French side.


People shared addresses so everyone writes their names on their mailboxes in paint.


Many houses looked like this one.


Coconut anyone?


The beach where we hung out on the Dutch side.

Puerto Rico

We said good-bye to Miami. This photo was taken on the ship as we floated away. The area of dense trees is where our hotel was. THERE WILL BE MORE I promise. Sorry its taking so long to get these up.

Here are some pictures of Puerto Rico I took while we were riding buses and walking the streets.

Famous Fort that proected the island.






All the roads in Puerto Rico were made of these bricks. This photo was taken at dusk.


Here are some row houses at dusk.


This is a photo I snuck as I peered into a bar. Check out those walls.


There were cats EVERYWHERE in Puerto Rico. Here is a cool shot.



At dusk this was a dead end street where locals were hanging out.

Summer Vacation

This is a posting courtesy family and friends that want to follow our trip to the Caribbean. Our hotel is great. Old 1930's place they upgraded us to an apartment so we have plenty of room. We are right on the beach. But I have to tell you about the tour we took. K - first...we are sitting on the curb waiting for a van to pick us up for the Everglades, city tour and boat ride. This guy pulls up and says, "Everglades?" and we say "Yeah!"....and got on. Talk about annoying entertainer. This guy had this little microphone that he had to plug into his cigarette lighter and he was like, "HEY...I'm Manny Miami and THIS is your tour of MIAMI! UGH....Who said that?" I think Brian and I heard "Ugh...Who said that" about 100 times during our trip to the Everglades. We were all squished into this 15 person van and when Manny had nothing to say, he played the Karaoke version of "Superfreak" and sang for us. (I'm totally serious.)
THIS IS MANNY...He kept trying to get us back into his tour....




Luckily Brian got a phone call and this guy on the other end is chewing him out for getting into the wrong tour companies van! HALLELUIA!! So after MUCH confusion, at the Gator Park we got switched into the right tour group and we were free from the psycho tour guide. But I do have to admit...it is a great story.

THIS IS THE VENETIAN POOLS in Coral Gables.
It was made out of an old rock quarry.

THIS IS SHAQ'S HOUSE.

THIS IS A WALL IN LITTLE HAVANNA.

THIS IS US :)

We saw everything yesterday. When we got back from all the tours, I put away my camera and we went swimming at the beach and then around 9pm walked South Beach. There were these hostesses with food platters and they would walk up to you and try to get you sit and eat at their sidewalk restaurant. Like every 10 feet there was another one of them. It was crazy. We ended up eating at a little diner away from the noise and then walked to a very cool restaurant for dessert.

Great trip so far! Today we board the ship.

Crissy

Central Valley Harvest

It's a wrap. I always look forward to Harvest events outside Southern CA because the communities are so excited. 150 churches worked together to bring the event to light and many thousands of people prayed and planned for it for over 10 years. It was a great time. I got a shock on Friday when I learned I was the only photographer on staff there. I began taking pics like a mad woman for the Friday night slideshow for the harvest blog. The people in the video truck started playing "where's waldo" except it was "where's crissy." I popped up everywhere. I was SO TIRED but I had a great time. Check out the blog when you have a chance. Here are some of my favorite pics from the weekend...some are just personal shots that wouldn't be appropriate for the harvest blog.

Things you didn't know...

My good friend and fellow photographer Dawn Malone wants me to play along with a blog game that lets you in on 8 things you didn't already know about me. So here goes...

1. Here is me as a kid with my three sisters. I was the second born and the only blonde.



2. I was once attacked by a bear and a mad man with a gun (not all in the same night) I'll tell you more if you ask sometime...they are both good stories.

3. I was in a terrible accident when I was three. My foot got caught in the spokes of my dad's 10 speed. I remember everything about it. I wanted crutches but they said I was too young and I didn't like that at all.

4. I was once jetted off on a private jet to a romantic dinner in San Francisco and then taken back to a house in Beverly Hills next door to Frank Sinatra. (K all of this happened when I was 13 along with the rest of my family because of the kindness of an elderly business friend of my dad. I know it sounded good for a minute didn't it!)

5. I paid my way through college doing various jobs; tutoring foster kids in Compton and teaching speed reading techniques.

6. I owned one doll my whole life and I only liked it because it peed and pooped. It was a Baby Alive doll. My favorite toy growing up was my race track.

7. I ran CIF in high school in both hurdles and the 4 girl 440 relay. I was third leg. (I know - hard to believe)

8. I lived in the same house from birth until I got married. And then moved into my husband's home that had the exact same floor plan as the one I grew up in. I've been married 16 years to my husband Brian who is an awesome musician who plays drums at our church and is rubbing off his musical talent on my kids. Sam plays guitar and Grace plays bass. The Partridge family here we come!

new bathroom big window

Okay most of you who read my blog know that we recently re-did our master bathroom. You'd think I'd be so excited that I would want to show it off with a nice pic. Uh uh! It just is so tempting with this awesome big window...it calls out to me and says USE me...USE my light! So I grabbed Grace today and we did a few shots before we left for Maddie and Mariah's play which was AWESOME. So here are three that I liked. Grace is growing up too fast. I played with the flash with these and shot these with my 50mm lens. Technically speaking I modified the levels,contrast and dodged the backgroud a bit. Grace liked them!

Playing in Sepia and Color

Went out with the family this weekend to scope out some good places for family pics. We weren't doing a real photo shoot just playing around but there were a few I liked. The plan is to dress appropriately, wash the hair and really go for it one day. We have a wall in our bedroom and a bunch of empty frames and we thought a sepia collection would look cool but I couldn't bear making a couple sepia because I loved the colors too. Fun stuff. :)

A New Look

I've finally got a new look for my website. The Logo is for sure...the rest is still in creative mode. My thought is that I'll switch out the photo now and then to give it a fresh look until I have a landing page with a slideshow. One of these days I'll have a real website with pages and links and everything. But in the mean time I am content with this freshened look.
This site is where I post photos for clients. You can visit it by going to:
http://www.dolcevita-images.com

Here is a pic of what you'll see:

My sentiments exactly

This first picture is one of my favorites of the weekend. And its so simple. WOW - the job was challenging. I was like a one man band and if it weren't for my cargo pants...I would have been up a creek without a paddle. I brought along with me, my camera (loaded down of course with my 70-200 lens), my notepad and pen (which I managed not to lose all weekend - a miracle in and of itself), and my MP3 voice recorder and microphone. But my eye was always looking out for the best stories and hopefully a good picture too. Sometimes the story started with the pic. But in the end...it was my favorite crusade experience in Anaheim.

Nothing can describe the feeling of knowing that no matter what is going wrong in our lives and how hard it might seem - that there is a God in heaven who sent his son Jesus Christ to save us from our sin because He loves us. No mattter how good we think we are, we are not good enough to even approach God if it weren't for Jesus. I owe my life to Him and working at a Crusade event reminds me in a very powerful way how much that simply acknowledging that great truth frees us from guilt, shame and burdens and invites us into the peace that surpasses all understanding (as the Bible says.)

I count it a great privilege to work at such an event. Here are a few more pics.

tobyMac stopped for me to take his pic.



My buddies Mariann and Dawn

signing for the deaf minsitry

What A Night

Saturday night at the crusade was truly amazing. It was packed. Over 42,000 in attendance and over 4,000 made commitments to Christ. Here are some of my pics that didn't make the official harvest blog. I have been reporting on stories and taking pics and it has been so much fun. One of my jobs is moderator of the comments on the blog. It is so great to read the encouragement pouring in from as far away as Japan. Tomorrow is the last night and it will surely be amazing as Tobymac is an amazing performer. I know my kids are most excited for this night. Pastor Greg seems to be over his vertigo and delivered a great message tonight. If you weren't able to attend you can always watch the archives located at harvest.org.
Enjoy the pics.

These are my photography buddies Jeanette and Dawn.


This is my buddy Dirk who encourages me in my photography. He's a phenomenal designer.


This was one of those people that stopped me in my tracks. Youth night wasn't only for the youth tonight.


A man in the stands worshipping during Leeland's performance. Leeland is very young but I was very very impressed.


I took this photo yesterday. These folks were reading the Harvest news piece I helped plan out.



My job has really been focused on getting good stories with good pics and most of these are posted on the harvest blog.
Take care everyone.

Crowder and Crissy

What an amazing night it was at Angel Stadium. I got to talk to many great people who were attending the Crusade and wrote about them on the harvest blog site. Visit http://cc.harvestlive.net to read the stories.
But as you can see one of the highlights of my night was getting talk with David Crowder.



Pastor Ricky Ryan took this picture in the Angels Stadium dugout after the event. Ricky was telling David how he taught me how to surf in Hawaii and how he wanted to get David on a board. Now for those of you who do not know who David Crowder is...he's an AMAZING musician who leads worship at a church in Waco Texas. His worship team began writing songs and before they knew it...well everyone around the country now sings his songs. His performance tonight had everybody in the stands totally engaged. He is also very very tall (he had to practically kneel for the picture) and as you can tell has his own sense of style. It was a great great night. And despite Pastor Greg's illness he was able to preach and we saw many people at the end of the evening come forward to commit their lives to Jesus. I believe it was over 2000 people.

Well I'm looking forward to another incredible night. Don't forget to visit the blog site to see all the other stories.

Emma

Here is a little sweety I had fun taking pics of on the 4th of July. Her name is Emma.

Grace the Grad!

Grace graduated 6th grade last night. Not only was she a beauty she also got the top award of the night - the teacher's award which was given to one student from all three classes for personal dedication, academic excellence and christian character.


She also sang a solo last night that sounded beautiful too. The end of one chapter and the beginning on the next.




Grace with her teacher Mrs. Hooper.

Blessed are the children

I don't think any subject is more inspirational than a child. Their sweet faces get me everytime. Here is a family of brothers and sisters who were all adopted and I have to say for ages 4-9 they were the most well behaved kids I've worked with. Good job Twyla! Hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Five for Fighting

Our family has always loved the music of Five for Fighting and this weekend we got the opportunity to go to a concert. It was so great. For those of your not familiar...he sings the songs "Superman", "100 years", and "Something About You" along with dozens more I love. Not only was the perfomance outstanding but it turned into an unforgettable night for Sam and Grace.
We ended up in the very front row at the stage because all these adults were all gaga and Grace couldn't see! But we had a blast singing all the songs and dancing. At one point John threw out his pick to the audience and later that evening Sam went to sit down and found the pick sitting in his chair. It was a riot. It is a pick he will never lose!
And then he sang a cover song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" and when he was doing the intro to the song he looked down at Grace and told me I should cover her ears. So she DID...and it was so cute. He didn't even say anything bad he was just playing. He's a dad of two kids and his whole show was just so intimate and real. He talked about his dad, his kids and how much family means to him. Anyway at the end of the concert he reached down and shook Grace's hand and then went looking for something to give her. She got a wadded up song list and she felt like a princess. It was so cute. Then after the encore he did a little finger wave good-bye to her. What made it such a crack up was there were all these 40 something women going all gaga and he was giving Grace all the attention. She loved it! And I am sure he's got fans for life after the night the kids had.
So I wanted to share it with you guys. Here are some pics.





This is the hand of one of the gaga women...I missed it when he gave Grace his hand, I was enjoying the moment too much to be a photographer.




Too cute!

Having a bite to eat at Denny's at midnight. Can you tell we are tired?

Afternoon in Riverside

Joyce Anne needed some headshots for a business she is starting up. And we had a really great time in Riverside this afternoon. We took some fun ones too and they ended up being my favorites.

A Little Romance

Here are some photos I took yesterday in downtown Riverside. They are the first couple I've done and we had a blast. It was a lot of fun. I just looked at some inspiration photos and when to town. Hope you like them.

San Luis pics

These were some of the pics that interested me that I took yesterday. This farm had all these shoes and boots on their fence posts. I stopped to take some pics and it didn't take long before Ma sent out the Posse to do a little investigating. Turns out they were worried I was a photographer sent by their neighbors who don't like their "junk". I told them I liked their junk just fine and he smiled and we were good.

This photo was taken at Morro Bay. The rock was all covered up with fog, so I looked down and saw this boat and thought the colors looked pretty neat.

What can I say but I just loved this.

We all grow up some day...but for now this little girl was totally oblivious to the true message of this store window.

While this isn't the best pic of the day I was struck here by the willingness of people to give money to strangers. Especially if they held a sign asking for it. It is a testimony to the kindness of people and perhaps to their cunning.

I just like how "clean" this shot is of trash.

This guy was so great. He just played away and was so happy. I loved all the stuff he had with him.

There are plenty more where those came from but time is a wasting. I'm heading home today. I had a geat trip and will no doubt take more pics on the way home.

Nature and all it's wonders

I'm on day three of my little four day trip and I am having a great, relaxing trip. I wasn't expecting to see so much nature but as you will see I saw plenty of it on my first real day out and about. Yesterday was my scenic day. I did a lot of driving. Today I intend on going to a mission and taking in some city sites but I'm gonna start later cause I got pooped out right when the sun was setting yesterday and lost my creative energy.

Here is a sample of pics.



these were taken at a cemetery in Cambria


I went on a bunch of backroads and almost made myself sick driving and scoping out pics at the same time!

gearing up

Okay - I know its been a while since I last posted. But honestly I've had a lot going on and not much of it has been photography. Aside from the excitement of stepping on a rusty nail while I shot this lovely pic for Grace's 6th grade graduation montage.

But - I have a wedding I'm attending tomorrow that will prove to have all kinds of opportunties for good candid like pics. The groom asked me to bring it along and how could I say no? I also have a shoot on Sunday and more the next weekend. This next week I'll be upstate taking some time off and will hopefully be shooting a lot of good pics.

So I'll be back soon and maybe I'll catch up with Dawn soon. Not likely!

subtle change to website name

Well - I have learned another lesson and I hope that someone is learning from my mistakes.
This week I learned that my website went down. When I went to investigate I learned that when my yearly subscription was charged to my credit card it didn't go through because when the company issued us new cards in January they changed the account number on the cards. After that, the company who I bought the domain name from sold the name out from under me about 3 days before I found out what happened to sought to correct it.

SO - now my website is www.dolcevita-images.com which I like just as good and even like how it is more readable.
We live and learn. And I have learned...once again.

I am sorely in need of another photo shoot. Keep watching for my next post.

C. Watkins

more senior pics

Here are a few more of Mr. Ormonde!

I just finished them this afternoon. He was a great model.

Most of these were shot at 2.8 with the 50mm ISO between 200-400. Some were done from the tripod. All were done with a flash and that was to make sure I had catch light in his eyes. Sometimes in order to get really nice balaced light in the back ground you have to put the model in front of the light and shoot into it a bit. That is when the flash is very necessary. If you don't like the color temp of your photos, then adjust that using your RAW interface. I know shooting in RAW can be intimidating but there is a huge benefit when you are doing portraits. I understand shooting a wedding why jpgs would be more user friendly for workflow. But I love RAW for the adjustability. Also on a few of these I adjusted the image by copying the photo into a new layer and making that layer an "overlay" then adjusting the opacity of that layer. It gives you nice saturation of color and contrast. TRY IT!

senior pics

Hi girls,

I had a doozy of a weekend. Lets just say, I learned my back up lesson again.
Please pray for the hard drive to my mac that is on its way to the data recovery company. I had a shoot with Mr. Ormande this weekend and was really happy with the results. He was fun and Sam kept him laughing.
Here are a couple of previews. BTW: I am now burning all RAW files onto DVD before I even look at them for safe keeping. And highly recommend everyone to do the same.
God Bless,
me

published!

I got an email from "Health and Lifestyle" magazine. I think it is Canadian.
They want to use one of my images from SXC. The free one. :)
But the circulation is 1.6 million. Pretty cool huh!
Here is the image they are going to use in an article called "Rest for the Weary."
I'm stoked even if I am not getting paid for it. I've asked them to send me a couple of copies of the magazine.

Headshots

Hi,

And here are some of the headshots. This was a really fun shoot. Constance was nervous but she did such a great job! She is after really traditional headshots and is looking for an agent and I can't imagine her not getting one with these. We had a great time and after it was over she even admitted that she had fun! YEAH!!





Let me know what you think!

More wedding pics!

Here are a few more wedding pics I promised. She was such a beautiful bride. And I know their marriage is going to be blessed.

I'm back!

It feels like a long time since my last post. Sorry girls, I've been busy wrestling with life and its sometimes consuming distractions. Sometimes distractions are nice and they break us out of our routine. But I'm back now! And I promise to get more wedding pics up soon. I have a shoot on Saturday that I'm looking forward to. An actress friend of mine that some of you might recognize from the show "24". ;-)

Wedding Bells

Here are some photos from my recent wedding. I was the 2nd shooter meaning I did the close ups and angled shots.
Here are a few of my favorites. Hope you like them. I don't normally do weddings but this was for a dear friend. Isn't she beautiful?

the joys of pregnancy

Here are a couple of shots I took last night.
I learned a lot and it makes me want real studio lights even more. I had a rough time with a flash that was too unpredictable for my liking.
White lightnings here I come.

lighting

I took some time last night to play around with lighting. I have a job coming up and the subject wants a studio look with black and white pics. They will be pregnancy shots and is looking for something very dramatic. So I went to town trying different things. I took my extended flash off my camera and set it up and to the left of the subject also a little behind the subject. Then I used the flash on my camera as a second flash but set it to a lower power. I had to adjust several times and did a little bit of tweaking in photoshop but finally liked the result. As you can see from my subject...he was posing only because I promised he that he just had to sit there and could sit however he wanted. :) He was tired.
Extended flashes are awesome tools. I encourage you to play with yours. I can help anyone who has a Nikon to get their flash to work off the camera. Don't know how to work the Canons though sorry girls.

Actions

I have to give credit to Rowena...I didn't even know what actions were a month ago other than something I could create. I didn't know they were available for purchase. Apparently a lot of people use them. I am actually thinking about marketing my own actions as I have not had to rely on them in the past. When I first started working in Photoshop I think it was version 5. I was soooo bad. I had no idea what all the tools were for or how to manipulate them. It seemed way too complicated to me. But I was forced to use it for work and so as I experimented and played with the program I learned. Photoshop has become my instrument even as much as my camera. It is truly my darkroom. But despite this I am going to investigate actions. And see if it can save me time or gain me better effects.

But enough about me...there are ACTIONS people!!! So all you ladies out there who have not had to endure learning photoshop...there are these things you can purchase and some are free to download. They achieve a basic effect on your photos. Soft focus, romantic, soft vignette, crisp black and white etc. There are many to choose from...and believe me, I am planning on coming out with my own!!! So look out girls.
In the meantime here are a few links to browse.

http://www.atncentral.com

http://www.liknes.no/photoshop/index.asp

http://www.panosfx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=4&id=13&Itemid=27


have fun looking around this weekend.

But also remember if I can learn it you can too! And don't pay for anything that you can learn yourself!

On a side note. I just have been reflecting on God's word today in Galatians 5.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Praise God for His Spirit!! I know everyday life gets challenging girls. But thank God we don't have to do it on our own.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!

We went on a trip up the coast to visit good friends. My son took this picture of me when the sun was going down on the side of the road at a pit stop! Pretty good huh! He's my budding photographer!


I'll try to upload more later but to be honest I really didn't take that many pics. I ate and ice skated and ate and ate some more. More tips and tricks coming soon. I promise!

The Beauty of Photoshop

I know some of you don't have photoshop...but most of you have elements. And I just wanted to show how you can take an okay photo and make it "pop". I thought I'd show a couple of examples. The first on is of you know who. First photo is untouched straight out of the camera. The second photo has some photoshop work done to make her eyes pop. One reason I did this is because her eyes were darker than normal because of the lighting. But another reason is because I knew it would take the photo to another level. Not sure you can get the full effect because they were subtle changes. But believe me, they make all the difference.



Here are two more images from the shoot. The first one, something happened with the color because of his shirt - the white balance was off. But luckily I shot it in raw and was able to adjust the "temperature" or white balance of the photo. And a few other little things. Here is the result.





Specficially, I adjusted the temperature, contrast, exposure and saturation. Just a tad for each. It really warmed up the image and made it acceptable.

So how are you guys doing on your Christmas card and lighting challenges? Keep taking pictures! And remember to send me your best results!

The importance of good lighting

After you master framing your subject in a portrait to enhance their looks and features...which most of you guys do well already...lets face it, that's way you want to be a photographer cause you have a "great eye." the second thing that takes your photos to the next level is lighting. I have struggled with lighting as much as anybody and have learned a few things. Please PLEASE comment and share the things you have learned about lighting too...or post a question about lighting by replying to this post. And we can have a discussion about truly one of the most important techniques. Now the topic is so broad I will definitely not be covering it here. But for the sake of brevity and the fact that we are all busy and its Christmas time...here are a few tips.

TIP #1 Natural Lighting

Finding good natural lighting can be tricky but it is your new best friend. For most of us, we don't have professional lighting systems other than the flash on our cameras or possible an external flash. So How do you find good natural lighting?

- When you are outdoors - Wait for the sun to start getting soft in the afternoon. Do not position your subject facing the sun, instead position them to the side or behind the sun and use your flash to balance the light.
- When you are indoors - just about any time of day is okay to take photos as long as you have nice "indirect" light coming from a window. You might still need your flash but if you have an external flash position it toward the ceiling or a wall to bounce the light back onto your subject. That way the lighting will be much softer.
- Learn lighting patterns. This link shows the major one in a very simple way.

www.timesphotojournal.com/Feb2006/tutor.html

You can use the window as your light source and practice using these different patterns.

TIP #2 Accessories That Can Help

- Get a set of reflectors. They are inexpensive and really help out when the lighting is not cooperating. Most sets come with black that absorbs light, white that reflects a bit of light, a silver reflector that bounces white light and a bronze reflector that bounces golden light. They also have a diffuser which is like using a lamp shade. It takes away all the harsh shadows and hot spots you can get sometimes from the sun. Now the only trick is that most reflector sets are not big enough to use on full length shots or groups. And they usually don't operate by themselves. You need an assistant to adjust them as you move the subject and as the sun moves. I've used them very successfully though and recommend them highly.

- Get a large white umbrella. This acts just like the diffuser that comes in the set I just discussed. Now I have one that is regular umbrella size but an instructor I had used one that was the size of an umbrella you would use for a table. And it was heavy! But it rocked! And WAS large enough for full length shots and groups. Catch here, is it was expensive and hard to find. I would buy one if I could find one. She got hers at a trade show.

- Get an extended flash. Now it is an investment but one worth making. An extended flash allows you to take awesome indoor/poorly lit photos. As long as you have a ceiling or wall to bounce off you get a beautiful diffused light instead of the harsh flash look you get when using the flash on the camera. Also, if you are lucky enough to have a Nikon :) (perhaps Canons do this too...someone needs to let us know if they know) You can with many camera models (check your manuals) use the extended flash off your camera...across the room and trigger it to go off just like studio lighting. Now it is no where near powerful enough to use solely for studio lighting but it allows you to create some pretty cool lighting effect without the cost of $1000's of dollars. I own the SB800 and I treasure it. Here are a few pics I took using the flash off the camera.



And the cool thing is you can combine all this stuff! You can combine the window with the flash with the reflectors to get amazing shots.
Using whatever you have...PRACTICE! Send me the photos and I will post them for others to see!

Can't wait to hear from you...be sure to comment and give us your tips too or post a question.

Look what you have done!

LOOK at what you have done! My mom has said that a time or two to me in my life. And usually it meant something bad. But this time it means something good! I challenged you all to take your families out and take some Christmas card pictures for yourself. And I have a few samples to show you.

Kim Goodwin took her family out to the beach.

She had a friend help her with the photography but we can learn alot from what she was able to accomplish.


1. She and her family were dressed perfect for beach pictures. Anytime you go to take photos that are meant to be of portrait quality you have to think about what you will wear. Ideal clothes are solid color, scooped neck for women and 3/4 length sleeves. The scoop neck give you a nice long neck and the 3/4 sleeves hides our upper arms that most woman don't like to see in a picture.

2. The light was harsh in this picture and sometimes that is impossible to avoid. But if you can avoid it take pictures about one hour before sunset. The light is softer then. If you can't avoid it get a large white umbrella and an assistant. It works like a lampshade softening the light. Also use your flash. Even if you don't have a fancy flash. It will help balance the light that is so bright behind them so your faces aren't as dark.

Doesn't she have a cute family!

GOOD JOB KIM! Keep taking pictures. She is using a Nikon D70.

Mariann also has taken some pics!

1. This one is very pretty! It has captured great facial expression and emotion. The flower is lovely. Knowing when to capture the image is a huge gift! And Mariann's photo does a great job with that.
2. The light on this photo could be better. Luckily for Marianne Photoshop can help. The photo is a little too dark. So what you can do it lighten it up a bit and add just a touch of warmth. This can be done a number of different ways. Play around with LEVELS adjustments as well as BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST. If you have the ability to adjust the white balance that is where you can warm it up a bit. In Photoship CS2 it is in ADJUSTMENTS>PHOTO FILTER or if you have done your shoot in RAW you can use the plug in to adjust the "TEMPERATURE" of the photo.
Here is the photo again after a little manipulation.
Mariann is using a Nikon D70 also.



GOOD JOB GUYS!

You can do it!

Here is a challenge. Take your kids and or family out for a Christmas pic for your Christmas cards! If you have kids you have a dream come true for photographers. Models that can't say no! Yes, they can be unruly at times but that's okay it will get you primed for your first shoot with someone else's kids which take it from me IS HARDER.

I have done some of my favorite experimenting for our holiday pics in the last three years (which is how long I've had my digital).

This is 2002

This was actually before digital for me. It was taken with my Nikon N50. And then scanned into the computer. This was the beginning of photo manipulation girls.
While it is an okay photo there is no life in their eyes and the shadows are way too heavy. But it was fun!

I must have had a bad year in 2003 - but this is 2004
This was me practicing with a sheet that was backlit by the sun.
I wanted the background completely blown out but what I had trouble with is that the background was so bright that I had to adjust for it to get the kids correctly exposed which led to a slower shutter speed and a blurry result. But hey - once again I had fun!!

In 2005 I got serious and took some shots that I had and did a little designing using Photoshop. This year I think turned out a lot better but I think Grace's picture is still blown out a bit. I was starting to learn more about photography and take it more seriously this year.

And this year 2006. I tried something a little different. I took it one step further and created my own card. I also offered this card as a template to my customers complete with a portion of the card set aside for a greeting.


So there you have it! Try your own. And Above all...Have fun with your kids and have a Merry Christmas.

Posting your pictures for sale online!

Here is some encouragement for you! I just received my first payment from www.stockxpert.com. I have about 141 pictures or so online. They sit there everyday and I can upload more at anytime for free. It is a micropayment site like www.istock.com but the payouts are better. The photographer gets 50% of the cost of the download. It is called micropayment because each download for the buyer is very inexpensive. Average payout for one download is .50. But it adds up. Especially if you can get a lot of pictures up. Designers use these sites to create websites, brochures for companies, ads, posters to hang in storefronts...you name it.

The way I look at it...I get money for doing nothing. The pictures are there, people download them and when I get a balance that is high enough. I receive a check in the mail.
YIPEE. Today's check was $104. You can do this too! It is a great way to make a little extra money.

This is my top money making picture: it is my friends dog Belle when she was a puppy.


I took the picture in a family room with my external flash pointed at the ceiling. The dog was sitting on someone's lap who was wearing a solid dark grey shirt that I blurred out using photoshop... :) Neat little trick.

more later! Keep taking pictures!

Welcome and introductions!

HI!

Here we go! Want to learn more about becoming a professional photographer but don't know now to get started? Just want to become a BETTER photographer in the digital age? This blog is for you!

First let me say that I'm no expert but... I've been at it pretty seriously now for about three years and I've learned a great deal.

I think there are probably a lot of other mom's out there like me who just can't stop taking pictures of their kids. And they want to get a better camera (which is a lot easier nowadays) and once they do, and its digital, they realize that being good at camera stuff is only half of it. Well, maybe its more than half...but a significant portion of being a good "digital" photographer is knowing how to deal with that computer that perhaps you only used for email before!!

So my blog will be full of Photoshop tips as well as things I've learned as I began my journey as a professional photographer. Hopefully it will be informative, and entertaining to read. Dawn Malone inspired me to start this blog. As did Marianne and Brandi...they are my friends and budding photographers who also happen to be moms. We all happen to be Christian's too and that bond is something I cherish with them all.

So here's to raw talent!

TIP #1:

If you have Photoshop Elements or better - LEARN TO USE IT. There is a website called www.lynda.com this site has a number of great tutorials some on all the various Adobe products. There is a small fee to watch all of the tutorials but some you can watch for free. There are other sites too out there that help you learn the basics. If you have the disk that came with your program go through the tutorial they have. Also on www.adobe.com there is a section on the site that helps users with questions they have. Photoshop is to photography like Grey's Anatomy is to medicine. Its the authority. Adobe is coming out with a new program call Lightroom (instead of darkroom, get it?) very soon and currently you can sign up to download the BETA (testing) version for FREE! It will be a pricey program when it is complete but for now you can use it for free! And it is powerful. Some are saying that it might replace photoshop for some photographers. I don't think it will for me...but I will never say never!

TIP #2:

If you have a new camera that you don't know how to use. READ THE MANUAL. I know it probably has crossed your mind but you just want to play! It will help if you have your camera in hand while you read it and mess around with all the settings, take pictures (its digital...GO AHEAD! it won't cost anything). After you get familiar with the features play around with some of them casually. Don't put a lot of pressure on yourself. Give yourself a little due date and then go for it and take a bunch of pictures, take notes if you are really into it and then spend some time looking at them on a computer monitor. You will learn a lot and you won't want to pay anybody for them. If you know a photographer show them your pics and ask for a critique. It is the BEST way to learn! HANDS DOWN.

TIP #3:

Start publishing your photos. You say what??? Is she serious?? YES! I know you have the "Favorite pic". There is a website called www.sxc.hu it is a free site to join and a free site to use to upload photos. It is a real stock photo site and thousands and thousand of people come to this site in need of photos everyday. Designers that have jobs that don't have big budgets...a lot of churches, small time stuff mostly. But at this site you will gain a wealth of experience and knowledge. You will learn how to take rejections. They will reject your photo if it isn't clear and crisp and if the subject is not "stock worthy" I promise more on that later...I will do a whole blog on what "stock worthy means". Also you will learn what it feels like for someone to WANT your picture to use. I'm telling you, my photos have been used around the world. Did I mention it is free to use...well that is for both the uploader and the downloader. So the designers do not pay for your photos. But to me that is the beauty of it. I will talk a lot more about sxc in later blogs. But for now...check it out and set up an account and upload a pic and see if it gets accepted!!!

OKAY enough tips for one night. My fingers are tired. GIRLS - here's to you! More blogs to come I promise. Bookmark the site and check back for more postings. God Bless You!

C. Watkins