Found this cool little gizmo to make a slide show...

A little twist to a photo set I did of my 16 year old and her phone....

It has been just too bleeding hot here to do much in the way of photography and it is driving me up a wall. I can see that I am going to have to work my tail off this school year in order to have the money that will allow me to travel to cooler places during the next summer!

Actually this weekend will be another good weekend - a weekend spent away and in a cooler place. My son and his fiance' are driving over from Tucson tomorrow, then we are all going to drive to San Diego Sunday, spend the night and come back Monday. San Diego is where he proposed to Janine. I told them a few weeks ago I would like to take them back to San Diego to get some engagement pics of them...sort of my gift to them, to recreate it all. It will also give me some experience in formal portraitures. I have asked them to decide on a few places they want to go ...I suspect I will be taking 100's of pictures of them, good thing I got my 2nd memory card. I was thinking of perhaps shooting in RAW this go round, but I dunno....I still have this thing in my head that says, use your camera to its fullest extent. Shooting in RAW isn't really doing that, or is it? So many different opinions on it all. Anyway I am keeping my fingers crossed that some of these pictures will turn out nice and if so I will post a few here and on my website.

My middle daughter is going to come down the 16th of July and spend a week with me. I am excited. Will be nice to see her again ( havn't seen her since January) Anyway, Chelsea is a model type. Tall, thin, gorgeous. So I am going to impose on her and take some pictures of her - she has such long graceful lines. He neck is long and sculptured, I have several ideas of what I would like to do with her...hope it comes out as well.

I have been having a great time playing with CS2 and elements...it boggles the mind what you can do with pictures with that software.

ok I will post more after the trip, keep your fingers crossed that I get off some good shots this weekend. Who knows it might lead to others.

Ta for now

Today is my birthday. I hate birthdays. Actually I hate June. Lots of bad things have happened to me in the month of June.

Thats all I am going to say about that.

I was in a reflective sort of mood last night so started playing around with lights, glass, water etc.

I came up with this and was pretty happy about it. Notice the flare effects off some of the lights. I acheived that by setting my apperture to a smaller size (f/29 was this photos setting) I have a few more that I took that need retouching then I will post them on the website.

The weather here is looking a bit threatening. I doubt if we will get any rain etc, but we are coming up on our monsoon season and right now is the dry thunderstorm season. I have been reading up on lightning and ways to photography it. I am going to try my hand at it when I have the opportunity.

I will be returning to work next month. It has been a nice long extended vacation for me. With the death of my husband two years ago I took a very long leave of absence. Now I feel strong enough and in the mental frame of mind to actually attempt going back. I will be doing a job I did several years ago, though it is not what I thought I wanted to do anymore, it has me excited. I will be working with a young man who was a student of mine several years ago. He has been a music teacher at one of the junior highs here for a couple of years and has just taken a job as band director at a local high school here. He has asked me to be his assistant director and colour guard instructor. I thought long and hard about it, and in the end loyalty won out. He is starting behind the eight ball a bit, as the last director ran the program into the ground . So I welcome the opportunity to help him build it back up. It will also give me the chance to do some photography concerning the band and colour guard.

So there you go. It should prove to be a fun, busy end of summer and fall for me.

I am happy.

Well I suppose I am official now.

I have a website. Though I still have to make my galleries, at least the silly thing is live and can be viewed.

If you would, please visit me there and let me know what you think.

My husband is the web designer and for a beginner I think he did an admirable job..

please come visit at www.wyldreamz.com

Moody Celi


I found out yesterday that my two photos that were submitted as an assignment for a class I am taking were choosen as photos of the week. I was thrilled. Then I get the lesson and assignment for this week...yikes. Difficult and I am wracking my brain trying to come up with something original and representative of the lesson.

Photo sets will be the bain of my existance. First I need to get the instructor to clarify what needs to be the commen theme of these pictures. Shape? colour? object? all or none? I am assuming that it will be colour since the class is specifically for colour in photography.

Its just too bloody hot here to do much picture taking. Unless I do staged shots indoors and I don't have a lot of the equipment I would need to take decent indoor shots such as additional flash units, proper lighting, backdrops etc. I tried to take some photos of my lovely 16 year old yesterday, all I got was attitude - 16 year olds are frustrating....but above is one of them...this is Ariceli. Anyone want to raise her for the next 2 years of her life LOL.....

Butterfly

I have slowly, EVER so slowly been learning PhotoShop, I got my software about 5 days ago and man is it ever intimidating. For every day pictures, pictures that I want to capture the moment and the scene laid out before me, then I don't want to rely on CS2 so much. I think I prefer to let the camera, settins, light, me etc do the work, but there will be times that I want to stretch abit beyond into imaginations boundries and play a little. The butterfly above is the first efforts into that. I love it.

I have been going through a tutorial today on how to make skin tones and complexions creamy and blemish free and it is amazing what you can do! Might even make my old wrinkly, dark spotted skin look half-way descent lol

OOOOO I am getting so excited.

I have my husband working on a website for me and my photography addiction and it is starting to really come together. I gave him some of my photos this morning so he can start naming my galleries and putting them up.

I still have to decide on a name and buy the domain, but I have a few rolling around in my head.

I got my 2nd lesson and assignment today and am eager to get started on it, though much of what we are learning this week I played with and experimented with this past weekend on my out of town shoot: ISO, Av, and exposure compensation. So I guess I will be learning a bit more about it all.

Ok back to the camera!

Come to ME!!

Walking along the beach as an adult sure is different then when I was a kid. I saw these cuties this past weekend and couldn't help but wax poetically at the innocent fun they were having, the fun I used to have as a kid. When THE most important thing was not letting the water hit your feet as you run up the beach from the incoming wave. I sighed a few times taking this pictures wishing I could be back in such an innocent time. Then I realized something astounding. I have just captured that moment in time and at any time or place of my choosing I can now go back and relive innocent times once again.

San Diego downtown skyline

I love this picture, makes me want to crawl through the picture and be there again.

Man in red.

This young feller, I caught window shopping in a harbor side shopping village. I wish I could have got his shoes, they were the sharpest pair of red and white spats I have ever seen.. He was happy as could be just strolling around with his walkman, or Ipod in his ear, blissfully ignorant to all the people wrenching their necks for a 2nd glance at his retina burning red suit. I loved him immediately.

Lilypad at Balboa park, San Diego, Ca.

Just returned from a great weekend in a much cooler part of the world. I went there in search of some pictures ( street scenes) to feature one or two colours for a class I am taking in colour in photograghy. Since Down here in the desert right now about the only two colous I can feature in anything is brown and browner, I decided to seek out a more colourful area. SD is about 2 hours drive and about 35 degrees colour this time of year, so it encourages people to be out and about on a lovely 75 degree Sunday afternoon. Got some great pics. I will post a few more later.

Bob thanks for the earlier comments on the vase and my "over used" silken water effect lol. I am going to try your other suggestions out this week on the vase. I still love those photos, I want to perfect them as much as I can and with your suggestions, they have certainly been perfected, and I will visit your blog as well!!

Ok ok I know that there are some photogs out there who are just plain sick of the "silken waterfall" images that have become so popular, but you have to indulge me...I have just discovered the art of the silken waterfall and I love it. Maybe in time I will be sick of it as well....but for now I reserve the right to add them to my portfolio hehe....enjoy please and if you like my photos, all comments are welcome....

Namaste

Thank you to Bob for his suggestion at backlighting!! Here I have tried as you suggested, I like the effects it has on this and the one above. This one was with WB on auto and the cool blue one is with the wb on incandescent just to see the change in colours with the blue cast I love them both

Again thanks for the advice...if you have any other.....feel free to offer, I am all about critique and advice to become better.

PS Bob I am still searching for your blog sight? can't seem to find one? Do you have one?

Whooo You???

Caught this little guy on a little road trip that Mike and I took yesterday. I was feeling restless and its getting to the point that when I am feeling restless one of the only things that can sooth me is a photo session.. so that is what we did. Arizona broke out with some VERY unusual June summer weather yesterday, so I set out to see if I could find any of it. We drove about 2 hours down the interstate towards Phx. Pretty soon we happened on a very insignificant looking turn off called "Painted Rock Road" and in tiny little letters underneath it on the sign it said "Indian Petroglyph Sight" I swear up until yesterday I never noticed it. Just blink and the turn off is gone, just another inconspicuous road to no where - or so I thought.

Well we looked at each other and decided why not, we will drive a ways and see where it takes us. Its about 5pm with clouds swirling all around us and lightning off in the distance. We drove another 10-12 miles on this little road without another sign indicating we were on the right track. Finally we found it. A very remote, but well tended to and interesting sight. We parked and began our walk, obeying the signes along the way indicating in a very no-nonsense way to STAY ON THE PATHWAY!!

We found many many petroglyphs and even a key to be able to decipher what it is you are reading. Very surreal, all the way out there in the middle of the desert, hardly anything to remind you that you are in the 21st century, looking at pictures and drawings in rocks that were made by a civilization gone by some 12000 years ago..

It was amazing.

When we were done we began the drive back to the interstate and noticed lots of little eyes watching our progress down the 2 lane, otherwise deserted road. and so I caught one of them as shown above. I suppose there are lots of mice and other little critters for these guys to eat, so they seemed to be in abundance.

Good day and helped me get my head on straight. So today I started my lessons and class and know what my assignment it. I have already had to post to the class board some questions, more then likely indicating my lack of knowledge in DSLR photography, but like I told Mike, I paid good money for this class and it was advertised as beginner to advanced, so damnit, he better accomodate beginners as well as the advanced.

umph.

White balance was off...I ordered a new polorizing and UV filter for each of my lenses, that might help with the washed out apperance...

My morning turned out spectacular.

I think these came out rather well, though I need to use a bit more of the white balance setting to difuse some of the bright sunlight that has this one and the other one so washed out. All in all though for someone who has had this camera just a bit over a week, I am pleased....

EEEK just 2 more days until class starts!!! I have already mapped out my first assignement. I have to do some candid colourful street scenes, not much of those around Yuma in the middle of summer so I have decided its off to San Diego we go. One of three places, either Horton plaza - very colourful and the geometric architecture there is amazing, Balboa Park, lots of activity usually there, or the boardwalk at Mission Beach. Now hopefully the weather will cooperate with me.

Disapating contrail taken at sunset...

I finally got my log in and "how to" for the class I begin next week. I am very anxious to start and also feel a bit out of my league. There is a list at the campus site of the people in the class with me, some are in the US, many are from around the world and nearly all have links to their online galleries.

Ugh, I have NO idea why some of these people are taking this course. The seemed to have mastered the art of colour in photography already and I will be sadly outclassed.

The instructor will be giving us assignments each week and we must submit them for critique and he will feature some of the good ones. I better get my learning head on as I am sure there will be LOTS of critique of mine ;(

I hate being a newbie, at anything, but with something so near and dear to my heart as colour, art, photography, well I have a feeling I am going to get my feelings trampled on a bit for the next four weeks.

Oh well we all have to start somewhere right? I just have to get in the mindset that all critique is good and useful and what I need to better myself.

So I am going to spend the weekend cleaning up my computer files ( have tons of pictures in them that are slowing the processor down) fidling with the camera a bit more, fidling with the tripod ( which Mike fixed for me yesterday - bless him) since I will need it for a couple of the assignements, and just generally getting into student mode.

Wish me luck ( I think I am gonna need lots)

OH! I had a great inspiration come to me last night while I was tossing and turning, have a great idea for a 3 shot sequence involving Ariceli as my model. I need to get the Adobe Photoshop software that I ordered before I can actually do it, but I think it will be amazing.....