It's been WAY to long!- Blogging all about Pebbles and BamBam

I'll admit it... I've been hiding from my blog. Once I got behind in posting, I felt hopeless in catching up. But my blog is supposed to be my creative outlet, a place where I post my latest and greatest pics, so why was I hiding from it. The short answer is simply that I got busy and a bit burnt out at the same time. Busy with work and burnt out after a 9 week long, intense photography workshop. But I kind of figure that I want to make one last post before the new year. Who know, maybe this post will kick start it for me again to make two posts before the end of the year.

This next year I am planning two photography projects, that I hope some of my friends (online and in person) will join in with me. The first project is called a Project 52. One picture a week. I am brainstorming ideas and themes. I want to in the end, put together a coffee table book for myself of the year 2011. I know some of my friends are doing a Project 52 with the theme being, "Things that they Love". The second project is called a 4 x 12. This project is to take one family picture once a month. The 4 represents Nate, myself, Noah and Nicole and the 12 for each month of the year. The bonus with this last project is that it is an instant winner for the 2012 calendar I plan to create!

In the time that I've been in hiding, I didn't let me lovely camera sit alone in on my dresser. Actually, I spent an amazing afternoon recently with 9 other local photographers that are part of the Bloom Forum that I am an active member. We gathered in Danville to share a meal and then set off with 3 gorgeous models to take a crack at photographing outdoor Senior portraits. Shooting with professional photographers was so so intimidating, but I learned a lot and really got to see how hard it is. If you want to see some of my work and the other ladies work from that day, check out this post!

Lastly, here are a few of the photos from the Natural Light Workshop that I completed in November. This workshop has given me the confidence to shoot in any sort of natural light situation. For Example

Back Lighting Mid-day Full Sun

Back Lighting Mid-day Full Sun with a reflector
My wonderful friend Dani came out to the Peninsula so that we could do a fitness inspired photo shoot. She runs her own fitness business in the East Bay, KickStart Fitness










Sun Set (Golden Hour) Back Lighting with a reflector: Just some sweet shots of Noah and Aiden!








Natural Reflectors: In this case I used the sun reflecting off the concrete during the Golden Hour. Again, a sweet pic of my little Noah.

Discovering the use of pockets of light: I love the sliding glass door in front of my kitchen table. Lots of diffuse gorgeous light.





Starburst and Sunflare: How to photograph this was tough, but I finally got it...yay! And I love the results!





Exposing for subject and sky: Nate my wonderful husband agreed to be my subject since at this point Noah and Nicole would break out in sobs if they saw me pick up my camera. They were so tired of me taking pictures for this assignment or that assignment!

Nate's facial expression says, "Sun too bright, hurt eyes, even with cool shades on!"


Well, that is just a fraction of the pictures that I took for each assignment. It feels really good to get those posted, and now I can think about my upcoming projects!

The Natural Light Workshop is Where I've Been Hiding!

I haven't posted very much in the past weeks mainly because my time has been filled with photographing and editing for a Natural Light Workshop that I am wrapping up. I've been spending most evenings buried away in my room on the computer, it's been a super intense class. I have learned so much about light in this 8 week workshop, that I am kind of fanatical about light now. I see light everywhere, in movies, in magazine, at the dinner table, basically it is a bit ridiculous, but it is good. I want to share each of my assignments from the workshop over the next couple of posts. I will try to be good about posting my settings. Many of my friends who live close have been amazing in letting me photograph them or their kids for my assignments. This was really helpful since Noah and Nicole definitely deserve a break from the mamarazzi! Thank you so much Tara and Dani!

Anyhow, here is my first assignment.
Dramatic Lighting

Taken in our bathroom with me standing in the tub...

Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture f/3.2
Focal Length 28 mm
ISO Speed 1600


Oops deleted the original and can't find the exif data...

Thanks for looking tonight.

Happy Halloween to All Your Ghosts and Goblins- Blogging all about Pebbles and BamBam

Just had to quickly post and say "Happy Halloween!" to all your ghosts and goblins. I hope that you are all very safe on Sunday night. Have fun and don't forget to save some of the good candy for yourself...hee hee.

What I would have submitted for the Gap Casting Call-Blogging all about Pebbles and BamBam

I just thought I would post the pictures that I WOULD have submitted to the Gap Casting Call last week, that is if I had gotten my act together and pushed the sent button. Maybe next year?

These photos were taken as part of the Natural Light Workshop by Detra that I am taking right now. In this workshop we are on week 6. It's a very intense workshop where I am fighting the feeling of being burnt out! I am pushing onward because I am learning so so much. The workshop is amazing and the content is even more amazing. I feel like I can shoot in almost any natural light situation and make the photos work. The amount of time I spend in editing is hazardous to my health and sleep, so needless to say I will be taking a break for the holiday's.

The assignment for these photos was to intentionally "Blow" the background. That essentially means to blow out any detail, color etc...just white while maintaining the exposure of your subject. This is done in a lot of high fashion photos. At the bottom of the post you can see the straight out of camera shot, to see where I started with these photos.

I have ton's of pictures to share, but will stop at 5 for you today. Again here is my sweet and loving Noah.

I love this first pictures because for some reason it just capture a part of his personality.

Enjoy and Loves!







And these are the SOOC shot: All taken with my 50mm prime lens.

More from our time in Auberry-Blogging all about Pebbles and Bambam

Just a few more pics from our quick trip to Auberry in September. Mostly, what we did was watch the kids ride around on the John Deere tractors. From sun up to sun down that is what they did! I think with our next visit, I will need to bring ear plugs for the kids, because I am convinced with the amount of time they spent tooling around the "ranch" on the tractors that they probably lost a few decibels of hearing. I am blaming the tractors for Noah not "hearing" me when I ask him to do something for nth million time, and not because he is 3 and already thinks that he is in charge. Both the kids had a wonderful time with lots of room to jump, run, ride, and play. Good times!

Hope you enjoy the pictures. Thanks for looking.

Tractors, Tractors and more Tractors!!




Country life...

The last days of summer-Blogging all about Pebbles and Bambam

I have so many photos that I super behind in posting! Part of the reason that I am back-logged is that I started another photography workshop in mid-September in addition to getting really busy at work and bringing my work home with me at night (insert grumpy face here). I will post soon about my new photography workshop, it is awesome!

Anyway, I want to share a few photos from our family trip to Auberry to see Nate's parents. We decided at the last moment to take a week off from work and found ourselves with 2 - 3 days with nothing planned. We packed the kids and a couple of suitcases along with my camera and made the 4 1/2 hour drive to see the grandparents. I took a BAZILLION (not sure that is a word, but I am going with it) pictures and I can't show them all here. But on one afternoon Noah agreed to model for me so that I could capture him in the beautiful late summer light. A few notes about the pictures...the green chair is what I would call vintage, it was Nate's when he was a child. It fit Noah perfectly! And the key around Noah's neck? Is it a key to a buried treasure chest buried deep in his grandparent's yard. No, it's better than that! It's the key to Grandpa's Shop, where all of the really fun stuff happens! I have lots more photos to share and promise to put a collage together this week. Until then...Enjoy these!

I've been on a black & white kick lately, so I am posting both color and BW versions.

An ode to the beautiful people- Blogging all about Pebbles and BamBam

Well this post is so long overdue that I am a bit embarrased to share it. But because I love these pictures SO SO MUCH I have to share. Sometime in mid-August we made the drive to see my brother and his family in their new house in Roseville (Rocklin, really). Surprisingly, it wasn't too hot and we just sat outside and enjoyed the house warming party that they were having. This was one of those rare times lately where I didn't have my camera out the whole time and only snapped a few photos. I was having such a great time that I didn't want to bury my face behind the camera. But, I did have my camera with me and I caught these few pics of my neice and nephew, that I just adore. I titled this post, "ode to the beautiful people" because these two are so darn gorgeous and cute! I could build an entire portfolio around these two!

We had such a great time seeing my family and I wished that we lived closer so that I could spend more time with them and be there with my niece and nephew as they grow up. Maybe one day...

You now have a piece of my childhood- Blogging all about Pebbles and BamBam

More than a couple of weeks ago we were in downtown Burlingame having dinner. We had some extra time to roam the shops and I was so EXCITED to see that there was now a Vans shop open on the Ave. Seeing this store brought back some warm fuzzies for me. I can still remember my Mom driving us to Vans store in Southern California (Covina, I think??) to buy both my brother and I our Vans. We both got the white slips-ons. Those of you who had parent that bought Stride-Rites for you as a kid(and you know who you are...), my mom was the cool mom that bought Vans instead! I love that she did those small things, and still does those small things for my brother and I as adults! Nate knows how long I have waited to buy both Noah and Nicole a pair of their own Vans, and so he suffered the almost 45 minutes in the store to pick out just the right pair for each of them. And now, they each have a piece or memory from my childhood to have as their own.

all pictures taken with my 50 mm lens on manual baby!

Yay the Bloom Forum is OPEN- Blogging all about Pebbles and BamBam

Head on over to new and fabulous Bloom Forum.

For those of you who don't remember, it is the Bloom Workshop that I took this last summer to grow my passion for photography. The instructors of the workshop, Brenda Acuncius and Kristy Lane, just recently opened up the Bloom Forum. There is an incredible group of women over there that have come together to encourage one another to become better photographers and share their passion for this art. If you want to learn more about your camera, photography, and meet some really awesome people, head on over to the newly launched Bloom Forum.

This months October Creative challenge is all about You. Check out the forum and join in the fun, and find out the details about this month's challenge. You can play too!

Hope to see you there!

Dinner With Friends-Blogging all about Pebbles and BamBam

I've been such a bad blogger lately! I usually make my blog posts on my lunch at work or in the evenings. I've been working through my lunches and editting into the wee wee hours of the night. But, I'm back to share with you a lovely evening we had visiting friends for dinner.

Meet Dani, Mike, and their amazing daughter Talia. For those of you who don't know or don't remember, Dani and I were gym buddies when I was preggo with Noah and her with Talia. We kicked butt as two very fit and very pregnant ladies in our Monday and Wednesday night cardio kickboxing class at the PJCC. They've recently moved back to the Bay Area. I am so thrilled to have her an hour closer!

We got together for a BBQ dinner a couple of weeks ago and let me tell you, or rather show you how much fun those kids had. As you can see, there probably needed to be a bit more parental supervision, or not? And of course, I tortured Dani and her gorgeous family with my camera (such good sports!). We loved catching up with them (they are the type of friends were you don't have to reintroduce yourself, even if you haven't spent time together in a year) and I can't wait to see them again.

The very beautiful Talia.

Two Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. Again maybe they needed more supervision, maybe not, but they had so much fun. Look at those smiles!


Later there was the competitive game of Hungry Hungry Hippo. No one was hurt except the Hippos.

The cutest kids ever!

This was Noah's first kiss (from someone other than his Mom, Grandmas or someone related to him). The first that I know about anyway :-)
Lastly, my gorgeous dear friends! We had an amazing time hanging out with them and can't wait to do it again!

I promise to post more soon. :-)

Playing with my home "studio"- Blogging all about Pebbles and BamBam

Oh my, oh my, oh my! It has been over a week since I have put up a new post on my blog. It's not that I haven't wanted to post, but that the day seems to escape me and another day passes. I have been spending a lot of time editing photos that I took during the Bloom workshop or photos that I have taken recently. I mainly spend the time editing since I am still looking for my style, trying to nail it down so that editing will go faster overall. I recently edited these gorgeous photos of my neice and nephew, but I want to ask their mom if I can post the pictures here before I put them up...maybe next time.

This time, I'm posting a few of Noah that I took using my natural light "studio" that I set up with my seamless background paper in the dining room. Noah, he is my little funny bunny! Nate and I have since figured out how to set this studio up more efficiently in the kids bedroom. In their bedroom they get lots and lots of creamy natural light (no yucky color casts), and there is loads more room to photograph. The photo of Nicole was taken with the "studio" in their bedroom. She is CLEARLY pleased to have her photo taken (ha ha ha!)

These were editted using Brenda's Color, Child's Play Pastel Wash and Contrast Boost.






Blasted to you Flickr who oversharpens my photos.....ggggrrrr.

I took these especially for my Mom- Blogging all about Pebbles and BamBam

I took these photos especially for my mom, who I thought needed a bit of cheering up!

For once, I got some great photos of my little girl. How? you might ask. The trick is to have Noah standing nearby. I think, Noah is her most favorite person followed close behind by Elmo and Abby from Sesame Street. Noah was pretending to take pictures of her with his camera while at the same time he was attacking me with a stuffed Elmo doll (which is probably why she is smiling so much). Trying to take her picture and fend off Elmo (and Noah) a funny site...if only Nate was taking pictures of me taking pictures.

Hope these bring you a smile today, Mom! Love you.

Processed in Adobe Camera Raw. Used Brenda Acuncius's Color Boost action and Urban action (all opacities adjusted). Used Moira Compositor to create storyboard.