I know, I know....

It's been two days since I posted. I suck. You don't have to beat me up, I've been doing it for you!

Anyway, between the maddening minutia of my everyday life, I've been plugging away at the vast collection of pics from the wedding. I got some really good shots, I think. And a lot of shitty ones too, but that's okay.

Here are just a few. I'm working chronologically, so I've worked through the rehearsal and up to the vows. Just a few hundred more shots of the reception to go!

Baby Maya part II

I spent last night finishing up Baby Maya's pictures so I could give the cd to her dad today. I shared a few with people at work and got some very nice compliments. I've also started to research new cameras. It will probably be a year before I can afford one, but there's no harm in looking and learning, right? Anyway, here are a few more. We're going for a walk because it's sunny and nice outside. Tonight, I need to get started on those wedding pictures. Maya kind of eclipsed those for me, but I'll get back on track. I'd like to have those to Kelly by Thursday.

Do any of these pictures make anyone out there want a new baby? No? Me neither.

Baby Maya

I got to shoot my first newborn today! I got 160 useable shots and I've processed a few. Most are coming out very nicely using The Pioneer Woman's Lovely and Ethereal action and her Black and White Beauty action. I've also used a couple of Virtual Photographer on some of these. I got caught up in these and didn't work on wedding pics tonight. Oops! Oh well....Kelly and Justin are on their honeymoon, so they won't be needing their pictures right away anyway!

Here are a few. I'll probably post a couple more tomorrow.

Something new

Today, I am processing wedding and rehearsal pictures. I'm also doing something new...taking newborn photos. A friend at work is a new dad and he and his fiance are allowing me to come take some shots. Baby Maya was just born on the 7th, so she's still brand new. I have a lot of ideas and hope to get some neat shots.

I also received a huge compliment yesterday at the wedding reception...someone asked for my card! OK, I don't HAVE a card, but that's beside the point. I was projecting a professional image, and someone bought it (gasp). The woman who approached me said her daughter is having a quickie wedding in about a month. Of course, I declined because I am not at all ready for that kind of responsibility, but it felt really good to be mistaken for a pro.

800 pictures later

I am back from the wedding! I haven't started any processing at all yet. For now, here's one quick shot and I'll start working on the others tomorrow.

Practice makes perfect

Or so they say.


Tonight I attended Kelly and Justin's rehearsal. I was able to scout the church and take a few (only 150 or so) practice shots. The light will be tricky, but I should be able to get one or two good ones. And there's always Photoshop for the ones that aren't so hot, right?

A lotsa lotsa skin!

A friend is getting married this weekend. Tonight, we went to get manicures and (gasp) pedicures. Now, I'm not much the manicure or pedicure type. I don't like those acrylic nails and how they ruin your own nails, allowing all those chemicals to leech into your body (she said, as she took a deep drag from her cigarette). Also, (gross out alert!) I have weird pinky toes. They're teensy and they're more on top of my foot than regular toes. Say I walked barefoot in the sand....it looks like I only have four toes because my stubby little pinkies don't touch the ground.

So I was a little apprehensive about getting the pedicure. Turns out, I really didn't need to worry about that part. Apparently, I should have worried about my cuticles and the fact that they're excessive. As she was trimming my nails and cuticles, the technician asked if it had been a long time since my last manicure. I admitted that this was in fact the first one I had ever had. She said "Oh! You have a lotsa lotsa skin!" Mortifying....yet hilarious.

Also, I've heard that pedicures are supposed to be heavenly. Mine? Not so much. That lady was ROUGH! My feet still feel a little raw from all that scrubbing.

So I made it through the manicure, the pedicure, and a very nice dinner. And now, I have less than 48 hours left before this wedding. I'm worried sick about the fact that I'm photographing it. What if my pictures all suck? What if somehow the pictures get lost? (That's never happened to me, but still!) I feel like a pretender and a fraud. I'm not a "real" photographer! I'm just a schmuck with a camera.

To quote the comic strip Cathy, "Ack!!"

The good, the bad, and the frustrating

OK So I posted the other day that I bought a cheap-ass lens and filter kit. I purposely bought at the low end of the scale for two reasons:

1. I wanted to get a feel for how lenses and filters work on this camera. I won't judge completely by this set because it's not the best, but at least I'll get a feel for whether it's worth it to possibly increase my investment.

2. I'm poor.

So for less than $70 I got an adaptor, a wide-angle lens with a macro attachment, a small telephoto lens, and 3 filters: UV, Polarizer, and Florescent. I've been experimenting these lenses for the past couple of days, with decidedly mixed results. (I haven't tried the filters yet.)

First of all, due to the fact that my camera requires an adaptor ring in order to accept lenses, you have to zoom out a little in order to get the actual lens past the adaptor, otherwise you end up with a black ring around your pics. (You're actually getting the adaptor in the shot when that happens.) So there's that.

The telephoto lens is actually pretty good. It provides moderate extension of the zoom on my camera, which is cool for some of the nature and landscape pictures I take. It's the wide-angle lens I'm having a couple of issues with.

When I use the wide angle without zooming in I get this weird out of focus vignette all around the edges of the pic:

But when I zoom in enough to use the macro feature, the wide angle does seem to offer some extra detail:

And I'm starting to come to the conclusion that I may be more ready for SLR than I thought.

Rimrock

On Saturday, we visited an area called Rimrock Overlook. (And yes, the name makes me snicker.)





To access Rimrock, you drive and drive (and drive some more) up a steep curvy hill.





Once you reach the parking area, you're high above the Allegheny Reservoir. It's a beautiful sight, but we love the overlook itself even more.


The area has a lot of modern improvments, like nice wooden stairs down to the actual overlook itself.


The kids call this place "The Castle." It's stone, and parts of it are carved right into the cliff itself.

Our favorite thing about Rimrock has to be the stone staircases that lead to the base of the cliff.

Be careful...it's a little slippery!

We spent about an hour exploring and climbing on boulders. And there's only one problem with Rimrock: once you climb down, you have to climb back up again.

So many pictures, so little time

My name is Amy.





I have a serious, serious problem.





I took 541 pictures.






TODAY.





I still have pictures from over the weekend that I wanted to post. Now I've got Presque Isle pics....

(can you see the baby owl?)

And flower pics.....









and macro pics.

I took about 300 of those pictures on an afternoon walk at Presque Isle. This morning, I went and had an MRI done on my left hand, which still hasn't healed since I broke my pinky finger in January. I have a programmable shunt in my brain, and the MRI can cause these to malfunction, so after the MRI, I headed to the neurosurgeon to have that checked. They reset the shunt and that caused a total BITCH of a headache, so I didn't go to work today. I went home and slept for a while and when I woke up, I decided to go out for some air.

After I got home, the UPS man came and brought my cheap-ass set of filters and adaptor for my camera. I've been reading up on adding filters and lenses to my camera and the verdict is split. Many in the photography community seem to feel it's like putting lipstick on a pig, while others say it's worth the extra expense. I decided to try an inexpensive set that has a few good reviews so I can see what I think without overspending.

Of course, trying them out meant an additional 200+ pictures this evening. Thank God for digital!