Living in the Moment

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I truly, passionately, absolutely love what I do!  I get to capture a moment in time.  A moment that will never be repeated.  The light will never be the same, the clouds will never be the same color, the expressions will never have the same look.  Just recently I got to capture a moment with Peter and Tiara against the beautiful Ko'olau mountains.  As I put them in position, we saw the sky start to change color and the sun shoot across the top of the mountains.  It was one of those "omigosh" moments and as soon as I snapped the image, I knew this moment was a keeper.

Why I love senior portraits

High school senior portraits are definitely one of my favorite types of sessions.   Maybe it's because I have two teens of my own and love the challenge of capturing their personality.  I get to be really creative and we have a lot of fun during the session.  We chat.  And sometimes we just stop and laugh.

I think the main reason I like working with seniors is their energy.  They have the whole world waiting for them. We talk about their plans for college and what they plan to study.  Where they want to go  and how they came to their decision.   It's fun knowing I'm photographing future surgeons, nurses, journalists, designers, engineers, and who knows?   I hope they'll drop me a line in the future and let me know how they're doing.

More Senior Portraits

Hawaiian Shaved Ice--In Kansas!!!

Who would imagine finding a Hawaiian Shaved Ice stand in Kansas??!!! This little place in Junction City, Kansas was a surprisingly great find.  Living in Hawaii I'm used to having some delicious, authentic shave ice.  Pelican Pete's in J.C. was a treat!  The ice used at Pelican Pete's was more finely ground than what we're used to in Hawaii (I liked both kinds), and the flavors were just as yummy.  The 110-degree heat index also made these taste especially good.

We got a huge kick out of the decor......

 Tiki man was a bit scary-looking.....

And I'm pretty sure we don't have alligators in Hawaii....at least not on my roof we don't! 

The kids (my two daughters and a friend) enjoyed the oversized swing.

But my favorite decorative item was the pedal-boat-to-nowhere....

A great place to go on a hot summer afternoon!  (Evenings are great, too--the place is ablaze with twinkly lights and happy music.)  How can you help but love a place like this??!  It'll definitely be on my tour stop the next time I'm in town.

City Girls and Country Cows

I was in Kansas recently, helping my oldest daughter get settled back at K-State.  It was also a great time to visit with friends and family.

One of the first days I was back home, we visited a dairy.  Since my girls are "city girls," my mom thought it'd be fun for them to see some cows close up.  Visiting cows was not on my girls' list of things to do while on vacation (their idea of sightseeing is to visit shopping malls), but they went along for the fun.  We were warmly welcomed at Hildebrand Farms and invited to go visit the cows in their pens.  (I had to remind the girls to stand upwind, not downwind!)  It was great fun, and I'll bet those cows have never been photographed so much!  

This little calf craved attention:

She even offered free kisses:

And more pics:

It was a great little visit to Hildebrand Farms.  Although we didn't get a chance to try the ice cream, we did buy some delicious fresh cheese curds.  The ice cream will have to wait til our next trip....

Shooting my kids

This was literally one of the hardest sessions I've done in a long time.  It was hard because these are my daughters.  And they wouldn't sit still!  They kept giggling, tickling each other, refusing to get close, and then they'd complain they were hungry.  One would make a comment and they'd fall over in a fit of laughter.  I told them it was easier to photograph the family pets than it was to photograph them!  (You can see some of the pet pics in an earlier post.) 

We'd been planning to do a formal session for awhile.  My oldest daughter (the one on the left) was home from college for the summer and both girls wanted formal portraits taken.  (Caroline will be a sophomore in college and Catherine will be a high school senior this fall.)  My friend Corvette Dela Cruz is an awesome hair and makeup artist and she offered to come over and make the girls up.  They were so excited!  You would think that being the daughters of a photographer they'd be tired of getting their pictures taken.  Not necessarily.  When they're in the right mood, they love to ham it up for me.  This session was especially fun (and challenging!) because I'd shown them some ideas I had and they were just plain giddy.

It took me over an hour to finally get the shot I wanted.  Not because I'm slow, but because they'd sit for a second, then look at each other and burst out laughing.  It's a far cry from when they were younger and would argue constantly or simply refuse to cooperate.  (Someday I'll have to post a pic I used for our Christmas card when the girls were little.  I tried to get everyone smiling, but my youngest refused to smile.  So the annual card had a family pic with her scowling while everyone else was smiling.)

For this session I was finally able to get them to settle down by doing what I always do when working with wild animals.  I bribed them with food.  I told them that if they'd sit for just a couple more shots, my husband and I would take them out for a nice dinner.   It worked like a charm.

It's nice to have this image of the two of them because creating the image was almost as fun as seeing it finished.  I smile every time I see it.

How did I get here?

 

 I'm often asked, "So how long have you been doing this?"  That's not a quick answer.  Most of the time, I find that when people ask this question they really want to know how I became a photographer.   It seems photography is one of those jobs a lot of people dream about and so they're curious how I actually got to where I am.

I opened my photography business almost 3 years ago.  But I've had a camera in my hands since I was about 10 years old.  When I was a teen, I trained in a darkroom learning how to develop my own film and processing my own black and white/color prints.  I absolutely loved the smell of the darkroom and the magic of seeing a photograph develop right before your eyes.  If I'd had a good mentor, I'm sure I would've pursued a photography career right out of college.  But instead, photography took a back seat while I followed a military career and raised a family.  I continued to take pics, but mostly just happy snaps here and there.  After I retired from the military, I spent several years as a consultant teaching photo organization and preservation.  Finally, I decided it was time to get back to my love of photography.  It was time to pick up my camera and get serious. 

I studied, took workshops, and studied some more.  I've been fortunate to train with world-class wedding and portrait photographers.  I've trained with a photographer who was a Pulitzer-prize runner up.  I've learned printing techniques from a Digital Print Master.  I continue to take classes and workshops to improve my techniques.  I'm also a member of several professional associations which has helped me become a better photographer and a better business-person.  Photography may seem very glamorous, but there's a lot of hard learning that goes along with it.

About the above picture.  It's my absolute favorite place to go and relax.  Do you know where this is?  Hint:  It's not on Oahu.  My family and I go here to relax, unwind, and do absolutely nothing.   I go here when I want to reflect on where I've been, what I've done, and where I still have yet to go.   I don't get to go here as frequently as I'd like, but the few days spent unwinding is all I need to get re-energized and re-focused.   I hope you have a special place where you can do likewise.  

Lantern Floating Ceremony

Last night I attended the annual Lantern Floating Ceremony at Magic Island.  What a beautiful experience.  The ceremony "remembers those who gave their lives in conflict, allows for reflection on the memories of loved ones and dedicates prayers for a peaceful and harmonious future."

Even though I don't like crowds and was feeling a little under the weather,  I told myself I would go this year.  I've seen the beautiful images of the lanterns floating on the water and knew I had to take my camera and go.  Over 40,000 people were in attendance, yet my daughter and I were able to make our way to the water's edge for a good view.   As the 2,000 lanterns were released, I found myself wading into the water (jeans and all) to get a closer view.

The music, the ceremony, and the incredible sight of the lanterns floating off in the distance was truly one of those "chicken-skin" experiences.  If you've never gone, this is one of those events you shouldn't miss.  The event is sponsored and officiated by a Buddhist sect in Hawaii, but people of all religions participate and the ceremony is one of "inclusion and harmony".  What a great concept!!

And in case you're wondering, the lanterns are collected from the ocean before they get too far out to sea. This keeps the environment safe and the platforms are re-used the following year.

The sky was singing

I was working very late last night.  I was overwhelmed by paperwork I'd been putting off and feeling rather frustrated by the whole mess.  I had the TV on and was half-watching Oprah when she announced The Canadian Tenors would be on her show.  They had no idea that they were going to be surprised by Celine Dion (whom they'd admired for years.)

Just watching this and listening to their beautiful vocals was everything I needed to end my day.  It was amazing how a great song could so quickly change my mood. (Their reaction to Celine was equally priceless.)  And it got me thinking about how a great image can do the same thing.  A great image should make you pause. 

I shot this image after a long day of meetings and various errands.  I was tired and my drive home was made even longer by slow traffic and rain showers.  As I neared my house, the clouds and the sky started to take on this beautiful hue.  For half a second I was tempted to just continue on home, I was so tired.  But the sky was SO incredibly striking and I had my camera with me, so I pulled into this park and started shooting.  Even after the sun went down, I just stood there amazed.   It was the same feeling after listening to this song.  I hope you'll pause a moment take this all in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tubL9EaiztM&feature=player_embedded

Song:  Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.  I first heard it by kd lang at the Winter Olympics and I was mesmerized.