It's that time again, Christmas cards

Christmas is so close, not much time left. With no time to waste I started taking pictures of my kids for our family Christmas cards to send to family and friends. I have two teenagers and my husband still left to photograph. I have maybe six days to complete this. I think I can do it, provided Napoleon my oldest will allow me to photograph him. He has always felt that if you take his picture you take his soul. When he was very young he heard this on a show or from someone. He belived it to be true. This comes with the terriotory of having Autism, he takes everything literally. I have very few shots of him and the ones I do have are of him hiding or trying to make a run for it. I will try to beg him this year, crossing my fingers.

For the moment please enjoy what I do have. I really like how they turned out. I was up around five one morning to study the manual for my Canon EOS 50D. Still learning... since reading the manual I started shooting in manual. I also use a 580EXII Speedlite. I think I am getting bettter. I was going to run the images through photoshop but I quickly changed my mind and edited in Lightroom. I also learned that I really enjoyed Lightroom. Note to self pick up a book online for Lightroom. Anyone have any suggestions?

Illustrations for book trailer....

I have been so busy with the kids and my picture book that I have had no time, but tonight I found a moment and here it is, Aggie Villanueva's Book Trailer for Rightfully Mine. Aggie commissioned me to created several illustrations for her book trailer.
What a pleasure it was to work with Aggie on her project. I enjoyed every moment and was sad when it was over.
What I enjoy most about Aggie's writing is how poetically she writes. Aggie makes you feel that you are there in the setting watching the events unfold. My biblical background is not deep, but I learned a great deal from Aggie's work. There is a strong message in the text. I'll let the reader find it. I thoroughly enjoyed Aggie's book and reccomment it. All I need now is her autograph. For more information please visit Aggie's site http://www.aggiev.org/rightfullymine/ Check out the trailer below.

Autumn Knocking….Banging at my Door………

Is it just me or is time flying by really fast? It seems in a blink of an eye a week goes by. I can hardly believe that fall is already here, confirmed by the colors all around: reds, oranges and yellows blazing brightly against the moody sky. Breathtaking! I think in a couple of weeks it will be perfect for photographing landscapes. (Don’t forget your tripod so you can take several shots to stitch a pan.) Portraits will also look amazing in a bed of red and orange maple leaves, soft golden light highlighting your subject. For some fun shots grab a step ladder for a higher perspective of little ones playing in a bed of beautiful colors. (Try not to center your subject to make for a dramatic portrait.)
To kick in the fall, my family and I went to a local pumpkin patch that had much potential for wonderful backgrounds to take portraits, like golden cornstalks and red blueberry bushes that look like fire. The only downside was that this particular weekend there were a lot of people and trucks everywhere; there was a big pumpkin contest happening, and I mean big! You should have seen the sight: pumpkins of various sizes and every shade of orange. And the shapes! There was one pumpkin in a shape of a huge bean bag. The kids got to sit in it and I got to take pics. There was also a corn maze that is taller than 6 feet—I was feeling a little claustrophobic—and it seemed to go on forever. The maze is endless. We had to take the emergency to get out; maybe next year we’ll make it to the end. The kids had a blast, and I had fun taking shots. The weather was perfect—not too windy not too bright. The sky was covered in rolling clouds with hints of the sun trying to shine through them: perfect natural lighting.

I took a few photos of my little trolls, knowing I would have to run the images through Photoshop to remove trucks, barns and temporary tattoos. The last part I don’t like so much; it was tedious and boring. Check out my before and after; can you spot the difference?

I really wanted to create drama and not over-process the images. I think I achieved the look I was after. I’m really happy with the results, and the kids are happy as well.
Eventually, I would like to solely use flashes (just bought one, a Canon 580 EX II) to create dramatic lighting and just use Photoshop for tweaking.

Now some may be wondering about the Alien Bee ring flash I purchased way back. The ring flash offered great lighting with cool effects. I really loved the lighting. The only thing about this ring flash was that it wasn’t practical for me. The bulk frustrated me, and I had to be practical, so I traded it in for the Speedlite. Recently, I did come across the Oribis ringflash. Looking into it.

lastest buzz....

Because the summer was full of activity, I had no time to venture out and photograph interesting locations, landscapes or vintage cars. It’s been a long time, I have a building in mind that I want to photograph in town and it’s kind of historic. I have it all planned out in my head. HDR, of course, and as much detail as possible with some drama. Now I am waiting for an evening, twilight, when I can go out and actually get the shot. Hopefully, luck will be with me that night and the cloud cover will be perfect and there will be some golden color in the sky tucked behind the clouds.

As for my book,
My children’s book is complete. It was fun, exhausting, tedious, and brain busting, but worth all the hard work. I think the last edit is really good. Hopefully it’s my final edit. The characters are much more developed and the story flows a lot nicer. I was fortunate to get some direction from an editor and publisher.
My family has been so patient with me; constantly listening to me read my edits. Sometimes the only one willing to listen (and not have to force) was my five-year-old Ireland. She wants the book published as badly as I. By November of 2009, a decision will be made when the book will be published. That’s all I can say for now, I don’t want to jinx myself. Is that coy enough for you?
2010 Lilliput Calendar is now available at my Redbubble site.

Meanwhile, since I have not taken any pictures, if I should happen to find 10 minutes here or there I pick up my sketch book and then upload the sketch to illustrator. I have been working on a series of robot images for posters. What can I say--I really am a robot junkie.

The illustrations are very colourful and full of detail. At first I was going for something simple, not a lot of detail, loads of color. As you can see from the end-result the illustrations took a life of their own. They started off innocent but the mischievous side came out and wreaked havoc. The robots went wild. It helped having a seven-year old behind my shoulder telling me to blow up things. It took me several weeks to work on it—so little time (I seriously need a vacation) and figuring out how things work in Illustrator. I have a copy of Adobe Illustrator CS4 Classroom in a Book next to me as I work. The lessons are straightforward and full of visuals to follow. I have yet to mess up a lesson. Best resource book I have come across for Illustrator.
Hope you enjoy my illustration--many more to come in the months to follow.
September line up,
I was commissioned to create illustrations for a book trailer. The book is Rightfully Mine, the talented author is Aggie Villanueva. Once the trailer is online I will blog about Rightfully Mine and write a review. In the mean time you can read up on Aggie Villanueva, dubbed by artistic peers Grandma Moses of the American Southwest http://www.aggiev.org/rightfullymine/ .

There’s more,
I am also working on my second picture book as well as a comical short story for a children’s magazine geared for 6-8 year olds. You can find preview images for my second picture book at my RedBubble site

For my love of photography, from time to time I take on freelance photography jobs. I just recently finished a hair model photo shoot for Jamie-lynn (hairdresser) at Enviro Trends, incredibly creative work of art. Looks like a flower and the model is the vase.

Want to see more of my work go to paolajofre.com , Redbubble site

If you would like to purchase my artwork please follow the links to my Redbubble site and Zazzle store.

If you would like to contact me for commission illustrations please contact me for information at paolaajofre@gmail.com.

Bringing you up to speed......

Fall is banging on my door. Already!
Slow as a turtle I am adding to my blog and in the next couple of weeks updating my website with new images. The summer went by so fast and it was busy. New doors have opened up and I am so thankful to those who have recommended me. Thank you to all for your patience.

To bring you up to speed, since my last blog my daughter Ireland had her tea party, and it was a huge success. All the children in attendance had a blast, especially Ireland. What made it so memorable for me was her reaction after the party – as the guests were leaving, she came and hugged me and said “Thank you Mommy.” The girl brought tears to my eyes. She loved her party and appreciated all the hard work that went into it.
Her older sister’s friends came over that morning to help set up. I had been decorating for a week or so, and still had lots to do. We made over 100 giant tissue-paper pom-poms of different colors and hung them from the ceiling at kid level. The place looked amazing and colourful. Anyone over four feet couldn’t walk in there without hunching over--no matter, the place looked awesome. The food was a hit; they ate up all that we served to them and more. The teapot-shaped birthday cake disappeared very quickly. As the children left we gave them a food favour (alongside their loot bags). I had ordered cookies online, and these were not just any cookies. These cookies were divine, colourful, artistic and so delicious. I swear they were that good and worth every penny. Please check out their website, http://decadentcookie.com/I meant to take pictures of the cookies, but they did not last long for a photo shoot.

The children really enjoyed dressing up in the cute outfits I had bought. Even the two little boys did not mind putting on top hats and gloves. After all the planning, I was honestly a bit sad when it was over. I love the adrenalin of planning a party. The next party is for my seven year old boy. He wants a Video game party--should be interesting. He really loved the decorations and fuss of Ireland’s party and decided this year he would also like a theme party. I have two and half months. Get ready, get set, go!

Photoshop workshop...

I have been thinking for a while now to get a group of no bigger than 6 to do an online class so to speak without any fees of course. I can provide the images (always open to sharing though) if it is easier. We would all come up with a concept and then vote on it. At the end of our project we can post our work as a group on our own sites. I have never done this before but would love to try it out and see what we come up with. This is not a challenge , but there is a prize, knowledge and friendship (a good thing )

If you would like to join me please let me know by June 4, 2009 so we can get started. Space is limited as we will only start with 6.

email me at paolaajofre@gmail.com

All tutorials will be as word docs. However,I am playing around with video and hopefully will have that running before we get started.