You never know the impact of your words... A. Hedges Photography

Think of all the conversations you have that are seemingly common. Your child's teacher, your co-worker, the cab driver, your restaurant server, your mothers friend that you bump into at the grocery store. What have you said to these people? Anything profound? Inspring? The words out of your mouth are the same words in their ears. Words have meaning, feeling, power.

My father is a artist. An extremely talented artist who is passionate about his craft. You'd be depriving yourself if you don't take a peek at his work: George Dowse. Go check it out...now...I'll wait!!

During the summer he occasionally sets up his art at the Bethlehem Art Associations table at the farmer's market. One particular day a woman approached and they struck up a conversation. This woman happened to be the mother of one of my classmates in High School. The details of this exchange are still a bit fuzzy to me, but they spoke of their children, art, and probably the greatness of the farmer's market, or the weather...typical stuff. Or maybe not...

My father's words were passed along to Martin, another very talented artist out of Nashville. Martin was touched, to say the least, and wanted to make a connection with my father and asked for my help. Martin is a wood block print artist- the whole process and the final product is amazing to me! Check out this very inspiring interview Martin Cadieux! And yes, I'll wait again ;-) 

Martin and I collaborated on a project- well he did the project, I just gave a bit of input, and that's even giving me too much credit!! He wanted to create a wood block for my father OF my father working. And his idea was to use a photo that I took for a little artistic fusion feel!

I've said far too much and will abruptly end now with the photos Martin sent me of the progress of this amazing project. My father, to say the least was surprised by the impact of the conversation, impressed with Martin's talent and excited about this great gift.

The photos and work in progress....

Happy Celebration!! ~ Albany New York Photography

 Nobody loves a party more than this girl...

I'm usually not a backdrop kind of gal but it's January, it's cold outside and this little chickie was born to be photographed!

My Sydney helped me break in this black and white drop the other day while I was supposed to be jogging on the treadmill. Stay tuned for more fun drop options that you can use in your sessions- hearts for Valentines day anyone???!!!

AHP 52 Week Photo Challenge - Week 5

If you're still around here on week 5- Congratulations!! We've gone a month...give or take. BUT when I used to counsel people in diet, fitness and behavior I would always say after 30 days things will get easier...it's now a habit, you're now invested. Those of you who made it this far are knee deep in this project so to give up now would be a terrible disservice to your creative mojo...ok ok yes I'm probably just making this up but it sounds inspring right??! :-)

So this past week, "Where I'm from" proved to be a bit more challenging than I had intended. I was even stumped a bit! I realize that many people don't physically live "where they're from" so taking a straight forward photo like that would be impossible. I love how creative people got in order to fulfill the theme...if you'd like to see what people came up with check out the photos HERE

This week, I'll scale back a bit- if you skipped last week for whatever reason, feel free to jump back in this week...come back to week 4 later if you need to. No rules- just fun!!

So the AHP 52 Week Photo Challenge- Week 5 is....

SLEEP!!

Something I don't get enough of and actually hate doing but obsess over...crazy right???

 Good luck this week :-)


Oh...and PS: If you haven't seen the new website yet, CLICK here- I <3 it more than chocolate!! Or if you'd like to learn about the new +sites that I mentioned earlier in the week ON THE BLOG...check the newest one out HERE!

+Sites ~ A New Offering ~ Albany New York Wedding Photographer

If you haven't checked out my main website in a while DO IT--it's totally new, fresh...amazing if I do say so myself. It's RIGHT HERE!!!

Along with the new site came a few awesome new features that I'm so psyched about including a new way to share digital images with my clients, a more effective way to share my photo session images on Facebook (and you ALL know how much I <3 Facebook) and something called +sites.

As time goes on you'll be able to see these amazing features as I use and share them with my clients. But I thought I'd explain one feature since it's particularly amazing!! 

Introducing "+Sites", nice to meet you!

+Sites will be used in a variety of different ways but what I'm most excited about is how I will use them with my wedding couples. I'm sure most people are familiar with the "custom wedding website" that people can create for themselves showcasing their photos, stories about how they met or got engaged, details about their wedding, directions to the venues, local lodging etc.

Well, how about I just take care of that for you! Yep- I'll use your engagement photos and create a slideshow, I'll add your stories, your details, links...anything you'd like!! 

You'll have your own personal website address that you can share with your friends, family and guests so they can keep up-to-date with your plans. 

After the wedding this custom website will also be where you can first view your wedding highlights...the infamous sneak peek :)

It's amazing, it's easy, it's included in ALL of my wedding packages. 

Check out a few examples of some very simple +sites HERE and HERE I just added recently...keep in mind...it's as simple or complex as you like, you're in control! 

Next installment "PASS"!!! Let's just say- all digital ALL the time. Easy to preview, download and share your digital files...yes folks...contrary to popular belief I DO offer digital images--JUST ASK! :-)

AHP 52 Week Photo Challenge - Week 4

Another fantastic week of submissions for the 52 week challenge.

I'm noticing, as expected, that there aren't AS many submissions as we go along and that's OK!! If you miss a week or the theme just doesn't "speak" to you just catch up later or hop back in when you feel inspired!!

Just a thought, but it may be nice to browse the other submissions and leave a little love on their photos. Feedback helps motivate and support your fellow challengers and will keep everyone going!! I've found a few online photography groups who are AMAZING (holla Showit peeps) and seriously, connecting with other photographers is saah-weeeet! :-) So reach out, peek around at the other submissions and let them know you're liking what you see!

So the run down:

Last week's theme was Black and White- check out the submissions HERE

Some very creative stuff going on and I think that everyone who participated REALLY understood what I was talking about in last weeks post about "meaningful black and whites".

Let's keep the creativity flowing and move on to this week's theme:

AHP 52 Week Photo Challenge - Week 5 is, "Where I'm from"

No tutorial needed this week- run with it!!

AHP 52 Week Photo Challenge ~ Week 3

Welcome to week 3 and thanks for sticking around- things are just starting to get good!


I have seen some extremely creative submissions for the week one, "Self Portrait" theme as well as the week two, "Food" theme. It's so much fun for me to see ideas turned into photographs...the thought process...the creative process...it's fascinating! 


At first I thought the first two weeks were pretty straight forward, dare I say easy??!! But I was proven wrong, not only by people's comments but also with how the themes challenged me! My reasoning for week 3's theme was to step up the game. Make things a more challenging, perhaps a bit more photographically technical...I may end up kicking myself!


So without further adieu...AHP 52 Week Photo Challenge ~ WEEK 3 ~ "Black and White"!! 


So, at first glance this theme seems simple, and it can be if you want it to be- any photo can be converted to black and white, right??? Well not really, no. NOT every photo looks great in black and white. So while this can be a simple theme, use it as a learning technique (if you'd like). Create an image that TRULY looks good black and white, as if it were meant to be! Try to see why some photos look good desaturated while others excel in vibrant full color.


Example??
Here are a few that I think were MEANT for black and white processing...

Big, bold, high impact...not much more to say. Another way black and white processing works is to force the viewer to focus on what the photographer wants them to see. Sometimes converting a photo to black and white can reduce the impact of a distracting or busy background. Or black & white processing can obviously hide a bold color that takes away from the focal point.

And here's a perfect example of a photo that I think works better in color....

I feel that details in the b&w version are lost...but in the color version everything adds to the feel of the photo. Just my two cents...




Or you can ignore all that and just snap a pic, convert to b&w and be done with it...it's your challenge after all!!


See ya next week ;-)


PS: I will post my photo by Sunday night or Monday morning. Post the link to your submission underneath my week 3 photo in the comments box. Be sure your album is set to public so everyone else can view your work!

AHP 52 Week Challenge ~ Week Two

What a great turnout for the first week of the 52 week Challenge "Self Portrait"!! I was very impressed with everyone's creativity and you guys really pushed yourselves to create interesting and thoughtful images. 

ONE MODIFICATION TO THE CHALLENGE- PLEASE READ!!!!!

Everyone did a great job of creating "AHP 52 Week Photo Challenge" albums, making them public and posting a link to their photos on my page- well done! But this week, instead of posting directly on my wall, post the link to your "week 2" photo IN THE COMMENTS BOX under my "week 2" photo!! (I will have my photo up by Sunday or Monday of each week so there will be plenty of time to get yours posted before the next theme is announced on Thursdays.) Also, try to link to the actual photo, not your album- that way it will be even easier to find your image!

Many people said they'd like to have all the photos in the same place so they would be easy to find. I think this is the simplest way to achieve that.

HERE are this weeks submissions. See how I put everyone else's links in the comments boxes this week? This is what you'll do next week! 

Drumroll please.......

AHP 52 week Challenge- Week 2 Theme is.....

FOOD!

Happy snapping...

and stay tuned for next week's, more technically challenging theme!

AHP 52 Week Challenge ~ Week One

Happy New Year!! I spent New Years Even in bed...by choice! I watched a movie with my kiddos, ate popcorn, got to spend the evening with my hubby and went to bed at 12:16.

It was perfect!

One year I had this crazy idea- I started a 2 year long project! I'm not sure if I've ever been able to commit to one project for more than a few days so this was huge for me. I wrote down something I loved about my husband EVERY DAY for an entire year. He had no idea I was doing it so on the following New Years Eve I was able to surprise him with a stack of small pieces of paper all wrapped up in a bow! The NEXT year he read one piece of paper every day for a year.....ok I can hear ya'll "AWWWW-ing" but in all seriousness it was fun!

So in a similar fashion I wanted to do something photo-related. Now, I'm busy. There's NO WAY I can do a 365-day photo challenge, but a 52 WEEK challenge- that's do-able!

I ask you to join me! Every week, announced on THURSDAY, there will be a theme. Take that theme and run with it. Load that photo to your Facebook page, Flikr, Photobucket etc in a designated album called "AHP 52 Week Challenge" and share a link to your photo on my facebook page every week so everyone else can see what you did with the theme!

This process may evolve as I find better ways of coordinating this (if you have suggestions let me know)! There may be prizes even!! But it's really more for you to be creative, challenged, inspired and share your work! Check out others work too- leave them comments, support each other, have fun!

So who's with me...who's ready for a challenge? Week one starts....

NOW!!!