I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to travel to Italy in the Summer of 2006. I went with a photography group organized by one of my teachers. We traveled to Rome, Florence, Pistoia, Lucca, Venice and stayed most of the time in a villa tucked away in the Tuscan hills. The trip was magnificent! I pray one day that I will return.
The picture above was taken in Florence just after we toured a museum that housed a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit. I remember the moment just as the day I took the picture. It was me and two other girls resting on a bench in this courtyard. We had just finished our gelato and was watching a family play. This moment came up and I had the snap the shot.
I have many more moments from the trip but I could only shot film since I had not gotten my digital camera yet. Since I only have film, I do not have a way to scan my negatives anymore since I am out of school. I just happen to scan this picture in when I had some free time in the photo lab.
The Fort Worth Stockyards is a fun place to shoot just about anything so I was so excited when a coworker asked me to take pictures of her and her boyfriend. He, being from Maryland, had never been to the Stockyards and I’m not sure if he knew what to expect. So we roamed around the area looking for interesting locations. There is a courtyard a few blocks south of Exchange that offer a very romantic setting. Both had a lot of fun shooting and liked the end result.
My good friend Tara McDorman asked me to photographer her and her siblings for their mom’s Mother’s Day present. I decided a nice place, close to home, would be the Grapevine Botanical Gardens. Although small, the Grapevine Botanical Gardens is a beautiful spot, it’s well-kept and there are plenty of spots with beautiful lighting. Here are a few shots from that day.
The mom of this senior had the idea to take pictures in front of a slow moving train and with the graffiti on the train cars. We lucked out when we got to the site and there just happen to be a train engine stopped. We took advantage of the situation!
The weather was kind of unpredictable that day but for the most part offered subtle lighting. I think everyone was happy with the results, including mom.
I have been so busy lately and haven’t been able to post anything new. I graduate in one week and trying to get everything done, while trying not to fall in to “senioritis” has been a real struggle. I have been asked by so many people to take pictures for them such as senior pictures, pictures for Mother’s Day or just pictures to have pictures. Although this adds to my busyness it has come at the best time since I am in the process of researching, and hopefully buying soon, a new camera.
I will begin to showcase some of the portraits I have been taking…one at a time.
*Difficult Lighting Helps Learning*
I love taking pictures of people and I am always looking for a new environment that I can learn in. A friend of mine, Jessica, asked me to take pictures of her with her boyfriend’s Harley-Davidson, for his birthday. The scenario was that she would set up a black sheet in her garage and the Harley in front. I was scared of what the lighting might be like and I only have a Canon Speedlite 430EX and a tripod.
So just as I thought, the available lighting was a single light bulb. Luckily Jessica had a halogen shop light stored in the garage and I tried to put it to good use. I set it up on a cooler and pointed it up towards the ceiling for some bounce light.
Although the lighting issue was hard to overcome, but with a little bit of tweaking and experimentation the pictures turned out beautiful.
For my Photojournalism on the Web class this past Fall, we were required to produce a multimedia package for the web by using all the things we had learned throughout the semester; video, stills, soundslides, audio, and etc…
As a group, we chose to focus on an equestrian therapy riding facility in Ponder, TX, Riding Unlimited. I live in Justin, TX and have driven by the ranch many times and always wondered what exactly they did there. For the project, we decided to check it out and decided that this idea would be great for our end of the year project.
Riding Unlimited provides equestrian therapy for people with disabilities (www.ridingunlimited.org). I was very happy to do this story even though it may have been a little difficult. I enjoy being around people who have been born with disabilities because even though they may have to go through life a little different from the rest of us, they seem to have the best out look on life.
I had the opportunity to shoot my second wedding, last month. I am very happy with the results and wanted to share my favorite shots from that evening.
A good friend of mine, Danny Muse, was paralyzed and injured in a dirtbike accident in March 2008. As he was forced to become confined to a wheelchair and the help of his parents, he, surprisingly, has been very upbeat about the situation. Danny has taught me the basics of his condition, as in what he must go through each day, the extent of his injury and paralysis in general.
Danny and I are both part of the Texas Cross Country Racing Association (www.tccra.org). The TCCRA community was blindsided by the accident and has made people realize that an injury this substantial can happen. However, in wake of Danny’s accident, the members of the organization came together to offer montary and emotional support.
Six months after Danny’s accident, the members of the TCCRA was able to witness the most couragesous and inspirational “thank you” any of us had probably ever seen. It was racing.
Danny, with the help of friends and family, was able to modify his bike with hand controls. With his legs duct taped to the foot pegs, Danny got back on the metal horse that threw him off.
I was going through some files tonight and I came across the very first photo that was ever published of mine. It appeared on the front page the North Texas Daily the same week I started my internship there. The assignment was to go to the North Texas State Fair and Rodeo and take some pictures for the first edition of the paper for that semester. I don’t think this was the best photo out all that were taken. However, the color stands out and is beautiful and crisp.
I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to travel to Italy in the Summer of 2006. I went with a photography group organized by one of my teachers. We traveled to Rome, Florence, Pistoia, Lucca, Venice and stayed most of the time in a villa tucked away in the Tuscan hills. The trip was magnificent! I pray one day that I will return. 
