Happy 1st Birthday Miss MM

Happy Birthday, wait, Happy 1st Birthday sweetie pie!

Little Miss M

She's going to be 1 on Thursday! Yes, I'm going to do her birthday photos, I just wished that I had ordered some white or pink paper for the background, but didn't. My pink backdrop is almost too much pink that I bought from amvona a year or so ago.
I'm working on the cake tonight for the photo session. It's going to be a huge cupcake..I've got a sheet cake in and two round layers. All white, made with the egg whites, no yolk. And I've got a strawberry cake mix also and cupcake icing and strawberry icing. Do I know what I'm doing? No! LOL
But, how hard can it be to build a cupcake!?

Well, here's some photos of her with her new tennis shoes, Skechers. Just fast snapshots, but too cute all the same. I love my grandkids!

Photographers hit the streets of OKC

Here we have James Pratt wrestling the buffalo.

And Jim was styling in his photographer T!

Someone? got the shot!

And more fun!

Worldwide Photowalk fun

There was a world wide photowalk, Scott Kelby's that happened everywhere Saturday. I joined up with the OKC group, and my husband even came along to shoot! It was lots of fun, though I would have liked to have got to know a few more photographers better. And there were a lot of us there. I think Robert Trawick said 60! My photos are up on my flickr stream and the event was sponsored by several big companies and NAPP. Though it was to be a photo walk, we did a lot of model shooting too, thanks to Robert!
I figured I can always go back and shoot buildings and landscapes at my leisure, plus I wasn't overly pleased with the light that night.
Some of the cool people we got to meet were Charles and Amanda McKinnis, girl did you have that baby yet?!
Lorraine of Memory Laine Photography in Midwest City! We have got to get together again! I enjoyed visiting with you at dinner and I can't wait to see your building shot online!
James Pratt, who is a humble kind of guy but a great photographer and VERY FUNNY unexpectedly.
Trawick, well, he was just what I expected from his emails. Full of energy, and very likable! He did a fantastic job of putting together this event in such a short time.
There were some others who I can't remember names, but there were a lot of fun people there! And some major talent too. Like David Baxter, very quiet, but I have seen his work a time or two online and he's extremely talented. And his friend, Karen of kdc images in California. Check them out. They have great blogs and full of inspiration!
The models were awesome! thanks so much!
So, here's a few!

Whoo-hoo--award day!

Thanks Daphne! I'll figure out what I'm to do later! Today is/was baby crawling contest day at the fair. We were going to enter Mya, but we all overslept and didn't have time, so now we're just at home fussing at ourselves for missing it!
She doesn't care, she's watching animal planet and dancing in her playpen.
And I have a raging headache! That's what I get for drinking 3 mojitos last night. Never had them before, so I bought the Rose's original. Ohmigosh, I love that lime/mint combo!
And today will be a busy day for me and my husband. We didn't get to take a weekend photo trip for our anniversary this year, so when I heard about the Photo Walk that is happening EVERYWHERE today, I knew I had to get in on it. So my husband said he'd like to go to. This afternoon, we will meet up with about 46 other photographers from around the state. We're going to do a photo walk around a section of Oklahoma City and then go have dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse in Bricktown. Robert Trawick is leading the pack and he promises lots of surprises. I'm on a flickr group, so I'll be posting the images there tomorrow!
Now I've got to get my gear ready!!

An emotional event

This week, a guy came into the news office and told our managing editor that a National Guard unit was deploying out at 2 p.m. This was about 11:30 a.m. and our m.e. and I have the same thoughts on something like this. So I volunteered to go cover it. My only regret was that I couldn't talk to everyone or get photos of everyone. A lot of the guys I knew. I had either photographed them and their families as portrait clients in the past, or they were high school friends of my sons years ago. It was an emotional event. These guys are headed to Iraq for a year. Some have been before. For others it was their first trip.
Here's a few photos, and if you want to read the story, post a comment with a valid email address and I'll send you the link to it.
This was the 158th FA out of Duncan, Oklahoma.
I'm working on a slideshow too.
The photos include Brian and Kassie Hekia and their kids and his mom, Teresa; Scott Fitzhugh and his girlfriend, Tabatha; Aaron Helton kissing his wife, Michelle as her mom, Mattie, watches and others.

the ring

I shared this with some photographer friends and decided to share it here too!

The story behind The Ring shot:
My nephew had it picked out for his bride, - this was my Fort Lauderdale cruise ship wedding. Well, there we were sitting in the computer room at the resort going over the photos from the day, not even thinking about this one that I had shot very early on..it was a total surprise for the bride.
Well, it was SUPPOSE to have been at the cruise ship wedding the next day. Well the ring pics start popping up and my sister goes, ah, yes, the ring and then it was dead silence as we all realized how bad we just screwed up the surprise! I tried to blow on past it like no biggie but it was too late and I'm swallowing 'sorry' to my nephew and Laurie, and we are all crying by this time and he realizes well, guess I gotta give it to her. Well after a bit and all calmed down, she takes me aside dying of laughter. She had a ring for him too and they decided to go for a walk on the beach and she gave him his surprise.
Well the next day, it must have been a foretelling, as the cruise ship fiasco happened. they almost didn't get married on the ship thanks to H-l.... security and a lot of other issues. It was where I got in trouble for having a camera in a 'secured' area and my sister's big mouth bragging about me being a photojournalist among other things. At the time, nothing was funny but looking back, talk about some memories!

let me tell you, that ring ROCKS! The case it was in even had a light on it when you opened it. OK< that was a first for me! LOL

New carnival images

Spin

Suspended

Moon Over

Let's Ride


Well, they were last years, but I am just now playing with them. After this next weekend's county fair, I plan on creating an entire book, might try Blurb, since I have not used them. These have me in the mood to really push the envelope this week. The rumor is that the carnival will have even more rides and stuff, so that will be fun!

Etsy :: natashacinnamon :: :: natasha newton / original fine art ::

Etsy :: natashacinnamon :: :: natasha newton / original fine art ::

Through flickr's moo group, I stumbled onto the art of natasha newton. I love the muted tones of her work and the landscapes with moon just beg to be on my walls! I'll have to sell some major pieces of my own photography if I'm to afford natasha's! So go check it out. neat stuff.

Eco-chicken

http://www.hipandzen.com/kypc-l.html
Just when I think that I've seen it all, I find this (link above)! Plastic chickens, very colorful, recycled from I think plastic bags! So 'eco-friendly'...I didn't want to lift the photo, or I would have put it here. Just go see!

Flowers on film

These make me smile! It was the last time I used my Canon film camera. At the end of the roll, the camera locked up on me and I just never sent it in for repairs. I had the negatives, yay! and put them on CD at that one hour Wmt lab. Great job! Then I went into photoshop and played adding art layers and textures.

I am slowly listing them in my etsy shop. If you scroll down and on the right, you can click on the mini pics and it will go to the shop and you can purchase any item there. These are 5x7s.

I know some of you are patiently waiting on my fine art flowers and carnival images. Tomorrow the packages ship out. Thank you for waiting! You won't be disappointed!

Have a great day!

Smoke and Water

Well I had to give it some kind of name! This is what I did this morning. I am trying to finish up a wedding book, but have to wait to hear back from the bride before I can go any farther. So I worked on this image.
I did several layers of slight painting and poster/comic book types before I came across the right combination. Then for the final effect, I added a texture.

Waterfight!

Now this is the way to cool off when it's 105 degrees for a week straight. Actually, it was only around 90 degrees when I shot these!

My nephew is a firefighter down in Florida, (these are not him..these are in Oklahoma), but he was telling me today that when they are busy doing things they are definitely heroes, but other times, when it's slow firefighters tend to get ignored. I hate to hear that. I know one thing, more state and federal funds should be channeled their way. Most volunteer fire departments rely on their own fundraising, whether it's from membership fees or chili suppers or pancake dinners ...

Their equipment is costly, and many times, they have to deal with only the bare bones.

Sometimes, I wonder if people really stop to think about their charity causes. I bet firefighters rank near the bottom in a lot of communities when it comes to donations going their way? Think though, they are the ones who are first at the scene of an accident, up in the middle of the night to battle fires and protect our homes. So this post was just an effort for me to say, hey thanks firefighters all over the country for your efforts! You are appreciated!

Circles and circus

I've been holding this image back for quite some time. Figured I'd share it tonight with this odd post! *Reposted image. Had the wrong one/size up. I watermarked it since I do plan on offering this in my etsy shop.


Bear with me as I try to write this entry. It may become twisty, turning and backwards at times. Might become even upside down and inside out. No, I am not drinking. It's too stinking hot to drink anything but ice water with lime, though I did have an old fashion cherry sprite, but now have hiccups.

For several weeks I've been trying to remember the name of a blog I visited late one night. I even bookmarked it, which was my first mistake. I have way too many of those. But I did discover it tonight by accident in my email. The blog was dispatchfromla (link is on my blog list). So at one point, I decide to read some of the many comments over there and a name jumped out at me from one of the posts - LK Ludwig!

To share some history, LK and I, along with many other talented artists and writers were in some artist journal groups online. This was years ago, back when Inspiration Decks were just getting started. Which are now known as ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) or ACEO's (at etsy). I have some of LK's work somewhere, either through journal page swaps or other swaps, like altered book covers. It's buried in a box I'm sure. So I darted over to LK's blog and posted. I doubt she'll remember me though. That's beside the point.
Then I went back to dispatchfromla comments to check out the poster and that was Diane Cook and somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind the name is vaguely familiar. But Diane kind of has a name like many of us...not something that sticks out in your mind like LK Ludwig for all eternity.
Don't take it personal Diane! Mine is semi-plain too!

But I click on Diane's name and it takes me to her blog, a lovely place to go - From what Diane posted at dispatch, she ended up there via LK's blog. So there I am at Diane's blog and am delighted to see her wonderful jewelry. Turns out she has an etsy shop...geez, see where this is going? Then I start looking at her blog list and recognize many names. Including The Scent of Water...on flickr! And, I just happen to be a member there! It just shows really how small the world can be when connected like this.
To finish my story though, which may or may not really have any ending at all...at dispatchfromla, she's reading and mentions the 1000 Journals project...ummm I participated in that all those years ago and did get my work published.
Does this really have any end to it? Probably not! Still, I felt compelled to share this. Mostly out of boredom. Now, I'm off to do more blog hopping. I'll be adding to my blog list, but not too much on this, as it would just grow and grow. The idea is to pick a place, go there, then go somewhere from there...who knows where the cyber brick road will take you....

Autumn? 106 degrees today!

How can that be? Only because I found one of my photos listed in an etsy Treasury tonight! I shot the image about two years ago, it's one of a set of three. The finished image is a 5x5 image. It's been listed since January and set to expire August 19, so if someone wants to buy it, they should hurry! It's a nice little piece of photo art.
Analiese listed it, you should visit her shop too if you like jewelry!
Here's a link to her shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=35723

I have a photo link on this page at the right that will take you to my etsy store.

Surviving the heatwave

Not me! But these flowers. And since it's too hot to do any shooting, I'm in the artsy mode...enjoy! You can right click and save as wallpaper for your desktop!