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Mar
6th
Sat
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Dec
30th
Wed
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Image of the year

Out for an evening float

Typically, we start the new year with a resolution. Instead, I’m ending the old year with my personal favorite image from 2009. After reading LeggNet’s Digital Capture blog post about his year-end tradition of looking back and decided I should start the same.

What I love about this image is the sense of wonder it produces. Who is this floating girl? Why is there a dog? How is she floating? This was also one of my first images where I set out to create a particular idea and ended up with something even better than I had pictured in my mind. Previously, my ideas had usually fallen far short of what was in my head.

Hope you have a great 2010, see you in a year!

Dec
23rd
Wed
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More Costumes, Dancing

This past weekend was the last weekend for the Dickens Fair, and the December Gaskell Ball. We spent most of Saturday dancing; it was wonderful! I purchased both CDs from Brassworks and I’ve had various Victorian dance pieces in my head for the last few days.

Jessie made a beautiful new blue day dress:

Jessie

we discovered a T-Rex:

Jessie and T-Rex

Exterminated

and danced some lovely waltzes at Fezziwig’s:

Fezziwig's

Later that evening we went to the Gaskell Ball. Jessie wore one of her red ball gowns and looked absolutely lovely:

Gaskell Ball

Next week, I promise a blog post about something other than costumes. The topic? Moving into our new cottage!

Dec
8th
Tue
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Waltzing

It’s been a long time since I posted anything here! Since my last post, I’ve been busy with a variety of waltzes:

First up, the Gaskell Ball in October. Jessie and I had a blast dancing in our “schmancy dress” (her words) ! I have a set of photos from the event up on flickr

Gaskell Ball

Fast-forward a few weeks to the Dickens Christmas Fair with more fancy outfits, and more dancing. The fair is a lot like a renaissance faire, but with Victorian England stylings. More photos are up on flickr. We’re going back in a couple of weeks, so look forward to more photos (I’ll try to actually post something here).

By the tree

And for a waltz of a different kind… Jessie and I started a daily photo project just after my last blog post here! In our Photo Waltz project, each of us takes a photo every day, and we post them side-by-side on the Photo Waltz site. We don’t share our photos with each other until they’re on the site, so the results are always a surprise. Every day, we rotate places, first her photo’s on the left, then mine; our photos waltz through time. Here’s one of my favorite pairings:

Are you looking at me?

Yellow

Oct
7th
Wed
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Headshot retouching

Photo retouching, before/after:

Hannah (pre-retouch)
Hannah (post-retouch)
Sep
19th
Sat
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Costumed Outings

Earlier this month, Jessie and I got all dressed up and headed out to the Sacramento Gold Rush Days, and then the PEERS Space Cowboy’s Ball. We had a great time! Rather than attempt to bore you with text, I’ll just share the pics:

Bartender, I'll have a sasparilla.

Waiting

We was just about to spring into action, Captain. Complicated escape and rescue op.

Fistful of Kaylees

We cheated Badger out of good money to buy that frippery...

Waltz

Cooling off between dances

At McDonalds before the dance

Aug
27th
Thu
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Knapp's Castle Roundup

Has it really been a month since I posted anything here? I bought a D700 at the beginning of the month, and I’ve been quite enjoying it. I’ve been up to Knapp’s Castle several times this month… twice for photo shoots.

First, Patty, Theresa, and I hiked into the castle around 11 PM and stayed through 1 AM. We first set up at the ruins of the old wall:

Fan Dance

Then, the fog rolled in and we moved to the arch. It’s a several second exposure… I don’t know how Patty managed to stay so still for so long!

Moonlit Dance

A couple of weeks later I took Jessie up to Knapp’s castle for a shoot in her lovely red ball gown. The sunset through the La Brea fire made for some amazing backdrops!

Sunset Beauty

Jessie

Jul
26th
Sun
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Accidental Diptych

These two photos ended up above each other in my flickr stream in an amusing fashion:

Katie and a Croquet Mallet




Croquet

Jul
18th
Sat
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Texturing

My friend Jessie convinced me to try my hand at “texturing.” I combined these two images:



Before Retouch

To get:

Texture Experiment

Overall, I like the tones and the vertical lines, but I’m not a big fan of the rivets across Melody’s face.

I got the aluminum image from grungetextures.com. Their images are free for non-commercial use, as long as you give credit. Lots of good stuff there, I’ll have to try this more.

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Before / After

Here’s a quick before and after retouch post, using a neat javascript utility I found:

Before Retouch
After Retouch