Needs Advice by Sunday

There is a girl from Indiana who really likes my work and is looking for a photographer for her sister's wedding. I'm definitely interested in shooting this wedding (which will be Sept. 8 of 2012), but because I know by then I will still have little or no wedding experience, I told her I wasn't comfortable doing it alone. Of course, I recommended Sandra right off the bat. I also told her I don't know what I would charge, so I would research during the week and let her know by Sunday. She's such a sweet girl, and besides, I am supposed to shoot a cousin's wedding around the same time anyway, so why not?

Well, I've searched my behind off for answers, and as you can imagine, I've gotten nowhere. Thus far, all I can think of as a compromise is to find her a photographer that wouldn't mind having me as a second-shooter or whose work would be similar enough to mine to satisfy her. Do you have any ideas/advice? Should I just throw out something like a $75-per-hour price and find my own second-shooter to give some of the money to?


Anyhow, yesterday I was supposed to post pics from orientation and, since august 5th's photos are to be lumped with a different day's photos, I would skip to the 6th's. So here are those, barely and carelessly edited because I need to get to bed. Sorry!

Waiting patiently for our first advising session at Ohio State.

Pride.

Evidently it rained a little on the 6th. I had to giggle when I saw this because I'm pretty sure I've already taken a photo very similar... Guess I just really like that, um, porch ornament?

Today, I give you the 7th's photo and two almost completely untouched photos from this evening's photo "adventure". (vignetted and shrunken. oh, the editing. lol)

It may have rained on the 6th, but the 7th was sunny and warm!

Speaking of sunny and warm.

I'm still trying to figure out how he got out there. And how he's dry.

Lastly, I wanted to post that one unedited dandelion pic. This is what happens when you crank up the saturation and contrast settings on your Shooting Mode (in my case, Landscape mode is my chosen "default").

Are your eyes shriveling yet?

Time to hit the hay! I have less than 6 hours to sleep before I head out with my friend Katie to see the Ohio State Reformatory (site of the Shawshank Redemption and numerous other famous films). They don't allow "professional" cameras, so my pics will be lower quality than usual. Still, I CAN'T WAIT! AAAAAAH!!!!!

Goodnight. :)

P.S. Happy birthday, Aunty Julie! I love you more than the sun, the moon, and the chicken wings I always beg you to make.

Dawes, Ortiz, and the E's

Today was an absolutely wonderful day, even if it did end with me sobbing uncontrollably. My friend Kaytlin ( Katie Dawes Photography) and her two friends Emily and Ellen came from over an hour away to do a just-for-fun senior photoshoot.

We started off at the same barn where those awesome vintage cars were (see http://xolexo.blogspot.com/2011_06_12_archive.html), but come to find out, the property was NOT abandoned, and the neighbors were far from friendly. They called the owner and gave him our license numbers, and he was SUPPOSEDLY on his way, but after waiting half an hour to no avail, we left. However, I did leave the man a message with my name, number, and a heartfelt apology for the mistake.

Once we left, we went straight to the Muskingum river for some more photo fun. Here are my favorite shots of the models:

Ellen lying on the mossy ground. She was possibly the most daring model I've ever worked with, and that's really saying something. :) Thank you, Ellen!

Emily sitting on a rock in the river. She, like Cortney (of my church senior shoot), never stopped shocking me with her adorability. :) Thank you, Emily!

I wish I had the time tonight to edit a photo of Katie, but don't worry, you'll see one soon. Don't think you got off that easy, Kaytlin!!! ;D

In case you were wondering, the owner of the property did end up calling me back, and though his voice was so sweet, his words were anything but. I couldn't stop crying for almost two hours after speaking with that bloke due to a cruddy mixture of my already overactive emotions, a lack of antidepressants (ran out yesterday), sleepiness, guilt for my misunderstanding and accidental offense, and overwhelming sadness about the fact that a property so beautiful will go unappreciated. Regardless of how uncalled for his name-calling and harsh words were, I was wrong for assuming the property was abandoned. I have learned a valuable lesson from this day:
     Don't just assume that a burnt down property strewn with rusty old ivy-ridden vehicles that obviously haven't been cared for in years (and, for the record, has not ONE "private property" or "no trespassing" sign) is abandoned. If you're going to shoot somewhere, RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH!

On the bright side, that man did mention a nearby, similarly aged hotel that IS open to the public [while he was calling me an idiot, mind you], so I will definitely be checking into THAT. To every dark cloud...


As for August 3rd's photo, I'm going to leave that for another day because it involves multiple photos and this post is already far too long. Instead, I will give you August 4th's photo, taken by a pier during a break from some random ride. I will probably edit it properly in the future, but for now, I hope you'll enjoy the 2-minute edit. Goodnight!

P.S. Chloe's comment has not gone ignored. I intend to post the unedited version of the dandelion pic in a post with less content.

His First

Today's photoshoot was of my friend and aspiring model Tremont Turner. I will be taking more photos of him next week, but today, we stuck with just the beach. It was a really fun evening, and I can't wait to edit more from this shoot! Until then, here are two to tide us all over. :)

Fun in the Sun

Today, the weather finally cleared up, and my aunt took us girls to the beach. It was such a fun evening. Hope to have more like it!

"Felicia"

My silly babies

A surprise guest joined us on the beach...

...and got a little wary of the waves.

Saying hello to meeeee

Alright, good mornight, guys! ;D

A Beautiful Morning

Actually, it was an ugly gray day, which was perfect for my camera. I'm extremely pleased with my photos today. In fact, I'm just pleased today, period. It's been a nice day.

I woke up to my grandfather telling me he was leaving with or without me, so I threw on some clothes, grabbed my necessities (money, camera, laptop, let's go!), and headed out. We went to breakfast [aka lunch] at a Mexican restaurant that I love, then Grandpa decided to explore a bit. We went to the beautiful park pictured above, where I got to chase around two gorgeous ducks.

Then he found a covered bridge that was technically fenced off, but since there was a trail around the fence, we went anyway like the rebels we are. Grandma, on the other hand, waited in the car. "Mama didn't raise no fool!"

Today's challenge: Illustrate symmetry.

There should be more days like today. :D

The Greatest Day I Should Never Have Had

As you might have guessed, today was a great day. I woke up to my grandparents ready to walk out the door, so I slipped on some shoes and hurried after them, camera in hand and purse on my shoulder. We went out to breakfast (or lunch, seeing as we're an hour ahead of ourselves now) and then did some shopping all over the place. While I should have been writing that Art History paper, I was busy playing with photos. (Whoops.)

Of course, my grandfather is no better than I am. He kept finding awesome places for me to take photos. One of those locations was the river near the Y bridge.

  

Another was the same river quite a few miles away, behind his job. Where just last week was a small park, there was river. Geese were swimming in the parking lot!

            

The, after some running around, I bought my very first flash unit (for my DSLR, that is)-- a Promaster 7500 EDF--, some things I had been looking for last week but couldn't find, and an orchid for a project my friend asked me to take photos for. I love orchids! They're beautiful.

Know what else is beautiful? MY FLASH! I'm so excited!!! Um... now to get to that paper...

The Town Attraction

The country's only Y-Bridge, Zanesville, OH

Also known as the most confusing bridge to drive on, especially if you're going left. I thought I'd retry photographing this bridge with my 200 mm lens, but it was far too cold and windy, so I took this one quickly and ran back to the car. LOL

Aaah, I took THIS one at home, where it was wind-free and warm despite the snow that covered the land overnight. Hopefully tomorrow will be a brighter day. I'd like to spend another hour or so outside taking photos. It's so relaxing, don't you think? :-)

Sow's Ear, Anyone?

I spent the day re-editing photos from an old shoot. By the time I got tired of doing that, I had an absolutely ridiculous time trying to actually TAKE any photos, so I ended up with this sow's ear of a file. Hopefully, I got a silk purse out of it, but I'm still debating.

I attempted to salvage this photo using an "action" (it's actually a psd) Sandra asked me to make for her . She has appropriately named it "She's Blushing", but you'll have to see what the action was intended to look like to understand the name. I'll be uploading the psd to my deviantART account as soon as I get to a place with better internet than mine so that you all can enjoy it too. :-)

Until then, I'll share with you a few of the old photos I've working on. Models are two out of three of my best friends since middle school, Kelly and Khalila. I met them when I was 12, and today I turn 22. Time flies!!!