Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Flowers and Herbs - Close Up!

Well, if you look at the last few images from my previous blog entry, I took some flower images after a portrait shoot. I took those images with a very long lens - not one that was condusive of close-ups. So I was itchin' to get closer!! With the help of a 60mm macro lens, I went to this beautiful herb garden and had some fun in the rain! The water droplets added an extra element of beauty to the flowers. Oh what fun...

Not sure what this was. Although a lot of the flowers and herbs were labelled, this was not. I loved how the rain drops outlined the edges of the leaves.



There were several areas where the stalks were braided - interesting.



Had some fun with these Foxglove stalks.





There's a beautiful dirt road lined with lavender and various flowering herbs that I had to capture.







This image doesn't do the size of this spider's web justice!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Photos in the Park

Here are some images from a recent photo shoot at a park.










Of course I couldn't resist capturing some of the landscape surrounding us!




Wednesday, April 29, 2009

NH PPA Annual Conference - What a Blast!

What a great New Hampshire Professional Photography (NH PPA) conference! Inspirational speakers, another intense state print competition and being surrounded by friends!! It was more of a challenge to come away with a blue ribbon in this year's competition from this panel of judges. I was very fortunate that both of the images I submitted were honored with a score of 80 which puts them in the "deserving of merit" category and earns them the sought after blue ribbon. Achieving a blue ribbon gives the photographer a merit towards industry degrees.

A fellow photographer was kind enough to take this photo of me in front of my two blue ribbon images!

After agonizing over the title of the Red Sox seat image, one of the judges actually praised it in a panel discussion as supporting the "story telling" of the image. The title was "If These Historic Seats Could Talk". The panel of glass with the one yellow tile is "Inner Glow".

The banquet at the conference has a theme each year. In honor of this being the 50th annual conference, the theme was appropriately dubbed the 50's. Everyone broke out their poodle skirts, saddle shoes, white t-shirts and rolled up jeans. I chose a "soda pop girl" costume - complete with roller skates! Yes, for those of you who knew I was a bit nervous after all these years to put them on again, I did and after a little practice was right back to skating backwards on the dance floor and doing spins! I didn't want to take them off!

With much pride and honor, I accepted my Associate Colleague of Photography medal (you can see it hanging around my neck in the above image). This is given after a professional photographer achieves 25 degree merits and gives recognition to members for their service to and on behalf of the NH PPA and for those who excel in print competition (for each blue ribbon print). In the four years that I have been a member of NH PPA, it has been a pleasure to give back to the organization in the way of service in several roles - including my current role as Director and Scholarship Chairman over the last two years. And I am grateful for the fellow members and mentors who encouraged me to continue to enter prints in the state competition! It is because of these peers that I have accomplished this achievement!

And I was not the only one daring enough to put on skates!!

Here's my boy, but I did not take this image!! My good friend and fellow roller skater shown above took this and earned her first blue ribbon print!! Way to go!!!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Never Stop Learning!

"One of the things that may get in the way of people being lifelong learners is that they’re not in touch with their passion. If you’re passionate about what it is you do, then you’re going to be looking for everything you can to get better at it." - Jack Canfield

I just returned from a week-long course study in Lifestyle Portraiture at the New England Institute of Professional Photography (NEIPP) and this quote above sums up why it is so vital to never stop learning! There is no doubt in my mind that photography is my passion and I yearn to continue to develop a style of soft, gentle, natural, elegant images for my clients.

This is the third year I have attended this school. Each year there are close to a dozen instructors offering a variety of topics. I remember a conversation I had with the Executive Director of the school who said "the instructors that teach at NEIPP do not earn their wings here, they're already in flight". This year I chose to study with world renoun photographer, Elizabeth Homan. Her photographic style is beautiful and she is genuinely caring to her clients as well as her students. She gave us a wealth of information and taught us lots of creative techniques to create more elegant and refined posing in our own work. The week is very intense but very exciting and uplifting. There is something special about being surrounded by others who share your passion!

The images that follow are some of my favorites that I had taken during the demonstration sessions we had throughout the week. I am so very excited for my own clients to reap the benefits of all the ideas and techniques I have come away with from this wondeful class!














Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Children's Portraits

These images are from a photo shoot just the other day. I love the feel of a warm tone backdrop with portraits. This little girl is the cutest little peanut! Both kids had lots of posing ideas and had some fun with it, which is the most important part of a photography session for kids!



Wednesday, March 4, 2009

NH PPA 2009 Print Competition Preparation

The annual print competition held at the New Hampshire Professional Photographer's Association is coming up quick - the end of April to be exact. Each print in competition is judged based on a list of 12 criteria as opposed to photo contest where you're up against other prints. The goal is to get a score of at least an 80 which gives you a blue ribbon and a merit towards a degree within the industry. It is a very intense, emotional and exciting event. This year, I have two prints prepared so far.

This image was taken during a tour of Fenway Park and is of the original and historic seating section. For competition I've named it "If These Historic Seats Could Talk".

This was fun to take. It was a huge glass tile wall at a hotel lobby. I'm calling it "Inner Glow".


These bottom two images were considerations, but after getting opinions from some certified judges and highly respected industry photographers, they didn't make the cut.

This is a building in Boston we saw while walking the Freedom Trail.

I took this image while at the New England Institute of Photography down in Dennis, MA. It was along the walkway that brought you to the ocean's edge at a resort where the classes were held and appropriately named, the Ocean's Edge Resort"!