It's hip to be square

Model: Dennis Tudos

This was taken during my assisting session with fellow photographer, Alec Dawson. He was kind enough to let his wife and I take some shots while giving us informative tips and ideas. 

I love the American Psycho-esque shot with the knife. While we were taking it, I couldn't help but be reminded of that great axe scene in the movie. You know, the part where he explains the popular 80's song "It's hip to be square" For those of you who haven't seen American Psycho, if you like movies where the protagonist is an antagonist archetype, it's worth a watch. It's a great flick.

Assisting

So, I went to assist a fellow photographer yesterday. His name is Alec Dawson. We met at a meetup he created for flickr members in Seattle. He does mostly nudes, but he also does some stunning editorial work as well. He gave me a full day of learning and a full on crash course in studio photography and strobing. There were so many things I didn't know. The little details and all the work that goes into a successful production of this nature was the best learning experience I could have right now as it took me out of my comfortable little outdoor candid shooting bubble. He taught me the most I think I could ever begin to learn in one day, and also let me shoot a few of my own. It was a truly amazing experience and I can't even begin to express in words how helpful it was for me. As soon as the images are finished, I'll be posting them here. Don't worry, they are all SFW. :) haha

yum!

Poached egg with mushroom and creme on toast

So I was watching that movie "Julie and Julia" the other day. I remember watching Julia Child on tv when I was younger, but I didn't remember her being that awesome. Well now that I'm older, I know that she is and so I found myself online watching tons of her videos. She had this one titled "elegance with eggs" You can find it here 

Anyways, it inspired me to create this.

My girls

 

Above: Pink

Above: Lucy

U dub campus

 

Here are some shots I did while at the University of Washington recently. When I first met my husband soon after I moved here, he would refer to the university as U-dub. It took me a few listens to connect the dots as to what he heck was talking about, but I eventually figured it out. They have a very nice campus.

Ketti Handbags

For those of you who don't already know, my friend makes the most awesome camera bags for the girl photographer on the go. I took an hour yesterday to take some photos of mine.

I help her from time to time and she was nice enough to pay me in a limited edition bag.

For those interested, go to kettihandbags.com to find out more or see what she has in stock.

Oregon Coast

Charles and Jocelyn

harles has been a friend of mine for some time now. He met a girl named Jocelyn and they came to visit for a while to check out Seattle and go to some schools to get the 411. In the meantime, I really wanted to plan a little time to shoot some photos. We went to the university district so they could see some of what to expect if they so chose to live here. There are all kinds of great areas there to photograph couples in. Anyways, here is the result.

A day in Ballard, Wa

Photo dump

Taken in Maui, Hawaii. circa 2008

Self Portrait

So, I'm trying to organize this blog and I took a break for a moment to do a self portrait to try some new techniques I'm learning. Here is the result.

Atussa and William

Atussa was one of my professors at the school I went to for game development. I've kept in touch with her over the years and she and her family recently moved up here to Seattle. I wanted to get shots of little William around his 1 year. This kid has seriously sprouted up like a wildflower, but I guess they all do really.

Evangelina

While in Hawaii in Christmas of 08, I was staying with my brother and his roomate. His roomate had a beautiful daughter named Evangelina. I would crack up when I'd listen to her and my brother watch Spongebob Squarepants. They would heartily laugh at the silliest stuff. It's always funny hearing a 30 something year old man and a like 4 or 5 year old girl laugh at the same things in a cartoon. Anyways, before I went to check out the lavender farm, on the way out the door I grabbed my camera and took a couple of really quick shots of the lovely Evangelina.

Photo dump

So, periodically I've decided to do a photo dump, where I feature some of my older photography that I've dug through my archives, found, and thrown up on here. Most of these were taken before I learned all kinds of new techniques and such, but I think they are still worthy of displaying.

This week I'll be pulling from the farm trip folder.

My parents own a farm in West Texas. I go there from time to time. I'd have to say, this place holds one of my favorite photographic color palettes ever. It's clear blue skies, and rusty orange and yellow metals always leave me happy to shoot the objects scattered throughout the land on a clear day.

Kicking it off!

So, last night I was up pretty late pondering the best way to have a website without actually building one yet (haha! Okay so there was a little more to it than that). The problem is, I need more work to put on it before I launch that puppy. So, I made this, my little portal to the world. I'll be updating it regularly with all of my photos and current work as well as some pieces regarding ideas and inspirations.

Some information about the launch of this blog, myself, and carreer goals:

I worked professionally on video games for 4 years as a Game/Level Designer, up until recently. Now, you might be wondering "Why would she change careers in such a bad economy?" or "Why go from the awesome world of game development to photography" Well folks, photography has always been a passion of mine just as game development was (and still is to a much smaller degree).

I can't lie and say there weren't personal reasons behind the departure. Those I wont go into here, but there are some not so personal one as well. The latter being that I was really tired of sitting at a computer for 9-12 and sometimes in crunch 14 hours a day. I missed the outdoors and associating with people (in person!). That's not to say that this new career wont keep my at a computer sometimes, that is really inevitable in this day and age, but I don't mind this new amount of time devoted at the digital altar compared to the old.

A big reason for doing this was that I wanted to create a business that I could manage and be proud of. I considered starting an independent game development company, but I realized my heart just wasn't all the way in it right now, and that all I really wanted to do was take photo's. I still keep up with the Game industry and intend to work on small independent projects on the side, but for the time being, my focus lies here.

All in all, I had a blast while I was involved with the game development industry and I met some of the greatest people in the world. I think that is the biggest downside to all this, is that my network is riddled with successful game developers and like no professional photographers or clientele! Yikes! So now I have no network. Back to square one in that department. I'm hoping I haven't dug myself in too far. Time will tell.

This photo doesn't really have any meaning. hahaha I just wanted to post a photo of me with my camera and it was the first one I Found.