Guess who fell behind on .. well my person work in whole. Yea, it's me .. of course. I got a few days off cause some family came to visit so I caught up and will hopefully keep up with it. *fingers crossed*

On my Facebook page (you should really go and like it if you haven't already :)) I had some newborn photos. But before that shoot, I was asked to be the birth photographer. If you don't know me I will tell you that's well outside my comfort zone. That's saying a lot because my family is very VERY close. There's still a line I haven't crossed until now and that was seeing my sisters lady business in full view. Don't fret, I will not scar anyone with those images, but the aftermath, I will admit, was touching.

Nolan Craig Lisk was born March 11, 2015 at 1:42pm. He was 7lbs 1 oz and 20 inches long.

Kelsi has her own blog where she talks about the day here: https://kelsilisk.wordpress.com/2015/03/21/nolan-craig-lisk/

Daddy Heath is ready!!

Tears of joy from Kelsi!

This is the part that was moving to me. To see the reactions of new parents. To see the joy and happiness after the "miracle of life". It was the Lisk's second child but any parent will tell you that it's never the same.

Mimi Vander Warf's 4th grandson!

Happy mumma of her second son!!

Kelsi and Heath's eldest son was with Heath's mother for the delivery and was on the way once Heath relayed the message that it was go time!

Out of the womb, straight to the boob. You'd expect Kelsi to be a first time Mumma from her expression. Haha!

Braxton meeting his new baby brother!

Nolan, as any newborn, was crying and Braxton gets very concerned when he sees someone crying. So the first meeting was a little rough.

The Lisk boys!!

Braxton with his mumma.

Since I'm originally from Wisconsin snow isn't a big deal for me, and since I've lived in Tennessee for 3 years I'm starting to enjoy the beauty of snow again. My friend Sandra is from Mississippi so she was pretty excited about the white magic. We obviously decided to go out and shoot in it. 

I decided to shoot first. Sandra had a dress she loves so I shot her in that first. I like adding movement to my images instead of just pretty portraits in unusual places. 

The second shot was .. erm the same concept just with my touch of an abandoned wedding dress. 

I love playing in Photoshop. Like .. LOVE! I meet a lot of people who hate Photoshop, which probably just fuels my love for it even more.

For my images I did fairly small changes (in my opinion). I changed the trees from a sort of dying yellow to a forest(ier) green and gave her hair a purple or white tint. My bigger changes would be the black fabric and the branches in the second image were both added.

I'm a lot happier than I was expecting with these images because I didn't have a clear idea where I was going which in turn allowed complete freedom and no down side. I did have a little trouble coming up with a clear final piece but I'm still trying to work on "less is more" concept. 

The best part about this shoot was that it was sleeting the whole time and Sandra and I both changed outside. Yup, we got nekkid in the freezing rain and snow. It was a very tense shoot. We didn't waste time and had to think quickly. It was a great learning experience. :)

P.S. I have one more image I'm working on from this shoot. It's very Photoshop heavy which is why it's not ready yet. I'm very VERY excited to share it, so stay tuned!

So I wanted to follow my last post with a "happy ending" so to speak. After I graduated I said I seemed to 'misplaced' my love for photography. I had faith that it would come back to me so I got two jobs in my field. My second job in with a photographer in Nashville, which is a pretty good commute (2 hours) but it's my favorite job. 

My friend, Sandra, who graduated a quarter before me still lives in Nash so I get to visit her and crash at her place if I don't want to drive home. It's nice because we were kind of going through the same thing. We had no ambition to shoot or to pick up our camera. Then after we did a shoot we were happy and excited .. we just couldn't hang on to that. 

I had a little easier time because my sister is pregnant and asks me to take her Belly Photos every week so I "had to" take out my camera and edit. 

Yesterday was a good day, we both broke out of our 'funk'. Sandra and I went to a Bus Graveyard and even though it was 25 degrees we both modeled and shot. It was more of a test shoot because we hadn't been there before and didn't know what we'd have to work with. Even though it was colder than we'd like I still was energetic with shooting. I even started generating ideas again!

I climbed a mountain of chairs that were taken out of the buses. It looks rickety but it was very sturdy, haha! 

Taken by Sandra Louise Photography

Edited by me.

This is a working edit. I like the vintage feel but it's either too heavy or missing something. I hate not knowing which!!

I graduated from The Art Institute about 5 months ago with a BFA in Photography. After all of that time and work, I no longer want to pick up my camera. A lot of graduates I talk to are just like me. Going to school for what you love is great until you're forced to shoot ideas that you're forcing out just to have work to show. Going to school has ruined me because they rip you and your work apart and you're left trying to catch your breath. 

I told my Mum that and the look of concern and disappointment made my stomach turn. My mother and I have always bonded over our creative minds and she supported me while I went to school for photography. It wasn't the fact that I possibly wasted all that time and money but the fact that I could see she was worried. All I've ever been in love with is art and when I told my mom I didn't even want to pick up my camera I could see a piece of her break. As an artist and creative block in my life she would never want me to give up on my creativeness.  

Today I decided to thrust myself out of my comfort zone and shoot. I never thought I had much of a comfort zone until I started to really think about it. I love going out and shooting alone and I don't mind going to new places .. until I did. Today I went to one of my favorite locations, shoot next to naked and in my glasses. That may not sound too bad but let me explain. My favorite location is Raccoon Mnt and it's fairly popular for tourists, bikers and walkers. Being out any where public or semi public in your bra and panties is a little risky and it was 45 degrees today. As for making the decision to wear my glasses, (not when I modeled) it may not seem like a big deal but without my glasses I can't even see my toes; so I hope that gives you a good sense as to how bad my eyes are. So I shot today, as my feet were numb, scratches all over and (practically) blind it started to come back to me. The love and thrill of photography. 

Driving home I was excited again. Even if the shots didn't work or turn out, I still feel like I accomplished something important. I'm very excited to edit and show my work. I hope that this will keep me motivated and help others to do the same.

An image from the shoot. It's a working concept.