Love, Sandy Beaches and Cerveza!

I must admit, I LOVE mine and Ryan's Save the Date shots. Oh, by the way, we got engaged. ;) There has been A LOT going on in both of our lives recently so it has been tough to keep the latest up to date on the blog. But for now, here are the Save the Date shots we took, on our own, with my lighting and backdrop. If you can't tell, we're going to Mexico! Tiempo para la fiesta!!!

There's an Elephant in the Bathroom Doing Knotty Things to my Brother

"Wait, I think I missed something... Operator."

"I saiiiid..." the kid whispers, "There's an elephant in the bathroom doing...(giggle) knotty (giggle) things to my brother."

"Oh, ok, I got." She stands up and shouts, "There's an elephant with a broom doing knotty things to my brother!!!"

Everyone laughs. Yes, of course they do, they're 13 years old... and it's funny. It's a classic game of telephone, we all played it when we were young... And let's face it, we all know that it would have been dreadfully boring if she shouted out the actual story:

"Once my brother used the bathroom and found a cricket in the toilet!!" Oh really!? Cool! ZZZzzzz.

The sad part is that although I am referring to a children's game, this kind-of stuff happens everyday in the real world. A story, when passed through enough individuals, seems to get tweaked a bit. On top of that, there's always that select few who think it would be way more exciting to over-exaggerate, or perhaps add some new, more interesting details. Often in the end, the story is far from what was originally told.

If you can't tell yet, this post has nothing to do with photography or my life journey, but it does hit close to home and more then anything I'm really just taking a minute to stand up on my soapbox.

As adults, I think we can all look in the mirror and know that at some point we have been guilty of passing along information that may or may not be true, a rumor, a lie, an exaggeration - whether we knew it was true or not, we probably didn't think for a second about how what we said could effect someone else. We've heard something from a friend, who read on their sisters Facebook page that something crazy happened. And then, because it's such an interesting topic of conversation, we decided to share what we heard with our co-worker, who tells their brother, who writes a blog... OK, you get it, and I know you know how it works.

[Courtney, what's your point!?]

Right, my point. The reality of a rumor being spread from individual to individual  is pretty much inevitable. We are social beings, we communicate, we talk, we share information, it's pretty much impossible to avoid, no matter how hard we try.  I guess the people I have become most disappointed in are those with the microphones in their hands. Those who know they have an information-seeking audience yet still make the choice to pass along a story that really, they know nothing about, except what they have heard from others, who heard from others... who heard from others... and we all know how that ends - with an elephant molesting my brother.

Freedom of speech and freedom of press - This means anyone, can say anything, at anytime... something to keep in mind. I guess, with all of this, what I am trying to say is that it would be awesome if we, as a society, could get better about not automatically believing something to be true simply because we hear it. And if we're not sure if its true... it's probably best if we don't contribute to the telephone game - I know I can work on this.

And with that, I will now jump down from my soapbox and return to a more positive state of mind.

Ciao for now :)

'Cuz I'm gangster like that...

Tattoos. tattoo's. tattoo's. People have some strong opinions on tattoos... Here's mine: You live once, if you ever have the itch to do something, you should do it. (ok, that's a broad statement... but as long as you're not hurting yourself or someone else, I think you should be good to go). I have 3 tattoo's and I don't regret a single one of them but then again, I try pretty hard to live without regrets.

This tattoo is extra special to me. My parents are my heroes; by far the most amazing individuals I know. I wanted to do something for them to show them just how much they mean to me. But don't get me wrong, it's just as much for me as it is for them.

"Laugh" is written by mom. "Often" is written by my dad. The heart is drawn by mom. For the rest of my life I can look down and see my parents. They are with me wherever I go, whatever I do, delivering me a message of positivity, reminding me to embrace the joys life has to offer - After all, to me, that's what my parents represent, pure happiness.

Family, joy, laughter, love, happiness... That is what life is about.

Psssh... Routines Shmoutines

As I am preparing for my first final in photography school. I decided to sit back for a minute and think a little bit about the last 2 months.

My life has changed SO much. I used to have simple routines while working in the business world - Monday thru Friday work 8am-6pm, Starbucks everyday (yes, they knew me by name), squeezed in a happy hour here or there and perhaps even a soccer game and pretty much did whatever I wanted on the weekends (which meant two full days of playtime with the love of my life).

Today, it's a little different. The closest things I have to a routine these days are sleeping in my bed, watching The Bachelorette every Monday night (which has now ended) and walking my dog. I'm either in class or at work and when I am not doing either of those I am doing assignments for class, working on my blog or post-processing my bajillion photo's that I have taken - And no, there is no rhyme or reason to the madness. My schedule is different every week so I basically just hang out on my toes, ready for whatever. Weekends don't exist. That's probably the hardest part of all of this, I miss my precious free-time with my honey. But don't get me wrong, he's 150% supportive and we figure it out. I am the luckiest girl the world to have him.

I've learned a lot about the art and business of photography over this time period too. I've spent hours upon hours sitting behind my camera and my computer figuring out different techniques to make my pictures look the way I want them to look. I've had some frustrations, some major headaches, a couple *light-bulb* moments and many many moments of.... hmmm... (how do I explain this?)... Well, moments of 100% joy and excitement, feelings of fulfillment... times where I take a picture and it turns out exactly how I wanted it to and it's beautiful and it's perfect and I literally can feel little elfs in purple and gold jumpsuits prancing for joy inside my belly - and that giant, child-like smile on my face, yeah, I can't help it. Those moments, that happen time and time again, those are the moments that assure me I have made the right choice.

So to finish this post up I want to pass on some of my biggest lessons from this semester:

• The first is that if you're thinking about taking photography more seriously, know that it is a HUGE commitment. Everything about it takes time and patience so be prepared to really dedicate the time to it that it deserves.
• Figure out a process for downloading and editing your images. Without a process you will find yourself losing photo's that you so desperately need. The first thing I always do with a new set of pictures is copy the raw, original images directly to a DVD to store in a safe place. That way if anything happens to my computer of the files on my computer, I still have the source files to fall back on.
• A tri-pod can be very helpful. My teacher goes as far as to say that it's the most important purchase after you get set up with a camera. So far, I love working with my tri-pod... what I don't like about it is dragging it around everywhere. You can get a shoulder strap or a carrying case for it though so I highly suggest taking that route. It's amazing how much a tri-pod can improve your photo's.
• Take time to fully understand resolution and pixels and how they effect each other and your image. It's a major headache at first but it's imperative to your success as a photographer.
• Always return your camera settings to their starting point when you're done shooting for the day. It's inevitable that one day you will forget that they still need to be adjusted and will end up doing something like taking a whole batch of photos with your ISO set at 1400.  Wah waah.
• Adobe TV is a great (free) resource for learning tips and tricks on editing your photo's in Photoshop
• It's ok to buy an off label lens - I've never really been a brand girl anyways... Why spend more on a name when you can get the same thing somewhere else for a much cheaper price? I'm sure plenty would be happy to debate on this topic but I bought my first professional grade lens for 1/3 the cost of the equivalent Nikon lens and you know what, I love it.
• This one is from my dad - "It takes money to make money." Between school and equipment, I'm in the 'taking' money stage and more broke then I have ever been in my adult life. But that just motivates me even more to keep working hard - I know one day it will pay off and I will be a successful entrepreneur like my pops. :)

Chicago Trip

New post coming soon but in the meantime here are some pics from my recent trip to Chicago. :)

Lesson 3: Aperture, The Sunny 16 Rule, and Your Exposure Indicator

I've been shooting so much lately that it's been awhile since I've posted anything informative. So today I am going to give you some helpful tips and tricks for working with aperture, plus a few other helpful tidbits.

As a quick review, aperture is the hole/opening through which light travels into your camera. A small aperture lets in less light, a big aperture lets in more light. A small aperture is represented by a larger f number and a large aperture is represented by a smaller f number. Why? Just to keep all of us photogs on our toes.

The Sunny 16 Rule
The 'Sunny 16 Rule' helps to give you a baseline of where to start with your camera settings if you're a bit unsure. Always remember that on a sunny clear day, generally speaking, you should be able to put your camera settings at an f# of 16, shutter speed of 1/100 or 1/125 and an ISO of 100 and get a pretty good shot. If it's a little gray out or very bright, start with these settings and adjust accordingly.  Or, keep the below guidelines in mind:

f22 - Snow/sand
f16 - Sunny
f11 - Slightly overcast
f8 - Overcast
f5.6 - Heavy overcast
f4 - Open shade/ sunset

As a reminder, here is what an aperture with an f# of 16 looks like (bigger f number, smaller aperture):

And for an example of what a shutter speed of 1/125 looks like, check out this snazzy animation: Photocourse.com

Great Resource, Shortcourses.com
Speaking of Photocourse.com. This is another GREAT resource for anyone and everyone who wants to learn more about digital photography. Most of the stuff has to be paid for but if you go to Shortcourses.com, they usually have some free books and animations posted, I highly suggest you check them out!

Using Your Exposure Indicator
Most digital SLR cameras these days have an exposure indicator and once you find it, your life will never be the same. Check out your user's manual and see if you have one.

It should look something like this:

This handy-dandy little tool will tell you if your aperture and shutter speed are lined up to make a well-exposed picture. On my camera, this doesn't only show-up on my monitor but when I look through my viewfinder, I can see it there too. It makes adjusting your aperture and shutter-speed settings so freaking easy! Keep in mind that depending on your lighting you may not always want to line up your exposure perfectly at zero, you may want to over-expose or under-expose depending on what works best for your settings and how you want your picture to turn out.

Something To Think About 
A large part of being a good photographer means being prepared.

"Being prepared involves understanding your camera well enough to capture what you see the way you want to interpret it."
-Dennis P. Curtain

Photography is not just about taking a picture of what we see... it's about taking what we see, interpreting it in our own individual way and portraying it to others, exactly as we want them to see it - To do this we must first understand how to use our tools in order to create the interpretation that we desire.

Understanding the in's and out's of our camera's isn't always fun and sometimes it can be quite complicated but taking the time to understand now will, in the end, lead us to our nirvana.

I'm off to another shoot for class. Today we are shooting at the Phoenix Airport, it should be an awesomely creative time!

Adios and stay inspired.

Phoenix Art Museum

Last week our class visited the Phoenix Art Museum. I had an incredible time shooting the museum. I think maybe too much fun considering I came home with almost 400 photo's, which made cutting down and editing a B. I. T. C. ... well, quite difficult.

While at the museum our teacher asked us to focus not just on shooting the art but also the facilities and the cool architecture. He also asked us to find a unique way to take a self-portrait of ourselves.

Here are some of my favorites from the shoot, however, I have many more I would like to post too... That is, if I had more time.

Enjoy the photo's, I am off to class!