Launching the business

This week I finally did it! I had a photography sale out of my house (well technically the garage). So far only sold some 8x10 prints but that us is a start anyway. Over the past 3 weeks I compiled a portfolio of close to 200 images. I am so proud of myself. It took my husband's encouragement and many late nights but everything turned out beautifully. The next step is to look into craft shows and possibly selling at some local shops. And of course getting licensed and becoming an official legal business. So exciting...and scary all at the same time!

Wintery Scapes

We recently had a sizeable snow fall...like 3-4 inches i think. One of the things I have always wanted to capture is the beauty of a snow fall. I wasn't able to get out there during the snowfall but it was still very pretty when I got out there the morning after. Here are some of the things in my back yard that inspired me...

These are some crazy icicles! I just love their beautiful intricate design and the way they catch the light. Oh I just love looking at them!

Another one of favorite things to see in the winter is the way the trees hold the snow. Makes pretty silhouettes i think.

By now you know that I am a texture junkie...well there you have it rough crunchy bark of the tree holding the cushy feather soft snow just resting atop it until the sun comes out to melt it away. 

I really like the silhouette this tree made. I wish I would have spent a little more time with it...I didn't think I would get a good photo out of it but it is actually one of my favorites from this shoot. 

Here I wanted to capture the trails of our dog Kadie...it only kinda worked. I'm not completely happy with how this turned out.

I know this looks a little funny but I like the ironic juxtaposition it creates. A toy used to play in the sandbox or at the beach in the water is now filled with snow instead of sand or water. Abandoned until the weather warms up an its owner is eager to play in the sand once again.

More toys waiting out the wintery cold until the spring comes round again.

Well that concludes my outdoor snow session. I'm finding that I am much more comfortable with indoor and close up photos. I think I like to be able to control more of the elements. But I will contiue to try things outside to widen my horizons :)

Next post coming soon will be of another cookie experiment...I am really liking the baking and photographing. It doesn't hurt that I have a great love of baking (I should for working in bakeries my whole life!) And I will try to remember to post the recipes along with photos incase my images inspire you to try making them!

Cookies...Shoot #2

If you remember from the last post I made some comments on the being more aware of the frame and what is included in the background of the photos. So with that at the back of my mind I did another shoot with the remaining cookie dough. I've decided to break them up into groups. You'll see. 

IN THE BOWLS:

Compositionally this is my favorite one in this section. It seems like it keeps my eye moving and wondering, pondering. I am also very happy with the colors in this and the others in this section. Yay for learning...I discovered the solution to an issue I was having. I felt like my photos were coming out really warm and yellowy when I was editing. Lightbulb! My color balance was off (quite a bit in some photos). Problem solved. I am much more satisfied with the photos I edited today than the ones I did previously ...I may go back to them and fix-um-up.  

Ok this will sound a tad odd...I just love the way the little color balls that are against the edge of the glass bowl...they remind me of suction cups on an octopus...random i know, thats just me though...

Not so sure about this one but I included it anyway...

FORMING OF THE DOUGH:

This is one that is yellowy...I like the composition but it needs the colors to be fixed. The colors come out more vibrant when the balance is corrected. (I had a hard time letting myself use the auto color balance...I just hate that word "auto" it makes me feel like i'm cheating...but the program seems to do it way better than I was doing it by myself so...) ANYWAY yummy texture comes out of the photos in this section...i'm a texture addict!

Its a cookie caterpiller (can you tell I have a toddler...LOL)

There I go again trying to make a weird angle...turned out pretty good this time :)

This one illustrates the  process a little...I just couldn't seem to make that snake-like pinwheel look decent in a photo...this was the best I got. 

BAKED COOKIES:

Baked on the cookie sheet still a little puffy (they settle and shrink a little after they cool). Working on controlling depth of feild in this type of situation.

DISPLAY OF COOKIES:

I forgot to open up the depth of field on this photo...I think it would have looked much better if all the cookies on the plate were in focus and the just the background fuzzed out. 

I so tried to the the half eaten cookie in front of the plate thing...it is a little too trite. Colors are really nice though and the right amount of blurr i think.

I really like how this one turned out. It is a little yellowy but it doesn't bother me so much in this photo. It just make it feel a little cozy. 

I believe I had this photo in the previous post but had adjusted the color balance and edited it differently. I really like the way this one turned out too. 

OK so I was thinking I took all these photos of these cookies...maybe someone would be so inspired and would want to make them too. So below is the recipe for these cookies.

Dr. Suess Rainbow Swirls

1 17.5 oz bag of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix (make cookies according to package)*

5 colors liquid/gel food coloring (McCormick Neon shades work well)

Rainbow Nonpareil Sprinkles

*I used the recipe out of my Betty Crocker cookbook for "Soft No-Roll Sugar Cookies"

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Divide dough evenly into 5 bowls, color each division with a different color. Roll each color of dough into grape-sized balls. Combine a ball of each color and roll into a larger ball. It will look like a beach ball. Then roll between your hands and the counter until you have a cylinder about 10-12 inches long. Starting from one end, roll the dough into a coil, twisting as you go (to get the swirl look). Roll edges of the cookie in sprinkles. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on sheet for 2 minutes before removing. Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies. 

Cookies...Food Photography Experiment

As promised (Yay I'm actually on time!) I have some food photography to share with you. Most of my life I have lived with a passion for baking and creating beautiful food for others to enjoy. In College I tried to translate this passion through the camera and the media of photography. Sometimes it has worked well, other not so well. So I tried again. This past week I made some fun cookies that I found on Pinterest. They are Rainbow Pinwheel cookies...more than a little labor intensive but fun anyhow. (Some people call them "Unicorn Poop"...apparently unicorns poop rainbows...who knew!) Ok. So here are a few that I worked on...there should be more since I only got through half the dough. I'll try some new shots today perhaps.

I just love how these little balls of color look...whimsical kinda...and curious.

I really like how this one turned out. If I continue doing the food photography I need to be more conscious of the rest of the frame...I really an unhappy with some of the background. And I don't think I can fix it well in photoshop with the amount of lens blur there is there.

I really like to experiment with the weird angles. Not sure it worked here...and I HATE the background distraction of my messy kitchen. I need to make it cleaner or find a more suitable space to take the photos...someday in my dream house I'll have my own real studio and a studio Hasselblad camera too maybe (if i'm going to dream it might as well be big right!)

I don't know why but I really like the space of the oven...and the singular light that illuminates. Well I suppose it has something to do with my obsession with light. I just love to experiment with how light falls on its subject...Ahhhhh I need to do some night photography! I miss it :(

I was kinda going for a full circle story of the making of the cookies. I really like food photography but I feel very green here. Like I can see things in my head but I'm having trouble translating them to the camera and then to the image you see. Practice Practice Practice right...I'll try some more in the next couple weeks (new subject maybe...and include the mixing of the batter perhaps)

This one may be a little too washed out for my taste...might go back and fix it. And I think the one above is compositionally better as well...now I'm not really sure why I included this one??

P.S. Also working on this week and in the future: Trying to master keeping the same color space and amount of contrastiness in a series of images. I think I did pretty good with these. Some are a little off each other but not enough to make a big difference. That is one of my pet peeves when a series of images are presented together and the colors do not look the same in the images.

A Few More...

A few more Christmas inspired photos...playing with angles and exposure. Some are more abstract that I have been doing...undecided how I feel about the abstract ones.

These are the abstract ones...the Poinsettias were inspiring to me but I don't feel like I captured them well. They aren't as vibrant or full of life like some other photos I've taken.

For some reason I really like this photo...even as simple as it is.

Christmas Festive

Yes it has been quite a while since my last post. You know how the holidays go...busy busy busy! But I'm back at it again. I have a few Christmas-y photos to share. Not really my best work but I was trying to work on my low light photography...and the results were only so so. I like the ones with the snow man the best...he added a focal point in the photo.