ANOTHER TIE... Congratulations to....

Jamie Cutler and Melanie Gay!!
If you read comments, I think people were very thoughtful and well put. Jamie's picture was creative and thought out. Melanie used her oppotunitunistic (if that's a word) eye to capture this little girl playing in the water with the shadow of electricity in it. That creates a powerful emotion. Great job girls!

Jamie's photo

Melanie's photo

Thought I'd throw in a cool link for all you girls that dream. It changes a lot during the day but all kinds of cool ideas can be found for weddings and engagements at 'Modern Photographer' Enjoy it!

Vote for One Photo of the Week.... and check out IDEAS!!

Go to:  comments/put the # of photo you like/publish/retype squiggly words/publish again

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What do you have.....

You can have the fancy camera, all kinds of drive and enthusiasm, but ultimately it comes down to

IDEAS!! You have to have ideas.  I say shoot what you LOVE.  Stop and think about it for a little

bit. What are you drawn to? What do you find your self shooting the most of? If you were asked to shoot one thing, did you end up shooting something else too?

I shocked myself the other day. I realized I have 30,000 pictures on one external hard drive and 50, 000 on another! That's just in 2 1/2 years.  It doesn't count the years and boxes of prints I have. I don't want to go there.  When looking through my photos my number one subject is.... you guest it .... no not JUST Phoebe, but my family. Phoebe just seems prominent now since she is the only one home and an easy target :)  Next would be a toss up between my pets and flowers. I love both. I am playing with more ways to capture my animals rather than the typical looking in your face shot. And flowers, well, I can't help myself. I love color, their delicacies, and how they can play with light.  Maybe I'm ahead of myself though. How can I forget SPORTS!! I love sports! If I go to a sports game and there is a pretty garden or some wildflowers on the way in, I stop and shoot. Or there might be some blooming trees at a softball game and I'll include them in a shot. There are ways to incorporate and ways to catalog. If you are going after one subject but come across another you love, don't let it stop you from snapping a picture. Remember your composing rules as you go along.

I listened to Art Wolfe give a 'Creative Eye' webinar on Tuesday.  He made the statement that he has taken pictures for over 30 years now and with the invention of the digital camera he is walking away with mostly 'keepers' when he takes photos. I can tell you of my 80,000 pictures probably 10% of mine are truly keepers, the rest are the tries getting there. I should toss them but part of me is sentimental, part of me isn't sure which to toss other than the definite blurry out of focus and ones I don't like. Today I did a pre-wedding shoot with little kids. For the first time the majority of my pictures came out to my liking. It all takes time, practice and desire.

Think about what you like to take pictures of.  If you have a passion for it, make it happen!

A Few of My Favorite Things....

Keep the passion and keep snappin' 

Mrs. Blakeley

Class Time

Thanks to our lighting volunteer.

Those who can, do.  Those who can do more, volunteer.  ~Author Unknown

Here the flash is directly in front and creates a very flat look.

Facial features are lost.

Put the flash below your person to get a 'Halloween' effect.

When the flash is to the side you get a bit of drama.

Please remember to bring your cameras. After all, this is a photography class!

Get your pictures in by Wednesday at 7pm.

Happy Snappy!

PHOTO of the WEEK goes to.....

Lexie Hacket and number SEVEN!!

Vote for One Photo of the Week....And lots to look and READ about...

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Remember to leave your comment by clicking on the word 'comment' way down at the bottom of the blog, state the ONE picture you would like to vote for, click publish, then remember to scroll down again and retype the squiggly words and click publish again. Thanks for taking the time to do so. If you are at the High School, check out the printed Photos of the Week in the Office.

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A great group of pictures to choose from. Look carefully, enlarge, and vote for your favorite remembering clarity and compostion.  Then come back here and read on....

Pictures from last week's class....

Thanks to Sierra and Lexie for joining us. In the first 2 portraits I had the girls stand with the sun to their backs. My camera facing the sun. A usual 'no no', but not really. Notice how it creates nice lighting on their hair, a halo type effect, adding accent to their faces that have NO shadows or harsh lighting. With Courtney, she is completely in the shade and we just used the plain blocks as a background. If I could do it over, I'd probably angle it differently so the corner wasn't behind her. The monotones make her hair and eyes pop. I really like that pic, Courtney. Do you?

First thing I noticed about this picture was the itty bitty twig in her eye. So I got out my 'thumb nail' sheers and 'plucked' it. Next I noticed the other two girls were much too out of focus. Here is my correction....

Horrors... the fire hydrant is UGLY... so I'll adjust my angle to cover it up....

Better. It took away the hydrant and white round thingy on the wall. Note to self: keep playing with the shot and experiment more with the aperture (depth of field) to see what it looks like with everybody IN focus!! 

What do you ladies think of the changes and composition? Please leave a comment.

Reflections are fun to play with whether it be in windows, mirrors, or off sunglasses or car hoods.

As you have noticed by now, I am not here today. U of A ROTC is having an awards ceremony in the football stadium with 4 star Generals and my daughter, Sarah is a recipient. We are down there to watch.

As she puts it, she's learning how to "protect our butts".  Thanks SarahGirl. :)

This is a site with every kind of Photography Lesson for the beginner, including a store. Look around.

Please leave a comment with ONE thing you picked up from the site.

Check out this blog. If you go to the date 2/26 'Such Fun Kids' you'll see Kinzie Roberts' nieces and nephew. This photographer does a great job. It's always inspiring to look at another's work.

Leave a comment and tell me what you think of her work.

I noticed a few of you did the black and white thing, with the one shot of color. Here's a photobucket site of color splash. Enjoy. Again, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

David Sanders is a friend and amazing photographer. I met him through Digital Photography Academy, I being his student. He has really taught me a ton, particularly when it comes to sports. Take a look at his site and the write up about him at the Academy. The academy would be a great place for you to take a class this summer. Offered on the weekends, they are small and reasonably priced.

If there were enough of you interested maybe we could arrange a class here in town. Let me know what you think. Comment time. :)

Have a great weekend snapping.

Look Who's Coming for Dinner?

send you photos to: blakeleyfarm@mac.com