Studio Shoot With Beautiful Models

The subjects of all of my photos are not models, but everyday Americans living their life.  I am drawn to individuals that don't blend in with crowds.  If I've taken your photograph and I have never met you, it's because there is something about you that I want to remember and capture in a photograph.  I was asked recently about how I know when I find someone that meets my personal aesthetic and it really has to do with their presence and the energy I get from them.  Once I see and feel it, I know.

I was interviewed by gallery owner, Kat Kiernan for the Kiernan Gallery blog  since "Brothers" was chosen as "Juror's Choice" by judge, Henry Horenstein.  I talked a little bit about why I choose the people I do to photograph as I wander around the country.

Last week, I photographed two models in a studio for the first time.  Most every portrait I take is an environmental portrait where people seem belong exactly where I found them, or you get a sense of place in the shot.  Being in a studio is a make believe atmosphere where the models will give you any emotion and mock up any situation you suggest to them.  On top of that, they are pretty.  Really pretty... Not that I have anything against beautiful models, but to me, it's not as interesting as someone I would find on the street.  It's almost like I am cheating because the image will already be easy on the eyes from the get go, although that's not what I am drawn to when I see a photograph I like.  I did enjoy the experience and both models were great sports doing what everyone asked of them.  My male model, Michael was right at home with his dog, Shilo.  They are so attached to each other that their expressions seems to look the same in each shot.

I can see why photographers like working in a studio.  The atmosphere is controlled and you can almost bring to life what you envisioned in your head.  I had a great time playing around so now I can check off working with models and working in a studio off of my list of things to do.  Thank you Michael and Charito for being great sports and excellent models!

PDN Emerging Photographer and F Stop Magazine

This morning I found out that one of my images in my "Bingo Culture" series was chosen by the editors of PDN to be the photograph of the week and month on their website!  The photograph they featured is one I took while I was in Fort Collins, Colorado last December.

Also, this morning I learned that five of my images were selected to be in the Portraits Exhibit Group Show featured on F Stop Magazine. I have screen shots from both.  My five images selected for F Stop Magazine are the bottom five on the left.

You can see PDN's site by clicking HERE and F Stop magazine by clicking HERE.

Meeting My Neighbors and Taking Their Portrait

I've lived in the same place for nine years...as far as I remember. I mean, I'm pretty sure it's been nine years.  When I travel, I rent my home out, but I have been living here the majority of the nine years.  Besides a few select neighbors, I have no idea who my neighbors are or what their life is like.  I see interesting people walk by and sometimes I wonder about who they are.  There are a few who walk by everyday like clockwork and I have a nickname for them, based on their style. I always look forward to "pirate" walking by and I hope to get his portrait one day.

When I'm on the road, I don't mind approaching strangers since they will never see me again most likely but when I'm in my own neighborhood, I tend to avoid meeting anyone that is within viewing distance.  It could be that I am pretty shy or might not have the energy to talk to anyone, or perhaps both.

One of my photography instructors told me in front of the class that I spend too much time in my head.  He is right.  Then I thought..."How does he know this?"

I tend to think and think about things and ideas until it drives me crazy and the only way to get it out is to do it.  Most likely this isn't the brightest of ways to motivate but it seems to have served me well for the most part.  I have to admit that sometimes it takes someone saying something to get me to take action.

I decided that it's time to talk to people that live around me.  The other night I went for a walk and smiled and said hello to everyone I passed by.  It's a fact, smiling is contagious.  For someone who usually puts her earphones in for a walk, I was surprised on how easy it is to meet people.  Not only meet them, but each person I met allowed me to take their portrait.  Sometimes I would start with a smile and a compliment while other times I didn't know what to say so I just blurted out, "may I take your portrait?" Not only did they say yes but many were flattered I asked and one woman was so thankful that I talked to her and said hello.  How could you have a bad day after an experience like that?

Do you know your neighbors?  I challenge you to say hello and introduce yourself.  I bet you will be glad you did.  Here are some of my neighbors I met on my walk yesterday.  I intend to continue to meet as many neighbors as I can in the next few months.

Day 3 - Sick at Disney

The next morning, we woke up early to go to EMH at MK.

I got up... and it was unbearable to swallow, my throat hurt so bad. My head was stuffed up, as well. This was the worst I had felt, yet.

I continued to get ready. Then my parents asked me if I really thought I should go. That's when.... I broke down and cried. I couldn't talk because my throat hurt so bad, which was a sign that going to MK this morning was a bad idea. So I got back in bed.

Mom said she would stay with me. I told her that I would be okay by myself and that she should go on and have fun. But I don't think a mother could have fun knowing that her daughter was sick back at the hotel. Mom told me that she was worried that if I stayed by myself that I would get sad, so she decided to stay with me.

I slept for awhile, then I woke up, and Mom and I watched a show about how cruise ships make their money. It was especially interesting, considering that we had just come from a cruise.

Meanwhile, Dad and Rachel had fun at MK.

Day 2 - Battling the New Year's Eve Crowds

We took the boat to Epcot and went in through the back.

We were shocked by the crowds. Epcot was PACKED.... with DRUNKS!!!

There were some people in cocktail dresses stumbling around... they must've come from bluezoo.





Idk how long it took us to navigate our way through the crowds and get to the American Pavilion. Lines there for food weren't that bad, but the table situation was terrible. There were tons of empty tables.... with no chairs!!! Finally, we spotted a family getting up and managed to grab that table. Ugg, the crowds were insane.

Okay, so after we ate our hotdogs in America, we decided to navigate our way back through the crowd and out of Epcot. It was much easier to leave than it was to get in.

We took the resort boat to DHS. We still had RnRC and ToT FPs to use.

So, our RnRC FPs were good to use, so we headed over there. They were no longer testing queueless waiting, and they had actually extended the queue area to accommodate bigger holiday crowds.


Dad enjoys the thrill of trying to sneak a photo of the ride photos before they disappear. Nice work, Dad.

So, it was 10:00. Our ToT FPs weren't good until 10:30. We were tired and didn't know what to do to kill half an hour (I realized later that we should've gone to Osborne Lights, but at the time, I was about to pass out. So we decided to leave DHS, head back to the Dolphin, then go back to our resort.



Dad paid the valet fee. And the valet guy ran away before my dad could tip him, so that saved us some money. I didn't feel quite so terrible... even though the whole parking situation was a bit of an inconvenience, as well as an extra expense. Eventually, I might get over this embarassment. Not now, though.



We got back to the resort, and my Dad wanted to know where we could watch the fireworks over the lagoon from. So, he asked a young CM working the Concierge desk what options there were. Now, this guy was probably in CP... probably new on this job... he had obviously never gotten this question before. ("Fireworks? Disney has fireworks???") He suggested that we stand out in the parking lot. Actually, we probably could've seen the fireworks from there, but that wasn't the answer we were expecting.

So we get back to the room, and Dad is wondering if we should head over to the GF or Poly to watch the New Year's fireworks. I was tired and really just needed to go to bed. Rachel told Dad that she didn't really care to see any fireworks if he'd let her ring in the New Year in an adult way. And he went for it. So Dad went to buy Rachel a New Year's Eve gift, and I took a shower and went to bed.

Happy New Year!

Day 2 - The Bluezoo Disaster

Now... the part of my vacation which I have been DREADING writing about....

It is completely embarassing. I am an ADR failure. I feel like a Disney failure. But I will confess to you guys. Let you read about my terribleness. It's not even going to teach a lesson because I'm sure none of you would ever make this mistake. Time for my Disney walk of shame......

I made our New Year's Eve dinner reservations at.... Todd English's bluezoo.

So, we drove to the Dolphin. Dad took advantage of "free valet with meal."





I had walked by it before. It looked cool. I read a great review by Mike Scopa in a recent AllEarsNet newsletter. I was excited about this ADR. I knew it was a signature restaurant, which has a "dress code." However, I had eaten at a couple of signature restaurants before (Artist Point, Yachtsman Steakhouse) and they weren't very dressy. Nice jeans and a cardigan were totally acceptable. I figured that alot of people would be headed to the parks afterwards and wouldn't be that dressed up.

Boy, was I wrong.....

PEOPLE WERE IN COCKTAIL ATTIRE!!!

And we were in jeans and sweaters. And Sperry topsiders!!! Boy, did we feel out of place. Did we look... poor... or just stupid?

The menu was an even greater shock. Here it goes... my big blunder... I FORGOT TO LOOK AT THE MENU BEFOREHAND!!!

I believe the cheapest entree was $30. Now, this wouldn't have been quite as bad if we hadn't just gotten off a 9-day cruise where we could get all the seafood we wanted. And this restaurant (I can't even stand to type the name!) was charging $65 for lobster. Yeah, we weren't really feeling it.

So, our waitress came over and gave us this 15-minute expo on all of the seafood. She wouldn't shut up. To make matters worse, I had a really bad cough, and I was trying to muffle it in my napkin. Oh, this was terrible.

She took our drink orders...... we all went with water.

After she finally left, Dad asked us what we were getting. Nothing on the menu even looked appealing to me. We kept asking eachother if we should walk. I felt so bad. I didn't want my dad to have to pay $200 for dinner!!! Finally, we decided to make a run for it. I tried to pretend like I was invisible. It was so embarassing, but I was so glad to get out of that stuffy place. The lighting was pretty, but on the floor it just felt stuffy. The table behind us had all ordered the lobster. IMO, this is the place that you go when you want to show off in front of other people. That's what it felt like that night. I do think that people might have been more dressed up for New Year's Eve. Even if we had dressed up for the signature restaurant, we would not have been in cocktail attire. I might've been in a knit dress or a high-waisted skirt. Cocktail dress didn't even cross my mind.

Now... we still had the car to worry about. I remembered that there was a sushi restaurant at the Swan, and we went over to check that out. The prices were actually very reasonable. It was less expensive than the sushi we had at Yakatori House the previous day. However, it was crowded and we didn't get any attention, so we decided to just go on.

Rachel suggested that we go into Epcot and eat hotdogs in America. Perfect plan for poor people like us!

Dad wanted to move the car to Epcot, but I told him that he might as well get good use out of his $13 valet. I reminded him that it is cheaper than a day's parking at WDW ($14 a day is outrageous!!! I remember when it used to be $6... free parking is another great perk of being a resort guest!).

Day 2 - Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage

Next, we went to Beauty and the Beast. We arrived an hour early, before they started letting people into the theater, and we still didn't get that great of seats. This place was PACKED!!!





































After Beauty and the Beast, we raced over to Indiana Jones, trying to make the 5:00 show because I had remembered that I'm 18 years old - old enough to be an extra!!! Unfortunately, there was standing room only, and I was sick and not very energetic, anyways, so I figured we might as well not even bother.



I was tired, so I suggested that we go back to the resort and rest until dinner.