Personal-Finding my Way

It has been a long journey for me, one that is of course still unfinished but I am astounded by the progress I have made. Moving to Tampa from Maryland after a very difficult time in my life, pursuing my degree in Digital Photography, and conquering some demons I never thought I could conquer. And yet the last 2 years have also gone so fast! Yes on September 15th I will have been living in Tampa for 2 years!
Since finishing school and starting up my business a few months ago, I have been struggling to figure out exactly what kind of photographer I want to be. My website and business cards describe me as a Portrait/Pet/Wedding/Event photographer but somehow this rather generic description has not sat well with me nor do I find it very inspiring. I am not a fan of the generic. Our culture/landscape is now permeated buy strip malls which contain the same stores wherever you go. Most restaurants are chains, you have to hunt for unique, quality food. Then there are the chain photo studios-don't get me started on them. The media-enough said!
Yes I very much want to photograph people, and also animals, and especially people, animals and nature in unique places, many of which I have not yet traveled to. I want to connect with the people I photograph and present their stories and dreams (or sometimes let them tell these in their own words) here along with their photos. This in itself is amazing as for a very long time I was very shy about meeting and talking to people. There was no rational reason for this, it was simply 'the way I was' and I accepted this even though it made me miserable. I guess I needed something drastic to happen to pry me out of my shell and it finally happened! I will not say I am all the way out but I am getting there!
Before moving here I mostly photographed animals and nature because they did not make me nervous. It amazes me how few photos I have of some of even my oldest friends and the ones I do have are snapshots, nothing original really. So now when I look at the portraits I have taken in just the last 9-12 months I am astounded by how far I have come. I cant take enough photographs of people now and I feel I get better with each session I do. It is amazing how much the human face can change, due to expression or emotion in just a few seconds.
There is a lot of doom and gloom out there, the media seems to enjoy focusing on the worst people and events in the world. However there are many unique interesting people out there, people who are doing well now, or are pursuing dreams like I am and will do well in the future. There are amazing people places and things all over our world, many of which are never covered on the travel channel. I would like to seek out these people and places, focus on the positive good people and things in our world.
So where do I start. This brings me to the announcement of a project I am starting this week. Recently I discovered the website meetup.com. If you haven't heard of it, it is a site where you can find groups of people with various things in common who 'meet up' I highly suggest it to anyone looking for a way to get out and meet people and really wish I had known about it when I first moved here(FYI it is a nationwide site). Anyway after joining some photography related groups I searched under 'travel' as that is something I am interested in and found a group called 'International Friends' it is a group made up of people who have moved to the Tampa area from all over the world and the U.S. as well. I have never met so many new friends so fast in my life! It is so wonderful to see so many people from so many different places get along so well. Belonging to this group has inspired me to want to photograph and interview a different member each week the results to be published here on my blog. The first person I will be featuring is the beautiful Tanya, who came up with the idea for International Friends. I hope to have her photos and story up tomorrow. I had no idea when I signed up to join this group how much fun it would be or the positive impact it would have on my life. Despite the way it seems sometimes there are a lot of good people out there, it is better to get out and try to meet some of them then to sit around doing nothing! Until tomorrow...
Stephanie

Engagement-Stacey and Greg

October 2nd I will be phtographing Stacey and Greg's wedding. This past weekend I took engagement photos of them, some of which will be used in their guest sign in book along with some old photos of them growing up.



Stacey and Greg have been together for five years. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met and I am really looking forward to their wedding. For these photos we traveled to Lake Seminole Park in Seminole, FL. We have some really nice parks here. This one has not just one but at least 3 lakes. I saw at least as there are parts of the park I have not yet seen. Even though I have now lived here almost 2
years I am not yet tired of seeing palm trees everywhere. I loved the reflection they threw onto the lake on this summer evening.


I love mixing things up when I edit at shoot and doing some black and whites, somehow it gives this wonder moment a more timeless and classic feel.


I also love cool little bridges like this little on going over a stream. Just something fun and romantic about them. The Spanish moss hanging from many of the trees doesnt hurt either.


Love this!

We started to lose light fast but still got in a few more fun photos.


Suddenly we looked over and saw how completely amazing the sky looked over the big lake. Yes these are the real colors of that sky! This, one of the last photos we captured before having to get out of the closing park is my absolute favorite. I love silos and this is just so classic!
Congradulations Stacey and Greg. The wedding will be here before you know it!
Stephanie

Practice Shoot Fred Howard Park

Last night I traveled to Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs to join a modeling/photography group I belong to to shoot some models. I always have a good time at these sessions they really make you think on your feet as you dont have a lot of time. This seemed especially true last night as we started at our usual 7 o'clock time and it is now getting dark a little earlier.
I had the opportunity to photograph two different Models. I had an assistant and fellow photographer Javier to assist me with some off camera flash. I am looking to kick things up a notch using off camera flash in on the never ending ladder I am climbing to improve my work. Given the small amount of time and the fact I met these ladies right there for the first time I am happy with the results.

My first model was Angela. There was a giant bank of clouds blocking the about to set sun, so much so I could not reflec some of the nice golden light into her face the way I wanted, still I like these shots. On the one directly about I played around with an antique light preset in lightroom adding a big more vibrance and saturation to the dress. I really like this photo as it seems to have an air of mystery about it.

This next shot Angela is sharing a beautiful natural smile. I have become addicted to photographing people as it is amazing how different we all look moment to moment. The variety of moods and emotions that can be captured with in moments sometimes is simply amazing.


Before I knew it we were told to switch models. My second model was Nayana, originally from Thailand. Fortunately around this time some of the clouds moved away and I had a more attractive sky to work with.


I saw the flowers in the foreground here and knew I would be able to do somthing fun. It was pretty breezy this evening which is good and bad hair-wise! I love Fred Howard Park. One part is wooded with beatuful old trees and dripping moss then this area is a little beaching island you reach by causeway.

Here you have a beach, some rock formations and a beautiful sunset to watch. Here is where we really started to utilize the off camera flash. I really look forward to mastering this!


The above photo is my favorite for the evening. Somtimes when the sun is setting you can feel blinded by the brightness but last night you could look right at the sun which appeared very small surrounded by beautiful light.

Hope you have enjoyed these photos! There are going to be a lot of changes coming to my blog very soon in look and content. I have been doing a lot of thinking on what exact direction to go with my photography and an answer is slowly starting to emerge. For now I will say it is going to have a little more of a photojournalistic bent to it. Details coming in the next few days. Tomorrow I am doing an engagement shoot for Stacey and Greg, whoose wedding I will be shooting in October. Hope to have my favorites from that session up Sunday or Monday. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Steph

World Wide Photo Walk-Tarpon Springs

Yesterday was Photoshop Guru Scott Kelby's 3rd annual World Wide Photo Walk. Groups of photographer gather in cities all over the world and take photos for a few hours, then gather for lunch at the end. This year I participated in the walk led by Scott Kelby himself who is a really nice guy. It was a really hot but beautiful day in Tarpon Springs, Florida. I kind of wish something had been going on there, I felt I was taking the same kinds of photos I have many times before there. No performers or much activity going on.



Tarpon Springs is a unique little place with a lot of character. Some of it is a little too cheesy but I like it there and there are some great Greek restaurants there! You can take a tour from here, last February I was supposed to go with my friend visiting from California but it was cancelled due to cold weather which still sounds odd. Hope I get the chance to try again soon


I always love it when I see a dog on a boat. They always look like they are having so much fun. Helps add interest to photos too. After the wallk the group met up at Hellas restaurant where I had an excellent Chicken Slouvaki wrap. I love Greek food! I had a good time but boy was I tired by the time I get home. I am still not used to actually looking forward to the end of summer here in Florida. I am ready for October :)
Stephanie

Sail Tampa Bay

This morning I went to witness the arrival of 3 tall ships for the Sail Tampa Bay festival. I figured it would be fun and I would get a few good photos. I had no idea how amazing it would be. The amazing part pretty much centered around the first ship to arrive and subject of these photos, the Gloria from Columbia. From afar when looking through my zoom lens I saw that there were men standing on the various crossbars on the masts (not sure what they are really called). I have never seen anything like this before.


As the ship got closer to the dock, they started playing rousing music and the men waved to the crowd. What an arrival. Many people from Columbia were there to greet them. It was such a wonderful thing to witness! And these photos are some of my favorites ever! It was 90 degrees but whenever I get into a groove of shooting at an event like this I tend not to notice it so much.



The other two ships arrived later and were not nearly as entertaining in their arrival. I photographed this one so much I ran out of energy before I could get to the other two, one from USA one from Uraguay. These ships are in town and may be toured through the 14th. I intend to go back in the late afternoon one day for more photos. The riverwalk running from Channelside to the convention center, where I took these photos is really nice.



Okay here is one photo I did get of the American ship shortly after this was taken it turned around and docked itself a few blocks down at Channelside.

For more information on this fesival and the ships check out
http://www.sailtampabay2010.com.
Stephanie

Snails

It has been pretty rainy the last few days here in Tampa. As I learned one day shortly after getting my macro lens, rain tends to bring out snails. That day I got one of my best shots ever and today I sought to equal it. Not sure if I managed it but these are some fun shots anyway. Snails are such strange creatures! The one in this first photo was super tiny, yet he can stretch his head out really far. They almost look like they are made of gelatin.

I once again as I did yesterday with the spider used my tripod and 100mm macro lens, except for the shot below which required me to use my 70-300. This one was kind of high up on the plant and I couldn't get close enough to it with the macro. This plant is about to bloom into a beautiful orange flower that I photographed when it bloomed last year.


I invite you to look closer at the nature that surrounds us when you go out, especially after a rain. Had I not been looking for something to photography I would have walked right by. There is so much beauty and wonder right under our noses if we would only look!
:) Stephanie

Along Came a Spider

Okay well really I was the one that came along and discovered this big spider in its web just outside the stairwell of my apartment. First time I have seen one this big hanging around. He/she was very cooperative in allowing me to get pretty close with my 100mm Macro lens.

My subject was not in the ideal location background wise. From the angle I shot at above I had to deal with the road and one of the apartment buildings had. Had the spider been hanging out on the other side of the web I would have easily had a beautiful green background of foliage to blur out.

I used my tripod, set the camera on timer and locked up the mirror to get the sharpest shots I could. I experimented with various setting with f-stops generally ranging from 2.8-8.0 I found being this close with this lens I still got a decent blur to the background while getting most of the spider pretty sharp.



In order to get some green in the background I had go higher and aim down, here you are seeing part the green underbrush I had to keep untangling the tripod legs from and the road.
Too bad a fly didn't come by to provide me with some interesting if creep action shots!
Stephanie