It's that time of year - when people realize the Holidays have begun and it is time for taking family photos for the holidays cards.
Scooby was such a good little model. His owners were fully prepared for him to be a menace for the shoot - but in reality - other then the bow - I think he really enjoyed himself and acted like a professional dog model!
A time to give thanks.
A time to be with family and loved ones.
A time to eat yourself into a tryptophan coma with a side of sugar!
WOW - a holiday about family and food - what could be better? Sadly though sometimes in our lives, family brings added stress instead of joy, but that's just the way it is.
When I am wound up or stressed out I have a tendency to cook. It must be the Italian in me.....there is a trauma? Oh well I must feed everyone! It's just the way I am - I love cooking! Ask me to throw together a dinner party (including the HUGE thanksgiving meal) for 10 or more and I get all pumped up and psyched! Planning menus, making specialties, experimenting with new ideas/recipes and inventing some of my own! I LOVE it!
Ask me to bake and the stress freak emerges! I am not a baker. I mean it's not like what I bake is inedible by any means (most of the time) - but no one ever says "Oh Amanda is a great baker!" No. Not me.
So imagine the added stress I put upon myself when I decided to make my favorite - Pumpkin Pie - from scratch - by myself .......and....GLUTEN FREE! As I can no longer eat Gluten(one of the many "joys" this past year has sprung upon me) - this is a must, but baking Gluten free AND having it taste good is NOT easy and - well leave it to me to do my first run on a the biggest food fest day of the year.
I went to Yoga first yesterday, then poured myself a glass of wine and meticulously measured every little thing. (Its the scientific /can't experiment part of baking that terrifies me).
Then today it was roll out the pie dough (not pretty - and I had that dude from the Food Network - you know the know-it-all with the glasses who you actually learn interesting stuff from?) in the back of my head from a show I watched months ago stressing "not overworking" pie crust dough. Oh GREAT!
So after much angst that thoroughly entertained my neighbors - some who are used to me and my new neighbors who MUST think I am a total head case - they just came out of the oven - and I must say the smell was pretty heavenly - and they LOOK pretty good - but tonight at the desert and drinks soiree I am attending at Patio Culture - the truth will be told. Will they TASTE any good?
Well at least I know by that time everyone will be good and drunk! LOL
Happy Thanksgiving to - well anyone who reads my blog!
:-)
Yes I am one of those "animal people". I generally find most people are - although occasionally you run into an exception. I have had people tell me that I should add animals to my repitoire of photography - but I don't have quite as easy of a time connecting with them as I do with childen or people - and that is WITH me being and animal person!
Take for example my own. My beautiful albeit willful 10 year old Labrador/Cocker Spaniel mix Ascher, and my Inglewood rescue cat ( rescued with his litter at 6 weeks old) named Pagoda or "Evil Kitty".
They are my pets and yes I think they are beautiful - but if I can't get them to "pose" to get a great shoot of them - then how on earth would I be able to do it for other people? Yes Pagoda is more of the "poser" of the 2 - but whenever I aim a camera at Ash - she just lays down and looks like she is pouting. (Maybe she is channeling her inner model - who knows) but I can never seem to capture the happy smiling face she has on most of the time when I am not aiming a camera at her.
I am impressed when I see great portraiture photography of animals - but am really quite baffled at how the photographer interacts with/ deals with their subject to get those shots. So I need to keep practicing, especially since I have a Christmas card shot next week that includes the family dog! Oh boy - should be interesting!
I have known my young friend here since she was 11 and used to visit my shop with her puppy after school. Even at that young adolescent age it was easy to see she was going to be a beauty as she grew up.
Well now at 15 - lets just say I would have KILLED to look like her when I was that age. After taking these photos, out of curiosity I pulled out some old photos from my high school years. Sufficed to say - awkward would be the best word to describe me at that age. I like to think I grew into my face - so to speak - but still it is a face better left to behind the camera!
My beautiful friend is also very poised and relaxed in front of the camera - which is always a plus, and her face has a natural symmetry that makes her very photogenic as you can see here.
We shot these on a Sunday afternoon around the neighborhood, using natural light and occasionally a gold reflector. This one was wonderful because the natural light was shining on a gray flat building/ wall behind me and the light reflected from there and aimed a soft glow on her face. It's the kind of natural lighting luck/timing that photographers dream about.
So on Friday I did a photo shoot of the largest family I have worked with to date.
Always a challenge to work with more then a few people and when you add in all the children and a 10 month old baby - wow! Almost 100 shots to get a handful where the MAJORITY (never all) of them are looking at the camera. However "perfection" is not all that is important. to me some of my favorite photos don't have every single person looking directly at the camera with perfect smiles pasted on their face. A Family is never perfect - it is full of all sorts of different personalities and my goal is to try and let those individual personalities shine through wherever possible.
I really enjoyed working with this family, but as always my biggest joy is working with the children. The three girls in red live in my neighborhood and the girls in white are their cousins. The girls know me by sight as I walk by their house with Asher a few times a week, but until the day of the shoot they really had no connection to me. As always with kids - they start off a little shy, a little unsure, and sometimes more then a little annoyed at having to "sit still" and smile for a stranger. When working on family portraits , it is always a challenge to get them to settle in, which is perfectly natural, and also why I love to let them run and play and try to capture them in action. It doesn't take to long before they are having FUN with the whole process and of course those are the moments where the best photos come through.
One of the lovely girls even became my "art director" when it was her idea for them to pose for this next photo.
Some people may not be happy that all 5 girls are not looking at the camera and smiling in perfect unison. But as I said - that isn't family, that isn't life. Instead the natural beauty of all of their individual personalities shines through in this, and I believe that is what makes a photo special.
To me it is important to let the kids feel involved and when they come up with ideas or poses I always go for it, because the more fun they are having the bigger the smiles. The bigger the smiles the more genuine and beautiful the photos turn out. Natural life, my favorite way to capture such beautiful children.
Well I have been busy the past few days - reading, studying, practicing. Photography is something you never stop learning about. A marriage of art and science, beauty and technology. There are certainly times when I feel secure with a shoot, set-up etc, and others where I second guess myself every step - or make rookie mistakes that remind me how much there is to learn.
Fortunately my technical/scientific side of my brain has always somewhat dominated the artistic and creative side - because although photography is such a mix of both, the best intentions and artistic eye can be derailed quickly by the technical elements. My left side of my brain is always running through F-stops, exposure, lighting and berating myself for how much I don't know yet. Then my right side has to fight through the noise to think about the artistic quality of the shot - how to find the beauty in the subjects and show it the best way I can, to let my eye do what it needs to do to capture the moment.
It is a learning process that at times can be frustrating and lead to sleepless nights....but at others when I come across a great shot I re-connect with the joy in the whole process. While working on my most recent Family portrait ( a multi-generation family of 13 - including a 10 month old) I came across this one and worked on it first.
I wonder is there anything sweeter then being able to make a baby smile?
I am helping a friend out watching her beautiful boy a few hours a week and I swear, just spending 2 hours with him, making him smile and having him fall asleep in my arms was mood altering.
I know I know, it's all fun and games when it isn't your baby and you don't have to be up every few hours or be a 24/7 mom, and someday I will get my due - but for now......
Social Media Revolution. Wow. It's amazing where we are now.
Most often, the word 'revolution' is employed to denote a change in socio-political institutions. The "Revolution" in question deals mainly with the way we gather information and interact with the people around us. I did not fully comprehend how quickly the world of social interaction and media is advancing. Honestly, it scares me just a little.
I am about to officially sound like an old person, but I remember growing up without email. Without the internet. Hell - we didn't have cable until I was in Highschool, and I still remember our very first beta max, artari and answering machine, not to mention my very first Apple computer in college! Black and white screen it was little more then a fancy word processor and calculator - but still I felt so technologically savvy!
In the past 20 years, I have been able to witness first hand cameras turning digital. The internet becoming mainstream (although sadly this happened after college). Email becoming the prefered mode of long distance communication. Beta max, to VHS, to DVD to Blue Ray. Cassettes to CD's to MP3's to the iPod taking over the world. Cell phones - a novelty in and of itself - getting smaller, faster and morphing into handheld computers that have become such a part of who we are - really an extension of ourselves - that leaving the house and forgetting ones cell phone is tantamount to a disaster of epic proportions. They have become a sort of lifeline, something many of us no longer know how to function without.
The pace at which things move these days is dizzying to say the least. Dial up has been replaced by cable and Vios. The speed at which we can be delivered our news is astounding, and really with online shopping and delivery, in today's modern age one could literally never have to leave the house.
But does it make us happier? Is it hurting or helping our human connection?
Facebook has been what I would call an enlightening experience. Through it, happily I have been able to re-connect with many people. Friends from my high school or college with whom time and distance has kept us apart - now a daily check on my Facebook news feed keeps me abreast of the goings on in their lives and vice versa.
On the other hand relationships based on status updates and emails can leave us feeling dis-connected and even farther apart, regardless if the person lives 3,000 miles away - or the next town over and yet you never see them in the flesh. Nowadays I have relationships that are conducted via text message. Hell I was even broken up with that way once. I have had friendships end in email and relationships re-formed and growing in strength via Instant Message and Facebook messages. Isn't it odd?
What I fear is that as we head down this road of technological social interaction that future generations will lose the ability to interact on a personal face to face level. The basic idea of a "revolution" is an uprising and desire to change the way things are because they are not working. I understand that Social Media has it's positive side for news, commerce and business as well as connecting the world to each other, but is it hurting our personal relationships? Will we soon forget how to connect at the human level without our Blackberry or iPhone?
Sometimes things are really frustrating in life. Sometimes you can feel as though everything is coming down on your head. Sometimes you just don't know what to do.
Then sometimes, when you feel that way - all it takes is a long lunch with a few glasses of wine and a good friend to sound off on. To talk about problems, and also to talk about good things, gossip, catch up on life and tell stories that really have nothing to do with anything and all of a sudden you forget about your problems.
Thank goodness for a sunny LA Monday, a good workout and then a great friend and our favorite place in Culver City to get a yummy salad, a glass (or 2) of wine, a long leisurely lunch and a good chat.
We may not be able to solve the worlds problems. Hell half the time we can't even really solve our own problems, but after such a lovely afternoon for a while - nothing is that bad.
My last Halloween post for another year - sigh - I love dressing up! I also love going out with friends after sitting in front of my computer for several weeks in a row, and as usual Randy and Jordan's soiree did not disappoint!
At the party we had a plethora of creative and fun costumes that people put a lot of effort (and commitment) into. Wolverine spent the month growing his beard so he could sport the mutton chops. Our Spinal Tap guest was incredible in his bright red spandex with zippers up the side. Then there was our John McEnroe - whose short shorts were - well epic to say the least!! Several of us even admitted to watching the movies we were portraying characters from that afternoon for inspiration. Candy corn martinis were served with our pant less LA Sheriff officers famous gumbo, Rockband was brought out late night and all in all the spirit of revelry was high.
I went Pirate this year. In lieu of sassy, sexy or suggestive - I channeled a bit of Captian Jack Sparrow - and a mighty fine captain I thought I was. Then , at one point in the evening it dawned on someone that 3 of us were channeling Mr. Johhny Depp. We had a Sweeney Todd, a Mad Hatter from the upcoming Burton take on Alice in Wonderland, and myself as Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. So just for fun - here is a photo someone took of the Johnny Depp Tri-fecta as it was. (The Mad Hatter MADE his hat! Impressive huh?)
I am a HUGE fan of Johnny Depp - so here is a clip from the upcoming movie. I can't wait to see it!
Scooby was such a good little model. His owners were fully prepared for him to be a menace for the shoot - but in reality - other then the bow - I think he really enjoyed himself and acted like a professional dog model!
always my biggest joy is working with the children. The three girls in red live in my neighborhood and the girls in white are their cousins. The girls know me by sight as I walk by their house with Asher a few times a week, but until the day of the shoot they really had no connection to me. As always with kids - they start off a little shy, a little unsure, and sometimes more then a little annoyed at having to "sit still" and smile for a stranger. When working on family portraits , it is always a challenge to get them to settle in, which is perfectly natural, and also why I love to let them run and play and try to capture them in action. It doesn't take to long before they are having FUN with the whole process and of course those are the moments where the best photos come through.
