Challenge Failed

Well, it's safe to say that I have officially failed my 365 Challenge multiple times over. :(

Illness keeps plaguing me. After my wig post, I got really sick and am still attempting to recover. Unfortunately, it seems like I'm on a rollercoaster-- I start feeling better and then BAM, I go right back to the beginning. Doc says it's a bad mix of Pharyngitis (funny, since the first time I had an attack of pharyngitis was exactly 4 years ago to the day) and asthma. I've been on antibiotics and steroids, but the two are making it impossible to take the rest of the vitamins and meds I normally take, so when one thing gets better, the others take its place.

Lovely.

But enough of the complaining. I actually have good things to say! The WalMart interview seemed to have gone great. The woman was anxious to call me back, and we really got along well. Sadly, I'm still waiting for the callback. On the plus side, not being called back yet means I was still eligible to receive a free family photoshoot with $50 worth of free prints. It was nice to have all three of us in front of the camera together for once.

Aside from that, I've mostly been sleeping or doing photoshoots with my friend Kaytlin. We had a group shoot at the nearby Dawes Arboretum last weekend, and even though it was chaotic (and proved to be terrible for my health), it was absolutely amazing. There was a great turnout, and the contacts made there have become friends already. Tomorrow, most of us from that shoot will be reuniting to make a commercial for Ohio University Lancaster. Then, when the night falls, we will be enjoying some hookah and clubbing!

Don't worry. I plan to be very careful not to overexert myself. A social life is important to me, but it means nothing if I sleep the next week away. lol

Now, for some shots from the past month+.

My cousins stayed a few nights. We had a blast shooting in the garage.

Please click on this one. It's so much cooler when it's larger. :)

This and the previous set is from the one full shoot I got to do at Dawes. Sarah was amazing!

 

Kelli was a blast to work with. <3 

So were these guys (and the Giant Foopa With Legs)

The last of the people at the Dawes shoot.

Kelli and Avi being silly while waiting for makeup.

Unedited shots of Ellen and Kayla

Unedited shots of Ellie








If I'm going to fail a challenge, I'm at least going to do it right! :-)

That 70s Post

I spent yesterday (Saturday) evening caring for the wigs I've accumulated over the years, and then I put them onto styrofoam heads. After some boredom, I started playing with the heads by adding some of my many pairs of glasses and other accessories. Figured that each day for 4 or 5 days I could post a photo of one of the heads, but naturally I didn't get to editing yesterday's photo until today.

During the process, I was getting frustrated with how boring the photos were, so I started clicking on random things. One of them was this crazy rainbow gradient map I'd made for a previous photo of the day, and it was such an insane but awesome look that I absolutely HAD to keep it. In fact, I had to use it for today's photo too. Here's the result.

256 and 257 of 365; Sept. 24 and 25; faux-retro wig heads

Today, my first meeting with the Scarlette|Grey Team (Ohio State's fashion organization). Tomorrow, interview at WalMart's photo center. Now, bedtime since it's 2:14 in the morning. Goodnight!

Angles, Angels, and S'more

Last weekend was a blast. Katie and I met in downtown Newark, where there were practically no people but plenty of gorgeous bronze statues and wonderful murals to take their place. I fell in love with this little ghost town, especially once I came across their example of "vandalism".

249/365; Sept. 17; Yes, those are marshmallows.

The next day was just as great, if not better. Katie and I made some fun jewelry for our Indian-inspired shoot, and my car was stuffed with things for all the models to work with. Unfortunately, all but one had to cancel on us, so it just ended up being a 2-hour shoot with an absolutely breathtaking young girl named Katilyn. I'm actually thankful that it just ended up being her, as she was so pretty and sweet that I couldn't stop taking pics of her.

Three edits of one of my favorite shots. BTW, I made the bracelet and hair accessory!

Since she had a time constraint, we weren't going to have time to curl her hair up for the second half of the shoot. Luckily, I happened to have my trusty brown wig with. It matched her hair perfectly! We just blended her hair with the wig and got started. Here's my favorite of that set.

250/365; Sept. 18; Lens flares added for fun. Otherwise, just played with variations and called it a day.

The next three days were spent in Columbus, so here goes.

251/365; Sept. 19; Church windows. I felt like playing with HDR, but then also wanted a film look, so here's the combo.

252/365; Sept. 20; El Jefe, the epitome of man... and his favorite purse?

I couldn't resist capturing this shot of my grandfather. He is so wonderfully comfortable with himself that he can sit there looking all intimidating whilst holding his wife's purse and shopping bag. Better still, his shirt reads "The beatings will continue until morale improves."

253/365; Sept. 21; More playing with HDR.

The 21st was supposed to be my first day of attending Ohio State University, but instead it ended up being the day I withdrew from all my classes :( In any case, I was on campus. The next day (and still today), however, I didn't feel very much like leaving the house, so the next two shots were taken in my living room.

254/365; Sept. 22; Zoom-panned wall decoration.

Can you believe that one's almost completely unedited? AND it was my first shot?! I was taken off guard when I saw that I actually got the shot I wanted right away. It was taken in Monochrome with a yellow filter since the wall's yellow and the sun is a warm green. The apparent vignette was caused by the darkness of the surrounding room and the highlights and shadows were from my flash. All I did to this was use a subtle Unsharp Mask on the face. O.O  For once, I'm finally believing I'm getting better. :)

Finally, we get to today. My grandfather rearranged all the furniture in our living room, and now I sit much further from the lamp I photographed on September 9th. I'm ridiculously exhausted today, so I've barely left the couch. :( Took this while lying down.

255/365; Sept. 23; The Golden Hour Came Late

In other news, Kaytlin and I are planning a bigger, more public shoot for the weekend of October 22nd, so be looking out for those details. Also, I have a job interview for WalMart's PictureMe studio on Tuesday. Hoping for the best. I could use some good luck on the professional side.

Aw, Nuts!

248/365; Sept 16; Peanut in an oddly lit bar

Ohio State still hasn't gotten back to me, and Welcome Week starts on Monday, so I guess I'm not going. :-( Monday was supposed to be the day I went to campus to get my parking permit, locker, transfer credits straightened out, and some fun time during all the WW festivities. Doubly sad.

Oh well! Tomorrow's another day. I've applied at a couple more local photo studios and am hopeful. Also, tomorrow I get to spend the night at my friend Katie's house. We'll hopefully be taking some shots of her gorgeous baby sister dancing, preparing for Sunday's Native-American-inspired shoot, and just being our silly selves, so if I don't post for the next night or two, it's only because I'm busy taking a ton of pictures (or resting from it). :D

Now, just for fun, I'll throw a few of my favorite shots from my shoot with miss Brandy Cruz née Gilbert.

Catching Dreams

I spent almost the entire day editing photos from fun outings that I never got to. It was a nice way to distract myself from being so upset about my lack of sufficient financial aid (and the very real possibility that I will, yet again, have to consider taking a year off to earn enough money for college).

One of the photos I edited was from my Indiana visit in March, when some friends and I joined Sandra's husband at the City Methodist church to celebrate him acing the EMT test. Which version do you like better? If neither, what did I do wrong?

Here are a few of my favorite black and white shots of each girl from the past couple weeks (that I've edited in the past 24 hours, anyway).

My ex-classmate and now partner in crime (literally, if you ask J. Imes), Katie, in action.

My fellow brown girl and new model, Abby. I so want to steal her hair. Watch out, guuurl!

The super-adorable and equally sweet Becca, who I hope to work with more. I love meeting people like her!

The ridiculously gorgeous Emily. No one will ever be able to rock that hair accessory the way that she did. 

The awesome and adventurous girl I can't believe I didn't meet years ago, Ellen. Do you believe in soul-pals? LOL

And, of course, today's photo. It's just a snapshot of part of our newest dreamcatcher, which I'll be using during this weekend's fun Native-American-inspired photoshoot with, of course, the fabulous Katie Dawes!

I cannot wait for this weekend. Hanging out with my friends has seriously been so much more beneficial to me than they could imagine. I'm going to hate when we all become too busy to have these weekends anymore.

Anyway, time for bed! Goodnight, y'all. :)

Random Photo Catch-up Post 2-- DONE!

I'VE FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH MY EDITING! Kind of. At least for this challenge, anyway... -bites lip-
Okay, on to the randomness.

219/365; Aug 18, 2011; Playing with an angel statuette

220/365; Aug 19, 2011; Barely edited flower in a neighbor's yard

221/365; Aug 20, 2011; Gotta love restaurant signs.

222/365; Aug 21, 2011; Bee and wildflowers on a photo walk

232/365; Aug 31, 2011; Otherwise unedited HDR-style tomatoes given to us by a friend

233/365; Sept 1, 2011; Duck? Vintage duck? Taken from the car

234/365; Sept 2, 2011; "The Mile-High Club"

235/365; Sept 3, 2011; Weed in my dog's yard

236/365; Sept 4, 2011; "Think she can see me?"

237/365; Sept 5, 2011; Um... random neighbor's lawn ornament.

238/365; Sept 6; Really interesting texture on a bridge

239/365; Sept 7; Must have had a texture complex those days... Another *ahem* interesting texture

240/365; Sept 8; A wall that must have looked pretty cool to me at the time.

241/365; Sept 9; The view from my seat every night

242/365; Sept 10; I love my friends already. Even If I only met them within the past month. LOL

243/365; Sept 11; Speaking of people I love, these are my favorite people in the world!!! My grandparents. <3

244/365; Sept 12; Creepy little toy that my dog hates. (Small because it freaks me out.)

245/365; Sept 13; Speaking of my dog (LOL! Coincidence, I promise), this is her waiting for Gma to get home. So tyoot.

246/365; Sept 14 TODAY! YAY!; Awesomely distressed foam head in my bedroom.

Okay, hopefully I'll keep up with the editing a little better from now on. But I doubt it, so don't hold your breath... LOL