Jodee and I (with Susan's help) got together for a photo shoot at the most unlikely places. One of the places is an empty car mechanics garage, and then also at an office warehouse alley. Neither one is very pretty. But I had a blast with the lighting in both of these places and that was the challenge for the night. Thanks ladies for making it fun!
I was excited about this session from the very beginning. When else do you get to photograph a cute girl, goats, and a lamb? Anna is the president of F.F.A. at her school so she raises a lamb and two goats. Hmmm, if I could remember their names........maybe the lamb is named Eli? Outside of a children's petting zoo, I'd never really spent that much time with such animals. I learned that the goats really like to nibble. Not bite - just nibble. So I found myself suddenly covering my cameras with my hands and pulling in any little stray camera straps, but even then, they nibble on my shirt, hand, anything.
Anna was a great sport and she was up for anything. She watched me almost fall off my stepstool and then sting myself with a weed or something. We spent some time in and around the barn, and alsowith the animals. Then we headed down the road to get some shots of her in her beautiful prom dress just as the sun was at it's best.
We finished the afternoon with some shots of Anna with her boyfriend Colin, her brother Zane, and then a few quick shots with her family.
Thanks Anna and Dara for letting me take part in this photoshoot for your senior year. I really enjoyed spending the afternoon with you. And thanks for sharing your story of how you and Colin met - it's very sweet!
To see the rest of the images, go to my website http://www.karellephotography.com/ and click on 'Digital Studio' on the far right. From there, follow the instructions and look for Anna's Senior Session. You'll see the images that are on my blog, the rest of the images, and then a few 'outtakes.' Hehehe!
I'm very close to uploading these to my website and showing the rest of them. In the meantime, here's a few more for Anna. 
-In case you missed it, I changed the colors on my website back to the original ones. And I changed the third song. Other than that, not much change on the website.
-Everyone needs time to get away and think. This weekend is such a weekend. I'll be planning, brainstorming, organizing, etc. A few friends are going with me so that I'm not totally lonely so it will be fun to hang out with them in the evening.
-I'm gearing up for the Mike Colon workshop coming up in Dallas next week. I've really enjoyed his work for a while now so I'm excited to hear him speak and to see more of his work.
-I'm headed out today to shoot some seniors for fun. They are Ashley's clients, so I'm just along for the ride. It's a beautiful day, perfect weather, so it should be a really good shoot.
Amy and Eric had volunteered to let me photograph them so I could practice a few techniques and learn some new stuff. Long story short - I didn't do what I had planned because it was a disaster. I walked away that day not thinking there were any good shots. Luckily, some of them were really good and it wasn't a waste of a day.
Even if I'd not had any good shots from that day, it wouldn't have been a total waste because I would have learned what NOT to do.
I'm so thankful for Amy and Eric's willingness to help me with this task. They were great sports even while I was having a creativity meltdown :) And it was so fun to hang out with them for a little while.
Last chance to see my website like this, and then I'll switch it back to normal. Check it while it's hot!
I ended up watching '27 Dresses' tonight. I thought it was a very cute movie and not bad for a chick-flick. And just like the girl, I've got a collection of dresses going. Not 27, but someday I might get there.
It's still going to be a few days until I have them ready, but this is the first picture I looked at from yesterday's session with Anna. I'll write more about the session later with the rest of the pictures, but I just wanted to share this one real quick.
-I took some time today to sit and plan for the week. And the next week. And the week after that. The list I compiled of tasks to work on will carry me for the next month. Some of it includes going out of town (fun!), editing some photo sessions (fun!), going to the movies with friends (fun!), shooting friends (with a camera, fun!), getting a haircut (not totally fun, but necessary), and the list goes on.
And no, for those that know, this isn't THE haircut, just a trim. I'll probably cut my hair later this year at which point it will be donated to 'Locks of Love.'
-Soon I hope to be receiving a CD and DVD in the mail. The Cd is by Levi Weaver, who wrote and sings the first song on my website. Check him out then go over to CDBaby to buy the CD.
The DVD is 'Becoming Jane,' the one about Jane Austen. There are some scenes in that movie that really stayed with me long after I saw it. That's one way to measure the success of a movie, by the impact it has on you long after watching it.
-If I've had a lack of pictures for a little while, then I'll be making up for it in the next few weeks. I have lots to show you.
-It seems that several of you read my blog (you confessed it to me, there's no shame in it :) ), so leave me a comment! I'm sad and desperate and I really like comments.
................I blog for comments.........................(how pathetic is that?)
Have a great, productive, and significant week!!!
Actually, it's been one of those weekends.
It was a shoot-filled weekend. It started off early on Saturday with a photo shoot at a horse stable with my photo club. I wasn't going to be able to stay very long, but I wanted to at least shoot a little bit. Because I was running a few minutes late, I ended up only being able to stay about 25 mins.
After that I headed into town to shoot a session for my friends Amy and Eric. The shoot didn't go at all as I planned. I was shooting during the worst time of day, but I was challenging myself to work with that and using new lighting techniques.
No. Didn't work. Nothing worked like I wanted it to work.
Then, I was setting up a light stand for the flash and I broke the stand!!! I don't know my own strength. And to make it worse, it's not my lightstand. My friends/models did a great job, but I was not 'rocking' it.
So that made me wonder how today would go. I needed to shake of that less-then-stellar performance from Saturday and just shoot what I know.
I drove out to the Woodlands to shoot Anna's senior pictures. I was very excited about this because she's the president of FFA at her school and she has two goats and a lamb. How fun is that??
I was supposed to meet them at 230pm so we could go out to the barn. I thought we were meeting at Jack in the Box (which didn't make sense since it's on the other side of the highway), but they were at Wendy's (which makes complete sense since it's on the street that leads to the barn.) I didn't have their number so I had to just sit there and wait for them to call me to find out where I was. Embarassing!
At one point, I ended up almost falling off my step stool while I was shooting. Later in the session, I got down on the ground to show Anna how to sit. I put my hand down on the ground and immediately I started feeling a stinging sensation in my hand. Like pins and needles, but there's nothing on the surface. And it still hurts, six hours later.
Later, now at home, I come to find out one of my cards is whacked out and showing me letters/characters I've never seen before! The pictures are fine and in tact, but the 'extra' stuff scares me.
When will this weekend end? Yes, in one hour and ten minutes.
I'm so excited that I have the time right now to go out and shoot for fun. It's always fun to shoot weddings and people and such, but right now I have the opportunity to choose something different and go shoot it. Kind of like a self-assignment.
So I spent last Saturday doing just that. Here are two shots from that day. As I have time to go through them, I'll post them. And for those of you that have been paying close attention to past posts, yes, I keep trying to use the sun to my advantage.
Two weeks old and very alert for her age. She's a cutie pie and her mommy doesn't even look like she just had a baby! We had a very peaceful session at their house this past weekend and Harper didn't really fuss much. But we couldn't get her to go to sleep for more than a few minutes! Oh well, she has beautiful blue eyes to show off anyways.
-I don't know why, but I felt like temporarily changing the colors on my website to go along with Valentine's Day. But it will go back to the original colors in two weeks. So, go check it out.
-I ended up watching 'Bourne Ultimatum' again last night after the Superbowl. I really love that series because you just never know what he's going to do next. But if you've seen it as many times as I have, then you DO know what he's going to do next, but it's still exciting to watch.
-I have to admit, I may have only watched about four actual minutes of the Superbowl. And none of the commercials. But I was at two Superbowl parties, so does that still count?
-I don't have any pictures to show today, but I will have some soon. I have several from this weekend.
