Sunset Reunion

Oh how I've missed the Peetz sunsets! Sunset is my favorite time of day and since I've been at school I've been missing it! My second day back home for Christmas break we had this lovely sunset! My mom and I were sitting in the living room and could see the colors on the wall and I ran to the window and instantly ran to my room and grabbed my camera. If I had been there about two minutes earlier it would have been perfect but it was still amazing!

Here it is!

The sticky adventure

For my last project in my graphic design class we were supposed to make a packaging design for some kind of produce. I juggled a few different ideas around but finally settled on dried fruit. I wanted to design something that is wedding photographer friendly. So I figured dried fruit is something that you can keep in your bag for a few weeks without ending up with green fuzzy camera equipment. I also wanted my package to be easy to open with one hand and quiet so if you're at a wedding and haven't eaten all day, you can grab a quick snack to keep you going without being the center of attention.

I got the idea of using a rosary holder or eye glass case lid as the top. Something that you can just squeeze the ends and open it up. I didn't have much luck finding either of these items so I just put a strip of magnets across the top for a quiet and easy opening! The plastic is a pillow box styled container that I made using plastic, transparency type paper.

I had a little bit of an adhesive problem when it came to attaching everything together. I started off by going to Target and found some Krazy glue. I got home, put glue on the plastic, held it together for 30 seconds and let go to find that the glue didn't stick at all. My next idea was a hot glue gun, I wanted to see if it would melt the plastic or not, but it was clear, which was exactly what I needed. I had a hot glue gun back home and my mom was going to be in town so I asked her to bring it up for me. When she got to town we went to my photo show at school and then went out to eat. About an hour after she left I was sitting in my room and realized she'd left without giving me my glue gun. Needless to say I had to think of a second plan. I ran to Michael's and found the glue section and asked the lady working there if Tacky glue would dry clear. I had used it many years ago but didn't remember if it dried clear or not. The lady swore up and down that it dried clear so I bought the bottle and headed home for another gluing adventure. I put a strip of glue on my plastic, noticing that it was white and not clear, and decided to leave it for a few hours, hoping that it would dry clear. When I returned I still had a white strip of glue on my plastic. So I headed to Wal-mart for hopefully my last adhesive purchase. I stood in the aisle reading the backs of every bottle of glue in the aisle hoping to see it say "This glue will dry clear, with work on all plastics, and help you get a solid A+ on your project!" Of course none of them said that, but I decided to get a bottle of super glue and headed home yet again to glue my project.

And guess what! It worked! Oh boy did it work! It stuck to everything, the plastic, the paper under my project, the stick of wood I was using to flatten it out, and of course my fingers! Despite the fact that I had glue everywhere, I was SOO happy to finally find a glue that worked!!

Here is my final project, Tavalo, meaning table in Italian, was the brand name that our class picked to use for all our products. And Tavalo's latest release is Sunbaked raisins, cherries, and apricots!

The day after I finished my roommate came into my room and asked me if I had any glue she could use to glue her picture frame back together. I opened my drawer and asked her, "Well what kind of glue are you looking for?" =)

Photo session with Scott and Monica

My roommate Monica had asked my boyfriend, Scott, and I if we would be willing to do pictures of her to send to her boyfriend for Christmas since he is in Germany. Since I was spending Thanksgiving weekend in Denver for the wedding with my sister we figured it would be a perfect chance for all of us to meet up since Scott and Monica both live in the Denver area. We started out in the Highlands Ranch and ended up on the DU campus.

It was a blast spending the day with Scott and Monica as we traveled through the city trying to find places to stop and take pictures. Monica couldn't be a better model for us as Scott and I asked her to sit in a drain, sit in a field, jump across streams and hold still so we could use the bottom of a metal chair as a reflector!

Here are a few photos from our day! Enjoy!

Shooting with Miss Darcy

Now that finals are over and I'm on my Christmas break I figured it would be the perfect time to catch up on my blog again!!

The Saturday of Thanksgiving break I helped my big sister photograph a wedding of one of her friends from college. We wanted to try some new lighting techniques for the wedding so we decided to practice at my aunts house during thanksgiving using our family as models. After reading the manuals on both of our cameras and flashes and blinding our entire family with continuous flashing we finally got it figured out! Even though we had struggles with the lighting, I was loving every minute of camera talk with my sister!

I shot my very first wedding with my sister in November of 2006 and we both shot our brothers wedding in 2007 but since she lives in California and I live in Colorado we haven't had a chance to shoot one together in a few years. It was so great to shoot again with the one person who started me into photography. I had a blast at the wedding with Darcy as we taught each other tips and tricks of what has worked for us over the years.

Mary Beth and Donald had a beautiful fall wedding on the Regis University campus. They were very laid back and easy going and were willing to do whatever pictures we wanted. Here are a few picture from the day!!

To view more pictures from the day visit Darcy's website

MissDarcyPhotography

The eyes project

For my final photo project, we are supposed to exhibit four photos that are related, of the same subject, same theme, same topic, whatever it may be. I spent hours trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my project. I thought of doing eyes in the beginning and tried thinking of more ideas but I kept coming back to it. My boyfriend had suggested the idea of eyes as well and I decided to stick to my guts and go with it. I wanted to go for the idea that eyes tell a story. They show a lot about a person without even knowing them. But even more than that, eyes tell age. I decided to use different age groups of people for my project to show the resemblance of eyes and age.

While working on this project I loved it so much I've decided to start an eye project. I was so amazed at the colors, shapes, and designs in peoples eyes! I only photographed five people and I want to turn that into 500! My short term goal is 100 eyes but I want to continue shooting beyond that!

Here are the photos I will be entering in the photo show at my school as well as the start to my 'Eyes project' Enjoy!

This last photo is a little different from the others but I can't get over Garrett's gaze in this photo! Also The colors in his eyes are awesome!

Justin's senior pictures!

A few months back I did senior pictures with Brooklyn and during her session we also did some of her and her boyfriend Jacob. A month or so later I got an e-mail from Jacob's mom who loved the pictures and also wanted some senior pictures of Justin. Since I'm at school now it's been hard for me to meet up with clients. After a while of e-mail tag we finally decided to do pictures the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

I woke up in the morning to find out that it was 12 degrees outside with a freezing wind! I knew my session with Justin would be cold and miserable but if we made it quick we could get through it!

Justin only wanted pictures in a few outfits, (one being his uniform) so we tried out a few locations and I took as many pictures as possible in the shortest amount of time to get us out of the cold as quick as I could. I was wearing my winter coat and gloves and after about 30 minutes I was so cold I couldn't feel myself pushing the shutter button anymore!

Despite the cold I had a great session with Justin! Thanks Justin for taking on the cold for some great photos!

Ejnjoy!

This is probably my favorite picture from our session and I got it just by chance! Justin was talking to his brother as we were walking from one spot to another and he had his flag over his shoulder and I had to take a picture and I ended up loving it!

Fall pictures with Rachael

First of all, I'd just like to celebrate the fact that I'm actually blogging the same night that I took these photos! I don't even remember the last time I did that! It usually takes a few days, if not a few months to blog about my pictures!

Second of all, I decided that if I got a dollar for every picture I ever took of Rachael, I could be a very rich person! I've been doing pictures of Rachael for about five or six months and I'd have to say she's come a long way! Our first photo session it took her about 15-20 minutes to get warmed up to the camera but after a while she got used to it. Now I feel as though she's almost more comfortable with it than I am, and that's saying something!

Rachael had asked me to do fall pictures of her in the leaves about a month ago and between our class schedules, the weather, and the time change we just haven't had the chance to get them done. I was sitting at home today debating on what I wanted to do; work on my graphic design project or start making note cards for my economics test. So I decided to call Rachael and see if she wanted to do fall pictures at her house.

It was a lot colder outside than I had expected so we decided to do fall/bundled up photos in the leaves. Here are a few photos from our session! Enjoy!

After a while outside (and me not having any feelings in my hands) we decided to do some photos inside to stay warm! We went for a glamor style session by just using what lighting we had available in her room. These are probably some of my FAVORITE shots of her from today and may even be my favorites of all time!

And I just made a new watermark! What better way to start it off than with a great model!?