Imagine…
For more interpretations on this week’s theme, visit Tracey’s blog.
Yesterday I had the chance to go to a local spa for a massage. Wow! The environment around me really made the massage seem that much more luxurious. Here is a shot of the locker room.
They also had a whirlpool, sauna and steamroom available for your relaxation after the massage was complete. They were just as luxurious looking.
Here is the room I waited in to be called back for my treatment.
That picture doesn’t do justice to the room. The hues and textures were so rich, I just wanted to walk around and touch everything!
The beverage cart-
I tried several different times to get a neat DOF shot or some other artsy type of shot of that row of tea tins on the shelf. I couldn’t hold my camera steady enough in such low light to get a good shot. I tried bracing myself against a wall, the door, everything and they all came out blurry. A flash would have killed the mood so I will have to live without my artsy tea shot. Bummer.
And finally, despite the fact that it was 90 degrees outside, they had a lovely little fire going in the room for the guests to relax and gaze into.
Since all the guests in this room are generally wearing nothing but a bathrobe, I suppose it’s okay to have it on the warmer side. The picture makes it look larger than it was. If you look in the second picture, you’ll see a rectangular cutout in the wall, that is where the fire place is.
In case anyone is wondering, I had the room all to myself while I was there so no one saw me photographing it like a nut. I had almost as much fun photographing my environment as I did getting my massage. Almost.
It was a fun experiment at attempting to capture photographs in ultra low light and have them still be in focus with no flash. I recommend taking your camera with you and searching out a low light scene that you can experiment with as well. You have to get creative and think out of the box a little but it’s worth it. Good luck!
Yesterday I spent 12 hours driving to and from my in-laws house so that my children could spend a few days with Grandma and Grandpa. And, let’s be real, so I could have a few days off. When I got up today, this is what I did…
(Yeah, that took 10 frames to time right and coordinate with the timer. The things I do for your entertainment…) Let’s call that my self portrait for the month.
Then I decided it was time to tackle the mounds of out-grown children’s clothes that have been hiding in my house. First, I packed up 3 bags and 2 boxes of stuff to take to the Thrift store on my way to grab some lunch. Then I came and tackled some more.
Each box has a size of baby boy clothes in it that I’m holding for two of my neighbors who I think might like to use them. Whatever they don’t want is leaving my house to the Thrift store too. It’ll be nice to have the space back but I have to tell you… holding each outfit that my boys wore and deciding where it goes is painful. Sniff, sniff.
To sooth my inner Mommy pain, my next task is to study my Photoshop book and see if I can learn something about this while my house is quiet. Remember when I said I might be knee deep in Photoshop? Drowning in it is a more accurate term. To call the program overwhelming is an understatement. It is not intuitive at all. You MUST get a book in order to use the program.
That’s where I’ll be. Yep. Reading about how to edit a picture. I lead and exciting life, don’t I?
I’ve been visiting some other blogs and I’ve seen this particular "tag" a couple times now. I thought it might be fun to do myself so here it goes.
5 Reasons Why I Blog…
If you’ve read this far, consider yourself tagged. If you decide to do it, leave me a link in the comments and I’ll visit to read your list.
Now that is Pirate Gangsta ‘tude, People! And with Thomas the Tank Engine shades, no less.
This past Saturday, I took my family for an annual photo. We went to my usual favorite cheap place – JC Penney portrait studio. Yes, I know some photographers are going to think that is a horrible offense. In my defense, I’ve been going to this particular studio for about 5.5 years. Since the birth of my first born child – before I could afford much more than that. They had not one but TWO photographers in this studio who ACTUALLY knew what they were doing. Alas, they have both moved on.
This weekend, I became painfully aware of why people despise the family portrait session. When I made the appointment, I told them it was for a family of five and it included a five year old, a three year old and a two year old. Read between the lines and get prepared people. We arrived early to get everyone dressed in our photo-attire. My dear husband allowed me to dress our three children first and then he headed to the bathroom to change into his pre-directed-outfit-of-my-choosing. What a sport. So, our little photographer chick calls us back into the studio. We are still 15 minutes ahead of our appointment at this time, mind you, yet she has the nerve to be all sighs and such that we are waiting on my husband. I suggest that we shoot the picture of my currently-happy-two-year-old that I also want to get while we wait. She retorts with, "I’ve already broken down my table." Uhhh…. okay….
My sweetheart comes in and we all take our positions. Chickeypie continues with her sighs and such and then begins to lose patience with our three small children as she snapped the very first photograph. Now, I would fess up if my children were being devil children. I can be honest about it when they are being turds. On this day, they were being pretty normal and generally well behaved. No one was running out of the studio. No one was pulling the hair of another. None of that or anything even remotely like that. An occasional hand was out of place or a mouth was showing off a tongue but that’s about it. Then she begins making statements like, "I sure wish you’d all look at me." and "I sure wish we could move along." Uhhh…. excuse me?! Her disposition was making my husband stressed. So then he would make a comment to our children in a harsher than usual tone admonishing them to behave. None of this behavior was encouraging smiles. At the end of the family portrait, she took all of 30 seconds to set up the table for the aforementioned and requested shot of my two year old. She took all of three pictures before he was D.O.N.E with the whole scene. None were particularly noteworthy. At the end of it all, she seemed displeased that I only ordered a few sheets of the ONE decent family shot (which was the very first one, by the way) and only 2 sheets of the ONE half-way decent shot of my two year old.
Here is the lesson in all of this. If you want to be a photographer, you need to be positive in the face of a family with small children. Remember that your goal is happy people in your picture, not freshly admonished and tortured family members. Remember that families and small children are going to likely be the bread and butter of your business – unless you do weddings. And even then you will need to be positive in the face of stress.
Bottom line – Be positive. Be ready when the smiles happen. Be quick when toddlers are involved.
I think in the future, I might be better off setting up a tripod with a timer for about 100 shots to get one just as good as what I got at that studio.
I don’t have any pictures of my wedding and engagement ring. This picture was inspired by someone in the Picture This group over in our Flickr version. I’m sorry I don’t recall who it was or I’d give credit.
**Edited** I figured out who I copied from. I got the idea from Eli’s Mommy and you can see her original shot here.
