Popcorn

It may seem like I'm not spending a lot of time on photography (judging by the amount of time between blog posts), but I've actually been pretty busy!  I'm learning that a lot of the freelance photography business deals with not even picking up the camera.  Since my last post, I've proposed to take pet portraits at the Brookside Barkery (where I wash dogs - Best Job Ever!!), worked on packaging prints for the Bizarre Bazaar, helped someone learn a little more in Photoshop, brainstormed plans for a kids' stop motion animation project I'm doing in a few months, and prepped for a couple weddings coming up.  And to think that I still have so much to do without my camera - agh!!!  


But I did have a chance the other morning to work on a food shot - trying to show corn on the cob SO ANGRY that some of his kernels are popping...  I think it kind of worked!

Rolling Along

After spending days wondering if the bird feeder I made would ever attract anything, Brian notified me that Something ate all of the peanut butter.  Soon after that, as we were eating lunch on our balcony, we noticed we had a friend watching us with its beady little eyes.  And after a little bit of patience and a lot of excitement, I got photographic evidence of this tiny guy...

He may not be able to fly, but I'd say it's a good start to a wonderful relationship!

I spent the later part of that day in Lawrence, where I spent time talking business with Elenor and taking photos of Shadow - which was a lot of fun, I never knew that dog was so great.  (Ben was a big help for the shoot.)

I've also opened up a shop on Etsy - you should check it out!!  Just follow this link -

http://www.etsy.com/shop/hallygrace2?ref=ss_profile

Juggling Act

I take a lot of pride in my work.  If I hate a job, I still tend to bend over backwards to prove to my boss that I am worth my weight in gold.  But this week, I've changed.  I've decided that, as an adult, I should take responsibility for my happiness, and in order to do so I sometimes need to make sacrifices to be selfish.  I quit my job as a fan photographer, which may have been good money, but had also been turning me into a life-hating, fatigue-fighting machine.  I didn't want to touch my camera after a twelve hour day full of washing dogs and asking disgruntled fans to take their picture (hence the amount of time that has passed since my last post).  


So now, I spend my days washing dogs (best. job. EVER!) and more of my free time working on photography.  I made a bird feeder in the hopes of attracting birds to the tree growing next to our balcony, which has yet to actually work but I'm learning to be patient.

It's not the classiest thing, but if birds can find it, I'll be able to photograph them without much background distraction of a bird feeder.  I've also started taking my camera out when Brian and I go on adventures throughout the city, and was able to take a couple panoramic shots on top of the World War I monument this past weekend.

There was a storm rolling in, which made for a great cityscape.  I think I spent a little too much time taking pictures, though, because Brian and I got stuck in the storm on the bike ride home...


I spent this morning working on photographing eggs, and here is what I have so far. 

Yay for quitting jobs I don't like!!

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

Greek yogurt pancakes are not only incredibly delicious and pretty good for you, they are also really easy to make.  I've been meaning to create a photo showing the ingredients being put together to create the pancakes, along with the actual recipe on top of it.  

I also decided to make all of the ingredients look all sorts of anxious as a kind of a way to acknowledge how we don't really think about where the food we are eating comes from.  There are a lot of people who are (justifiably) horrified by the meat industry today, which has caused vegetarianism to be more popular.  And I can't stop thinking about an article my dad shared with me, about how scientists just figured out that plants can actually communicate pain (which makes me wonder - how are vegans feeling about this??).  

I've been meaning to create different photos like this for awhile, and this is my first draft...

My niece and other things in life

This past week has been pret-ty busy.  Susan, Sergei, Vika, Anya, Sofia, and Malish stayed the night in Kansas City with us, which was a lot of fun.  We took Sofia to the park close to my house in the morning.  She is a walking machine!!

I also (somewhat forcibly, I'll admit) let her play with the sunglasses I got from a flea market that make me feel like an 80's drug lord, which made for a couple of good spur-of-the-moment photos.

After a good weekend with family in Lincoln, I hit the ground running with a shift at the Royals game, followed by my first day as a dog washer at Brookside Barkery - which may be the best job I've ever had!  I actually got to spend the week getting paid to hang out with dogs.  Granted, there is a lot of shedding hair, a medium amount of whining, and a little fatigue at the end of the day, which has made me a lot less productive at home and with my photography.  I did finish putting up my dad's ties on the wall (which Brian suggested, rather than hanging them up as curtains as I usually do), and I am extremely happy about how it turned out.

Brian also seemed to be inspired by his unfinished metal mask in the studio, and built an Awesome work table in just a couple of days!  He let me help a little bit, and was kind enough to show me how to use different power tools, which I am very grateful for.  And I am excited to have such an awesome table to work on!!

The Bizarre Bazaar is getting closer and closer, and I have yet to actually spend real time making real progress.  This upcoming week will be my big start-up week for food photos, which I am a little nervous about.  But I don't think I can do much more procrastinating...  

A Quick Post Before Work

It's been a busy weekend, followed by an even crazier Monday, which leaves me rushing around trying to do a dozen different things at the same time.  My first day of work at the Royals stadium was last night, which was a lot of fun but also exhausting!  I exceeded my boss' expectations (phew!) with 521 shots of different fans willing to take a second to be photographed, but by the end of the night my mouth felt all goopy after forming the words "Can I take your picture for the Royals website?" more times than I care to count and I was so tired I was barely comprehensive while talking to my mom on the drive home.  Getting home was shortly followed by hitting the pillow, but I had a restless night of sleep with Royals and White Sox fans invading my dreams and demanding that I take their photos...


Today was a mixture of fatigue and trying to get the second bedroom in our apartment converted into a studio rather than just a storage room.  It's coming along, slowly but surely, complete with parking spots for Brian's and my bikes, an ironing station for real world outfits, a metal mask Brian never completed that is inspiration for not giving up, and Russian propaganda pushing us to work harder.

  
I was also able to find a cheap storage shelf at Goodwill the other day, which is sloppily storing a lot of art and photography supplies, including my collection of pens over the years.  I spent some time a couple days ago going through them and throwing out the ones that didn't work, noting happily that I had some pens and pencils close to a decade old and all the while thinking back to similar activities during the good old days of the overflowing Pen Drawer at home.

I still have a good amount of work to do to finish the studio, since the closet looks like this:

but I have high hopes.  And now, armed with a positive attitude, freshly-washed clothes, and a granola bar to eat after the National Anthem plays, I'm taking myself out to the ballgame.  

The Fire Hydrants of Grinnell

I recently got back from a stint at the Tiny Circus in Grinnell, Iowa, which was both an educational and wonderful experience.  While I was there, I started to notice the oddity of fire hydrants - they're EVERYWHERE!!  And although they all seem to serve the same purpose and have similar characteristics, they are all very unique in and of themselves.  Here are a few pictures I took of the hydrants in Grinnell.  I have a feeling the next step for me will be to tackle the fireplugs of Kansas City.