Just Cats

This is what happens when a photographer gets bored...

Yeah, so, cats. Yes, I am 18. Yes, I already have two cats. This is a judge free zone!

I would love to say I figured out something profound while stalking these moonchkins... but really I was just playing with buttons and practicing my "quick draw" setting changes LOL. So, if you're having a bad day I hope these kitties cheer you up, or at least make the day less bad. If you're not having a bad day, enjoy the kitties anyways!

And just an extra, a photo I snapped of one of my students and the wonderful Katy. This photo and this pair fill my heart with warmth. 

This is supposed to be B/W... Blogger, again, messing with colour balance!!

Love,

Emily

A Million in One

This is what happens when a photographer sifts through old photos...

So, I'm sifting through old photos while deleting to make room for my new ones, when I got stuck on this particular image. It is a photo of Katy that just sent a sense of freedom swirling through my body. I knew I wanted to do something with it-- but what? As I started cropping and playing around with colours I realized I had saved like 10 different versions of the same image already. It reminded me of something I learned long ago- there is always more than meets the eye.

Such a kind eye...

One image contains millions of completely different images. You simply have to be willing to look.

Love,

Emily

Mirrors

This is what happens when a photographer finds a mirror by a dumpster

I was just driving casually along my apartment complex heading out to my shoot with the absolutely drop-dead gorgeous Sana... when something shiny caught my eye. I look over and BAM. There is this mirror that had been broken off of a vanity just chilling to the side of the dumpster. I probably looked completely weird because I parked by the dumpsters staring at this thing for a good 5 minutes before I sucked up the courage to snag it and run. I had never used a mirror in a shoot, so I had no clue what I was doing. But we played around and I was quite happy with the result. No doubt I'm going to use this little ugly piece of magical-ness in another shoot sometime, it has an interesting look that only insane people with access to the arts would find pretty. Lets ignore the mystery substance spilled all over the base of it though. :)

After playing around in the dirt for a while, we ran around this park hunting down the perfect light. Most of the pictures were captured by me stopping Sana in her tracks exlaiming "YES! THIS!" "LOVELY" or something to that degree. 

What can I say? When you see something you see something...

I don't know what is up with her eye... they are perfect everywhere else I upload this file... Blogger is weird.

Pretty faces fade. True beauty shines through from the soul and lasts an eternity.



Love,

Emily

Perfect Imperfections

This is what happens when a photographer has beautiful friends.

This is the wonderful and completely gorgeous Meghan. I have been friends with this girl since my junior year in high school and if you stalk my photos you are sure to see her face quite often. We're in separate cities now doing our own thing, but we finally were able to get together this past break and go hog-wild with pretty dresses and makeup. 

Since Meghan is allergic to cats I had to bring my studio to her, I wish I had gotten a picture of my poor little car packed to the roof with gear! We ran around her house finding pretty walls (the one above is actually her bathroom, with my flash balanced against a gold umbrella in a sink LOL) and anything that gave us some inspiration. 

"I never thought I could pull off red lipstick..." I just HAD to prove her wrong ;)

After we had exhausted pretty much all the walls and backdrops, I started looking around to find some other sources of light to play with... when I realized there were huge windows all around the dining room we were in with amazing shutters that allowed me to actually control the light *Photographer spazz*

I kind of freaked out as I always do when I see something pretty, but Meghan was a trooper as she sat through my microscopic movements to get juuuust the right light...

After I finished spazzing over the window we decided to switch dresses and play with the wallpaper I had spazzed out over earlier in her bathroom. 

As much fun as it was getting these great shots, the best part about this shoot were the imperfect shots. The missed focus ones, the over exposed, the awkward compositions. But why?? Why on Earth would I consider that the best part?? Because I learned so much on this shoot I couldn't sleep that night going over everything in my head. I could feel my adjustments with the camera becoming faster, more instinctual, and less strained. I allowed myself to follow my instincts and even though it didn't work every time, it worked a whole lot more than over thinking everything did! Even some of the mistakes turned out to not be so bad. ;) I actually quite like this one despite the blinding over exposure, miss-focus, and blurriness. Who would have thunk?

Aim for growth through your imperfections, not being perfect.

Love,

Emily

There's Another World Inside Me

This is what happens when a photographer is left alone in a barn with a camera

 We all have them. Those rooms or closets that no one has dared to enter in years. Well today, I dared to enter the attic in the barn.

This photographic heaven has been in existence for way longer than I've been alive and collecting dust for quite a few of those years. I have refused to go up there since I came to this barn almost 4 years ago... but today it literally felt like something was pushing me up the stairs (creepy, right?). Well whatever it was I need to thank it, because it lead to an hour and a half of photographic excitement.

After about 20 minutes of rolling around in the dirt cloaked beauty, I kind of just found myself wondering around the barn... snapping photos of anything and everything that caught my eye. It's funny how you can be somewhere for so long and still discover things that have been right in front of your face all along...

Finally I had made my way out of the barn itself... only to find myself in the paddocks with the horses! :-) Snowflake was lovely enough to model for me, and what a model she was!

Okay I was pretty, can I have treats now???

This cutie pie is just the best snuggle buddy when it's 35 degrees outside! (Which, by the way, it was the entire time I was out there. Yeah, I couldn't feel anything when I got in my car... it's all worth it ;) )











I was done with Snow, but boy was I not done taking pictures. I hopped the fence a couple of times and found myself with my lovely buggy :). Her buddy Szedoso was awesome enough to appear in some of the photos in the most convenient spot of course!

This is going to sound absolutely mental, but I was literally in another world this entire shoot. Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the smell of horses everywhere... but I forgot completely about time, about the cold, about my sniffling clogged up nose, everything disappeared and it was just me and my surroundings (my surroundings and I??). In my recent shoots I think I had forgotten about this place. I used to go there every time I would pick up my camera, especially in the beginning. I couldn't be more thankful for this day, for my life. 

Love, 

Emily