ILP Meetup!

Today some local WA photogs and myself met up for the very first time from our ILP group! Yay! We had 6 photogs and 9 kids (our lovely models). It was so much fun to meet everyone and to see other photog kids. I know my kids were thrilled to see that they are not alone with having a photographer mom! And it was so much fun to talk camera talk and be shooting alongside another photog. It was great and I look forward to many more get togethers. It was a busy day for me so I just had time to upload my pics and proof one. This one jumped out among all the others so it got first dibs. Meet one of the local ILP kiddos. Here he was explaining something to us adults on how to do something. He was smiling and moving around and was just so cute and sweet. I fired away hoping to capture him in his moment and YAY... I think I did. I'm so thrilled with this one. I just love it. Minimal pp work here as it was a quick play to get it up to show you. Nice! Clean. Yum. Love it.

Thanks for the meet up gals! {Edited to add more pics 3-6-08}

Photogs in action. Stephanie and Karly. They were shooting and I saw them and thought I'd capture them in action and just them Karly looks up and laughs because she realizes she's being shot herself. :) I think this is so candid and sweet. It was great to meet you gals!

One of the lovely models and her talented photog mommy Crystal captured in a moment of sharing camera tips. :)

And finally a quick snapshot of my daughter and a new friend (not in pic) run quickly down the dock in petti's while local photog Kathryn takes her pics. My daughter really enjoyed playing with yours. She was so sad to leave and say goodbye. We will have to get them together again soon. It was nice to meet you Kathryn.

Ok so I took only a few pics of the photogs and this one is my favorite. I just love the bokeh I got here. Stephanie, you look awesome here. And you know after looking at how you all shoot, I'm the only left-eye shooter in the bunch! It was great meeting you and I'm glad you're in the group now. :)

This little guy was on a mission to get a closer look at some balloons that one of the photogs brought for the shoot. I thought he looked so handsome in this light and quickly grabbed this shot with shivering hands. It was a cold shoot and I had a hard time keeping myself steady.





So of course we met up at a local lake and that is where you would find me 99% of the time when given the opportunity. I'm a coastal gal! Any of the models that went to venture at the waters edge were eye candy for me. And who could pass up on this little cutie pie! So cute. And wouldn't you know it as I was just talking about the lighting in this yummy location that she did this turn around bit! Like a pro model. :)






One of the props that I brought to the shoot today was my daughter's violin. She's been taking lessons for two months now and has just recently graduated from plucking to learning the bow. She was very excited to perform some for the photogs in the woods by the lakeside and as she did the sound of the voilin seemed to call several others. Before a few shots were fired my daughter looked up to her own paparazzi. Of course, she loved it. My vantage for the shot wasn't ideal as I was one of the ones who came running up from the lake to capture and by then she was so goofy and playful that she got out of the pose and went running away. I hope one of the other photogs had a better view. Anyway, Maria, this shot is for you. One of three that I got of her that day. She's sitting on a wishing well, a cool spot located in this park. I never noticed it there before. I'll have to remember it for next time.

And oh, I just love backlight by waterside. My photog friends, I had to do two exposes in RAW to get this and keep the whites from blowing on the extreme. Then I merged the two together and erased back where necessary. I think it works.

This guy was so cute and friendly and my daughter enjoyed running around and looking at marked trees with him. The trees had tags and they were on a mission to discover which trees were tagged and which weren't. Why the tags? I don't know. Anyway, he has amazing eyes so blue with dark thick lashes. He came peaking around a tree just after my daughter and they came to tell me about the markings. I really wanted to photograph him so I asked if they could stay for a few shots as I was asking I was shooting and good thing too because my daughter quickly suggested they run up to the park and this was the only shot I could get. He really isn't this blue or pale but I am struggling with processing this image. He does have fair skin and in this shaded spot the lighting was more blue so when I add warmth to the image in PP it just looks muddy. Any ideas?