Photographing Children and their Families

I really enjoy my photography and shoot something everyday.  Sometimes I'm working with my little G11 and capturing things like empty houses or plates of food for some idea floating around in the back of my head.  At other times I'm capturing nature scenes, or travel icons, or completing some school assignment.

I've been posting images from all these different streams of thought on this blog.  Many of these images have nothing to do with my people photography - but have a lot to say about who I am, and what I find interesting.  People seem genuinely confused when they come across my personal work when they are looking at this blog.


I got some advice a few weeks ago - "Stop posting everything on your blog. Post just your portrait images, if you want people to contact you about creating their portrait."

So here goes.... Portraits and head shots are the focus of this blog.  Children and their families will be the priority....

P.S.  You can still see my other images - I'll be posting travel, street scenes and conceptual pieces as well as school assignments  at  Photo School News and More

Emmalynn Seven Days Old

The love of my life

The love of my life,

The light in my world,

It's only you,

My precious baby girl

~Fayth Stallings~

Welcome Madison

"A baby...one of the most beautiful miracles in life, one of the greatest joys we can ever know, and one of the reasons why there is a little extra sunshine, laughter and happiness in our world today."

~Unknown~

I love this portrait of Madison and her grandmother

Riley

"Sweet Baby of mine You embraced my heart and Stole my breath away."

                                                                               ~unknown~

Miss Riley came to visit me when she was ten days old.  What a precious, bright eyed little girl.

Big sister Dakota is already in love.

  We finally got her to close her eyes and take a bit of a nap - but by that time we were all exhausted.

Birthday Freebies

OK, OK, so it's been two months since I visited you all here.  I've had a lot going on in my life - first I had surgery and was laid up for a bit, and then, to celebrate a clean bill of health, I took a little hiatus in Seattle/Vancouver/Victoria, came home for a few days and was off again to Miami and Chicago. Sooooo I've been a "busy bee".  

I've collected a million images on my jaunts - now, I just have to carve out the time to download them and get them up on the blog faster.  In the meantime, here is a tip harvested from Life Hacker (if you don't know Life Hacker you are really missing one of the best systems for learning tidbits of information that can "change your life"  :)

Anyway this is a link to

Maximize Your Birthday Freebies by Signing Up for the Most Rewarding Programs

http://bit.ly/h3Bm6P


Have a great birthday...

Smash the Cake

Food Photography with Penny De Los Santos

Cerritos_Farmer's Market_5.14.2011-13, originally uploaded by cd_terrell.

I was recently talking with a vendor I met at WPPI this year. She was giving me some information on a product I have on my wish list. She said she had viewed my blog and noticed that - in her words “You take pictures of many different things”.

True enough – on the days I’m not creating images of children and babies I’m looking for other subjects – anything I can find to create an interesting image. This past weekend I found a treasure trove.
 Creative Live presented a webinar with Penny De Los Santos on Food Photography. Nothing I have had a great interest in, since I don’t often find myself in the kitchen cooking – but I took a chance, turned on the computer and signed in early Friday morning. Wow! I am so glad I signed on – it was a great experience. One of the things that she reminded the participants over and over to do was to "stick with the subject"  If you get up on a ladder or out on a limb - take more than one picture.   


After a full day of inspiration I trotted off to the Cerritos Farmer’s Market early Saturday morning to capture some “cultural images” myself.

During the afternoon break  I prepared lunch using some of the veggies I purchased at the market.

You can see some of Penny’s work here:

http://blog.pennydelossantos.com/

Images from around the world @ Penny Live/group pool on Flicker

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1641169@N25/


Thank You Creative Live and Penny De Los Santos – what an inspiration you have been.

Picture Party - Outtake

Looking for something different and fun for an evening with good friends?  Throw a Picture Party.  Invite a group of friends to share in the cost of hiring a professional photographer to work with you individually to create professional quality photographs. 

The photographer sets up in one room and works with individuals or small groups for ½ hour or so to capture some great shots.  The rest of the time you and your friends get to catch up around a loaded snack and beverage table. At the end 
of the night everyone has created some great portraits they will treasure, not just for the image, but also for the experience.

Even these little ones, who were in the play room while I worked with their mommies to create special Valentine's Day portraits, thought the evening was a blast....

Breaking The Rules

Last week I went to lunch with a group of women I have known a very long time.  We are all members of the same service organization and we spend a lot of time together organizing civic and cultural activities in the Orange County area.  Occasionally we have a bit of time when we can "just have fun" and last week was one of those days.  We met at McKenna's on the Bay, in Long Beach, and spent the afternoon leisurely eating a delicious meal, sharing stories and celebrating a birthday.

After lunch I spent a little time walking around, clicking the shutter on my camera.  I liked the images so much I decided to break the rules and post them here.

What rules?  Glad you asked.. there seems to be an unwritten rule that photographers should "show what they want to sell" when they post photographs on their blogs, but that doesn't always work for me.  Sometimes I find something, a person, a rock or a plant that is intriguing, or beautiful, or just plain ol' strange and I want to share that image with my friends.

So today no people pics.  No families, no kiddos, no picture stories from special events...  just  a couple of my favorite images from a day with friends.

Tea at the Culver

I love tea.  Black tea, green tea, Chai tea, spiced tea, herbal infusions  and fragrant tisanes - I luv em all.  As a little girl my mom would offer me a cup of tea and milk (mostly milk). But I remember how grown up it made me feel.  Although  tea with milk is still a favorite of mine, I tend to drink more herbal infusions with just a little honey or stevia……So when I was invited to tea with my “Red Hat” friends I was raring to go.  I picked up my friend Barbara, we each popped on a red had and found our way to the Historic Culver Hotel for tea.

The Historic Culver Hotel, in Culver City, California

Designated as a historical landmark, it is well worth the drive.

We had a great time.  More Seniors Just Kickin' - Red Hatters at Tea
images here.  (PS. these are all low res images - so no full screen -
one day I'll be independently wealthy and will pay for the high-res
option  :)  In the meantime - have a chuckle...

Photo LA_ 2011

 Went to Photo LA – it is the place to go if you are a collector and have thousands of dollars to spend and it is also the place to go if you are photographer and want to network with other photographers, have your portfolio reviewed, attend interesting lectures, or most importantly, be inspired by the work of your fellow photographers.

There are thousands of photographs hung on the walls, placed on the floor and in viewing bins

There are photographs from around the world  ...and opportunities to get involved in the photography community.

 

 Light Work 

Rob Carter 

I take a minute to chat with Bruce Hall (Blind Photographers Guild. Bruce is partially sighted but is considered "legally blind".)  He does underwater photography and has some wonderful images of his two sons , who love to play in the water, in this exhibit.  Bruce and I took a printing class together at Orange Coast College and I watched his work on this print.  (Our instructor: John Hesketh – Photomation printing in Anaheim)

Next, I stop by Samys Camera and [the =equation]2 and have my pic snapped                                               for their “guerilla art wall”.

A huge soft box towers over the "models".

Details, details, put the bag down, pull up your jacket, place your glasses in your  bag - OK. that is what the photographer should have said to me - what a missed opportunity - good lesson for me.

This image was captured at the Women In Photography International booth.
Much better - perhaps I will join their organization after all :)

Then it's time to get a bite to eat at SALT out in the lobby.  I have Smokin Turkey (turkey, gruyere, brie, arugula, cranberry mustard on  ciabatta,) and a cup of tea. 

Just as I am walking out the door I run into David Healy. He has been a guest speaker in some of my classes at Cypress College.   He is a master printer and photographer – but all in Silver Gelatin, and I can’t find any links to his work (will keep looking and post when I find something to share – his work is breathtaking.)

Outside I ran into my friends Greg and Itzell and their two boys Gyasi and Kwame.  What a great day.