Day Forty-Nine

Wow! A post that is up on the right day! Haha
I figured why not do my picture before I even eat dinner, that way I have time to edit it.
I didn't really even need to edit it that much because it's a nature shot, and I wanted to show how the bush has tiny icicles on it. :]

Taken with Nikon D80, 150mm micro lens and SB800. F/5.8, 1/50 shutter speed, and 500 ISO. I just realized these settings are really weird for having an external flash, but hey, it turned out so it's all good. :]

Day Forty-Eight

Yesterday was a very interesting day. I had a lot to do, yet somehow still managed to get it all done in time. Even the picture! By the end, I was so exhausted that I couldn't spend time editing this picture, when I could be getting my rest for today.
So, again I am in Advanced Lighting class, and we are finishing up the movie from Wednesday. I am still watching it but I thought it would be the perfect time to post yesterdays picture. Thus getting me ready for today's picture.
I wanted to play around with lights and colors, so I thought of this idea. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to, but I only had so much time to get the shot.

Shot with a Nikon D3 and 24-70mm wide-angle zoom lens on a tripod. F/28, 1/25 shutter speed, and 500 ISO. The light is coming from a flashlight.

Day Forty-Seven

February 26, 2011
Yesterday was actually a fun day as well, Kevin and I went to his sisters house, to celebrate his 21st birthday with his family.

Yes, his candles say 22, it's because Beth couldn't find a 1 candle so we said we'd just wish him good luck for next year. :]
Isn't he so cute?! Haha you don't have to answer that.
Shot with Nikon D3, 24-70mm wide-angle zoom lens, and SB800(external flash). F/2.8, 1/100 shutter speed, and ISO100.

Day Forty-Six

February 25, 2011
Happy 21st Birthday Kevin! (Yes, his birthday is a day after my moms birthday)
Another reason why I couldn't find time to post these pictures on time.
We've known each other for over a year now, and have been dating for eight months of that. He's another person who refuses to let me give up on my dreams and goals. And I admire him very much for having to deal with a person like me. :]
<3 Another interesting picture that I enjoyed taking, this one was at my mothers work. She works at 'The School Sisters of Notre Dame' and the building is over 100 years old. This was taken in the attic, and actually creeped the hell out of me because the chair was like this when I found it. I loved the disturbing feeling it gave me, so I just had to take a picture of it.

Taken with Nikon D3 and 24-70mm wide-angle zoom lens. F/2.8, 1/160 shutter speed, and 100 ISO.
It originally was taken in color but turned it black-and-white in Lightroom.

Day Forty-Five

February 24, 2011
Happy Birthday Mother!
This is another reason why I didn't get my post up til now. I was celebrating my mothers birthday.
If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be who I am today or doing what I love. I look up to her in so many ways. She has never judged me for who I am but embraced the fact that I was different. I was one of those bad kids in high school, who never did anything and thought it was a waste of time; she still never gave up on me. When I told her that I wanted to become a photographer, she was there every step of the way, never letting me give up on my dream.
I love you so much mother, and don't know what I would do without you.
<3 Here's a picture that I thought was pretty interesting. (BEWARE: the next few photos are going to be B&W) :]

Shot with Nikon D3 and 24-70mm wide-angle zoom lens. F/4.5, 1/100 shutter speed, and 400 ISO.

Day Forty-Four

Okay, I am soo behind on posting my pictures, that I don't know where to begin.
I will post the days that they are supposed to be posted, so you know what days I took them.
:]

Februrary 23, 2011
It has been a very busy weekend, and I can't even remember what all happened. haha
So let's start from the top.
I found a closet that had the most shoes I've ever seen! Obviously this picture doesn't give it justice, but you'd just have to trust me on the statement. Haha

Taken with Nikon D3 with 150mm micro lens. F/3.2, 1/80 shutter speed, and 2000 ISO.

Day Forty-Three

I am in class and watching a Russian film named 'Solaris' and it seems really interesting but I want to get yesterday's photo posted so I can start to worry about todays.
Yesterday was a weird day, and so is today but thankfully I am heading home to get my car fixed.
PHOTO TIME!

I am getting interested with this movie so I will say what the settings were in a comment when I have time.
:]

Day Forty-Two

Today was actually a very good day! Manol, one of my photography instructors, ended up telling me that the shoot I did with Dave, Day 36, had really good lighting. Now to those who don't have Manol, you probably don't really think anything of it but for those of you who do, you know that's a BIG deal! The fact that lighting is one of my weakest traits in photography, I took this as a very big success! It basically made the entire day.
Anyways, after the last class of the day, I had to stick around school to wait for Kevin to pick me up after work, so I decided to take todays picture. It took about an hour to finally figure out what I was going to photograph and when I finally did, it wasn't turning out like I'd hoped.
So I took the easy way out.
:P

Taken with a Nikon D3 and 24-70mm wide-angle zoom lens. F/2.8, 1/80 shutter speed, and 320 ISO.

Day Forty-One

Yeah, as you all know, I am horrible at posting my pictures on the day that they were taken.
But as long as I take the pictures on the days that I am supposed to, I don't think it should matter when I post them; as long as I post them.
Yesterday I ended up seeing this awesome old television set, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have this be the photo.

Shot with a Nikon D3 and 105mm micro lens. F/3.0, 1/125 shutter speed, and 1600 ISO.

Day Forty

Forty out of 365 days completed! Can you believe it?!
I sure can't. The fact that I am still doing this individual project of mine, still surprises me!
Yesterday was a very busy day! Kevin and I ended up going to his brothers house in the city to give him a poster that I've been working on for him for the past 3 weeks. I ended up printing it and framing it, so he could hang it on the wall of his apartment, and he loved it! This is what it looked like:

Steve (Kevin's brother; the one on the left) would always say how he needs to have a good picture and Kevin and him together. So I ended up doing a photo shoot of them together, letting him think it was spontaneous, while the whole time Kevin and I had this planned out. Thankfully, he was very surprised, and loved it! :]
Anyways, after we gave him the framed poster, we ended up taking the Brown Line to MOCP (Museum of COntemporary Photography) for an hour then we went back to his apartment and watched Blood Sport; which to be honest was a horrible movie. The storyline behind it was decent, but everything else was just embarrassing. Yes, I understand the movie was made in the 80's so film wasn't as evolved as it is now, but I just couldn't take it seriously. haha
Going back on topic, Kevin, Steve and I ended up going to see Motorhead last night! It was awesome as hell and a spectacular show. I wish I had pictures of it to show you, but I didn't have a press pass so I couldn't bring my camera. :[
The photo for day 40 was taken while we were in the city during the day. As we were waiting for the train, to bring us back to Steve's apartment, there was a guy doing a photo shoot with two models who looked very cold. Steve tried to be funny by saying, "Take a picture of a guy taking a picture!" So me being me, I did. I thought it was funny at first because they started to notice, but then I realized this girl standing there. So I tried to make the frame more interesting.

Taken with a Nikon D2X and 24-70mm wide-angle zoom lens. F/2.8, 1/800 shutter speed, and 100 ISO.

Day Thirty-Nine

So I realized how lame my last post was, not the picture, more of my attitude. It was just a long day today. I had class at 9am which wasn't even that bad because I got done with everything that I needed to at 10:30am, then I worked on a little individual project for Kevin's brother that I have been working on for about 3-4 weeks now. I finally finished at 3pm and that gave me an hour to sit down and relax before I had to do a photo shoot at 4pm with Kevin's friend Steve.
The shoot took 2 hours, which to most photographers isn't a lot, but the physical labor is what wore me out. If I didn't have Kate Barr there to help me with some things, I don't think I would've been able to make it. :P
Anyways, the shoot was for Advanced Lighting to show how to use 4-point lighting. The only thing I was worried about was the position of the lights and Steve worried about the rest. He is amazing at making facial gestures, so I thought I'd just let him have fun being the model and not take it seirously.
This is only one out of many that turned out but I wanted to pick the best lighting photo. If you want to see the other photos of the many faces of Steve, you can always check out his Facebook.

Taken with a Nikon D2X and 24-70mm wide-angle zoom lens. f/18, 1/100 shutter speed, and 100 ISO.

Day Thirty-Eight

Yesterday was a very busy day for me, I did end up getting my photo until 3 minutes before 12 o'clock.
I realized that my car, which I just got about 2 months ago, is starting to act up. So I can't drive it until Thursday when I take it into the shop. It's going to be very interesting.
Anyways, I about two minutes to think of what I was going to capture, and three minutes to take the photograph that was for 38. Well, I tried to be creative and no matter which angle, lens, or lighting I used, the picture looked like a 4th grader could've taken it.
I stopped taking photos right at 12AM and went to bed because I was exhausted.
Today, I was looking at the photos to see which one was best to edit and all I could do was laugh! There was not one photo where the angle or lighting was off. So, I made the best of it.
Honestly, I am too physically/mentally exhausted tonight to put my energy into editing this picture because I have 100 more photos I need to look at for today's photo.
So here it is. I am sorry! Haha

I could've edited this a lot better but again, I don't have the time.
What an excuse right?!
:P

Day Thirty-Seven

Yesterday was a very busy and exhausting day for me, I went to bed earlier than normal, and took the photo later than usual.
So the picture isn't as interesting as I would've liked it to be but I thought it turned out quite nicely. Especially since I took it 30 minutes before 12AM.

Shot with Nikon D3 with 85mm Micro lens. F/1.4, !/100 shutter speed, and 1000 ISO.

Day Thirty-Six

I was in the studio with Dave, taking photographs for my Editorial project, and I got a snapshot of him making the most hilarious face.
So I thought I'd use it for the photo of the day.
I didn't have time to post it on day 36 but I definitely took it!

Shot with the Nikon D3 and 85mm micro lens. F/11, 1/200 shutter speed, and 100 ISO.
Another picture with Dave!
:]

Day Thirty-Five

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!
Because this is the day that you should celebrate your love with a special someone (your valentine) I thought I'd be a dork and show my holiday spirit with today's photograph!

I know, it's corny as hell but I just had to do it!
Shot with Nikon D80 and 50mm micro lens. F/1.6, 1/100 shutter speed, and 500ISO.
:]

Day Thirty-Four

So yesterday was way to busy to edit the photo of the day because I was too busy editing a photo for my Advanced Lighting class.
At 12:30AM Kevin, his friend Steve, Steve's friend (Danny) and I went to the Blue Line to take the photos for the project.
It took me all night to edit the photos and it still didn't turn out the way I wanted, so as I was trying to figure out which photo to use for Day Thirty-Four, I decided to use this one.

I thought the contrast between the highlights and shadows were very interesting. I think my favorite part of this picture is the light shining through the bench.
Taken with Nikon D3X and a 14-24mm wide-angle zoom lens. F/3.5, 1/100 shutter speed, and 200 ISO.

Day Thirty-Three

So today was very busy homework wise. Now all I have left to do is the photo shoot at train tonight with mimes.
The photo shoot will most likely be tomorrows 365 because we aren't going to get to the train station till about 11:30PM, since one of the mimes I am using, isn't getting out of work until 10:30PM tonight.
Since I am going to be taking a bunch of pictures tonight, I thought I'd take a simple picture of the ice melting.

I tried to get the water drop falling, to show that it's melting.
Shot with Nikon D3X with 70-200mm lens. F/3.5, 1/640 shutter speed, at 100 ISO.

Day Thirty-Two

Yesterday I was planning on going to the train station for a shoot for my Editorial project but it didn't end up working out. So I ended up taking a photo right before 12AM so I could take the photo of the day.
I took probably about 75 photos of embers in a fireplace and this is the best shot that came out.

Taken with Nikon D3X with 50mm micro lens. F/2.0, 1/125 shutter speed, and 1000 ISO.

Thirty-One

Today, I actually took my picture while I was at school.
Sam Cutler made me a cookie today after I asked him to make me a cupcake, and this is what I got.

It was hard for me to take it myself, so I made one of my friends at work, Robbie, hold the cookie. I made him hold his hands in a shape of a heart because even though the cookie says "I HATE U", I knew it was said out of love.

Shot with a Nikon D3X and 14-24mm wide-angle zoom lens. F/2.8, 1/100 shutter speed, and 320 ISO.
I think it looks pretty cool! :]

Day Thirty

I really need to get better at posting these.
It is SO hard to post a blog everyday, especially when i take a photo and edit it every time.
Wow, I still have to post today's photo, so here is day 30.

I had to take more glass photos for my advanced lighting class against a white and black background.
And this is what turned out.

Twenty-Nine

I am THREE Days behind!
Oh wow, I have no time for explanation. So here's the picture!

Day Twenty-Eight

I am so tired!
I can't even think of what to write for today's post, except for how much I want to sleep!
So I think this will be short and sweet. Today's picture was taken during my advanced lighting class. We were learning how to light glass, and I took a picture of this!

Nikon D3 with 24-70 wide-angle zoom lens. F/18, 1/200 shutter speed, and 100 ISO.
GOODNIGHT!

Day Twenty-Seven

Late again on my post!! Of course, the picture was taken yesterday, it just wasn't posted because I was editing them all night for my Editorial project that was due this morning. So, I've been running on no sleep this whole day, and have been going non-stop! I couldn't find time to post the picture until now because I had class until 6pm.
As you know, I've been working on the mime photo project for a while. After reshooting and painting Kevin's brothers face about a million times, which by the way I am still not done with the whole mime concept yet, it was time to show the class my progress.
After being critiqued, I was happy to know that I have improved with my photography but the one thing that I can't seem to get a grip on, is framing.
Normally when I take a photo, I zoom out a little more than what I want, so I can crop the picture in post. Well, when it's time to crop the picture, I don't know exactly how to crop it, so i just leave it. That's what was wrong with today's picture. So, I cropped it in more, and this is what I came up with.

Shot with Nikon D3 and 24-70 wide-angle zoom lens. F/2.8, 1/125 shutter speed, and LO-0.3 ISO.
Cropped at 8x10 inches, and edited in Photoshop.

I just wanted to say thanks to my followers! I don't think I would still be posting if I didn't think you were reading these. :]

Day Twenty-Six

Ah! I need to stop posting these blogs on the wrong day but I do have a really good excuse this time! Yesterday was a very busy day, re-shot the mime shoot in the city, took day 26's photo, showed up to a friends birthday party, Steve Verdone, Happy Belated Birthday Steve!
Anyways, I didn't even get to edit yesterdays picture until tonight because I was so busy doing shoots for my projects. I want to go into detail of the day but I only have so much time to work on my photos for Manol's project, so I have to end this early.
This is in Steve's, Kevin's brother, apartment hallway. I thought it looked very interesting, especially for yesterday's photo.
BY THE WAY, I did take this picture on day 26, again, I didn't have time to post it.
Enjoy!

Shot with a Nikon D3 and 24-70mm wide-angle zoom lens, f/2.8, 1/125 shutter speed, and LO-0.3 ISO.

Day Twenty-Five

Twenty-five days in and still going!
I don't really have much to say tonight. My brain is tired from school and I am physically exhausted from being up since 7 this morning and running around doing errands.
I really need to stop saving my photos for the end of the night but I find that it is the easiest. It makes me look at things differently.
Anyways, here is todays photo. Enjoy!

Taken with Nikon D3 and 24-70mm wide-angle zoom lens. F/1.2, 1/125 shutter speed, 100 ISO, and SB800 flash.

Day Twenty-Four

Another day, another photo.
There are days where it seems as though the need to breath has to somehow fit in my busy schedule, and there are days where all it seems there is to do, is breathe.
Today was none of those. I worked all day, from 11AM to 10PM, and it was very relaxing. Needless to say, I did work on projects but they weren't for school. One is for my mother's work, and the other is for my boyfriend. It is so cold outside, I refused to drive around Schaumburg to find today's photograph, so I had to be more creative today. When I came home from work, I went to the fridge for a snack.
As you should know, I didn't end up making/eating anything because something caught my eye.

Two eggs sittings beside one another. They are neither alone nor together. There were actually two photos that I took of the same two eggs, but both photos gave a different feeling. I literally sat in front of the computer for an hour trying to figure out which one I liked better. I couldn't decide which one was better, so Kevin helped me decide.

Shot with the Nikon D3 with a 60mm micro lens. F/3.2, 1/125 shutter speed, and 1250 ISO.

Day Twenty-Five, here I come!
:]

Day Twenty-Three

The day after the snowstorm was very lazy, after the 2 ½ hour labor of snow shoveling/blowing. One thing that I did not want to take a picture of was snow. After 18 inches, I don’t think anyone would want to see more pictures of snow.
So, I decided to go a different route. Take a photo of someone getting rid of the snow!

Taken with the Nikon D80 with 60mm, f/6.3, 1/320 shutter speed, and 100 ISO.

Day Twenty-Two

So as you know, the past few days have been blizzard warnings, and with my luck, the house that I was staying at, the internet went out. I still took my photos, but I couldn't post them until now.
It was very hard to take a picture in the blizzard, not only could I not see what I was taking a picture of because of the snow blowing in my face, but the camera was getting wet. So, the picture taking was very minimal, time wise.
This is what I could take a picture of..

Shot with a Nikon D80 and 60mm micro lens, f/3.3, 1/60 shutter speed, and 1600 ISO.
It is not one that I would like to post, but out of the 10 pictures that I took, it seemed to be the most interesting.
:]