Haunted Ballet {Stylized}

Photo courtesy of my amazing friend at Ai Photography

This shoot has been in the back of my mind for over a year! However, my confidence hasn't been there and so getting the nerve to ask someone I don't know to be my model was nerve wrecking to say the least. Also, being surrounded by amazing talent that continuously pushes me to be my best helped me take the leap and my this shoot a reality. Almost a year ago I asked on Facebook if anyone knew of a ballet dancer because I was getting the 'itch' to photograph one at the one and only Haunted Hotel down the street. A friend of mine sent me the email address and phone number to a friend of hers and said she was willing to model. I was happy and nervous that I got a response back so quickly that I just tucked her information away forgetting that she is a military spouse and will be moving off island at some point. Fast forward to now~dug out that message and got the courage to email Erin, not even knowing if she was still here in Okinawa. Thank goodness she was! and was more than happy to pose and do her thing. For support I invited along two wonderful women and fellow photographers to tag along. We then spent 2.5 hours wondering the hotel admiring the light that was cascading thru making our jobs that much easier.
After whittling away at the photos that weren't to my standard and then emailing them off to Erin to get her approval for correct ballet form I ended up walking away with 101 photos. All of which I am very proud of and have gotten a tremendous amount of positive feed back. And all of this wouldn't be possible without the grace, beauty and talent of Erin!

I am beyond thrilled that I not only got one leap but two! Erin was quite impressed as well ;) 

Beyond beautiful 

First time pulling out the wide angel for a photo shoot! :) 

Experimenting {Free Lensing}

I am always up for new and fun ways to play with my camera in which I can use what I have. Since I don't plan on being a 'gear chaser' I really want to learn my camera and lenses and utilize them to the fullest. I am always on Pinterest and am constantly being inspired thru pictures and tutorials on there. I came across this tutorial on Free Lensing and found it very interesting. I know the 50mm can double as a 'macro' when taken off the camera body and flipped around but never thought it could become a 'tilt shift' as well, or at least give off that effect. I love looking at tilt shift photography, but lets be real...I will never be able to afford one of those lenses, nor would my husband find it necessary LOL So I am very glad that I came across this blog so now I can perform my own 'ghetto' tilt shift effect. Granted, it's not ideal to run around holding your lens off the body of your camera but I figure if I am just messing around at home I see no harm :)

One thing I did learn from this experiment is that your eyes do start to play tricks on you if you move the lens around too much. And finding focus can be a bit annoying if you have a moving subject. So, I would recommend trying to take pictures of objects first and then work on doing it on people if they are willing to sit still.

Have fun with what you have and learn your gear inside and out! :) Now go and practice some Free Lensing!

He was a good sport at first 

Not finding me very amusing any more LOL 

In fact, I seem to be quite boring 

And within about 10 mins of me taking his picture, he is out! 

Andrew {Head Shots}

It's rare to find a man who is willing to have his picture taken in a group setting let alone by himself. Well my friend from Ai Photography had her eye on a gentleman visiting Okinawa from the states and was determined to use him as a model. Without much hesitation, Andrew agreed. Then when Ashley asked me to join her I was more than pleased and happy to tag along!

Overall photographing men is a much different experience as they are super simple and don't require much direction. I hope to photograph more men in the future. 

1st Photo Walk of 2013

Naritasan Temple, Okinawa 

I am part of an amazing support system here in Okinawa. When the New Year was approaching I really wanted to visit a temple (will be my last New Year here) as it is tradition for the locals here on island. Now I would have been happy going by myself, however when there are others that want to join you it makes the trip that much better.  So I decided to create an event thru Facebook in hopes that others in the photo group would want to join...and sure enough, 4 other ladies decided to join. Thus, making it our 1st official photo walk of year :) I was so happy to put this together and ask for others to join because typically I just do things like this on my own. I am looking forward to this last year on island learning as much as I can from this photo group and doing as many of the meet ups as personal and family time allows.

I couldn't leave without forking over 100yen to receive my good fortune for this coming year :) 

The 4 ladies that joined me for our photo group's 1st photo walk...Thank You and Happy New Year!