Mayra, baby fawn.

Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of photographing Mayra.

This photo makes me think of a baby deer in a field.
Lovely.


50mm, ISO 125,
1/60, F4.5, fill flash and silver reflector
(it is a given, by now, that I shoot with a 5D)

I tried to go really light on the editing because it was pretty right in camera.
Just a few tweaks with the curves, levels, and some burning.
Wala!

I just got home from school where I watched a nude shoot. As in, a beautiful nude dancer was on stage and Barbra Bordnick (a great photographer) was photographing the dancer. Lovely images.

Life is good and my eyes are constantly barraged with lovely things like men's hands with soft, thick fingers like lion paws, perfectly circular eyeballs, wind that has delicate fingers (that touches my skin more than my eyes), and the Jonas Brothers.

8th graders.

Catlin and I attended eighth grade together in Fall River, MA.
The school was teeny tiny and we had to wear plaid skirts with maroon knee socks everyday (which I actually loved).

Now we are adults and she was awesome enough to drive over (up? down?) to my school and let me photograph her.

We have an assignment that is: a Public Relation headshot and an alternative portrait using the same model. I'm not going to post the PR..boooooring! But here is a candidate for the alternative.




Mamiya 645, 150MM, ISO 50,
1/60, F13
Figure out the lighting by looking at her eyes.



I got home from school at around 8.30pm last night, took my backback off, and tossed myself into bed. It was only supposed to be an hour nap because I had plans to go to Northampton. Next thing I know, its Saturday morning. Pretty rock and roll I guess. I would have liked to have gone out last night...

Ok, I have 3 shoots today so...
see ya!

Little Cousin, Eli.

I remember when Eli was a baby...and now he looms over me (and I am no short girl).
Anyways, here is Eli...he will be sweetie pie sixteen years old next week.


I don't have my harddrive plugged in, so no camera specs.
Although I know I used a silver reflector in the second one.








Today I had a great breakfast at the Shady Glen with Papa Bear and Baby Bear (Mikey C and his dad). Then I drove to CT to assist/observe the Marantz's on an engagement shoot. It was great! They are great! The town was gorgeous (Stonington, CT).
I listened to Radiohead on the way home and it was appropriate.


I didn't go to the school building at all today, which is strange for me...I miss it. It is a home to me now, since I spend a gross amount of time there (gross, as in large quantity, not as in disgusting).

Tomorrow morning I want to think of this Radiohead lyric upon waking: "wakie wakie time to rise. it's on again, off again, on again...in pretty patterns".
Ya dig?!

Kevin Landes: average height, dark, and handsome.

Today I had a client pull a no-show, so I messed around with Kevin in the studio for a few minutes. He is hilarious and recently got a hair cut. His bed head, prior to the haircut, was unrivaled by any bedhead I've ever seen.

He takes aweeeeeesome fashion&commercial shots. Better than most printed magazine shots.

Ladies&Gentlemen, I present Kevin Landes:






Shots taken with the Canon 5D, both the 35mm and the 50mm,
ISO 50, 1.125, f13


Today was warm(ish), sunny, and productive.
Tommorrow my friend Mikey C (shown in a former blog) is coming up, and I get to go assist two awesome wedding photographers in CT.
It's 11.30pm now and I think I'll go home for the night.

Cloud Cult & Margot and the Nuclear So and So's.

I had the opportunity to see Cloud Cult and Margot&theNuclearSo&So's at PearlStreet in Northampton, MA.
So very good!!

The lighting was opposite of conducive for photography.
But, like everything else in my life, it is rock and roll and you have to roll with it and problem solve.

CLOUD CULT:












They have a man on stage painting (an INCREDIBLE painting) during their set.







MARGOT AND THE NUCLEAR SO&SO's











Instead of using a slider, he is using a Red Stripe bottle, which juuuust so happens to be one of my favourite beers.



This was a tight show. Both bands are just as good live, maybe even better!, than their albums. And their albums are good.

Mikey C; the radomness of life.

So,
this boy was touring my school a few weeks ago and the faculty member stopped by my computer and asked if i would show the boy what i was working on.
i did.
turns out, this boy lives a the town next to scranton, PA (where all my family lives). so i got his number and arranged to photograph him when i was there.

this weekend, i went to PA.




50mm, ISO 160,
1/180, f1.8




50mm, ISO 160,
1/180, F2.0, silver reflector




50mm, ISO 250,
1/125, f2.8, silver reflector



35mm, ISO 125,
1/90, f2.0, silver reflector





50mm, ISO 125,
1.125, f2.0, fill flash


Mikey C is awesome.
Ask me how much retouching I had to do to his skin?
Answer: none.
!!

Scranton, PA!

Ohhhhhhh man!
My weekend has legitimately been one of the best weekends possible. All I have done is drink special vanilla chai (with hearts in the foam), taken photos, and stayed up so late that you could grocery shop with the bags under my eyes. This is rock and roll.

There are (probably?) going to be many photos from this weekend that I eventually post, but here are several.


Brother took this photo, of me shooting the following photo.
Like I said, rock and roll.


My cousin Michael,

Canon 5D, 50mm, ISO 200,
1/125, f3.5


My cousin Eli and I, shot in this sweet upper level of a parking garage in downtown Scranton, PA.

Canon 5D, 35mm, ISO 125,
1/2000, f2.0, fill flash



Eli (cousin), Mike (cousin), Mike (friend), Brother (brother), me

Canon 5D, 35mm, ISO 200,
1/500, f 2.0



Brother, shot in our room at the Radisson

Canon 5D, 50mm, ISO 50,
1/10, F5.6, one white umbrella



Check out how cool my family is:
(very)



This will conclude the hasty edits I have done.
This trip has been awesome.
My family is...."legitimate."

Ooolala.

If you didn't already know, I attend a pretty spectacular photography school called
Hallmark Institute of Photography.

I dare you to check it out.

Promos. Bands. Boys who play instruments and sing. Promos.

I got started in photography from shooting shows. Rock and roll shows. Which led to band promos. It was all very rock and roll. Very grab-your-camera-and-one-kit-lens-and-jump -in-the-car-and-go. My favourite.
When I was back home last month, I shot my friend Lyton's band: Behold the Brave.
We shot at the Old Woolen Mill, which I usually try and avoid because it's probably the most over-photographed place in the world, second only to the statue of liberty.

But I tried to incorporate some different elements, and I am content with how they look. (If it had been an overcast day, I would have been ecstatic, but that's usually the case).

But I digress and here are the images.




Canon 5d, 50mm, ISO 125
1/1500, f2.5, fill flash





I was shooting through this huge piece of circular scrap metal. This piece of metal had a hole in the middle of it (creating this wicked vingette type effect) and was just slightly larger than my lens. It was awkward for me, because I wasn't quite tall enough to see through the hole so it was a jump-and-shoot kind of thing. I also used the 16-35mm lens for more of these shots.
Canon 5D, 50mm, ISO 125
1/2000, f1.8



Canon 5D, 23mm, ISO 125
1/750, f2.8, fill flash



Here are some other band promos I have done in the past:


AsCitiesBurn (SolidState Records)
Photos taken in Atlanta, GA,







Bloodlined Calligraphy (Facedown Records)
Photo taken in Nashville, TN,





iamairplane (these guys actually stole my kitchen chair. they took it right out and put it in the back of their van, no joke.)
This photo was taken at sunrise,



I like good music as mich as the next guy.
Actually, I like good music more than the next guy.
And the new Manchester Orchestra is very, very good. Way more intense and edgier than their former album.
Ella Fitzgerald has been hanging out on a lot in my ears lately.
Smooth.

the Hoeferle's.

The Hoeferle's are incredible people.
I am convinced that they are good at everything they do: parenting, teaching, making the best coffee I have ever had, etc.

They are an awesome family with two hilarious, fun girls (as seen below).







Family portraiture is a field I will photograph more in.
I think my family has only been photographed once or twice, which is unfortunate.
Families should be photographed regularly! It is a priceless investment!
And on that note, if you want a family portrait taken, tell me!