Shooting People in the Right Light!

One of the most important things to remember when shooting pictures is making sure you are shooting people in the right light!!!! It is so easy to mess this up and get pictures that are too dark or washed out. Sometimes it is a matter of trial and error. You may want to shoot the same thing from different angles. These pictures that I took in Sante Fe (shown above) were shot carefully taking into account how very bright and sunny it was outside. Not all the pictures that I took during my visit turned out as nice as these.
As always I enjoy thoughts, ideas and comments.

Black & White Photography

I just love black & white photography. Something about them just grabs my attention more so than color photography. It gives the photograph extra appeal in my opinion.
Developing black & white photos is so much fun. Being able to bring the photo, especially your own, gives me such a feeling of accomplishment and pride. It's been years since I have been able to do any developing but I'm sure I would be able to fall right back into it, given the opportunity.
Both of these photographs were taken in Jackson, Mississippi while I was in school. They were both taken for my photography class. The top photograph was taken in the neighborhood around Belhaven College and the bottom photograph was taken from the path around Belhaven Lake right behind what used to be the athletic department and the soccer field.
As always, I appreciate any comments, thoughts or ideas!

Candid Portrait Photography

Sometimes candid shots can turn into the best pictures. Neither picture shown above was posed. My sister Sarah (black and white photo) was goofing off for the camera and I absolutely love this picture. Esther (color photo), on the other hand, had just wandered into the living room after going through my undie drawer! LOL

My First Gig - Baby's First Birthday

After a friend looked at my blog a couple of weeks ago, she called and gave me my first "gig." I was asked to take pictures at her daughter's first birthday. It was to help us both out - I got experience and she got to actually enjoy the party instead of worrying about taking pictures. :)
The party turned out real well and I think the pictures did too, so I thought I'd post a couple of them.
I took pictures of anything and everything while I was there. Friends, family, presents and of course the little birthday girl, who was more than happy to give me a pretty smile.
As always, enjoy and feel free to leave comments, ideas or thoughts.

Pet and/or Child Photography

It seems like I have always had cats and once I started taking pictures, I had to take pictures of them. Before I had my daughter, my cats were what I showed off. LOL I even used to keep pictures of them in my order book when I waited tables. It's not easy taking pictures of your pets though. They don't make the best models. You have to have extreme patience to work with kids and animals.
Top - My niece Keira Leigh - photo taken in our old backyard early in the morning.
Bottom - Chloe and her buddy - photo taken while visiting Doug and Judy in Sante Fe.

Fashion Photography - Taking Pictures of Models!!!

My daughter has learned something new at daycare this past summer - modeling. As evidenced from two of the pictures above. She loves to model for my camera. Of course it doesn't hurt that I've had my camera on her since her birth. LOL
I take pictures of Esther when she's cute, when she's pouting, when she's sleeping and yes, when she's "modeling." I have more pictures of this child than probably most do of their first-born maybe with the exception of my friend Shawn, whose is now doing photography for a living. I hate her. :) Her daughter Emmy probably comes in a close second to having as many pictures of her. Of course she is 8 1/2 so she's got a few years on Esther.
I think shooting models would be fun and interesting. Or even shooting people like the chick from Vanity Fair, Anne Lebovitch (sp?). I get the Hollywood Issue of Vanity Fair every year to so I can see the new pictures that she's taken of celebrities.
Maybe one day that will be me taking those type of pictures. A girl can dream! :)

Having Fun in Nature - Rain or Shine!

Back in 1996, my best friend's Uncle Larry took me hiking up in Illinois somewhere with his wife Debbie and daughter Galadriel. It was so much fun. It had rained earlier that morning so it was slightly overcast, but I thought the pictures turned out real nice. Nature photography is so much fun to shoot.

One of my favorite things to do is travel. I haven't been too terribly many places but where I have been, I have taken tons of pictures. I like to document everything. LOL
Many of the places I've been, there have been so many things to photograph. Both times I went to Sante Fe, I took about 8-10 rolls of pictures. I would love to go back there now with a digital. NYC I didn't take as many photos but I did get one really good shot of the Statute of Liberty (shown above). When you go with a 35mm, you have to think carefully and plan carefully what you shoot, otherwise you waste film. That's why digitals are so handy. You can take as many pictures as you like, and pick and choose later what's good and what you might want to toss. LOL

Some More Black & White Photography - Architecture

It's Monday again and it's been a week since I started this blog!!!!!! I thought I'd share some more of my black & white photography. I love taking pictures of buildings, (like trees, they make the best models LOL).
The top photo is one of the dorms that I stayed in - Helen White.
The middle photo is a building in downtown Jackson, Mississippi. The sun was peeking out over the top of the building and when I processed the photograph, it took longer than normal and the photograph had a grainy look to it.
The bottom photo is, I believe, the backside of the building where the pool used to be. I like how you can see in the window but also see the reflection as well.
As always, I appreciate all thoughts, comments and ideas!!!

It's Saturday

It's Saturday and I'm just sitting here playing on the computer. My husband is at work and Esther is spending the weekend with her sisters in Olive Branch. I should be cleaning my house but....... LOL
The ballgame last night was ok. Had more fun socializing with my friends from work than I did watching the game. Wasn't quite the same without Esther. :( Oh well.
Thought I'd share some more photographs from when I was in college. Went to Mexico during Spring Break my sophomore and junior year on a missions trip. Was so much fun and I took a TON of pictures.
The photograph of the water tower, I just thought was cool because somehow it got double-exposed.
The other two photographs were of some of the children in the village where we were building a new school house. The children were just wonderful and full of love.
It was a wonderful experience both times I went.

Ready for the Weekend

Hi everyone!!!! Not much to talk about, just getting ready for a long boring weekend. LOL
We are going to a Redbird's baseball game this evening with work so I'm sure I'll have pictures of it to share later on. :)
Today, I'll be sharing some photos of family. In addition to my daughter Esther, I also have two stepdaughters: Maggie who is 8 1/2 and Emma who is five. I have two younger sisters, Emily and Sarah and both of them have wonderful adorable children. Emily's daughter Kiera (almost 11) was my model for the longest time and Sarah's son Logan (almost 6) as well. I don't have as many pictures of Sarah's daughter Madeline (3 1/2) or Emily's daughter Trinity (just turned 7).
I hope everyone enjoys!
This photo of Kiera (far left) was taken when she was a little over 1 or so doing her what we always called her "airplane face." She made that face every time she heard a plane going overhead. LOL
The photo of Logan was taken when he was 8 or 9 months old while I was baby sitting him.
The photo of Emma at the Christmas tree was taken when she was a 1 1/2. I love this picture because of the way the lights on the Christmas tree turned out. I must have had the setting on the camera set wrong and this is what happened! LOL
The other picture of Emma was taken when she was 2 or 3.

One Day to the Weekend! WHOO HOO!

Thought I'd go ahead and just post a couple of pictures today that I scanned last night. Don't really have alot to talk about. Just getting ready for the weekend. Need to do alot of cleaning and organizing. :(

Here are a couple of pictures that I took back in 1998 on my first visit to Sante Fe, NM. I have a wonderful friend Judy Scheffler and her husband Doug that used to live there. They have moved back to Mayfield since then. Means I can see them more often but now I can't visit them in NM. LOL

I had a wonderful time in Sante Fe both times I visited. I must have taken about a bazillion pictures both times I went.
Have a very wonderful day and don't forget to post comments, ideas, thoughts!!!!

Same Day, Different Pictures :)

Man, I've been busy scanning more photographs in this evening. I want to show off them all but had to pick and choose. LOL
I'll go back to my photographs from my photography class another day. I thought this evening I would show off a few that I took when I was a photographer for The Mayfield Messenger. It is a small hometown newspaper - only runs Monday-Friday and when I left in 1997, we had just gotten a digital camera. :) Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE digital but there's something about developing your own b&w that can't be beat.
I didn't take any sports photos. I took mainly car wrecks, fires or on extremely boring days, I took 100th birthdays at the nursing home or student of the week at one of the many elementary schools in Graves County. LOL
The Mayfield Messenger was a great experience for me and I have many fond memories of the place.
Photo far left - I don't remember his name but he always had the coolest Halloween costumes. The year of this photo, he had dressed as a snake charmer with a real live snake!
Middle photo- Graves County High School (my alma mater) either 1996 or 1997 graduation.
Photo far right - One of the many "student of the month" photos I took. I particularly liked this one.
Hope everyone enjoys!!!!!

Another New Day!!!

Whoo hoo!!! My scanner is working and I was able to scan my photographs last night! These are pictures that I took when I was at Belhaven College in Jackson, MS. Most of these were taken on campus or in the neighborhood surrounding it. This was for my photography class that I took my senior year. I loved the class and absolutely loved learning how to develop and process both the film and the photographs themselves. B & W photographs are my absolute favorite thing. They bring a different look to what would otherwise be an ordinary photograph, in my opinion.
Both of these photographs were taken with my first 35mm camera given to me Christmas of '92. One of my favorite things to take pictures of is nature and trees make the best models. LOL
The one of the magnolia tree is a personal fave. I laid underneath it and shot up. I thought it turned out really well.
I hope everyone enjoys some of my early work! Let me know your thoughts, comments, ideas. :)

Gotta love those speed bumps in life!

I had all these plans to start scanning my old photos last night so I could post them. All these great ideas and I was going to spend most of the evening going through photos and picking out the best ones and asked my husband to hook my new laptop up to the scanner and install the scanner so I could get going! The best laid plans...... Apparently our scanner bit the dust! :( So we had to go to Best Buy and find another scanner. They don't make just scanners anymore. All they make is the all-in-1 scanner/fax/printer/copier/vacuum cleaner/cd player/microwave! Just kidding about the last three! LOL
So we had to decide which brand we wanted, what we REALLY NEEDED and go from there. We bought a nice one and then brought it home and had to set it up and get it installed in both of our laptops. Needless to say, I was frustrated and ended up going to bed early so no progress was made last night!!!!!
Oh well, I guess one night isn't that big of a deal! Get ready because tonight I will be rocking and rolling getting all my old photographs together and scanned in order to get them posted for everyone!!!!
Photo of the day: Esther in the vegetable garden!

New Day, New Thoughts!

Well, I've had time to sit and think about what to put on my blog. I thought once I get home tonight, I'd go through some photographs in that I took while using my 35mm camera. I've only had my digital for 4 years so most of the photographs I take now are of my daughter. :)
I'd like to post some of my older work but I have to scan them to my computer so I can post them. I can look at photos of Esther all day long but I'm sure not everyone would want to do that. LOL
Photos - RePete (left) and Gus (right)
Have a great day everyone!

First Time Blogger Starts A Blog Of Her Own!

My name is Heather (far left) and I thought I'd start a blog about photography. I have taken pictures it seems like my whole life. Got my first official "point and shoot" camera of my own when I was 14 and it went from there. Took pictures of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE!!! When I was in college, I worked on the yearbook and newspaper, as well as was the historian for the Student Government Association and Tri-B (the social club I belonged to). I didn't take a photography class until the second semester my senior year. I learned how to develop and print pictures of my own. That helped me get my first official job after graduation from college at my hometown newspaper The Mayfield Messenger. Now my photography consists of mainly taking pictures of my family and friends -especially my 4-year-old Esther (pictured above). I'm starting this blog to show off my photos and see where that takes me. I will try to update weekly with a new photograph or 2. Hope everyone enjoys!!!!