What Lies Beyond

I have been wanting to do some more levitation photos but it's a million degrees outside now and will be for about the next three months. So when I finally get some free time to do a shoot, it's going to be an indoor event and will unfortunately be limited to my very small (yet air-conditioned) house.

I spent about an hour shooting for this one image and came away bruised and sweating. It's not easy floating in mid-air while holding your front door open in the summer, ya know.

Better 1? Better 2?

Here is an example of my tendency to over think when I manipulate images. Does anyone else do this? Most of the time, when I work on whatever post production I'm doing, I'll get it to a point I like and then walk away from it for a day. The next day I come back and either still like it or start going in a different direction. Usually, the final image is obvious because it stands out from the other. But sometimes, I find that I can't decide which I like more. That is what happened here. Both of the images below evoke a different feeling, but I'm somehow drawn to both. Which do you prefer and why?

Here's the original image I started working with. It's a shot I took of one of the models at the Beauty shoot during SNAP weekend. Does seeing it influence your decision? Maybe that's part of my indecision problem, cause I do look back to the original a lot.

SNAP - Beauty Workshop

Last Sunday I attended a workshop by Betsy Hansen on the art of Beauty Photography.  The class was mostly about how you can make gorgeous photos by utilizing the latest equipment and software. Wouldn't it be nice to be a pro? Using Capture 6 software, a Phase One Medium format camera, and an iPad she was able to control the lights, adjust the white balance, and create an immediate contact sheet to look at on set. It was some serious high tech stuff. I learned that it takes a small army to make a shoot like this happen. There were a total of 7 people on set (not including the models). The photographer, 2 assistants, guy working the software, clothing & prop stylist, hair stylist, and makeup artist. Wow. It was a really interesting thing to watch. I also learned that you need a lot of patience cause this whole process took a looong time.

Yes, there were beautiful, well-lit models, but here's my favorite shot - a girl and her camera.

Betsy Hansen and her infinite patience

SNAP shots

The SNAP event last weekend was a total success. It was both inspiring and informative. The weekend was a whirl of exhibits, fashion shows, lectures, and workshops. Highlights for me were:

• Seeing the works of my longtime hero Jerry Uelsmann (who still works in a traditional darkroom) and the surrealist photographs of Elena Vizerskaya.
• Hearing the lectures of Jerry and his fantastically creative wife, Maggie Taylor - she's a digital artist, he's a darkroom artist. They encourage and feed off of each other but each have styles all their own. 
• Learning about Dan Eldon through his mother and journals. His is a moving story worth knowing.

There was also a fashion show which was really cool. Here are some images taken from that night.

 

SNAP Kickoff - Building Projection

Last night was the kick off event for SNAP 2011! Paintscaping.com created an awesome display here in downtown Orlando and our mayor, Buddy Dyer was there to host the event. For about six minutes, photo images and 3D animation were projected onto the front of the Kress Building. This is the first time we've seen anything like this in Orlando and it was fantastic. The show repeated every half hour and we watched it twice. The most impressive thing for me was how they incorporated the building's architecture into the display.

Kress Building before the show

These pictures don't really do it justice, but you can see the whole event here:

Up Close and Personal

My heart is breaking today because my BCM (best cube mate) Annika is moving away. As she was cleaning out her desk she found this old magnifying glass that my last BCM Angelene (see a pattern here?) had left behind. Well, of course a zany photo shoot ensued...

This one is my favorite because it's creepy and dark. Go figure.

Photo of me taken by Anni.
For this is how she will always remember me and my loud cackle.  *Tear

Yes, she's only moved two rows over, but still.

For the love of Instagram

I mentioned my new favorite app Instagram in my last post. But I may not have mentioned just how addicted I am. I'm not sure if it's because it's new (to me), or because it's instant gratification, or because the results are almost always beautiful. Whatever the reason, while I may not be using my DSLR too much lately, I always have my cellphone handy.

To shoot pictures of nature:

To capture daily life:

 

To make self portraits:

To document the hilarity and beauty of friends:

To turn strangers into dreams:

Photojojo, another thing I really like, published a photo in their newsletter a couple of weeks back about Ten New Ways to Use Instagram. It has a lot of great new sites that utilize Instagram. Like these:

My favorite is Inkstagram - a site that lets you use Instagram on the computer! This is awesome, because while I do heart Instagram, I do NOT heart looking at images on the small screen of my phone.

For my foodie friend, Katherine: you can post food photos directly to Foodspotting through your Instagram account!

For my cat-loving friends (talking to you, Annika): InstaKitty and Nekostagram let you view photostreams of nuthin-but-cats. Cuteness personified.

You  can follow my stream on Instagram: asraigrrl