No smoking

I did some experimentation with candles with the other night. I really wanted to get a sweet picture of the smoke (kind of like this one), but I need a better light source for it. Even though I wasn't successful in getting the picture I wanted, it made me realize that I need to try different things instead of only sticking with what I am comfortable doing.

Source

Time for inspiration.

I recently got a job working at Olive Garden doing food prep. I absolutely love the job, even though it is not what I was expecting, graduating with a BA in General Art. Alas, student loans are only gracious for so long. I want to try to come up with a project soon. I have plenty of thinking time, so hopefully something will come. Maybe I'll read my collections of Emerson book for some inspiration. I don't think anyone can read something of his and not be inspired.

Pretties

Some of my extended family was able to come to our house this weekend. The only bad part about the weekend was that I didn't actually have a bed. I thought that since I used to sleep on the floor when I was ten, I would be okay. Well I've got news for you. I'm old now. That doesn't work so well anymore. But I digress.

My cousin's 4 year-old daughter brought these five things to me while a bunch of us were sitting on the porch. She asked if I wanted to hold her "pretties." It's interesting spending time with toddlers. They have such a different perspective than we so-called adults do. You see that kind of whispy looking thing? That's what she wanted me to protect. When I first looked at it, I considered it a weed of sorts. However, as I had no choice but to keep it in my custody, I inspected it a bit more closely. 


She was right. It was beautiful. This whimsical thing reminded me of something that Uta Barth would have been inspired by.


I need to spend more time with toddlers.

Facebook Page

I've been trying to keep myself busy. Or just distracting myself from dishes. Or the fact that I have to start paying loans at the end of October. . . Eek, I'd rather ignore that deadline.

I made the facebook page for my photography today and I whipped up pricing and added it on this blog (merbele-pics.blogspot.com/p/pricing.html).

FB page: facebook.com/pages/Megan-Erbele-Photography/138416706236198?sk=wall

LightRoom 3

I just downloaded the Lightroom3, beta 2 version from Adobe. Haven't played around too much with it, mostly imported my [ahem] 10,116 images. I am thinking I need to seriously organize and label those suckers before it really gets out of hand....... Well, I was browsing through Lightroom when I realized I have been taking pictures of just buildings and landscape-ish stuff. [I had 3 pages of restaurants that I had to take for my internship] SO I need to make a point of shooting people, now that I have time. Anyway, I am quite impressed with Lr3. It's getting closer and closer to the features the Photoshop has. But the workflow is so much easier in Lightroom, definitely recommend it. 

Now if only it would have the the mind-reading powers to synch with iTunes and play what I need during long editing sessions. 

Shoes

First off...I am sorry for the lack of posting. Lack of sleep brings on less blogging. I am currently printing so I can actually post. Anyway, right now I am working on my Social Landscape. It was hard for me to wrap my mind around landscapes as non-traditional. I woke up Saturday morning and came up with the idea for shoes. How we wear them everyday, and take care of them. I will post my artist statement along with the rest of the images this week. I decided on these two images for this post because Joe only had two pairs of shoes, and Joanie had the most out of anyone.

Ol' Billy Bob

This is ol' Billy Bob. I met him today in Chicago. Quite the interesting character. He said I could take a picture of him if I gave him a dollar. As I gave him a dollar, I started talking with him. I asked him if he knew about slave awareness in the Hershey's company. At first he didn't fully understand, and was saying how they live there [in West Africa] so it isn't that big of a deal. But when i told him that the labor was forced, and people do try to escape, but they are beaten and abused when caught. This seemed to change his view, and quickly changed his stance on the topic. His was the most honest answer I had heard all day. Others that I spoke to about mainly said, "Well, obviously, I don't support slave labor." He used some "French" in his answer, but he was my favorite.

Going into Chicago today wasn't what I expected it to be. It was my first time being there by myself. I actually did get lost for about an hour. Note to self, listen to your own common sense when walking in Chicago, not the GPS :-)

Christmas-time

For me, this image really shows the spirit of Christmas. I know it isn't even close to Christmas and that it was only a couple months ago. But I have always loved Christmas--it is by far my favorite holiday. Christmas in my family means fun traditions, baking and being able to just talk and relax.

Can Christmas come four times a year? I would really enjoy that.

Studio Lighting

Sorry I haven't posted a new picture in awhile.

Nothing picture-worthy has really been happening.

I had a photoshoot with Rebecca tonight. It was the first time using the studio lights. Yeah, I want to be a photographer for the rest of my life. It's the most fun I've had in awhile. If that was my typical Saturday night, I would be overjoyed! (though my typical Saturday night, but that's beside the point :) So, first Rebecca shot me for an hour, and then I took 162 picture of her in the course of an hour :) Good stuff. We were working on our portraits project for photo2. Mine is centered around bringing awareness to slave labor in the chocolate industry. I'll try to post all of the final images on here (in two weeks).

Stuffs

So I've heard about this old abandoned factory that is amazing for taking pictures for years now. I remember Robb talking about it freshman year. I think I need to get out there sometime. I think it's in Algonquin. I just need to find someone to go with me, so I actually carry through on my plan. Thought it would be sick to get some pictures for my portrait project in there [Did I just say sick in a positive way? These Chicagoans are changing me....]

Oh, Baranski was saying today that we need to do a photo response to a photograph in the Art Institute. It's free this month! I think I will be doing fun stuff this weekend. Not too much due this next week, (but the week after is finals...yuck) so I need to get this fun photography stuff done before I get too busy. Professor Baranski also said that her class will be learning how to work the light on Wednesday, so I'm going in for half an hour of that class and finally learning the studio lights. [about time] So, this weekend hopefully entails an abandoned toy factory and Chicago. Hope it's nice. Anyone want to join me?

I wish it wasn't Monday.

Well, my roomie (who got engaged last night!) said I need to take a nap if she is going to let me stay up all night [i slept for two hours last night]. So, I'm going to get this nap over with and then get back to my Picasso paper. ugh, how I loathe that man. He was a perverted, disgusting man. Can't I just write a paper on the awesomeness of God instead?

Self Portrait

Reading the Bible has become so much more important to me in these past three weeks. It is what inspires me to begin the day. It is what I read when I can't sleep at night. It's soothing words help me through everything. God has good ideas. I need to learn to obey Him more than my own selfish thoughts and desires. He tends to be smarter than me. You'd think I'd get it eventually.