Victor

Today I thought I would share more photos from my shoot with my neighbor, Victor. All of them were taken around the small lake at the apartment community where I live.
It is amazing how many different and attractive backgrounds you can find in an area like this. And really I was just scratching the surface, I haven't even utilized the pool areas yet! It is worth the trip to the local park, wherever you live to get some quality portraits of friends and family. And don't be shy about having your photo taken! As another photographer whose blog I read tels people, you will never be as young as you are today. With the camera we have the power to freeze a moment in time, and that fascinates me. If you think you can't look good in a picture, you are wrong, you just haven't had a photo taken at the right angle, or in the right light. Light can be your friend or enemy-I am learning how to use it to make everyone look their best. And don't get me started on Photoshop, it works magic!
Hope you enjoy these shots. I am going to very busy the next two weeks finishing up my school projects, I will post some of my results here when I am done.
Stephanie

Portraits

So far pretty much all the photos I have posted have been nature or travel related. What I am really interested in however is taking pictures of people. Here I am featuring a few portraits I have taken over the last few months. This first picture was taken of my friend and neighbor Matthew. There is a big defence between a portrait and a snapshot. Most people take snapshots and don't think too much about framing, what is going on in the background or if the lighting is flattering

This is Samantha, a fellow photography student. This photo was taken in a studio at my school. That day a few of us were just experimenting taking shots for fun, this is my favorite, and converting it to black and white made it that much better.


This is one of my favorite pics and it was totally unplanned. This little girl and her father happened to be down by the lake when I was photographing my friend, I snapped a few quick shots and got lucky. Another photo that looks best in black and white.
This is Victor, another neighbor who works out on these bars he is sitting on every day. I took quite a few pictures of him for a photojournalism assignment and he is the kind that really likes to have his picture take, which was great. I will put up a separate post featuring some more shots from this shoot.

Finally here are a few pictures of Jonathon, he lives across the hall and was kind enough to pose for both window light and studio pictures. I am experimenting and spending a great deal of time learning photoshop, I hope you enjoy the results!



And no I was not on magic mushrooms when I made this last one, just one of the zillion things you can do in photoshop, I think it is funny if nothing else!
Stephanie :)

Buddhist Temple Market

Earlier this week I read an article about a Buddhist Temple market located here in Tampa that runs 10-1 every Sunday-
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/the941/2009/05/14/say-wat/
It sounded very interesting and so I decided to check it out this morning, and am very glad I did. I have a feeling I will be spending a lot of Sunday mornings here. As it says in the article supporters of the Temple donate their time to prepare vast amounts of delicious food-all the money they take in goes to charity.
The food is prepared on the wrap around veranda of their rec center. I had an amazing noodle bowl for $5 that puts any store bought ram en to shame to say the least.

I tried the coconut rice custard/onion cakes mentioned (and pictured) in the article and they were fantastic, I had to wait about 15 minutes for them as the orders were backing up. I also observed the fry guy mentioned, cooking his glazed sweet potatoes, bananas, and Taro in giant woks, here is what the finished product looks like. I didn't get any of these this time, perhaps next week.


There were also a great many other interesting desserts and entrees. You can enjoy your food either at picnic tables on the veranda itself, or under some shady trees by the river. The atmosphere is very positive and relaxing.




The only reason these tables are empty is that I got there just after the market opened, but the time I left at 1130, the place was so packed people were having a hard time finding parking spaces! There is also a meditation garden on the property and a boat dock out on the water. I walked out on it, looked down and saw a bunch of what appeared to be several large catfish swimming around. I highly recommend this market as a great place, to relax, connect with family and friends, and enjoy fantastic food for the benefit of a good cause. Wat Mongkolratanaram Temple is located at 5306 Palm River Road, Tampa

Mushrooms

Sorry I haven't posted in a week but it has been raining here every single day! It is much needed as Tampa has been the victim of a severe drought the last few months. It went from no rain, to rain every day. Yesterday morning though it stayed dry long enough for me to take my walk by the lake and I came across these mushrooms.
There is something magical about the way they just pop up overnight. Just a handful in this one particular spot, I hope you enjoy these shots, I certainly had fun taking them! :)Stephanie

Going for a Walk

Today I somehow ended up at a park I had not noticed before on the Tampa Map I have been using to help me get around since I moved here. It is about a mile from Downtown Ybor and not exactly what I expected. The map made it look like the park overlooked the Bay,pluse it is called McKay bay park, but no such luck. It is actually wedged next to some industrial factories. There is a short boardwalk that runs among the Mangroves, they are everywhere here. Then there are some roughed out trails also, it is very oddly laid out actually and I arrived at the hottest time of the day. I didn't really think I would find much but ended up with a few great photos. I continue to marvel at the beauty and variety of plants here, not to mention the birds. There was one area where some much needed rain had fallen last night in a bit of a gully. Suddenly I looked up and there was the beautiful bird above. What is he, a kind of eagle or hawk? It was so nice to get photos of a free bird like this with no anklet like you see at the zoo. Later he flew up into a tree where I got a few more shots.

Then there was this guy. I first encountered one of his kind in the Everglades. The craziest thing about these cricket like bugs is that they seems to like to pose for you. I just get the vibe from them that they are just as curious about me as I am about them. This guy let me take a lot of photos of him from various angles.




Finally there are these two plant pictures, they are simple but I like them. I learn more and more to be observant wherever I wander You never know what you will find if you simply choose to be present and take notice. I hope to return to this park when it isn't so hot, I can tell simple though it is it may hide many more natural treasures. Stephanie

Yappy Hour Gaspers Grotto

Greetings from sunny and sweltering Tampa Florida-after several months of near perfect weather we are currently in a string of 88-90 degree days. Never thought I would be less than thrilled with the beginning of summer. Hopefully some rain will be headed our way soon as well as we are stuck in a severe drought! Nonetheless I had a great Saturday the highlight of which was attending the Yappy hour 4-7 at Gaspers Grotto in Ybor City-this is their website:http://www.gasparsgrotto.com/
Once a month this colorful restaurant and bar opens its large patio to dogs and their owners. I attended with my friend Natalia and her two Jack Russell's-Miley and Max. There was a costume contest, pet tricks and music. Surprisingly many of the pups were allowed to wander at will without a leash! I had a great time, everyone seemed happy and there were smiles all around. Hope you enjoy the slide show of images below.

Seagull Art

Just one pic today. I am currently learning artistic ways of presenting my photos in Photoshop. I took this photo recently on the beach and find it fascinating. Most photographs of birds like this are quite boring but this one I find very interesting. The magical thing about photography is that it gives you the ability to freeze a single moment in time which often reveals things the naked eye misses. Hope to have more to post for the weekend.
Stephanie

Duck Slideshow

Today I am sharing a slide show of my favorite baby duck photos I have taken over the last week as well as the mum and of course a few of Marvin the Crazed Martian duck I cannot get enough of. He is so cool he even has blue eyes! I have spent quite a bit of time sitting by the shore watching the new babies. They pretty much do the same thing all day, sleep and explore, and look for food. Their little lives are very simple and there is something soothing in that. I include the photo of the mum 'sleeping' with her eyes open-always guarding here little ones.

Saturday in St. Pete

I had a great time wandering around St. Pete this morning. 19 new photos have been added to the slide show below. I went there to take pics for my Photojournalism class and was surprised to find there was a Volkswagen show going one-hundreds of Volkswagen's of all shapes sizes and ages parked all over and around the Pier. I got some fun shots of them-many from the 5th floor observation deck of the Pier that I never knew existed! The views of the city from there are amazing and you can even eat dinner there at Cha Cha Coconuts. Later I walked to the Saturday Morning Market and got some fun candid shots. It is heating up here in Tampa-high 80s, soon I will have to break down and put on the A/C.
I have now taken at least 500 photos of the baby ducks, out of all of them I would say 30 are really good. Will post a slide show of them when I get the chance. I hope everyone is having a good weekend, time for me to relax.
Stephanie