Independence Day ~

“Those who won our independence… valued liberty as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.”

~ Louis D. Brandeis

I took the liberty to play in Photoshop this morning and create a unique, vintage American Flag to post for Independence Day.  I cropped and rotated the flag and added a layer of texture using Adobe Paper Texture Pro.  Opacity was adjusted on the layer level.

For comparison, I included the original below.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

The Gown

“The sun shines,

When I’m with you,

Your smile makes me want to dance.

Tonight, I’ll put on my favorite gown,

Place a diamond comb in my hair,

Dazzle you with my beauty,

And sway in your arms,

Until the morning light appears.”

copyright Robyn Graham

This photograph is the side of a Daffodil turned upside down. As I was photographing Daffodils from my garden I played with them to find unique angles to shoot.  This reminded me of a woman’s ball gown.  The first line of the poem is one of the meanings of the Daffodil in The Language of Flowers.  The poem, was an inspiration from the Daffodils outside my window dancing in the afternoon sun.

Life is so busy right now.  I once again have to apologize for my inactivity in the world of blogging.  I cherish all of my followers and I appreciate those who stop by, browse through my blog, like my work, and leave comments.  Please forgive me for not always returning that kind gesture.  With three children, each in multiple activities, I find myself having a bit too much to juggle and very little time to browse blog posts and admire the work of my virtual friends.

With work I have been busy with product shoots, head shots, first communion portraits, senior portraits and more. I hope to blog about a couple of the unique projects in the near future.  I have also been doing some behind the scenes work for future “big” projects with my photography….keep your fingers crossed for me!  Hopefully they will come to fruition in the next 12 to 18 months.

Flowers and News

“Dazzled by your Charm”

“Study of a Tulip I”

I am excited to announce that both photographs above were selected for the Philadelphia Sketch Club Annual Juried Flower Exhibit. If you live in the Philadelphia area, I encourage to stop by the exhibit – so many beautiful paintings, photographs, sketches and more.

Please note, today is Thursday, which means I posted on Monochromia today.  If you enjoy street photography and faces, be sure and check out my post.

Silence

~ A red pear and some dried roses a dear friend gave me for Christmas…

“Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.” ~Helen Keller

Honor

“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” ~ Bradley Whitford

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas…

And a season full of love, joy, peace and hope.

 

Sharing some News

Happy Sunday!  It’s been a big week for me!   First, I want to share a blog post by Leanne Cole in which she featured me in her weekly introduction series.  I have been following Leanne for years, and find her to be a true inspiration.   With that being said, I am very honored to be featured by her.  Leanne’s blog post about me can be viewed HERE.

This photograph was taken in front of the New York City Public Library during the afternoon Leanne and I spent together in New York this fall.

The other piece of news that I would like to share with you is that I was contacted by Nelson Education/Cengage Learning, a Canadian publishing company, last Monday.  The company asked to purchase one of my images to be used for the cover of a textbook for colleges and universities.   The print run will be 13,240.   Needless to say, I said yes, and am more than excited about this opportunity.  “Love Intertwined”, the image purchased by Nelson Education/Cengage Learning, can be found in a pervious blog post HERE.

Black and White Thursday

Please visit Monochromia to see my Black and White Thursday image.  I think you’ll enjoy it, especially if you appreciate a shallow depth of field.  Be sure to let me know your thoughts and I promise to get a new blog post up here soon…I’ve been busy editing family portrait sessions and time has been limited – a good thing…really!

The Joys of a Windows and Manual Exposure

Shot take while metering on the inside of the window.

Shot taken while metering on the outside of the window.

When I shoot and I know I may not be back to visit the subject any time soon I’ll take multiple shots.  The various shots will include different manual exposures, different focal points, and different angles.  I don’t bracket, I change my settings to achieve different effects.

For the images above I metered on the different light sources to achieve a totally different effect.  One has more contrast, the other is high key.  The top image shows only the interior of the window of the New York City Public Library while the second shows more of what is going on outside in the streets of NYC.

Which do you prefer?

 

Wander

ss 0.8  f 22 ISO 160 – long exposure to capture motion

When I first began posting on my photography blog almost five years ago someone wrote to me and said “just make sure you keep it fun so you don’t get burnt out or lose the joy”. Such wise words. As I moved from being strictly a fine art photographer and taking on portraiture clients, headshot clients and visual branding clients life began to have overwhelming moments. Not only because of the photography, but because life is so busy with three kids, a dog, a husband who travels and just in general. At times I get a little lost, and feel I’m in the dark. In addition I sometimes feel my creativity is hiding amongst the chaos and I am grasping for an anchor to ground me in my work again. During these times I question if my work is fresh and stimulating, I struggle with implementing my project ideas and prioritizing, and just feel overwhelmed. These are times of self-doubt and questioning and I have to work hard to convince myself that my work is my art and if I like it, I should present it, not hide it ~ that someone will like it. I tend to look to closely at, and analyze too much, the number of social media likes instead of finding peace in the fact that I was moved by my creation and my clients like what I create for them. 
The above image summarizes, in part, how I feel about my photography. The ~ Color ~ edit correlates to feeling overjoyed and in awe at how I see the world and capture life one image at a time.  The ~Black and White ~ edit of this image is posted on Monochromia and represents when the phantom of failure strikes and I am intimidated and unsure of the direction I am or should be going, wandering aimlessly. All of these feelings occurring while the world is aflame with passion and excitement around me.

Which image speaks more to you and your life right now, at this moment ~ The color edit or the black and white edit?  Do you wander?

I can’t wait to read your thoughts.