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.