Portraits ~ Cassandra & George

Michael and I have known George for three years now- he was in our film program all through Full Sail. He moved back to Pennsylvania after graduation last year and six months later, proposed to Cassie. Michael and I only met Cassie last week when we went on a double date to Ruby Tuesdays, after they drove down for a week to play at Universal and Disney! Cassie is very nice, and currently studying to be a teacher for preschoolers with Autism, while also working part time at a children's museum.

George told us about how he proposed to her on Christmas morning last year. They agreed there wasn't much to the story, but it still sounds very romantic. I was lucky enough to take some pictures of them at Cypress Grove Park on Saturday (where Michael and I have had our picnics). It was very hot outside, as it has been every day lately, on days when it doesn't rain, but Cassie and George were such troopers!

The most funny/random part of the shoot was when we saw a rooster running through the grass. I wasn't quick enough to take a picture though. Oh! I should mention, George let me use his camera (thank you again!) for the shoot: the Canon 60D, which is a few steps up from our T2i, but thankfully similar enough that it didn't take him too long to explain the process. However, since the files are a tad bit different, they don't conform to my computer's standards. I will have to find a new download link to properly edit the photos. But for now, these are my few favorite edited screen caps taken from the Image Viewer!

 

~ ✩ ✬ ✭ ✬ ✩ ☆ ✩ ✬ ✭ ✬ ✩ ☆ ✩ ✬ ✭ ✬ ✩ ☆ ~ 

 Updated August 2016: Again, the photos were all still in the RAW CR2 format, but luckily I was able to use the Image Viewer again to get the rest of the pictures that were nice of these two lovely individuals:

Zombielicious

How dare I be so behind on my blogging! Not even sure what my excuses are - not counting the days that I work, which includes the past 3 days. I have been keeping up with these two beautiful blogs, by a couple other girls you may know: Pinterest Princess (cousin Jessica) & Something That We Do (friend Lindsey). 

On Wednesday of last week, I mentioned that I wanted Michael to let me put a prosthetic on him. I said I wanted to do all the work, but have him walk me though each step. It took about an hour to complete (though it didn't seem that long) and I had the same "this looks terrible" attitude he usually does, but I suppose it was good for my first time. Then Friday while I was at work, Michael's new best friend (Chris, from Metropolis) came over and Michael did a full face prosthetic on him. I think it looks really good - and a little silly because of the facial expression. Michael took that photo since I was gone.

Also, here is a short zombie video that Michael did some make up for a few months ago! Never mind, Michael says its password protected because its not completely finished yet. I'll keep you posted!

Sky Craft

Two weeks ago when I stopped by Gainesville on the way home from Tallahassee, Mia snuck a wonderful note into my purse, which I didn't find until I got back to Orlando. It was such a great surprise and a very sweet "best friend" note. Included was a poem that she wrote herself:

Roses are Red

the Sky is Blue

if I owned a Cloud

I would Fly to You

It became my own personal challenge to create a work of art (mainly through painting) for the poem. Although the finished product -not shown- didn't turn out how I hoped.. and now I have to decide if I want to redo it or just try to spruce it up.. above is a shot of the basic idea.

I got the new paintbrushes today - all for free!! That was pretty accidental, since the cashier and I were talking, neither of us realized that when she scanned the package, the bar code didn't read. And I didn't notice until after I got home.. Hmm, whoops!

Oswalda Copplepot

If you remember the Instagram photo from Good Will around my birthday, you will know that Michael and I have been trying to do the Penguin prosthetic (from Batman Returns, 1995) since the beginning of June. Although he had to work today, he suggested we try it tonight. And it was a success!

(the Master at work - photo from the time lapse)
Michael sculpted this piece all by himself with clay over my cement life cast, then ran the foam and cooked it in a small oven. Nothing was store bought this time. I'm so proud of him!

This doesn't show off much of the female business suit type outfit we got at Good Will, but I love that hat which he purchased today from the party store!

What a babe! (Can you tell I've been using Crest White Strips?)

Michael already has another project in mind that I get to help with/ be the model for. I think that one might be all make up though, without using a prosthetic. There are a few things I will have to remember: how long it can take to finish the process. I got through 3 episodes of "Glee" tonight! And to have a area with clean air to run to when he has to use alcohol palettes & spray them onto my face.

Under Construction

Here are a couple more pictures I took that I have been meaning to post from Wednesday. You can see the sun setting behind the grassy mound behind Tonia. The lighting was nice then. But a quick 20 minutes later it was too dark, which is why Miriam's photo turned out grainy. I adjusted the ISO (in attempt to get the most light in as possible), but the higher you make it, the more grainy the photos turn out. Which is why I prefer taking photos in the middle of the day. We didn't have a problem with the "clubby photos" because there was enough artificial light coming from the store.

(And one more of Alana since I hadn't posted any of her with her boyfriend, Cody. If I didn't mention it before, he had a wonderful attitude that weekend, especially for the shoot - getting the horses to look where we wanted to and helping set up props!)

Sweet Sorrow

Tonia is in Orlando this week, so we got together for lunch yesterday at Crispers - I was 30 minutes late because I always forget about rush hour traffic. It was interesting to see how Crispers redid the inside to look more like a cafe, with high tables on one side and leather chairs on the other. We drove to Miriam's house at 6:30pm where she & Tonia got ready for the shoot. (It was so flattering to see pictures of baby Matilda that I took last year framed around her house. Also note how she used a stick to hold her necklaces. Very cool!)

Since we ran out of time (sunlight wise) at the first location, we drove around for a bit until we decided to stop at Leader's - a patio furniture store. The over head lighting was great against the dark sky. And I found that the lights from traffic added a cool bokeh effect in the background, so we stuck with that for a while. Miriam told me about a new editing site called Pixlr, which is what I used to edit the following photos:

I was going crazy with experimental edits and ended up loving them way more than anticipated. It may have helped more that I was listing to upbeat "club" music as I was tweaking them.

Best in Show!

We planned to get some "professional" photos with Alana in her riding outfit, but ran out of time and the tea party took priority.
Here is some more info about her sweet horses:

Squirt is a 1989 Bay Roan Appaloosa Mare.
(This was taken during her bath.)

Fancy is a 1988 Sorrell Paso Fino Mare.
She was very friendly & liked me taking pictures.

Starpoint is a 2001 Bay Thoroughbred Mare.
We tried to get her to rear up, when she got excited.