It's alive!!!!

YAY! I am so excited about launching my new website! If you've noticed I have been kind of non-existent to my blog, it's because A number 1. I have been madly cleaning my house for my family who starts to get in tomorrow :)

And also because I have been workin' my now, not-so-large, derrière on this baby. I've poured everything of me into it so I really hope everyone will take a peak and let me know whatcha think. I finally took pictures of my trees so I'm hopin' to get those on here BEFORE Christmas. Can't wait to see my family...it's been almost 6 years since we have had a Christmas together...so much fun!!!

Where are all my ATL peeps at?!?!

Just puttin' my "feelers" out there on something I've been wanting to do. It may seem like an easy thing to do...gettin' out the feelers. But really it's not. My feelers are very sensitive. Like, I am REALLY nervous to do this sensitive.

With some encouragement from my dear friend and photographer Lora, I have decided to make a trip back to my old stompin' grounds. That's right...Ali Brown is from the A to the TL. Why you ask? Well, I have discovered a passion within a passion if that makes sense. I am completely in love with photography. I know a big "DUH" is probably going through everyone's minds ;) But I also have found that I am completely in love with helping people with their photography.

I often get emails from folks with questions and I seriously get so excited! I DO NOT claim to know everything there is. Lord knows that I went to the fabulous Google University for my photography training. Oh, and also the school of hard knocks. What I have learned has worked for me and my business. Maybe it might help someone else.

So, here it goes...I would like to offer a workshop in Atlanta, GA. Think FUNKY. ECLECTIC. COLOR. Everything that I am...Everything that I put into my photography I would like to put into this. I am even on the hunt for the most fun, vintage-y funky venue out there if this comes to fruition.

So, my feelers are officially out now. Is there anybody in the Atlanta area who would be interested in attending a fun filled workshop by me?

Oh wow...I just flashed back to kindergarten. "Will you be my friend? Check Yes No or Maybe"

I haven't come up with a final cost and I know that's a big factor. It will be reasonable for sure. If there are any of YA'LL *see, I still haven't lost that :)* who would be interested would you mind leaving me a comment or shooting me an email? That would be so rad and helpful.

Thanks to all my faithful blog readers and friends I have made during this awesome season of my life...

{announcement}

I just wanted to let everybody know who is a senior or knows a senior that I have only  3 more openings in August if whomever wants to do their senior pictures next month.  Or if anybody wants to do their pictures next month...families, babies, kiddos.  August seems like a pretty popular month...so shout it from the roof tops :)  Since it's so much more fun to look at pictures on a post, I picked out a few from my recent family folders...because I love 'em.  AND because I'm taking more pictures now that I have let go of the fact that I don't have to take all my families pictures in RAW : )

Ash was so excited to hold this big frog on our first campin' trip...

If you have never played Quelf,  you need to.  It is only THE most fun game. EVER.  All your pride goes out the window as the most random and odd things take place before your eyes.

This is a game that daddy made up today.  It's called kid-a-polt.

The kid places himself in postition and then...

 is a-polted through the air.  Apparently they love it.  

Everyone loves freebies

Pootin' around the internet I found a site that offered free Photoshop Actions, textures,& storyboards...even for you Element folks who are desperately trying to find some!  They are right up my alley as I heart vintage post processing.  I realize everyone doesn't like that look as much as I do, but check this lady out.  Show this mamma of two younsters some love and money too if you have it...she works on these and gives them away for free.  There is a donate button for clicking if your sweet little heart wants to.  These are SO much fun to play with...

Check it:CoffeeShop Photography

These are some I played with:

My original Post Processing:

Processed with CoffeeShop's Cross Processing action:

Original:

After the Honey Retro Awesomeness!

A 20X10 Storyboard:

Because I love rad stuff...

I'm back from Florida...talk about a crazy trip...more on that later.  Really quick I wanted to share something(s) I found yesterday...some amazing textures that I'm excited to play with!  This woman is so amazing...Her name is Diana of Unik Photography.  She has a beautiful vision for capturing new life and I am in awe of the images she has on her blog!  She also has talent for creating textures...see them here.  I have been looking for some cool vintage fabrics for my baby sessions and can't seem to find what I want...it also was going to be very expensive...I stumble across this on flickr and loved what I saw!  I love how this rad mom has used Photoshop to give her those vintage background looks.  I have had this is my mind for my babies but thought I would have to truck around heavy loads of fabrics to my sessions.  Not anymore!  I've dabbled with textures a little but didn't realize the potential they had to completely change the mood of an image.   Now I've been on a shopping spree of textures...I am so excited about pursuing this!  

I am finding MY voice in photography and it is so liberating.  I'm an eclectic person.  My home may never meet the standard of a Martha Stewart Magazine (I think Martha's great BTW :), but it's me...my home is a collection of things that have stories...that make me feel happy.  If you go to my house you will see old and new.  Clean and rusty.  Retro and Vintage and in some places a little more modern.  I am finding that as I look inside myself to see what I truly am attracted to...it's coming out in my photography.  So if I see something and I love it...I may take a note and give my interpretation of it later.  I didn't create this style of photography and most of my peers didn't either...and that's ok.  Maybe one day I'll come up with some amazingly brilliant discovery...but for now, I'm content with doing what I'm drawn to.  If just one person is inspired by my interpretation of the "treasures" I have found...I would be honored.  Take what you like and give your twist on it...every person is different.  Wonderfully different.  

I couldn't help pulling out some past images and playing.  Of course this kind of editing isn't for every single image...but it's exciting that I know it's available and ready...especially for my babies.  Here's some ways to use textures:

Before - (notice my ghetto fabulous watermark...hey...we all start somewhere ;)

With some of Diana's textures:

Here's another one I thought was cool:

Hope my little rant helped someone...

Birthdays & Books

There has been a little birthday confusion as I kind of took over the facebook profile Dave created awhile ago.  He never got on so naturally I wanted to check it out.  Anyhoo, I got some very sweet birthday messages yesterday that rightfully belonged to my hubby.  Thanks to all who took the time to bless us on Dave's birthday.  It was kind of a weird day to be honest...but I did give him lots of reminders that he was born and tried to make it somewhat special.  Between church, his frustrating statistics homework and me working on a project almost all day...it was like we didn't see each other much.  We gotta do something fun today...

So...the book.  Fast Track Photographer by Dane Sanders.  It was lent to me by John Mayer who also has some mad camera skills BTW.  This book was and is eye opening and liberating!  I encourage anyone who is remotely thinking about pursuing a career in this industry to read it.  He really puts an emphasis on branding yourself.  Before, when Jasmine* would mention how important branding was, I was like, "Cool...I'm down with that."  Then I kind of just stared into space not knowing how to brand myself.  Dane explained it more clearly for me in his book and I know there are many other workshops and forums I could gain valuable information from on the fine tuning of my brand....seriously ya'll just read it.  It's awesome!  

"'Tis the season to be crazy..."

With the Christmas program over and getting caught up with my editing and orders I finally feel like I can start to enjoy this time of year.  I wanted to take this time to answer a question one of my blog readers asked.  Please understand that I don't want to appear like a know-it-all because truth be told...I probably know less than a majority of ya'll :)  I'm just tryin' to help a sistah out...so...

She asked what my favorite lens is to shoot with...

Right now my fave lens is the 50mm 1.8 - it's cheap, decently fast and sharp.  This may be due to the fact that I only have a whopping 2 lenses right now but you know what?  That's OK.  Everyone's gotta start somewhere...I'm sure my future fave will become the 50mm 1.4 and then after that the 50mm 1.2...Let's just say that I've really grown accustomed to fixed lenses.  I'm not trying to be demeaning when I say this, because Lord knows I had know clue what "fixed lens" meant 8 months ago...but fixed meaning, no zooming in and out.  There are a couple reasons why I personally prefer this type of lens.

First, it seems that they have lower apertures than zoom lenses...which low aperture + dreamy yumminess = Happy Ali...

And B...Whenever I am shooting with my zoom lens I feel like I don't move around much.  The fixed lens kind of prompts me to move around and shoot all over because I don't have the option to rotate the lens and zoom in or out.  Because I'm moving around more, I think my creative flow is less hindered.  I find new angles to shoot and it just seems to work better for me.  

Here's an example of the aperture all the way down to 1.8 on my 50mm:

Notice how sharp the keyboard is and the creamy goodness all around...LOVE IT!  I put my focal point on the center, and then focus in on what I want to be sharp (the keyboard) and then recompose the shot (move the camera so that the keyboard is now in the lower third instead of in the center).

A wedding ceremony situation is different because most couples don't want the photographer balancing on the organ to get the perfect shot.  But for the getting ready, formal and reception I would probably try for a fixed lens...unless I'm doing the group formal in which I may pop on the 16-35mm 2.8...

Some of the lenses on my "Santa Baby" list are:

50mm 1.2  (anyone want to spend 1,200 on me?  but really...I want this bad)

85mm 1.2

16-35mm 2.8

I'm researching some of the telephoto lenses but I'm not sure what I want yet...so surprise me if you want to :)

Another thing that I've been doing recently is applying the Kubota Magic Sharp action to my images.  I learned this from the amazing Jasmine Star and it has really made a difference...it won't work miracles on an unfocused image...but it WILL make your great images "pop out."

Hope that helped you and I want to thank all of ya'll for your support and encouragement.  It means so much!  Hope ya'll are having a fabulous Christmas Season!!!

Caught in Action

Yesterday I had the opportunity to shoot a family in Augusta.  I wanted to let Dave in on the deal if he wanted....I am trying to get into the wedding industry and Dave would be my ideal second shooter.  He has a different eye than me.  I look at his images and I "wow".  So, he jumped at it but we had one little dilema...one camera, two shooters.  My friend had offered us to use her camera, which was awesome because it's the same as ours...she just got it as a birthday gift and they (meaning her hubby and her) LOVE it.  Dave is used to it and she even went further and offered to watch our kids.  You are AWESOME Dave and Ann!  Thank you so much! The weather looked a bit iffy and I actually missed the call from my client to reschedule...which turned out to be a good thing because the weather was beautiful!  A little chilly but I run around everywhere when I shoot so it felt nice :)

Since I never have another shooter with me, I've never been at risk of having a picture taken of me...taking a picture.  So Dave surprised me mid session with a couple shots...I also snuck one of him.  Isn't he so cute behind a camera?  I just LOVED having him with me.  He had some great ideas and it was just so much fun doing what I love with my love.

Come back to see this beautiful family's sneak peaks :)

Here's Dave, doing some on the side stuff while I had just reloaded another Flash card...

Apparently, Dave said that I would make a pretty good sniper. He said I laid prone the right way naturally...coming from a Cert. Sniper...I take that as a compliment....I can be really sneaky "shooting" people...hahaha I'm such a dork!

This shot I was taking of the family turned out so cute BUT I about fell off the bench onto Grandma taking it...

I made it!!!!

I can't tell you how loudly I squealed when I saw that I made the top Five Finalist for the Water Contest!  I am so stinkin' excited just to be chosen as one of the finalist!  Thank ya Lawd!  Anyhoo, if you wanted to be a super cool friend and score some brownie points go ahead and Vote For Me :)  Just to let you know, a thousand brownie equals a free session...haha.  For real though, take a look and see what you think...all the finalists are good.  Thanks for all of your encouragement.  Look back later tonight for a senior sneak peak...

Wet dog...

 got a little nerve and decided to enter a photo in my very first contest.  This is a big step for me because I am learning to be more confident in my photography.  MeRa Koh hosts the contest and it is always so neat to see what people come up with.   

The contest this month can have anything to do with water.  I have had this shot in my head for about a week now and I am happy to say that I pretty much nailed it today.  I did have to "set up the scene."  I suited the kids up and had them give Sam a bath.  As soon as Sam would shake, I would shoot like it was my job...hahahaha.  So, after 140 shots...I got the one that I wanted to enter.  

Oh yeah, I can't forget...I met the famous Cindy Cieluch today!  I can't say enough how wonderful she is.  What an amazing woman!  She is so sweet and a HUGE encouragement to me.  I so look up to her and am thrilled for her success.  You rock girl!!!  I am looking forward to hanging out again :)

Tell me whatcha think of my entry?  Do ya think I have a chance?  Oh and to let ya'll know, the winner is based on the votes of da people.  So if you really want me to win..."VOTE FOR ME"

PS...the file I gave to them did not have the watermark...in case you were wondering ;)

News Flash...I got a new flash!

After many liters of plasma, I have finally been able to save up and purchase my AlienBee flash unit.  I honestly didn't know what to do with it so I just stared at the cardboard boxes for awhile.  

Excited yet nervous I decided, "I guess I'll just have to try it out."  Has anyone else been here?  So, I put it together and being a little man brained didn't read the directions.  I figured it out just fine by myself thanks.  After a bit of bribing I was able to get my children to pose yet again for me.  I can only imagine what my neighbors across the street were thinking as poofs of light randomly emitted from my windows.  

I have been so super busy working my day job full time this last week.  I have to work a full week next week too.  I will be so happy when I can get back to my regular scheduled programming...

I'm on the hunt now.  Babies.  I want fresh babies.  I am so excited to start photographing newborns I can just see their little wrinkled feet right now...so if you know anybody who has a newborn and wants some photos please let me know.  I would love to try some children's stuff too.  

Until I get a hot bun out of the oven, here are my own offspring.  Oh yeah, I am trying out this awesome new thing where my pictures are awesomely bigger...what do you think???

playing peek-a-boo

not quite sure why this one is so pixelated...hmmm

i just absolutely LOVE his expression in this one :)

i love my boys!!!

Second shooter training

After church today I was feeling confident about how I looked so I asked Dave if he was ready to take some pictures for me.  I need a good updated picture for my website and he's been buggin' me about getting my pictures taken anyway.  He was up for it then,  but I bet now he doesn't want to be my second shooter.  

I was trying to explain to him how everything works and let's just say that I probably expected too much from him and gave him input overload...poor thing.  But, I think out of the 200 some odd pictures that he took, we got a few keepers.  

By the way, if you don't know how to shoot pictures other than in Auto, I HIGHLY recommend Me Ra Koh's DVD Beyond the Green Box...she explains everything so it makes sense.  This is how I started out.  She offers exercises and tips.  If you want something less expensive than a photography class, I would get the DVD for 30 bucks plus some shipping and handling.  

I usually don't like pictures of myself but after a little editing and yes, I'll admit it...some photoshop trimming on one image, I think they look ok.  Now for me to get down to a size where no trimming is needed...

I found this sweet chair in an alley and had to use it...

This next one is me squatting next to a dumpster near my house believe it or not ;)

My first retouch project...

David's Grandparents and myself had a fun time talking via our i Macs and taking over each others screens...They just bought their Apple recently and they learned alot today.  Kudos to them for taking the time to learn new technology :-)  

Grandpa B was interested in my photography software after showing him my website, so I shared my screen with him, and he was able to view my desktop on his computer.  It's amazing that even though we are in Montana and he is in Florida, I was able to show him how I work my magic on images like he was right in the room with us.  

After seeing how amazing CS3 was, he asked me if I would take a stab at retouching an old photo he had of an airplane he flew...he called this airplane his "friend."  I didn't know how I could help, but I spent about 45 minutes on the picture and I must say that I am pleased with how it turned out.  I already emailed him the retouched version and thought ya'll would like to see the before and after photos.  

This could actually be another aspect of my business...some people can make 30-50 dollars an hour retouching old photographs.  It's something that I may consider in the near future.  I tried to keep everything about the photo as true as I could.  It was badly damaged from a deep fold/crease down the middle and mold all over.  I restored some color to the sky and sharpened the airplane...the clouds look a wee bit different, but I think it turned out pretty darn good.   Tell me what ya'll think.... (you can click on the image to make it bigger)

Before:

After: