Family time with Christy and Kaitlyn

My cousin Kaitlyn really wanted to shoot with Christiana and me after seeing our Guess pictures (see previous blog post) so we scheduled a shoot for the following week and went to a park near our aunt Lynn's house.  It was fun, Kaitlyn is a dancer so she has natural ability, we just had to give her some instruction on how to use it.

This one is a dance move, modified for modeling.  Gorgeous!!

Pittsburgh pinups!

Ok, pointe is awesome.  Seriously.  I want all my models to be ballerinas and do amazing poses like this.

Guess?

So yesterday I photographed my sister and my cousin, but we're going to skip back a week to when I photographed just my sister, Christiana.  There's a Guess model search going on and she wanted to enter, but needed updated photos.  Being a good big sister, I went to North Park with her and took like a bazillion pictures.  Here are some of the best ones.  We do good work.

Self Portraiture - Twins

A few nights ago I went to a meeting with Sinister Dream Productions (just wait and see what we're gonna do!) and got all inspired to do creative stuff, which I haven't done in awhile.  It's mostly just been work, paying jobs, which is great, but I need to play sometimes.  I got home from work pretty early on Friday (and went to the flea market between work and home, yay!!) and felt like doing something interesting.  Last week I shaved my head, so I look a bit boyish, and thought it would be fun to see what I look like as twins.  So I set up a light and tripod, did a couple outfit changes, and with some PhotoShop doubled myself!

It was a pretty fun little project, and I might expand it, find some other people who want to challenge a gender norm and photograph them as both male and female.

A Model Adventure with Miss Moffitt

Earlier this week, I photographed Amanda, a college friend of mine.  We saw each other at a concert/freak show a couple weeks back and she contacted me asking to do a photoshoot when she got her dreads put in.  It had been a few years since I last photographed her and it was a great time, so I was all for another shoot (especially since she always has the best outfits).  We weren't really sure where to go, but ended up at the Allegheny Cemetery, which is a gorgeous place if you've never been there.  I have a few times and had no idea there was a pond.  We saw ducks, which was.....well it was interesting to say the least.  And slightly disturbing.  But we got good pictures!

Ok, so this first one, I was trying to use my gold reflector, well, I did use my gold reflector, but because I didn't have an assistant and it was a bit windy, that didn't work for long.  So this is the one picture we got using the reflector.  Next time, I bring someone to hold it for me.  Or remember a clip to attach it to a lightstand.

This creepy one is actually shot through the gate in the previous image.  The stained glass is on the opposite side of the tomb and I had Amanda go stand there and be a creepy ghostly shadow.  I rather enjoy the result and want to do more of this sort of thing.

Love love love these closeups.

 Oh, the white!  The shapes!  Her curves in conjunction with the straight lines of the tomb make this possibly my favorite image from this shoot.

 

This is by the pond.  Our reflection ideas didn't work out as the pond was dirty and the water was moving, but the area around it was fantastic.

 After the cemetery, we drove around for a little bit seeing if there was anywhere else we wanted to shoot.  We came across a bright graffiti wall which contrasted awesomely with Amanda's outfit and had fun with her shaking her dreads and such.

It's been crazy lately

Well!  My life has been super hectic lately and, while I usually enjoy being busy, this has been a wonderful mix of the good and the bad.  As I mentioned briefly in my last post, I went to ImagingUSA at the end of January - my 5th year!  This was my second time as a PPA member and bringing Damien with me to go to business classes meant I could attend lighting and posing seminars (aka the fun stuff).  I didn't really like Atlanta, especially considering how great and photogenic New Orleans and San Antonio were, but it was also cold while we were there.  If I'm going south, it should be warm!  One thing Atlanta does have though is FANTASTIC barbeque.  Seriously, I ate it non-stop, and there was a really neat little hole-in-the-wall near our hotel that had some of the most delicious pulled pork I've ever eaten.  At the Expo this year, I finally bought a floor!  This way I can lay it down on top of carpets or ugly tile and have beautiful baby pictures on a gorgeous wood background!  I tested it with my camera-friendly pets when I got home.

After getting home (and figuring out our car situation because mine broke) I was able to start shooting again!  First on the list was my friends Rev and Rose, a super cute couple I know.  He's a piercer and we have a great barter system.  It's always a good time photographing them because Rev knows the shots he wants and so is the art director, and once we get those, Rose and I are like "yay, let's play!"

I also stopped by The 3rd Annual Pittsburgh Rock Music Awards - turns out Liz Berlin of Rusted Root owns Mr. Smalls (I had no idea!) so I got to take some pictures of her playing in between awards.  Craig from The Pittsburgh Scene gave out the Best Alternative Awards and my friends Children of October got Best Punk Album which was really exciting!

After that, I had a (almost) 3 month/Valentine's shoot with a beautiful baby girl named Audrey.  She is ridiculously adorable and her mom Bonnie is so sweet and excited about her daughter.  We had a slight meltdown, but it happens and you just have to know how to handle it.  This is why I always schedule in some extra time for baby shoots - the kid is totally in charge!  I had recently knitted a couple baby hats, which Audrey modeled and looked super cute in.

Right about the same time, I hit 1,000 fans on Facebook!!  Sooooo excited about this, it makes me feel really loved and hopeful for the future of my business.  I had a giveaway of a free session, which was won by a guitarist I know.  I went to his house and photographed him for his website (he's a guitar instructor - go to http://www.patrickmaloneyguitar.com) as well as took some pictures of his new daughter Cambria.  She's about 2 months old and so sweet!  It's nice seeing my friends happy and being good, loving parents.

Mid-February, my friend Sherry, who lives in New Jersey, came to visit for almost a week!  I rarely see her for more than 2 or 3 days at a time so was really excited to get to actually spend a significant amount of time with her.  Neither of us realized when she booked her train that she got here on Valentine's Day, whoops.  Oh well, our boyfriends were probably glad they didn't have to buy us dinners.  Poor Sherry had to deal with me practicing makeup skills and taking her picture while she visited, but we also did things that were fun for us both, like go to a concert and the Aviary!  I've been wanting to go since I was about 16 so it was awesome.  Also, they have a sloth.   Seemed like a weird creature to have in an aviary but it was exciting to see, even though it was rather camera-shy.  The eagle with one wing was a bit heartbreaking, but absolutely beautiful.

Last week I got unexpectedly stranded at Damien's for a few days when his car (which I've been using until mine gets its new engine) needed repairs and it ended up taking a lot longer than anyone thought it would.  I vaguely suspect our mechanic hates us....we cause so much trouble for the poor guy.  Luckily, I was able to borrow Damien's grandmother's car to get to work Friday and my shoot on Saturday.  It was a milestone shoot - Zahara just turned a year old!  Her parents, godparents and I wandered around Phipp's Conservatory with her and had a great time.  Cute baby, pretty flowers, it was a good day.

January Vacation! Cruise to the Bahamas

In January, I was lucky enough to not be in Pennsylvania half the month.  My boyfriend Damien and his family went on a cruise and took me along and then a week after we got home from that, he and I went to ImagingUSA.  But that's another story.  This one's about the cruise.

Cruises are boring.  I'm sorry, but it's true and I'm saying it.  They are.  I don't drink or gamble, at least not much, and I quickly realized that was pretty much all there was to do on a cruise ship.  So I knit socks.

Perhaps I'm a bit crazy, but yeah.  I spent a large portion of the cruiseship part of the cruise knitting socks and reading Game of Thrones.  It was fantastic.  Of course, I took pictures as well.  Not too many on the ship itself, though I managed to talk Damien in to a few cute pictures of the two of us.

Awwww, we're cute ^_^

This is one of the halls in the ship that I quite enjoyed.

In Florida.  We went to some shops and walked on the beach.  I'm most excited about the birds!

Sunrises.  I got up early almost every morning to try to take sunrise photos and none of them quite matched my expectations.  Shoulda slept in....

 Our first stop in the Bahamas, Nassau.  See that pinkish building, waaaaay in the distance there?  Yeah, we walked there.  After already walking up a hill and staircase to a fort.  It was ridiculous.  So much walking.  But it was fun!

Our last stop was Freeport, where Damien and I took a taxi to the beach and spent a few hours walking around picking up seashells.  We found some beautiful ones, and a crab!  I couldn't take him home though, sadly.  The beach was my favorite part of our trip, which is odd because I usually don't enjoy beaches.  In conclusion, while the cruising part wasn't all the exciting, I got to take some time off of work to read and knit, and I like exploring new places.  So it was a nice vacation.  We're going a couple other places this year, so expect more vacation blog posts once it gets to summer!