February Brag Post : Joseph M.

My February Student of the Month, Joseph M., could have just as easily been my September student of the month, because he started standing out from the crowd way back then.  On more than one occasion Joseph has approached me the day after I've announced one of our class-wide photo challenges to tell me that he had a dream about the assignment.  When he makes these dreams a reality his photographs usually do really well in the challenge, and I know that he's won class favorite at least a couple times.  Another thing that made Joseph stand out in my mind was when he brought in an old photo of his Grandma to scan and re-touch as a gift for her--such a sweet and simple gesture that probably made her day.  Thanks for being such an awesome part of 2nd period, Joseph!

Sugar Shaker

Yesterday on a whim I decided to give Dark Field or Bright Field Lighting a try, so I started setting up a shot after school in my classroom.  I had brought this sugar shaker (sans lid) in from home a while back, because I liked the shape and thought it'd be an interesting subject.  I used a couple different setup photos from the internet as my guide.  I placed the jar on a very dirty piece of glass atop a piece of black foam core.  I figured I'd set up the shot and if it was looking good I'd take the time to clean off the glass.  I placed a strobe light below the table, directed it at a white piece of paper on the wall, and attached my fancy snoot (made from a cardboard mailing tube) to direct the light and prevent spillage.  Finally, I placed two more pieces of black foam core on either side of the jar.  In the end I don't know if it's a Dark Field or Bright Field success--I'm still a bit confused on the topic and want to give it another go after more reading.  But, I liked the result anyway, and it got me shooting, so I'm happy.  Oh, and if you look at my setup shot below you'll see that I never ended up having to clean the glass... :)

Editing details: Shot in RAW, so first editing was done in CameraRAW.  In Photoshop I duplicated the background layer, converted that to black & white, and set it to Soft Light.  I also added a magenta layer set to overlay and at a very low opacity.

From the Vault: Ashley & Dave's Wedding

I was recently asked about the possibility of shooting a wedding.  I realized that I don't have any examples of my wedding photography on here, but I have actually shot two weddings before.  The first was when I was about 18 years old.  It was for a friend and was shot completely on film with my Pentax K1000.  Thinking about that still makes me nervous... film!?  I don't even have those negatives anymore--after I got them developed I just gave them to my friend and she printed them.  This was before I began working with Photoshop, so the photos were completely unedited... yikes.  Then, in 2008, I flew back to Wisconsin to attend the wedding of one of my best friends--Ashley.  I was teaching photography by that time and had a digital camera, so I brought my camera along just for fun.  As it turned out Ashley and Dave's wedding photographer had a family emergency and couldn't make it.  They asked if I'd fill in, and of course I said I would.  I was pretty unprepared with only my 18-55mm lens, but I made do and ended up shooting a ton of photographs.  It was really fun, actually, because I was adopted as part of the wedding party, which meant that after the reception I got to go with everybody in the "Jambo"-- instead of a limosine they opted for an RV.  :)  Here are a select few of the photographs.

Getting ready...

 Exchanging rings... (it was so dark in the hall!)

 The wedding party...  I had seen this done before and this wedding party was so much fun I knew they'd be up for it.  This is probably one of my favorites.  It's in the style of Philippe Halsman's Jumpology... check it out.

 They ended up using this photo on their thank you cards.  So in love!

 Father and daughter

Like I said, this was a fun bunch of people to shoot...

 First dance...

Royal

This photo was taken at a children's museum.  Something about the shape of the keys and the click-clack sound an old typewriter makes drew me in.  I was feeling experimental tonight when I decided to edit this photo, so I tried to do things I don't normally do.  The first step was Pioneer Woman's Soft and Faded Action (Ok, not a super risky first move, since I adore her actions.  However I don't usually use this particular one.)  Then I added grain.  Next I added a bright vignette instead of a dark one... for my usual editing that'd be crazy talk.  Finally, since I recently introduced my students to the beauty and variety of blending modes, I thought I'd try one that I have never ever used--Luminosity.  Not exactly sure what it does, but I liked it.



From the Vault: Becca Grocery Shopping

During our recent move I found this picture in an old file box.  The back of it reads "Jessica Legg, Black & White Photography 6-15-92 through 6-19-92.  Becca, 11 months, in Festival Foods pushing kiddy cart."  I'm so glad that I was apparently a meticulous labeler at the time, because I have a terrible memory now.  My school district growing up offered a whole bunch of enrichment summer school classes, and I do remember scouring the booklet of classes each spring figuring out which ones I was going to take that year.  In the summer of 1992, when I was 11, I took my first photography class, and this picture.  It was the first of many pictures of my first favorite subject--my little sister, Becca.

From the Vault : Limelight

I started this blog a year ago, and it has really been a driving force in my photography since then.  I feel like a bum when I let it go too long without new posts.  But, I've been doing photography forever, and I have a decent backlog of pictures. (Not sure if I should admit this, but I just checked my external hard drive and it's at 21,000+ files... and I've only had that since I went digital!)  So, I've decided to post some oldies but goodies.  I think I'm also going to re-edit some of my older work and post it.  I've learned so much about Photoshop in the past couple years that I'm interested to see what I can dig up and fix up.   This picture isn't really that old--2010--but I really like it, and it did well in a DPChallenge back then, so it's my first "From the Vault" post.

Here I am High Desert

This is the first time I've gone out shooting since our recent move up to the Hesperia.  I was scoping out locations for the family pictures I was having done the following day--finally going to get to cross off one of my 2011 goals.  All of these were taken in the area of Summit Valley Road and Highway 138.  They're posted in the order that I shot them, and I like seeing how the light changed throughout the day.  One nice thing about the High Desert is the clean air!

  

Can you spot the ghosts in this one?  Flawed, yes, but I still like it for some reason.  Somebody should have brought her tripod.  Another High Desert staple is gusy wind.

 Sadly, there was plenty of trash as I hiked around...

 Loving this mid-afternoon light!!

 ...and this early evening light.  I wonder what book this is.

 A quick self portrait to see if there was still too much sun for a non-squinty portrait.  At 4:45 pm the light was just about perfect...

 But as the sun goes down so does the temperature.  One last shot, before my fingers were too cold.