Hanging in there!!!

Okay seriously I need some new models. I have had to use myself way too much in the last few challenges. So if any of my neighbors want think it would be fun to model for me let me know. Mostly my ideas are a bit goofy so I always feel bad asking people. The one above was for a challenge called Horizontal/Vertical the idea was to photograph something usually photographed Horizontal or Vertical and photograph it the other way. I came up with this goofy idea and to my surprise it actually tricks the eye pretty well. I only had to lay on that stupid rock about 20 different times before I got a decent pose. It ended up in the top 10 of the challenge.

This one was for a challenge called "Home" the idea was to photograph something that is about home. It didn't necessarily have to be your own home, but when I saw Sydnie blowing bubbles on the deck and those cool clouds behind her I decided to grab my camera and see what I could come up with. My editing was a bit sloppy on this one but I still did fairly well and scored in the top 10 of the challenge.

This one was for a challenge called "Stripes". This one I really wish I had another model for. Kaylee and I had to stand in the middle of the road while Brianne watched for cars. Luckily it's not a super busy road. But we did have a few people pass and wonder what in the world we were doing.

This one I had fun with. I borrowed some of my moms old things and then did my hair in a 1940's hairdo and posed for this one. The challenge was called "Film Noir" it was a style of movie made in the 1940's and 1950's the idea was to capture the moody lighting and film subject. This is what I cam up with:

This was for the abandoned building challenge. I actually visited several abandoned buildings on my way home to Idaho a couple weekends ago. This one was one of my favorites and what I ended up entering for the challenge.

Here is another one I stopped at on the way home. My kids were getting really annoyed with me making all the stops. Usually I have My Husband with me and he doesn't like to stop. He wasn't able to come on this trip so I was having a field day being able to stop as often as I liked.

I want to say this was one of my favorites too but I will end up saying that on all of these abandoned building shots. I guess abandoned buildings are just so fun to shoot, they have so much character.

This one really was my favorite photo, not building though. The one I entered was my favorite building. But this one had such a cool sky behind it, I can't help liking the overall scene of this one a bit more. I may still end up entering this in a challenge, the monthly free study is coming up and you can enter anything you took during the month of August.

And finally this one. I entered it in a challenge called "Time" you were suppose to convey time in some manner. I must have missed the mark I didn't score well on this one. My idea was to show how sometimes we wish time could just stand still.

This last one I did not enter in anything it's an out take for another challenge currently in judging. I just threw this one in for fun.

Wow! I have some catching up to do.
I took a ton of photos in July. I think just a combination of all the trips we took, the great weather and entering a lot of photo contests. I will try to keep my writing short so this post won't be any longer than it is. I will start of with my challenge entries. They are in order of how well they did.

This first one I loved it was for a challenge called distance. It is of me, Sydnie and Brianne. I was going to have Kaylee in the photo but I ran out of time getting everyone ready and I didn't have anything white for her to wear. Instead she helped me take the photo. I got third place with this photo.

Title:
Onward to Distant Mountains

This one only got an Honorable mention with 5th place but it was up against some stiff competition. It actually scored really high and got a 7 average only my third 7 out of over 100 challenge entries. I always love it when I can score a 7 even if I don't win a ribbon. The challenge was to photograph a bug.

title:
Mr. Smiley Face


This one did pretty well also and I got in the top 10. I was kind of surprised it did so well, I thought it was kind of a weird but cool photo so I didn't know how it would be received. This is a close up of Sydnies eye. The challenge was to take a close up of something other that a bug or a flower.

title:
Looking Up


I almost got in the top 10 with this one. I was really surprised too. It was a National Geographic challenge. You were suppose to photograph something that could go in a National Geographic Magazine. I thought that I didn't have a chance since I didn't photograph an Animal. I chose to photograph the copper mine in Utah. It was really hard to find a way to get a sense of scale. I used a editing technique called tilt shift. It is when you blur the top and the bottom of the photo and it makes the object seem miniature.

title:
Bingham copper mine, 150 years of turning a mountain inside out


This one did fairly well. It was a skyline challenge I thought mine was unique because it had a double skyline both the mountains and the city.

title:
Two skylines....Two Creators


This next one did fairly well but I think it would have done better if I had titled it properly. It was suppose to be showing how you took a tutorial and showed it in a photograph. My tutorial I found was how to change the color of someones hair. I must have done too good of a job because people kept commenting on how they didn't know what the tutorial was. I thought it would be obvious because there is no way I would dye my 7 year old hair pink just for a photo.

Title:
Please mom! Can I dye my hair pink.


Here is the original just in case you were worried her hair is pink.


This one scored okay as well. Looking back on it she is a bit too washed out. I should have done a better job editing this one. Challenge was rule of thirds in blue.

title:
The girl with the blue polka dot umbrella

This one did fairly well considering I shot it about 30 min before the challenge deadline. I didn't have time to edit it properly so I just cropped it and added a frame. The challenge was to paint with light. So this was taken in pitch black conditions and then I used a flashlight swirled around the object to make the light patterns. This is also fun to try with sparklers on the 4th of July.

Title:

Mystical Blue Orb

This one only did okay. I think it was because it was just wrong for the challenge I entered it in. The challenge was to take a photograph of a mainly pastel subject. I guess this one wasn't pastel enough.

title:

Butterfly in Pastel

This last one was wrong for the challenge I entered it in as well. It was suppose to be a photograph of a knife, fork, or spoon. I guess a pitch fork doesn't work.

The next few photos were not for challenges they are either outtakes of other challenges or ones I just love or both.

I just loved this one of Sydnie. I don't know why but I love photos of kids looking down so you can see their eyelashes.

This was an outtake for the bug challenge. I loved it but I think my grasshopper was the right choice.

This was and outtake for the distance challenge. I loved it as well but the other one was just a bit better.

The rest are not outtakes for anything just pictures I took messing around. These first two I really love they are long exposures of a waterfall near a place we go camping.

A Summer of Photo shoots

I've been busy this summer, the first of all of my photo shoots was for my friend Irene, she wanted to update the website for her business and asked me to take some shots for her. We did a bunch of studio product shots and then some fun ones for the front page of her website. Check out her stuff she has a great line of shirts that give support for pregnant bellies. Here is a link to her website: http://cozybelly.com

You can check out my product shots on her website, here are a few of my favorite shots we got for her front page:

Audrey's Kids

My friend came and stayed with us for a couple days and I got to take some cute photos of her kids. This first one is my favorite:

Emily's Family

This next photo shoot was for a family with 7 kids. I took a ton of photos and had a hard time choosing some of my favorites from that shoot.