Going to Prom!

Oh the senior prom… I must confess mine was pretty fun although nothing too fancy. My dress cost about $25 (I was damn proud of that bargain) and I got my hair done at Supercuts. A very pretty up-do with a few curls cascading down… for about 10 minutes until the coastal humidity and heat got to them. Flattened hair aside, it was a fun night with great friends and one I will always remember.

It’s been just over 10 years since my prom (my gawd, really 10 years?!), and I got the chance to relive a little bit of that special day last weekend. Andrew’s folks asked me some weeks ago to photograph his little sister and her friends’ prom pictures. I was so honored and excited to be the one to capture that special day for them, and also totally freaked out – as I tend to get about anything new. lol

Their prom day was definitely a bit fancier than mine. It was an all-day affair, complete with appointments for hair and makeup, a party bus to drive them all around town, photoshoot at the gorgeous Tea Gardens in San Antonio, a fancy dinner and of course a horse-drawn carriage to arrive at the prom in! Now that’s style.

I’m just going to say it – this was just about the most fun thing I could ever imagine being paid to do. All the kids were so excited and having a blast together while we were shooting, which of course made the photos come out so genuine. The locations we shot at were gorgeous too. I was definitely nervous, having never done prom photos and really having very little experience shooting people. A few nights before the shoot, I had my typical “lets blow this up into a thing of monumental proportions and spaz about it for a few hours”, but once I got that out of the way (and was talked back down to reality by Andrew – thanks babe!) I was good to go.

Doing the Uncomfortable Thing
I tend to avoid photographing people honestly – because it can be so awkward. Directing people is so tough, and I have a really hard time trying to create what I want to see. I’d much rather wait for the moment to come on its own and then capture it. So as you can imagine, 14 teenagers and less than an hour to get approximately 10-12 specific shots was definitely out of my comfort zone! Although I really cool thing happened when I was let loose with these kiddos… I realized it was all on me and we didn’t have time to screw around! So there it was. I just took charge and off we went. It was chaotic, it was rushed, and nothing was as perfect as I wanted it to be… but there was something really great about not having the time to be a perfectionist. It also means you don’t have time to second guess yourself. A whole day of doing with my gut instincts… I think we came away with some really great shots.

This is one of my favorites, all the girls scrunched in the horse carriage, shot from up in the driver’s seat.

Another of my favorites, even though the lighting conditions weren’t very good – I think it sort of adds a bit of a celebrity quality to it. As soon as that horse wrapped his head around next to the girls I new we had an awesome shot! Thanks Tiny!

Weeks 5 & 6: Dapper Foxes and Renewed Energy

I can’t believe it’s been 2 whole weeks since I’ve posted anything up! It’s been busy down here in Texas. The boyfriend has been away on flying adventures across the lone star state – doing helicopter rides at air shows and festivals. We took a road trip down to the hill country to get out of the big city weekend before last. A wrist sprain from pilates class has slowed me down with the felting… I’m now wearing this horribly stiff brace to keep from moving it. About 2 weeks ago, I cut a huge chunk out of my thumb while cutting ribbon with my fabulous pink pocket knife (*sigh* always cut AWAY from you, when will I learn?) which put me out of commission from doing much for a few days. But still I am felting!

The newest additions to my little feltie family are a dapper fox, a happy little dinosaur, an even tinier fox and the whale I posted last week – now complete with sleepy eyes. I also just finished up a little mushroom in a bottle tonight – having a lot of fun experimenting with adding other media like wire and glass.  I’m positively in LOVE with the fox in the hat… so much so that I’m not sure I could bare to put him up for sale!

 

Small Steps toward the Big Goal

Reblogged from Münchow's Creative Photo Blog:

Creativity involves dreaming. Dreaming encourages the creative process. Dreaming is good. But dreaming can also halt your creativity – completely. That is if dreaming becomes nothing but a dream. If you don’t turn the dream into action, nothing comes out it. I have written about this before, talked about doing the work. And we can talk about creativity till the end of time, but if we don’t do the work, we are not creating.

Read more… 646 more words

A great post about creativity, doing the work, allowing time to dream, and remembering that big goals are achieved with small steps!

How-To: Cheap & Dirty Screen Printing

I stumbled on this cheap & dirty DIY tutorial while doing a bit of research tonight. If you’ve ever wanted to play around with screen printing but didn’t want to spend a lot of cashola on buying a kit, this might work for you. They used old picture frames to create the screens, and exposed the screens in the sun instead of using a fancy schmancy lighting setup. Having worked at a print shop in my early college years – I do know a bit about the process and this DIY does seem to cover just about everything. My only suggestions would be to use actual silk screen mesh instead of a curtain (more moolah, but it will last longer) and to secure the screen to a work table with clamps while you are printing – as it would be really difficult to keep it in place with only one hand while you are trying to push ink through with the other hand. Better to just lock it down tight.

I should also add that this system is best for doing one-color prints. You’d really want to buy or build a more extensive setup to do multiple colors. If you’re interested in purchasing a kit that has all you need, silkscreeningsupplies.com has some great packages and decent prices. Now it is time… to go forth and print!

How-To: Engraved Eggs

I found this great video tutorial today that demonstrates how to make engraved Ukrainian eggs out of brown chicken eggs using toilet bowl cleaner! I know.. you are so full of intrigue now that you just must watch it. ;)

Second Quarter Update

I’m halfway through this year-long project now. It’s amazing that it has been going on for 6 months already. In my first quarter update, I recalled a few key things I had learned and experienced thus far… newfound confidence in my own creative ability, learning to connect and create together with others, and learning to let go of expectations and allow the juices to flow.

I’d say all of these things have been further enforced over the last few months, too. I’ve also learned some other important things…

Thinking Forward
Coming to the halfway mark has got me thinking about how I can continue this project next year in new ways… perhaps I will narrow it down to a 12 Month project on photography or nature art? Or perhaps I will expand it to allow others to follow along and contribute their projects and processes along with me? Another option will be to focus next year on continuing and completing many projects.. as I have started to compile quite a list of projects that were either too big and complex to do in one month, or that I ran out of time to fully complete in a month. Whichever direction things go in, it’s exciting to be thinking about where things will go from here!

The Importance of A Passion Refill
I recently heard on the radio the well-known quote “I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” (Diane Ackerman). I have always loved this saying. It has come back up at the right time for me, and made me think about some things in a new light.

In the past three of four months, I’ve really picked up a more active lifestyle. I’m in better shape than I’ve probably been in ten years, and because of that, I’m suddenly excited about new activities I never thought I could really do before. I’m positively obsessed with indoor rock climbing (surely my climbing buddies can attest to this – as it’s all I talk about all week and I become an enormous dork, exploding with excitement, on climbing days). I love everything about it.. the physical challenge, the teamwork, the strategy and planning involved. It gets a completely different side of my brain working – and is positively refreshing in the most glorious of ways.

The beau and I are taking a kayaking lesson in a few weeks too, and going to a practice session this week as well. We’ve also been camping, hiking and swimming like crazy. All of this physical activity and being outdoors is filling me with incredible amounts of passion! But of course, while I am out scaling walls or hiking trails… I am not working on my creative projects! *gasp*

I’ve struggled with this for months now. Almost every month, without fail, I end up “wasting” the first 2 weeks gallivanting about with other activities that I love while my precious project gets downgraded to secondary. Naturally, it looks like procrastination. But it doesn’t really feel like procrastination. It feels like I am allowing myself to experience all the things that bring me joy and fill me with passion, instead of forcing myself to only have one.

I’ve started to realize that just because I set my project aside a bit for a few weeks does not mean that I am procrastinating. There is nothing bad about setting one thing aside for a short bit as long as I feel right with it. It’s when I feel a need to avoid the project out of some kind of fear that I must make sure to focus on it and not other things.

Making the choice to do other things that fill me with passion during those first few weeks actually seems to be a good thing. It typically leaves me feeling refreshed with with loads of energy to be passionate about my projects and committed to getting them done. So, I have decided that taking a break to refill my passion for a short time is really quite important to the process of creating and to the joy of my life. After all, if I imagine holding myself up in a room and forcing myself to create things while neglecting everything else that fills me with joy – well that sounds like exactly the opposite of what I wanted to create out of this 12 Month project! Certainly not a way to foster childlike wonder and the idea of doing and creating just because you love it. Granted, there are times when you won’t love a project, and you must push yourself to do it or finish it… but that should not be the norm.

So here’s to being an excited croc! – Embracing all your passions so that you are so fully inspired and so bursting with creative energy from all the joy you have experienced that you simply cannot WAIT to let it out in something wonderfully creative, crafty, and clever!!

*st

 

 

Planetary Alignment in May

I was talking to a friend of mine today about my monthly project being about outer space… and she mentioned a really interesting thing I had to share! This month, almost all of the planets will be aligned in the early morning sky – following the path of the sun. I’ll definitely have to try taking some photos of this as part of my month’s projects.. and maybe find a way for this this event to work its way into the nature art project for the month as well! For the full article about planetary alignment in May, click HERE. Make sure to check out the end of the article – they offer a few tips on photographing the event!

Operation No-Budget Photoshoot!

Hiya folks!

I came across this article the other day about how to create a portrait studio setting outdoors on pretty much no budget. This sounds like my domain for sure.. especially since I’m pouring all of my excess money right now into savings for a new car. Finally, after 10 years.. I will have a heater and power windows! (This will benefit everyone.. especially those who have kindly given me rides on the coldest of winter days.. and the rest who have heard me endlessly bitch about driving anywhere in the winter.)

So the article basically describes making a “set” by draping a sheet over a wooden dowel hanging on two folding ladders. The rest is basically playing around with bouncing sunlight onto your subject. Sounds simple enough even for me! Not to mention, fun!

The results look pretty promising too! Kind of jealous that I will not have a rooster in my shots though..

Things are in the works to have my first shoot this weekend and hopefully a second shoot the weekend after. Very delighted to so far be having a great turnout of friends interested in helping out and getting their portraits taken! Such brave souls they are. ;)

Toodles!
*st

Photo credits: Alexis Godschalk