SmugMug Easy Customizer

While I was lying awake last night, wanting to fall asleep, I planned out some changes to my SmugMug site. My site has needed a make over for a very long time, but when I was giving a tour of it to some other local photographers last night, this hit home very hard! I had different colors on different pages, different styles and overall a fairly unattractive mess.

I decided I wanted to maintain the color scheme I have always had, to keep some similarities with the old. I knew I needed consistency from page to page.

I work at helping people use their SmugMug sites, and have a pretty darned good knowledge of how things work. However, customization still scares the crapola out of me.

Easy Customizer to the rescue. This feature was released almost a year ago, but I had not used it, other than to be familiar enough with it to help folks on their sites! Well, let me tell you, it is amazing.

Once I knew the look that I wanted, I set about creating a background for my site in PS. I had already come up with a font for the logo when I made my last watermark, and of course wanted to keep my sunflower.

The rest was easy, and I have the basics accomplished in no time at all.

There will be some organizational changes to the galleries, and to what is public and what is not. But, I am most of the way there already - check it out:

http://www.annmcraephotography.ca/

2009 - Year of the Portrait?

At the end of '08 I made a 'resolution' to learn portraiture and lighting. I bought myself a set of Elinchrome studio lights with umbrellas, and added a backdrop a few months later.

I experimented with the lights, in our basement, before taking on my first assignment to do headshots for one of my hubbies work colleagues. It took me two sessions to get shots for John, and if I look at them now I am still not happy.





I took the lights along to do baby shots for my friend, and learned much about the difficulty of getting a great newborn photo.



I was able to do photos for M three more times over the course of the year, and do have some great photos of her.



Spring took a different direction for me, back to sports photography, as I was official photographer at two major events: Alberta Highland Dance Provincial Championship and the Canadian National Badminton Championships. These two events really pushed me in a new direction: on site print sales, hiring assistant photographers, major logistical challenges and overall a fantastic learning opportunity. We were so lucky to have the dance event first as it was our trial run for the equipment and logistics for badminton. Dance was a weekend long event, whereas Badminton was 6, 14 hour days. Delivering product from these two events took much of the next three months, and was a more demanding task than I could have imagined going in. However, the experience was certainly worth it.

I did my usual sports photography this year as well, action shots, team and individual shots, created collages, all the usual stuff that I love to do.

However, I also took on two new and major assignments. I was the photographer for a friends wedding! I have resisted requests for this for many years, but felt somehow that I was finally ready. This was a fairly small and informal wedding and was a great experience as well. Of course, the bane of most wedding photographers that I have spoken with is the posed family shots, and they were certainly the shots that challenged me the most. Overall, I consider the wedding shoot a success, and if I were to be offered a second shooter opportunity I would certainly do it again.

The other major assignment was a family reunion - family photos for an extended family of 40; 7 family groups, all outdoors in weather that went from drizzle to harsh sunlight. All in a really beautiful, but tiny garden. I have very mixed feelings about the results. I got the job done, but not without some considerable frustrations along the way. This kind of assignment requires more than 2 hours to do well, and probably also requires more space, and an assistant.

Both of these events were done with all natural light, and my Elinchromes sat in their bag in the office for months. They actually did not make a reappearance until late November, when I started practicing with them again to prepare for some family photos I would do for friends Christmas cards. I do believe that I got the lighting much better controlled for these shots, and am pretty happy with the outcome there. The lights finished up their year at Help Portrait Edmonton, as did the backdrop, and I have to say that was probably their best work of 09! :)

My comfort with lighting and posing for portraiture has increased, but I am not as far along this path as I wanted to be at this time last year. I know that I won't really get better at this unless I practice regularly and with purpose, and learn about angles and shadows and all of the detail that makes for fantastic portraiture. Looks like '10 will be the year of the portrait!



Happy New Year

Help Portrait Edmonton

I volunteered to be a photographer at this event this year, and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to do so. The event was very well organized and really well 'staffed' by so many volunteers: photographers, hair and make up artists, editors, and helpers. The only one not co-operating was mother nature, who decided not to turn the heat on. The temperature was about -25C outside, and I am sure this kept lots of folks from coming in for their photographs. For those that did venture out, I hope that we were able to create some lasting memories for them.

I was particularly touched by the last fellow that I photographed. He arrived at my station in a very nice suit, looking very handsome and professional. He was carrying a small grocery bag, and when he came up to where I was waiting, he pulled a bible out of the bag, and said "this is what this portrait is all about". I was so touched that he had thought about wanting his portrait to portray what was important in his life, and that I had the opportunity to help him with this. After we got his portraits finished his wife joined us, and we also got some lovely photos of the two of them together. As I was leaving the building I saw them again - he was no longer in his suit, but rather a heavy parka and sweat pants, carrying the suit in a bag and heading out into the horrible frigid weather of the day.

I've been thinking a lot about the day, and what felt like a missed opportunity in that we could have photographed so many more folks. How can we be sure that others come out, how can we get rid of the barriers that kept them away. Is it via arranging shuttles from service groups? Is it setting up for portraits right at the seniors homes or shelters? And it has also occurred to me - this doesn't need to happen only on the 12th of December. This could be arranged for any day of the year! It really is a wonderful way to share my love of photography with others. I am so very thankful that I participated.

SMUGs

I have spent the last days traveling the Pacific Northwest with Jeff Jochum and Candice Cunningham, attending the Seattle and Vancouver SMUGs.

Wonderful experience. Lots of deep discussions about the business of photography. About new trends like Photo Fusion.

The Vancouver SMUG is being led by The Bebb's.

They gave a great presentation to the crowd, and left them with an assignment to submit their 15 best photographs for discussion! Fifteen sounds like both a lot and a little. I have years of photographs, and lots of different subjects. I have many of my children that I adore because they are my children. I have lots of landscapes. And then I have those few portraits that I might be comfortable sharing. There is a part of me that says I should want to really take a risk with this and only consider those that are outside of my comfort zone, but I also was considering doing this as more of a retrospective exercise - pick a favorite from each of the past years, and then decide why it is a favorite, and whether that makes it a worthy photo.

Since I am doing this as an exercise for myself, I can probably do both. I will be posting the choices here in the next little while.

Heading Home

Feet throb, knees burn. I am past the point of exhaustion and keep moving for fear that if I don't I won't be able to start again. Up at 5 a.m. Eastern time for my flight. All is well until the Captain announces that the plane will be in a holding pattern over Eau Claire, Wisconsin for 40 minutes. Missed connection. The gate agent asks me not to shoot the messenger when she tells me I have been rebooked onto a flight departing at 9:30 p.m.: ten hours later!

The Mall of America beckons; a short LRT ride away. Developed by the Ghremezian brothers of West Edmonton Mall fame, it boasts 500 shops and an amusement park. The cheesy souvenirs purchased for those at home can now be augmented with real shirts. The temptation of the multiple shoe stores and the drop dead gorgeous boots is almost more than I can bear. Five hours at the mall is better than five hours in an airport, without a doubt. But this was to be a day of rest and recovery.

Last night, after playing with flash photography in an old Salem, Ma. graveyard, I had already hit the wall. I was done, exhausted, unable to conceive of another day hiking or shooting or, frankly, shopping!
My feet ached, my knees burned, I was exhausted. Home and rest were calling me.

It was the end of the 5th Dgrin shootout, and the total, utter exhaustion was a familiar and welcome feeling. This, my third shootout, was just like the others. Up at 5 a.m. to shoot sunrise and scenes lit with morning light, a mid morning brunch followed by critiques or shooting or both, followed by sunset and then a hearty meal in the company of good friends, old and new.

The shootout started slowly for me, photographically speaking. Landscape shooting is a challenge for me – to go beyond good exposure, proper focus and a pleasing composition and sort out the correct set of tools to use to create a stunning photograph requires effort, and I am rarely successful. The shots from the first few days leave much to be desired and from the last several days have yet to be seen. Finding a subject in Acadia was difficult – how do you shoot sunrise over the ocean? What is your subject when the horizon stretches forever? And how do you shoot fog? No matter. I have spent the last seven days in the company of great old friends, great new friends and great talented photographers, chasing light and searching for wildlife, without anyone pushing to hurry to the next location, or wondering why I would 'stop there?' All share a common passion for photography and the camaraderie that comes of this is remarkable.

Before I board the flight home, I am still left to wonder why the canned message for the moving sidewalks in Minneapolis were made with a British accent.

Off to the DGrin Acadia Shootout

It is the kind of sleep that muist happen regularly, but that you don't recognize. It is so deep and so satisfying . You only know when you are having a sleep like that when it is rudely, harshly interrupted. Raging Black Sabbath jolts you out of it, ends it and you feel robbed. Not even the slow realization that it signals the beginning of the Dgrin shootout is enough to force your body from the Nirvana of your bed. Five minutes later, The Rolling Stones are only slightly more successful.

Six a.m. And 8C. Fifty pounds of luggage in the duffle, and what feels like another 50 in the camera bag. Ridiculously long line ups at the airport. People seemingly moving their whole belongings to another place on the globe. And it must have been a good week for the local outfitters, as camouflage is everywhere. Twelve dollars for microwaved porridge and coffee.

The announced 55 minute gate delay does not happen, and we arrive in Minneapolis on time. Turning the cell phone on reveals a message from my wireless provider: Welcome to the U.S.A. A fee of …..applies to all phone calls and texts. Phoning the toll free number to update my plan reveals no easy way to get both! And a recommendation to block the internet access of the iPhone! My Canadian debit card does not work at any of the vendors here at the airport, and the ATM is out of cash. The connecting flight to Boston is delayed – no information on how long or why.

And despite the above, and the grey, grim skies in Minneapolis, I can only feel good about what lies ahead this next week.

Congratulations Heather and Ryan

July 11, 2009 was a lovely day. I started out by joining Heather and Elana at MUD for hair and makeup. What a blast!

I then met them again at Heather's parents home, for some getting ready shots, and of course the ceremony. What a lovely wedding!

We took family photos along the top of Strathearn Drive, and then wedding party photos along a secret pathway and at the Museum.

Thanks Heather and Ryan for asking me to be your photographer! I wish you many years of happiness and joy!