Out for a bit!

Hiya!

Just a friendly note that we are out of the office until Monday, the 3rd. Enjoying the company of new clients, family & friends here in Valdosta. I can't believe all of my sisters & brother are down this weekend! All calls & emails will be answered as soon as we return.

- Alicimo. (my family's nickname for me)

Sophia

Sophia was the main reason I flew up to NYC last week. I photographed her in her mommy's belly a couple of months ago, and when dad told me she had arrived, I quickly made plans to come up and see her.

Sophia's dad and I met in the most random way. One day last year, I received a call early in the morning (7 or so....I was still in bed). He was so desperate for help on a photo he was having printed at Wolf that morning. He told me the photo looked grainy... I asked him if he knew anything about photoshop; he, of course said no. He told me that he needed the photo for a funeral he was attending that morning, and the photo would be on display there. Without even asking how he knew me, I told him to email me the photo, and I would help him prepare it for print. He was incredibly appreciative. The photo turned out great. Everyone was happy. And then I forgot about the whole thing....

6 months later, he calls me and tells me his wife follows my blog and wants to schedule a maternity session at the Mansion here in Atlanta. I quickly recounted the way we first connected, and I smiled.

I was so happy to photograph Sophia's first days. Her parents, despite being sleep-deprived and exhausted, are loving every minute with their new daughter....

Babies and the City

The city beamed with glittering lights, fascinating people, and all kinds of interesting noises. It created the perfect backdrop for my session with 1 year old Porter!

Porter and his family live in Tribeca, right across the street from Battery Park. Thank goodness for green space in the city!



...and little boys with big smiles...



I had a tough, TOUGH time narrowing down favorite images of Porter & his family.



More images of Sophia and Ajax from the big city to come!

Rock of Ages, 80s Broadway Hit

Everyone who knows me knows I absolutely love Broadway musicals. I've seen about 20 of them so far all over the world. I've even considered writing a script to submit to Andrew Lloyd Webber, ha!

Rock of Ages made its debut on Broadway in April and has already become a hit sensation! LOVE, love, love 80s rock - and this musical definitely hit the mark with me with song selections from Journey, Night Ranger, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Twister Sister, Poison and Asia. I wasn't one of the front row groupies trying to touch a feel to one of the rockers on stage, but I did enjoy watching it with my pal Karen. I think Kyu would have loved it too....

New York

Sorry to all clients for my delay in responding to calls, inquiries, and emails! I returned from a whirlwind trip to New York last night, where I photographed 3 very special babies. I'll be posting more of my ventures once I've tackled at least 50% of my hundreds of unanswered emails....

Until then, I'll leave you with a photo of where I stayed.... why Times Square, of course!

Kyu's favorite time of the year

Are you guys keeping up with the Tour this summer? It's about to get really excited when Lance hits the Alps in the next few days! http://www.livestrong.com

b braithwaite sweepstakes winner!

A couple of months ago, my favorite baby boutique held a sweepstake to help promote the launch of their new website. The winner would receive a $1,000 gift card towards a session with me and anything on my product list. They had over 500 apply, and the lucky winner just happen to be one of client's nanny and her little girl Kathrin! How crazy is that?

The cowboy and the princess

Graham and Maran have grown into SUCH bundles of joy. Twins are so much fun to play with!

One of my faves....



It's strange looking at yourself in a mirror, isn't it?

Lauren's Tea Party for 8

During my session with 9 month old twins, Marin and Graham last week, we took a short break to have a tea party with big sister Lauren outside. It was such a beautiful summer day, and when you pair it beautiful light and an amazing and eager little subject, we can't but get caught up in the moment.

I just loved the feel and magic in these images. Lauren was captivating, spirited and couldn't wait to play dress up in her mom's white tulle dress. Do we see a blushing bride in the making?

I will be posting photos of Marin and Graham tomorrow - they're so chunky now!

Photographing Fireworks

Happy 4th Everyone! My apologies for neglecting my blog these last few weeks. I've been having too much fun on NAPCP's new forum & social community.... If you haven't checked it out yet, head over there now!

In other news, I recently ran across a Guide to Photographing Fireworks from one of my favorite subscriptions, Photojojo. If you're an avid photo enthusiast, this is a great resource for improving your craft. For all others, it's great reading material!

Here in the States, we celebrate our independence every 4th of July by blowing up things in the sky.

In fact, ever since Taoist monks created fireworks, cultures around the globe have used them to ward off evil spirits, pray for happiness, celebrate birth, death, weddings, the new year… just about anything.

Consider it a basic truth of the human condition: we like things that go boom.

And for almost as long as fireworks have been around, photographers have been taking dark and blurry photos of them.

But listen up: Firecracker photography may seem difficult, but follow some simple rules and you’re virtually guaranteed good results.


Fireworks are a tricky subject to photograph–you’re shooting in the dark, your subject keeps moving and disappearing, and it’s hard to get a good location. Here’s how to get great photos despite it all.

1. Bring a tripod, bring a tripod, bring a tripod.

Good fireworks photos require long exposures, and the best way to get them is to use a sturdy tripod. If you absolutely can’t bring a tripod to the scene, do your best to brace your camera against railings, walls, or cars to keep it steady. (Or try a mini tripod!)

2. Bring a flashlight, charged batteries, and plenty of empty memory cards

You’re gonna need to change your camera settings while you’re out there, and it’s gonna be dark. Bring a small flashlight. And since you’ll likely be taking lots of pictures as you experiment, don’t forget to empty out your memory cards and bring a fully charged battery, too.

3. Find a great location early

Once the show gets going, you’re not going to have the time (and if you’re in a crowd, the ability) to move around much. Here’s how to stake out something good from the start:

Start scouting for a location early
Look for a place with an unobstructed view of the sky. Remember, you want to see fireworks in front of you, not above you.
Watch out for trees and buildings which could block your view, and street lamps and other lighting which might make your exposures tricky.
Try to find landmarks or other interesting things you can use to make your compositions more interesting.
Try to find a unique vantage point: near a body of water that will reflect the fireworks, high up where the fireworks are at eye-level (on a rooftop, balcony, or bridge), etc. Get creative and go where other people aren’t.
Remember that tripods work best on stable, level footing, and cameras work best when people aren’t likely to walk in front of them during long exposures.
Fireworks give off a fair amount of smoke. Make sure the wind isn’t headed in your direction or the smoke will obscure your view.
4. Turn your flash off

Whether it’s an on-camera flash or an add-on, it’s not nearly powerful enough to reach the fireworks. Even if it was, you wouldn’t want to light them that way. Go flash-less.

5. Drop your ISO to 50 or 100

Your digital camera has several user-selectable light-sensitivity settings. The higher your ISO, the more sensitive your camera is to light. Normally this means you want to use a higher ISO in dark settings, but when you’re shooting longer exposures (long shutter speeds) high ISO can introduce a lot of digital noise to your photograph. An ISO setting of 100 is a good bet.

6. Turn on noise reduction

If your camera has it, this setting will help get rid of any digital noise created by your long exposures, even with a low ISO. Note: some cameras will take several seconds to eliminate noise after a shot is taken, preventing you from taking another photograph immediately.

7. Use the self-timer to reduce vibration

Even with your camera on a tripod, you cause small vibrations just by clicking the shutter, resulting in a less-than-perfectly sharp capture. Set your self-timer to the shortest duration possible and use it to give the your camera a chance to settle before the shot’s actually taken. Sharper shots, guaranteed.

8. Use your camera’s fireworks setting

Many recent cameras have a scene mode specifically for fireworks. Try some photos with and without it and see what you prefer.

9. Focus on infinity

We strongly recommend shooting in full manual mode if you have the ability. Set your focus to just less than infinity (or choose a landscape setting if you can’t manually adjust focus) and use an aperture of f/8 to f/16.

10. Use long shutter speeds: 2-3 seconds or longer

This is the most important camera setting you’ll need to worry about. At any given moment, fireworks are just a bunch of bright points of light. What makes them interesting is how their quick motion across the night sky illuminates a path and creates beautiful streaks and patterns. Your eye sees it, but with a fast shutter speed, your camera doesn’t.

So to give your camera a chance to record those streaks and patterns, you need to make sure your shutter is open long enough to get them in. That means at minimum a full second, and possibly up to 15 seconds or more. You’ll want to experiment with different durations to see what works best.

How to do it: If your camera allows full manual control, it’s easy. Just set your shutter speed to whatever you want. If your camera doesn’t give you full control, put it in the mode that gives you the most control and turn off the flash. If you click the shutter to snap the photo while a rocket’s still rising and before it’s exploded, your camera should automatically meter for a long exposure and set the shutter speed appropriately.

11. Take lots of pictures, be creative, and have fun!

Have fun, experiment, and take tons of photos. Remember, you can always delete the duds later.

CREATIVE IDEAS

Here are a few more ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

Portrait-oriented shots will typically work best to capture a single rocket’s rise and explosion. If multiple shells are going up at once, try shooting in landscape.
Don’t forget that the best is often saved for last. Don’t run out of space on your memory card before the finale!
Water, buildings, and landmarks make excellent backdrops for photos and help create more interesting compositions. Try to frame some shots with landmarks in the foreground and fireworks in the background.
Similarly, try silhouetting people against the fireworks glow for a neat effect.
Use longer shutter speeds to capture multiple explosions.
Use really long exposures (20-30 seconds or more) and a black piece of cardboard or a black hat to capture lots of explosions in one frame. Simply cover your lens with your cardboard or black hat in between explosions to prevent light from entering your camera. If you’ve got a “bulb” setting, you can use it to keep your shutter open continuously until you close it.
If your fireworks start before it gets dark, use the sunset setting on your camera to get some great shots at dusk.
Use flash to get some audience and people shots. They make great diptychs with fireworks.


This year, be sure to take the kids, snacks and camera to capture and commemorate the nation's birthday. Have fun, everyone!