Pools and Views

First night shoot with the new camera. I was able to use ISO 400... do you see any grain? Because I don't. There are even clouds visible above the house in the last shot! I'm completely amazed! I had a fabulous time, and I can't wait to use this new camera again! 

Treasured Trash

What a fun morning! I volunteered to help out with Baltimore's "Serve the City" project and got to use my photography to give back to the community. My assignment was to head over to Second Chance (http://www.secondchanceinc.org/), an amazing company that gives people "a second chance" by giving them jobs after they have been to prison. They teach these people with criminal records how to tear down buildings, giving them a skill they can use for the rest of their lives. Then, whatever has been left in the building that is salvageable (hard-wood floors, cabinets, mirrors, shelving, shutters, toilets, chandeliers, molding, etc), they take to the warehouse where they sell it for a profit! They keep the leftovers from going to landfills, and they give people a place to work. Ingenious! 

We had a fabulous time! We were told to have fun and photograph what we wanted, how we wanted. Here are a few of my unedited images from the day!

Humming Along

I just finished writing an email to my Aunt about the new camera. I took a moment to pause and look out the window, and saw the humming bird flying around, thinking about going to the feeder. I grabbed my camera, rushed downstairs, sat down on the front walkway and waited for the hungry little bird to enter my frame. It did. I snapped. How cool is that?! 

New Addition!!!

To the camera family that is. The newest camera arrived from the Nikon factory today! I'm so excited to be shooting with upgraded equipment! While the D200 will still be used pretty frequently, I'll be doing all of my professional shoots with the Newbie. Love it already!

This shot was taken as the tail end of the storm blew over 216 in Fulton. I pulled over and used the cover in my trunk as a tri-pod in order to capture some of the spectacular lightning. This was the only shot with an actual bolt... the rest have hints of light in the clouds, but sadly, that's about it. 

Streaming Dreams

The architect for this masterpiece of a house must have gotten inspiration from my dreams. I have ALWAYS wanted to have a little man-made stream running through my house (although I want mine to have fish in it too), with plexiglass bridges so people can walk over it, and at the same time peer into water. I loved how this stream also had a wall fountain (right side of frame) where the water rippled down and lightly splattered into the stream. The effect was relaxing, and the echo of the water could be heard throughout the house. 

Natural Musical

One of the most amazing houses I've ever seen. It was so gorgeous! I made a comment to the agent that the house felt like a visual and structural representation of music... if music were made of wood. She gave me a strange look and said, "That's funny you say that because that was the idea behind this house was music. The architect is a musician and wanted the house to reflect that." I can't say that I've ever understood an artist's work right away, but this was just obvious - and both spectacularly and extremely tastefully designed. Flawless. Beautiful. Natural. Stunning. I'm not sure I wold want to live in a place like this, but perhaps I can find a way to incorporate the concepts into my house one day. 

Everything Gets Hotter

     My first night shoot! Aside from the brutal attack by mosquitoes (go figure, I'm standing in the middle of the woods, surrounded by plenty of still water from the recent monsoon rains), this was probably one of my favorite shoots to date. When I got there, I freaked out because I didn't know if anyone was going to be meeting me there... And as I stood waiting for dusk to dissolve into the blackness if night, I prayed that the "Goatman" had more important business to attend to, rather than eat a lonely girl in a dark forest. Luckily, with moments to spare, I saw headlights bounding up the driveway, and from the car emerged the listing agent who proceeded to turn on all the lights in the house for me.
     I have to admit that this was a pretty difficult house to shoot. Even with the cathedral ceilings, it was still relatively short (no second story), which made it more difficult to capture it's enormity. I'm glad I got there early, giving me time to scout the perfect vantage point.

Rick and Martie Married!

Talk about a fun night! Martie was my lacrosse coach in high school, and I was honored to be asked to photograph her wedding. It was a simple, beautiful outdoor wedding at the Hobbits Glen Golf Course in Columbia, MD. 

 Martie and Rick wrote their own vows. It was so wonderful to hear two people share their love for each other in their own, personal way.

The Kiss. 

 What a gorgeous family!

 BESTIES!

 I had to steal these chairs from another group of people enjoying the sunset. Luckily they didn't mind too much when they heard that they were giving up their seats [temporarily] for a newly married couple. I think this is my favorite picture from the night!

 And this is my other favorite picture. As I was photographing the cake, I saw Martie dancing into the frame towards her friends, and I managed to capture that as the background here.

 He gave the most wonderful speech. I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd.

 Time to dance!

 Not sure what happened here, but I thought the photo was adorable!

 Mother of the bride.

 The standard "late-night-party-shot"

 Stealing a moment before the cake cutting.

 Let them eat cake!

 And dance the night away!

Such a fun night! I had such a great time, and I'm glad I got to capture the event on film for everyone to see!