Imaging USA 2011: San Antonio Texas

So you've heard me say again and again, I am a huge fan of PPA (Professional Photographers of America).  Every year I go to their annual photo convention/trade show to continue to learn new things and grow as both a business owner and an artist. Well, I wanted to make my first Official Announcement that I will be a speaker this year! I am super excited and flattered! So far i've only gotten some details, but the program is going to be HOT! There will be a group of young Photographers presenting chosen based on their Photographic Ability and/or Business skills. We are going to "Ignite" our audience! It's going to be a very inspiring program! To the photographers reading; this will be a program you do not want to miss!

To get more information, you can view the website at http://www.ImagingUSA.com





Speaking of the post I made a few days ago about letting the people in your life know how much you appreciate them -- I heard this song on a radio a while back and it really moved me emotionally. The lyrics are so beautiful and really made me think. I just wanted to share it!

PPA Print Competition

I'm a huge big fan of the Professional Photographer's of America print competition that they hold every year. You can submit up to 4 images (or albums) and they judge each image based on it's own account vs most competitions that judge one image against another. The competition forces me to really take a look at my work and push to become a better artist. If your images Merit, they go towards earning your PPA Masters Degree. You also have a chance once your image merits to be judged for the International Traveling Loan Collection. If your image "goes loan" you get an additional merit for the print and it is displayed at different traveling exhibits and is published in their Loan collection book! I have had the honor of having two of my images make loan in the last two years!

Well, the results are finally in =)! I took a risk this year and submitted a few images, including an album for the first time that I wasn't sure about! I received Merits for three out of four of the images I submitted this year! I have 9 out of the 13 print competition merits needed to get my Masters! Next year my goal is to get those last 4 needed! Wish me luck!

Curtains Please!

Model: Rathana Sin

Makeup: MRS Beauty

Styling: Scarlet Fairy Designs

Photographer/Set Design: Me =D!

Longing

Model/Actress: Angelina Aucello

Makeup: MRS Beauty

Hair & Styling: Me

Photographer/Set Design: Me

Christine Von Rose - Skin Tight

Model: Christine Von Rose

Makeup & Hair: Me

Styling/Set/Photographer: Me

Album Design: Me

(You have got t see this album in person... it rocks)

This last image did not Merit, but I still love it ^_^

Behind a Dream Like Mind

Model & styling: Rachel Dashae

Makeup/Hair: Me

Photographer/ Set: Me

Graduation Time!

Big congratulations to my (not so) little brother who finished High School yesterday! My family got together before we went out to have dinner. While we were there, the TV had the Phillies game playing and it started POURING! We knew graduation was supposed to take place outside so we were a little worried. It was a picture perfect day though! The rain passed through in like.. 10 minutes! Just as everything was getting ready to go, the sun came out and it was beautiful! I even saw dragonflies flying around =D! I'm super proud of my brother. He's extremely intelligent and amazing with computers and I'm really excited to see where he goes from here!

My parents got seats right up front...

These are some very proud parents =D

From Left: Dad, Me, Brother, Mom, Grandmom ^^;

The family! Thank you Dave for taking the picture!

...and me with my brother =)!

Inspiration inside me

I wanted to make a post about some of the things that inspire me. This whole social networking thing sort of appeared as I grew up -- in a lot of ways I feel like I was much more open about my life in younger years. Becoming a model and a photographer that people look up to made me afraid of showing parts of who I really am -- afraid people won't understand the artistic "me" inside. I made my personal pages private  and made posts only about those things related to my work. It's hard for me to show the vulnerable side of my core essence. Even now I feel shaken as my fingers touch my keyboard.

I recently found a blog that really inspired me to want to show more about who I am and the people that I love and inspire my soul. I have seen Vicky and Jed of VGallery at Imaging USA, http://www.thevlog.net  but I never really went to their website or saw a lot of their work. I forget how I happened to stumble across their site in my surfing, but I am glad I did! The first thing that really stuck out to me was a video about social networking they posted, it is really amazing. If you have a business -- any kind of business, it is really motivational. The second thing was how real they were.

(double Click on the videos to bring up youtube if you can't view the right side.)

While mentioning people from Imaging USA that inspire the emotional part of my heart, I have to mention Jeff and Julia Woods. I saw them a couple years back now, I think, at Imaging USA. Their program rocked, but what inspired me the most was some of the things that Julia mentioned about making time for the people in your life that you love. It touched me.

During college, I pushed. I have this never ending drive to want to better myself as a person and an artist. The first thing that comes to my mind when I go into a photo shoot is, "Can I bring out and make this person shine as beautiful as they really are. Will I be able to bring out their soul?" As a solo business owner, there is always a never ending "To do" list. Often I wonder if it's because I am a young, female entrepreneur and feel I have to prove myself to the world, but after talking to other business owners I realized it's a feeling they all have. I always feel no matter how much I get done in a day, there is more that I should be doing -- that getting work done is more important than going out to dinner with your family -- or simply watching a movie and enjoying hot chocolate with your significant other.

 It's hard to make time for yourself. Those little things in your life mean more than you can ever know. To those photographers following my blog -- or anyone, really, Make sure you take time to let the people in your life know how much you love them. Don't just throw words at them before you go to bed at night. Really make sure you stand up and give them a big hug and let them know how much of a difference they have made in your life.

I photographed a wedding this weekend; It was a Fairy Tale, literally and figuratively. Sometimes it takes all I have to remind myself to keep my camera in hand and snap photos instead of joining in and clapping for the happy couple as they walk back down that aisle. At this wedding, I felt the tears swelling up in my eyes as the couple kissed. Without going into too much detail, this couple had so much against them and they pulled through everything to have the most beautiful happily ever after. 

Music is a big inspiration to me. In the past couple years a lot of the music videos haven't been very inspiring to me -- live videos of bands playing - violence. Things that never hit my core. I feel the same way about movies. Every day we see things - terrible things on the news.  I go to a movie to be entertained and laugh- feel that warm fuzzy feeling, or have a deep connection that really makes me think by the end. On the bright side, if you haven't seen Avatar, you have to go see it.  I feel those that gave it bad review just don't understand the spiritual aspect behind it. I grew up in a very spiritual, open minded home -- to me this movie is a masterpiece.

 Recently i've seen some amazing music videos that I haven't really seen since Madonna-- Videos that are visually enticing such as Lady Gaga's or Christina Aguilera. (Mind you I don't always agree with all of their fame tactics.) It is amazing to see Alternative fashions such as corsetry and latex in mainstream music. When I was a teenager, I was enticed by the creativity and sensual energy behind such wardrobe - and although I was ridiculed and harassed as being "weird" it inspired the style of work I do today. I look back on those days today and smile. 

Many don't know this about me, but I took Four years of acting in an Academy during High school. I actually had two diploma's coming out of High School. I took vocal classes, learned stage and wardrobe design -- makeup -- everything inspired my work. When I see some of the artistic music videos recently, they are so beautiful. I feel my heart almost quiver when I see such amazing art. My lips press together and I cease to breath for a moment before my lungs start to burn and a gasp for air. 

I had stopped watching music videos because of how uninspiring a lot of them have been. My brother showed me this a little while back and ever since i've been hungrily looking for more.

Sorry about how long and for posting so many videos into one blog, but I have all these words jumbled up that are screaming through my fingertips. I'm a big fan of Flyleaf's music. I love female singers to begin with, but I just love the way she moves in videos. 

And last but definitely not least, how can I end a post about inspiration without at least mentioning Alice in Wonderland. I read that book over and over growing up. I've quoted it during important times in my life. It's so out of this world - I could make a whole post on it. I will leave that for a later time though =) 

Tiffany

Tiffany contacted me a while ago about getting into modeling. She wasn't sure if she could because of her height. (She's the same height as me!).  We decided to aim at more of a Commercial/Promotional model type of photo shoot. She drove out to my studio in Southern Jersey. We started off simple with the white dress to show off her figure. She has a really great smile! Miss Rae Sin (MRS Beauty) did the makeup for this photo shoot. She provided her wardrobe and I helped tweak the hair styling for the pinup look!

I love doing these old Hollywood Noir style images!

Something a little sexier!

We finished off with a look I haven't done in a long time! 

A new image continuing my colorful flower series =)!

I really miss doing these.. hmmm.. Do I see a sale in the future ;)?

Mother and Daughter

I hope everyone had a great time Memorial day weekend! I worked part of it, but did find some time to have a Smallville Marathon with my boyfriend!

I wanted to share one of the sweetest Mother-Daughter sessions I've done in a while.

Back before Mother's Day, Stacy had contacted me about getting images done with her daughter, Kristen. Kristen is also an awesome Mom with a beautiful son! They weren't really sure what they wanted to have done so I had the bring a ton of outfits and we did a few different looks. They brought their own makeup with them, and I did their makeup =)

The first set we did I asked them to stay in the clothes they were already wearing! The color palette matched well and it was more realistic to their personalities compared to all the formal clothes they brought. They loved these shots so much they chose to do a wall collage of these three images above!

I really loved this set of the two of them in black. They almost look like they could be sisters instead of Mother and Daughter! So beautiful!

This last shot was an image for Dad! Something a little different for him to stick in his wallet! 

There were Five sets altogether that we did -- I might post up a little something from the other two sets they didn't order from when I get some free time!