Happy Halloween!

Hide & Seek

I've been hiding out for quite some time now! Life has been up and down, inside out and normal, crazy, then quiet. I've taken millions of photos, then put the camera away for months. I'd like to be back here again, sharing more bits of the roller coaster of my life!

Rainy Spring

It's definitely spring here in Portland! The sun comes out in all its warm, sunshiney glory and then ten minutes later it is pouring down buckets.

The same has been happening in my family's personal life. Fantastic opportunities spring up, small pleasures abound and ----whsssssshhhhhhip -- they frequently get swept away. Life changes quickly and dramatically.

We're in the midst of a figurative rainstorm currently, so I thought I'd post some picture of the downpour we had a couple of days ago while I try to remind myself that it takes both sun and rain for growth to happen.

resemblance

I think I figure out why I loved photographing this woman so much.



She reminded me so much of the famous photograph Annie Leibowitz took of her mother, Marilyn Leibowitz.



I'm reading Annie Leibowitz At Work right now, and it is so inspiring to read about all her learning process, her mistakes, her triumphs, and how she achieved her shots. This photo of her mother is her favorite.

the workshop

I went to an all day photography workshop yesterday, and it was fabulous! It was just what I needed since, I confess, I have never quite known how to use my DSLR to the best of its ability. I have always tended to keep things in automatic mode with minor adjustments here and there for white balance or things like that. I've always known it wasn't enough.

I walked away from yesterday's workshop with so much more knowledge! Super exciting!! The photos I took aren't super inspiring, but they do demonstrate the camera's abilities. We did tons of mini assignments to play with the ISO, aperture, shutter speed, light metering and flash exposure compensation. I admit I didn't even have a solid understanding of what most of that meant until I took the workshop.

Here are some of the shots I took to demonstrate different techniques.

freezing motion in suspended raindrops:


metering the light and adjusting the shutter speed to capture things in the intended light:




Playing with the aperture to capture depth of field:




Panning with a slow shutter speed to capture moving object in motion:


Metering the light to capture accurate or flattering skin tones:




And lastly, my personal favorites from the day:




I learned so much! I look forward to putting my new knowledge into practice in the coming weeks!

thoughts on a Saturday afternoon

I love taking photos. There is no question about that part.



I also love getting feedback about my photos. Its fun to hear people's thoughts about a particular photo or set.

The problem is, I never know which of my photos to post, and under what format -- Flickr, blog, facebook, something else? It sort of drives me crazy.

What are your thoughts? What is your process when you bring home a new set of images, either a developed roll of film, or a new batch of digital files to import? How do you decide what to share and how do you?

About The 31 Project

I'm a little late on this post, but still excited to talk about how fun this project was for me!

From the perspective of someone who had a desk job for 6 years doing something I found boring, and taking care of two small children during the non-working hours, just getting out into the world is sometimes more eye-opening than I'd really like to admit. I get really excited... look at all the people out here... and they're DOING stuff!!!

So silly. So true.

It was great to take it to the next level and talk to them. Make them real. Connect.

We've been trained from early childhood that we shouldn't talk to strangers. They are scary and they might do something bad to us. This project helped me see past that and stop being afraid of the people I share this city with.

Each person I approached initially had that skeptical, imposed-on look, but quickly softened when I told them it was my birthday and asked them for some good advice. Those that were not in a hurry to be somewhere ended up talking to me for a while after they'd answered my question. People love to talk about themselves and the things they've learned about life. I feel privileged to have heard what they had to say.