A Sunday Wandering at The Getty

To my friend, Nicole;

A Poem of Friendship
Nikki Giovanni

We are not lovers
because of the love
we make
but the love 
we have


We are not friends
because of the laughs
we spend
but the tears
we save


I don't want to be near you
for the thoughts we share
but for the words we never have
to speak


I will never miss you
because of what we do
but what we are
together

Autumn Day Portraits

As a photographer, I have yet to establish my own post processing style.  Other than my brief introduction to photoshop in a high school arts class, I had always used my computer's basic photo editing program to play with my pictures.  For the longest time I used Picasa, a program that, even in its simplicity, fulfilled my post-processing needs.  It wasn't until last year that I actually gained access to a proper editing program.

Enter Adobe Lightroom.

I have personally loved using Lightroom. It's not nearly as extensive as Photoshop, but as an editing newbie, I'm thankful; Photoshop would have overwhelmed me.  Also, using Lightroom really allowed me to better understand how light works in photos (white balance, exposure, color hue and saturation etc) as I began to play with all of Lightroom's features.

With this session, I really wanted to emphasize the seasonal feeling of the day, so I wanted to try and accomplish an autumnal look for my photos with my post-process.  I edited these without the use of a preset, focusing more on the Split-tone feature of Lightroom to accomplish the look I wanted.

To be honest, I think the pictures still might have too much of a reddish/purple tint to them. I don't really know what I'm doing, and these might be edited horrendously by a professional's opinion.  But, I haven't posted in a while, and I need to start posting more of my work to both keep myself accountable and to show my work to nagging family and friends. ;)

Now on to the photos.  I took these photos back on an autumn day in November while I was babysitting Peyton.  The colors of the leaves were just too perfect to pass up, so I decided a mini photo shoot was in order. Peyton is the perfect model, he has no inhibitions and acts completely like his precious, sweet self when I stick a camera in his face.

Let me know what you think.  Do you like this edited look? Are the pictures too red? Don't you think Peyton is just the cutest? :)

 Peyton is still learning to walk, so as an alternative he scoots on his butt, no matter the muddiness of the ground. :)

Southern CA: Portrait

Moving down to Southern California proved to be a leap of faith.  Though I had a wonderful family to greet me and provide so much for me, I arrived with no promise of a job.  Even with the bleak economy reminding me that I probably wouldn't get a job, I was so blessed to find not one, but three jobs within two weeks of arriving!

I am currently a barista (no surprise) at Pain du Monde, and a nanny for three wonderful kids: a brother-sister duo, and a little kindergartner who uses sarcasm like a moody teenager. So, I now want to introduce you to Ashlynn and Peyton.  They are the sweetest kids, and I am so blessed to hang out with them on a regular basis.

Peyton is autistic and though he is seven years old, he doesn't use words to communicate.  I am learning daily what Peyton loves and doesn't love.  So far, I know he LOVES: playing with water, hanging upside down, elmo and friends, his big sister Ashlynn, his stuffed baseball, and his imaginary friends that he makes out of his hands.

Morgan (my sister), Peyton, and Ashlynn all enjoy fro-yo on a warm autumn day. 

Peyton loves hanging upside down.

I also caught him playing with his imaginary friends, aka, his hands!

So cute!