Oh, what a week! A lot of gratitude for Pascale--my new bff. Ok, not really...but I do feel a friendship coming on. I hope that I can be like her when I grow up. I will be happy with just half of the talent and a quarter of the generosity that she has. I did a one-on-one session with her this week (Remember, I took her fantabulous photography workshop two years ago? She helped me say good-bye to the little green box on my camera forever). This was my first "official" kind of shoot where I was not biologically related to the person I was shooting. Ms. Sierra totally rocked it--Pascale had to tell her very little of what to do. She's a natural--that girl. One day, when she is famous, Entertainment Tonight is going to come to me and give me LOTS of moohlah for these bad boys. Yup, one day....
We were at the beach for the shoot but began at some beach rentals close by.
Then off to the beach where Pascale taught me the finer points of off camera flash. So very cool. I would have never thought shots could be this cool.
then back to the cute little town where Pascale found some sweet spots to shoot.
and sweet Sierra. What a great young lady! She was up for whatever and let me practice on her--even when it started to get chilly.
So I have to admit--if you like my shots even a teeny wheeny bit, you have to go to Pascale's site and see how her "WOW" factor. I cannot believe how much hanging out with her helped me think big picture. She talked to me nonstop throughout the shoot--what she was doing, how she was looking for the light, explaining her camera settings. She was a wealth of information and encouragement. I appreciated her candor about trying to juggle all the many roles that she has--mother, wife, photographer, business woman, friend. And, get this, she used to be a fire AND police woman. As if that was not enough, she also wrote and self-published a book about getting into the photog business (I know, I know...I'm a slacker!).
One thing I am learning, is that this business is filled with egos and opinions (understandably because art is personal). So for Pascale to be so wonderfully honest and open with me is such a blessing! Reading books and surfing the internet is great and needed but actually putting that head knowledge to practice when you are shooting can be overwhelming. Your mind is always thinking--well, maybe it was just my mind because Pascale made it look easy.
My high of hanging out with Pascale was quickly deflated as I realized that now I had to edit these photos. I have been tied to my laptop (which I learned is probably not the best place to edit photos) trying to figure out how to calibrate it and doing edits all while trying to learn Photoshop (seriously, my kids made themselves sandwiches for dinner tonight). I also had to make an Apple store run when I realized that my precious Bo (my 5d Mark II camera) is not compatible with Photoshop CS3--which I found out, btw, when I lost all my edits when I tried to transfer them from Photoshop to Lightroom. I had to bite the bullet and buy the full version of CS4 because you cannot just upgrade CS3 when you have the suite version without buying the upgrade for the whole suite (which I don't use). Thanks Adobe...
Lots of other stuff going on--Sarah's birthday party, the Sugar Fairy, an impromptu photo shoot with Kennedy (I actually let her hold Bo) and our fun excursion to the farmer's market. And I did not even mention my 8 hour photography pow wow with T. Llyod--more on that later... tschuss
