Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Blog Entry 13: Holiday Portraits

Over the past two years I have offered to do simple photos to slip into your holiday cards I know they weren't the best quality but they were fun and people loved them. Here are just a few I can show from the past two years



This last one I took on christmas and became a christmas favorite for the next year. :)

This year I decided to go all out kind of and offer some economy priced Christmas photos and invested in a christmas backdrop and do photos straight from home since I got an amazing gift of strobes over the summer. 


Quick Rant:

This is not my first background choice but it is cute right? 
Any whoo I ordered this backdrop from Backdropoutlet.com and they took the money out right away and before even sending an invoice of expected shipping day and confirmation of payment. A week went by and I got an order sheet.  Two weeks later nothing. Three weeks later I emailed them just for a status and I was told the backdrop takes 2-3 weeks to make-understandable but then when I asked about my other drop-a fantasy drop they said it was on backorder when I placed my order. When I was ordering these backdrops I specifically made sure I didn't order anything labeled on backorder because I needed it for mid november. The one I ordered said in stock, after overlooking my invoice again I realized it said backorder.

For three whole weeks my candy drop said shipped, and fantasy cloth backorder. After complaining I got my candy drop sent because they were going to wait till my fantasy cloth became available. It is now December 4, 2013 and I have yet to receive my last backdrop.

Lesson learned and lesson taught:
Going for the cheap isn't always the best route and i'll probably never order from them again. So i'll stick to plain white, grey, and black paper drops and just photoshop in the fun later. 

-Silvia Kay


Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Blog Entry 12: Trails and walkways

My history class final paper/project is to write about a influential photographer I didn't have a modest influential photographer that I could write about so I went roaming the art institute online archives. I came across Yasuhiro Ishimoto who had a collection of walkways and I couldn't get over how it was like I was looking back into my childhood and how I would stop to enjoy the view of walkways. Thats why I always thought I was going to be an interior designer. This being why picked him to write about so I started to work on my homage for Ishimoto and this is what I have so far. 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Blog Entry 10: Chicago weather

Chicago weather is beyond predicted but it usually goes as fallows:
Fall; The leaves change and then fall looking like an awesome mess. 

Mid-Fall; Almost winter/ very chilly.  
Winter comes; It's christmas and the snow is no where to be found.
Come february we have record snow falls.

This year we have a bit of a confused mother nature:
Photo Credit: Eva Simon
Either way besides the crazy weather and its weird decisions when they want to come about, it's a great opportunity to photo document it all.

-Silvia Kay




Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Blog Entry 9: Take me back to Tennessee.

The summer before I started photography school I took a trip to Gatlinburg Tennessee/ The Smokey Mountains. I thought I was hot stuff with my $250 canon powershot, but looking back I wasn't all that hot more like a little hot mess. While the pictures still look decent it is only because Tennessee is absolutely gorgeous. The colors in the sky are almost like a painting every day...even on rainy days.
Here are a few of my "hot shot" images.
Rise and shine..My morning view from my cabin for 7 days.
Go Kart racing.

The start of our Journey up the Smokey Mountains.

Those clouds!

Sky lift up a mountain for the old and tired people like myself.
The most rewarding view.
I am planning to go back this summer maybe for two weeks this time, heck I just might move there...its cheap and photography is big there. When I go back I want to recreate these images possibly with my new Canon 70D (happy graduation Silvia!). I can guarantee I will come back with more images of the beautiful landscapes than silly photos of my awesome bathroom in the cabin. haha until then i'll enjoy boring Chicago for now. 

-Silvia Kay

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Blog Entry 8: Cameras in Church.

I am a (semi) practicing catholic so I have been to many different churches in my area, I used to sit in the pew and wonder exactly what it would take to photograph the church with the perfect lighting and exposure. Soon after a few semesters at harrington I discovered just how hard it was.


This first image was taken November of 2011 during a confirmation. a little history of the church: 
St Andrew the Apostle- Calumet City, IL was built three times. In 1892 while being constructed and built a tornado ripped through before being finished. In 1894 the church and school was finished and finally open for people but in 1918 it was destroyed by a fire. Finally in 1930 the Church was done and the structure is the same today. Given this history of this church it is kind of understanding why it is so hard to photograph in. Talking with photographers who have done many weddings in the church they said "no matter how many times you can come in this beautiful church, you will almost always have lighting issues." So when I tried for myself it was so tough, especially being that flash is not allowed during mass. I was able to come in an hour before and figure out the best settings but they changed every 20 minutes. Photographers have left the church scratching their heads as to why this happens but none the less you still get very beautiful shots in the end whether you need a little editing or not. This photo was one of the first few taken before major adjustments and the group shots and ceremony resulted well. Thank goodness. 

The second image was taken June 2012. St. Margret Mary-Hammond, IN
I was asked to come in and take images of the church decorated for a festival of a saint. The church built in the early 1900's has some historic structure to it. Originally built for candle lighting, it has leveled windows for more day light to poor in to light up the church bright during the day unlike st andrews who's windows are 25 feet high. Taking photos here are more easy to accomplish. Being that I made almost all my sacraments here I have photo proof that this church is picture perfect for photographers. 
The third and final image was taken May 2012. St. John Bosco-Hammond IN
The church was reconstructed in the late 1900's so it is a modern catholic church. Being why taking photos in the church were a breeze. While I had to deal with mama's shoving their photos in front of my camera I still was able to manage to get photos of my baby cousin during his big day. Their phone photos came out nothing like what I was able to achieve but a lot better that what people get in st. andrews.

To my realization the older the church the trickier and the more modern the easier. It's a great challenge to put what you learn in school to use. 

-Silvia Kay

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Blog Entry 7: What is my strongest area in photography?

While I prefer to work with people i've been told by instructors I have an eye for products. I tilt my head like a dog being told "where's the squirrel?" and looked at my work again see there might be something there....so here is my working progress leading to today.


                                      My first attempt at shooting products...not to shabby eh?



                          Moving along to the next class challenges fun and almighty black glass
This was for a final project but the bakery that made the dummy for me used my images and I get contacted for new cakes images. :)

Finally what shooting products all about several images merged into one...aka layer masking -_- but looks okay right?

         A little more commercial using natural light for the chips and salsa and strobes for the boots.

Finally my recent but not current work. 
after showing this image I was able to score a small job for a local and small business photographing hair products for the new year. :) I think I still have a lot to work practice makes perfect....sometimes. 

-Silvia Kay



Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Blog Entry 5: iPhone 5S camera really close to DSLR quality?

I just bought myself the new iPhone 5S, It was time I upgrade from my little 4. 
After watching Apple's Keynote on the new phones I was really curious if what Tim Cook said about the new camera being almost DSLR quality. So I grabbed three iPhones and put their changes to the test. 
I used a pumpkin against a white sheet of paper under Tungsten light and these are the results I got.
If I must say the iPhone 5S is not all the cracked up to the hype. In my opinion the 5 looks a lot better than 5S. Then again we are looking at a comparison of Pumpkins. Being that I just got this phone I haven't had a chance to play with it much. I would like to try to put it to the test one more time but maybe next time I will use people and maybe another object with natural light, as well as a DSLR image. 
At this very moment to me the iPhone 5 is a lot better for those iPhone, still life, Instagram, Professional photographers out there. :p

Until next time!

-Silvia Kay