What a week!  I have started to advertise myself as a business...figured I have nothing to lose.  I absolutely love photography so why not try to make it a little business on the side of my full time job.  I created the below flyer and emailed it to some of my co-workers, family and friends.  The first day I scheduled 2 new appointments!

I was excited to get a good response so quickly!  Now if I can keep it going, that would be fantastic :) Fingers crossed for me. 

The past few weeks I've also been learning more in Photoshop.  I've learned how to antique photographs:

How to select certain parts of photographs to be in color/BW:

and my favorite - learning to make collages!

LOVE IT! 

Quick blog today...stay tuned for more later this week!

Wedding Planning and Hiking in the ADK's

This past weekend Jay and I headed to the High Peaks in the ADK's to do some wedding planning and hiking.  We stayed at a nice B&B called the Rooster Comb Inn.  Very cute and cozy!  The owners were very nice and accommodating. 

We started off on Saturday by visiting one of our favorite restaurants, just south of the main stretch in Lake Placid called Chair 6.  Really good food (best breakfast burrito EVER) and at a good price.  Left my camera in the car, of course...

After stuffing ourselves, we headed to the florist: Lake Placid Flower & Gift.  We met with the owner who helped us put together ideas and secure our date.  Lots of variegated orange/yellow/red mums with green ferns, with a few freesias mixed in my bouquet.  I don't have any photos and am unsure I can use others online...sorry. Anyways, she was very helpful and we were able to check one more thing off the wedding to do list!

THEN we hiked! Finally...good to get outside and hiking again.  We chose Dial Mountain.  In order to get to Dial you have to hike over 2 smaller mountains, both with good views.  Here are a few photos from the hike:

Also came across a cool barn...

The trails were wet and muddy, so we were covered by the time we got back to the car.  Headed back to the Inn, showered and went out to dinner at the Baxter Mountain Tavern.   SO GOOD - love the alfredo!

Sunday, we met with our amazing caterer Green Goddess at The Mountain House.  This is where we will be married! Tammy is wonderful to work with.  She has great ideas and has gone out of her way to help us with rentals and reception set-up.  The food is all organic and local and DELICIOUS.  Can't wait!

The Mountain House:

Overall we had a very successful and fun weekend! Looking forward to going back over Memorial Day weekend :)

Photo Outings

Hello!

There's been news that there may be some new visitors to my blog over the next week or so - Welcome!!  Thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoy some of my previous blogs.  Feel free (anyone) to post comments, questions or requests.  I LOVE hearing from you!

Just want to point out that to the upper left there are a few links that I've added with information on photo outings.  Please take a look and contact me if you are interested.  May is booking up fast, only a few days left.  June is starting to fill up as well, so please let me know ASAP if you would like to set something up (I would love to!).  Any questions or thoughts - please let me know at highlightimages@gmail.com.  I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Just a few photo samples until I complete my new blog entry on this past weekend's photo shoot (with the Kohlmeiers!). Please take a look at my portfolio if you would like to see more photos Highlight Portfolio

Thanks!!

Quiet Week

This past week has been pretty quiet, so I thought a quiet blog might fit the mood.  Keeping busy buying props for upcoming newborn photo shoot, preparing for a photo shoot with my Dad's band and figuring out a better way to display my photos online.  Not happy with my photoshop portfolio - not user friendly!  If you have any ideas, please let me know!  Working on a website over the next month as well!

For now here are a few photos from the past few weeks...

Outdoors

 

The Pups

 

Food

 

 

Maternity/Family Photo session

Foodie

 LOVE food...buying it, cooking it, most of all eating it - it's all good stuff.  This week Jay's decided that he wanted to make a roasted chicken (YES!) so I thought, let's document this deliciousness.  First up, our chef Jay:

So handsome!

I helped this project by making a trip to Wegmans...if you haven't been there, make sure you visit on your next trip to Rochester - it's heaven. 

Though it's a bit more expensive, I try to eat as much organic/free range food. It's worth it - read Jane Goodall's book Harvest for Hope, it'll change your views I promise.

I wasn't thrilled with the outcome of my photos, but through all the boiling, chopping, seasoning and cursing came these photos:

 

Needless to say this was an awesome meal!  We made chicken broth with the bones for upcoming meals next week.  Y-U-M.  I'm going to order a tripod that might help me out with food shots...so hopefully we'll see some improvements in over the next few months.

Bye!

Sassin' with Graffiti

First off, I just want to say that I'm a bit disappointed with myself for not keeping up with this blog lately...I haven't done my Project Sunday or Walking Wednesday since the first week I started.  Instead of doing a Project Sunday tomorrow, since it's Easter, I'm doing it today. So here we go!

GRAFFITI!  I LOVE it - I don't care if some people say it's garbage on a wall, if it's done tastefully I think it's a form of art.  I mean, look at it! It's amazing!  I've been doing a lot of research on places in Rochester that have good graffiti and although most seem unsafe, the water tanks at Cobbs Hill are covered in graffiti and completely safe.  People walk their dogs around them and there's a path that leads you there so it's legal.  There is also a spot in Fairport that I'll be checking out in the next few weeks with amazing graffiti on the sides of trains...can't wait!

I've wanted to try graffiti photos for a long time and finally this past weekend everything came together.  A couple of friends from work agreed to be my Sassy models, and they were great!  We had a blast looking at the art and taking fun photos.  Can't wait to get back out there to shoot some different angles.  Here are a few of my favorites:

These photos were taken at about 11 (by the time we made it to the tanks!).  VERY bright and sunny so some of the photos had a lot of shine on them.  Every time I try something new there's always something I learn, and every time I review my photos I get more ideas for the next shoot and always come up with a few things I should watch out for (like glare from the sun).  Jillian and Pat were so much fun, perfect duo for this outing.  I initially wanted the photos to be edgy and have attitude, but after looking through them, my favorites were the photos with the biggest smiles...I guess graffiti backgrounds are good for achieving both feelings - edgy and playful!

Thanks to you both for being my models! Miss Sass you are my official Sass Master :) Can't wait to set up another shoot.

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