NaBloPoMo

The month of November has been chosen for the auspicious designation of National Blog Posting Month. Last year my friend Kim challenged me to post every day with her for the month. This year I am traveling so I am not sure what my internet connection will be along the way. So I am doing my own version of NaBloPoMo. My plan is to write a blog every day and post them when I have internet access.

I feel pretty good about the fact that I posted at least once a week the entire summer. But it does get a bit more challenging to blog everyday. Hope you enjoy the month of posts.

Senior Photo Shoot

Yep, I really do like taking senior photos. I know that they can be cliché and over done. But I like teenagers and taking pictures of them. Monday I took Natalie's senior photos and we had so much fun. She was so sweet and beautiful. Her buddy came along and stepped in as my assistant. She was a huge help. The very strong Kansas wind, however, was no help. It did help for this 'fan hair' shot, but mostly it was working against us.

I can't wait to see what Natalie thinks of her images.

A Project

I started a new project this weekend. To read about it and see some new images, go to my photography blog. carrielambingphotographic.blogspot.com

Babies

This week was full and fun. Thursday Missy and I had a fun opportunity to take pictures of Matt and Mel's 2 1/2 month old twins. They were so sweet. Here are a few favorites.

Hanging with the Kiddos

I started snapping pictures of the kids this week. I knew it was time to get my camera out and have fun with it. The kids like to have their picture taken and then look at it so they will pose... well, for a brief pause in movement... just long enough for a shot and then they must see results.






Halloween added a lot of fun with the kids. One evening we carved pumpkins... well, Misty and Peter carved the pumpkins and the kids watched. But they picked out the design and proudly claimed their own. They were all about dressing up in their costumes and going to dad's work for trick or treating in cubical world.

We went to the park for lunch one day. Sadie came with us and also paused briefly for this shot. The kids and the dog love the park. One more beautiful fall day to enjoy.

Working

This weekend my photography friend, Missy and I were able to take pictures of three families.

Last year I took pictures of little Elliott once a month for my good friends, Janelle and Tyson. Yesterday they were my first paying customers for a family session. Then we took pictures of Missy's friends, the Howells. And today we tackled Misty and Peter's family. Tackle was the key word here. We had fun, but the second picture was how things ended. There is definitely a 'magic 20 minute' window of opportunity with kids.

Back in Boise

Yesterday I had a relatively uneventful drive from Missoula to Boise. I wondered how it would go when I dumped coffee on my lap as I was pulling onto the highway in Missoula. But despite the coffee smell, I drove through rain, snow and sunshine with very little traffic or delay. I was at Misty and Peter's by 6 and had dinner with the family. It was almost surreal to be back to 'normal' life where everything was much the same, except that the twins can communicate in complete sentences. The first thing out of Joe's mouth when I stooped down to hug him was "Why is there a bicycle on your car, Aunt Carrie?" But we are having fun!

Tomorrow I get to have coffee with Missy, a friend from photography school. Then lunch with my friends at Young Life. Talk about worlds colliding.

It is finished...

The end finally came. We tried to drag out heals and make it slow down, but time wouldn't stop. A classmate's Facebook today asked a question that my fellow students wish we could do... can we stop and rewind the summer and start over?

The bittersweetness of endings... final projects, presentations, portfolio reviews, being with friends because we know that this moment will never happen again. It makes it special that way, but a little sad. Our graduation was fun, but goodbyes started immediately afterward. Last night every student that was still in town hung out until late. There were waves of goodbye hugs and best wishes all around.

When I stop and think about all that I have learned in the last 4 1/2 months, it is impressive. I am looking forward to using and sharing all of that knowledge. And learning more, of course.

One of my favorite things about this summer is the amazing people that I got to spend time with... incredibly talented and diverse group of people that became a photography family. It will be fun to keep up with them and see how they grow. And they live all over the world so I will always have a place to stay when I hit the road on another adventure.

Tomorrow I host one last get together for a few students that haven't left town yet. Monday I have some errands to do and pack. Then Tuesday morning I will pack up all my stuff and take my gypsie-self back to Boise. Misty tells me that her kids are anxiously awaiting my arrival... and I am pretty excited to be in my auntie role again. Then most of November I will be in Kansas. So if you are in the Kansas area, I would love to see you! You may just be hearing from me in the next week or so.

Thanks for following my journey this summer. It has been quite a ride. I wonder where the next turn in the road will take me...

Montana Friends and Family

I was able to take pictures of my Montana friends and family this weekend.

This is the Jones family. They were quick to adopt me and take me on a lot of my adventures this summer. I know that my summer wouldn't have been nearly as fun if it hadn't been for their generosity.

Cora (on the right)was my roomie for the summer. Lucas (center) took me with him on some Glacier Ntn'l Park adventures this summer. Alli, on the left and Pat and Greg took me boating, and to a great cabin and fed me more than once.

And this is Lee and Marnie (originally from SD so they feel like they could be long lost family), good friends of the Jones clan. They also fed me and played cards with us this summer. This weekend they let me come out to their house and take portraits of them.

Thanks for making this summer so much fun!

Advanced Intensive Week 5

One week to go. Next week will mostly be presenting final projects and then graduation on Friday. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the final projects, which is a very nice feeling. It is really hard to believe that this journey is coming to an end. In many ways it is bitter sweet. I am sad to be leaving my friends and this photographic bubble that I have been living in. But I am also excited to get out and do everything that we have been learning.

Other notes:
Dad had back surgery on Thursday to remove a tumor in his back. He is doing really well. You can read Mom's update on their blog.

I was excited to see this version of the Blog List (to the right) on the Bacon Bits blog this week and couldn't wait to update mine so that I could have the date of the last post. Now I didn't have to go to the blog to see that they hadn't posted anything new.

I was required to start a photography blog for my business and marketing class final. This one is supposed to be focused on relevant photography information. Here is my new blog carrielambingphotographic.blogspot.com

I have a logo! A classmate from this summer, from Finland, is a designer and worked with me over the last few weeks via the internet to create this logo.
I included this photo because a couple of you have been asking to see some photoshop-ing. This is the way the image was printed for my final... after photoshop-ing. Last week's version was straight out of camera. It may be a bit subtle for you to see online. But when retouching photos the goal is that people won't know that you did anything to it.

Advanced Intensive Week 4

Week 4... really?! That means I only have two weeks left in Montana. Wow, where did that summer go? This week was about large format printers, digital compositing and more work on the portfolio.

Tonight I went out with my friends Missy and Joe to take "engagement photos". The irony is that they have been dating since 8th grade and married for 9 years. But we still had a ton of fun. One of the best things about this friendship is that they live in Boise! So Missy and I are already making plans to do some portrait shooting together this winter.

Advanced Intensive Week 3

I don't even think I can remember all that I learned last week. But it was more computer editing, web site design, and marketing... I think.

Then on Saturday I went with Hannah, in white, and Andrea to Butte for an overnight adventure. We stopped in Deer Lodge at the old Montana State Prison and took lots of amazing photos. Then stayed in Butte at the Hotel Finlin. It is a very unique hotel with old style furnishing. We had a blast photographing Butte at night and a little the next morning. We had to stop back at the prison on the way home for a few more shots.

I found the trip very therapeutic as I was just shooting for me with no pressure. Here are a few shots that I really like.

The Spears

Last Sunday I had the awesome chance to go take pictures of some friends. Two of my classmates joined me to photograph Mark and Abby's family. I worked on some of these during the week and wanted to share them with you because so many of you actually know these fun people. They were so generous and let us take over their home for several hours, fed us dinner and let us play with their kids. Mark even left his football game to let us do some family pictures... now that is sacrifice.

RMSP Fun

Today the new Rocky Mountain School of Photography web site was updated. And a little work I did back the beginning of August paid off. I am one of the student focuses this year! You can check it out here.

The new catalog should be out next week, so we will see if I made it into that as well. It is kind of fun to see myself in the material because I have read everything on both the web site and catalog in the last two years.

Advanced Intensive Week 2

Wow, I have a lot of work to do in the next 4 weeks. But a lot of my thoughts are of what is going to happen after October 17th. Putting together business plans, pricing, scheduling, logo, and much much more. If you are interested in having any type of photography work done(i.e. portraits, product, commercial, architecture, web images, etc), please let me know. I am also able to do photo retouching and restoration. I need to start building my business to pay for this adventurous summer and would love to start off busy. Ok, that was my plug for business... on to images.

I did manage to shoot a little this week. Here are a couple I like.

Advanced Intensive Week 1

I have begun the final weeks of my time here in Missoula. Advanced Intensive focuses a lot on editing photos in Adobe CS3 and building a portfolio. I have spent a lot of time with my computer in the last week and there is more to come. I am hoping to make some time to take more photographs in the midst of all the editing.

A fun surprise this weekend was a visit from my great uncle and aunt. They were here visiting some of their family and found out I was here. I had a lot of fun visiting with them over coffee on Sunday morning. Thanks for contacting me, Larry and Virginia!

Adventure Photography

This past week was focused on Adventure Photography. Our instructor, Heath Korvola, taught us about doing action shots, working with editorial (magazine assignments) and commercial (product and people assignments), working in stock, and how to get great shots. It was a fun week, but I am tired. The intense schedule of the summer is really starting to wear on me and the 7am shoots this week didn't help.

Here are some of my picks for this week.

Tomorrow I start Advanced Intensive. My last 6 week course here. This session will be focused a lot on computer editing and building a portfolio. I will let you know how it goes.

Trash the Dress

For those who don't know. A new trend in wedding photography is to have a trash the dress session. During this photo shoot after the wedding, the bride is photographed in an edgy style and her dress can get dirty. Here are some of my shots from our Wedding class.

This shot is just a small taste of the photography frenzy that was happening.

National Politics in my Living Room?!

Hey, look at this... it's my mom!

Sarah Palin

As a proud Alaskan it has been fun to have Sarah Palin in the news over the last week. I don't know her personally, but have seen her around Wasilla quite a bit and think she did a great job for Alaska as governor.

I really liked this article about her and the character of Alaska.