The Funny Fairy

We all have them, that one person in your life... the joker, the funny guy, the girlfriend who says the most whack-a-noodle things... the person who brightens your day because of the things that seem to tumble so gracefully from their lips.

Woe is me, I am so not that girl. 

Now, don't get me wrong... I think I am HYSTERICAL! However, I also know that in order to "get" my humor you really have to understand, or sympathize with the crazy that resides in my head. That's not an easy task, I know! 

I wish sometimes that the funny fairy would come at night and wave her magic wand so that when I start laughing at myself for no apparent reason everyone else would just laugh with me for a change! Sometimes, I can't help make jokes that no one else gets... of course one of my favorite lines from Sons of Anarchy is also.... "Come on man, you know he's living a few streets south of sane." It might be because I resemble that remark!

I used to tell people I work with, "You just have to assume that I am saying everything with a smile on my face. Because chances are I'm joking - you just don't know it!" In the interest of "April fools" and my Tuesday Overshare... here's a few things that brought joy to my life week, reader beware.... I only wish I were funny! 

From possibly the funniest person I have found on twitter: (He makes my inner geek smile, and seriously I just ran into him as a new follower last night...)

Fantasy Author ‏@BrianRathbone  8h

I tried to broker a deal between Magneto and Iron Man but couldn't get them in the same room together

Fantasy Author ‏@BrianRathbone  9h

The worst part about killing characters is that they still hang around in your head and give you dirty looks.

Crazy Hair and big smiles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqnlZLNbeVU

The link btw, is a super funny video that is a montage of Mr. Luke Evans... and all the reasons why he is so loved. Seriously funny.

The super "bad mom" moment when I realized that my child has reached the most dangerous age of all... she has finally grown tall enough to hit her head on the bottom corners of kitchen cabinets doors when they are left open. If you have ever been to my house... this could be DEADLY... 

and then there is this gem....

I learned why you don't take the wine stopper out of the wine bottle with your teeth. When it "popped" the pressure in the bottle spouted out a poof of wine.. right up my nose. (To be fair, my other hand was busy reaching for a wine glass) 

There is a life lesson here... perhaps it is if you feel the need to pull the wine stopper out with your teeth... you might not need more wine. Sadly, I was completely sober at the time.

Even more sad... apparently I laugh hysterically and for no apparent reason often enough that no one in my house even asked what happened.   

We could hang.

I once went on an interview, to be a flight attendant. If you can imagine that! Me, who only three months prior jumped out of a plane to celebrate getting over my fear of flying! Sitting down with some airline personnel and telling them why I really wanted to make a career out of stepping onto a flying death trap every day... pretty amazing at that point in my life. Looking back not getting that job was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. However, I have to say the interview sticks out as one of two that I have had in my life that I remember in detail.

This particular one, oddly enough not because I had to convince the room of interviewers that I no longer needed to be drunk to get on a plane... without ever really coping to the fact that it was the only way I could fly for years. But rather for the unique questions that I was asked. One in particular, is a rather interesting cocktail question... but it does open the door for a bit of insight into the persons soul.

If you took a flight and were going to be sitting next to one person for 14 hours, who would you take with you... living or dead?

It's like my secret fantasy coffee date, where I get to hang out with super interesting people and learn lots of fascinating things.

So welcome to "over share" day, where you get a sneak peek into the crazy that is me! 

The answer I gave to the interview question was Henry Rollins. Yea. That's right, singer for Black Flag and Rollins Band, neck bulging, bit actor, tattooed, and aging alternative icon... (his words... not mine) But also, a FANTASTIC story teller! When he is not on tour singing, at other acting gigs, or hanging out in LA... he is roaming the country doing spoken word tours. Which at first... I thought... eh, not my gig. However, a friend hooked me up with one of the first tour disks he put out, and I have been a HUGE fan ever sense.

(I would love to know who took this shot! I wish it were me! Sadly I am not Hanks Photographer.) 

I'm telling you now if you want a bit of humor in your life today you have GOT to listen to "Erik the Pilot" 

I did have to qualify my answer, explaining that he is kind of a modern day renaissance man, he wears a lot of different professional hats, as well as being a great story teller, he is well traveled going to some really interesting places, and he really tries to expand his mind by learning and experiencing new things. I dig that. Some of my favorite stories from him are from his days traveling to Russia and Germany "back in the day" when they warned you against stopping on the side of the road because of the land mines. When I do road trips it's his particularly entertaining screaming and yelling humor that keeps me awake... so obviously he's the man for the plane trip too!  (I will even bring the microphone, Mr. Hank.)

So, you ask.. who else is on my coffee date, or sitting in that plane with me? Who else is invited to that crazy party in my head? Here's my short list.

Anthony Bourdain. - You know there would be great food, interesting topics and a lot of drinking going down. Anthony is another one of those well traveled free spirits who has an interesting take on the world, and how to put together a thoughtful, and thought provoking sentence or two.

Rachel Ray - Not that her and Anthony would sit down together, but Rachel seriously taught me how to cook. I love her, she's in my head every day at dinner time. My family and friends thanks her... A LOT. They would thank her more if she could teach me how not to walk away from my stove, or how to use a kitchen timer... or a measuring cup. But Rachel and I get it... measuring with a coffee cup is FINNNE! Seriously, we could be sisters... I get her cheeky humor and the whole talking with your hands thing.

Angelina and Brad- Either as a boxed set, or as individuals... both are so much more than who they are playing in the next big movie. I want to hear about the places they have been and how they manage their crazy lives between an insane business and loving kids, and doing some great charity work. I want to talk photography with Brad. Seriously... google it. He's no slouch photographer.

Robert Downy Jr - um. Because he is Tony Stark, do I need another reason? OK, he just seems like someone who would be fun to hang out with... I mean really look at that smile! Plus did you know he sings? Check him out with Sting here! WHO KNEW! He looks like he is having so much fun! Love him! I might also have a small thing for dark haired men with good smiles and crazy hair. Funny how I never noticed that before. 

Michelle Rodriguez - Because I am on a mission to have TOP GUN remade in Hollywood with her as Maverick. Seriously! She could pull off that brazen, cocky, hot as heck role, and she's even got the right shades for it already. If Starbuck can be played by Katee Sackhoff I think Michele could MORE than pull off Maverick. Who else would look as hot as Tom playing Volleyball with boys and then racing down the road on a sport bike?  I think she and I would have a S-load of fun and find either a lot of trouble... or something really fast to ride. She feeds my 'living vicariously through others' need.

And come on aren't they just the cutest in this image - they both look like they are blushing! 

Michele and Luke during an interview in the UK for FF6

Luke Evans. - Yea did you see that one coming? I'm not sure what kind of coffee we would have... but I would promise not to be one of the millions of crazy drooling fans who are offing to lick syrup off his chest.
 Honestly, he just looks like a good guy with an interesting story. I'd like to hear it. I've also heard he sings... so Robert might have some competition. There is the smallest clip of it in the linked interview and it only makes me want to find more.

Do you have a secret list? I'd love to hear who is on yours?

Something Green!

Happy St. Patrick's day!

While your enjoying your green beer, or Irish cream coffee... I thought you would also love to see some art that paid a visit to my studio last fall. This half sleeve was done by an artist in Denver for a close friend of mine. Gotta say, the details are amazing! It makes it pretty tempting to visit the artists studio myself on my next visit to Denver!

©VertePhotography

©VertePhotography

I earned that wrinkle.

 As a society we talk about beauty and what is attractive so often, when it comes to trying this fashion or that diet. During the past few weeks with the Oscars, fashion week and other current news items popping up I have found myself talking a lot about these things with my daughter.

When my daughter and I were discussing her 100 day school project... (They were asked to write about what they would look like, and things that would be different in their lives when they are 100 years old) I found myself with an opportunity to reconsider a conventional way of thinking that society seems perfectly content with promoting.

I admit I was a little shocked, and upset when reviewing the different class projects where many of them (not just my daughter) said that they would be ugly and wrinkled.

Really?

Do wrinkles make you ugly? 

I really had to think about this, and my photographer mind set in. I freaked out a little bit to be honest when I realized that I I almost always end up retouching out the crows feet, or some other wrinkles for clients. In fact, when I had my own images taken by another photographer this past year... I retouched my own!

It was vanity at its finest, I know! 

I reevaluated my personal thoughts on the matter as I asked my daughter why she thought wrinkles were ugly, and she said "Because they make you look old." So is old not pretty, can it not be beautiful... even attractive? There it was staring me in the face, the thing that makes us all pull up our cheeks and eyes in the mirror every morning and wish for younger days. It is the reason I have spent countless hours on the computer retouching images to "take off a few years".

I have to say... I wasn't happy about the way that made me feel, as a woman, or as a parent. I suddenly realized that grey hairs are not the only thing we "earn" in this life.

I EARNED MY WRINKLES

It came at a price. It came with sunny days at the pool with friends, ER visits, divorces, working too hard, playing too hard, heart-ache, passion-blindness, projectile vomit at 2am, over coming my fears, and all the other ups and downs that come with LIVING. I am happy to join the ranks of women who are old enough to have them. I know that my experiences have brought more than wisdom, joy, or disappointment. They have brought me to this perfect moment in my life.

The moment that I can teach my daughter that there is more to beauty than what you see. Where I can explain, each wrinkle tells a story and a lesson. You earn them in your life, and you should be proud that your living long enough to gain them.

So today, I am sharing my wrinkles with you. I earned them, and I am proud to say that I am going to embrace them from this day forward so that I can be a better role model for my daughter.

Image from http://www.kristahaffnerphoto.com/

Putting it in Perspective

How do you look at the world?

Is it bigger than life, a stepping stone across the lake, a bright brilliant smile?

Perspective, is your view, your take on life. It is also a great camera technique. Where you lead the viewer of the image on a journey. 

One of the easiest way's to create perspective, is by adding something to your image that people can relate to. In the case of the above image, this is the father's hands. It tells the story in this single image of 4 1/2 lb premmie angel named Hope. 

Delicate, loved and protected. 

This week I will be talking about several different ways to utilize perspective in your photography! I would love to see your images, so...

Today, I challenge you to find something around your house, and use perspective to tell the story.. 

Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera. – Yousuf Karsh

Seeing the Light

The quality of your light, sets the mood for your images.

By knowing the type of light you are shooting in, you can change the mood and look of your images! Above you will note the warm, orange and yellow tones that really pop in this dry field of grass. That is because we took the shot about an hour before sunset when the light is the "warmest". Do you remember our Kelvin guide? Here it is again, this shows the temperature rating of the different types of light. This also dictates what color of light is captured by your camera, even though you might not be able to see it in your eye!

As a good contrast, The background here is grey, it's cement on a staircase. However, it shifts to blue because we were shooting in the shade. Personally I love it, and didn't change my WB (white balance) because I like that the background makes her eyes pop more.

By being aware of when and what type of light you have available you can create some really amazing and striking images! It's all about working with your environment, rather than hiding from it!

Bokeh, a light effect

What is Bokeh?

Bokeh, is the unique look to photos that you achieve by spinning reflective lights out of focus in the background of your images. You can see this effect in the small dots of light that appear white and blue in the above image.  <extra examples, Wikipedia>

This is a fun effect to use, with Christmas lights, or any nighttime photography, but you can also use it during portraiture or any other time you can have an large aperture. (Reminder: A large Aperture means a low number which equals a LOT of light coming into your exposure.)

There are three basic steps to achieve this effect.

1. Set your camera to keep the aperture wide open (the lower the number you can reach the more you will see the effect, however you need to balance that with your overall exposure so it takes some practice not to overexpose your subject, especially if your shooting during the day.) 
2. Get as close as you can to your subject
3. Keep the background with the lights as far away as you can. 

HAWKQUEST: I have had the extreme pleasure of working with HawkQuest in Colorado on several occasions. It is a non-profit that has a strong goal of making education about birds of prey both fun and meaningful. To learn more about HawkQuest, how you can help or even where they will be so you can come in close contact with these amazing animals check out their website. http://www.hawkquest.org/

Light and Focus!

Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography. – George Eastman

Light is the soul of photography, if you can find it, recognize it and manipulate it to your needs you will have success. It doesn't matter what 'kind' of photographer you are, you have to embrace the soul of photography... LIGHT. 

In these images the light was completely different. The butterfly was captured with light that was natural and not manipulated in any way. The way it reflects off the wet leaf and glistens adding highlights to the image was brought to the forefront of the image by using a large aperture setting. That allowed a lot of light into the shadows and it allowed the camera to capture the correct exposure for the subject of the butterfly. 

While in this image, the light was completely controlled being studio strobes and reflectors. Light was strategically placed to reflect off of some of the gem cuts and bring out the highlight of the silver flowers. What I am drawn to in this image is that the back of the bracelet is blurred so your focus is on all the beautiful details in the front. This effect can only be accomplished by using the same technique as with the butterfly. 

Understanding Aperture control. Your aperture is the control on your lens that is opened or closed depending on the setting. The Larger the aperture, the smaller the aperture number, the MORE light that is let in. It's a bit of a contradiction to most people. But once you remember smaller number = more light is reaching your exposure the easier it will be for you to recreate images like those above. By adding more light to your image through aperture you can capture images in darker settings, or create a smaller depth of field and focus on a specific part of your image and let everything else blur out. 

Lucky Cat

Lucky Cat is a Krmbal t-shirt design that I was fortunate enough to have in the studio last week. I specifically shot these two examples because I wanted you to be able to see just how hard it is to get the "right" shot with red. This is doubly tough because it had gold imprinting. Make no mistake the quality on the shirt is AMAZING! I was super impressed!

Having the correct exposure on any image is important. Understanding what exposure is, and how to manipulate your camera settings and environment (ie, light) around you will take you from having some snapshots to have some amazing images. You can see on the image above that the difference in how my lights were set - adds shadows, and highlights that are distracting in this image. It also makes the gold go slightly red... which really detracts from the beauty of this shirt. You can't really see the detail and brightness of the reflective gold.

When you shoot red, be sure to work with your light and aperture to acquire the right balance for your subject. Regardless if it is for product or people, if your shooting red you need to be EXTRA mindful of your exposure and lighting in order to get the image that you will LOVE!

I would be remiss in my duties as an Indie shop lover and supporter if I also didn't share with you some highlights about Krmbal - Owner and Designer Tessa is a self appointed "apparel nerd" which cracks me up and speaks to my inner geek. I copied just a bit from her website because she does such a fab job of telling you EXACTLY why I love this shop!

I wanted to take back my t-shirt! I wanted another option, a BETTER option. So I did it. I struck out, with the support of a lot of people and krmbal was born. I hope you’ll join me in standing up for being as eco-conscious as possible, giving back to our communities, both on a local and global level and be as proud to wear krmbal as I am to make it. 

To shop Krmbal follow any of the links above, or click here for a direct link to her shop! 

Seeing Red

What's the cutest little button you ever saw?

I was super excited to share these little guys with you all today! As most of you know I am part of a great group called The Indie A-list. It's a fantastic place not only to network with other business owners but to find great shops to support like Little House of Craft! 

 Little House of Craft creates handmade pinback buttons, magnets and perlers to share their love of geekery with you! I have to say, they really are my kind of geeks. 

Not only will the "Bazinga" pin totally ROCK for a little extra something for my bug who has the BIGGEST crush on Sheldon - but we found this for me!

Because I have said for years, it's just not me without a little bit of love.

Btw, I say it over and over - Red is TOUGH to shoot! If your going to opt for red in your portraits- think about it in small pops - like these fun little guys! 

What's Red with you?

Today, I am sharing our RED Planet photo! Just a fun image from our explorations of Space Center Houston this past weekend.

The Space Center is located fairly close to Galveston and I would certainly recommended it to anyone who is a history / Space buff who has 6-8 hours to kill.

The Space Center itself, isn't much to speak of. There is a small kids area, which has more Ipods than working hands learning activities. Although I admit the docking your ship activities and driving a mars rover was fun. The highlight and what you are really paying for is the opportunity to take a tram to the Johnson space center for the tours there.

It took us 2 and 1/2 hours to do 1 of the two tours due to how they worked the lines. Two trams were filled before we got to board ours, even though we were only the second group to the front of the line. Not sure how that worked, but they took people directly out of the warm building before loading the people who were waiting out in the 50 degree weather. Needless to say we skipped the other tour because we only had 2 hours left before they closed and we didn't think we would see much of note for our troubles.

The tour itself was interesting and we got to see the life size mock up of the International Space Station where the astronauts train,  and some of the equipment they are working with including some cool robots and vehicles.

This is an image of the "spider" which is just something I think should be in a Si-Fi movie. It was a little disappointing that they didn't have any way of getting close to much of it. Everything we saw was from a catwalk covered in class and about three stories high. I was pretty lucky to have a 1.8 lens with me and could manage some images without a flash. There were several on our tour that didn't get a single good image because the items were too far away, and the glass reflected the flash that there cameras  "auto" fired because of the lack of light. Situations like this really teach you to be aware of your cameras other functions and how to work the situation to your advantage!

VERTETIP: Learn your Flash commands! Just because your camera thinks you need flash doesn't mean you should use it! It's never the best option for museum images or other situations where you are shooting through glass!

What's in the Studio, Friday?

Some days I find a fantastic new friend in the studio... some day's its an old one. Here is a behind the scenes peek at both that I had visiting this week!

 This is Ano (on-yo), our cat. She took on the job of photo assistant by claiming a spot under my worktable in the studio while I was working this week. In case your wondering... this is her "If you would stop dancing, I could get some sleep." cat face. This photo is fantastic proof that a 1.8 lens is your friend when all the lights in the room are off except one small model light, and your subject is under the table not on it.

This is Genie. She became a new studio employee this week helping out CONSIDERABLY acting as our resident model. My child didn't think it was "proper" to leave her naked when she was done working, so she found something out of the dress up bin for her. If the sparkles don't do you in the chimes will.

Don't forget next week were starting the Feb Photo challenge and the first week will be all about "Inspire" I can't wait!!!

What's in the studio?

Today I am super excited to be working on a project for fellow Indie A-list member 

Krmbal

Not only do I LOVE the designs from owner Tessa - but I have purchased from her for birthdays several times over the past year and each time she has been SUPER wonderful to work with! 

It doesn't hurt my raving opoinin of her at all that she's an owner after my own heart! Krmbal is an indie clothing brand dedicated to eco-friendly and eco-conscious choices! Plus she partners with other small businesses in the indie and local community to help boost our economy and make a real difference. Oh, and one more thing! She also donate a portion of all sales to Kiva borrowers to help others build their small businesses and achieve a greater impact! 

Talk about doing it right!

Here are a few sneak peaks from me test shots this morning...

I can't wait to share her "real" images from today!

The Shutter Priority

Did you know that changing your shutter speed can change the feeling on your images!

This handsome young man is constantly on the go! What better way to capture that spirit and the energy he has than to slow my shutter slightly and capture some motion blur as he waves his hands at me?  If you don't do anything too drastic you won't have a super blurry mess! The secret to this is CONTROL! A little change makes a big difference!

Verte Tip: Shooting a sporting event? Set your camera to the "sports mode" It sets your camera to a fast shutter which FREEZES action! (Or use the S priority (shutter speed) and do it manually!)

Join me!

I've heard your comments! So YES! Here it is, this is the list of the words I will be continuing with in Feb for my monthly photo challenge! If you want to join along I would love to see what they inspire from you!

Now, I am a realist! So, I choose to do my PAD challenge a bit different! You get ONE word for the week... and the challenge for me comes from how to represent that word in 5 different ways. (For me a week is M-F... but feel free to include weekends in your personal challenge!

I also include not only the image, but the thoughts on that image, along with a photography tip... or  'how-to' information with each of my images! So you get to learn a little bit along the way!

Scintilate

scin·til·late

[sin-tl-eyt] Show IPA

verb (used without object), scin·til·lat·ed, scin·til·lat·ing.

1.

to emit sparks.

2.

to sparkle; flash: a mind that scintillates with brilliance.

3.

to twinkle, as the stars. 

Today is Dictionary day!!! In our school they celebrate by dressing up as words for the day!  

I wish I could take credit for the fantastic word... however I owe the idea to the fab Kristina from 

http://www.joyfullysmitten.com/

I thought that it was the perfect note to end our week on! 

Keep on shining!

Warmth

Today I thought I would bring you a little sunshine! During the winter months we often forget how bright, and fast summer comes! This was a quick something I snapped in between clients in CO last summer.

Sometimes it pays to stop, and smell the flowers around you.

VERTE TIP: Open your mind! Just because you are out shooting portraits, or animals at the zoo.... doesn't mean there isn't another opportunity if you simply look for it! 

The Reflection Advantage

For this weeks last "retrospect" image I am going to take a look at one more way you can use reflection in your images. Anytime you have water, you have opportunity! This doesn't just apply to lakes, pools or other calm bodies of water although those are the most common. You can also take advantage of reflection off of water droplets, bubbles and wet sand, like I did below!

©Verte Photo Image available for purchase in my shop

This image was taken at sunset in CA on the beach. While most people think that is where the orange tones come from (the orange warm glow of the sunset light) that was not the whole of it! In truth there was a brick colored home much further back on the beach, but at the right angle, and with a smaller aperture I managed to blur the reflection of the house keeping the color but not the detail.


Happy Shooting!

Product reflection

It's a two-fer day!! Here are two examples of how to achieve a reflection in your product photography. 

©Verte Photo / Product supplied by Melli's Trinkets /Melli's YarnWorks

The grey is a reflective background, it is a super gloss finish and when combined with proper lighting it captures a reflection of the product on it. For the home photographer you can achieve this on a white background by picking up a poster board at your local craft store that is a reusable dry erase board. It will be white - but that tends to be better for the home photographer to use due to lighting anyways :)

©Verte Photo / Product provided by Streeter Ltd now Studio1241

This image shows you an alternate way to achieve a reflective surface on any color of background. By using a sheet of plexiglass. You don't see the line on the background where the paper underneath the plexiglass rolls up to create the seamless look because of the aperture setting (shallow depth of field) This was shot at a F3.5 keeping my product sharp, and creating blur everywhere else. Since it is a solid surface you don't see the actual blur so it is not distracting to the image. It simply hides the plexiglass (scratches on it, and the line behind the product from where it stops and the paper continues)

Family

One hundred years.

That's a long time.

It's even longer when you look at it in one image. This image was over 5 years ago, but I can't help reflect back on the moment while we explore our topic this week. This was taken on the weekend of by grandpa's 100th birthday, just months after my daughters birth. We are extremely lucky that my child has gotten to know her Great Grandpa, who is still living on his own, alone and every bit as feisty (and maybe more so) then we remember. When you reflect back on those things that are important to you this week, I hope that you have a few simple memories like this.

VERTETIP: Looking at the camera isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes the true expressions in the moment are much... MUCH more important. Capture the moment, not the perfect shot.