iheartfaces week 4, Texture :: Harker Heights Photographer

My challenge this week from iheartfaces is Texture. I am fairly new to the idea of texture overlays and I am still trying to feel my way, figuring out which pictures look better with added texture and which simply look overprocessed. I fully expect to learn quite a bit this week as I see how others went about the challenge for themselves!

But really, when you have a couple this lovely, can you go wrong?

Shana Rae, founder of the Flora Bella Collection, is the guest judge this week. Trust me, she knows a thing or two about texture overlays! Come on over and submit your entry by clicking the logo below:

Mixed up

Anyone who spent their teen years in the 90s knows the significance of the mixed tape. It was where you poured out your angst, where you subtly tried to let that boy you liked know it, where you tried to show how cool you were by the originality of your music. My Nineties Decade was captured on tape in a shoebox. I could look at every cover and instantly tell you the name of the mix, even to this day. Wiper J Smith 363-3 mix. Kick out the gloom mix. A little bit of everything mix. Boredom mix. Villanova mix...

My first mixed tape probably dates from 1991. My last tape was made in 1998. I finally ended my youth today, 11 years after that last tape was dubbed, when I pitched the whole lot. Good bye obscure songs from the Psychedelic Furs. Good bye to the songs that spoke for me when I thought I didn't have the words myself. Good bye youth.

Horsin' Around :: Harker Heights Children's Photographer

These three children were excited, spirit and full of energy. Fortunately, we met on a small horse farm where they had plenty of room to stretch their legs, as I chased them from here to there with my camera. We took pictures, they played, I bribed them with lollipops and in the end, we wound up with some truly beautiful moments.

iheartfaces week 3, Family :: Killeen Family Photographer

In my mind, there was only one picture I could even CONSIDER for this week's iheartfaces We are Family competition. I am sure every photographer has had one of these...I would liken it to that elusive hole in one for a seasoned golfer...that picture that just sings, that is perfect to you in every way imaginable. For me, this is that image.

Don't miss out on the excitement! Head on over by clicking the button below and enter your own family fun...you only have until Tuesday, so don't delay!

Feelin' Artsy :: Harker Heights Photographer

As I explained in my PREVIOUS POST, I watched some of Ovation TV's "Picture This" reality series and was struck with the desire to try some different photography. Something with which I was unfamiliar, something that might result in failure or might result in greatness. I am not sure I achieved greatness, per se, but I felt the rush of intellectual and artistic exercise. The image posted here is my favorite of the afternoon. (I chose a different one for the iheartfaces weekly challenge of our Best Face, as I didn't feel this image showed enough of a face.)

Now for the behind the scenes of how this picture was achieved:

I placed my camera on the ground in the grass, pointed upwards. I used the self timer at 10 seconds and found that if I could see my reflection in the lens, I would be in the frame. I leaned over the camera, right in the corner of the fence, with an arm on each side of the fence and my head resting on my hands.

The camera settings were a bit tricky and took some trial and error. First of all, I had to guess at the focal length, as the camera was laying in the grass and I was leaned over it. I know how tall I am but some of my height was lost with the leaning. I approximated a little over 5 feet and set my 50mm lens on manual focus. Then, to compensate for imprecise focal length, I used a longer depth of field, hoping my face would be in focus. The exposure took several frames to get right. I wanted my face to be visible, not completely in shadows, so I knew the sky would be extremely overexposed. I was okay with that trade off. Ultimately, the camera settings were:

ISO: 640

Shutter Speed: 1/30

Aperture: 7.1

Picture Style: Monochrome (4, 2, R, N for those with a Canon)

(The settings were identical for my other picture.)

iheartfaces Week 2 :: Best Face

Happy Birthday to iheartfaces, the best photography website/contest/tutorial/forum/meeting of the minds/happy place on the internet for photographers! One year down, many more to go!

This week's challenge is to put our best face forward. A face we captured sometime in the last two months, to really show where we are right now in our photography. Well, this challenge coincided with my viewing of "Picture This" on Ovation TV, a British reality show of six photographers competing against one another and having their work critiqued by industry leaders. My creative juices started flowing and I just itched to create something artsy, something new, something just for myself. Something that not everyone would necessarily think was great. I wanted to rekindle the early love I had for experimenting with my photography.

With that notion in mind, I set my camera to monochrome and tried to make something new. I like it. I like the overexposed area. I like the way the face fades into the background. Most of all, I like doing this for me.

(Taken Sunday, January 10, 2010)

*gulp* Soccer mom?!

I do not have a minivan. I don't. And I have not attended a PTA meeting. But I guess I am a soccer mom now. My stepson, who had never played soccer until this school year, was selected as goalie for the Junior Varsity "A" Team. His first game was this Saturday and I was there, camera in hand, sure to embarrass him as best I could. (Secretly, though, I know he was glad we were there.) His team overwhelmed the opponents and kept most of the action down at the other end...makes for a boring day for a goalie, but it is certainly better than being scored on.

I guess I need to get better at my new role: I didn't even think to bring a folding chair like all the other moms!

Invaluable :: The Value of Photographs

The unthinkable happened. I received an email from a client last night and read that her eldest daughter died in a car accident two months ago. She wrote to ask if I might, by chance, oh-please-say-yes, have some more pictures in my files of her beautiful girl.

The only reason I had pictures of this young woman was because of her sister. I was asked to do a High School Senior session for her younger sister, and being a sister myself, thought they would enjoy a nice portrait of themselves together. It wasn't her birthday. She wasn't graduating. She wasn't engaged or getting married. It was just a random day and I took her picture. And now those pictures are invaluable to the family.

Do not wait for the "perfect" time to get family portraits. Do not wait for the skinned knees to heal or the teeth to come in. Don't think this will last forever. The pictures don't have to be taken by a professional, they simply need to be taken. Preserve each day. Chronicle the quiet times, the funny times and the everyday times. For should the unthinkable happen, every picture will be of a special time.

Look Who's Two...Months

Two months? Have two months really passed since this precious baby was given to me?

Putting my imaginary psychic skills to work, let me preemptively answer your questions:

Yes, she smiles now. Yes, that will permit her to live longer. No, she does not sleep through the night. No, I don't fit into my "real" pants yet. Yes, the second child seems so much easier than the first. Yes, I say that because I get a LOT of help from my mom. No, there will not be any more. So relish these pictures. They are the last of their kind. A Rivera Baby at Two Months of Age.

And I can't leave my self proclaimed Big Girl out. She might read this one day and feel slighted...

I ♥ Faces Contest, Week 1 of 2010 :: Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary, I ♥ Faces!

Whew, a whole year?! I know this is what everyone thinks when significant events roll around. What, my baby is five years old? What, he wants a driver's license? What?! We've been married how many years?! And so it is with this phenomenon we know and love, called I Heart Faces.

A more encouraging, supportive and fun network of photographers of every level cannot be found and I am so enriched to be a part of it. By way of celebration, the rules were expanded a bit this week to allow up to FIVE pictures that employ the I Heart Faces logo or phrase. Creativity counts. Creativity is in short supply 'round here. (Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, I have in surplus. Can I share any? Someone wanna trade?) But I gave it the old college try and was rather pleased with what I created. Each of the beautiful children in my family is featured and I even make a blurry, beyond the shallow depth of field, cameo. I cannot wait to see what the other wonderful minds of the participants do this week. I am sure to be blown away!

Fortunately, I am one of a panel of judges this week and don't have to worry about competing with everyone. Oh, and click HERE to read all sorts of random tidbits about me. Like "What is my favorite TV show? Can I do a headstand?" Important stuff. Earth shattering, really.

(I am submitting this photo into the I Heart Faces logo photo contest. By entering, I am granting I Heart Faces LLC permission to consider my photo for use in the marketing and promotion of this website.)