Friday, October 23, 2009

OSP South Cocktails – Macon Georgia

About a year ago, I sent an e-mail to a pretty influential photographer asking her a technical question of some sort. Well, as you can imagine, an influential photographer is pretty busy and can not answer every little question sent their way…but, what I appreciated was that she had it set up to where an automatic e-mail was sent telling fellow photographers who e-mailed her where they may be able to go to get answers to their questions.

One such place was David Jay’s forum, Open Source Photo Forum. Very glad for that. I have learned so much from being a member of that forum that I honestly don’t know how I would have learned otherwise.

Well, this October 19-21 was the annual OSP gathering for the southeast area photogs which I signed up for. Boy, am I glad that I did. It was an amazing experience meeting other photographers from the area that I had no idea existed. It was great meeting new people, learning new things and being able to meet people that I had been talking to on OSP for quite some time now. Not to mention picking the brains of people much smarter and more accomplished than I.

Well, to make a long introduction short, this post is all about the cocktail party. ;) YEAH!

I am a wallflower and love to have my camera at the ready so enjoy the fruits of such below. And hopefully I won’t make too many enemies after all of this is said and done.

The party was at SoChi Gallery in downtown Macon. Small venue but nice and very chic. We had desserts laid out for us. . .

OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-31

and a limited cash bar on demand. . .OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-36

. . .and DJ Kevin Nichols endeavoring to make sure the party never stopped. He did an amazing job even though not all of us were willing to get out on the dance floor.OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-30OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-29Animated conversations were to be seen throughout the evening. OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-12Some of us did eventually start warming up to the idea of dancing.OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-16Liana was an amazing dancer and was not shy of strutting her stuff. Neither was her partner seen here, Jenny.DanceLiana is so awesome, she even makes up her own moves.LianaKate rivaled her for excellent dancing skills.OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-13OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-6OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-19Heather stood on the sidelines a lot but got out there occasionally.OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-25Ashah pretending to take blackmail pictures.AshahJennyDanielle and her husband were the cutest couple.OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-18OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-15Oh look! A fellow wallflower like myself!OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-17Ashah may look like she was just chatting up the DJ Kevin for no reason. . .AshahDJbut she had an ulterior motive. . .she wanted to borrow his camera. AshahAnother fellow wallflower, Chris, looking radiant.OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-32 A covert shot of Heather on the dance floor.OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-2Tracee and Karlin finding something Shaun is saying very interesting it would seem. OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-34Amber having an animated conversation with Jason and a person who shall remain anonymous simply because I do not know who was behind the wall. OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-39 OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-40I am not going to even attempt to figure out what Shaun was doing here. Looks like he was trying to sell me an invisible watch. OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-42 Karlin explaining to TimCo that if her heart was not already taken. . . ;)

OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-43 Nathan telling it like it is.

OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-44 OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-46Whatever Shaun was saying must have been quite amusing and interesting as his listeners are paying rapt attention.TheBoys

Okay, I’ll admit it, he can be pretty funny at times, as Tracee seems to have found out. (side note: what an amazing smile she has!)TraceeKip felt left out so I got this quick (and somewhat creepy) shot of him. I have a feeling he is not going to be happy with me for posting it. OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-50Nathan and Amber enjoying another animated conversation.OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-51Ahh! The Karaoke was finally busted out and TimCo had his moment belting out Billie Jean. And doing a pretty darn good job at it. OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-52 OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-53Dancing resumed. . .or should I say continued, as it never really stopped. OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-54 OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-55 Just bust a move.OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-56This lady here with Kip was, not only a phenomenal dancer, but entirely instrumental to getting OSPS4 off the ground and running. I would like to give a round of applause to Mrs. Ginger Moseley herself! OSPS_Cocktail_Blog-60 And I will leave you good people with a few images of what a Heather sandwich looks like. HeatherSandwich

Thank you and good night! :)

Coming soon: I have so much more to post: shots of “class” in session as well as the amazing models we photographed on Tuesday.

contact me or view my online portfolio. . .

Thursday, October 22, 2009

OSPS4 Rocks the HIZOUSE!!!

I just had a mind-blowingly awesome time at OSPS4. I went into it not sure how it would go or if I would make friends or what I would learn. I came out of it having the best time, lots of new awesome friends and learning SO much more than I thought I would.

I have nothing but praise and thanks for the wonderful Ginger from A Moment in Time Photography who took the time and effort to pull all of this off. (All of my other thanks will be coming on a later blog post because there were so many wonderful people who helped make this a success)

I will do my bestest to get more details and images up soon. I am currently typing in bed because I drove home last night and am desperately wanting and needing to catch up on sleep.

Before I go, I will leave you with one SOOC image that I posted on Twitter the other day.
contact me or view my online portfolio. . .

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Stockbridge GA Maternity Photography - Meraiah and Abel

A little over a month ago, I got an invitation in the mail (handmade by this extraordinarily talented young lady) to a baby shower.

About nine years earlier, I was 19 and just starting out in the wedding photography scene and had just made a lot of new friends at Music Midtown. . .including this amazingly gorgeous girl who was getting married that November. So I marketed myself to her in a way that I have forgotten how to do now (sure would come in handy ;P).

A week and a half ago, I was privileged to document the beginning of her son's life while still in utero. You may remember her baby shower pictures here.

It ended up being a rainy Saturday for pictures but they have a beautiful home so we just settled in and started shooting.
I love starting in the bedroom because it seems to allow the mother-to-be to be comfortable as they get used to being subject to the paparazzi for a little bit.
Whereas this image looks normal and fun enough, let's take a look at the picture that came before it that made her laugh this genuine. . .
Yeah, that's a wonderfully goofy face that anyone can love. ;) When I first came across these two images I was having fun just scrolling back and forth like a mini movie. It made me laugh. . .LOVE YOU ABEL!This is an excellent shot that my hubby got.
I love these two shots. To me, it's excellent in showing the funny relationship between the two of them.

Thomas decided to join us for a bit and since he is soon to be a big brother, we figured he deserved the spotlight for a bit.

I love how relaxed these are.

I really love how he is looking at her in the first picture.I really can not express how awesome it is to have such gorgeous people that let me photograph them.
Then we moved into Ethan's room which is enough to make any little boy jump with joy. It's so awesome.

The walls were painted by the same talented artist that did the shower invitations.
I would like to take this moment to again remind people that do not know me that I am 5 foot 2. :D Why do I keep reminding you of this? Because being short is a challenge to overcome when you are a photographer. I have learned to not be ashamed to ask for a chair or a ladder in order to get "that shot". Or in this case. . .
. . .THIS shot. Which was accomplished like this. . . This was actually her husband's idea and I think it was pretty darn cool.
What a lovely room to grow up in and what lovely parents to grow up with.:D
If you think to yourself, "I don't have a room in my home that looks like this!" Don't despair. I seek out the light in your home and would you believe that this is the room that she used to cut hair?

Yep, a little rearranging and we got the perfect room with the perfect light.
Played around with my lensbaby for this shot. Still learning but I like the affect.


Each new mother I photography concretes in my mind why I love maternity photography so much. I love the natural beauty that comes from carrying a new life and I love being able to show the end product to the mother-to-be and her finally being able to see how beautiful she is to everyone else and temporarily forget how yucky she feels. :)

contact me or view my online portfolio. . .