Mommy Shots

I don't get out a lot now that I'm a mom. So I mainly take photos of my little world: stuff in my garden or the woods, my daughter, my home.
Every now and then when I post something for critique to my camera group I'll get a comment like : "It looks like she's [my daughter] sitting in a carseat and you just snapped a photo." (refering to THIS photo)
or "I HATE the background! I'd eliminate it entirely!" (when refering to THIS portrait of my husband.)

Well, I DID take the photo of her while she was in her carseat! I DID take this portrait of my husband in a garage!
I'm not taking formal portraits, I'm documenting my own personal world. One of the club members told me he didn't like the was the hood on my husbands portrait was jutting out. Well, THAT'S WHAT IT WAS DOING!

I don't expect everything to be perfect. I like to find beautiful things in the everyday imperfections. I like people with quirks, with interesting faces. I'm not trying to create a masterpiece, I'm documenting my little life :c )

It doesn't upset me when I get comments like this... I consider the comments but I think I prefer a more journalistic approach. I think I need to learn how to make the whole composition work as a whole: backgrounds, subject, details. I want to learn how to tell a story with a photograph, to make a viewer WANT to explore the story of that photograph. Even if it is "just a mommy-shot".

But I don't want it to look cliche. Or amatuerish.

That's my thought of the day,
hope you are having a good day yourself :c )

Patchwork scarf stage1

Patchwork scarf stage1 WIP
Originally uploaded by Carolyn Gallo

I decided to start a new sewing project: a patchwork scarf inspired by Malka Dubrawsky in the Holiday issue of Quilting Arts magazine.

Here I've started laying our patches of fabric, next I'll sew them together.

I've been planning on making a few of these for months now... no time like the present!

I hope it comes out as cool as the ones I'm seeing in the mag, on Flickr, and elsewhere :c )

Recent Faves

Recent Favorites from some of my favorite artists on Flickr. :c )

1. close-up of the mobile, 2. fruits, 3. Almond Eyes, 4. Rock Star, 5. Buttahfly on Auburn Ave., 6. art.journal in progress....., 7. wildly imperfect, 8. Fall Fire, 9. Kate's bird, 10. Sun, 11. Peace, 12. HBM- Happy Bench Monday, 13. Funky Lady with Chalk Pastels, 14. g o s s i p, 15. YIP 365.121 :: Patchwork Scarf, 16. cup of tea and a chat, 17. Mobile Home, 18. create away...., 19. Painting Area, 20. "The cover of the Sports Illustrated", 21. Gazing, 22. red haired witch atc - pencil on paper, 23. smoke invert, 24. Petal Curl - close crop, 25. White bougainvillia II

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Happy Halloween

Wishing everyone a Happy Fun-Filled Halloween!

Leaves

I love this photo. LOVE IT I tell you!

I was surprised how good it looked straight out of the camera... I kind of took it as an after-thought during my walk in the woods, the sunlight was dappled, I was afraid it was going to come out looking flat as a pancake.

I think my PS skills are REALLY improving. It wasn't long ago (less than a year ago) that I started using it. I am not a pro, and hey, I'm still using Photoshop Elements, not even the REAL thing yet. But I'm REALLY pleased with how far I've come, and hope my photography skills improve just as quickly!

As for this photo, I think I'll have it printed and slap it up on the wall somewhere here. :c )

golden forest

It rained last night, so I wasn't sure if I should take a walk through the woods.
I'm glad I did.
the sun soon began to break through the clouds, and hundreds of leaves fluttered down around me, making soft patting noises as they landed on the forest floor.

I felt like a was a hundred miles away.
:c )

A soft place to land

I spent some time in the woods today.

I am lucky to have a home adjacent to a beautiful forest:
pure Michigan!
(pure magic!)

sigh....

I love it.
:c )

Random Randomness

Today I had the opportunity to meet some of the EXPOSURE.DETROIT folks out at Ray's Horse Farm, a place not to far from where I live. It was too sunny (being from Michigan I should NEVER take that for granted, especially with 5-6 months of cold grey winter fast approaching!) and very muddy but I had a GREAT TIME meeting some new people and getting up close to some beautiful and amazing animals. The sun made it a challenge but I managed a few decent shots.
But... ONCE AGAIN... I needed to S-L-O-W D-O-W-N and pay more attention to what I was doing, how I was shooting, and working my settings and composing the shots better.
But photographing animals is similar to photographing my toddler: they are pure energy, constantly on the move. I'm not so good with fast moving objects! I get so anxious about just capturing something in focus (and in the frame!) that I kind of loose my mind and ignore my exposure or some other silly little technical necessity :c P
Anyhoo, I had a great time, met some really nice people, and managed to get out of the house! :c )

I've been feeling a little cooped up, spending short bursts of irregular free time on the computer processing photos from last weekends wedding. I was quite proud of some of my shots... but then I made the fatal mistake of web-surfing one to many Flickr photostreams where the photos just blew me away... and I go back to getting those feelings of "Who am I kidding? I'm just a dorky mom with a nice camera...!"

Speaking of mom's with a camera: there seems to always be an uproar among some established photographers that there's too many "mommy photogs" out there who think just because they get a DSLR that they can call themselves a photographer. Well, I've got news for you fancy-girls: it's like the art world: anyone can be an artist, anyone can be a photographer. It's just some are more successful at it than others. Some are passionate, some are looking to make a quick buck, some take decent enough photos that they get noticed by friends and family and generate a little moolah. But NO ONE is "ruining" the world of professional photography as some of these "pros" believe. The cream always rises, so, if you're really all that, well then you don't need to worry about the "mommies with a camera".

And everyone's gotta start somewhere, ya know?

looking up at the leaves

I would have PAID HER... just to look at me... ONCE!
she wouldn't do it.
How could I blame her, with the woods ablaze in color...
but to me, at that moment, in those woods, there was nothing more beautiful than her.

The Wedding...

Shooting a wedding was everything I expected it to be: exciting, a little stressful, a little chaotic, emotional, joyful. It was very easy to get caught up in the spirit! But it was also more physically demanding than I had imagined it could be: hard on my ankles and knees, and of course my poor feet haven't been in a pair of heels--even modest ones-- in at least 2 years!

I learned a lot: the importance of communication and pre-wedding meetings with the bride (and groom), having a gameplan with the chief photographer, scoping out the location prior to the ceremony, making friends with the DJ (he was a help locating family members, coordinating group shots). I think as a team the chief photog and I could have been a little more efficient with the group shots, but we did ok. :c )

I took roughly 300 shots as the assistant, many were compensating for exposure. Out of that I have about 30 keepers, and 1 or 2 that are portfolio worthy. I am certain my style is VERY different than my partners: he used flash for everything, I used natural light.

The photo that you see above is actually one of my out-takes: the original was dull, a little soft on the focus, and in the background there was a bright wall sconce and 3 people at a rather close distance. (Unfortunately the color quality when posting to blogger really takes a dump!) It took me a lot of playing, a lot of layers, a lot of trial and error to get the photo to look like it now does. As I played I think it took on a bit of a modern-day Dutch Masters feel... I ended up being quite happy with it... I'd consider it "wall-worthy". :c )

I'm going to submit it to my camera club critique (for this Thrusday). I'm disappointed that I won't be able to make the meeting, but I'm still hoping for some feedback...

Anyway, I don't think I'm interested in being a wedding photographer, but I'd be perfectly happy assisting if I ever get another opportunity.