Archive for August, 2010
Yes, I have more pictures from Grand Rapids that I want to share. I will let you in on a little secret, I have at least ONE more GR post! What can I say? I took A LOT of pictures in Michigan!
Now several days ago I posted that I went to GR to attend Amy Wenzel’s Photography workshop. Which is technically true but the major and deciding factor in flying to Michigan was that we would get a chance to see our good friends who just happened to live minutes away from the workshop location. Win, win…win!
We had such a awesome time with Steven and Amie Jo and they have left such a hole in our lives by moving so far away. A funny, make us laugh friend shaped hole to say the least.
We went out one night, just us adults, to a super cool restaurant and as we walked form the car to the restaurant we had an impromptu mini-shoot.
Amie Jo is beautiful, Steven is, ehhh, not bad.
At some point I thought they should have a serious pose. Why I thought this I am not really sure. They are not serious people and forcing them into seriousness was unnatural and no fun for anyone. Don’t they look miserable…
Like a second later. One of the reasons we love these guys so much!
We ended up eating at Sanchez a Tapas Bistro, which I loved! I had never had tapas, which are small plates and I loved that I could try and share half the menu and not be forced into making a decision. I do so hate decisions. Too bad it was so dark inside or I would have documented all our food for you to enjoy.
Amie Jo and Steven we do so love you! Thanks for introducing us to Tapas and for making us leave Grand Rapids with a major city-crush. Let’s get together again!
p.s. Dustin says to tell you “You’re the best ever.”
For the year 2010, I have been privileged and blessed to attend several photography workshops. I have learned so much about the technical and business side of photography and feel that each workshop has pushed me, in different ways, closer to where I want to be with The Salted Image. The latest workshop I attended was Amy Wenzels in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I was especially interested in learning from her because she specializes in Senior Girls (my favorite!) and children (I could use some help, OK-a lot of help!). Her two day workshop covered tons of information on running a business successfully, and shooting and processing awesome pictures. Amy is a very sweet and friendly women who was more then willing to share all her techniques and “secrets”.
On one of the days we were treated to watching Amy photograph and lead us through one of her sessions. It is always very interesting and educational for me to watch how other photographers handle a photo shoot and Amy was no exemption to this. Here are some of my captures from the day…
Now the models were awesome and it was great to watch a talented photographer like Amy work her mojo. All that being said I am not in love with these pictures because they look too much like pictures taken at a photography workshop. Of course they are pictures taken at a photography workshop and maybe I am the only one who can tell but it bugs me all the same.
The models were all cute and gorgeous (as it was appropriate).
The senior girls were working it big time.
So yes, If you are looking to grow in leaps and bounds then take a workshop! Amy’s workshop would be a great fit for those new to the business and/or looking to enhance their skills fashion-style senior photography and children.
I am bound and determined to be more regular with my blog posts. I am in the process of burning disks, editing sessions, and planning our three week long trek to Houston (not to mention dealing with children and life in general) and blogging seems to always fall lowest on my list of priorities. I have resolved myself to blog regularly starting today. Yes, I know it is not the start of the year, month, or even week but I figure if I put it off until it makes sense then I will never do it. So now I have made it public and hopefully that is all the accountability I need!
Since I have nothing spectacular to blog here is a recent picture of Ada and Dustin when I dragged the entire family out for several hours of hard-core location scouting. Amarillo has a lot to offer! I am so excited for my next sessions and can’t wait to find some willing clients to trek out to my new favorite locations.
*Warning Biggest post ever: I know I said I was going to narrow it down from my top 128 but by the size of this post, that turned out being harder then I expected!
I may or may not have hounded Kristen since early spring about this session. I admit, I wanted it to happen. Bad. I am so glad we finally had a day that worked for all involved and I just loved working with Kristen! She was a bit nervous about her performance for the shoot, which I thought was sweet and funny. Funny because umm, look at her, I really wasn’t worried about if she would be photogenic or not. Kristen is a personal trainer and fitness instructor at Zachs Club 54, which is a great gym here in Amarillo. I love taking her classes and having my booty smoked by her during training. If you are in need of a personal trainer I would highly recommend her! I could go on about what a great job she did, or I could just let you see for yourself…
Now I have a confession to make about this session that I am quite ashamed of. I really didn’t treat my sweet husband that well. I gave him no opportunity to shoot for himself and I basically ignored him except to ask him to run back and grab my flash, or bag, or batteries, or whatever-you get the idea. I love having him on sessions with me so you think I would make the extra effort to be especially kind to him to make sure he comes back. Alas, in this case I failed. Big time. And I feel terrible and he has heard my apologies several times. Maybe he thrives with no wife hanging over his shoulder and checking his exposures because the few images that he did take were his best yet.
The next set is an ode to my Husband who rocks. I love seeing images through his lens…
I title this next picture group of images “My inability to make decisions collage”. I liked them all, don’t make me choose!
She is ge-ORGEOUS!
We put a little friendly pressure to go ahead and walk through the little alien life forms, snails perhaps?
This next image was taken with my lumopro 120 flash held by my husband, who sometimes doubles as a walking light-stand (which I appreciate, of course!). I thought it turned out kind of mysterious and cool…
Sooo just maybe Kristen was being poked by a evil sticker at this point and maybe I did not help as quickly as I should have but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make!
My PFF (photographer friend forever-duh!) Karyn, drove all the way up from Sweetwater to partake in the picture taking fun. It was great having her there with us to share her knowledge and expertise. Plus she let me let plug into her Alien Bees flash, which I LOVED! These images are sooc (straight-out-of-camera), so cool!
For those interested in the technical specs of an image. This next shot was taken 5 minutes before the two above at an ISO of 8oo and no flash with my Canon 5D Mark II. It was minutes from 9pm and we had very little light left. I love my camera *happy sigh*
Big thanks to everyone who helped out for this shot, especially to Star (and Brenna) for coming to the rescue at this last minute with the kiddos and to Lesa who was so gracious to offer and show me around the amazing property . I can not wait to do this again! If you are wanting images in the Palo Duro Canyon get in touch because I would love to go back!
I wanted to give a sneak peek of yesterday’s Trash the Dress session. More to come as soon as I can narrow it down to a bloggable amount of favorites (I have it down to my top 128, yikes)!
Bailey was awesome to work with. She is beautiful, smart, fun, dedicated and willing to spend HOURS with me to get the shots I wanted. I think she may have got tired of hearing, “Just one more, I promise!” from me. If she did she only showed it by being increasingly more sweet and mellow as the evening progressed. Bailey is my first rep for 2011 and she brought IT. Big time.
Apparently I was really into geometric shapes that day.
Bailey I had such a blast with you! You are gorgeous inside and out. I will be calling you to watch my kiddos soon!
I am SO looking forward to photographing seniors from the class of 2011 and I can’t wait to find my reps for this year!
What is a senior rep you ask?
Senior reps are fun and out-going students from Amarillo, Canyon, and surrounding schools who receive a ton of perks including (but not limited too) a complimentary session, rep cards, gift cards, print and product credits in exchange for telling everyone about your uber-awesome experience with The Salted Image. The more students you refer to me, the more free stuff you can get! It is as easy as that!
So how do you qualify?
-You need to be a class of 2011 Senior
-Attend any area public, private or home school.
-Schedule your shoot for a date before September 1st.
Interested? Then fill out the following information and email me at leah@thesaltedimage.com to find out more.
-Name
-School
-Extracurricular activities
-Facebook/Myspace
-Any other information about yourself (interests,music, movies, hobbies, etc)
*Not a senior, but know someone who is? Please feel free to forward them this blog entry and encourage them to submit!*
Here is a sneak peek from Bailey’s (my first rep!) session…
Bailey, more pics to come soon I promise!!