Multiplicity in intervals

This semester I've been moonlighting at Hardin Simmons taking an Art Photography class (since ACU doesn't exactly have a wide variety of photography classes, although they do offer a PHOTOjournalism degree...but I'm not bitter). We've had four assignments so far, this is the fourth one. Our mission was to capture motion in three related images. Yep. That's it. So since the only readilly available models I have these days are me and my husband (sniff sniff, no more pictures of Kalyn and Tony!), poor Eric got dragged to Hardin Simmons for yet another photo shoot.

Two interesting things to know about these images:

1. They were shot using the interval timer on my Nikon D2x. The camera actually records up to 9 consecutive shots all by its little self--after you set up the shot, of course--at any interval you wish. I then picked the ones I liked and erased them into one image using Photoshop and a whole bunch of layers.

2. The other requirement for these images was the size...9x7. Which is, of course, a crazy uncommon size and I had to photoshop the borders in order to make the image 8x10 so that it would go through the Wal-mart 1 hour without a stupid crop (where they gave me a horrible printing job...that border is the exact same color in photoshop! I printed six images from Wal-mart and got six DIFFERENT colored borders!). So THAT's how you fox Walmart...if you can stomach their color correction process. Humph!

Split personality

So, I have discovered--and I think this is true for most photographers--that I have a split personality. There is semi-professional Emerald, who hauls around her heavy but important looking Nikon D2x, carefully choosing each shot and looking as smooth as possible while doing it. Then there is tourist Emerald, who weilds her ancient Sony Cybershot (which still boasts a rockin' Carl Zeiss zoom lens comparable or better than personal digital cameras you can buy on the shelf today), running aimlessly like the typical annoying tourist, taking the typical posed pictures and rigging the self timer while the camera is propped on various personal items and shopping bags. The last two weeks I was tourist Emerald and it was fun.

What follows are the four decent pictures I took prior my wedding last week, and the adventures of Eric, Emerald and the self timer on our honeymoon in New Mexico.

My two new sisters Marnie and Kayla Lemmons.

Meagan, one of my best friends from high school and one of my bridesmaids, posing in an art project I made this semester (we were supposed to change the color of something with a distinct traditional color and see what effect it had)

Helena, another friend from high school and a bridesmaid, also playing dressup.

(this is actually a typical face for her to make at me)

Now starts the honeymoon. Eric's mother's family has a semi-tradition where they go to a family cabin in the mountains of Las Vegas, New Mexico for their honeymoon. It's quiet and peaceful (and exactly what we needed after this crazy semester). They have a board overlooking the living area in the cabin where they pin boutineers and corsages the bride and groom wear at the wedding...so we got to add Eric's boutineer.

The rest of our honeymoon is represented in the goofy pictures we took using the self-timer on the camera. There are some of us hiking (yes I actually hiked):

and shooting BB guns at defenseless tin cans and pine cones:

And visiting Santa Fe, where we toured the really big church,

(does anyone know who the kid in the pink dress is and why she ranks with St. Francis?)

...and gawked at the interesting sculpture outside the Native American Art Museum,


...and where we petted $4000 fur coats (but Eric said we'd get kicked out if we took a picture) and decided that the following picture will definately NOT be ME!


...and then hiked some more.





And then we left for home and took a quick picture by Hermit's Peak on the way out. Do you see the Hermit's face???

(isn't he cute????)

Good News!

Some of you may have noticed in my A.W.O.L. post a few weeks ago, where I mentioned I had lost my future brother-in-law's wedding photos. I found them...on my laptop which Eric stole at the beginning of the semester and I've rarely seen since. Those fiancees! Gotta watch them!

What you see here is the random assortment of photos taken by a disoriented photographer--you'll also remember from that post that I had just stepped off a plane from a foreign country that had almost been hijacked by terrorists. I was not the official photographer at this wedding, just a semi-related snap-shooter with a really expensive camera. And in honor of the fact that it is almost my wedding (3 more days) and two months since their wedding, I decided Chris and Melissa really needed thier hapshazard assortment of family-taken wedding pictures. Enjoy!

The following two shots are my experiments with two failed and blurry pictures. I like the lighting so I turned them into watercolors in Photoshop. Let me know what you think.

Melissa throwing the bouquet...

Eric tackles his sister, Kayla, in an attempt to wrench it from her hands. I'm glad he's gonna be my husband and not my brother...I don't think I could handle that!

Chris removes the garter...

The escape...I love this shot! They look so happy...and there are bubbles.

Hearts, flowers and cowboy boots

This was one of the most entertaining bridal sessions I've done with Belle's yet. Heather and her fiancee are planning a western wedding and she's got the denham in her bouquet and the cowboy boots to prove it. More than that, Heather was willing to climb fences and roll around in the grass to our hearts' content...which made for some really fun shots!