When talking about photographing something or someone, the teacher of the workshop class that I am taking always says, "When you make a picture………." instead of, "When you take a picture…….." At first, I found this curious. I thought maybe he had misspoken, but then I noticed how often he said it. I only have one more class left of this semester and now it makes total sense to me. Sometimes we just record what is already there when we photograph it, but with journalistic photography it is different. What is or isn't included in the frame,  makes a big impact on what is communicated to the viewer. 

During our last class, we were broken into groups and given four different scenarios to "Make pictures" of. Working together using only what camera gear we had with us and the spaces that were available in the building,  we went to work on our assignments .

The first assignment was to make a picture of a journalist who has been told that they have 24 hours to reveal their source, or they will be jailed.

Below is Ben, a group member. We tried to make the light a sickly color to convey the sick feeling. We used a green gel over the flash. There was too much shadow in this one. He is not looking at the camera because we wanted him to be thinking about his fate, not challenging it. This is not the picture we used.

This is the one we ended up using. The window reflecting the exit sign and the blinds gives the illusion of a public building, or perhaps a newspaper office. The crossed arms are meant to show  strength and determination and again, the slightly downward eyes show contemplation.

The second assignment: 
Make a picture of a bride or a groom on the morning of their wedding. Decide what their emotional state is and portray it in your picture.

We first decided that our group member, Olga was going to be the bride. She had a scarf on that she used to make it look like her hair was up in a towel as if she just gotten out of the shower. She also put the sweater she was wearing around her body like a  towel. Off to the bathroom to make it look like she just got out of the shower. 

We found the bathroom too tight to get a good picture in.We could see bars on the windows. This didn't work for us.

The reflection of "The Bride" in the mirror was a good effect, but you could either see me taking the picture or the paper towel dispenser if I moved out of the way.

The above photo is what we ended up with. We found this frosted door and put the flash on the other side to give this uncertain looking mood to our "Bride."

The third assignment:
Make a photograph of a free-spirit that is forced to work in his/her fathers corporate office.

Below are the pictures we took of Alex. We went with the last one. We liked how it was simpler, yet showed the stress of his situation in a tight cubicle.

The fourth and final assignment:
Photograph a good person in a bad place.

My turn to be the model. I happened to have worn a white shirt, which works for the suggestion of  goodness. We searched for somewhere that would show "Bad." We found  a dark doorway and we had Olga stand behind me with a flash that would give a glow around me.

You can see Olga behind me in these practice shots. We decided they didn't say, "Bad place" well enough. Seeing the bars on the windows, we decided to combine the dark doorway and the bars by moving me out a bit so you could see both the dark doorway and the bars. The resulting photo can bee seen below.

I thoroughly enjoyed these assignments. I sure am going to miss this class and the wonderful people that I met in it.
If you are interested in Photography, I highly recommend these workshop classes at The New England School of Photography.

Horses are such beautiful animals. In the last few weeks they have been part of my photographic world. When taking  the senior pictures that were the subject of my last blog, I met this beautiful Icelandic horse, Gifta and its owner, Barb. In talking with her, we discovered that I knew her nephew. He was a past student of mine and was in a play that my husband and I had directed. He was a great kid. It was so nice to hear what he was up to.

Back to Barb and Gifta. The love she had for her horse was so apparent. What a special bond horse owners have with their animals. This horse was so gentle and expressive and just look at the way Barb looks at her. They were beautiful to watch.

This was my next encounter with a horse. When traveling back form a family reunion in upper state NY. I spied this race horse and its jockey circling a race track . My husband gladly obliged my request to stop and I found a spot to capture the incredible scene. In the picture below, not one hoof is touching the ground, such speed!

Just amazing!

Just yesterday I was at my husband's uncle's farm and I captured this horse. He was really wanting my attention, or maybe he thought I had a tasty treat for him.

This photo illustrates the relationship of the horse and the donkey. They never ventured very far from each other the whole time I was there. Most of the time they were touching each other in some way.


No blog of mine about horses would be complete if it did not contain something about my best friend Linda and her horse, Talli. She and Talli share that special relationship that all horse owners understand.The importance of this relationship in her life can not be understated. Talli brings so much happiness and peacefulness to Linda's life. 

This is Allie. She is a very special  to me. She has been a part of my life for many years now. I had a blast doing her Senior pictures with her and two of her friends, Christy and Rachael.  

This is Christy. I love her style, and what a nice person she is! I can see why Allie is friends with her. She was so much fun to work with.

Just as nice  as the other two, this is Rachael. Rachael was a natural in front of the camera, not much coaching needed here.

Borderland State Park in Sharon/Easton, MA, is a fantastic place to take pictures. There is such a variety of places to shoot.

There are open fields,

woodsy areas,

stone structures,

 wood texture on the mansion door,

….and a great variety of water locations.
Shooting Seniors is a lot of fun. What a wonderful way to spend a beautiful summer day!

Thanks girls for sharing your day with me and letting me shoot your portraits.

Yup, that's me. I know what what you're thinking, she ain't no Audrey Hepburn and believe me, I know, but one can have a little fun,  can't they? Truth be told, the above picture is a result of an assignment given in my photography class.  The assignment was to remake an iconic photo adding your own twist. 

My first plan was to do Audrey Hepburn using my beautiful young daughter as the model. She agreed to pose for me. But as things turn out, she was unavailable when I was available, and vice versa. Okay, time to have a little fun.

If you know our family, you know we literally, "Run  on Dunkin." Our cars break for Dunkin Donuts, and that's a lot of breaking in New England. There are places where there is literally one on each side of the road within a mile stretch. You wouldn't want to have turn  across the center of the road. So…… I thought about what breakfast is to me, there was my twist, not Tiffany's, but Dunkin's.

I loved the bokeh ( blur in the background, often circular ) in the original picture, so I knew I wanted to duplicate that. What better lens to use than my 85 mm fixed lens. The gloves are really short black ones that I found as a party store. They didn't have long black ones, so I cut the bottoms off a pair of black leggings I had and put them on my arms.The shiny trinket in my hair is really tin foil all crumpled up. In retrospect, I should have taken the straw out of the drink and only had one straw. 

The cat, Cheddar, wanted to be part of the picture,too.

On this one, I took out all my wrinkles. It was too fake.

This is what I started with. Not Tiffany's for sure.

When I got to class, it was so interesting to find out that 4 out of the nine of us chose the same iconic photo. I just love how they were all so different and creative. This one was done by Carolyn Piazza. It is her adorable neighbor.

This is Adriana Burgos' daughter. I love the modern twist of the selfie.  At least her daughter was available.

The final picture is by Annelise Hagar. Again, a creative twist on the original. Really hip.