New Blog!!

Just wanted to let everyone know I made the switch to WordPress and this will be my last post on this blog.


Come on over and take a look - http://totalcitygirl.com/blog/

Thanks!

{I Heart Faces} Anything But A Face

This week's photo challenge over on I Heart Faces is ironically - Anything But A FACE!!

This photo was from a recent photo shoot I did with my nephew. It was towards the end and I think he just wanted to get some cuddling time in with his mom. I'll show you the rest of the photos in a future post.

The guest judge this week is Michelle Moore. She's so cool! I just started reading her blog. I love how she really carved out a niche for herself with the seniors market. I don't think that's all too popular over here on the east coast but Senior Portraits (as in graduating high school) seems to be big in other parts of the country.

Love all these business savvy women!!

How's your week been so far?

{I Heart Faces} Fix It Friday #88

It's Friday again! This week went surprisingly fast considering my girls were off from school all week! They were definitely kept busy with sledding, playdates, seeing the Justin Bieber movie and going to The Met. On my end, I pretty much got nothing done and I'm exhausted to boot.

I did want to at least sneak in a Fix It Friday. I recently bought a Photoshop action set from Florabella so I thought I'd play around with that a bit.

Here goes...

Original shot - not mine (SOOC)

First edit - cropped, brightened the eyes, ran the Jane action and tweaked

Second edit - ran the B&W Film action on top of the Jane action and tweaked.

You can check out more edits over at the I Heart Faces site



So far the weekend is NP (no plans), but I'm sure I'll be waking up to many requests!!

Monday's almost here, right?!?

Finding Photographic Style

Last month I attended a workshop at B&H in the city called Finding Your Photographic Style. It was a great course given by David Brommer - the guy who runs the event space (yes - he's also a professional photographer!) We learned about different things to notice in your work - genre, attitude, technique to name a few.

I started analyzing my photos and definitely saw a pattern. I get most enjoyment from photographing children, I like a tight crop, lean towards black & white or muted colors, and in most of the photos, (or at least the ones I like best) the kids are NOT smiling.

During the course he mentioned your style may have evolved from your upbringing. Hmmm, no smiles. What did that mean? I didn't have a bad childhood and I don't hate my own kids, so why do I like moody photos? I'm definitely going to have to put more thought into this one!

As part of the workshop, we were invited back this month for a photo critique. I was so excited and so nervous at the same time! We were asked to e-mail 5 photos that we thought fit our style. I waited until the last day to e-mail them. Not because I'm such a last minute person (at least not in this case) but because that meant I was going to be judged. This was my first photo critique from someone I wasn't friends with or related to. A REAL photographer!!! I knew I had to do it though. It's part of the whole "putting myself out there" this year.

So, I dug through my photos, chose 5, wrote an e-mail and attached the pics and clicked SEND. There! It was done!! I survived - the first part at least.

These are the photos I submitted..

Yesterday was the actual live critique. 17 brave souls showed up to have our work analyzed. David went through each of our photos - had them up on a projector for the whole room to see and voice their opinions on. Since I submitted mine so late, I think I was number 15 or so.

As he went through everyone's photos, it just gave me more time to be nervous.! I was actually sweating, and that room is FRRREEZING!!!

How are my photos going to look so large?

Did I choose the right ones?

Will they secretly think I had a messed up childhood?

Am I just a mom with a camera?

At least I was focussed and not thinking about what I was going to cook for dinner!

It was my turn and I'm happy to say it was great! I got some really good feedback and even if I didn't, I was making it so much worse than it could have ever been. I even got an e-mail today from David with links of photographers he thought I should look at for inspiration. Talk about going the extra mile!!

I feel so fortunate that I discovered the amazing events at B&H. I really feel in the past 2 years since Ive been going to the workshops, I've learned so much and have grown as a photographer. And my wallet didn't even have to suffer in the process. They're all FREE workshops!!

I'm already signed up for a few events for March. Can't wait!

If you live in NY, have you been to any of the B&H events? Which ones are your favorites?

{Curl Talk} - Carve, Slice & Rake

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember the hack job I had on my hair last year. Well, because of that episode, I hadn't had my hair cut in a year!! It's taken me that long to grow it out and get over the trauma.

About a month ago, a friend of mine forwarded me something she read on Craigslist. Ouidad was looking for Hair Models in February. For those of you not familiar with Ouidad, it's a high end salon here in NY specializing in CURLY hair. I've always wanted to try it but since it's high end, high end prices go with it!

Ouidad is not only a salon, but they have also expanded into training hair stylists from other salons on the Ouidad method. Such business savvy - love it!! So, the reason why they are looking for "hair models" is for the trainees to get some hands on experience with what they're being taught. Great for us curly haired girls! We get a free haircut!

My sister got in on it also so we went down to the city together this weekend to have our hair day. Before we left I had to get my "before" shot (taken by my 7 yr old).

As you can see, I am in desperate need of a haircut, not to mention a wash. It had been 4 days which in curly world is pretty normal. Don't be too grossed out - I did continue to shower every day!

When we got there the first thing we had to do was sign a model release. Being a photographer, I found it amusing to be on the OTHER side of a release!

My stylist's name was Lauren from Massachusetts. First we chatted about what she wanted to do with my hair. We were on the same page so that was good.

Keep the length but decrease the volume! I also felt comfortable because they had trainers watching over them to make sure they were doing everything correctly. Even down to what type of shampoo and conditioner to use! It was pretty amazing how they ran such a tight ship. They are really serious about curls!!

When I was in the chair I kept hearing words like Carve, Slice and Rake. Not normally what you want to hear when you're sitting so vulnerably on the other end of scissors about to get your hair cut!! The carving and slicing had to do with the cut and the raking has to do with the styling.

I was getting a bit nervous during the "carving & slicing" phase. The sound of the scissor going through my hair left me breathless a few times. The scissor makes like a "z-z-z-z-z-z-z" sound for some reason and I was hoping she wasn't slicing off too much!

So, after the wash, condition, cut, and deep condition, it was time to be raked! They use their fingers like a rake to style the hair and keep the curls in curl formation and minimize the frizz.

Four hours later (and lots of product), this was my "after" picture taken by my sis.

I really won't be able to tell if I like it until after I wash and style it myself. This time though, there won't be any "raking", but instead I'll be "roping" - my own styling method. Will have to show you how that goes on the next Curl Talk along with an "after after" picture!

For you curly girls out there, what's your favorite styling method?

Have you ever been to Ouidad or any other salon specializing in curly hair? What has your experience been?

{I Heart Faces} Fix It Friday #87

How has your week been? Sorry I didn't have much time to blog this week. This was a bit of a crazy week - will fill you in on it next week. Next week my girls are off from school so I've got to start coming up with some fun activities for them. Eeeeek!!

In the meantime, here is this week's version of Fix It Friday.

The original shot - not mine:

My first edit I cropped and adjusted levels and sharpness

For the second edit which I like better, I did the same as the first edit and ran a Florabella action called B&W Blush. I then tweaked it by adjusting levels, color balance and sharpness.

Check out some others on IHeartFaces.com.




Do you have anything fun planned for the weekend?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Such a busy day today but I wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!!

Do you have anything special planned for today or tonight?

I made red cake balls with my girls yesterday. They started out as cake POPS but ended up as BALLS. She wanted something fun to bring to her class today. I took a quick photo so I'll post it later on.

Have lots of projects I'm working on and the girls will be home from school soon, so...gotta run!