Featured Artist!

I'm so excited to announce this!  Today I am the featured artist on one of my fellow artist's blog!

Read about it over here! :)  Kelly Mae Kreations

Pin Up Photo Shoot

Back in high school I would admire all the Guess ads that were in all the magazines and loved the way they looked in black and white, with the classic "pin up" look. I would tear them out of the magazines and tape them up on my wall (along with all my other posters I had)

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I had always loved the classic 1950's Pin Up posters as well.

I'd always been interested in doing a photo shoot like that, but never had the guts to approach any of my friends to dress up and allow me to photograph them.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I was approached by someone asking me to do a Pin Up Photo Shoot!

I eagerly accepted!

The photo shoot itself, went well.   Processing and editing the photos?  Well, now that too a LOT more time and energy.

I had a vision in my head of how I wanted the final product to look like in Photoshop.  I tried many different techniques, to no avail.

Then I did a google search and, lo and behold, I found a Photoshop Pin Up Tutorial!

And the result was this:

Once I had the look I wanted, I then experimented with other photoshop techniques and came up with this black and white one:

I like it because it looks like it was actually taken in the 1950's.

And then I was having fun with the different effects I was able to achieve using Photoshop Actions.

I don't always like to do the traditional poses and like to get a little off center, only show part of the face, just a little different.

She was a fabulous model for me and I was so privileged to do this photo shoot for her.

Oh!  And I can't forget the car that was loaned to her for the photo shoot too!

GTO

You can also find me on Facebook here:  Tina Louise Photo

I learned so much with this photo shoot, mostly with Photoshop and my love for the program has only deepened, as well as my love for photography.

Senior Night and Pictures

I was hired to capture "Senior Night" at the local high school for one of the Senior girls.  She has been playing volleyball her whole high school career and this was the night to celebrate the wonderful talent of the Senior girls on the volleyball team.

She is a joy to photograph.

 She has such a joyful spirit and sense of pride for her team, as you can see here.

I do love sports photography, as it's the thrill of getting that one shot.

During most of my photo shoots, I will almost always find objects that I love to photograph as well, that may or may not relate/

I happened to see one of the bouquets of flowers that were given to the Senior High Girls that night and I wanted to capture the abundance of red roses that were before me.

Photography is a love I have been enamored with since I was a pre-teen, taking pictures of my Barbies.

It is a love I want to build on and learn with.

100-step Photo Walk

I read about doing a 100-step Photo Walk from my dear friend over at Bella Wish.  The purpose of this is to challenge you to take a closer look at what's around you.  To take a photo every at every 100 step. 

This evening my youngest daughter and I went for a walk around the neighborhood.  This is what I saw in our walk:

Turning the Corner

This past week I made a decision.

What should I focus on...

Would it be crocheting?

Sewing?

Photography?

All three I love with a passion.

But as my daughter and friend/mentor told me.....I need to pick one.

That doesn't mean I have to abandon the others.

It just means I have to put my main focus on one passion and run with it.

I need to own that passion.

Show that passion.

Live that passion.

A few events came into play this past week to render my decision.

I was commissioned for some work with this passion.

I was introduced to another fellow artist by a longtime friend of mine, and this was without her knowing what decision I had made.

I was "friended" by two fellow artists on Google+ who chose the same passion I am choosing.

A friend encouraged me to enter a blog contest.

All of these events happened within a week of each other.

Coincidence?

Or were they signs telling me what was in my heart all along?

However you look at it.

I chose it.

I chose photography.

I know I have a long way to go to find my niche in the photography world.

But it's what I love.

It's a passion that I rekindled a couple of years ago, with many possibilities.  I was making contacts.

A passion that I had to put on hold for a little while.

But no more.

I'm back.

And it's what I love to do.

And I can't wait to keep rekindling that passion as I keep pushing forward.

Stay tuned......

I Shoot Like A Girl

Yes, another necklace from my beautiful friend, Stacy, who owns Bella Wish, from which this necklace came from.  When I saw that she had this in her store, I KNEW I had to have it.

I have ALWAYS loved photography.  Ever since I got my first polaroid camera when I was 10.  When I first took Photo in Junior High and again in High School, with my Pentax K1000.  I LOVED that camera.  I loved black and white photography.  I loved working with the pictures in the darkroom.  I always wanted to have a darkroom of my own in my own house.

Well, life got in the way, and things happen, and with me and my practical side, I never did any pursuing with it.  Along come my children and of course with children come photos.  And with the timing of them, along came scrapbooking too.  I fell in love with scrapbooking.  And what do you scrapbook?  Photos?  And how do you want to make your pages look better and stand out?  Take great pictures.  So my photography side came back out again.

When my mom passed away, I bought myself a Canon Digital Rebel SLR.  I love that camera.  The grip is all worn off and I need to get a new grip, but I still love it.  I love the lens I purchased for myself about 2 years ago as well.  There is a new lens I want to get as well, and hopefully soon I can get it.

So about 2 years ago, I really started getting into photography again.  I started shooting action shots (softball) and in the process, found a friend who does a lot of photography.  I started making connections.  I started talking to my friend, Brad, who is an AMAZING photographer, and AMAZING friend.  This was it.  The timing seemed so right.  I worked part-time, the girls were getting a little older, this was perfect, I was going to get the free time to finally start pursuing this.  I was out taking pictures around all different places.  I was getting some really good shots.

Then, once again, life happened.  And it wasn't meant to be then.

Once again, it got put on the back burner.  And I mean the WAY back burner.  To the point that I didn't pick up my camera for months.

And I missed it.

Boy did I miss it.

Just before Christmas I did a photo shoot with my girls.  We went down to Balboa Park and had fun.  And I worked with a difficult subject.  My youngest daughter.  Who was NOT in the mood to have her picture taken, AT ALL.  But I worked through it and loved the results.

This past weekend we had an AMAZING moon out to see.  Well, for those of us who didn't have COMPLETE cloud cover, that is.

So the night was beautiful and I went up to my friend's house for about a 1/2 hour and sat in his backyard and  shot this moon:

And again, I fell in love with my camera.

I'm hoping that this will help me to jumpstart this passion again and start moving things along.

Only time will tell.  But I know that this passion will not go away, and through all the obstacles, I will, one day be able to pursue this.