Thursday, February 25, 2010

Jessica


I have not done much studio photography. Other then specific assignments at school almost all of my portrait photography has been done outdoors. I do not currently have the room to set a studio up in my apartment but look forward one day to having one. My friend/fellow photography student Jessica has set up a studio in her garage and yesterday I traveled there to use her lights on her! She also took photos of me, I will put up a few of those when I get them.

I took the above one just for the heck of it at the end, it was the last shot on my memory card! Funny how sometimes that turns out to be one of the ones you like most!


I had a really good time and got quite a few shots I like which is very encouraging. Before starting school almost all of my photography was nature related. I am finding out though that what I really love doing is photography people, trying to coax emotion and unique expressions out of them. It is fascinating just how much the human face changes from moment to moment.
Stephanie

Monday, February 22, 2010

Running and Wagging


Today was a nice day here in Tampa. A few time it looked like it wanted to rain but it stayed pretty dry. I went for a walk around the lake here and spotted what should have been a terrific photo opportunity-3 racoons cuddled up sleeping together up in a tree. However they had their heads buried in one another so that all it looked like was a big ball of fluff with a few tails hanging out lol. So instead I have some more pictures of my favorite animals-dogs!


The above photos are of a puppy named Lily who I met at a nearby dog park. She was so cute and had a lot of fun running with the other puppies at the park.
Today I had the luck to photograph my old friend Scooter and a few of his friends.




Obviously I had fun. I am going to need to come up with some cute props to use with pet photography to make the photos more interesting. My favorite of all of these is the one above of Lily with the Chinese food container. Things like that are sometimes hard to plan out but they make a big difference!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Back from Break

Well after all that hard work I had a nice break which I really enjoyed. My oldest friend Aleeta came to visit me from Los Angeles and we had a great time even though the unusual cold weather here stopped us from doing all of the things I had on my list. Managed to take a few cute photos of here though not as many as I would have liked!



Aleeta and I have been friends since 1989 when we met working together at a Sam Goody music store in Maryland. Several years ago she moved to Los Angeles where I have been to visit her often. In May I will be going back out there to attend her wedding. The above photos were taken in Sarasota Florida on Lido Beach. It was a beautiful but cool day there.


This black and white photos is my favorite. It was taken on a really cool day at Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs Florida. A beautiful park and beach area I really want to shoot there again.

There is just something wrong about a photo of someone shivering in a leather jacket with palm trees in the background isnt there?
It seems to be finally warming up a bit here, today was beautiful. I am now in my final class at school Portfolio and will be shooting more than ever, I should not be short of material to post here any time soon!
Stephanie

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Commercial Finals


Tonight I was thrilled to find out I got an A in my Commercial/Advertising class at school! This is known to be the most difficult class in the Photography program and I had more work to turn in at the end of the class than I have ever had before! We had to turn in a total of 11 photos for the final. I have already posted a few of the ones I used-the mushrooms and white rose. Here are some more of the best ones. I am not sure if the color is coming across as it should on the computer on some of these. I really love the above peapod. This photo took me the least amount of time of any of the still life I did. Just lucky in this case the pod is actually sitting in a white soup bowl though you cannot tell from the framing.

This kiwi slice was lit from underneath. Took me a while to get it right but I am happy with the result

This is my 'spiritual' shot. Devon is my friend Karens daughter. It was lit by candlelight only.

This is for the concept 'hot' it is the coil on the inside of my space heater.

We had to create ads for different concepts. This was for food/cooking and is advertising a real place here in Tampa where I love to buy fresh pasta

This is my beauty ad, used a mirror in this one and am really pleased with it.

This was for health/fitness I really love this photo it was a fun one to take.

This is my wealth/financial ad. Had a hard time coming up with an idea for this one. Not my favorite but I still like it okay. Came across the golf cart parked in Safety Harbor and the best thing about it was that was super clean so didn't need to do much in photoshop!
Now I am on a break before going back for one more term to put a portfolio together and I will have my degree!
Stephanie

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Nature



Today I have chosen to post a few older nature shots I like. The weather while now where near as cold as it is up north, has been cool and rainy a lot here in Tampa and I am eager for a return to the sun so I can put my macro lens to use.
The photo above is of a leaf from a vine I took on my list visit to my parents in Maryland last September. I love it because it reminds me of a face.

This is a photo of a bird house in my moms back yard. An example of how a simple simple subject can be turned into art with the right composition and some help from photoshop. Whenever I see this picture it makes me smile. Would only be better if a little bird was looking out the hole!

Finally I took this photo here in Florida. I had never seen this kind of flower before. As I have mentioned in a previous post for some reason as wonderful as the weather often is here I do not notice as many flowers around my area as I did during the spring and summer in Maryland. I am told the Bok Tower Gardens are very nice about 2 hours from me hope to take a field trip there in the near future.
Stephanie

Monday, February 1, 2010

Beech Mushrooms


Today I am posting one of the photos I turned in for my commercial class. We had to photograph a few fruits/vegetables. Hopefully these Beech Mushrooms count. For some reason I have always liked to photograph mushrooms when I come upon them. I found these in whole foods, they are used in Asian soups and are just really cute.
This photo was taken on a pretty day here. I went out by the lake where I live and put them up on the railing of a deck on the water. I positioned the camera so that all you can see behind them is the sky at first. Then I found with a slight adjustment created a natural gradient shifting from the blue of the sky to the green of the trees. Enjoy!
Stephanie