Instagram Suggested User

I had a little surprise last Friday. Instagram put me on their suggested users list. I'm on a list of 300 users that Instagram recommends to new users as they sign up.

Over 8000 people have started following me in 5 days. It's overwhelming. Flattering, sure. But mostly overwhelming. It changes the way you interact with Instagram.

Back in the day (last week), I knew every person who liked one of my photos. I either followed them or looked at their profile. Now, I can barely keep up with the likes. I had to turn off the notifications because they were coming in every minute. And now it's a little bit of a chore to respond to everybody who comments on my photos and I really don't get that many comments. But I do want to respond to everybody who takes the time to comment. It seems like the polite thing to do.

I don't know why I was put on the list. I'm guessing it had to do with being featured on the Weekend Hashtag Project two weeks ago. It got my portfolio noticed by somebody at HQ. And since it was a picture of water bottles in the Potomac, somebody there may think I have a social conscience (which I hear is admirable). But I would think my other random pictures of bananas and cats would tell them otherwise.

I don't know how they would know this, but I generally follow all the rules of any of the contests that I enter. I only enter new photos that are my own. I always go and look and comment on other entries. I haven't any bad reviews and I haven't been mean. I upload regularly because I just love it. And I enter almost every weekend hashtag project because I think they are fun to do.

For a day, I felt compelled to take better pictures. I even went into DC to get something more fun than my usual cats and bananas. I was debating on going to see the Cherry Blossoms in bloom this weekend, but now I will definitely go since people all over the world follow me and it might be a treat for them to see the DC blossoms. I know it was a treat for me to see the blossoms in Japan on other people's feeds.

I'm sure this Instagram fame is fleeting, but I'm going to see where it leads me. Maybe I needed a photography related push and this was the universe's way of giving me one.

Here are my latest photos on Instagram:

My Niece in Kiawah

I went on vacation in Kiawah and my niece volunteered for a photo shoot. We stuffed two dresses in the luggage before we left. Luckily I have a bunch of dresses from the studio. We decided to try the beach and the marsh to take some pictures.

The beach gave me condensation problems. Hot and humid outside, cold and air conditioned inside. That's always a nightmare for camera equipment. I totally forgot that it happens down south.

Here's the sunset shots on the beach (not much of a sunset — too many clouds). It was so windy which was nice. We started with six balloons and ended with four. Two of them just blew right off the string.

Here's a sample of how bad the condensation is.

The next morning we shot in the marsh. No humidity issues on this morning. I only processed one shot because I love it so much that all others from that day pale in comparison.

It's one of those pictures that you love the minute you take it. I knew I had it. It's interesting to note that we are on the main road to Kiawah in this shot. If cars went by, you would see them in the picture, so we had to time her head flip to the sound of cars coming. I also was eaten alive as I was standing down in the swampy marsh. Those bites lasted for weeks. WORTH IT!

Inspiration

I found this image on the web (on a wallpaper site) and I wanted to see if I could take a picture similar to it.

I've lit umbrellas before, so I know it's possible. The trick in this shot is not so much the light in the umbrella, but lighting the outside of the umbrella.

Here's the raw file. We took the shot in a garage. One speed light in the umbrella and one strobe to light the umbrella. I know that in post it's always easier to darken images than lighten, so I wanted to get the lighter spots right.

In hindsight, I would have moved away from the wall, but that was the grungiest floor in the garage. I wanted some stains and discoloration and the rest of the garage looked brand new. I am very happy with the separation of the umbrella from the background without having too much light on the floor.

Here's the photo after I added rain in Photoshop and recolored it to look a little more like the original. There's a lot more hot spots in the original. I'm not sure if I want this image to have hot spots that strong. But who knows, I might play with it some more.

I like it a lot. What I enjoy most in photography these days is challenges and this was a bit of a challenge.

National Arboretum

I'm planning to shoot there in a couple weeks, so I went to check it out. What a beautiful day at the park.

I always walk to the columns when I am there. I find them fascinating. There's not much going on in the spring at the columns. I think I like them better in fall when they are surrounded by fields of tall grass.

And this time, I went to the Asian gardens. Nice and quiet up there. I sat a listened to the geese fly by.

And I love to walk through the Bonsai museum.

It's hard to believe that much beautiful open land is in the city.

Reithoffer Carnival Light Trails

It's been a while since I've taken light trail images, but how could I pass it up when the carnival is in town.

The LED lights really change the way light trails appear in images. It's quite interesting.

Here's the ferris wheel:

And here's another ride (I forgot to get the name of it):

It started to rain as I was leaving so I shot this through the car window:

2014 Photo Shoots

I've had a couple shoots this year and I have a couple more lined up. If things go at this pace, I will definitely have more photo shoots this year than last year.

Here's Tausha:

Here's Eva:

Here's Elyse:

Self Portrait, etc.

I had a shoot this weekend that turned out well. After the model left, I played around with some self portraits. Since I had to get to the studio by 8am, I was not looking good. No makeup, hair up. But for some reason, I still attempted the self portrait. I found some glasses on the makeup table and a mannequin hand and took this portrait. As I age, I appreciate the blown out highlights (it makes for less post processing of my wrinkles).

This one I call "Waiting for Chinese Food." The title really says it all.