photography workshop

Today I took a class with an amazing professional photographer, Tara Clark. She offers a workshop out of her home a couple times a year, and I have been wanting to attend for over a year now! As one of my Christmas presents my mom and dad signed me up -- What a great gift! She taught how to get great pictures by using the right settings and the right lighting. And she also offered some great techniques for editing pictures in Photoshop after shoot. I just love her style of photography. She has a great blog: taraclarkphotography.blogspot.com. Check it out!

This class has me very excited about taking pictures again. Not that I ever lost interest, but it kind of refreshed me in a way and reminded me that it is not that hard and it is so fun! I have been asked to photograph a doggie birthday party in a couple weeks... (Hey, every photographer has to start somewhere, right?!) So it was fitting that we used Tara's dog as a model for a few shots this afternoon. Great practice for my upcoming gig...

good bye 2009, hello 2010

2009 was a hard year. I can honestly say that. I was so lucky to be able to travel to Europe time with my family and spend one of the warmest summers Seattle has seen in a long time playing outside, but there were some tough lessons learned along the way. I lost my grandma, I lost my job. I miss my grandma every day. But I was so fortunate able to spend Christmas with my grandpa and tell him just how important he is to me. I have never felt more rejected than the day I found out I no longer had a place to call 'work'. But I spent my summer soul searching, and I found an amazing job that challenges me and motivates me. Sometimes, somehow the toughest things in life make us stronger and as I get older I am definitely learning this. I am looking forward to all that 2010 has to offer. I think things are beginning to fall together...