Square Dance & Birthdays

A couple weeks ago a local organic farm held a square dance.  I really wanted to go and thankfully my boyfriend decided to take me.  I haven't been to a square dance, and it was actually a lot of fun.  It helps that this local organic farm is absolutely beautiful and peaceful and the people who you meet are always friendly.

This fun event was at the very end of September - another fun event in September was my boyfriends birthday!  I had a day of surprises for him!  Breakfast of waffles waited for him when he got up.  He got a gps with Yoda's voice, a ceramic motorcycle I had painted and a book he had wanted for a long time.  Yoda took us to lunch, to the Country Music Hall of Fame to view the Chet Atkins exhibit and out to dinner.

Wine is very serious business - HA!  Not!!! :)  Having fun at Little Italy in Nashville, TN.

Commercial Photography...Yamaha 5 String Silent Pro Violin

It is fun to work at Nashville Violins - especially when I get to be one of the first to photograph a new instrument that shows up in the shop.  One of those instruments would be the NEW Yamaha 5 String Violin.  If I played professionally this would be the instrument going down the road with me.  It is sexy, innovative and just flat out cool looking.
Until then, I will stick with the violin I have and keep on truckin with my ukulele...which this past Thursday, I just bought my second uke.  I think I am addicted. :)

Weekend Project

As I have mainly been working as a commercial photographer for Nashville Violins, I have been taking on other creative projects.  One that I was able to complete recently was a workbench for a luthier at Nashville Violins.  See below:

The beginning of creating a name plate/sign.  I have not done this kind of work since college, and I haven't done anything with some of these tools before.  I was quite concerned I would screw it up.

 During the process of carving and creating a sign for the luthier, Jessica.

Thankfully it turned out alright.

Now onward to the space where she will be working...ug!  This has been a functional work space for the staff.  As functional work space for me typically will turn into organized chaos.  As you can see that is most definitely the case here.

 Before...oy!

 During

 Final product!!

 Happy new owner of a luthier work bench!  Look!  There is a violin and a ukulele waiting to be worked on already! :)

Now that this project is finished, I have begun to embroidery a towel for the owner of the shop to have on his bench.  I am also going to embroidery a bath towel for the gal who works out in the front.  I am also helping the owner build a desk and clean up space so he can finally have an office.  I am hoping once these larger projects are out of the way I can get back to some painting and my photography.
I'm hoping I can find a way to keep this blog up more (that isn't new at all is it) :(  Plus, find a way to practice my lighting, it isn't near what I would like it to be.  *sigh*  Hopefully I will be able to find a way to get re-focused on my book as well.
It was a lot of fun to make stops at the home improvement stores, pick out the wood, and various items needed to build this bench.  It was great to work with power tools again and to make use of my tool belt and tool box.  I was worried she wouldn't like it, I was so relieved when she gave me a big hug and said "thank you" and that she loved it!  Woo!  Hoo!!!

Staff Photo for Nashville Violins

New teachers on staff means I get to update the website, which I love!  I was blessed with beautiful weather for an outdoor photo session.  Unfortunately my equipment was failing me.  I became a little concerned when the flash did not turn on.  Thankfully the teachers had students so I had some time to take the batteries out and discover they were eroding in the unit.  After several swipes with a cotton swab soaked in alcohol and new batteries and several attempts it finally began to work.  However, the batteries didn't have quite enough power to do what I needed, but the good news is I was able to get some fun shots of a new drummer on staff. 

 Promo shot of teacher in front of the sign at Nashville Violins.

 I love working with someone who is creative and fun!

It was a great shoot, this musician has a lot of personality and was a joy to work with during this shoot.  I am pleased to also say you can find the photographs the owner choose at:  http://nashvilleviolins.com/staff.html 
It was nice to get behind the camera again, it has been a long time.

Xpressions

I have been working on an ad for Nashville Violins.  This is for a more creative piece, which has allowed me to step away from the traditional and classic requirement for violin photography.  I love their Xpressions line of violins, they are beautiful, I love how they sound, and they offer a challenge with their stained finish.
I took the challenge and did what I could to get ALL of their instruments in one photo in my tiny photo studio space.  The area I use for their commercial photography is quite tight, which offers a challenge on many levels.  However, I have been quite pleased with the results in this image.  I hope you enjoy it also.

 I am also excited to announce I have been playing the ukulele and the violin.  I finally got back into the swing of things with my violin lessons, and I have a goal with both instruments.  It is fun to be able to be playing music again.  I never thought I would ever play a string instrument and now I am playing too.  Hopefully if I can get things organized well enough, I would like to go back to playing the piano as well.
Love having art in my life!!!

Never a good thing...

It is never a good thing to go this long without blogging.  I was setting up a post every Saturday before my shift at Nashville Violins...but that process is going to be postponed for a while.  Long story, heartbreaking story, disappointing story...but I am not letting it steal my joy.
I have come to discover I have been denying myself the things I enjoy the most.  Anything and everything practically I have been denying-due to allowing myself to follow the wrong priorities in life, which caused me to become depressed.  I am coping, meditating, getting back into caving and yoga, plus painting, photography, and living life again.
Never will my joy be taken from me again. :)
Here is a post from my favorite place in the world: Nashville Violins.  I needed to do a headshot of one of the instructors.  I wanted to really do something different with Daniel, he is an incredibly hard working, talented man.  I wanted something besides the "typical" headshot for him.  See below :) - I love how I caught the reflection of him in the mirror.

Hey Franklin, TN! It is time for some Team Roping!

It is that time of year for Franklin and Nashville, TN to be filled with some rowdy, rowdy cowboys and some old cowboys who still got a little kick to their pants.  My friend Nicki pulled in town last night with her horse and her boyfriend.  While at supper we ran into good friends Gabe and Stephanie.  I admire Gabe and Stephanie so much!!  They are such an influence in every sense of the word.  They have really good energy, they are down home real, and good people.  They have the best relationship that I aspire to one day understand enough to know how to implement it in my own life.  Stephanie runs the business, and Gabe is the mastermind photographer; oh my gosh his talent!!  Pause for a moment for the angels to sing their praises......"       " ok!  Gabe is truly someone who has influenced me and been very supportive of my photography.  Stephanie is amazing at photoshop and has been so wonderful at sharing her knowledge.
Good friends.  Good Times.  Let the roping begin!

These below are from a team roping near Bristol, TN.  They are not what the standard of exepctation would be, the abstract aspect is due to arena lighting and the glass on my camera that just wasn't fast enough.  Yet, I find myself really liking these images and the motion it displays.

Disaster Strikes...

This image was taken near Gulf Shores, AL in June 2010 shortly after the oil spill.  Now we are faced once again with a tragic disaster of the earthquake and Tsunami's in Japan.  My heart goes to all the residents in Japan, and I am thankful my American friend and his wife, who reside in Japan, are safe.
On a side note, I have recently heard since Canon and Nikon are based in Japan, no new lines of camera's will be coming out this year.  I have heard a rumor that all existing Canon and Nikon camera's will be going up in price as the demand will be higher.
I hope of all the thousands of people lost, thousands are found.  I pray for peace with those families and individuals who have lost fellow family and friends and their homes.

Posting ahead!!

Woo!  Hoo!  I am posting and it is not a Sunday!  How did that happen to work out?  Well, I was anxiously debating between going to the morning Business of Photography class, which I am taking, or going at night when I am scheduled.  If I went in the morning, I could go to an ASMP meeting tonight.  So, I get up, get ready, rush to make some adjustments to my homework and get to class.  Class begins and I discover the morning class is ahead of the night class and they are taking their mid-term!!!
Exit me.
So, I go find a computer and begin working on a copyright licensing letter I need to get to a model who posed for me in November.  As I finish up I decide to get onto my blog, to realize my drive with all my blog photo's are in my truck, lol.  Oh well, thankfully a thumb drive I had with me had an image I could use.

I don't think I have posted my turtle photographs that were taken during a trip to the Chattanooga Aquarium, Chattanooga, TN.  I find these beautiful turtles to be filled with color and design.  I love how such something that looks heavy and bulky can gracefully sweep across the floor and through the water. 

Irish Eyes are Smiling

Commercial meets Portrait photography - 
This was taken during one of my Commercial/Portrait sessions with Nashville Violins.  They have a wide selection of Irish and Celtic music and they wanted to do a promotion for St. Patricks day.  This is the owner in an appropriately green shirt with green bow. 

Marketing Piece

This is a leave behind piece I've created that I was quite pleased with its result.  The beautiful face in the marketing piece is a gal who was one of my Boudoir clients.  She was stunning to photograph and really photographed well in dramatic lighting that we used during the session.  I'm hoping once I can get this out I will see a rise in some bookings for my Boudoir Sessions.

Finally! It let me load an image.

Finally!  For some odd reason I have not been able to load photographs to my blog.  Today we had a break through! Above image was taken during one of the last snow storms we had in Nashville, TN.  I was able to get to my apt just to catch the last minutes of sun and used the flash as fill to bring out this little snow covered branch.  If you look close enough you can see the snow falling in the background of the photograph.

Going UP!

I don't know why, but I find myself drawn to these type of views of going up to somewhere.  This one was taken at my parents farm in WI.  I grew up staring at this hay elevator for years and years, making sure bales of hay were on there correctly.  I would watch my brother and his friends ride up the hay bales until they would disappear.  I would always hope they would get off before they hit the piece of equipment which was further down on another conveyor that would flip the bales.  This is where this thing sat for most of its career on the farm.  Occasionally it would get hauled behind the barn when we would unload straw and it would also be set by another barn/hay building to unload hay.  

Below is something of the same nature in regards of design.  This photograph was taken at the Chattanooga Aquarium, and I was intrigued by what I saw to a point where the camera was put into position to capture it.

Now...what I was suppose to be doing on My Sunday Morning

I am finishing up the images from a studio session I coordinated.  Between my regular clients, actual work work (yuck-but grateful as that j.o.b. is still paying the bills) and running everywhere in between; below is what I need to be working on and still have two more models to finish.

Here is an image from one of my "day jobs". 

 

Aye!  That poor violin!!  But, it is on its way to someone who wants to learn how to repair instruments.  At least it will be in what I will hope will be loving hands.  Or at least offer someone a learning experience.  I am just very glad I was not at the hand...or foot of those cracks!

My Sunday

Today I got to do something I have not been able to do in quite some time.  Sleep in, gather up my stuff I would need today to work on images, and head out the door for a little hike.  I grabbed some lunch AND I got to process the images on the SAME day!!  Woo!  Hoo!

So, here below is what I have been up to this wonderful, rainy morning.