TOTAL MOVE TO WORDPRESS!!!

November 2009, my Multimedia II instructor, David Allen Jones, had us move our blogger posts to wordpress. Since then, I have been posting all blogs to both accounts; but I have now decided to only post on wordpress. Until I set up my website, please see all my new posts at this wordpress site. Thanks for keeping up with me! See you on wordpress! Leave me a comment and let me know you've moved over to check me out! TTFN SDG

My First Senior Shoot!

My first senior shoot was on a cold and windy day; but three friends together make for lots of laughter! SC and KG were very cooperative, the wind wasn’t. Anyone know how to fix hair in the wind! We just let it go…since that’s all we could do anyway. Check out my other images on my flickr site. TTFN SDG

Photoshop Sneak Peek – Love It!

A fellow classmate, Damian AhChing, shared this video. I love all the new manipulations pending in Photoshop. TTFN SDG

Re-Shoot: Amaretto

This is my alcohol re-shoot. I think it turned out great! I shot it in the corner of my roll-top desk at home with one main light in front, no gels, and a mini-slave behind. I had to experiment with the mini-slave. Turning it toward the bottle blew it out; so it is turned away from the bottle toward a gold reflector card. I love my husband! He stayed up till 2am after returning from a long flight from London to help me troubleshoot. What a guy! TTFN SDG

My First Food Shoot

This is my first attempt at shooting food. I was working with Chef Jennifer from the Gwinnett Technical College Culinary School. The theme for the shoot was Mexican Food, my favorite; and Jennifer was assigned tamales. It was a creative struggle to photograph them in a ‘delicious’ manner. All the food was delectable. Thanks, Chef Kerry, for opening up your kitchen to us to share the spoils of war! TTFN SDG

Advanced Commercial-Advertising

This is my husband’s new Shure microphone, for his Overlook Sound business, in front of my Peavey speaker. It’s a composite of eight different images. I gelled the mic with six different gels; these are the five colors I chose to use, plus I had to fill in areas around the red and green. I was attempting the color wheel in this effort; the only missing color is cyan. TTFN SDG

Platinum Printing

Deanna Washington and I worked together on our history project, which has been completed and turned in. We chose to do platinum printing. I love the images I researched; but we found the process more difficult than Alfred Stieglitz makes it look! This is my favorite image. TTFN SDG

Jing Photography Collection – History, Part IV

‘The Decisive Moment’ signed by Henri Cartier Bresson. The most amazing photograph ever! And to see it in person was a budding photographer’s inspiration! TTFN SDG

Jing Photography Collection – History, Part III

‘The Cocktail Party’ by Sandy Skoglund, 1992. Mr. Jing also had some interesting images I had never seen before. Sandy Skoglund has great imagination; and the cheetos made a delicious-looking image! TTFN SDG

Jing Photography Collection – History, Part II

‘New York City, 1974′, signed by Elliott Erwitt. Mr. Jing also had some amazing images by Elliott Erwitt. This was one of my favorites! TTFN SDG

Jing Photography Collection – History, Part I

‘Moon and Half Dome’ signed by Ansel Adams. Last week we visited the home of a local photography collector and were amazed at the beauty of some of the images we have studied throughout our six quarters of studying photography. Ansel Adams, of course, is my all-time favorite!

Mr. Jing’s home was lovely and we are very appreciative that he opened it up to us to share his beautiful collection of photography. TTFN SDG

Advanced Commercial – Alcohol, Wine and Spirits

Most of you know I don’t drink as a rule; but I do make a mean Amaretto cake! For this assignment, Amaretto was the logical choice because I already had a new bottle I picked up in the Dominican Republic. Speaking of which, I’ll be returning there in about three weeks to photograph the kids at the Lighthouse Christian School in Los Alcarrizos. Fun times ahead! TTFN SDG

Winter Quarter – Advanced Commercial

We are learning the art of lighting tabletop set-ups in Advanced Commercial this quarter. So far we’ve turned in Still Life and Spirits. This is the image I used for Still Life. This Voigtlander Field Camera belonged to my husband’s uncle and is still in working condition. TTFN SDG

In Honor of the Olympics!

Lindsay Grogan’s Journey to the Paralympics... This was my final Multimedia Project video from last fall. Lindsay was a great sport to allow me follow her around, ask her questions and photograph her. I wish her luck as she begins the road to the Paralympic Games once again. TTFN SDGp>

Winter Quarter - Portfolio Development

This quarter at GTC, I'm taking Advanced Commercial, Portfolio Development and History. Here's a quick update on each class...beginning with Portfolio Review. We had to present all the images from the past we thought might make it into our Portfolio Book. After culling 30,000 images down to 250, the instructors, Mrs. Kim Harkins and Ms. Sheri Finch chose 15 images they liked. Some will need to be reshot; others will need to be tweaked in Photoshop. Our portfolios consists of the following sections: A. Black and White/Color Techniques B. Commercial Applications C. Portrait/Wedding D. Advertising E. Specialized Study. The above images have been turned in for section A. B & W/Color Techniques, which is comprised of the following image selections: 1st quarter images, Photojournalism, Kodaliths & Monochromes, Zone Prints, Darkroom Techniques, Color Portfolio, Landscapes. The first image is an HDR composite taken at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, CO. I took nine exposures; but this image is only using five of those exposures. The second image was taken at Notting Hill, near London, UK. TTFN SDG

Imaging USA!

The New Year and new quarter at school has been hectic; but I'm surviving it all so far. The first week brought a great trip to Nashville for Imaging USA (next year it will be in San Antonio, TX!). Our Student Workers' Jowling Photo is now the largest collection of jowlers ever (last largest group was 21) and we're posted on their website. Check it out and look for us! We worked hard in Nashville, as guides and escorts, but we also were blessed to be a part of hanging and packing up the International Print Exhibit. It was wonderful to see all the dynamic images that won the competition we hosted at Gwinnett Technical College in June 2009. They will be coming back in June 2010; and I plan to be there to work again. TTFN SDG

Email from Christmas

This was the email I told Mr. Jones about in our final Multimedia II class in December. Sorry it has taken so long to post...actually, I was just emptying out my email inbox and happened to find it. Hope you enjoy! It came with the following text:

"Good news is that I truly outdid myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."

TTFN SDG

Wild Bill's - A Fight For Charity

Tex Johnson MMA Fight Video from nabphotos on Vimeo.

CONGRATULATIONS, NELSON! GREAT JOB! Well, this is what I photographed over the Christmas break. Al (husband) and I took our toys and went to Wild Bill's for Fight Night. We donated to Toys-for-Tots; and Nelson Bigles allowed me to shoot the fights with him. It was fun, loud and exciting; I'd do it again in a heartbeat! Thanks for the opportunity, Nelson! TTFN SDG

I’m BAAAACK!

After spending some time with family over the holidays, it's time to get back to work. School started back up January 5th; and two days later I headed for Nashville as a volunteer at Imaging U.S.A. It was an amazing experience to hear the experts teaching the highlights of our craft. I'm ready to continue learning all that's needed to make my photography business a success. The volunteer work was tough; but we survived to live another day. TTFN SDG

Advanced Commercial - Winter Quarter 2010

Here is just a taste of the Pro Photo Videos I watched today. Jim Talkington gives inexpensive ways to set up a home commercial studio. It was very helpful as I began to think about the next 10 weeks in Advanced Commercial Photography. TTFN SDG

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, the first day of 2010 was spent in front of the TV watching the Rose Parade and a myriad of Bowl Games with my husband. There were some upsets and some accurate outcomes; but while watching I was also surfing. I found a site with some great videos on photography. I was so enthralled I watched every video during the course of the day, making a list of things to remember, purchase and throw together to make location shots a bit easier. Jim Talkington puts together some very user friendly ideas and was very enjoyable to watch. Check out his site here and get comfortable. P.S. Only 8 days left till Imaging USA . . . Nashville, here we come! TTFN SDG

Office Move…Ugh!

Well, I have finally accumulated so much photography stuff that I had to vacate my husband’s office. We moved computer, printer and stuff to my craft room. Now all I have to do is get rid of a multitude of craft items. Any takers? TTFN SDG