K's Senior session

K had her session today and when I first met her, I told her I was going to try something new with her session. I did and those images came out awesome, but I only have a few minutes to edit and I just randomly selected four. The "cool, awesome" ones unfortunately weren't picked. BUT, the ones that were, I think, are simply beautiful.

This young lady is quite amazing. She knows what she wants to do and seems to have a plan of how to do it. Including where she wants to go to school, two choices of where she wants to go, and what she wants to major in. That's an accomplishment in and of itself! Who knows what they want to do for the rest of their life at such a young age? Obviously someone who's incredibly driven! And that's what K is! She's got an unreal head on her shoulders! What a bright, shining star!

So this blog post unfortunately has to be shorter than I'd like it to be. It's 8:30 pm and I haven't been home yet today. But I promise, that I'll post some of the awesomely cool images sometime this week. In the meantime, here are the four images that did get randomly selected.

Until next time,
Ally

C's Senior session

To say that I was beyond excited to do C's session today would be a serious understatement. First off, he's a football player. Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE football players. I love the physique of football players, I love the competitiveness of football players, I love watching football players...Heck, I MARRIED a football player! So when C's sister came in to sell us an ad for the high school yearbook and told us that she'd send her brother, who's a football player, in to do his senior session, I was super excited!

Add to that the new idea that I had to try out. I lit him on fire! Well, not him personally, but I lit his football on fire and his helmet on fire! I think I officially became a pyromaniac due to C's session! :)

He came in with his whole family, too, which made us really happy, as well. How cool is it to be that tight knit of a family that you'd want to be there for your siblings photo session or to want your family to be there, too. We all instantly bonded. It was a great day!

Even though C hardly muttered a word to me, I still think he had a pretty good time. I was glad that he was up for our pyrotechnics and I was thrilled with how this session turned out.

These three images are among my favorites, but my new favorite of all favorite image is the long skinny image. What do you think? Which one is yours?

Until next time (which will be very VERY soon, as we're really busy this week!!),
Ally

My first Camera Class!

So today, I was able to work with a young woman who called about how to use her camera. It was pretty cool, if I don't say so myself! And pretty refreshing to have someone who wanted to know how to REALLY use her camera. She has a little point and shoot from Canon and wanted to know how to use it in manual! How cool is that??? Someone who's actually interested in how the camera works instead of just putting it in auto and going from there.

We talked all about aperture and how to use it to control the depth of field, and how to use the shutter speed to control motion, too. We also played around a bit with the two live models I brought in for her. Thank goodness for my own two muses! :) They totally rocked it out!

So, all in all, we only worked together today for about an hour or so, but she learned a lot of information that she didn't know before. That made me super happy! So happy, in fact, that I'm seriously considering doing some more classes like this. Let me know if you or anyone else you know would be interested.

Until next time,
Ally

J's Senior session

As you already know, J is one of my senior ambassadors. We've already had one session and this was the one for his yearbook - his TRUE senior session.

We went to one of my all time favorite spots - an old barn on a working farm. Very cool! When we first pulled up, we had a visitor named Lucy. Lucy is a goose (and her name or his name for that matter, probably isn't really Lucy! Just changed the name to protect the innocent!!) and she was guarding the farm. She was pretty protective too, if I don't say so myself!! I'll try to post a picture of Lucy Goosey later on. This blog will be an ammended blog post for J!!

So after our discussion with Lucy, we made our way to the barn. I never realized how many very cool places around the barn there were! SO many!! J and I chose a few and started shooting! We got some absolutely amazing images together and these are just three of those.

We ended up shooting for three hours even though people have told me that there is no way that a guy will end up or last for three hours. Well, peeps, I beg to differ with ya! Even after three hours, J was still lookin' good!

Enjoy J's sneak peak! And make sure you check him out as the drum major for one of the local high schools. He's awesome!!

Until next time,
Ally

I meant to do that....

I recently had a close family member say to me "This is such a cute picture! It's too bad his head is cut off here at the top. I bet his mother would've ordered it if you hadn't cut his head off." When I gave my answer, "I meant to do that", she questioned why?

Sometimes, the focus isn't supposed to be on the cute outfit a child is wearing. Or the fact that that sweet little girl is off center...It just makes the image much more interesting. When I photograph a session, I want the final images to "call" to the parents, grandparents and the person who's seeing them. So sometimes, I'll crop a little closer in on the head. And I even do it on purpose!!

As I went on to explain further, I remembered an article that was written by another photographer in Baltimore. So, here it is. It perfectly describes me, and most professional photographers.

I Meant To Do That

Make no mistake, my work is unique! I have a style of my own and it is somewhat uncoventional. My clients are usually looking for something fresh, stylish and more contemporary than what many “traditional” photographers offer.

That being said, there are some things you may notice when looking at my work that is different from what you might be accustomed to…

“Tight Crops” – This means super close close-ups where often the face fills most of the frame of the image. These images are about the eyes, and often the top of the head is not included in the image. I meant to do that!

“Not-So-Smiley”- So many of us have been brought up to believe that a smile is a requirement to make a great photo. So not true! I love a pensive look as much as a big grin. I meant to do that!

“Let’s Be Negative” – Negative space is when the subject is placed off to the side of an image and the rest of the image is empty—this is done for artistic impact. I meant to do that!

“Left of Center”- The most boring position for a subject in a photograph is smack dab in the middle! I know, I know, not what you always thought, right? Trust me! There is a little something in design called the Rule of Thirds that we photographers often employ to enhance visual interest. The rule states that an image can be divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines (like a tic-tac-toe board). The four points formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to align features in the photograph. Aligning a photograph with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the photo than simply centering the feature would. Huh? Trust me, your child does not need to be right in the center of an image for it to be a good portrait! I meant to do that!

“The Light in the Eyes” The hallmark of good portrait photography is good lighting, and the hallmark of good lighting is something called a “catchlight,” – a reflection of light in the eyes. I love big catchlights! I purposely position my lights for the best and largest catchlights, especially for close-ups. Flip through any parenting or glamour magazine and look at the eyes—what do you see? Big bright catchlights! A lack of catchlights leaves the eyes looking flat, dull and lifeless. I meant to do that!

There you have it. I couldn't have written this better myself. This little article perfectly describes everything I think, and do, when it comes to my photo sessions.

So, my dear, sweet, loving family member who said that the image would've been better had I not "chopped" that sweet little boys head off...His mama loved it! (Yay!!!)

And, guess what else??? I meant to do that!!! :)

Until next time,
Ally