A HUGE weight off my shoulders...

3 years...
17 sessions...
100 sleepless nights...
5,000+ assignments...

all to prepare me for today!
GRAD REVIEW!!!!

I decided to base my portfolio on a Children and make it into a tabletop book. It turned out way more than my expectations. I fell in love all over again with photography. Doing the things I love over the assignments I am forced to 'conceptually' think up. It is simple, clean, emotional and has a whole lot of love put into it. On top of our portfolios we needed to have all of our promotional pieces put together to get graded on as well. Luckily enough my lovely roommate Erin was able to help me with my logo and letter head design. Overall today I presented to 4 judges a 16pg Children's Tabletop album, Cover Letter, Resume, Business Cards and Promo Cards.

A lot of money and a lot of time...DONE!!!

This was a project that would determine if I graduate or not.. if I am ready to go out into the 'REAL' world!!....and it looks like im ready for both :)

if you want to see a bulk of my images from my portfolio you can visit my website and find them under the Children's portfolio.

Kyle & Amanda...

So I was able to FINALLY take some pictures of my little brother and his amazing girlfriend.. they have been asking me forever to do them, and I was actually able to take advantage of the situation and use it for a school assignment as well. They were so much fun to work with.. at first Kyle's comment was "Do all the people you work with feel this awkward?" lol.. I was like just relax. pretend im not here and it became a lot more at ease for them. Its so weird to watch my little brother be romantic with someone.. but at the same time its great to see that sensitive side of him. Plus I ::LOVE:: Amanda is so amazing and like the sister I never had, which makes it a lot easier to love her!!!

....check out my website for some others :)

All Grown Up

Congratulations Class of 2008!!!!!

Kyle Stephen Smith I am so proud of you! You did it Bud!!!!

So this cold Memorial Day weekend we celebrated the graduation of MANY high schoolers: Kyle Smith, Justin Stefani, Amanda Melynchuk, Amanda Sanchez, Jennifer Irby, Tiffany Ferrante, Gina Portale and Michael Morrison. It was quite a weekend.

A word to my dear brother...

Kyle, you did it!! I am so proud of you. Everything we have gone through over the years, I am so glad we have only grown closer not only as siblings but as amazing friends. I don't know what I would do without you in my life. You are the funniest person I know, you always keep me laughing!!! You are such an amazing man of God. I cannot wait to see how he uses you in your future decisions and adventures. You are going to be amazing in college and succeed more than ever. You can do anything you set your mind to. Just remember to keep God in your view and he will never steer you wrong. I love you and am so proud of all your accomplishments and cant wait to see you grow in the next steps of your life. I love you!!!

....only a few more months till my turn :)

Home on the Range

So today I had to do a photo shoot for a Cd cover. We have to choose 2 genres and depict a photo as if the album title was "In Dreams." Kinda cheesy right.. well we had no choice so I had to work with it. We have to do 2 of them and I still have no idea what to do for the second one, but for the one I shot today I decided to shoot for a Country album.. like an Alan Jackson type feeling. I searched around a bit this week researching where I might be able to find horses that I can photograph with a person, then I remembered that Courtney's, my friend who passed away from leukemia about a year and a half ago, parents are very involved with Equestrian Centers and events so I thought they might be able to help point me in the right direction. When I contacted her mom Debbie she told me that Pat, her husband, had horses and would love to model for me on the horses.

So when I got to the stables today, which were about an hour away from Santa Barbara in Fillmore, it started to rain on me...weird right?? All I was thinking was seriously.. why? It wouldnt have been a big deal if I didnt already know what I wanted, cause it would be kind of fun to do a shot like that in the rain.. but I already knew how I wanted the picture to turn out. My thoughts were to have the horse running free in a wide space with a dust trail behind him.. kind of every cowboys dream right??? Well here is how they turned out..

This is the picture I will be turning in to class for my CD Cover assignment:

....these are just a few fun ones of Pat with Norma Jean

...and lastly Pat let me ride Norma Jean back to the stables,
and of course I had to take a picture.

So I think today was a successful day..got a shoot done and got to go horseback riding. Pat told me I can come back any time and ride her... you can bet ill be there a lot!!

I Accept...

So things turned around today during my internship... I fell in love with it. I only wish I had this requirement 2 years ago. So I know I complained about the photo shop deal and how many files and stuff, but really.. I only got to dabble in it the other day.. today I had a full 8 hours of it and even started another wedding..and in the end I was sad to say goodbye. Luckily enough for me..he didnt want to say goodbye either.. he offered me a job!!!! Its really nice how this is going to work out.. like I said before he is also a Brooks graduate, so he knows how crazy school life is here and wants me to focus on that first, but he also said.. call me up anytime you have some free hours or days and you can work for ::PAY:: anytime!!! You better believe I took the offer...

So in 2 days you really can accomplish a lot... learned (2) new operating systems...PS3 and PhotoMechanics... even though I know Photo Shop pretty well I havent worked in PS3 at all really... now I feel completely comfortable and NEED it.. lol.

Deanna and Ashley.... ive got to show you what I learned.. its absolutely amazing :)

so yupp you heard it first here... Ive got a job!!!

This is all too familiar

So my photo class has required us to do a 2 day internship with a working photographer we have never worked with before...so I did some research and found a great couple in Santa Barbara that do amazing work. They of course are Wedding photographers with a great creative background, he graduated from Brooks in 2005 with the same degree I will be receiving, a Bachelor of Arts in Commercial Advertising, nice to know that there are fellow Brookies out there making good for themselves so fast.. But he and his wife are a set team, kind of like how Deanna works, so it was a very familiar atmosphere.

They of course do thing a little differently, some I will take and some I will leave with them, but overall it was a good experience today. I first edited a wedding which was fun to see their style and all the pictures from someones special day (that is my favorite part of post-production). Then, this is where they do things differently, I had to open all 500+ images and color corrected and photo shop them.. because I was only there for 4 hours I was only able to get through 100 of them, it at least gives me something to do when I go back on Wednesday for my second day to complete my internship. Only that was the part I didn't like. I feel it was a waste of time for 500 images when people only choose about 150 of them...but that is the something ill leave with them..lol

But I do recommend looking at their website, they are amazing.
http://www.michaelandannacosta.com/

Photoshoot Mania

Our school has a great system for photo shoots.. we get 3 hours in a studio block and whatever equipment needed to do our shoot for free.. well of course its included in our outrageous tuition.. but still, its nice to have the ability to use whatever I want whenever.
Today I needed to do 2 shoots so I tried to cram then into the 3 hour block and still be professional and efficient.. I believe I did a good job, do you?

The first couple pictures are for a model comp card, kind of like a promo card for models, showing their best pictures in a compilation. The ones below were just for fun. The train was coming by so it was a great background and her expressions were so much fun!!

As fun as the first set were, honestly I had more fun shooting the ones below. In the past year I have realized a lot about my photography and my passion in it. It changed a lot through the years..
• I started as wanting to be a Photo Journalism Major concentrating on Sports photography.. wow did I get over that fast
• Once I arrived at Brooks I decided I wanted to be a High Fashion Photographer. That was fun and I still enjoy an occasional fashion shoot every once in a while but then I once again changed motives...
• Celebrity Portraiture. It was a done deal. After one of my classes, a Celebrity class, taught by amazing photographer John Russo, I saw how fun it would be and how incredible to meet and work with all these celebs...once again that ended.
• For my summer session of 07' I decided to move back home for the summer and intern/work again with Deanna Graham Photography. At this point I honestly and truly found my nitch in photography. When I started out, I never wanted to be a Wedding Photographer.. I told everyone, go ahead, ask! But yup, you got it, I found my passion. Weddings and Lifestyle Portraits. I realized how much I hated being the studio, setting up lights, trying to control the ratios and exposures, and realized how much I loved the simplicity of natural light...Its a wonder why I love the second set of picture more than the first...

Lazys Days

So I thought it might be a nice idea to do NOTHING today. Well that was accomplished and now im regretting it. My first thought was ahh.. sit next to the fan, turn on some lifetime tv (i get addicted to those stupid shows) and relax a day of nothing because the week ahead of me is going to be a crazy one.

Turn out of the day... nothing good was on Tv, my back hurts for not leaving the couch for over 10 hours and because i suffered from pure boredom ..junk food became my friend again.

• Feeling of the day - Useless •

How I wish I would have left the house today...

The start of a new obsession...

So I hear this blog thing is the new trend. I figured I should explore it and see if its something I can get into and probably get addicted to. Plus I thought this would be a great way to document my photo adventures while in school for friends and family to see day by day!

So lets get started.
Here is the last assignment I did.. It is for my People class and we had to do 20 pictures with difference camera angles, lenses and directions. So I did a 'mock' engagement session with one of the cutest couples ever Paula and Rudy.. enjoy :)