A week away from high school graduation! Here she test runs her graduation dress before the big night next week. I know it's been said a thousand times before, but to all you new parents out there, please make every conscious effort to soak in the moments, really be IN them, because it goes SO FAST. Like I can't even describe to you how fast. Blink of an eye full of "wish I had..." and "why didn't I..." and "remember when...".
A few more shots here in the website gallery.
If you're noticing weirdness on my site it's because I am building a new one, which will be hosted somewhere other than the site that hosts this blog. I had to turn the domain off here and on there. It's all uploaded and ready to go but just waiting on the web to do its replication thing and make it all show up. So stay tuned - it rocks!
EDIT: It's live woohoo! Visit www.tonyadoughty.com.
OK, thankfully it is only my dog (a photo of my dog) illustrating this article, and not my dog IN the article. Too funny though. I was checking out a new search engine (www.searchme.com), which, by the way, I am in love with, and did a little ego-surfing. You know, searching for your own name. One of the pages I found was this Good Housekeeping article which used one of my photos. No worries, it was obtained legally, as this is one of my photos available as stock art at www.istockphoto.com. Just cool to see something I did being used by a company I've actually heard about.
Bobby Earle is a photographer in San Diego whose work I greatly admire. And I'll tell you, yes, he is a fantastic photog, but I love him for more than his photography. He has a great attitude about life and photography and his passion for his beautiful wife (who you can tell is his best friend) all point to him being a really well-rounded, awesome guy. He does this thing called "Before and After Wednesdays" where he posts an SOOC (straight out of the camera) image and then shows you how he processes it to get his look. I think it's a great idea because ALL of us, would be nowhere without someone, at some point showing us something we didn't know. We all learn from everyone else, not just in photography, but life in general. I know I get asked a ton of "how do you..." questions and I am passionate about sharing whenever I can. So while I can't pinky-promise I'll manage to do this every Wednesday, I am going to TRY.
This is an old photo, from 2005, but one I really love. It makes me laugh everytime I see it. I am a firm believer that good post (post processing) is necessary (read here ALL about it) and can really help a so-so image. I don't think that is the case here (I mean I don't think this is a so-so image), as I think this is a pretty decent SOOC. Exposure is good, focus good, lighting not bad. Just needs a little...like icing on the cake, KWIM? So this one isn't being "rescued", so much as "finished."
Here is the SOOC version:
and here is the finished version.
And here is what I did to get it. (Click to enlarge.) In this case, these are all TRA actions, though I also use a ton of my own "stuff" and I like ColorShift too. There are so many out there and I own a lot of them to round out my own workflow, but seem to really use these the most.
Had the opportunity to attend a Generation on Fire concert last weekend, which is a Christian rock band from Oroville, WA. Have to say they were really, really good. The concert, and entire program, was the senior project of the drummer, Eric Orr, and all I can say is the whole night in NO WAY resembled somethng you might expect from a teen guy in a small town. It rocked! They were really good and for me to say that means a lot. I am not usually easily impressed. I've never really shot in this sort of dark, concert, indoor setting, but am happy with these shots.
Eric, Ryan and Nathan.
Ryan on bass.
Ryan, Eric, Shane and Jessica.
Shane and Eric.
Pam, Ryan, Shane, Nathan and Eric.
Eric, Nathan and Ryan.