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.

More Leaf Art

Probably my last chance to get some leaf art pictures this fall, especially now that it's winter.

Hunger Games

I just rented the Hunger Games last night. (I know I'm late to the party.) I loved the makeup and costumes, so today I tried to imitate it in the studio with stuff I already owned. Yes, I already had all that stuff. It's why people love to come and play in the studio.

Here's my take on Effie Trinket.

I did the hair and makeup myself so it's less than perfect. I think I stuck eyeliner in my eye several times. And getting the false lashes to stay on was a trick. The white makeup was really blue tinted, but that's fine when you have Photoshop. It took me 1.5 hours to do the makeup and another 1.5 hours to get the shot. Usually, I can shoot a set in 20 minutes, but there is a lot of walking back and forth to see what the images look like.

UPDATE: I edited the shot a bit more. I don't usually play with liquify, but I thought the lips could benefit from a little more heart shape. And while I was there I removed the shadow on the left because it made it look like uneven blush. And well, the uneven mascara was all my fault so I edited that as well. I also lightened the neck a bit. It seems that you can play with images forever.

And since I was there, I thought I would do a mugshot in that getup. 

My Sister's Pets

Another great thing about the Fuji x100s is that you can get right in a pet's face and they are not afraid. And it's quiet, so they don't jump or run away.

My sister has three pets.

Louie

Porsche

And Ginger

US Capitol Christmas Light Trails

I'm so happy that my brain is going to explode. I was able to get light trails (my new favorite thing) at the US Capitol with the Christmas tree lit up in 70 degree weather. Plus, all the other photographers (and there were hundreds) were lined up at the reflecting pool. Since I wanted the light trails, I was almost all alone on this road. It was fantastic.

I thought I would hate a warm Christmas. I definitely do not.

Looking for Christmas

I went on a Christmas walk tonight. Nothing like warm weather to get you outside more!

Old Town has lots of trees in windows and you can get right next to them since the houses are right next to the sidewalks.

Here are a few:

And here's a lady walking by the shops:

And St. Mary's Door:

And my new favorite thing, blurry christmas lights. The first one is the tree outside my office window and the second one is a little christmas tree decorated in led lights.

Merry Christmas.

Red Stripe

This week's contest was called red stripe.

While this picture isn't ground breaking, it is clearly within the subject range.

Why I Love My Canon 5D Mark II

I've written a lot about the Fuji x100s and while I really like the camera, this image shows why I will never give up my DSLR.

This is taken with the Canon 5D Mark II with the 100mm macro lens plus an extension tube. I love the super close macro. I just love taking them and it's something the x100s just can't give me.

I must say that every time I pick up my Canon it feels like a lead weight. But it does take some pretty pictures.

Alexandria Parade of Lights

I totally took the wrong camera for this event. It's a night time parade of boats decorated for Christmas. It's a very cool show that, for some reason, I've never heard of. And my DSLR would have been a better bet for this event, but I didn't feel like hauling it down there. So I went with my trusty Fuji x100s. They would have been hard shots with the DSLR as well. Way too dark, and too much movement on the boat.

Eileen invited a bunch of people to watch the show on her boat at the Alexandria docks. Great place to see the parade. It was 35 degrees outside and after an hour, I lost the feeling in my toes. I'm not made for cold weather.

Anyway, all my pictures are horrible, but I did manage to get one of Eileen's boat after the parade.

The lights at the top right are a plane flying by. We are right on the flight path to National.

Mormon Temple DC with Light Trails

Since I love light trails, I wanted to find places that were a bit different. Scott recommended shooting the Mormon Temple. It's easily visible from 495 and there's an overpass very close to it.

Well, I found out that the overpass doesn't have a full sidewalk on the side facing the temple. It's about 12 inches wide and cars use that overpass regularly. Surprisingly there are no holes in the fence. None. I often find cut holes in the fences on overpasses, especially the ones that don't have space for camera lenses to fit in. So for this picture, I had my camera on the tripod and had to lean the tripod against the fence and fit the lens in the hole. Not ideal at all. Every car passing by shakes the fence. Every large truck passing on the highway shakes the fence. And I shake the leaning tripod because it's cold. The cold weather added the nice pink stripe in the sky, so I can only complain so much.

I don't think I have one totally in focus image. But this is the one that was the closest.

Retro Style

I don't shoot in the studio near as much as I would like. Part of me doesn't enjoy it any more (the part that has to deal with pushy people and no-shows), but part of me loves it. That's the part that gets to play with lights and props and the part that creates something beautiful.

Outside My Window

Here are the two things I see outside of my window all the time.

This is from the window at work.

Rosslyn

I was able to get to Rosslyn at 5pm for some light trails.

And then while I was walking back to the car, I tried some black and white shots. This walkway is by the metro, it's huge and I love that about it. I might try it during the day. In this shot, I love that you can see the shadow but not the person.

While I'm not a fan of the blurry shot, I kinda liked this one.

And here's why I was off early - my dentist is making the crown for this implant. I'll have a new tooth to replace that old baby tooth in two weeks. (We started back in July.)