What's So Bad About a Two Legged Hippo?

This post is of one of my best friends here at Georgetown, who I met on the track team wayyy back in '07. As I recall, the first thing he ever said to me was, "So, would you rather be a two legged hippo, or a one legged prostitute?" To which I promptly replied, "A hippo, duh." We've been friends ever since. Chris is also one of my roommates this year in our crazy townhouse, and I needed him to be a guinea pig for a project I'm working on in my photography class. I'm using the Brenizer Method where you combine multiple images in the same plane to create a really beautiful composite image. It was developed by Ryan Brenizer, a wedding photographer in NYC who I've mentioned before, and is someone I very much admire. Anywho, so Chris and I meandered about the campus for a bit for my project, and decided to keep going (well I decided anyway) and get some portraits of him. What with him unbelievably handsome an all. Here's a couple of my favorites! Thanks baddy!

PS!!!!! I literally don't know how this wasn't the first thing I wrote, but my business cards came in today (AHHHHHH ITS LIKE CHRISTMAS) and I'll have a preview of them  up pretty soon!

This next one is my absolute favorite...

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I'm So Super Busy

As you may or may not have noticed (assuming you have read any of my previous posts, not judging if you haven't....yes i am) I have changed the style of my blog. While the flowers were pretty, they don't represent my style at all. I like a very clean, editorial look. Flowers don't really scream editorial, they sort of scream cliche patterns that new photographers like to use...that and grandma.  I'm pretty proud of myself for designing my "logo". It's not much, but I really like it. I also ordered new business cards in the same font and color as my logo from Moo.com. I can't wait to get them!

Which brings me to my next point. I'll be handing those fabulous new business cards (photos of the cards to come) at MY FIRST OFFICIAL WEDDING!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhh. It's in just two weeks, but I'm not really nervous, just really excited to get started in this business. The way I see it, it's just combining photojournalism, which I've done for about a year now, with portraiture. I'm very comfortable in both arenas and really need to start building my portfolio. Actually, April is going to be straight B-A-N-A-N-A-S (a la Gwen Stefani). I'm lined up for three portrait sessions and two weddings. Did I mention I'm a graduating senior? Yikes.

All the business is why I decided to pick up a spankin' new D7000. The color rendering is OUTSTANDING (slightly yellowed and desaturated through Blogger) on this thing. And I won't even get into the ISO performance. Ok I will, it's un-freakin-real. Here's a shot from the GU women's lacross game the other night. This is unedited.

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to NYC. I'm currently taking a class called "New York Stories", and we basically took a glorified field trip to Chinatown and got to run around for a couple hours. Technically there was a tour where I "learned things", but the running around is really the important part. I brought the D7000 with me and had some fun clicking away. Here's a couple shots!

Look how little it is!!!!

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F'real, it's Friday

So this week has been an interesting one. I've somehow convinced myself that I don't actually have any work to do, which apparently in my mind excludes a midterm due on Thursday, a paper due on Friday, and a trip to NY on Saturday (will explain this one after the trip). Nevertheless, I decided that today, Tuesday, is actually Friday. Why did I decide this? I honestly don't know. Maybe it was the nice weather, maybe I just really like FRIDAY, FRIDAY, GETTING DOWN ON FRIDAY!

It being a Friday, I also had boundless energy today. So I decided to call up one of my girlfriends from high school and play some field hockey. Listen good here people, I haven't touched a damn field hockey stick in literally four years. I don't know if any of you are familiar with field hockey, but it is by far the most torturous sport on the planet. I felt like a grandma trying to move around on the field, and after only 30 minutes of play, my back is already sore...and yes, I'm aware of how pitiful I am. But again people, it's FRIDAY today. So after what can only be considered very serious exercise, I called up Laura to go get some F'real milkshakes. What are F'real milkshakes you ask? Well unbeknownst to me prior to this lovely Friday evening, F'real milkshakes are straight HEAVEN in a cup. Oh the sweet vanilla goodness of a F'real. However, the F'real is a double edge sword. It can bring you to an ice cream utpoia with each delicious sugary gulp, but slams you down at the sound of that echoing, I can't believe it's all gone now last slurp. WOE IS ME! After my F'real had left me, Laura knew I needed a pick-me-up, and knew just the movie...The Sixth Sense. It really helped Laura, thank you so much. SPOILER ALERT: Bruce Willis still has hair!

Mmk well that's it for this Tuesday/Friday/I don't even know I'm still high on F'real. Catch ya lata!

-P

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Vigil For Japan

Since this semester started, photojournalism has taken a serious back seat to non-stop school work, portraiture and wedding gigs. I actually haven't shot a single event since last December and honestly I was starting to feel like a crack addict in withdrawals. But the other day I finally nabbed an assignment to shoot the on-campus Interfaith Vigil for Japan Disaster. It was a heartbreaking and powerful event with a gathering of students, professors, and other Georgetown associates in Healy circle. There was a Shinto prayer, and a Buddhist chant that had people tearing up. It was really beautiful to see how much the members of Georgetown University truly cared for the people of Japan. J-Net is the Japanese Club on campus and they alone raised $2,000 for Japanese aid and relief. Georgetown Cupcake raised over $7,000 in ONE DAY for Japan relief. Anyways, in getting back into to photojournalism this event was intense and really reminded me why I love it so much. The absolute raw emotion that leaps off the faces of the members of the crowd is beyond moving. I'm off to meet with some potential clients (wish me luck!), but here's a couple shots from that day.

UPDATE: ran into Joe Liberman outside my house! lol


 

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Georgetown Portrait Session with Lakia

I met up with Lakia yesterday for an ammmmazing portrait session on campus and around G-Town. Lakia is getting ready to open her own salon and needed some shots for all her marketing. She was such a trooper walking around with me in her heels. I knew of a few places I wanted to stop for some shots, but have the fun of shooting on location for me, is stumbling upon a fantastic scene. We eventually meandered down an alley and smaked into this amazing blue, worn down garage door. I swear I could have stayed and shot there allllll day. Thanks for putting up with me Lakia!

From a photogs standpoint, I feel like every time I go out to meet a client, I get better and better at the process. In the past six months I've totally immersed myself in the photographic community, and thanks to Flickr, I've been exposed to some of the best photographers in the world, all of whom have a heavy influence on what I do. Artists like Jasmine Star(freaking love her), Ryan Brenizer, and Stacy Reeves were all introduced to me through an amazing Flickr group called Starting A Wedding Photography Business. Even if you're not interested in wedding photography, there is a myriad of forums in this group that explain, well, anything and everything having to do with photography. Anywho, hopefully I'll continue to grow and share with you my work as I progress in this crazy game.

                              Fierce...

 

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FIRST ever blog post!!!!! Yay!!!

Erright gang, it's about time I get on the blog train. Any self respecting photographer has one, and I have been behind the times until right now. This is not just some silly little thing to help bring in clients or to entertain the masses upon masses of fans I have. No, the Blog will hopefully help project my style and personality to everyone who reads it, especially those may be interested in working with me. I'll not only be posting about all the shoots I go on, but also any major (or not so major) things that happen in my life. For instance, I may blog about the really awesome time I said "Hi" to Vice President Biden, or I might tell you all about the equally awesome time I found two dollars on the ground. Either way, I know the anticipation is killing you all. That being said, I'll my first photo-blog post here very soon as I just finished a portrait session today!!!

-P