Thursday, April 30, 2009

Suprise Shoot

While we were home for vacation I snuck in a shoot of my niece and nephew. My brother ans sister in law were both gone for a few hours and we had the kids. It was a tough shoot in that it was a 2 year old, a 5 month old and then we had my kiddo wanting to be in the shoot and my mom trying to fix and do as she always does. My step daughter was there too and was a big help with the baby. So....this is what I got....meet Elliott and Laurel!Going to make some changes to the last one. I do not like the black and white that I used. But....I think they will be pleasantly suprised!!!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Whats in a name???

So....I have been contemplating the whens and hows of opening my own photography business. I will have to get more organized to do so but...with all I am learning so fast I think I can do it. My plan is to be 100% ready when I actually open. That means I HAVE to start brainstorming. I need a name. A business name that can travel with me, that is me, that sounds professional yet whimsical and cute, that tells a story of what I do, that is not cheesy, something that is unique and fun. I have heard that using your name is best however my name is none of that. Allison Curti Photography It just doesn't do it for me. Hum..... I love my friends name of her business. Lollipops and Slingshots. It sounds like exactly what she does. I also love Barefoot Photography. So, I guess I should tell a little bit about my ideas of a business. I want to take pictures of children of all ages. I think I am interested in senior class pictures as well. I also want to shoot family portraits and maybe dabble in some events. I love classic pictures and some of the more trendy stuff as well. I want to mostly use natural lighting and shoot mostly outdoors. Right now I am growing as a photographer and learning so very fast. I have business ideas but....I have no name. I am clueless on this one. Any ideas from the peanut gallery???

Sunday, April 26, 2009

ZIP

Anyone know how to unzip a file????

NO light.....

So....my photo shoot tonight was a learning experience. Of course that is fabulous, but my pictures were not. I had a shoot with my friend Kimmy and her family, the same ones I did the homecoming for. Life happened and they were late. Well, not a big deal to me but...the sun was dropping way too fast. I really thought they were going to make it right in time or I would have reschedules but...nope! Once they got there is was too late. We tried anyway and I truly thought we got some. We actually did get a few but not much at all. I was disappointed when I got home and looked at them. Shutter speeds were just too slow with the light we had. I did all I could. We did have some practice with "natural posing" so that should help for tomorrow night! We are shooting again tomorrow night at a different location. I am bound an determined to get this family some good pictures. So...I will leave you with this sneak peek until tomorrow night!

Last Nights Challenge...uh I mean SHOOT!

Last night I was fortunate enough to accompany Becky Breedlove again to a shoot at Ft. Monroe. What a beautiful place full of history and charm. When we arrived at our meeting place and first location to shoot we saw they were having a wedding there so quickly we had to re-coup. Not a big deal since the possibilities are endless at Ft. Monroe. The buildings, trees, piers, gazebos, sand, roads etc... As we got out of the car the father of the family greeted us and we decided to head to the pier. He waved for the family to come one and out popped a beautiful wife and daughter and 2 very tall handsome boys. These kids I might add were not the type of kids I am used to shooting, they were 10, 13 and 15 and not thrilled to be here. Remember how stupid getting your picture taken was at that age??? I do. I HATED the one my mom bought and displayed HUGELY in the easel for everyone to see. I get it now. Anyway, we headed to the pier and it was flooded with fishermen. So we headed to the next pier which was empty. Low and behold 3 fisherman beat us to it. Then we headed to the sand and rocks and as we were just getting set up...a barge goes by behind us. Mamamia!!! Becky worked her patooty off trying to get these kids to relax and smile. This is definitely a different challenge than toddlers. In the end I think we got some good shots and I KNOW the parents will be happy but wow...big kids are just as hard as little. Lesson learned! Thanks again Becky for inviting me to join you and for the photoshop lesson afterwards!!! You rock! Pictures will follow later....another shoot tonight.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Meghan got the Wedding!!!

So we will be shooting a wedding May 9th! Any great tips????

Picture This

Our organizer stepped down for this meet up and I was so worried that no one would take over. I truly feel the Lord has put me in Virginia Beach to be smack dab in all this photography opportunity. It is something I have always wanted to do and I am flooded with it! I can not get enough! I am trying to soak it all up. Learning very very fast!
A nice gentleman took over as organizer and Picture This will go on! It will have change but change is good as long as we are still learning and having fun! We had our first meet up last night with the new organizer and it was great! I am looking so forward to photo walks and just soaking up all the knowledge I can get!!! So....here's to Picture This and all it has to offer!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

I hear bells....

Yes those would be wedding bells! No I am not getting married again! Although I would love to do it all over again! It was so much fun! My friend Meghan Justice of Justice Photography called me today and she is doing her first wedding! AND...she wants me to second shoot with her. I am beyond excited! So, the big day is May9th and although editing will take a while....I will post my fav's for you to see!!! Whoopty Doo, it's a nice day for a..white wedding!!!!!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Shoots coming out of my &$$!

Whoopy! I have photo shoots like crazy! I have one with Becky Breedlove on Saturday at 6pm. Maybe a Baptist with Meghan Justice at 10 am that morning and then I am taking pictures of a family at 6 pm on Sunday. I also have my Picture This meetup tomorrow night. So it looks like a photography filled weekend. Life is good! And only because Jasmine Star - who ROCKS I might add - says a post is better with a picture here is my girl...

Playdate








I took some pictures at a play date at the zoo yesterday. I tried some new things that I kinda learned from..yes Becky Breedlove. I am very sad she is leaving by the way. Anyway, I think that they turned out pretty good! I mean these kids are so cute anyway but check out these pictures. (photog's, constructive critisism is always welcomed)

Monday, April 20, 2009

Play


I have been "shadowing" a fabulous photographer in the area named Becky Breedlove with Becky Breedlove Photography. It has been a wonderful learning experience and lots of fun! here is Becky's play on this picture that I was struggling with. I like it but feel like it is flat! Not anymore... You rock Becky! Teach me everything you know so I can be fabulous too! :)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

More of my beautiful Anna...

These are just a few more pictures of my photo shoot with Anna. I look at these pictures and it makes me realize how fast she is growing up. The last photo shoot I did with her was right before Mike and I got married. She was so sweet and so beautiful and so little. Now, she is still so sweet and beautiful but she is growing up, and oh so fast! My favorite of the whole shoot is the black and white. I have so many shots from this shoot, but for me, this is the best one! She is such a great subject! She can really work the camera! Thanks for being you, I love you sweet girl!









With a cherry on top???

So I am not liking that first picture of Anna and am not sure what to do with it... Any photogs have any ideas? Wanna play? Send me an e-mail and I will send you the full image. Please??? Pretty please??

Thursday, April 16, 2009

I have a question???

Where is the best place to upload pictures to share??? I am looking for a user friendly site that you do not have to have an account with. I want all my family and friends to be able to see them with out having to sign up. It is taking me forever for some reason to upload pictures so I wanted to link them. What do you think???

Sneak Peek at My Beautiful Anna

While I was home I wanted to do a photo shoot of my beautiful step daughter Anna. I have not done one since Mike and I got married. Lucky me, she wanted me to do one BAD! So, we had FUN! She showered and we blow dried her hair, put lip gloss on her and off we went! She is such a trooper! She knows how to be in front of the camera. I guess she should since I have had mine on her since she was 2 1/2! She is gorgeous and we had a blast! Here are a few pictures from the shoot! Oh also, these are with my new lens and some are not edited yet!


Thursday, April 9, 2009

Photoshoot cancelled!

Dang! My Wed night shoot was cancelled. It was too windy and one of the kids did not have a hair cut. Hum... Oh well. I ended up doing one last night of my step daughter Anna instead! She is a dream subject, beautiful and so much fun to shoot. I will post pictures when I get back to VA. Only problem is that shooting in Raw I filled up a 4 GB cards so so fast. I did get my shipment in on Monday so I used my new lense and played with reflectors some and had an extra card. At this point I have 2 full 4 gig and 1 full 512. It was fun and I can not wait to see results. I hope they are as good as they look in the camera.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

No longer a B&H virgin!

Made my first order today! New lense, reflectors and a new CF card! Whoopy! Can not wait to get it all and play!!!

Going to the lake

We leave tomorrow for the lake. We are so excited! While I am home I am doing 3 photoshoots! The first one will be on my beautiful step daughter, Anna. I miss taking pix of her. Here is one I took years ago... I am also taking pictures of one of my mom's friends 3 grandkids on Wednesday. The last is not really a shoot but I want to get some good pictures of Zeke and Brett's baby girl Laurel. And of course everyone and thing in between. Looks like I may need another CF card since I will not have my computer. Hum...