Portrait Project – Week 3: Steven Archer
On Saturday, I headed out to one of my favorite events in Philly: Dorian’s Parlor. I knew it would be a great opportunity for a candid portrait shot. The photo for this week’s Portrait Project is of Steven Archer, who was performing at Dorian’s as part of ‘Hopeful Machines’ when I took this photo.
Portrait Project – Week 2: Anita
It’s been a busy January, and it is about get even busier. In just a few days I’m moving into Philadelphia proper (after several years living in the ‘burbs). It is incredibly exciting (and stressful). Fortunately, my friends are doing a great job of keeping me sane.
One of those friends is Anita, who is Week 2′s Portrait Project volunteer! We went out into the very brisk January weather to shoot. I had taken a few serious ones, but I really love it when I can capture a genuine laugh on camera instead. I don’t even remember what I said, but Anita laughed, and I took the shot, and here’s the wonderous result!
Portrait Project – Week 1: Caitlin
This is the official start of my latest photography adventure: the portrait project! I am going to be posting one new portrait a week for 52 weeks! Each week will be a different person, either from a staged/planned shoot, or maybe even a candid from an event. We’ll see how it all unfolds!
Caitlin is my first volunteer for the project, and she actually inspired me to do it. She had asked earlier in the year if I would take a few photos of her, and I realized that I really do love take photos of people. I decided she’d be the one to help me kick off the project! I know she was a bit nervous about it, but I think this photo of her is totally adorable.
New Photo Project for 2012 – Update and a Change of Plans
When I completed my 365 Project last November, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to tackle next. I had originally strongly considered doing a weekly photo based on thematic challenges from one of several sites that offer them. However, I haven’t felt terribly inspired by the themes I saw over my two month project hiatus, and so I’ve been searching for something that would inspire me.
The truth is, as much as I enjoy photographing items and such, I love take photos of people. I started getting back into photography as a result of taking photos of people at conventions, and some of my favorite photos from my 365 Project were of people.
So, I’ve decided to take a photo of a different person a week for a year. I know I’m a touch late in getting started for 2012, but no matter.
Here’s the deal: I would love to feature as many of my friends and family as possible, and I would love to get some volunteers right off the bat. If you want to take part, let me know, and I’ll start scheduling sessions. These portrait sessions will be quick, probably no more than 10 minutes or so, except in some extreme cases where I have an idea I want to plan a real and full photoshoot around (if you have an idea for something more elaborate, speak up). All of these sessions will be done totally free, and you’ll get at least one fully edited portrait out of it.
Interested? Send me an e-mail: dreadpiraterose [at] gmail [dot] com or message me on Facebook.
Happy Holidays! (An Update)
This past weekend was Christmas, and I celebrated it in Florida with my family! As is often typical for Florida, it was warm enough to don short sleeves for the holidays. It was quite a shock to my system, and made me realize just how much I had acclimated to the northern weather. It was even more of a shock when I shivered the entire way back to my apartment from the train station when I got back to Philly yesterday. It’s amazing how a few days in the low 80s can make the 40s feel downright frigid.
It was a nice trip, albeit a brief one. My mom, littlest sister, and grandma didn’t know I was coming down, and surprising them was an unbelievable amount of fun. I also got to see my dad, and engage in our long-standing Christmas tradition of getting a Cinnabon and watching all the poor husbands/boyfriends shopping at the mall on Christmas Eve. Another highlight was getting to see one of my oldest and truest friends, Curt, who I’ve known since the second grade. It had been a solid year and a half since we’d hung out, so I was really glad for the opportunity to spend time with him again.
While I was visiting the family, I took photos (of course) whenever I could. I must say, my niece and kid sister make this photographer’s job pretty damn easy. My sister is absurdly photogenic, and my niece is just the cutest little baby ever (with hilarious facial expressions). I’ve posted plenty of baby pictures in the past, so here are some of the ones I took of my littlest sister. (Don’t worry, I’ll be posting more baby photos later.)
Happy holidays!
A Little Black Friday Excitement
I really wish I’d had my camera on me last night, as I braved Black Friday (or rather Even Blacker Thursday) sales with my family. My sister Meredith wanted to hit up the Babies R Us/Toys R Us when it opened at 9pm on Thanksgiving. The parking lot for the entire plaza it was in was full. Some lady told us it would take 5 hours just to get in, because they were only letting in 50 people every 15 minutes and she had done the math based on the line. The line wrapped around the back of the building.
Feeling disappointed, but not fully deterred, my sister took us to Walmart. It was pandemonium inside. People were like hyenas. They were ripping off the plastic wrap off the pallets of items before the 10pm sale started, and were piling items in their carts like the world was gonna end. My sister and mom did get some good deals, I’ll admit, but I was also glad when we finally got out of there.
Today, on Black Friday proper, I hit the mall with a friend of mine to do some window shopping. Both of us mostly just wanted to get out of our respective houses for a nice distraction. I did end up getting a pretty scarf and a few earrings at nice prices, but nothing to write home about. Target was even less impressive. Guess you had to do the door busters there to get any real discounts.
The real excitement was when I got home. We have a volunteer fire department here, so this air raid siren goes off when there’s a fire. The alarm went off three times, which is unusual (normally it is just twice). I heard the sirens afterward, and they sounded awfully close. That’s when I looked out my balcony sliding doors, and saw no less than six fire department vehicles outside the laundromat. Yep. Definitely a dryer on fire.
How was your Black Friday?
Which Photo Project to Do Next?
It’s been over a week since I finished my 365 Project, and my thoughts now are turning to what’s next. I have been strongly considering tackling ‘themed’ challenges, but I honestly don’t know if I could do that daily. I was therefore considering a weekly themed challenge. I’ve been looking at two websites that offer a new theme every week: vfxy.com and photofriday.com.
What I am trying to decide is whether or not to strictly follow one or the other, pick the one I like from among the two each week, or just solicit themes from my followers each week and let YOU all decide what theme I use.
My concern about going with one particular site and only using their themes, is that both feature some that are so oddly specific that I worry I wouldn’t be able to fulfill the challenge (i.e., weekly themes like wedding, party, beach, deep space, etc.).
So fans, what do you all think?
365 Project: A Retrospective
When I started the 365 Project a year ago today, I had a few goals for myself. I wanted to learn my camera well, and push myself creatively. Now that it is finished, looking back on the photos I took and things I experienced, I just can’t believe how much has changed in a year. I’ve shot concerts, galas, weddings, conventions, portraits, and even fashion shows. It all seems so surreal to me.
As the end of the project drew near, I knew I wanted to come back and do some kind of review or retrospective. I wanted to share some of my favorite photos from the year. Click “Read More” to read it and see the photos.
365 Project: Day 365 – November 4, 2011
When I started this project 365 days ago on my birthday, I kicked it off with a photo of the Dias de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) display at the Bourse building. When I looked back on that first photo, I realized I shot it in ‘auto’ mode with very little clue as to what I was doing and getting myself into. I thought I should bring the project full circle by ending the project with the same subject.
So, here we are, the last photo. A small statue from this year’s Dias de los Muertos display, shot in manual, on a 50mm lens on manual focus. And with that, it’s done. Look for a ‘retrospective’ post to be posted tomorrow.
365 Project: Day 364 – November 3, 2011
On March 9, at the end of the winter season, I took a picture of a few red berries that had managed to hold on the entire winter. Well, we’ve looped back around towards the end of fall, and all those berries are in full bloom. I wonder if any of these will make it through to March, still on the branch?
