Week 10 - Nothing

   This week the photo challenge is to take a picture of nothing. Shooting nothing seems so easy, but I was confused on how to make “nothing” look good. I brainstormed different ideas on how to shoot something that was nothing. I tried a couple different ideas but nothing really appealed to me. I then decided I couldn’t just shoot anything. I would have to photograph something. As I tried not to over think it I thought photographing a place I like to go where I can just sit and do nothing Red Rock came to mind.
    When I was smaller I used to go for hikes at Red Rock with my dad. Sometimes we would stop to take a break but all I wanted to do is keep going. I remember him laughing at me and telling me to slow down and just look around. Sometimes when I am stressed and need somewhere to go, I take a drive to Red Rock and just sit and look around. Red Rock is not “nothing” but it is a place where I can just sit and think about nothing.
    I took this picture on one of my “get aways” and the equipment I had with me were just my Canon XSI and my 18-55mm lens.

Week 10 - Financial Statement

     I thought the exercise was very helpful. I was definitely dreading doing it. The money side of photography is always a little intimidating to me. I have had sometime to play with excel but I'm not a professional. I had a hard time at first figuring out at first. Excel is a great program for creating a budget type spread sheet. It keeps the numbers neat and organized. I think doing this assignment just scratched the surface of what I will need but it was a great learning experience. 

     I like how the numbers automatically adjusted once I pulled them in. It made it really easy to see how things were lining up. Having to do it all manually would cause an error if not many. The program prevents you from making the one mistake that could ruin it all. When working with numbers and money, I like knowing that I can rely on the program to handle everything smoothly and effectively. Excel lists your information in various colors that made it easy to find what I was looking for.This makes it easy to see different sections and help stay organized. Color coordination is the best way for me to stay organized so that really helped.

Week 9 - Food

  

   This week the photo challenge is to take a picture of a food. I was so excited to hear that about this assignment because food photography is what I want to do. I love being able to style an edible artwork. Food photography allows me to combine both my hobby of cooking and my passion of photography. Well shoots I am able to engage all of my senses.
    For this image I worked with a student chef named Heather at the Art Institute. She prepared a pecan crushed sea bass filet over a bed of sautéed brussel sprouts and pan seared polenta triangle. The yellow sauce is pureed yam and the green is pureed parsley. For a decorative touch she also added bean spouts and toasted seeds. She made a totally of eight identical plates to practice her constancy.
    I had so much fun with this photo shoot but it got very hot in the kitchen. For the lighting I just used the available light. Unfortunately the only light that I had access too was the ugly fluorescent light from above. I also used my Canon XSI with my 100mm marco (my new favorite lens for food photography). Using the marco lens allows me to get in close and show those little details.

Week 9 - 40 under 40

     In Las Vegas there is an event that is called “40 under 40”. This event recognizes 40 people under the age of 40 in Las Vegas that have become successful and made themselves known in the community. I have been asked to explain where I will be professionally, personally and in the community when I am 40. Personally, I don't like looking that far into the future, it just makes me feel overwhelmed but for the sake of this assignment I will do it. I have a bit of time before I reach the ripe age of 40 seeing how I just recently turned 21. When I try to think of where I want to be my mind kind of goes blank. There are so many things I want to accomplish in my life.
     Professionally, by the time I'm 40 I hope to be well in the swing of things with my business. I want to have a great list of clients that keep a steady work flow. I want to have my own studio with all my own equipment to be able to do whatever whenever a client asks me.
     Personally, I want to be happily married with a family. I want to be financially stable enough that I won't have to continuously be in the studio. I want to be able to enjoy time with my family because family is the most important thing to me. I also want to be living somewhere both my husband and I enjoy and are successful in and I’m not quite sure where that is yet.
     In the community I want to be well known. I want people to know my name and my quality of work. 

Week 8 - News Worthy

"E String Host Benefit Concert"

     This week we had to produced a picture that is new worthy and also come up with a title for the news story and explain why it's news worthy. For my picture I documented a benefit concert that was hosted by a local bar called E String. The concert was to help a foundation called Candlelighters. Candlelighters is a nonprofit organization that raises money to help kids who have cancer. I believe it is an amazing foundation because if you can stop cancer in kids it will allow them to actually be kids instead of having to deal with the terrible sickness. The concert had a $5 cover charge at the door and had 3 different bands play in order to help get people to donate. That night everyone who attended helped raise more than $600 for the foundation.

     As for the equipment I used, I had 2 seperate cameras with two different lenses in order to be able to shoot quickly so I didn't miss anything. This particular image was shot was a Canon 7D and a fish eye lens with a Canon 580 EX II flash attached. I did very little editing to this image because I wanted to keep it as true as I could so you still got a feeling for the energy that was in the room.