Remember When?

So I just got home after a rather l  o  n  g day.
But it was amazing!

So the other day I went on a field trip with my art class to this magical land called George Ranch. I was SUPER excited when I found out what this place was all about! I had my camera and my SD cards, my flash and all my accessories I might need... I was set!

...Except when I went to take my first picture and my camera died...
Aren't I a genius? :)

Anyways, I went back again today so I could get pictures for the class.... I'm so glad my camera died! The first time was great, but this time was great too in different ways! My mom and I walked around on our own, so we weren't under a time constraint or anything... the only thing was that this swarm of photographers came along too... not that I mind other photographers... but some of them were so bleh. The guy actually said that many photographers come along and just take pictures and don't even talk... I find that sad. :( The place is so interesting! How could you not want to talk to people?!

So let me give you a rundown on what this place actually is:

The ranch is a working 23,000 acre ranch, it's MASSIVE. Inside this ranch, are four time periods: 1830's, 1860's, 1930's, and 19...something's. The people who work there dress/act/and live in the time period while they are on the ranch. The first guy I met in the first time period said it perfectly:

"From 7 A.M. to 6 P.M. weekdays and Saturday I live and work in the 1830's. The rest of the time, I'm a husband and a dad to three wonderful kids." 

Now that you have a basic idea... time for photos! 8D

The main issue I ran into while taking photos was that I couldn't really see my screen while reviewing photos (the sun was really bright), so quite a few of them came out just a tad more exposed than I would like. Not overexposed, but what ever. :)

We skipped the 1860's accidentally :( But here is the 1830's :)

1830's

This is actually one of my favoutite pictures... I mean it's nothing special... but something about the hanging fabric and messed up bed just... ahh I don't know. Just enjoy the stupid thing x]
This was their bed in the 1860's!

I really really love how the wide angle distorted the... the... the thinggy that covers the window. I think it adds some character to the photo :) 

ahhh I can NOT decide which one I like better! I quite like them both! I think the second one is a bit creepier though... Hm...

Just a picture I took of some wicker :P I know it's simple but I really like it! This isn't actually the better one, this one has a glare. But I'm far too lazy to upload it again, so you'll just have to deal ;)

1930's 

This house was so pretty! even though there was no AC, I could have lived there. I don't use mine anyways xP

My favourite part about this time period and house is the lace curtains! They made for some of my favourite photos! Like the second window picture. I saw the piece of curtain flying and I thought it looked so pretty...

More flying lace...

This is by far one of my favourites. I think it's such an interesting picture... I love how it's framed with the lace. What this is is a window that was partial open, the lace was flying out like in the last picture but this is an inside view. :)  The roof is a cover over the walkway that connected the kitchen/dining room area to the main house. :)

This is inside the children's room. Don't ask me why I like it, I just do! :)
Did you know that the saying "sleep tight" actually came from this time period? You can't see it here, but the beds are held up by ropes, rather than boards. Every night before they went to bed they had to make sure the ropes were pulled tight, or else they may end up on the floor! :P So every night, people made sure to say "Sleep tight" :).

I wanted to take that top hat home with me!!!!

Again, I like the distortion. :) I know it's very subtle, but it's enough. Also, ignore my knee ;)

Now, on a side note...

A foal was just born at my stables!!!! :D!!!

Her name is Fiera (isn't it a pretty name?), and her mom is HUGE!! Her mom is stunning as well, and is owned by Sandra, the owner of the stables. :)

Kisses from Sandra <3

Big mama!

And this is the horse that I lease, Katy She's the best! 

...To put Charisma's (the mom) size in perspective, here is a picture of Sandra next to her:

Fashion Wars and Fashion Stuffs!

Okay, so the thing has a name... but I forgot what it was o.O
Anyways;


Fashion shows are awesome!!!!!!! :O
This was my first fashion experience, and it was great! I got some great shots, which would have been better without the complications. But oh well, that's why I need to get pro, so I don't have to deal with the annoyances of being unknown! ;)


One day...


Anyhoo...
The reason I went to this whole fashion thing was because my sister was doing this thing called Fashion Wars with some other people. There were three groups of fashion designers from the Houston Art Institute (I think that's what it's called o.O). They all had a WEEK to design an outfit inspired by some charity. My sister's was somethingoranother heart something. Something for hearts :)


Here's their design:

Front View 

Back View

So as you can see, they made and ADORABLE mini dress! :) 

I wish I had gotten better pictures, but it caught me off guard when she came out! I was expecting the dresses to like walk in together or something... I don't know, but I wasn't ready! :( I think when I got shows the dress well enough though. :)

Here are the other two designs:


Group 2 (Inspired by some Earth charity thing called Bark)

Group 3 (Inspired by... a children's art charity... or something like that... I should have paid more attention :/) Also the winning dress

Now, aside from Fashion Wars, the actual thing that puts this on (which is called Fashion Now, as I smartly looked at the background in some of my photos to figure out ;) ) had fashion shows for various stores. Let me tell you, I just wanted to buy everything!

Favourite picture, dress, and model of the night!

Honestly, I'm not really a fashion follower, I just don't bother paying attention. I wish I would though.. I will admit to watching shows like Project Runway and America's Next Top model. But I don't watch ANTM for the modeling :P


As I'm watching ANTM I'll try and pick out what the photographers are doing and why. I actually pause the show just so I can examine the photo set up. It's hard since the show is just focusing on drama. :/


They should make a show for photographers like ANTM or project runway! >:( Liiiike... Project Top Photographer or something >.<


Sorry for the topic detour :3


Anyways, these are my favourite pictures of the night :3

hmmm...

My favourite collection was a close tie between some store that carried mostly formal clothes, and with the swimwear shop. Oh my goodness their clothes were so cute!!! I want those shorts soooo bad! 

I really like the contrast in this photo

for some reason... there's just something

about it that I love:)

Charming Charlies Accessories 

More swim wear :) 

Now for the worst part of the night! The challenges!

Trust me, there were plenty of challenges to go around...

Let's start with the most annoying, and most common one (that I got):

You're kind of in my shot. 

 Being the small, insignificant 16 year old that I am, I have to settle with the not-so-front row. With this, comes the front row people deciding that they are going to do anything in their power to make sure you don't get a clear shot. (I'm kidding, of course :3.) The worse point was when the two guys in front of me decided to lean in as closetoeachother as possible... I tried to swerve to avoid it, but I only got a crooked picture with part of the guys camera in the picture -------->
You give it time! Eventually I'll be the one in the front row all like "MWAHAHAHAHA MY TURN NOW >DDD"


...Maybe.
:3

You look like you need a hand... here's a hand.

 I actually didn't notice this while I was taking the photos, but when I went to review them, I found this creeper hand in like 30 of my photos! Drove me mad because It ruined some of my favourites :(

All lit up

Some of the photographers brought along their flashes, which sometimes would leak into my photos! :O

All in all, it was a wonderful experience! I loved seeing all the fashion, and I learned a lot. :) 

I tried to use some of what I have picked up on runway photography... the best shot being when their stride is at it's longest, waiting until their pose is at the point with least movement, etc... but it's harder than it looks! I wish I had a tripod with me... oh well, maybe next time. :)

Those Were the Days

I'm slightly infuriated because I just wrote a whole post (and it was quite lengthy), and I accidentally clicked the "x" button... T.T

M o v i n g  o n . . .

Some family friends came over today, bringing along two children. The two of them playing made me itch to bring out my camera.

...Wow, junkie much?

Anyways, as soon as I brought it out, the inevitable happened: They wanted to play with my camera...
At first I was pretty much like "OHMYGOD OHMYGOD BE. CAREFUL. CAREFULLLL!!!" In my head, of course. After a few minutes, though, I calmed down a bit... knowing that Sydney is a sensible, smart girl. I was fine so long as I was about 5 inches away at all times :).

Some of the photos turned out really great, actually! I had to help her with the settings, but she took some really great ones. :) Here's a few of them:

My favourite ;)

Then of course I had to squeeze in my own photos! :D I took this one in specific which I really love!

This picture really reminds me of the innocence of childhood :) Even though she's almost 12, but it's young enough... :P

I love how the glare from the sun really softened the picture, to give it a more innocent feel. I know that usually glares are not wanted, but I think it really works for this! :) 

Random photo days are so fun x]]

Until next time! :O

Bi~ΟΠ~iC

So I've been out for a while! With all that was going on I just never really found the energy to take photos. :(

Until, of course, one night at an ungodly hour, I decided to take a photo!
To be completely honest it is not my favourite, I see many issues with it that I just want to reach in and tweak. I really do like the concept though, which is something that I've been thinking about since... well a long time ago. :)

I want to redo this, with someone else as the model (so I can focus on what I'm doing). I also want to play with the make up more, make it more dramatic maybe. Then I want to add more wires and such and a cooler background... maybe I'll have so many wires that they make the background too! Lord knows we have enough wires in this house...

Anyways, here's the picture :)

See I do like the picture, but there are just those few things that are nagging at me like mad! :O

Oh yes, and... I thought you should know...


MY CAMERA CAME IN OH.MY.GOD!!!!!!!!

hehehehehehe my LONG awaited Nikon D7000 has FINALLY arrived! And let me tell you, it was worth the wait! :D
Not that my other camera wasn't great or anything....
But boy am I glad to have this one now! :D

The quality is wonderful!
One of my favourite features is how many focus points there are! I know that sounds... weird. But Oh my goodness my biggest pet peeve ever when it comes to photography is when a great photo is out of focus! Even slightly! :(
Shaddin understands. :)


The song that inspired me to actually go through with this, by the way:

Honestly I'm not the biggest fan of the song, but it popped up in my Christina Aguilera playlist, and I just decided to go with it. :)

Until next time! :D