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!?

A weekend at home

Last weekend I planned a trip back home where my only mission for the weekend was to 1) not work and 2) spend time with my family and I accomplished both of those! It seems like every time I go back home for the weekend I'm busy with friends and photo shoots and this that and the other. So last weekend was my time to relax and enjoy my family! It was opening weekend of pheasant season so a family friend was down for the weekend and we spent each night eating, staying warm, catching up, and of course playing with the kids!

When I took this picture I knew that my nephew was just shooting a foam nerf arrow at me but I have to admit, I was still pretty scared. When you give a five year old a bow and arrow, you never know what you're gonna get! Especially when the bow is too big for him!

Joe had to have our family friend, Ron, help him hold the bow while be pulled it back so he could shoot it.

You'd think with a family of two photographers they'd be used to the paparazzi but that is not true at all. Luckily with my new equipment I was able to sit across the room without them having a clue that I was getting a picture of them =)

My Dad

My brother Mark

Graphic design- Bill of rights

A month or so our graphic design teacher gave us an assignment to create a poster that had to display one of the bill of rights graphically. I decided to do freedom of speech. I originally thought of the idea of using facebook as a form of communication, or perhaps overusing facebook as communication. I will admit that I am a facebook lover and I am on it 24/7 but the truth is I would rather have a face to face conversation, or even a phone call, with someone than facebooking but I love that Facebook can connect me with friends and family all over the country at the same time.

What my project was about is using media, mostly texting, as a main form of communication. I think a huge problem with our generation is that it's too easy to avoid verbal communication with someone. We can completely avoid the verbal communication by sending an e-mail, facebook message, or text message.

What really gave me the idea for this was when I saw two people sitting less than a foot away from each other and choosing to text each other instead of actually talking to each other.

With this poster design I want show that we shouldn't abuse our freedom of speech, literally, and instead of spending 20 minutes texting someone, just call them!

I'd like to thank my friend and great RA Dan for doing the modeling for this photo and also my roommate Monica for her great hand modeling!

Photo manipulation

For my latest project in my photography class I was required to take two photos, one that was manipulated using photoshop and another one where I altered a scene by either taking an object out of a scene or adding one to it.

Here is my digitally manipulated image.

I have to admit that this image turned out to be a lot more trouble than I expected it to be but after a lot of work in photoshop I was able to get this as my final image!

Can you see the change? =)

The image that I actually altered the scene was probably my favorite of the two and the one I had the most fun with. I asked my siblings if they had any furniture that they didn't mind if it got wet, damaged, or dirty so I could take it out in a pasture. It was just my luck that we had this old chair in the basement that had been collecting dust for the last several years! I sweet talked my brother into helping me take it down to the pasture. So we loaded it in the back of his pick-up and headed on our adventure.

I tried several locations for my photo and this one was my first and by far my favorite. This location is one of my all time favorite places to go when I'm back home. There is nobody around to bother me and the only sounds are the sounds of nature and the swooshing of the blades on the nearby wind turbines.

I decided to recline the chair to give it a sense of relaxation. If I simply put a chair out there with the back straight up it would show a chair in a field, with the foot rest up I hoped it would give the viewer the same feeling I have when I'm here- relaxed and carefree.

I know the chair is an ugly old chair but I feel with this picture it is perfect! I got lucky that the day I went out to take this picture it had been snowing off and on throughout the morning and it was cloudy and the skies were a dark blue. It was perfect!

I love the contrast of the green chair against the white snow and the deep blue skies. Also I love the idea of the old wind mill in comparison to the new wind turbines. And even the old green chair and the fresh snow. It shows the new and old, beauty and beast in perfect harmony.

Veterans day at the University of Northern Colorado

Last week I had to photograph a flag display in front of our University center for the school newspaper. There were hundreds of little flags waving in the first snow of the year.

I've always considered myself lucky for having people who are willing to put their lives on the line for my happiness but seeing all these flags representing only a FRACTION of the people who have fought for me really made me proud to be an American!

The child in me

Last weekend when I was home I was getting ready to leave as my dad was helping me with some car troubles and I saw the truck that my cousin had asked for a picture of and after I took that picture I got a little carried away.

As I was taking pictures of this truck I started to remember all the days as a kid that I would play in the back of this truck. I'd play in it all day long and sit in the back watching the sun set until my mom would call me in for dinner.

Ten minutes of photographing this truck brought back years of long lost childhood memories I've been missing and longing to find. I was home.

Long family photos

I met up with Michelle and the kids last weekend when I was home and I was so surprised at how big they've gotten since our last photo session over a year ago.

We decided to started out at the neighbors house doing some shots around the farm and then went to the park to get some shots of kids being kids!

Here are a few shots from our session! Enjoy!

To view all the photos from our session go online to my website at www.imagesbyelizabeth.com