Monday, November 25, 2013

"Those People"


Today is the day I become one of "those people".

First off, I have a confession to make.  I'm sort of a jerk inside my head.  I default to the negative and worst-case scenarios.  This makes me a kind of solemn and often judgmental person.  I'm working on it, and slowly with God's help I will get better.  But I can be pretty mean with my thoughts - and sometimes they come out of my mouth.  Even before I knew what side of a camera was up, I would look at photographers' Facebook pages and turn to my husband and say, "Why do they have a FB page?  They don't even know what they're doing.  You can't just get a page on FB and be like, 'I'm legit now'.  What is that?".  (Because I knew soooooooooo much - that is sarcasm in case you missed that).

And OF COURSE I would never be one of "those people".  I would never put up a Facebook page before I was ready.  I would not be a wanna-be.  I would be the real deal.  Ha..ha.. hehe.. hum.. hmmmm...

Well, my husband and I decided that we would launch a joint business page on Facebook in the New Year.  He is starting his own film company, and I would be coming along side him with a bit of photography.  However, he's been getting a lot more projects and work than we first anticipated and it started to make more sense to launch it sooner.  So, today is the day.  Today is the day that we put up our page and I say to the world, "Hey world, I have a FB page, so I'm somewhat legit now and up for hire!".  I know I'm not there yet.  I know I have so much more to learn and do.  My images are still sometimes soft, and skin tones are the ever-constant battle.  I doubt myself and die a little bit inside every time I step up and start bossing people around - until I remember that I'm good at being bossy and find my stride, ha!  (Thankfully, hubby is totally "legit" and has over a decade of movie-making experience under his belt).

I know some people will probably look at my work and think, "What is she doing?".  But I suppose I probably deserve that ;).  So without further ado, here's my little corner of the world going public today:

https://www.facebook.com/ParaphraseProductions

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Just For Fun

I've been doing a lot of posts lately that are largely photo-based, so here's a little text-based one to even things out :)


10 Random Facts About Me - Just Because:

1.  Even though I own an iPhone, with a Contacts List, I still manually dial in 90% of phone numbers by heart.  It's faster than opening the Contacts List.  I secretly like push-button phones because I can "hear" how fast I'm dialling.

2.  Whenever I am getting food or drinks for Nick and myself, I will eat/drink the difference if one plate or cup has more than the other when Nick is not looking.  This way it is "even" when I put it on the table.  Similarly, if I steal food off one plate, I will steal an equal amount off the other.  You know, just to keep things fair ;)

3.  My intense introverted nature may or may not make me one of those people that hold the elevator "close door" button to prevent others from joining me in the tight space.  I will only do this if they are not obviously already running to catch it.  I'm not a complete jerk.  I just don't want them to get any ideas about thinking they might join me.

4.  I appreciate a good bowl of cereal as much as I do a good bowl of ice cream.  The two foods hold an equal place in my heart, and my brain associate them together because they are both milk dishes in a bowl.  In fact, if you offered me a bowl of ice cream or a bowl of sugar cereal for desert, I will almost always choose the cereal.

5.  Okay, this one is a bit embarrassing.  I am BEYOND OCD when setting my alarm for the morning.  I will set both my alarm clock and my phone alarm 5 minutes apart, and will check each of them at least 3-4 times each before finally going to sleep.  I even made up this little song about it that I sing and now Nick sings too.  It's complete ridiculousness.

6.  I'm not good at sight reading music.  When my piano students ask me to play a piece for them, I always tell them to "work through it once first, and then I'll play it for you", and then while I walk them through it, I am intensely memorizing as I go.

7.  I really enjoy board games, but I avoid them because they STRESS ME OUT.  No matter how many times I tell myself to relax and that it's just a game, I have this overwhelming need to WIN.  So much so that I avoid playing because I want to avoid the inner stress.  I sabotage my own enjoyment and can't help it!

8.  If I lick my fingers while cooking or baking, I decide whether I should wash my hands again or not based on how hot the food is being cooked at.  For example, cookies?  Do you REALLY think a few germs would survive 350 degrees?  I don't think so.  I have Googled this, so you can relax if I ever give you baking ;)

9.  I don't really like socks.  Probably because I wear Nick's worn-out, stretched-out, way-too-big-for-me socks.  I only own about four pair of my own, so they go quick when you're a month between loads of laundry (there's a free random fact for you on how often laundry gets done in our house).  I wish I owned more socks.  But I can't bring myself to buy something like that when Nick has a bazillion pairs and they get the job done.

10.  My least favourite feature about myself is my hair, and namely my bangs.  My hair is neither curly nor straight.  It is just "poofy".  I want it to be one or the other.  Preferably straight.  And my bangs are unruly.  I often bring bobby pins or a straightener to work with me just to fix whatever they have turned into by the time I get off the bus.  Oh, and my hair also started going grey when I was 27.  Basically, it hates me.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Before & After Edits in LightRoom 5

I just finished a pretty intensive 5-week editing workshop that I cannot recommend highly enough.  If you're familiar with all the basics of LightRoom and are looking to take your editing skills to the next level with a fantastic teacher, Caroline Jensen at Love Stands Still Photography, this is the course for you.  You can check it out HERE, and it runs again in March 2014.

Here is a sample of what I've been working on for the last month or so:

BEFORE (straight-out-of-camera, with skin tone corrections only):
AFTER:



BEFORE (straight-out-of-camera with crop):
AFTER:



BEFORE (straight-out-of-camera):
AFTER:
and for fun:



BEFORE (straight-out-of-camera):
AFTER:



BEFORE (straight-out-of-camera):
AFTER:



BEFORE: (colour edit)
AFTER:



BEFORE: (straight-out-of-camera but flipped)
AFTER:

Thanks for looking!

Friday, November 15, 2013

West Coast Froese Family Photo Shoot 2013

It occurred to me last month after doing a photo shoot for a friend of mine that Nick and I have hardly ANY photos of the two of us.  We have a few here and there taken with a tripod and timer for various photography projects, but our wedding was really the last time we had a decent amount of photos.

I remember being a little girl and eating up any photos I could find of my parents.  I would pour over the pages and say, "How old were you here?"  "How old were you now?"  "What are you wearing!?" Unfortunately, these photos were rare and far between.  This got me thinking.  I want to create memories that my kids can look back on.  Memories that Nick and I can share in our old age and reminisce about "how young we were".

That would require two things, though.

1.  We would actually need to HAVE photos of us; and
2.  We would need to actually PRINT something rather than burying it in layers of hard drive data.

We debated back and forth because it felt so weird to hire and pay someone for something that we could do ourselves... kinda.  But the thought of hours of endless fiddling with the tripod was daunting.  And it also made us question what we valued.  We pitch photo shoots, saying the memories are priceless.  Our clients believe us, but do we believe it ourselves?  We do!  So I contacted my friend across the border at Jennifer Bogle Photography and asked if I could hire her to do a shoot for us.  She is fabulous, and I highly recommend her.  (And trust me, I'm super picky).  

Here is a small sample of the results (which are already put together into a photo book, waiting for me to print as soon as the next sale comes up!):












Thank you for these memories, Jennifer!