Musicians!

Ok so I checked my posts and realized I did not tell you about the first time I photographed people as "clients" (I say that in quotes because even though they really were clients and are using my images, I did not get paid). 

One of my assignments was to photograph musicians with their instruments. We needed one group shot, head shot, and one of what ever we please. I asked friends if anyone would be willing to do this and one of my friends said yes and he invited another friend. 

So what did I learn at this shoot?

ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN RAW MODE.

Yes I did not check to make sure I was shooting raw.This was bad because I also did not bring my reflectors (or fill cards). By the time we arrived to their campus to shoot, the sun was high and I had to deal with shadows. 

Now I have quite a bit of post work to do. 

So always carry your reflectors and quadruple check your camera settings.

Here's a snippet of the shoot.

**Remember these are unedited**

{La Petite Sirène}

Prom Pictures!

Yesterday I photographed a friend and her girlfriend for prom. We did the shoot by the museum in downtown and even though there was little sun left because they were over an hour late, they still turned out pretty well. 

Things I learned at this shoot are [1] I need to be checking my images more often, [2] I need to play with the aperture more (I tend to stick to shallow depths of field) and [3] I'm getting better at interacting with the people I'm photographing. I was able to relax and make them relax a heck of a lot faster than at my first photo shoot (the musicians one, did I tell you guys about that one? I'll have to check)

Yes it was fun and a good learning experience, most of all I have more work to add to my portfolio. Below is a sneak peak at some photos I took. I'm in the process of editing them now. Toodles.

{La Petite Sirène}

No success there...

Today I found out I am still afraid of large crowds.

Yes, I went to our local Farmer's Market tonight and I found myself unable to just take the photographs I wanted to take. I have always been shy and over the last few I have improved considerably but when it comes to large crowds, I still hold back (so no success there).

So instead of doing what I love to do (photograph), I wandered off and chose subjects in a lesser populated area (yes, success!).

So my advice to you if you are fearful of crowds is start small. Find areas where there are less  people or there is less traffic. Progressively move to areas with more people until you can finally go into a crowded area. For those of you that willing to take your fears head on, find something or someone to motivate you to jump right into the crowd. Or take someone with you to help you feel more relaxed.

But whatever you do, don't let it stop you.

{ La Petite Sirène }
P.S. 
I think I may have found my logo.   :]

Photo Quote of the Week

Looking and seeing are two different things. What matters is the relationship with the subject. - Christophe Agou 

Quote provided by PhotoQuote.com 

Taking a breather to blog...

So this week has been a very busy week. I have three projects due back to back, two of them group projects and one my photo final.

In the midst of all the chaos, though, two amazing opportunities have come my way. This Saturday I will be photographing for my friend's girlfriend's prom. I am so looking forward to it since it is her first prom.

Second, I will be photographing a coworker's baby bump as sort of a test shoot. If she likes my work, she will hire me for her "true" baby bump pictures (she's only 4 months right now so her bump is small). This will of course be my first maternity shoot so I'm busy doing my research for it in between homework.

Any recommendations?

-La Petite Sirène

I am not a photojournalist.

So in my last post I briefly talked about the theatre festival assignment I did and I would now like to elaborate a bit.

We were to document the event just as a real photojournalist would, that meant taking down names of the people we were photographing ( 5 people or less thankfully), where they are from, what they were doing, why they were doing it and when they were doing it. In addition, we were to have cutlines (aka headlines) and captions ready for print. The part that was the most difficult for me, however, was that in photojournalism, all pictures must be a "complete sentence." This means there is a subject, an action, and I'm blanking on the third but the point is I am realizing I more of a fine art photographer. I take pictures for the formalism (shapes, colors, patterns, etc) and/or feeling. It was a challenge remembering that the picture isn't supposed to repeat what your captions are saying, they are supposed to provide new insight.

I processed the images this past week and was so glad that I had enough images that I could turn in. I'm not sure how many I took but I probably only had about a quarter of the total that were useable. I wanted to post some of the images, but I forgot that because the festival was made of primarily minors, I can't post any of them because I don't have releases from their parents.

While I didn't truly enjoy the experience, I am thankful for it. If there comes a day when I need to do photojournalism to pay the bills, I will know how to successfully do it and won't feel like a mermaid out of water. Best of all, I know now that I am not a photojournalist.

As always, I hope you have a terrific day!

-La Petite Sirène

Under Construction

For my photo class this week, we were assigned to photograph the theatre festival that our school hosts for local high school theatre programs. I am not a very good people person photographer yet and I am certainly not a photojournalist so this assignment was particularly challenging for me. I did however try it, attempting to cover everything we were told to do and then some. I am not sure that I was able to get the shots  I needed in order to complete the assignment and since I am not allowed to retouch them at all, I am not sure they are sufficient. I do need to process them, as soon as I do, I will post what I will turn in. 

How do you approach jobs that are not your forte?

-La Petite Sirène