my day

My day actually started at 6:00am Sunday. I took a quick nap through church, ate a quick lunch at IHOP with my mom and our friend Renee, then submitted to a quick search of my belongings before boarding a plane for England. There I sat for a very long 8.5 hours, passed up the complimentary wine (don't be too proud, my professor was sitting next to me), and slept a maximum of 1 restless hour. I then parted company with the plane and made friends with a charter bus--the two of us were quite cozy for 2 hours, both completely awake--before getting off the bus at my house for the next month, discovering I'm sharing my room with four other girls and then dismanteling and reassembling 11 computers (one of them twice because I couldn't get it back together properly). I then "took" a tour of Oxford, though it ended up being more like "gave" a tour, and headed home to re-image two computers, only to discover that the internet would no longer work on the computers I had re-imaged. It has been a busy day, and continues to be so--class is at 8:30 tomorrow morning and I present my homework. Why did I decide to do this??????

Just one more...

Just one more shot. I tried to add it last night , but blogger was being stupid. Still , I couldn't resist doing some creative coloring with photoshop and this shot worked great for that.

Little Country Wedding

On June 10, I shot my second wedding ever. The wedding was in a small Texas town called McCaulley, and was definately an interesting little wedding. My job was to follow the bride--since I'm convieniently a girl and therefore allowed more places than Mike would be--and Holly kept an eye on me, suggesting poses and angles for the shots. It was a lot of difficult as the bride moved quite a bit and didn't start getting ready until 10 minutes before the wedding. She managed to get dressed in record time and the wedding went off pretty much without a hitch...well, they did get hitched...okay, I'm going to stop being corny now. Here are the pictures:

The bride helping decorate and setting up the unity candles

the bride and groom visiting with the groom's grandmother

the mother of the groom with the bride's granddaughter, Torrie

Torrie's twin brother TJ

I love this shot! TJ's father dressed him for the wedding without his socks and this is TJ's mom correcting her husband's handiwork. You can see what TJ thinks about all this!

The bride getting a final check from her daughter and son

One last little bit of make-up...

...and she's ready for some quick bridal portraits before she starts down the aisle.

The bride with her uncle who will give her away

I think this is my favorite kissy shot yet...mostly because they aren't actually kissing!

And ending on a wet, slobbery kiss from the grandkid.

Overall, this wedding was great experience in posing, bad lighting and dealing with the family of the couple getting married. I think the bridal portraits turned out really great with the window light--in fact, Mike put the one I have up here in the Belle's portfolio! Talk about excited! The bad lighting was two awful rows of florescent lights hanging in the sanctuary...not to mention the brown carpet and yellow brick that just reflected the bad light. Because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want since I'm not selling anything, I simplified this problem by posting mostly in black and white. And as for dealing with family, well, let's just say that for my own wedding--which, thankfully, Mike and Holly will be shooting!--there will be a very strict schedule of exactly what's going to happen when, down to the order the pictures are taken in. And EVERYONE involved will have it ahead of time to get used to the order of business!

Starlit Tia

My first photo assignment for my internship was a portrait shoot in the Paramount in downtown Abilene. My job was to mirror Mike and try to get some different shots. Shooting in the Paramount was not as difficult as I had anticipated, it just took a little creativity with the settings and with photoshop. The subject's name is Tia, and she was having portraits of herself made for her husband who is stationed in Iraq. We were trying to go for modestly sexy and glamourous.






This last picture I couldn't decide whether I liked it best in color or in black and white so I put both. I like the creamy skin tones and pretty greens that complement Tia's skin and clothes, but I like how the black and white takes the pink distractions out and directs your focus to her face and eyes. Let me know what you think!

Stage one of dresser detox!

This chest of drawers (dresser) has been my project for the past couple of days. The chest of drawers (dresser) was my father's growing up. Eric and I stole it to put his clothes in when he moves into my apartment.

Stage one of dresser detox was painting it with Kils (3 coats ::sigh::) and installing shiny satin finished metal knobs (which I adore, but cost more that that blasted piece of furniture is worth). Stage two will be deoderizing the inside with Ivory Snow to remove the smell of 30 years of no use.

Good luck to me!

Weddings, weddings everywhere!

Since I last updated anyone on my life, a very shiny set of rocks set in white gold has taken up residence on the third finger of my left hand. Two weeks ago yesterday, Eric proposed to me.

While this isn't surprising news for most of you, I do feel a little sorry for Eric's parents. Thier other son, Chris, proposed to his fiance, Melissa, about a month ago. So the Lemmons family graduated two twin daughters from high school in May, will marry off thier firstborn son on August 12, settle their daughters into ACU and Peperdine, respectively, the following weekend, and marry off thier second born son to me on October 16th. Though I've been assured they are gaining two daughters and not loosing anyone, it's still going to be a busy and emotional year for them.

Which leads me to today's pictures...engagement photos for Chris and Melissa.







This one I messed up the lighting on (as usual), but I kind of like the effect the washed out colors give the image. It seems more like a private moment in this light, instead of a photographer rudely taking a pictures of two people kissing (even if they did pose for me).

In this one, Chris, it appears I have found the cure for leprosy.

Overall, I think the pictures are okay. I hope they'll accomplish everything that Chris and Melissa need, I just think I could have done a better job somehow. Something a little more creative and a little less repetitive. Also, I think I could have done a better job watching for sunlight spots and akward body positions. Let me know what you think!

Who's on first...

Every year, ACU's yearbook, the Prickly Pear, includes a section of the top students from the graduating class. Each student has an individual portrait and information about their stay at ACU and what they intend to do after graduation. These students are all heavilly involved in some campus activity, have excellent GPAs and are nominated for this honor by professors. About 100 students are chosen, though not all of them choose to be featured in this section.

The funny thing about this year is I'm starting to know the people who are graduating. The first portrait is of my friend Kayla Anderson. The picture was taken at Starbucks and I like it because it's the one shot we took of her holding that blasted book that looks natural, like she really was reading and just looked up at me and smiled.


The second portrait is of another friend, Patrick Leech. Now this is regretably, not the shot we'll be using in the yearbook, but it is by far my favorite shot that I took.

and now, what you've all been waiting for...

This was probably my hardest post yet because of the sheer volume of pictures--from 4:00pm to 10:00pm I took about 600 pictures. It's so hard to narrow 600 pictures down to a blog-sized assortment. The wedding was held at Lytle Bend Ranch (?) and the lighting varried throughout the night. The beginning few hours were good, but later on in the night they moved into a barn area for dancing and the lighting was horrible (okay, not horrible, but definately challenging). The people were great though, all very helpful and willing to have their pictures taken.

This is Shelly getting ready before the ceremony. Her bridesmaids were CONSTANTLY messing with her dress, arranging, pinning and snapping. I really like the composition of this shot and how you can see all the faces.

I felt SO sorry for the flower-girl, Kylan (sp?). She was the groom's daughter and was in almost every group picture taken. Even by the ceremony she was barely managing a grimace for a smile. I chose this shot because of its clean background and because it was the best action shot I had of her dropping the rose petals.

This is the Shelly and her father walking down the aisle during the ceremony. I messed this shot up terribly. Before I edited the levels in Photoshop, the father was so dark you couldn't see his face. But the expressions in the shot were exactly what I was looking for...and since I was so focused on the expressions, I didn't notice how grainy Dad's suit was getting. I think it needs a little more work--back to the drawing board!

This is one of my favorit shots, I love the expression on Chuck's face and how intent he is on saying his vows to Shelly...how much he loves her, it's all there in his expression. The background is soft and compliments the couple, and I like the composition even though you can't see Shelly's face.

I also chose this shot for composition--I liked Chuck's cuffs and the buttons on his tux...also I really think I had the perfect angle for this shot, a little of the pastor's bible and a lot of their hands. I like the gentle way he's holding her hand and juxtipositon between his hands and hers--both skin tone and size. The lighting up to this point has really been gorgeous.

Chuck and Shelly's first dance. Here is where the lighting got pretty bad...up to this point in the barn the lights were on, but when they started dancing the lights got lower, and when they opened it up to everyone to dance the light go lower still. This shot was taken at 500 ISO on auto settings with a bounced flash (the ceiling was aluminum, so that got some interesting effects). I love the soft white lights in the background and the light illuminating Chuck's head. Also, their body language is priceless...I really like that the way they move says love and not lust. They really seem like a beautiful couple and I felt honored to help take thier wedding pictures.

I had a lot of other interesting shots, but these were my favorites and also the ones that seemed most important for the blog. Please let me know what you think about the shots!

"You may now kiss the bride!"

On Saturday, I helped a friend shoot a wedding. It was fabulous experience for me, and took a little of the pressure off him. The couple's names were Chuck and Shelly--apart, they didn't really look like they belonged together, but you'll see in some of my later pictures that they are a truly beautiful couple...and (sighs the hopeless romantic somewhere deep inside cynical Emerald) very much in love.

But first, the cute kids.

Cutie #1's name started with a T and ended up sulking down the aisle--it seems all he really wanted to was play with the decorations (aka a ton of balloons) and smile for my camera. Little kids seem to like cameras.

Cutie #2 was playing with a friend after the ceremony. Friend was standing where the pastor had stood, holding her hands out as if supporting a bible, and repeating verbatim the ceremony. I crept up just as she was saying, "you may now kiss the bride." Cutie turns and puckers up for the imaginary groom and I, as you can see, snapped her picture.



and Cutie#3--I really just love this shot. I think its so sweet, a little father daughter conversation, both so intent on the other and dancing while they're at it.

More about the wedding to come...

a little bit of flare

On Saturday, Smith Adams residence hall held an annual "backyard bash" for its residence. I was there taking pictures when a friend of mine from study abroad decided she wanted to sing (they had a stage and sound equipment set up and an audience of college students in lawn chairs). So I took a lot of pictures of her because a) she's really photogenic, and b) I was intrigued by the light. She was fairly backlit through a group of trees (yes, there are trees in Abilene) and the situation was reaking havoc with all of the auto functions on my camera. So I was just playing around, trying to master the situation (ha!) and I noticed the lens flares...and I liked them.

Emily Hobbs

Tell me what you think!

SURPRISE! a sport I like to shoot

So last week I shot softball practice for the first time and I surprised myself--I actually liked it. Looking back on it now, I think it might just have been because of the informal atomosphere of it. I was allowed to go anywhere the ball wouldn't hit me in the head, the action was repetitive so I couldn't miss anything important changing angles or positions, and the lady wildcats really didn't care that I was out there, they were just having fun doing something they love. Practice is definately better than a real game, I think. And once, I thought I heard the 8-year-old tomboy in me craning her neck to reach my ear and whispering, "see! girls can too play baseball...just not you."


I really liked this angle, the ball in action about to be caught, but the background could have been cleaner.

This girl undoubtedly hates me, as this was the picture that ran in the Optimist and her facial expression isn't the most flattering. Alas, I seem to be following in the footsteps of our photo-editor, attempting to catch the most embarrassing facial expressions...lets face, they're a lot more fun.

The obvious critisism: another inch on the right side of the ball would have been nice.

In this one, I really like the way her body is positioned...kind of like a goalie blocking the ball/puck/whatever. In the three last pictures I really like the clean backgrounds and the ration of dirt to grass. It seems kind of soothing to me...until you look at their faces.

One last thing: these photos were shot entirely on manual settings...manual settings that I set. And it really was easier to have a consistant setting than to battle the automatic systems.