http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=248511&id=276550730968
The link above will take you to photos from the We Cry Out tour. Jeremy’s brother joined him on stage for some dancing and air guitar and his dad joined him playing harmonica.
Great concert!
The line-up also included John Mark McMillan and Carlos Whittaker. 3union joined the Indy show as a special guest.
I spent this weekend with Merle (left) & Jade (right). Here they are looking at me expectantly for treats…. Here’s Merle when I say the word treat:
“Did you say it? Really? Did you?!?!?!! Oh boy!”
I’m used to sleeping with a cat who uses my pillow for a bed and my head for a pillow – but that’s nothing like sleeping with these two! “I don’t think you need to move your legs – so I’ll just be here.” “I don’t want you to get cold, so I’ll be beside you to keep you warm.” “Oh, forget the legs… the shoulder’s mine!” …. but it’s all good. They are sweet. Only problem will be when I get home – the cats will keep sniffing and sniffing…. because I smell like a dog!
After church this afternoon I sat down on the couch. Jade jumped up beside me so I’m talking to her and Merle jumps up in my lap and starts with his kisses…. and gets me mouth wide open in the middle of a word.
Merle is much bigger than he is supposed to be – so he has that lap dog mentality – in that he wants to be one. My aunt has the same breed (they’re 1/2 Maltese and 1/2…..Bichon?). Her dog is a small lap dog. I accused Dave of feeding Miracle Go to Merle when he was a puppy. I have a photo somewhere of the Merle and Honey together. When I find it I will post it here.
Mommy & Daddy’s plane should be landing about any time. They will be home after they go to Grandma & Grandpa’s to pick up little sister. Little sister was the feature of my first post which can be found here.
Here are a few more photos I took of Merle & Jade today. It was in bright sunlight but I still used the built-in flash to fill in some of the shadows. I dialed the flash down 1/3 to 2/3 stops, I just wanted to fill in the shadows and not overpower the photo.
I went to Lexington (KY) on the 8th and did an engagement shoot with Thomas & Tonya. We also included their dog, Honey, and Thomas’ teenage daughter and adult son. Heather, his daughter, will be ready for senior portraits in a couple of years.
We hit Jacobson Park, Thoroughbred Park, Triangle Park, and a cool little road on the outskirts of town.
In Lexington you’re allowed to get in the fountain pools and they even have some of those run-through fountains at one of the courthouses. I went to a photo outing with my photography club last week and wished Indianapolis was like Lexington in that regard. It was hot and we were at the fountain at the War Monument – I wanted to jump in!
Here are a few more photos from their shoot:
I am pleased to announce that I am now the official photographer for The Independent Critic – an independent voice for the reel world.
My first official duties will be covering the red carpet Indy premiere of Rob Reiner’s “Flipped” on Monday, August 2.
Before July is over, I’m posting a few of my favorite fireworks photos from this year. I went to Beech Grove on the 3rd, then Cicero on the 4th. The photo above took first place in our monthly photo club competition for July. Live in Central Indiana? Check out our club website.
Want some tips for your fireworks shots? Read on.
1. ALWAYS use a tripod! If you don’t have a tripod – then find something to support your camera as it points to the sky. I had to do use boulders and smaller rocks at a waterfall in Tennessee. We hiked about 300 feet down to the bottom – no tripod – so I had to improvise.
2. Manual exposure. I vary my exposures every minute or so. My shutter usually ranges from 2 seconds to 10 seconds. My f/stop usually ranges from f/8 to f/14. Preferred ISO is 100, although some of these were shot at ISO 250.
3. If you want just the explosions, sometimes you can hear them shoot and know it’s time to open the shutter. If you want the tails, it’s a bit tougher! The pyro-experts don’t always have consistent timing and sometimes there are multiple bursts. Luck can play into it, too. Sometimes you open too soon, other times too late. But they are almost always interesting shots.
4. If you have it – use a remote. I don’t have one for my current camera, so I press the shutter as gently as possible to avoid camera shake. I could do a 2-second shutter delay – but those two seconds could lose the shot.
The shots that show the burst only or show tree silhouettes at the bottom are from Beech Grove, the ones with the tails and are on the water are from Cicero. I had hoped for better reflections, but the barge was too close to shore to get them. It was so close to shore that by the end of the night, we were getting pieces of ash falling on us.
The song says “the first cut is the deepest” …. well, the first post is the hardest! In this blog I will be sharing photos and tips. Sometimes the tips will be more defined that at other times. Sometimes they will be with the photo relating some choices I made for the photo.
I decided to start with photos from a recent photoshoot with little J. She turned the big 0-1 on July 5. She spent the weekend after her big birthday with her grandparents. I went over and set up a mini-studio in their kitchen.
J was almost a July 4 baby so what better than a red, white, and blue dress? She’s not quite standing on her own yet so we had to pull in a chair for support. Cheerios, well, those just made her happy! Those are one of her favorite things.
For this photo I did a quick burn of the edges to bring the focus in on her since this was a full-length shot.
In the photo on the right she’s wearing her “my first birthday” dress and you can see that she’s trading the “pearl” necklace for the Cheerios she just spotted on the floor of the background. I’m not sure that the “who needs a necklace when there are Cheerios to eat???” attitude will last very long! Hopefully it will for Mommy & Daddy’s sake – I’m sure cereal is cheaper than necklaces.
For this photo I decided that a square format fit perfectly. I then did a burn around the edges, but changed the burn to a pink to white gradient because I wanted it to have a light and bright finish. This photo looks fantastic in a metallic print.
As seen in the photo below, she also enjoys playing “patty cake”. That was one of the things we found to keep her occupied for a few minutes.
This photo is in a sepia tone but with some hints of color showing through. I wanted to get it more of an “old-fashioned” look since it’s just her in her diaper and with some toys. I also knocked some of the brightness out of the toys so they didn’t stand out as a focal point. Full and partial sepia tones both look fabulous in a metallic print.
If you live in the Central Indianapolis area and want to schedule a photoshoot for your little beauty that won’t require maxing out the credit cards contact me at cheri@fotosbycheri.com.
I can bring my portable studio to you or we can meet in a park or other location for outdoor portraits. The ideal minimum footprint for setup 10-12 ft wide by 12-15 ft long, but this was set up in an area without that ideal length.
I don’t have a permanent studio yet, but I do have a couple of offices on the south side of Indianapolis where I can set up my equipment and you can meet me there.
Your minimum investment is $80 which includes some prints.
