Despite the helldacious heat here in Indiana, we decided to brave it all and head out to the county fair a couple of nights ago. Ironically, the heat wasn't so bad and we even found several pockets of shade to stand in as we stuffed our faces with the FAB fair food that graces the concession stands there each year.
Of course I was there armed with my camera and managed to snap some very simple but oh so colorful shots of our surroundings. We even saw the typical crazies. You know...the ones who ride those ridiculous rides like these...
The crowd was down considerably because people are willing to tackle the heat here this year. So...it left tons of room for us to roam. I am always amazed at what types of foods they come out with each year. This year...the shocker was deep fried kool-aid. Yeap, you heard me. Kool aid. Come again???
There is deep fried everything at the fair. Even deep fried cookie dough. Now we're talkin'...
My favorite part of any fair is just all of the colors. There is so much color in life if we are just willing to look for it. At the fairs though, they throw it in yo' face. Like here..."Take some pink! Take some purple! Oh and how about some orange and bright sunny yellow too!!!" POW! POW! POW! Color is everywhere there and you never have to "search" it out. You'd have to be blind to miss the vibrant punch of the color wheel at any fair.
Lovin' these old school shades that I stumbled upon at a random table for sale. They're makin' their come back. ROCK ON!
Of course we all had to win Kenidi every stuffed animal under the sun during our journey there.
It's comical to me that I participated in that considering how many stuffed animals I pitch on a yearly basis out of my kids rooms. Kenidi has this set of baskets at my Dads that they keep stocked with toys and coloring books for her. Every hour on the hour...she dumps it all out. And every hour on the other hour...my Dad and I pick it all back up and place it where it all goes. You see...I get my OCD issues from him. He has always taught me that everything has its place. Therefore, when there is stuff laying out all over the floors...it makes me shake with distress. Almost darn near convulsions really. I told my Dad the other day that I wished I had a video camera of him and I picking that junk all back up and putting it away every two seconds and then Kenidi just returning the favor by getting it all back out again. It's a constant game to her. So...not only does my poor dad have the usual sprawled out all over his floor now...he also has cheap ol' fair toys dumped all over the place too. To know him is to know that it's silently killing him inside. However, he'd NEVER say it. LOL! He just keeps picking it up and putting it all away again. Speaking of my dad...check him out...this was at the fair the other night too...
Love that man!
Both him and Brennen played some games while there. In the words of my dad during this moment below..."Gimme' some dddaawwwggg!"
Kross did exceptionally well in the heat that night. He was obsessed with our water bottles. The pictures say it all...
Love that shot of Brennen and Kross with my step-mom Cathy. Kross is trying to be sneaky and steal her water bottle there. Too funny! I love his face in this shot below...
Kenidi Grace loved the sights. She played skee ball (sp?) and threw the balls in the fish bowls. My aunt and Brennen both won fish so now my Dad has two new family members in his house as well. LOL! Kenidi also played the water duck game and loved that. It's great to see her being able to participate in the stuff we all do.
I caught Brennen in the middle of his corn dog (BARF!). He wasn't very happy about it either...
It's hard to believe half of our trip to Ind is already over. We only have another week and a half here before we head back to Naples. I've enjoyed lounging around the pool with my best girlfriends, dinners and daily vegging with my Dad and Cathy, and shooting my photography sessions that I've booked while here. It's been a FAB trip thus far. I've got a girls night out planned with my friends this Friday and several more shoots to do before I head out. I'm soaking up all of the goodness that Indy has to offer before I have to say my "until next time's."
Speaking of until next time...until the next blog post...keep smiling, look for the color in life, and enjoy these summer nights. I'm off to go consume some more cotton candy.
I had the pleasure of photographing my friend Kari's family while in Indiana this trip. The session was sure to be a tough one because we had a larger group and harsh mid-afternoon sun. However, we had to make it work because that was the only time of the day we could squeeze in a session together. In the end, her large group number in attendance and the harsh sun were no match for the adorable family that they are. They all nailed the session like they had done this 100 times before. As you can see, they are such a great looking family which always makes for incredible images.
These are just some quick sneak peek shots that I promised her until I can get back to Naples and finish editing all of the others this coming week. The images above and below are of their absolutely adorable sons. They totally have Kari's eyes. I'd kill for eyes that looked like theirs. Soooooo not fair! And then you add in their golden sun kissed tans and you've got even more unfairness. LOL!
A HUGE thanks to our friend Lori for allowing us to use their backyard as a back drop. It was gorgeous out. We had to fight that notorious dappled light with a vengeance but with a few extra very helpful hands, we managed quite well.
I am still working on editing the images from my urban grunge session I did the other night with three adorable little boys. They too, ROCKED it, and I cannot wait to share their images with all of you. It's about 12pm in Indy right now and we are planning to get back on the road and head out - toward Naples again - around 6pm this evening. I am not excited about the 18 hour drive back given that my pregnant feet and cankles legs are already swollen up like shamu from the time I spent shooting in the heat over the past several days here in Indiana. Oh the joys of pregnancy in the summer heat. Until now, I've never had to experience this because both of my other pregnancies were grown throughout the winter season. Between the charlie horses in my legs and the swollen extremities, I'm over it! Please help us in praying for safe travels as we make our drive back to Florida over the next two days. Our departure tonight is bitter-sweet. Reality has hit and it's painful. This will be the last time I will see my Dad until baby Seaman is born come the first of December. It's going to be a very long 3.5 months. :(
Until Monday's post...be safe and have a superb weekend. I'll be updating from the road via facebook again. Much love, the Griswald's (a.k.a The Seaman Clan)
Like I was partial to the last model, (Melanie), because of her Naughty Monkey shoes...I am also partial to this model because of her name. Kennedy. Yes, she has my daughter's name. We spell our gorgeous girls name this way...KENIDI...but it is all the same name. And I love it. Meet Kennedy. She was our 2nd live model for our downtown Chicago Photography shoot. Can anyone say "Beautiful?" This girl was 6'3" with her heels on and boy did she have some legs. Legs that most women only dream of. Kennedy's personality was a bit more stoic but she ROCKED her shoot just like Melanie did. The images above and below are proof...
At one point, I asked Kenidi to climb up on top of this bridge ledge (shown above). Yes, she had high heels on and yes...she did it - like a pro. She had a very short mini skirt style dress on and she got right up there like she had done this a million and one times. I love how the urban-esque back drop seeped from this image. Her fancy dress with the rust and dirt from the bridge behind her made my heart skip a beat. She was a natural!
Every which way she turned...the girl had automatic catch lights in her beautiful brown eyes (as shown above). Stunning!
Her teeth were white as snow. Gorgeous!
She really worked that "stoic" look. I had never seen anything like it...
Keep in mind...there were people all over the place around us. We were downtown on the river. For every 10 people, there were another 100. She took this session and kicked its heiney - acting as if she was the only one around. People were staring, men were gawking...it was all out chaos. However, you would have never guessed it by her demeanor in these images.
Next up, our instructor (shown in the white hat above), whipped out her pocket wizards and allowed us to use our flashes with them. I am a natural light photographer but it was waaayyyy fun to experiment with the flash, the pocket wizards, and even the gels. The gels she used were cool. If you notice, she has a blue one held over her flash in the image above. Take a good glance at that image. Notice how bright it is - still daylight out? Now look at the images below and see how the flash and the gels alter the image and give it a very "drama driven" look. Almost like it is night time. The gels are a fun tool for Senior style portraits.
The flash set up was a powerful tool to learn. I loved every second of it. It will really come in handy this winter here in Indy. (while having to shoot indoors) That is unless we decide to pack up and move our butts to Florida soon. If that is the case, I won't need an indoor studio during the winter. We can just rock out beach sessions all day long - all year long. Hummmm???? Sounds good, eh? I'm thinking so too. We were supposed to be there - at the beach this past weekend for a long Labor Day weekend get-a-way. However, life called and we stayed home. I missed being there. Missed my beach B/F/F's. Missed sugaring my toes in the sand. Missed listening to Kenidi and Brennen crack up while playing at the shore line. I guess I'll just have to wait till' next month - over Fall break - before I can smell the sea face to face again. God knows I need the beach and its solace now more then anything. However, "home" is more important then there right now. I know it is waiting on me. Waiting on our return come October 21st. The ocean is ready to help me reset, regroup, refocus. Until then, I'm pretending as though I'm already there.
I had so much fun at this workshop. I learned a ton and will put all of it to good use in the coming months. Again, a huge thanks to the live models (Kennedy and Melanie) as well as to our instructor, Debbie. We walked away with a wealth of information due to this experience. What an awesome opportunity it was!!!
For now, I'm off to finish my day. Errands, errands, and more errands. My to do list is growing by leaps and bounds. Story of my life. Hope all of you are enjoying this gorgeous Thursday. xoxo, Angie
Gosh, I don't even know where to begin with these shots. I spent the last 4 days pouring over them and attempting to organize them all the best way possible for the blog. (to show you guys) In other words, I'm overwhelmed. Ha ha! After over 600 and something shots, I don't know what to show and what not to. They are all starting to run together now. Either way, I thought I'd share this shoot first. I'm going to break the images up shoot by shoot. This particular one was actually the last of the 5 shoots that we did together out of the 3 days I was there. It was by far one of my favorites though because it was one of two urban shoots that we did. Therefore, we went to downtown Indianapolis and Leah shared some really cool locations with me that I can't wait to use again someday as another backdrop. I'm all about the funky, urban, out of the box, backgrounds. Very cool! This first set of images was done at an old abandoned train depot in a not so great part of Indy. However, the location was a photographers dream. I loved it. This first round of images are all of a model that is a client of Leah's. She had shot her before. The Mother of this young girl was kind enough to allow us to use her again for a practice shoot so that I could have hands on experience.
Needless to say, as you will tell by her "look" in these images, this little gal made my job very easy and very fun. She was full of personality and I loved working with her. I'm leaving out names for security purposes but hope you will enjoy her personality via these images as much as I did by way of meeting her in person. What a doll!
This shot above and below was taken in a different area of town. Still loads of fun with great old, worn out, back drops. LOVE THEM! We even had some goofy fun in front of the camera during parts of our session. This one below is just a small example of that...
She really was a natural in front of the camera. And beings that I am a sunglasses kind of girl, I loved her "shades."
This shot below is one of my favorites of the whole shoot. It was a candid moment when she didn't realize that I was still shooting. It was just her being "her." I am not one for "posed" images if we can keep from it. Posing really isn't my style and I will avoid it at all costs. I'm all about capturing what the camera picks up in those in between moments. This shot below is a perfect example of that.
Leah was teaching me back lighting in these shots above and below. That was a lot of fun. Love the way the lighting is hitting her here in this alley.
And below...we are back at the abandoned train depot. Again, she really was a breeze at this...
Because I am so used to taking product shots for my AGD line, I am used to getting in close and tight. However, Leah taught me that I need to train myself to start backing up a bit so that I can produce images which will be conducive to wall canvases. In order for an image to work for a wall canvas (should the client want to order one), you have to have enough room at the top, bottom, and sides to "wrap" it. Therefore, you can't get in so tight that you end up wrapping their head, lower body, etc. So...I really had to work hard at retraining how my eye sees things in the view finder. Stepping back and leaving room was tough for me but I managed to pull it off on some of them.
We even pulled a quick stunt with her and stuck her out in the middle of the street as cars were coming and going to get this shot below...
And finally...another fav of mine that was just for fun...a shot of her at the depot in front of some graffiti that was already there. No, I didn't add this to the picture. The word "MISBEHAVE" was there for us on the brick when we arrived. Too fun!
These are just a handful of the shots I took of her during that session. There are a ton more but too many to post here of course. She was an absolute sweetheart and so were her Mom and Grandma that came along to watch. A huge thanks to them for allowing me to practice on such a beautiful subject. :) Stay tuned for the other 4 sessions of the 3 other people. They are coming. It's just taking me a long time to get thru all of the images. And no...still no calibration kit yet. Ha ha!
Should you have a need for an "urban" session, call or email me and we'll get you or your family scheduled. I'd love to work with you. xoxo, Angie
