Unit 4

For months I've needed to take this final shot to complete Unit 4. In this head and shoulders portrait, the assignment was to use a single umbrella light to one side of the face and a reflector board to the other, bouncing light back to open up the shadow side of the face. Luckily I had a small white umbrella that NYI sent after I paid for the course. For a light, I used a flash unit on a remote cable. The reflector board I used was a foam core poster board. I don't think it's any coincidence that this photo was the last one I had to take. Flash baffles me. I don't really know how to control its intensity other than bouncing it off the ceiling. The pamphlet that came with my flash is small and brief and not too helpful. Looks like I'd better put some time into this area. My daughter just set a timer and now I have four minutes to finish this up because she wants to play some fairy game online with a cousin in Phoenix! Thanks to my son, Henry, for letting me blind him with the flash so many times. Times up.

Updates

I helped my feet. I went to the Good Feet store and bought some arch supports. They seem to be helping. My feet still get tired by the end of my shift but they feel fine after I take off my shoes when I get home and they don't hurt the next day. The arch supports are guaranteed for life so I feel pretty good about my purchase.

I'm taking a photography course. It's called The Complete Course in Professional Photography offered by The New York Institute of Photography. Sounds kinda fancy and serious. The course is broken up into six units and I'm almost done with unit four. Do I think I'll be a professional when I finish the course? Well, I don't think so. It's a great course, but I need to try harder. I need to take more photos more often, and I need to be as comfortable with the functions of my camera as I am with pulling weeds or vacuuming. In a way, this course is perfect for learning photography. I'm the one responsible for reading the material, taking the assigned photos, and mailing them in. Most photographers are freelancers, responsible for getting, managing, and completing jobs.

Friday's gone. Remember our cat who broke his leg on my birthday? We had to have him put to sleep. It was a very sad day for us. Ron said Friday was pure love. He was the gift with purchase when we bought our home. He was here both times we came to view the house. Two days after we moved in, Friday came home to stay. Most of the two years we've lived here, he pretty much stayed outside, but the last few months he was getting very comfortable with us - barging in first thing in the morning and waiting in the kitchen until we gave him a special treat - tuna juice or a dish of half and half or a slice of pepperoni - then jumping up on our bed for a nap that usually lasted until the kids got home from school. Ron buried him out back of his favorite home.

On a lighter note, I have a new favorite treat. Whipped cream in a can. I bought it as a treat for my daughter who asks for it almost every time we go to the grocery store. Surprise! I said. And then Surprise! again - the can's more than half gone!

If I Were Invisible

I took some photos this week! I asked some friends of ours, a family we know from my daughter's school, if I could photograph their kids for a school project. We met at a park not very far from our homes and while the weather was not the greatest - windy, chilly and overcast - we still managed to make a few nice photos for their parents. I think I got the shot I needed for my assignment and I learned a ton. I learned that I need to check my camera's settings - picture quality, ISO, white balance, aperture - before I start shooting. I also learned that I'm seriously lacking in the posing department - even though I prefer candid shots. I need to learn how to gracefully and naturally pose people so they appear relaxed and comfortable and almost unaware of the camera. I'd love to take photos of people being themselves, doing what they do best, spending time around the people they are most comfortable with. One of the easiest ways there is to make people uncomfortable is to take out a camera and start taking photos. Short of being invisible, I need to figure out how to make people comfortable around me and my camera.

Ron

Ron is my husband and one of the best things that ever happened to me. He has helped me work through my baggage, encourages me in my creative endeavors, treats me with kindness and respect, and teaches me new things - like how to use a nail gun and how to run electrical wiring.
Ron is a sandblaster by trade. He was laid off in August and since then he has been turning our free standing garage into his workshop with a little bit of help from me. He'll be working from home now.
Last week I helped him disassemble his sandblasting booth at the studio were he worked for two years. We brought home a lot of the materials and he started to build another booth in his workshop that would be able to accommodate large sheets of glass.
I love working with Ron. He's generous with his knowledge, gives clear directions, hands me the proper tools, explains how to safely use them, and then steps back to let me do the job myself. I love the fact that he'll be working at home and that I can help him out and pick up a lot of information and skills along the way.

Epsom Salts

I'm soaking my feet right now. I worked last night and will work the next three nights. I think I need a new pair of shoes. My feet are throbbing. The other day at Target I was checking out some of the employee's shoes while I waited for my son to finish in the dressing room. One lady had on a pair of those shoes with springs for heels. They look awful but I'll bet they're really comfortable. I could probably get away with wearing those if I worked at Denny's or maybe IHOP, but what would happen if I showed up at my restaurant wearing shoes with springs? It's a pretty hip place. Probably the only reason I got the job was because I was friends with the owners years ago. My little family and I moved into town two years ago, I called up my old friends to say Hi and they asked if I needed a job. If I were to have walked in off the street, resume in hand, I doubt I would've got the job. Not for lack of experience but maybe for lack of hipness. I'm the oldest one there. I'm even older than my friends, the owners. Maybe this week I'll go shopping for a new pair of shoes. Maybe a comfortable pair of black mary janes. I'll spare my coworkers the horror of me showing up in spring shoes for now.

Octopus!

This week I photographed some artwork for Edward Arnot. He's a local glass artist who's exceptional at glass painting and stained glass. He works out of his backyard in a small studio that smells wonderfully of wood, his light table sits in a corner, a small kiln under a window next to it, and stained glass organized in vertical shelves on the opposite wall.