Ben's Headshots.

My second post of the day!  After my third day of P90X, I feel unstoppable!!  haha  Good for me on my attempts to catch up on blogging.  As for the P90X, I should really take a video of myself doing it.  It's ridiculously hard, and I've been struggling.  All I can really do is laugh at myself at the moment... but I will bring it!! :)

Here's just a couple headshots of Ben.  Ben's a neighbor who needed some photos for his website.  How convenient that he lives just down the street.

My first youtube appearance!

I've been finally testing out my video functions on my Mark II, and you'll get to see some of it.  It's been a lot of fun - and adds a completely new dynamic to how I see the world.  I remember one of my best friends in high school writing on her (film major) college app essay, 'if a picture is worth 1000 words, imagine how many a motion picture is worth.'  Although, it's been fun exploring videography and it's something I will dabble in here and there, my passion will remain with photography.  Plus, I'm not ready to spend a thousand dollars on video editing software.

Jacob (my studio manager and good friend) and his brother Josh are in a band called The Fu.  I had the opportunity to be a guest in one their youtube videos... my debut on youtube!  Check out the video and don't be mean.  I'm used to being on the other side of the camera, so I was camera shy and felt super awkward and nervous.



Here are some other videos I took on their rooftop.  You can check them out as well.

• Use Somebody - Kings of Leon (cover)
• Lovesong - The Cure (cover)

Below are some photos of them playing live at different events/venues.  They play shows throughout the year (find their schedule at thefumusic.com), and I might even make a special guest appearance at some of the shows.  Come by and hang out... to see a wedding photographer turned youtube sensation!  haha jk

Melissa and Paul Headshots.

Just so it doesn't come as a total surprise, every now and then Jacob will be blog posting and sharing photos as well... so you can look forward to those. :)

Now, more from the session with Melissa and Paul.  Here's the headshot Melissa ended up picking out, and wanted to repost to balance out the next photo of Paul.  I've been playing around with new layouts.





After the headshots, we had some fun with family photos for the Christmas cards.  After running around with Roxie, we tired her out enough to sit still.  :)  I loved the next set.  Too cute!











Always love some golden light. :)





Always a pleasure doing photos with these two... ooh and Roxie! :)

<3 Esther

Sam Headshots.

Did a few headshots for Sam's work, but I couldn't resist doing some fun casual shots on the side... especially when there's such great light. :)

Meet Tian.

Meet Tian. She's made some appearances in different music videos, but I have a feeling something much bigger is around the corner! ;) For those of you who haven't seen the music video Kiss Me Thru The Phone by Soulja Boy, check it out!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhwQay4QiOw. Very cute song! Especially for you long distance couples. ;)

Here are a few teasers from the session yesterday (the two on the left are from the music vid):





There are flowery fields everywhere. It may have just been a small one, but I'm definitely glad we stumbled upon it. :) I was threatening to move to Cali, but Atlanta does have them afterall. haha





On the way back to go grab some food:



Needless to say, after rolling around on the grass all day, we deserved a big meal an Donqui's.




More pictures from her session to come soon (I may post a few more here and there on facebook before I write my next post about her).

Now, off to an e-session today. It's rainy weather, so wish me luck!

Helen

This is Helen. She wouldn't believe me, but she photographs beautifully when she's not always making ridiculous faces at me. I had snap these shots with a quickness. lol Yeah. I would probably say to describe Helen in a nutshell... one word... ridiculous. She always has these random things to say, laughs all the time at the most random things, and her laughter is contagious. That's what we love about her. On the other hand, she can have her more serious moments and I also somehow feel a great comfort in sharing some of my skeletons with her. The psychologist in her gets to analyze me. haha



She is always saying God has a sense of humor because He made her the way she is. I find that a beautiful thing. I'm sure God does, too. :)

Julia

This is Julia (Pronounced Yoo-la). She is from Hessen, Germany.





She is my wonderful German tutor. :) So far, I have learned basic expressions and colors. Still struggling with the u and o's with the double dots. lol :) But we will get there.

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. :)

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

More Tram!

A little update about the J-O-B? To my surprise, an HR person called me yesterday morning and left me a voicemail. I was thinking surely this is the call where they let me know I get the job.... BUT it wasn't! I called back and found that all she wanted was to confirm that I didn't have any further questions. What? Do people really do that? I was a little bummed out, but I got a call back later in the evening (after normal business hours) letting me know they wanted ME! :) So we are good to go!

I am getting shots this morning. Eeeek! It hurts more when you tense up, but how can you relax, really? :(

Just wanted to post the rest of the photos of Tram's beautiful self. :) This one is probably by far my fav from the set.



I was trying to get her to move around to avoid the shadows that the window was making on her face, but I love how it's going across her bottom lip.





A little closer crop.











I liked these series.





The more serious version of the headshot.





After the sun went down, we went inside to relax, but then I saw this little area and wanted to try a few quick shots.