So I can’t make up my mind if I want to keep my blog here or move it to a different page. I think that the blog helps people get to know me a bit better and might help people decide if I am the photographer for them, on the other hand I would like to have a bit more freedom with the design. I love the design of my website for business purposes and the blog is fine, but coming from a background in web & graphic design it is often in my nature to want to constantly change things and upgrade them. I suppose there is nothing wrong with having more than one, one for more photography and business related topics like this, and one for play. I tried this once before and found I didn’t update either site nearly as much as I would have liked to but I am hoping I can make this different. Perhaps I will start a photo blog. Less words and more images usually sits well with any photographer.

So to get started with the images here are some shots from a wonderful hike I took with my fiance’ Tom and his dad Steve. We ended up driving into Savoy, MA to a beautiful spot called Tannery Falls. I took the opportunity to play with the beautiful cascading water in my images by use of a smaller aperture around f/7.1 and a slower shutter speed of 0.8″. I also used a polarizing filter to cut down on even more light. I personally always shoot in RAW but I did little adjusting to these shots. I was also trying to play up my luck that the sun would be just about directly above the waterfall by including some beams of light.

My fiance' Tom standing in the falls <3

The beautiful falls in all of it's glorious details

a more detailed look

A self portrait using a timer and attempting to hold still while the falls cascade.

Tom standing in a small pool in the falls

I am very happy with these shots and I will be going back for sure. I am hoping to hike back in the fall and capture this with all of the beautiful colors of autumn. <3

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Yes it has been quite a while since my last update but I plan on making them at least a weekly thing. I have taken on some great projects and jobs over the past two months and I have added some beautiful photos to my portfolio.

I have been very focused on not only my photography but also a wonderful music, arts, and cultural magazine called The Berkshire Beat that is focused on the cultural talent here in western Massachusetts. I will be hosting a photography workshop hopefully next month that will go over some of the key photography concepts and include some beautiful things to photograph. It’s crazy to think that just last year I was a starving artist and now I am working on all sorts of projects that make me feel so accomplished. I cannot wait to do my first editorial shoot for The Berkshire Beat and start coordinating the workshop series!

I have also recently shot a wedding for a sweet couple and their family who flew in from all over. It was at a beautiful Inn in Lenox on a rather stormy day here in the Berkshires but we managed a bit of sunset sunlight for photographs which I was grateful for! I took this as an opportunity to upgrade some of my equipment and bought myself a speed light and battery grip. It felt amazing to show up to the wedding with this around my neck, it gave me so much more control and put my nerves at ease because there were no worries of not enough light, battery power, or memory.

I have also shot some promo shots for a fashion show that happened in New Britain CT on the 7th of May. I found out the day before that there would be about 25 models, I shot for 5 hours straight and only got about 16 of them. I a going to hopefully finish up those shots (which you can view at the Stanley Park page) today and this weekend. It has been a challenge managing my time because I went from almost no job to about 4 of them. I am a Photographer, Creative Director of The Berkshire Beat, Outreach coordinator and graphic designer for Terrachord, and a daycare assistant! I am hoping soon that The Berkshire Beat and my photography will merge, who knows the amazing creative concepts and shoots I can come up with then!

Well thank you for reading and wanting to stay updated about me and my career. I am going to be doing a GIVEAWAY on my Facebook Fanpage soon so if you are not a fan become one to participate in the upcoming giveaway!

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 I have been really wanting to work more in the fashion photography industry and expand my portfolio so I have set up some packages for local aspiring and active models. I am so optimistic about the future and I have joined model mayhem to network with some people in New England. I have come to the conclusion that I will have to travel 1-4 hours to participate in most larger scale shoots. It is not something I look forward to but thanks to Garmin I am at least able to find any location(in theory). I am hopefully weeks away from my new camera that I have been saving to upgrade to. I cannot wait to take photos with a new 50d and be able to offer my clients even more beautiful images than they can imagine. I am excited for the summer to get here too, I am so over winter and it’s frigid white backdrop, I need some green and yellow and blue, I need nature, and warmth. I love on location shoots and I can’t wait to work with all of the wonderful models in the area!

I have also recently gotten involed in an up and coming magazine called Virtuosity Magazine which will promote creativity and up and coming photographers, models and designers. I am so excited to learn more and be as involved as I can be. I will be working with 2-3 models and a designer to create a concept for our section of the first issue. I am so sad that I am unable to make the meeting in East Hartford CT but I am hoping to be there via phone or be updated afterwards. I will hopefully be able to travel to East Hartford with more notice but I am hopeful it will work out well and i will be able to make it to the rest of the meetings.

Thank you all for your continuous support and encouragement. I hope some of you will take advantage of my Portfolio & Headshots offer. I look forward to working with you in the future! ?

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Life is pretty grand at the moment. I am starting to book shoots and build my confidence in every area. I have had no one to show me or teach me how to interact with people, how to apply makeup, or how to run a business so these are things I am learning. I really didn’t realize how important confidence is in success. I am also learning the difference between confident and cocky. The confidence is what allows me to put aside any personal relationship with the person i am photographing and to get in their personal space to put makeup on them or just photograph them. I am learning to work with peoples awkwardness and discomfort and I am slowly finding ways to ease the mood and create soft warm expressions. I did not grow up with lots of cuddles and hugs from all around, I find I have a personal bubble that I don’t like people in, probably because of that reason, so getting close to people is out of my comfort zone. I am breaking through this and opening up a lot, I volunteer at a daycare two days a week and being around the kids has helped me accept hugs and closeness a lot better, mostly because the kids have no boundaries and will tell you they love you and give you a hug whenever they want to. Also the more I do this the easier it gets and the more my confidence builds.

A Photo I took in NYC - The land of Dreams

Growing up is very strange in my opinion, to wake up and realize the world is yours, and everything you knew as a child was sugar coated and sheltered. For me it has almost been like a rebirth, a rediscovery of life and myself. I learn more about myself every day through my talents and ambitions. I had no idea what I was capable of and I have been underestimating myself for far to long. Growing up poor you often get locked into a mentality that limits you in life, it traps you and makes you feel like the only way to happiness is to win the lottery. I know this is not true and I have learned the only thing that was holding me back was me and the limits I gave myself. I have found a much better place in life and I am working hard to continue on that path.

In more interesting news today is no pants day in the subways. It started in NYC in 2002 and passangers are encouraged to wear no pants, only underwear with their normal tops and to act completely normally. It’s really funny actually to see some people’s reactions. You can view a video Here. Would you take your pants off? If I was a confident young woman sure! I told you…I’m working on the confidence….. Until next time! Leave me some feedback I would love to hear some of your stories and opinions of what i’ve said. Also would you or have you participated in todays no pants day?

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So I have been recently figuring out the wonder of plugins and apps to connect twitter, facebook, myspace, and my blog to make updating things so much easier. I am so excited to finally be able to use my website so to be able to link it with all of my other networking sites it will hopefully bring some more people here where I can talk about more than just photography. Not that I don’t love talking about photography, but I have so many things I love that it’s nice to have a place to talk about them all. On that note here is something I thought people should know about.

Yahoo.com - Photo by Suzanne DeChillo/New York Times

As if people don’t hate Wal*Mart enough (or at least claim to), I recently read a story on Yahoo about Wal*Mart and H&M destroying all of their unworn clothes and shoes and then throwing them away in large garbage bags in Manhattan, a place where those clothes and shoes would have clothed so many homeless and poor people. They would cut off sleeves of coats and put holes in shoes. I mean SERIOUSLY? A place that makes the amount of money they do they can’t just DONATE it and get a giant tax write off? I am really hoping that they put an end to the selfishness and turn 2010 into a new beginning for our future. I am hoping to bring children into this world sometime in the next 5 years and I hope we can all do our part to turn things around. Now that you are aware of this injustice lets talk about poor Miss Watson!

What is wrong with this picture? Oh maybe a missing leg?? Or the way it just appears to disappear after a very awkward looking bend?

Mario Testino/Burberry

Even if this somehow was just a terribly awkward pose, you DON’T use an image that looks like this. According to yahoo she might have her leg up on a box and is holding onto her brother (yes her brother) for support and that her leg is behind his. I don’t buy it, especially after the Demi Moore incident with W magazine. This is an ad for Burberry that the Harry Potter star, Emma Watson, did with her brother. I have seen other images from this campaign and I love them, however as a photographer I don’t see how someone shooting high fashion advertisements would allow for an image to “natually” come out looking this unnatural.

Thanks for taking the time to read this if you’ve made it this far, and I look forward to some opinions of the Wal*Mart scandal and the case of the missing leg. Until next time!

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