Turtlie Turtles

Before we arrived at Oak Island Beach a turtle nest had hatched and many, many turtles pushed their way out of the sandy ground and down to the ocean. From there they swim out into their futures in hope of returning to the same shore at which they were born. They lay their own eggs at about 20 years of age IF they actually survive that long. I was told that 10% of all the turtles that hatch actually survive.

After a nest hatches the "turtle people" (Those who watch over, nurture, and monitor the turtles' nests) return to the nest and dig up the remainder of the eggs in hopes of finding any survivors.

Our closest nest was due to be dug up on our first day there so we made a plan to watch the process.

The digging started while Steve and Alix were hunting and gathering junk food. I was out with Amanda, Emma and my camera with huge and romantic hopes of seeing turtles successfully start their journeys into life. However, when we arrived I could hear the nest mother talking about how the one turtle that came out didn't make it and I saw him laying in the sand. There was a pile of broken eggs on the sand (from the earlier hatch) and another little pile of unhatched eggs on the other side of the hole. As I stood there and looked at the broken eggs, the tiny dead turtle and what seemed like very still lifeless eggs I began to worry that this was going to be bad. I looked at Emma who was now looking at me with her bottom lip pushed out into a classic boo-boo lip and my heart sank.

Its true that I am certainly overly sensitive (a common phrase others use to describe me) but at this point I was kinda panicked. The woman speaking was painting a rather bleak picture of what we could expect by the dig and the little turtle, and the broken eggs and the very still eggs and the fact that I left the house wide open... Whew! I caved and I left. I was so afraid I was going to see dead turtle after dead turtle and I just didn't want that life experience. I left and took the girls with me.

To my disappointment I found later that I missed the struggle and survival of two baby turtles! They made it to the ocean and swam away into the watery world. I chickened out and missed out. Yet another one of those life lessons learned.

This is the nest mother explaining the

process and her helper is digging up

the remaining eggs.

Broken eggs from successful hatches and the little

guy that didn't make it.

I know, he's so cute but it was really sad for me...

Here we have the little eggs that held the last hope

for this nest. Don't get me wrong, the earlier hatch here

produced about 120 other baby turtles prior to this dig.

The good news is that on our last night there, another nest hatched. Instead of the usual bubbling over of turtles we saw just one little guy make his way out of the sand. The thought of running back and getting my camera ran through my head. Instead I stayed and watched with my own eyes. This was one of those times when I wanted a moment in time to be my own. I wanted to watch him travel down the beach to the water and soak up every moment and get teary eyed and enjoy it without worrying about settings and composition. So, sorry I don't have a picture of Hatchie (Emma named him that) just the memory of his tiny legs working like a wind-up toy buzzing down the sand to his dangerous future. As many times as I walk along the Pacific Ocean I'll never see a turtle hatch so I'm thrilled to have this memory. I'm also thrilled to have shared it with my friends and my family. It was cool.

The House

I am a homebody. I know this about myself and I accept it. In my brain I want to travel the world but in my heart I just want to stay home and sleep in my own bed. Being that this is the case I feel I am being very brave and adventurous when I leave my home state to explore any new place.

Because of how I am I really need a place to stay that I'm comfy in and feel at home. Don't get me wrong, I'm the easy going house guest that will sleep on your floor if that's what I need to do. I just know that for 7 days I need some space I can go to that is my own. This brings me to the house we stayed at in North Carolina. I was really geared up to staying in a "shack". My mind set was in place and I was ready to rough it.

The first night of our vacation we arrived at Doug and Mary's beach house after 8pm and were lucky enough to stay with them until our "shack" was ready the next day. So after a wonderful dinner and talking in the on deck rocking chairs, all five of us went to bed. (We took over Max's room, thanks Max!) Three of us slept in one bed and two in the other. Everyone was exhausted from the travel and looking forward to getting settled in the next day.

Morning came and we started moving into our place. When I walked in I can't tell you how excited I was. I've stayed in some wonderful places but this beach shack (that wasn't a shack at all) was the coolest place I've ever stayed. We had three rooms and big beds and two bathrooms and decks all over the outside. Half the house was windows that looked out to the sea! I could not believe I was going to get to stay here for a whole week!

I quickly moved our stuff in while Steve and Alix went to buy as much junk food from the grocery store as they could.

This is our little house from the online rental add.

SEA SAGE

Our dinning room and living room.

Notice all the windows, oooo ahhh.

Here is the kitchen, dinning and a peek into the

hallway and bedrooms. I totally LOVED the decor

it was crazy and fabulous in a kooky way.

How much do you love that little couch in the

kitchen?!

This is the master bedroom. I could hear the ocean rolling

all night through those open windows. Yes, we brought

our own sheets. I also brought my own pillow, which helps

me with the homebody issues.

Here is the ridiculous view from our deck.

So, here I am just sitting on that cute little kitchen

couch looking out my door. It's about 95 degrees

Fahrenheit with about, I don't know, 80 to 90%

humidity. All the doors are open with a crazy breeze

blowing...

Just looking out my front door. Hmmm, what to do

what to do?

Oh I found plenty to do, trust me.

Vacation!

My family and I just got home from vacation. This was the first vacation we've taken in three years, minus the occasional two to three day trips we take out to VEGAS every year. I really want to post a few pictures from our trip and tell a few stories. Hopefully it wont be the famous scenario of a person showing 500 slides of their vacation while everyone sleeps on.

We left our home at 6am to fly off into the "future" time zone of the East Coast of North Carolina. We shared the beach with my long-time friend Mary and her family. That alone was exciting because I hadn't seen Mary or her husband Doug for 16 years.

We stayed in a beach house right on the sand at Oak Island. We laid in the sun, swam in the ocean, took long walks along the shore with Millie May the dog, and played games into the late night with the McManus Family. Amanda and I got stung by jellyfish and caught in a real life thunderstorm. We just had a lot of adventures that I want to share.

Here we are on our way to the airport:

So it looks like we're really great videographers! I think not, but at least we have something! By the way is our driver illegally texting while she's driving us to the airport? Just asking...

See you here tomorrow for the first story. ;-)

Sisters

In my last post I talked about my visit to Las Vegas. Since I was basically going out to work I left my family at home. However, when I go to Vegas I am still surrounded by family. My sisters and I thought this visit would be a perfect time for a girls' night out. We started in the late afternoon at a water front restaurant named Marche' Bacchus. I was with my big sister Cathy and my little sister Michelle. We planned on later meeting up with our fabulous sister-in-law Korbi.

The afternoon was hot (remember its Vegas) but very relaxing. We ate wonderful food and had a nice glass of wine but the best part of being together is always the conversation. I'm pretty sure I have the most wonderful sisters ever made. We are honest and fair and actually like each other as friends. When we are with each other the one guarantee is that we will be laughing. I am so impressed at how smart these women are and creative and passionate about their lives and careers. They are also two of the funniest women I have ever met.

We are all very passionate about food which may be genetic...

Our Bacchus plate of many wonderful delicacies.

We just ordered plates of food and shared everything.

But I think Cathy ate all that bread.... ok not really.

Notice the french fries on that back plate.

They were wonderful but the black birds loved them too.

While Chelle was eating one a bird landed on her ring and

tried to peck it out of her hand. I was really wishing

I had my camera to my eye for that one.

Thank goodness for big jewelry. The other guests looked at

her in amazement as she yelled out in the restaurant,

"Don't order the Fries!"

It wasn't as funny when the bird attacked that elderly lady...

We are so much alike and so different...

I see this picture must have been taken before Cath ate all the bread... umm not really.

This duck was standing next to my chair and I was fearful she

would try to steal my fries. She's so cute.

Cathy and Michelle

Michelle and me

Cathy and me. I would really like to know where her

gray hair is...

We moved on to Sedona Bar and Lounge to meet up with Korbi, our little brother's wife. For the rest of the evening we sat outside in the heat and talked about our dreams and what we want for our futures. We fantasized about all of us living in the same place so we can grow old together. Again, we laughed so hard I know I cried a couple times. We ate more french fries, (bird safe this time) fruit, and calamari. We talked until the sun went down and our waiter was going home. Girls' night out has changed for me over the years and I can't imagine anything I would want to do over sitting in the company of these three wonderful women.

Korbi, my sister by marriage fits right in with us. What a blessing we got with that girl!

I'll take it if its called bubble gum...

Cathy and Korbi

It was a wonderful time of relaxing and talking and we finished the night off with a visit to our Mom and Dad at their house. Where else can you show up at 11 pm? As we walked in the door my Mom yelled, "Oh Geez, the girls are back in town, watch out!"

PS Just a little note to let my Baby brother Michael know how much I love him

and if he were a girl we would invite him to go out with us too!

I'm pretty sure he stayed home thanking

God he isn't a girl. LOL

oxoxoxo

The Room

Beyond all understanding I have no idea why this image

will not open at the bottom of this post. Humor me and open

this image when you want to see the light set up at the end of

the post.

So, I just returned from Las Vegas. While I was there my baby sister Michelle DiMauro and her business partner Heather Soto celebrated the grand opening of their new studio. They are the owners of Inhabit Design, Las Vegas and they found a fabulous spot downtown in the Arts District. I was there to help celebrate and to take pictures of the party.

While I was there to help set up for the party I have to tell you I was truly excited to see my photography all over the office. Pictures I took of their work were in picture frames, digital slides of the images were passing by in a frame. Their pictures were used in posters and coffee table books. It was really exciting for me to see them get so much use out of the pictures I had taken for them.

I got a kick out of seeing this party goer pointing to one

of the pictures I took of a room the girls designed.

Anyway, the party was a success and over 200 people showed up to celebrate including the Mayor of Las Vegas. The ladies shined like stars and I can't tell you how proud of them I am.

Heather Soto, Mayor Goodman, and Michelle DiMauro

Cheers!

So, seeing all those pictures just served as a reminder that I promised my friend, Noel Hannan (Architect by day, photographer extraordinar by night) that I would show him how I shot one of those interiors I did for the ladies of Inhabit.

While I was putting together this blog and the photos for it I realized I am really terrible at remembering what I did. I always have a PSD file that is not flattened so I can go back and see what I did but sometimes that is limited info. All the while I could hear my printing instructor telling me to keep notes on what I have done in case I ever have to go back and see what I did. Live and learn... again.

So much of what I do I "feel". I look at the light and change it as I see it. I edit the same way. I paint in light and color and shadows as though I'm painting a picture. Shooting architecture interiors are really a breed all their own. It's difficult and it takes time but the beauty of it for me is that I can do it barefoot and in jeans and listen to any music I want. To have a designer with me dressing the rooms is the ultimate dream come true. This particular job that this image belongs to was an eleven hour day for Heather and I. It was 5 rooms with two hallways. She dressed the rooms while I shot the images.

So, enough talking let's go to the image and see what it's all about.

The first thing I do is take an overall shot to see what it looks like. It is really nice having your camera tethered to a laptop so you can see what's really happening like tangency issues, shadows, or uh really bright windows.

So in this I see many dark places in the corners and the side of the sofa has lost all texture due to it's dark color. The frame is too tight at the bottom and the windows are blown out. I really wanted to show case the "headboard" area too.

So here we are all lit up

You can also see the strobe in the center of the shot but all my clamp lights

are too small to project enough light so I knew I would have to remove it post. It also caused an insane shadow on the ceiling. I chose to keep it though because I really liked the light on the headboard area. Notice all the light plugs in the walls and vents on the ceiling. I really can't stand those so I plan to remove them in post also. I really focus on capturing the light in camera as much as possible. I also wanted the window to be as dark as possible along with the light on the coffee table. I use mostly tungsten lights for interiors due to the fact that I have to use so many lights. I do prefer to use the new reveal bulbs because they're a bluer light. The tungsten lights explain the bluer light on the coffee table because it was ambient from the window. This is my base image or background image in photoshop.

This is my second image that I placed on top of the first image as a layer. I then, through a mask, removed the entire layer and slowly replaced the ceiling and area of the strobe head with a reverse brush.

This is the final image. I kept the base image and only replaced the ceiling from the top image. I have a curves layer of blue brought down and masked to add more warmth to only the coffee table. Then I added a curves layer of blue brought up to "clean up" the light from the yellow tungsten hue. I think the color is cleaner and more elegant.

Here is my final image with light placement. Click on the image to see a larger view of the room and text.

I used a total of 16 lights in this room which includes all the room lights.

Being that 16 lights can get really expensive I have invested in many clamp lights from Home Depot and I fill them with reveal bulbs. When they break I just throw them away with not even a single tear because they cost $5.00 to $7.00 each. My key lights are my JTL strobes set to the model light mode only.

Clearly, I am not a tutorial kind of girl and SO not an expert in any way but you asked and I hope it was insightful. Its what works for me.

A Quick Hello...

I just wanted to check in. With getting ready for the graduation party of the century, photo jobs, and end of school activities, I haven't been able to fit in the blogging. While I've been working on a large blog regarding an interior shoot I did, I thought I'd just say a quick hello. (As if I could say anything quick...)

Last night was Father's Day and I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the beach and take pictures of a great family. Sherry Chetwood is one of my girlfriends from my women's group at church. We've shared precious time together and I love her like a sister. When she asked me to take pictures of her family I couldn't resist. Sherry's oldest son Tim is getting ready to leave for the Army and this was one of their last chances to be together for a while.

You know, we all go through this process of growing up in our families. It can be so much fun, and so painful, and it can take us beyond any blessings we ever imagined. With older children we struggle with wanting them to become adults while wanting them to stay little. We push them into the world yet run behind them with our safety nets, just in case. Then comes the day they leave us and we feel that bitter sweetness of letting go. The job we started 20 years before is ending, at least in the way we've always know it.

It's an amazing process and their sweet family is right in the middle of this whirlwind. If there was one thing I noticed while playing at the beach with them was just the deep binding love they all have for each other. The kind of love that surpasses our understanding, and makes it through the hard times, and embraces the good times with joy and laughter. And I can tell you last night my face hurt from all the laughter.

Sherry, thank you for letting me share this night with you and your family. It was such a blessing! oxoxox

David, Sherry, Tim, Matt, and Lauren Chetwood

Lauren

Matthew, as Mom likes it...

David, Tim, and Matt

I love that moment when you realize you may not

win the fight because your sons have become men.

Total Mom love!

Imagine having this one in 20 years

The sunset was beautiful. These three kids were so

affectionate with each other and it was so

evident in all the images.

I can't imagine another woman

loving her children more deeply than she does

That's all for now because I don't want to spoil the fun of Sherry seeing all her images for the first time. So I'll sign off until next time. One of the wonderful aspects of being a photographer is the people you meet, and the moments of life you're allowed to share with them.

To Tim, may the Lord keep you safe and healthy and may your

family's love go with you into the next step of your journey.

Milk and Honey

Last Friday was Emma's "Spring Sing" show. Being that I am the official photographer for her kindergarten class, I was there to take pictures. She and her classmates sang many of the songs they have learned in their first year of school. It was precious and I got to be there to witness a moment in time that will never be happen again.

The Graduating class of 2022 singing in sign language during

the Spring Sing. My little Emma is the the girl in the second row.

If you know me, you may know I have been pulling myself through a struggle at this point in my life. I keep thinking I have to decide who I am as a photographer. What is my brand? What do I do, and how shall I market myself? Over the last month I flip flopped all over the place with this and even stripped my website down to bare bones with nothing but fine art images because "that's all I wanted to shoot." As soon as I did this I felt like I had cut off my arm, or leg, or whatever, I just felt like I had killed off part of who I am.

So, after Emma's show I stopped by the grocery store for a couple of items. As I walked past the cheese aisle I noticed a man that looked very familiar. It was Paul Gero! He is one of the nicest men I know and here he was in the grocery store with his camera hanging over his shoulder and a couple of yogurts in his hand. As we said hello, and began to talk we of course, started talking about our love and passion for photography. I have to tell you honestly that talking to Paul was like having him say, "Hey, Kelley, I have some milk and honey here in my pocket, would like some?" When I shared this allegory with my middle daughter she asked me if he actually said that. No, he did not actually say that but everything he DID say was like magic that watered my dry and dusty photography spirit.

Now, to really appreciate this you'd have to know that Paul Gero was, for 20 years, a photo journalist and very successful at what he did. From taking pictures of world leaders to Princess Diana, back to daily street news for the Chicago Tribune. He's the real deal. Now he lives here in Southern California with his beautiful wife and children and loves his life capturing images of children, families, and weddings.

Out of all the wonderful words of wisdom that Paul shared with me next to the cheese he said this one thing that stuck with me. "Do what makes you happy." Wow, really? I'm allowed to do what makes me happy? Enjoy the camera, the people, the moment, the post, the film, the processing, whatever it is that you love, just do it. (That was the compressed version) For some reason, this made perfect sense. Paul has been working on a project called One Camera, One Lens One Shot a Day. He does exactly this, enjoys the camera and the moments of everyday life.

You'll need to know this, I am retired. I have paid my dues of long shifts and hard work, both mentally and physically. I have worked in one of the top three most stressful jobs in America and I don't want to work like that again. I'm able to provide financially for my family- I understand this makes a difference. So, here's the deal, I am doing what makes me happy. When you look at my website you may be confused as to who I am or it may be perfectly clear. Personally, I don't care if anyone gets it because I do. I asked myself, "If I found out I had only six months to live what would I shoot pictures of? What would I show you?" I answered myself by saying this, "I would shoot everything that makes me happy, and nothing that doesn't!"

So that is who I am: a photographer who loves her camera, the process, the moments, and the taste of milk and honey.

I love shooting black and white film with a 4x5 camera. I loved opening the lens

and running around in my socks "painting" my husband with a flashlight.

I love shooting a wedding but knowing how to use a tripod and long exposures

to take unexpected images of the venue...

...and to still have the time to see the wonder in a child's world in the middle of the

hustle and bustle of the wedding

While still getting the images I came for.

I love the technical stretch of getting the interior shot while still understanding

how to use light that gives you this beautiful blue sky... in camera.

Lastly, I love sitting on the ground and staring at the light dance

around a group of bubbles floating in a fountain.

These things are ALL part of who I am and what I do and I plan on enjoying them all wether I get paid to do it or not. Now, that's liberating!

oxox