thirteen

Very overdue. Sorry about that, crazy how fast time goes by and before you realize it, winter is over and you didn’t take any pictures just for fun! So I drove out to the coast, and took a short hike to Cape Disappointment. Which, to be honest, lives up to its name. While boasting a beautiful light house, there isn’t anywhere on land to take a good photo. Also, no bathrooms, what's up with that? After a 3 hour drive, 25 minutes of trying to find where the stupid park actually started and a 3/4 mile hike to the actual lighthouse, there wasn’t a bathroom. I did manage to find the only military door left unlocked and open it, only to find some coast guard dude who probably thought I was a terrorist trying to sabotage any U.S. ships trying to reach the coast safely…probably. I mumbled something like, “sorry, gonna pee my pants. thought this was a toilet,” before running away as fast as I could. It was a fun change though. I needed time alone. And despite the disappointment of the perspective of the lighthouse, it was cute. I also feel bad about not posting for so long, so instead of one photo, here are a bunch! HOORAY for spring miracles!!

(and toilets)

I also had a fun time with the whole Vibrant vs. Vintage decision. I couldn’t decide which suited our Northwest foliage and weather better. So I did both! Here are some of my favorite!

I forgot to mention, there was a really cool lookout point on a tower. You had to climb up a ladder to get onto it, which I was about to climb when the wind started up. I really didn’t want to fly into the ocean. Anyway, so you had to go downhill on this little dirt path to get to the tower. I figured it could hurt to go down and see a closer view of the ocean, even if I was too chicken to climb the ladder. WRONG. It did hurt. A lot. The hill was way steeper than I thought, and not really dirt so much and mud. So after probably three steps, I fell. I really didn’t want to smash my camera, so instead of catching myself, I hugged my camera to my chest. I basically butt dropped Super Mario Bros. Style down the hill, and then got stuck and the bottom. I seriously had to claw my way up the hill with one hand (the other was holding all of my gear). So by the time I got to the top of the hill I was filthy dirty and had to pee. Of course there was an old couple with their dog at the top. They had probably just talked to the coast guard dude about the terrorist who was hiking around somewhere, because they looked ready to set their dog on me.  Always an adventure with Whitney! Here was my favorite photo from that day, which I believe I am going to get sent to me on wrapped canvas!

Let’s hope the next post isn’t so far away! Because if it takes me 5 months for every post I am going to be 57 when I get to One Hundred. (oh jeez)

Twelve

For some reason I've been obsessed with trains, train tracks, and anything to do with railways. So when I did some senior pictures at the abandoned train station, I took a chance to take some fun experimental pictures!

Eleven

I am a DIY type girl. I love being crafty, and making things, anything! So when I went online to look up backdrops for my studio, just a plain black one, the lowest price I found was $50! So I decided to make one myself! I went to Joann with two %50 coupons, and bought some fabric. I bought 16 yards of 144 inch white muslin and 8 yards of 49 inch sweet black fabric that was on clearance. So with this ridiculous amount of fabric I plan to make a two-ply white muslin 10x10 foot backdrop and on the back side 10x10 black backdrop. Double sided DIY, score! I took a couple pictures with the white, unsewn, unironed backdrop, I was just too eager! I am looking forward to using my new backdrops :)

Aren’t these brothers just the cutest kids? Love them.

Mommy and brother giving Bradley kisses!

Ten

Wow. Up in the double digits now :) I fall in love with different eras every once in a while…or everyday, whatever. One day I think to myself, I should’ve been born in the 80’s because I have ridiculous hair and bad taste in men. Then the next day I think I could have lived in the 40’s and been swell, they had cute clothes and cute hairstyles and all the girls said “Keen” and “Peachy” and boys called you “Doll,” I would’ve been in heaven! Then I think the 60’s would be awesome, with the great protests, and the epic music. The 50’s had fun big bands and swing dances, and those black and white shoes were to die for!

Well recently I have fallen in love with the 70’s. It was not as extreme as the 80’s, the music was still rolling fairly strong from the 60’s. Well since I’ve been on this 70’s kick, I started looking at pictures that were taken in that era. Like all photographers, I love to see what people thought was important, stylish, artsy and special for the people of that generation. I’ve noticed a couple of things.

1. Everything was washed out! There is almost no contrast, and everything is a little on the bright side. (which isn’t a bad thing, as you will see)

2. The film that was used, for the most part, let some of the colors fade more prominently than other, resulting in yellowish, reddish or greenish tints.

3. People were super relaxed. No stiff couture, high fashion, Tyra Banks style photos. Just fluid motion, and loose postures.

Here was my go at a recreation of my new favorite era :)

Nine

I set up my studio to do some senior yearbook pictures, and of course we played around a little! We used the main light without a fill light to put a little drama into the girls’ photo, and I thought it would be fun to make it look a little vintage (I’ve been into that a lot lately!), I think it turned out pretty darn sassy. I’ll have to try this with some dress up outfits :)

Eight

I take pictures of EVERYTHING! (well, almost ;) ) I take pictures of mundane things, and sometimes exciting things, and of course of people. When I take pictures of boring things, I try to spice the picture up a little and turn something ordinary into something special. So we have a ghetto bike on the side of our house, just laying there. There is some garbage around it; buckets, weeds, rocks, tools, etc. I snapped a photo of it today, and it was not great. There were so many distractions, and the color was not very saturated. So I messed with it in PS. I think it turned out sort of sweet. Kind of ‘Ye Olde Tyme’ style! It took away a lot of the distractions, and the color doesn’t matter anymore! Gotta’ love PS!

 

Six

I was looking at some examples for senior pictures, and found a really fun website that made your pictures into Polaroid's for you (yes, I can do this in Photoshop, but I am too lazy to do it!!) So I took a picture, posterized it, and then “Rolliped” (my new favorite term) and now I have a sweet, rather funky looking Polaroid!