Sunday, October 31, 2010

NASCAR Race Weekend, Day 1 at Talledega Super Speedway

Below is a smilebox slideshow of images from Day 1 of our very first NASCAR Race Weekend in Talledega, AL.  This slideshow is a Truck Race that we saw on Saturday.  It was exciting and I picked out a driver right away.  He was #23.  He stayed in the top 3 but rolled the dice...decided NOT to re-fuel.  I think he didn't have enough gas to finish out like I had hoped.  Darned ole Chris chose the favorite and 2 time winner, Kyle Busch #18.  #18 did choose to re-fuel and he ended up doing the Victory Burn Out for the crowd!  So, Chris' guy won!

I have captioned each picture in the smilebox.  Hope you enjoy it!
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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Ashley & Preslee

My cousin, Ashley, had a baby girl! She named her Preslee. Ashley has been a girly girl from the time she was born because her mama dressed her up so prissy & pink! She grew up to be a very feminine, beautiful lady. Guess what?! She and her husband were previously and joyfully blessed with three rambunctious boys!


At this point in her life, Ashley didn't think she was going to have any more children. As the story goes, the unexpected happened & her pink dream came true!




 
So, I am proud to present Ashley and her pink princess Preslee at 2 weeks old.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Lauryn is 4!

Lauryn turned 4 yesterday.  She told Kayla that she wanted Barbies!  So, Kayla and I went to bring her some pink birthday presents.   Oh, she was so cute!!!  I don't think she was expecting us.  She greeted us at the back door smiling ear to ear and exclaimed, "You brought me pres-thents?!" 

Of course, I just  had to make a smilebox because anytime I am around Lauryn she makes me SMILE!  :) 
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Sunday, October 24, 2010

High School SENIORS photo shoot October 17, 2010 - Baleigh & Tiffany *Bonus Pics from my sisterCHICK...!


Baleigh and Tiffany were at the photo shoot bright and early Saturday morning.  And, when I say 'Bright' and early, I mean that sun was poppin'!  Now, I love that big beautiful sun. But, when the sun is so high overhead, it makes photography very dfficult.  We had a hard time finding even light. 

With all that said, I am happy to say that Baleigh and Tiffany's beauty outshone the sun! 
Gorg-E-O-so!




Thanks girls for bringing your smiling, willing faces to our photo shoot.  I wish I could have spent a bit more time with y'all actually.  I knew that you had your Jackette dance camp to attend so didn't want to keep you too long.  Oh, but believe me...I could have photographed you all day!

Bonus Pics from my sisterCHICK!

Below is a slideshow created using only pics taken by my partner photoCHICK, Melissa!  I love having Melissa around and working with her.  She is a blast and has such a passion for photography.  At one point, one of the girls looked down at me and said laughingly, "Look she's on her back on the ground over there!"  Then, she looked at Melissa and cracked up!  She said, "...and so is she!"  Yep, me and Melissa looked at each other with grass stuck in our hair and clothes and started giggling.  Both of us will do anything to 'get the shot'!  I hope you enjoy the slideshow with the files that she brought to me.   I enjoyed creating this slideshow.  Even though, we had the same model in front of us at the same time, our images have a different look.  She did a tad bit more tweaking to her color balance to create a more stylized effect while I left mine more natural.  I love seeing how every photographer's creations have their own signature look.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

High School SENIORS photo shoot October 17, 2010 - Caitlin & Ashleigh


Caitlin & Ashleigh are total sweethearts.  Melissa and I were happy that Caitlin came and brought her good friend, Ashleigh to the photo shoot event.  I told Caitlin that she reminded by me of Olivia on Jerseylicious.  She laughed because she though I meant Jersey Shore.  She had never seen Jerseylicious so she didn't know who Olivia was.  I have been watching this season of Jerseylicious and it cracks me up.  The setting is a beauty salon in New Jersey.  Lots of drama! 

Thankfully, the only drama that Caitlin & Ashleigh brought to their photo shoot was their dramatic beauty.  At first, I chose the song Daughters by John Mayer for their slideshow because I love that song.  I am sure their parents are so proud of their two precious daughters, Caitlin & Ashleigh.  But, then I decided I wanted something more upbeat so I went to an old Charlie's Angels Soundtrack.  Hey girls, I hope y'all like your slideshow.



I told Caitlin that she looked very 'girl next door pretty' and Ashleigh looked rock-n-roll chic!  Each of them could not have been any more precious.
Thanks girls.  You are Fun and Fabulous!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

High School SENIORS photo shoot October 17, 2010 - Allison & Lexi


Allison and Lexi are two High School friends.  Oh, my did I enjoy these two girls.  Melissa invited them to our all day Senior photo shoot event.  They are both beautiful girls with big friendly smiles and personalities.  Allison and Lexi are super cool chicks.  They are also very down-to-earth and open to play!  I hope they will always be playful and free spirited.  Allison has a dark complexion and Lexi is beautifully fair.  I wanted to ask Lexi if she had an Irish heritage when I saw her light blue eyes and features. 

I created a slideshow with some of my fave individual shots that I captured.  We walked over to catch some buddy pics by the pond.  And, they played with me and all my crazy ideas.  I love it!  I am anxious to see what amazing shots Melissa was able to capture. 

I used Shakira's song Gypsy for the slideshow music.  Shakira is my favorite artist.  I love her cuz her Hips Don't Lie!  lol...I really love her song Gypsy.  The life of a gypsy has always captured my imagination.  I hope you enjoy the music along with Allison and Lexi's slideshow.   

 
We found some Amazing Light under the pavillion by the pond! Puuuurrrfection!

High School SENIORS photo shoot October 17, 2010 - Bryan & Vyctoria


Melissa invited the very handsome Bryan to model for our new business partnership. We wish to tap into he High School Senior photography market. Bryan brought along Vyctoria. They were sooo much fun. Both of them have a great free spirit and tried all our suggestions.  Bryan and Vyctoria provided us with  many, many photo opps.  They are the cutest couple.  We enjoyed them both.  Their photo shoot began shortly before dusk.  We were racing the sundown.  I am happy about the timing actually because we caught some nightime couple's shots at the playground.  These shots were an unplanned bonus.

Thanks B & V for coming out to play with us.  You are both adorable!

p.s. The slideshow music is Shakira.  I loooove Shakira so I downloaded her new album.  The song I chose was Men in the Town.  Vyctoria found her Man in the Town!











Tuesday, October 19, 2010

High School SENIORS photo shoot October 17, 2010 - Kassandra 2010


I want you to meet Kassandra. Melissa and I coordinated a High School Senior photo shoot at North Park. Kassandra showed up all 'pretty in pink'. I think that with her blue eyes, red hair, pink top and gorgeous light all combined to help us create some beauties.

I asked her what kind of music she liked.  She said she liked oldies.  Oooooh, I like oldies too.  Well, oldies mean different eras for different people.  I remember that I was an elementary school aged kid when Tom Jones came to town.  My mom, Betty H. and Jeanita just haaaad to get tickets to see him in concert.  Then, they had to be extra pretty for Tom so, a new pant suit was just right for the occasion...soooo groovy 70's!  

So, let's bring back a little Tom Jones with She's A Lady for Miss Kassandra.  




Kassandra, I hope you enjoy your slideshow half as much as I enjoyed meeting you and capturing your smiling face and eyes. 
To request session fees and package pricing information from the PHOTOCHICKS, email:  michellesibley@att.net or Melissa.Roe@lpsp.org 

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Let's Talk Turkey

Ok, I almost forgot how to blog!  Seriously, I have not blogged in such a while.  Also, I have not been flickring much either.  Actually, my flickr flame was almost snuffed out.   Something happened to my photography interest lately.   Within the last couple months, I have agreed to take on a few wedding assignments.  These weddings were commissioned by another photographer who has a busy studio front.  He told me that he liked my work and wanted to book me for wedding work as an associate photographer.  I agreed and immediately he began to book a few Saturday wedding dates for me.  I was thrilled about that prospect because I so enjoy photographing weddings.  I will come back to the wedding stuff because I have more to say about that. 
At the very same time that the wedding work opportunity came up, I had met with a couple ladies (mom and daughter) who wanted to collaborate efforts to create a new three-way business venture.  Oh, boy...the tug o' war began.  When I say, tug o' war, I mean in my own mind.  I had to figure out what  really wanted to do and what suited me best.  I knew that me and the two ladies were all on the same 'page' with our ideas.  It seemed that we came together so organically.  We brainstormed, and had brilliant pow-wow sessions where we bounced inspiration back and forth.   It was so thrilling to imagine putting feet to all of our ideas and begin marketing asap.  But, the voice of realistic long term planning had to come into play.  Realistically, we had to look at the actual cost of doing business vs. the profitability split three ways! ...not the optimal results we hoped for...Dang it all!  One evening,  for funzies, we had a mini-photo shoot in the space that we wanted to designate for studio photo shoots.  Our photo shoot was a ton of fun.  We laughed, giggled and did some character role modeling...Fabulosity Baby!  It was indeed a blast until I got home and had to crop the ceiling out of every image.  errrrrrch! that is me hitting my brakes hard!  I already knew before we did the Fabulosity Photo Shoot that the low ceiling was an obstacle.   We needed a good 10 feet plus of ceiling height for a proper studio space.  We were wanting to use a space that was attached to their store front.  But it was too low.  Suffice to say, I was disheartened.   It was not the optimal studio space and collectively, we weren't prepared to rent a larger space.  So, I told them that I was going to back out for now.   Along with my blessings, I wished them all the best success if they were to find another photographer.   She said they didn't  want any other photog.  So,  the conclusion of the story might remain, TBD.   For now, our business plans are on hold....
Now, I have to talk some Turkey about the other business opportunity.  I have completed my first wedding assignment and absolutely fell for the bride, groom and family.  My mom came to assist me as my 2nd shooter.  She did a great job.  She actually captured one of my favorite pictures of the day during the wedding ceremony.  I would show it off here in the blog but I don't think I should.  The wedding was commissioned by another studio.  I agreed to be a contract shooter therefore, those files will become the property of his studio.  
This is where I think my flickr flame began to diminish.  Gosh, I don't really know how to explain how I feel because I do not know how I feel.  If you know me, you will know how I feel about my images.  I get a personal attachment to them because they are MY BEAUTIES!    In a weird way, I feel like I created them so they are mine to protect and hover over like the mother hen that I have always been to my  2 kids.  Weird?  Yeah!  I admit the weirdness!  
Keep that weirdness in mind when I say that somehow I feel like a surrogate.  Do you know what I mean?  I feel like a surrogate photographer.  I knew, going into the wedding assignment, that my mission was to provide my time, talent, & energy toward a wedding that was not my own.  I put my heart & soul into a wedding that was not going to be mine.  I labored with sweat pouring down.  Yes, sweat literally pouring down in the sweltering September (only in the south) outdoor wedding.  After all said, and done...I can honestly say I loved it.  I loved every minute of it.  I fell in love with that wedding.  I loved all of the images that Mom and I captured.  
Alas, tomorrow, I am scheduled to turn over all of my wedding BEAUTIES!  I am grateful for the opportunity to work.  I will always give my all to each and every assignment  My problem is letting go.
So, for me, Surrogate Photography is quite the Turkey!  
*This posting was prompted by a flickr challenge today.  The topic of the day was Color Clash.  I saw this colorful JIVE Turkey at a flea market.