Feelin' Under the Weather.

I've been sick for the past few days and had to call in sick twice already. It's setting me back some, but hopefully by next week I'll be back to regular blog updates! :) I went through and dug up some old photos though. I was reminded of these photos bc it's been raining a lot with the hurricane passing through Atlanta. I <3 lensbabies.

Passin' through DC.

I needed to take a break from all the work I'm doing and do some "leisure editing." haha So here are some quick edits I did on my past roadtrip photos as we were passing through DC. We actually stayed for two nights, and checked out Georgetown and Dupont Circle. Thanks Eric for hosting us and showing us around! :)

These are just a bunch of random, but most memorable photos. This is Eric in front of his favorite store.



Here is Eric checking out the man in the window. lol jk. I told him to stand there.



These were some tight pants! Sure caught our attention.



I took this one on accident. haha but I really liked how it turned out!



Anywhere can be a photo-op. I saw this in the bathroom while I was washing my hands, and had to try it out!



Dancing with the bear at this store we peeked into.



My turn! haha We almost got kicked out. We are so grown-up. :)



Just FYI, I didn't feel like lugging around my camera, so these were all taken with my mom's point&shoot.

Btw, my mom told me the other day that she has been reading up on my blog. LOL. Guess I should do a shoutout. Hi, Mom! :)

Stephanie Scarlet (Teasers)

Remember Stephanie?



I did a photoshoot with her a few years back when I was just starting out with my limited knowledge of posing and lighting. hehe I feel like technically learning how to use a camera is easy-breezy. It just takes a little time getting used to all the settings and getting the right exposures, but it is really knowing your light, your creativity with poses and lighting, and being resourceful that really takes you from being an average photographer to a GREAT photographer. I find it very difficult for all these things to be self-taught, too. The photoshoot was with Stephanie back then was really good practice, and I did get a couple good shots from it, but I can definitely see that my work has evolved so much since then! All of it came through the help of being mentored by Scott, who is an amazing photographer, and also studying under other great photographers who are nationally and internationally recognized for their work. I don't know about you, but I want to go above and beyond just Atlanta, or Georgia, or even the U.S.! Maybe ten years from now, I will only do exotic destination weddings! lol That way I can always have my business and my pleasure all in one trip! :)

This second photoshoot with Stephanie was a lot of fun! I think we both had a really good time exploring through this area that I discovered a month ago and blogged about here. I was so excited that she agreed to do it at that location, because I was really itching to do a photoshoot there.

Stephanie Scarlet is super woman. She is an amazing woman, and I really admire her for who she is. Not only is she getting her Ph.D. in aerospace engineering (and this is tough stuff!), she is also a singer/songwriter. You can check out some of her songs here. The website actually shows a photo that I took from the first photoshoot. lol She is super smart, super talented, and super sweet! :) AND she is gorgeous, but that doesn't even need to be said, as you can see from the photos! ;)





Oh, and I have to share a pretty funny story from yesterday! Actually, the part where I nearly killed myself wasn't too funny, but I'm laughing thinking about it all now. Anyways, I was driving to meet up with Stephanie at her house, and so I was looking at the directions and looking around at different house numbers to find her place. When I saw the house, I was completely oblivious to the oncoming traffic and turned into the road, and a bimmer almost hit me and honked pretty long and hard and finally drove on by. I parked and sat in the car trying to regain my composure, and minutes later he showed up beside me and rolled down his window. I was thinking, 'Oh, man, best prepare yourself,' and reluctantly rolled down mine.

But I didn't get the response I expected. He simply asked if I was okay. I apologized several times, and he told me that he just wanted to check up on me and make sure I was okay. At first, I was thinking WOW~ he must be a really nice guy! You don't meet people like that anymore. But after I gave it some more thought I realized that he was pretty upset before and probably did come back to yell at me. After he saw that I was a girl, though, he must have changed his mind. lol I love being a girl sometimes. :)

My First Flat Tire.

It's Frrrrrriday! :) Happy Friday! For the past couple days I've had to wake up at 6AM or earlier to drive out (waaaay out) SE of Atlanta for training. For those who didn't already know, I am starting to work for Lifetouch photographing preschool kids and infants for my M-F job. Today is my last day of training! :) Thank God! Driving through traffic is not one of my favorite things to do, especially after being sleep deprived. I think I had to literally slap myself a few times while on the road.

Yesterday, I had a lot of fun setting up studio equipment, and practicing photographing Chucky dolls. LOL. I am not a big fan of those dolls. Any of those dolls that have eyelids that blink are pretty scary looking.

On my way back from training, I wasn't paying attention to the road and hit a big piece of unidentified metal, which resulted in THIS huge tear on my tire. Just my luck!



I don't think this one is repairable.

I was over in the lane next to the HOV. And Slowing down considerably while switching over 5-6 lanes was probably not the safest thing to do, but good thing I am a skilled driver (and let's not hold it against me that I just ran over this big metal object ha). I pulled into the shoulder, and in my panic, began to call several of my guy friends I knew in the area. I finally got a hold of one of my previous co-workers who was on his way home at the time and asked him to come save me. I was standing outside waiting for him thinking to myself "where is my white prince/knight in shining armour in times like this?!" lol And that's when I came to the realization that I know how to change out my own tire. I don't always have to rely on some guy to come to my rescue. Wow. Wake up, Esther, you can actually save yourself this time! haha

and so I did. The End.



Those things were screwed in so tight. I had to put my hair up because it was getting hot up in there!



Finally!



I had a D70 on me so when my co-worker came, he was able to capture some of my proud moments for changing out my first real-life flat tire. :) So you get to see snapshots of my life. By the way, they gave me the D70 to practice on so I can familiarize myself to it. The only thing that I like about Nikon is the softer shutter sound. Oooh and maybe also the shortcuts to deleting and formating. I'm not trying to be a hater, but I love my 5D. It is my baby, and nothing can replace it.

Sophia and Calvin Round 2 // The New J-O-B

Yesterday was my first day of training for THE Monday through Friday job. Those sexual harassment and other instructional videos... it's pretty intense stuff! haha I guess they were much more entertaining than lab safety videos. God knows I've seen one too many of those. The only bad part is that the training is way out in SE part of Atlanta and because I'm coming from the north, I have to go through the heart of Atlanta with rush hour traffic both ways. Today, we get play with more studio equipment. That should be fun! :)

I am still going through my roadtrip photos. Those were some really good times! I shouldn't get too carried away with them; I have so much other work that takes precedence. I'm glad that I got a chance to meet up with Sophia on my last day in Boston. I really love how my photography allows me to meet some really wonderful people... and getting to travel is definitely a perk as well! ;)

We got dim sum for brunch! I wasn't prepared for the cold Boston weather, so initially I had myself wrapped inside a blanket, but later on Sophia lent me her sweater after a good number of comments from Steven that I looked homeless. Man, this is some really unflattering light! lol It looks like I have a mustache. Well, it was good memories, nonetheless! :)



And here is Round 2 of Sophia and Calvin's (Houston, TX) photos

Tim

Really trying to wind myself down from all the excitement of traveling. Can't be living that rockstar lifestyle forever. haha It was really fun while it lasted. :)

I start my job with photographing the preschoolers this Wednesday, or just the training part of it anyways. I need to have the energy to keep up with these kids. haha I've been actually hearing a lot of horror stories of kids misbehaving and biting. It's a little intimidating, but hopefully I will be able to handle it. Wish me luck!

I'm really sad to see some of my girlfriends moving away. I guess that's just life though. We all have to make decisions and move forward with the flow of it. I've just recently gotten to connect with them and get to know them, too!

I guess I've been reflecting more lately about community, friends, and the quality of my friendships. Even though I've always told myself quality is always better than quantity and that I just really want a few really deep friendships, I've always found myself very spread out and not deep enough. The older you get, there's less time you have to invest in people. I'm really working on it though... the quality part.

I've always had so mostly guy friends the majority of my life. Some times that is just trouble, I have to admit. :) I think it's good that I'm getting to meet more girls lately. I enjoy the chick flicks, make-overs, and girly talk. Just all the things we had time to do back in the school days. Time to bring it back... the girls night out and in. There's something so sweet about sisterhood.

Lastly, I wanted to post some more photos from my session with Tim. It's not very often that I get to do a solo photoshoot with a guy... and a good looking guy, might I add. haha :) I usually prefer girl models, but I made an exception for Tim.









He just moved into his new condo, so I had to incorporate his mess. lol

Home Sweet Home!

Just got back from my roadtrip to DC, NYC, and Boston. This is by far the craziest post-college trip I've taken. Good times! :) It was so much fun. There was so much to do and so much to see with so little time! But I am definitely glad to be back home. I just need some rest from all the craziness. Here's a few photos for now.

Of course, we had to hit up Time Square.



The hustle-n-bustle of Grand Central



Heart the Apple store!



This was way more fun to shoot than the USS Constitution.



I had to take some sort of touristy photo. hahaha I can't help it, it was my first time in NYC! You simply cannot manage being alone with this thing... so I just had to blur everyone else out. :)