Party = Porter

Meet Marci, a.k.a. Party Porter. One day I got home from class and had a sudden urge to go take pictures. So Marci willingly obliged and got all dolled up. We headed up to the Provo Temple to take pictures. You would not guess that location by this first image I posted (black and white). But I really really love the image. It shows a side of Marci that no one ever sees because... well she doesn't have a dark and creepy side. So maybe we can call it her seductive side... But I still love it. I had to add the jumping picture because jumping picture = Marci. No matter where she is, there is always a jumping picture. Kennedy and Kristi can attest to this, and I'm sure everyone else who knows her can as well!

The First Ever

I have come to appreciate my friends a ton in my photography. A lot of what I have been able to do is because a friend of a friend refers another friend back to me. And all crazy things.

My first "professional" shoot was an engagement session. I had never met the couple before which made me a little nervous that they were trusting ME, someone that hadn't done anything before for their pictures. Darrin (the groom) worked with one of my friends roommates. She (my friends roommate) saw some stuff I did through good ol' facebook and told Darrin about it.

So... because it was my first I will only post very few of what we did that day. They look great, but as for me and my skills, I feel that I have gotten quite a bit better since this shoot.

This is the image the chose for their announcement

The First Ever continued

I saw Darrin and Cari in the mall a few weeks ago so it reminded me to post some of the stuff I did with them.

This was my first "professional" bridal shoot I ever did. It was last summer. I had done her engagements and then she asked me to do her bridal photos which I was really excited to do. Bridals are now one of my favorite shoots to do!

Cari got ready at one of her friends house and ended up forgetting to pack some fancy shoes to wear. She borrowed a pair of her friends (the yellow ones) which luckily was one of her colors she chose for her wedding. The image with the flowers and shoes is one of my favorites from the shoot. Funny how weird things work out like that.

Sarah

I met Sarah when I lived over by BYU. Sarah has a personality that is so great, people love to be around her. She wanted some shots done of herself just for fun! And I thought she would be so fun to photograph so it ended up being a win-win situation! So on a blistering cold Saturday afternoon, we found some fun locations in Provo and embraced the cold.
My favorite part about her photographs are her eyes. The way she connects with the camera really pulls me into each photograph. It is really intriguing!
I hope you enjoy each photo as much I as I have!

calgary

This past week I was able to go to Canada! It was so fun to see family and friends that I hadn't seen in quite a while. We went up for my Grandpa's surprise 80th birthday! All his kids were there together - all at once - which hasn't happened in so long. Needless to say, he was pretty excited.

The main thing on my agenda while on my trip was to take some sweet photos. One morning while in Taber, my mom woke up with me early so I could go photograph my grandpas farm and other way cool things there. It was really nice because not many people or animals were up yet so it was very quiet and relaxing to photograph. My mom came with me to be my scribe (write down all my exposures and zone changes to save time). I got some really fun images that I am really excited to play around with!
Then, while in Calgary, my dad took me out late one night so I could get a night shot of the city scape. I love these types of photographs. We didn't go to my favorite view of the city so i'll do that one next time. Sadly, when I took the same shot with my 35 mm film camera, I under-exposed it. So there isn't a whole lot of information on the film. I thought a 5 minute exposure would for sure be over-exposing it. You most likely have no idea what I'm talking about.... But I was just lucky to have my dad take me so i didn't get lost in a crazy part of Calgary.

I will scan in some of my negatives and post more photos of beautiful Canada another time.

calgary

This past week I was able to go to Canada! It was so fun to see family and friends that I hadn't seen in quite a while. We went up for my Grandpa's surprise 80th birthday! All his kids were there together - all at once - which hasn't happened in so long. Needless to say, he was pretty excited.



The main thing on my agenda while on my trip was to take some sweet photos. One morning while in Taber, my mom woke up with me early so I could go photograph my grandpas farm and other way cool things there. It was really nice because not many people or animals were up yet so it was very quiet and relaxing to photograph. My mom came with me to be my scribe (write down all my exposures and zone changes to save time). I got some really fun images that I am really excited to play around with!
Then, while in Calgary, my dad took me out late one night so I could get a night shot of the city scape. I love these types of photographs. We didn't go to my favorite view of the city so i'll do that one next time. Sadly, when I took the same shot with my 35 mm film camera, I under-exposed it. So there isn't a whole lot of information on the film. I thought a 5 minute exposure would for sure be over-exposing it. You most likely have no idea what I'm talking about.... But I was just lucky to have my dad take me so i didn't get lost in a crazy part of Calgary.

I will scan in some of my negatives and post more photos of beautiful Canada another time.

photoshop

For my Digital Imaging (photoshop) class, we had to recreate a website. Luckily we did not have to do any coding (make it an actual working site). We just had to recreate all the images and texts using photoshop. It was actually a really fun assignment.

I chose to do the OAR website. They are my favorite band so I figured I would not mind looking at their site constantly and all their wonderfully looking faces :)

Unfortunately, my version of photoshop is lame and I couldn't use it for this assingment so I've been spending what seems like forever in the library. And let me tell you... there are some very unique people in the library.

So this is my end result. The project that has taken up my nights for the past few weeks in finally complete. Now... on to the next one!

my photo blog

I decided to do a blog for my photography. I just updated/re-started it so check it out! Give me feedback as well! It's always helpful to see how others view my work.

sarahraephotography.blogspot.com

AND... if you have a blog, TELL ME so I can add you to mine :)

I love to see the Temple

The St. George Temple is my favorite temple by far. Okay, I may be bias because it's where I'm from but I still think it's one of the prettiest. Once I moved away from home and out of St. George, I wanted a picture of the temple to put in my room. All the ones I saw at Deseret Book I wasn't a huge fan of. It finally dawned on me that I had the means to create my own image have it be how I wanted it to look. I don't know why it took me that long to figure that out. So one trip home, I went and photographed the temple just as the sun was going down and this is what I came up with. It was my parents Christmas gift this year. Since they have it up in their house, it's great exposure and advertising for me which is working out great! Their home teacher is the manager of Deseret Book and he wants to sell it in his store!!! So I just have to get it ready to be presented to all of their approval committees and hope all goes well with them. I'm crossing my fingers! Also, I used this image for my first "art" competition held at school. There are a lot of other great shots submitted as well from other photographers, so I will have to wait and see if mine makes the cut!

AttiTUDE

My sister had been dying to get me to do her pics, but we never could because I don't live in St. George anymore :(. So during Christmas break, her and her friend got all dressed up and we went and got some fun images of them. They were so excited to get them back to show all their friends. When I went to burn them a CD of all their images, all the edited images had disappeared. GONE. So I am now starting over because I can't find them. So here is what I've done so far with a few of them. Hopefully next time I go to burn their CD, they are still where I put them!

My sister = darker hair
Autumn = lighter hair

Gracie Lou

I met Grace when I first moved up to Provo. We met one night out by the pool of our apartment complex and neither of us knew anyone. We started talking and became really good friends that summer. In August, she moved to New York to be a nanny. The singles ward she attends is the same ward that the guys from West Point (the military academy) go to. Needless to say, she met a guy that is attending West Point and they are now engaged!

While she was still in Provo, we had fun one afternoon getting all dressed up and got some really fun images. I guess she really liked them because she has asked me to photograph her wedding in July. Luckily it is not my first wedding I photograph so I've already learned so much I can improve on this time around. And with Grace as the bride, we are bound to get some amazing images! I'll be sure to post some of them after the wedding!

...

I know there is nothing here. I was going to delete it and just have one blog, but have decided to keep this one for all my photography adventures. Hopefully I can use it somehow to market myself and get more exposure. Tell everyone to check it out... once I get my work back up!

Le Bus

Over the weekend, me and some friend boarded the "Fun Bus" and headed out to Wendover, NV. I had never been to Wendover before so I had no idea what to expect, but I was told not to expect much. During the week, when people asked what I had planned for the weekend I would tell them I was headed to Wendover on the "Fun Bus"! Every time without fail they would respond with a look of concern and ask "YOU are going to Wendover? Do you know what people do there?" I eventually learned that basically all there is to do in Wendover is drink, gamble and gamble some more. So I was even more excited about the adventure because... well I don't do any of the typical Wendover activities.



There were over 25 of us that went, so we had the whole bus to ourselves. It came and picked us up right outside our apartment complex. Quality service I'm telling you. My first bit of concern presented itself when our bus driver asked where we were going... shouldn't the bus driver know where to go? I'm just sayin...


iPod Idol

For those of you who have yet to experience the "Fun Bus", there are 3 TVs (great quality I might add... each TV had a different presented a different color version of the movies) and then there is a very spacious bathroom facility in the back of the bus. Similar to an airplane... but on wheels. So the way over to Wendover, we watched Mamma Mia - Sing-a Long! I know the guys enjoyed it a lot more than the girls did ;) Then some of the people in the back decided to make a movie - spin off of the Red Eye movie. It is classic. I love it. I was too involved in the Mamma Mia Sing-a-Long and am only briefly seen which is a good thing. (the movie is on facebook... you should watch it) After movie making, we had a few small rounds of Ipod Idol. If you don't know what this is, one person (the singer) get the iPod, chooses a song, ear phones in, volume up and then they Jam out. So everyone else only hears what the person is singing, no back ground music. It is hilarious.



Once we got to Wendover, we had a free buffet. I'm not going to say much about the food because... well it was a buffet. Then we had coupons for free drinks, $5 cash back and a few other things which we didn't do. When we asked for our free drinks, we thought we could get a Strawberry Daiquiri - virgin. The bartender looked at us as if we were crazy. All we could get were Shirley Temples or soda. At least it was free though!


AWESOME (cough cough) band...

There was an AWESOME (cough cough) band that kept playing. I do have to say thought that their outfits were my favorite by far out of anyone's I've ever seen. They all coordinated with each other. It was great. They were in a lounge area and so we had a mini dance party. We had several drunk people join us and showed us some of their stellar moves.


Ashley and I at the Bar... Don't judge... remember it's a Shirley Temple!

As the night went on, so did the creativity of our activities. Because all the warnings I had received about Wendover held out to be true, we had an awesome scavenger hunt inside the casino. Later we played the game Signs in the hotel lobby. We received many weird looks through out the evening but in the end it was definitely a night to remember. Our jackets may forever smell as Casino, but it was worth it all.