January - Self-Portrait

It's January and the start of the new year. It's a time for reflections and resolutions. I'm really excited for what 2012 may bring me either with my photography, my writing, or on the personal front. I'm not giving up and I'm going to meet the challenges of each new day head-on with excitement, confidence, and hope. I'm ready to try new things and stretch my neck out a little. Like for instance I cut 17 inches of my hair off and dyed it just a few days after the new year. And to prove to myself that 2012 is going to be a good year, I donated it to Beautiful Lengths. A little good karma never hurts. Another new thing I wanted to try was Self-portraits and not my usual headshots that do absolutely nothing but sit on my facebook wall for a day or two but something with personality and umph, something I'd be proud to show off as a representation of me. That's what the picture is about. That's me, or at least the person I want to be this year. Excited, hopeful, confident. To make it happen I'm entering a self portrait contest over at Rock the Shot, www.rocktheshotforum.com

Now for a little of the Technical stuff for the other photog's out there.
I shot this with my Rebel T3 with the 18-55mm lens and a hotshoe flash on portrait setting
I used a remote trigger
In post-processing, I used a warm brown low opacity layered over black and white. And then I burned the edges just a little to draw the focus in.
Smoothed the skin just a little and brought out the highlights in my eyes with dodge. That's it. 
Enjoy! and I hope you can make your new year into the one you want it to be too. :)

Cascade Senior 2012 - Emily

The first thing you may notice about Emily is her hair.It was the first thing I noticed as she pulled up in her little black pickup. She chose a daring beautiful red color and in an spontaneous descion dyed it the night before our shoot. I don't know about you but I would have been petrified to make such a huge change before my senior pictures, so it goes without saying that Emily has guts! 

Emily is a senior at Cascade Highschool. She is going to pursue a career in Cosmotology and if her current do has anything to say about it I think she's going to knock people's socks off with her creativity and talent. Behind the flaming red hair and ready smile, Emily is a quiet well spoken teen who loves reading, especially about vampires and other supernatural romances.Yep, you guessed it,  she's a Twilight fan, but then again there aren't very many people out there that aren't in some way or another. Her favorite color is pink. Let's add one more thing about Emily...

She's graduating early! Let's all give this super talented young lady a huge round of applause.

Franklin County Senior Sprite - Rex- 2012

Introducing our second Senior Sprite, Rex. Rex goes to Franklin county Highschool. His favorite color is neon green and his favorite musician is the rapper Eminem. After school he plans on joining his father in the family business.

For Rex's shoot we meandered around the Cowan town square, a quaint little railroad town with a storied history that lies just outside of Winchester. Like most guys it was a little tough to get even a grin out of Rex, but we managed a few and had a fun time doing it. Here's wishing Rex a wonderful future!

I like the seriousness of this pose. The little cabin in the background is a historical treasure of Cowan. If I'm not mistaken it was their first jail house.

Cowan is split directly in half by a working railroad track. This railroad car sits nearby.

Another serious tough guy pose.

This was the family's favorite image.

See not even a tough guy can hold back his smile when holding the family dog. I love the doggies ears, so horribly cute!