Have you ever googled yourself?

But really... have you? I honestly hadn't until this afternoon. I was looking for pictures from last night's game that had circulated to multiple sites and I was actually surprised at what came up. Obviously my facebook, twitter, whatever, but a lot of my photography accomplishments surfaced. All of the times I've put pictures in the Scarlet, the Worcester Consortium show, the UMASS show, hometown newspapers that ran my Clark pictures, my blurb book I made sophomore year, it's just interesting. Even some awards from high school and clubs I'm involved in at Clark showed up.

Anyways, moving on. I decided it had been too long since I'd posted. So let's talk about life. But first...

http://www.telegram.com/article/20120216/NEWS/102169973/1009/sports

http://d3hoops.com/notables/2012/02/wrapup-feb15-men

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68OZ4jxvDAQ&feature=youtu.be

Those are from the game last night, yay! And everyone is blowing up my notifications on those pictures, haha. It's always nice to know that people actually care though. Because it's one thing to do it because I love it and all that. But it's another to know that other people also appreciate it. I'm actually really upset I wasn't at the whole thing. But luckily I went after dance because Mom and Dad just happened to be watching the live streaming online and told me they were going into overtime, haha. It's funny how life happens that way. This semester is pretty much a string of those occurrences, it's kind of been surreal.

Prime example:

http://clarknews.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/tennis-royalty-comes-to-worcester/

The Fed Cup came to Worcester and I got to sit on the sideline and take pictures!!! I was literally 2 feet away from Serena Williams and she smiled at me :) :) :) yup, I'm still a bit star struck. But while there, a T&G photographer said I should submit a portfolio and freelance for them. It makes me think that maybe, just maybe, I can actually do this. I just need to start believing that. Because the most recent bit of news in my life, this event http://www.2012synchro.org/ is coming to the DCU in a few weeks and someone asked Kevin if he knew any good photographers to shoot it, he recommended me and she called and left me a message asking me to shoot it! AHHHH! Surreal. Yup, surreal. I've also been doing photos for a few guys who are making a workout app for smart phones. That's been interesting. We've done one photo shoot and we still have a few more but I'm getting paid to do it! And it's actually pretty fun. It's pretty wonderful to get paid for something I love doing.

A bit more usual... haha, I have a picture in the ARTSWorcester Consortium show again this year and 3 pictures in a photo contest at the library back home. I'm actually going home for the opening tomorrow for that one. I also need to submit to the Goddard House show, the theme is Nature and the City. I just haven't figured out what yet. And taking over my life, literally, is my thesis project. I'm back to doing sportraits again but I'm going to combine them with everything I've done in the past to make a magazine. Crazy? Yup, I'm aware. The final show is April 25th which means I have just over 2 months to pull this all together. I've already done 2 photo shoots this semester plus everything I have from last spring, and then I have one scheduled for tomorrow, another for Saturday, and one next Friday as well. And then a bunch of others that are going to be after spring break so I don't feel bad making them go outside in just shorts and a jersey, haha. Hopefully it'll be a bit warmer by then. But then, somehow, I'm going to take all of my sportraits, action shots, Midnight Mayhem, Fed Cup, apparently Synchronized Swimming now, some articles/interviews and maybe my thesis paper - put that all together and make a magazine. It's a bit more complicated than I anticipated. Not even that part. Just how I actually want to display everything at the exhibition. Because 3 lucky athletes are going to be printed 24x36ish and hung on the wall, mounted on foam core I believe. But then I don't know if I want the magazines on a table, or in a rack mounted on the wall - then do I want a plastic magazine rack or a metal one spray painted white or a wood shelf mounted to the wall ... the possibilities are pretty much endless. I don't like options. I'm an indecisive person when I have too many options. But I'm going to do some tests and go from there I guess. It'll be fine. And after it's done, I'm going to feel so accomplished and proud, it'll all be worth it. ...Right? I just keep telling myself that. And even though this is "normal" life, it feels a bit surreal sometimes because every athlete I've worked up the nerve to ask to pose for me has agreed. They've all actually been excited about it. I love it :) I could so do this all forever and be happy. I wish.

So now that I've fully updated you on my photography life and bored you to death, provided you actually took the time to read it all :P I'm going to go. I was trying to upload pictures of my latest printmaking projects to end on a lighter note but it doesn't seem to be working, so I give up. It's been a long day and as we all know, I talk too much. So on that note, goodbye for now :)

more sportraits

Sorry for the long string of pictures, I have a hard time deciding on which ones to post here. You should just go look at my flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/31463212@N04/. But anyways, I think the hardest thing this semester has been figuring out what I want from these portraits. And the fact that I'm getting to know the athletes both helps and hurts my artistic purpose. Because I'm trying to put them in poses that is natural for them based on their position or sport or personality and that seems virtually impossible when I'm not sure what I want out of the pictures in the first place. Luckily, I've found some pretty great people along the way that have put up with it all and even formed a few friendships. And I think I've gotten some decent photos out of this semester. Sure, I'm not a professional yet but I also don't have thousands and thousands of dollars to spend to get there yet. As for these three shoots specifically, I'm not quite sure what there is to say. Yes, I'll remember the lights falling over time and time again or the sky I can't get to look the way I want in photoshop but this semester was more about me I think. And my experience as a photographer and a person. As well as making friends, connections and putting myself out there. After all, this was only preparation for next semester and studio topics where the real fun begins. I'm hoping to continue this project through the fall and we'll see where I am after that with it I guess.

end of the semester

Well hello there blog, after all this time apart, so much for posting regularly. An understatement would be that this semester did not turn out the way I planned, my entire life just surprised me in every way possible. I think it's a good thing though, I'm not officially home and able to actually relax... which is hard for me. And photo wise this summer is going to be lots and lots of research and practice and pulling everything together to get ready for senior year and the rest of my life, oh wow. I hope to have a website, an actual website, which I am in the process of figuring out and have been for a while now. But I think I may go with a pbase one? Because I was going to have a friend help me design one, but you know how I am with relying on other people for things so I guess we'll see. This http://www.pbase.com/pitchertaker is Frank's and I think it would work for what I need it for at this point. Of course, something like this http://www.robertseale.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=0&a=0&at=0 is the end goal but I'm not quite sure I'm there yet to say the least. Though I have come a long way in just this short time. Moving on, this semester I concentrated on my sportraits, bettering myself with action shooting and attempting to expand my portfolio in general. As for the sportraits, I have my final 3 for you, all amazing athletes, great people and wonderful models. But I think I am going to post those in a separate post for now. But I did pictures of Vagina Monologues, Devin's campaign, Gala, the Psychology Conference, Relay for Life, the Athletic Awards, senior portraits for a friend, and the usual anywhere from 2-5 games a week. And you know, trying to have a life somewhere in there as well, haha. I believe I am shooting a one year old's birthday party next weekend too, in addition to it being my 21st birthday (yay!), my little cousin's first dance recital (awww) and my brother's first soccer game of the summer (which sadly I can't make due to everything else, but there will be more). But I'm sure I will have lots of pictures for you this summer, I hope, I always say that and I always disappear for months on end, but I'm really going to try this time. Mostly, I just need to get a website up and running to display all these images. And I need to fix the living out of a suitcase situation, among everything else, redecorating to start hence the changes this year. But moving on, I'm going to post those sportraits now :)

oh life

So it's been a pretty interesting week, photographically and otherwise. Unfortunately I don't have many pictures to show for it though. I had my photo shoot with Jordan and one of the lights fell over :O sad times. Needless to say, we didn't get many pictures in and I was pretty emotional. So these two are workable images ... better yet, poses that I wanted to try with different lighting but couldn't. So I'm going to have a reshoot with her this week and hopefully everything will go more smoothly this time.

But now I have moved on and I actually purchased my own light (yay!) and strobe (yay!) and umbrellas and light stands and the list just keeps going. So I already have two people scheduled for Thursday and Friday of this week and then I'm working on scheduling someone for next week already as well. This semester is almost over already, oh no. I've decided it's going to be okay though, the surprises keep coming and I keep dealing with them, it's nothing I can't handle :)

first official sportraits

My first official sportraits, aren't you excited?! Haha, I am :) I am still having mixed feelings about this project though. I still can't decide what I want. I don't want them to be too cheesy but I want them to have that typical sports passion/emotion. That's what I love most about sports, the passion that goes into them. So I need to find that in relation to these sportraits. I need to find my passion for them as well. I've just been so frustrated with the little problems (that there always seem to be a lot of!) and I'm letting them get the best of me. I just need to keep remembering that these are my first portraits I've ever taken with lights I've never used in places that are some of the hardest to shoot in. I will get better.

However, I am adding another personal goal to my list for the semester. As I figured out at this shoot, not that I haven't gotten it before, I need to be louder. When we were in the gym with other people and lots of noises, my voice disappears. One of my 7th graders at Claremont told me the same thing last week, I was talking too softly for her to hear me. And I've been told that forever, so I guess we'll see if I can work on it. I mean I'm going to have to if I want to be a teacher. On Wednesday, I was helping a group of three 7th grade boys with a worksheet using PEMDAS. One of them got SO excited when he finished it and had done the whole second column by himself with me just checking it. And Justin, my personal favorite, was like "Yeah, it's because she's just a great teacher!" awwwww. It made my heart melt. And it's times like these I remember why I want to be a teacher.

Because lately, photography has been taking over my life. This past weekend I shot for the Special Olympics Saturday and Sunday. And Tuesday I met with a fellow Clarkie who's running for City Council in Worcester and I am going to be his campaign photographer. So that'll be a new experience for me but I'm excited :) Photography is what I love. But so is teaching. I'll find some way to make it work. I'm sure there are still plenty of chances for life to surprise me.

Back to the real reason for this post, the actual pictures. I'm happy with them considering they're my first shoot. However, there are still things I need to improve on to get better for next time. And I've accepted it's always going to be that way, there's always going to be something I could've done or should've done better. So for now I am happy with these :) I picked my favorites I guess to post here. But I don't remember if last time I said I'm also posting all of the pictures I've edited from each session on flickr so here's the link for that http://www.flickr.com/photos/31463212@N04/?saved=1. Hopefully that works. And for this time, Eileen and Dave were very wonderful to work with and for that I'm so incredibly grateful. Everyone has been wonderful through all this. And though it was a stressful Thursday, it was definitely a productive one. It all worked out in the end. And with that in mind, I know I'll get through this project and this semester :)

it's me!

Haha, this seems to be a reoccurring theme lately - but I think that's a good thing :) I found this before break but forgot to post it, well actually I didn't really find it. Kevin actually told me about it, he saw my picture in the paper and saved it to show me. It's very exciting :)

http://www.telegram.com/article/20110227/NEWS/102270503

Anyways, this weekend was the Winter Olympics for Special Olympics so I shot basketball skills drills yesterday and basketball games today, fun times. And I thought I was done with basketball, but I think this time I officially really am. However, I did have a break through, of course, at my last game, to change the white balance on my camera so I don't have to do it to every single one in RAW. Sadly, I don't have my new pictures to post yet, I'm editing them tomorrow in the lab because my laptop still isn't calibrated yet. But I have more people lined up for this week and the snow is starting to melt so maybe that means I can go outside next week or soon! I really need that to happen or I'm going to be way behind and have to cram like 15-20 people into the month of April, that'll be great. And I really love snow, but this is the one time I just wish it would go away. But I think spring sports start this week as well, at least at Clark, they already started in general. So I have lots of stuff to do, but that's always how I like it :) Well, I am done talking for now I guess. I need to do statistics homework and choreograph for tap (YAY!) and submit photos to a contest thing but I'm sure you'll be hearing from me soon

it's my picture! :)

http://branford.patch.com/articles/hornets-basketball-seniors-get-send-off-and-graduated-students-having-success-at-the-college-level#photo-4960169

This is kind of exciting, and look - it actually has my name! This is Tucker, as you can see, and I guess it's his high school that ran the story/photo. It's a cute idea, a "where are they now" kind of thing.