Hey everybody. I haven't visited in .... forever... I'm just kinda being lazy this weekend and thought I'd drop in to say hello. It's good to see some of the old familiar faces (or... avatars...) And there's a lot of new ones too.

There always seems to be a shortage of shots of people, so I thought I'd post a few from the last few weeks. Hope you like them.

And if you're saying to yourself, "I'd love to take pics of people, but I don't have a willing guinea pig"... two words.... Model Mayhem .... Look it up. Its free, and there are thousands of wanna-be models looking to hook up with us wanna-be photographers and take some pics. Its a beautiful thing. That's where all my free time has been spent this whole year.

Okay, let's see if I can remember how to post....

Victoria1
Victoria2
Steph1
Steph2
Theresa1
Theresa2

Okay, so I never even caught up on posting old stuff, and now I've fallen behind again. Here are a few shots I like from this weekend's attempts to get comfortable shooting people.

Sandi, who I'd just met, was a trooper, because it was about 40 degrees when we started, maybe 50 by the end. (Okay, to you northerners, that's warm for mid-November, but to us Georgians, it's kinda cold to be standing by a river.)

Warm and Cozy
Beautiful Fall Day
Sandi and Trains

I hope you enjoy this kinder, gentler post. :) This is Jacqueline again, showing her more serious side this time. In the next post she'll smile some, I promise.

Tree
Stairs
Gate
Door
Word
Corner
Wall
Table
   
Okay, so my naming is still not so good yet, but at least it's not 1,2,3 this time...

Okay, I guess I'll go ahead and post this in it's overcompressed form, rather than waiting until whatever changes are made to the uploads, etc.... Just remember that the JPEG artifacts aren't my fault.  ;)

Renea and I like to get together  from time to time and experiment with shots. We had some specific things in mind this day, but those shots are a little more risque than are usually posted here, so you don't get to see those. (Sorry...)

But here are a few tame ones that I think came out pretty good. My Telecaster is in a couple of shots.

Later,  we went to a lake to take a few casual  shots.
Then when we were being even more tame, a not-so-friendly park ranger ran us off  for not having a permit. But it  was getting dark anyway.

Okay, since my last model shoot was so well received, I suppose it's safe to continue....

Next is a lovely nursing student, Lillian.

Sorry I'm not so good with the story part....

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More of my pics with Jacqueline that I posted a couple of days ago. (Go back about a page if you missed it.)

We wanted to try some shots with a long exposure mixed with the flash. Here are the results. The fountain shots aren't as sharp as I'd like, but lets see you try to get someone to stand perfectly still for a second and a half!

Fountain 1
Fountain 2
Fountain 3

Night 1
Night 2
Night 3

And a few more from earlier that day:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Okay, so the problem with not posting in three months is that now I have hundreds of pics that I'd like to share, and I can't decide which ones to do now and which ones will have to wait. I have decided to go in reverse order, with the most recent shots first. (Plus, since we're talking about CURVES....)

Over this summer, I've been at war with myself and my introversion. I really hated to approach people and ask to take their picture. But then I realized just how much better a "portrait" could be than a "candid" when I stumbled upon this shot and a few others which I posted months ago.

So I started trying to take pics of some friends, but there were always complications. I decided to face my fears head on and contact some girls who  are interested in modeling. (Gasp, strangers!!) So now my hobby has become fashion photography, and I am COMPLETELY in love with this!! I don't know if I'll  do it for the next 40 years or just the next few weeks, but that doesn't matter. I'm not only improving my photography, but my social skills as well. (Imagine that.)

Also, I got a better lens than I had been using. It's a Sigma 24-60mm f2.8, and  MAN, is it sharp. Wow. (I can count freakin eyelashes now....)

Here are a few from last weekend at Centennial Park in Atlanta, going slow so as not to overwhelm you....

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Okay, so I figured the ladies were tired of bikini-clad women....

Yesterday I went to the State Botanical Garden in Athens, Ga. It was absolutely terrific! I know I should have written down the names of these plants but I'm just not that organized. I know they had some beautiful orchids, lillies, and pitcher plants.

These flowers faced
 the wrong way. (Looking up)

Just a few more. And a little something for Cherish.

Okay, so only about half of them are fake, but it always seems to be the ones that win.....

By popular demand, I braved yet another Hooters swimsuit contest. I didn't want to do it, but I sacrificed for the common good of Photographica members.

I actually have some shots of a few of them in "club wear" that are so revealing that you can see the aforementioned double-sided tape holding everything in, but I decided at the last moment that it wasn't in the best of taste to post here. (But I will consider bribes...)

On with the festivities....

She looks like a Barbie
Work's out A LOT
Pink Leopard??
I always liked the number 22
Thin but gorgeous
Blue beauty
50% Filipino +50% Vietnamese = 100% HOT
Winners

Okay, now that I have your attention....

These are semi-NSFW. Your boss may not like them, but it's okay if the kids see them.

I needed some practice with my flash in low light conditions, so how could I pass this one up?!?

These were all taken with a Nikon D50 and SB-600 flash. ISO 400, f/5.6'ish, which put exposure around 1/45-1/90 --- not the greatest with a telephoto.

I'm thinking of going to another one and trying ISO 800 and maybe a few 1600, although sometimes the grain is a bit much.

(Hmmm, did any of them read all of that??)

These are all runway shots, and I had a bunch of drunk rednecks all around me, so it was hit-or-miss. All in all, I had better success than expected though. About a third of the shots came out pretty good.

Blue,   White,   Black
Asian cutie 1,  and 2
Second Runner Up,   Walking
First Runner Up
Winner: Club Wear , and Bikini

Last weekend I went to the Renaissance Festival, but I only got to see about half of it. When I got home and compared the quality of my candid pics to the ones where I was actually brave enough to talk to the people, there was a remarkable difference in quality. (Imagine that!!)

So, with new found strength to battle my introversion, I went BACK to Ren Fest and  approached lots and LOTS of people. (Okay, mostly just the cute ones, but that made it a bit easier, too.) I got a lot of good pics this time. I still made some stupid mistakes in some, but I was a bit nervous.

Bottom line is, thanks to you guys for making me get out of my comfort zone.

On the first shot, I was buying a Diet Coke from this girl and asked if I could take her picture. She said, "MEEE?!?!?"  and her face LIT UP like I completely made her day. I would have thought she'd been asked all the time.

Diet Coke Girl
Dancer
Looks good in orange
She throws knives
Clothing Shop Babe
Token Male
Dart Girl
Astrology Babe

Ahhh, what better place to find strangers to take pics of for the bi-weekly challenge. Some of these strangers were stranger than others. I took a lot of candids, but it was also a great chance for this extreme introvert to get over the fear (okay, terror...) of approaching someone I don't know and asking to take their picture. And you know what? They all say "sure" and posed for me. Imagine that. I'm already planning to go back to practice some more. If you've never been to a Renaissance Festival, they are loads of fun.

Beautiful Stranger (A jewelry shop keeper)

Knight  (Candid, but he was kinda busy...)

Pirates  (No, they don't work there...)

Harem Girls (More beautiful guests)

I went to Atlanta today to get some pics for the theme. Here are a few I really liked.

Piedmont Park 1/500sec f11 46mm equiv
But watch your car - see thumbnail. That sign was right in front of a high school. Nice neighborhood...)

Towers 1/1500sec f5.6 300mm equiv
Furniture 1/1000sec f5.6 300mm equiv
Tall Building 1 1/1000sec f5.6 82mm equiv
Tall Building 2 1/750sec f5.6 27mm equiv

I like the way this one came out - Stacked 1/2000sec f5.6 300mm equiv

An' when you in the A T L, you gotta get you a grill, shawdy.  1/250sec f5.6 82mm equiv
(That's "shorty" for those of you who aren't from the Dirty South.)
 

Okay, a few last shots from the brand new Georgia Aquarium.

Contrasting Fish 1/60sec, f4, 36mm equiv

Leafy Sea Dragon - what else can I say... 1/20sec, f5.6, 82mm equiv

Very cool lighting from above 1/20sec, f5.6, 82mm equiv

Group Shot 1/45sec, f5, 57mm equiv

Pretty Colors 1/45sec, f5.6, 78mm eqiv

Blue Jelly 1/125sec, f5.6, 82mm equiv

These are all pretty much "as shot" With Nikon D50 with an 18-55mm zoom. (And just a tiny bit of level adjust and/or cropping.) On the last one, they had some funky lighting to make them really stand out (as you can see.). It was very cool.

More shots from the Georgia Aquarium. Plan your trip NOW. You don't want to miss this place.

No, that's not a movie screen, but where's my popcorn?!?!
Big Fish
River Overhead
Among the Penguins
Porthole