Howling Hounds

I had the honor of photographing this past weekend for Howling Hounds, an organic farm in Compton, IL.
It served dual purposes for me; a photography job for the family who owns the farm, and a chance to work on one of my current documentary projects:  Born & Bred American.

Though we started early, it got very hot very fast.  My shoot was a combo of photos of them for their family album and their business website, and images of their farm & critters for their business use.
These are some of my favorite from the day:

Carrots & Kolhrabi

Organic Tomatoes

Tucker (I adore Tucker…so much so that I think my next dog will be a Hound!)

 On the property there is an old school house.  The school house originally was located about a mile away at the church (you will see in a later photo) but when the church was taken over by a new congregation, they decided not to keep the school house.  The old owner of the Howling Hound’s property paid to have the school house relocated to his homestead to save it from destruction.

School House Door

School House Light

Inside the School House

School House Bell

 Sometimes I’m like a cat.  I’m always drawn in by shiny and colorful things and this gazing ball was too much to resist.

Gazing Ball

Fallen Feather

Web
Tomorrow’s Pick…Tomatoes

Butterfly

Butterfly

Dew drop on Cabbage

“Ah the joys of chemical free farming…sometimes you just have to let the bad bugs have it so they will leave everything else alone.”  ~Nicole (Howling Hounds Owner)  

Sunkissed

 

Cabbage

Future Greenhouse

 So as it turns out, Turkeys go through puberty.  At that point in their lives is when they begin go “Gobble” in the sense that we know, as non-farmers, know it.  During this change they also have a tendency to fluff their feathers like a mohawk to show off.  Who knew?  I sure didn’t!  Great photo shoot and lesson in nature!

Pubescent Turkey 🙂

 If you follow my Twitter, my Facebook, my Myspace, my Website, my Blog, my Linked in, or my life in general you know that bunnies and puppies are the LAST thing anyone would expect me to shoot.  This new baby movement is walking the line of my comfort zone…but bunnies??!  Well natural disasters aside, these bunnies were just screaming “Photograph us!”  Too cute to pass up, I had to do it!  Don’t be lured in though-they’re being raised for their meat!

Baby New Zealand White Rabbits

Tucker gets a closer look

And finally the wonderful family that welcomed me to its home, and who runs this beautiful farm:

If you make the trip from Chicago west…along the corn and quiet dirt roads, make sure to stop in at Howling Hounds Farm and pick up some organic produce and home grown meat products!  They’re amazing people, a pleasure to work with and an honor to know.  Real ‘salt of the earth’…my kind of people!  
Thanks again to Nicole and her family for having me out!
View from Howling Hounds looking East.

Father~Son moment

Sometime there are images that capture a simple but beautiful bond between a parent and child.  While photographing a bonfire event this evening, I took this image of a father & son.  I adore it’s simplicity.

A few just for fun

Yesterday while getting ready to go to lunch with my mom, I spotted some really cool looking leaves in my dog’s pen.  In typical Abby fashion, I grabbed my camera because I can’t pass up the opportunity to take a cool photo.  These are just a few shots that I took.

5 Part Series ~ Project: Mississippi

Courage & Katrina and Project Mississippi
Though Hurricane Katrina descimated the Mississippi Gulf Coast almost 5 years go, much rebuilding still remains unfinished, or even unstarted.  Many families are still not living on their homestead properties.  Many family owned businesses have not been able to return.

The Gulf Coast of Mississippi will forever be scarred by Katrina, but the resilience of the people of Mississippi and the help of volunteers and benefactors has created a stepping stone for the much anticipated comeback of this area.

Strong people who refuse to be beaten are building back homes and fighting insurance companies who refuse to pay out!  Long time coastal residents stand along side new neighbors and help eachother rebuild one brick at a time, one emptied lot at a time, one clean slab at a time.

It has been said by many in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties, that they are forgotten.  That the world doesn’t know how much work still needs to be done.  That everyone is so focussed on New Orleans that most don’t even know the plight of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  The people who have said that, are right.  News media coverage in these counties has paled in comparison with that of New Orleans.  Very simply-people who are not there can not understand what it is like, because they have not seen it.  When many news organizations were rushing to New Orleans in the first days after Katrina hit, I delivered a truck load of supplies to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and began documenting an area that was far too ignored by popular media.

Courage & Katrina covers the first year after Hurricane Katrina made land fall from September ’05-September ’06.  Coverage begins on September 3, 2005 only days after Katrina laid waste to the thriving towns of Biloxi, Gulfport, Longbeach, Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis, Waveland and more.

The second book in the series of 3, is in production now.  This second book covers from September ’06 through September ’08 throughout the same devistated region.  Book 3 will cover through the 5 year anniversary of Katrina’s landfall, this coming August 28th.

This blog is the 1st in a series of 5 that will show chronologically, the destruction caused by the worst natural disaster to hit the United States in recorded history; and rebuilding and rebirth since August 29th, 2005.

September 3, 2005 ~ Jones Park ~ Gulfport, MS
September 3, 2005 ~ First Baptist Church ~ Gulfport, MS
September 3, 2005 ~ Debris, Damaged Buildings, Military Helicopter over the port ~ Gulfport, MS
September 3, 2005 ~ Mangled remains of tractor trailers ~ Gulfport, MS
September 3, 2005 ~ Debris near shipping yard ~ Gulfport, MS
September 3, 2005 ~ View from behind the military blockade ~ 13th Street Gulfport, MS
September 3, 2005 ~ Destroyed tractor trailer ~ Gulfport, MS
September 3, 2005 ~ Jones Park & the port ~ Gulfport, MS
September 3, 2005 ~ 20th & Beach Blvd ~ Gulfport, MS
September 3, 2005 ~ Shell shocked Officer surveys damage at Jones Park/Marine Life Oceanarium ~ Gulfport, MS
“I served in Iraq.  I served in Afghanistan.  I’ve never seen anything like this in my life” ~ Unnamed Officer
September 3, 2005 ~ Chair left as debris by retreating storm surge, paw prints of homeless pet ~ Gulfport, MS
The people of Mississippi still need our help to rebuild their towns and their lives.  Please help show them they are not forgotten.  Share this link and the links to come in the next 4 weeks.  Spread the word and donate to the Hurricane Katrina foundations.

Part 2: Getting Great Water Park Photos

I posted a couple weeks ago with ideas on getting great water park photos.  While the summer is winding down, there are still lots of opportunities to capture great images of your children at play!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…Kid’s Bums are CUTE.  We love them.  Admit it!
Chubby little cheeks, wrinkly little legs, and saggy butt swimsuits are a huge part of childhood.  Don’t be scared to capture it!  Will your kids hate you someday for taking pictures of their backsides?  Eh, who knows, but the memories are probably worth it!

Keep it tasteful though.  For your kids’ sake!
Freezing action is always great.  Sometimes it’s hard to know if you want to keep a photograph color or make it black and white.  If you’re putting images together in a collage style, try using both!  
Think about the answer to this question:  What means summer to you?
To me it’s sand, the smell of sunscreen, water, heat, and fun with friends.  BBQs, bonfires, you name it!
Sand can be a great photograph.  Everyone knows kids love to get covered in it!  

Last but not least, again and again, take the picture that’s not expected.  Crop it in tight, kick up the contrast and you will be happy with what you get!
This last image is a bonus.  It was taken by my mother, Kathi Garton.  It’s me and my Moose and I LOVE it!
Just goes to show faces don’t have to be in focus or even all the way in the frame to get a beautiful image.  Thanks, Mom!  I love this photo!

9 Month Baby Photos

I had the opportunity to photograph a beautiful baby girl yesterday, and she was an absolute pleasure to work with.  We started off in my natural light studio with some basic portraits, but as is usually the case with my work…unposed images.  When working with kids in a studio setting, especially babies, I prefer using backgrounds that are easily washable.  I learned the hard way, during my very 1st infant shoot, that babies go to the bathroom quite freely and with little concern for backdrops, props, or photographers within close range.

Taking the lead from another photographer I know, I looked into using fleece as a backdrop and instantly fell in love with it!  It doesn’t hold fuzzies, it doesn’t wrinkle, it can be rolled, or wadded or folded without marks, and it’s usually $6/yard and yards are usually wide enough for baby and young child portraits.  Best of all, it’s super washable!  On the off hand chance that it actually gets dirty to the point of being ruined, so what?!  It’s only $18 worth of backdrop, not a costly muslin or seamless paper.

I would not likely recommend using it for all applications but it does have it’s place amongst the seamless and muslin on my shelves.  I also love that it comes in so many colors, designs, and patterns.

It’s no secret that I love images that are “unposed” and just show the child doing what children do best.  This sweety was perfect for that!  At this age kids are so great to photograph.  They don’t do the cheesy smiles yet, they aren’t likely to put their hand up and tell you “No pictures”.  They just do their own thing and let you do yours.
I shoot very fast, in just over an hour I took 300 photos of Little Miss.  When it comes to photographing a child or baby, the difference of just a few seconds can be the image that is just perfect vs the image that is almost perfect.  Editing them down is hard sometimes.  With these, it was horrible!  It’s a happy rarity when you like almost every shot from a photo shoot and this was one of those shoots.
Don’t neglect to see the little things.  Not every great child photograph has a face in it!
By placing her in a shaded patch of grass on a sunny day, I get the vivid colors that bright light provides while avoiding any harsh shadows or highlights.  While dramatic lighting can be fantastic for portraits, I try to avoid it most of the time when photographing little little kids, especially girls.
Dark backdrops aren’t just for little boys.  Never count out a color or style background because of a baby’s gender until you have tried it out.
I’m not a huge fan of prop photography.  I prefer real life photographs, and sometimes giving a child something to focus on other than you is as simple as giving them a flower or small bucket to hold.
Remember to look for and try out different angles.  Not all good photos are shot straight on.
Capturing personality is always my ultimate goal.  A genuine smile, a cute smirk, ever a funny face can be very telling of who a person is.  Children are less inhibited than adults and are not afraid to be themselves.  Take it from a mother of 4, there are few things that bring more joy to a parent than a photograph of that one quirky face that their child makes all the time.  
Last but not least, I always try to get a few candid, unplanned photographs of the children I photograph with their parents.  Even if the parent doesn’t plan to be in them, or get dressed up for photographs, they always love a few simple touching photographs of them interacting with their children.
Thanks again to yesterday’s sweet little model and her Mommy for coming out to my studio and having make some photographs of them.  

Scott Kelby’s World Wide Photo Walk

This past Saturday, the 24th, was Scott Kelby’s 3rd Annual World Wide Photo Walk.  With 1111 walks and over 33,000 people participating, it was a social photography event like none other!

I hosted at walk at Cantigny Park in Wheaton, IL.  In the 16 hour prior to our walk, the Chicagoland area was inundated with over 12 inches of rain in some places.  Wheaton, IL was one of these places.  Our group of over 30 walkers dropped to around 16 who managed to make it through the flood waters to the soggy but still beautiful Cantigny.  We were lucky enough to have the clouds break for a bit when our walk started around 10. It was overcast much of the 2 hour walk with bits of blue sky here and there.  Toward the end of our walk the temp began to heat up, but we managed to get NO RAIN during our event.  YAY!   
I was with a group of extremely talented individuals whose company I truly enjoyed.  
Images are being posted on our Flickr group and I encourage you all to check them out!
Here are a few of my favorites with notes on how I captured the image:
This was actually my last shot of the walk.  Not my last of the day, as my Mother and I went shooting flood waters after the walk…but my last of the official walk.  As we were leaving the main entrance of Cantigny and walking to the parking lot, this butterfly shot past my head and almost ran into me.  I have HORRIBLE luck with photographing butterflies, they never stay still for me.  But this little beauty as practically posing for me!
The planter that he came to rest on was very busy.  Lots of colors, lots of different types of flowers, and while I photographed about 30 images of him, this is my favorite.  The background is less distracting than in many of the other images and I like that it is not a straight on shot of both wings.

This was actually one of my first shots of the day.  I know very little about flowers, so I can’t tell you what this is, but I love the Bokeh (short depth of field).  I also really love that it is so monochromatic.  The only camera I took on the shoot was my Canon Rebel XSi.  This image was captured using that camera and my Tamron 28-200 lens, which is off an old film SLR and is not one of the new “digital” lenses.  

I love the colors of this image and I love that the edges of the petals are so focused that you can see fuzz on them!  There is nothing like a really bright well framed floral and I enjoy the fact that this is not the entire flower.  This image was taken with a 18mm lens…nothing fancy.

This is the same type of flower as the above image, but this one has yet to really bloom.  The overcast weather really helped with the images-there were no harsh shadows and highlights to deal with in many of the shots and it allows you to see more parts of the flowers without losing anything to deep shadows.  I don’t know if you have ever seen the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie, but this image really reminds me of the Kraken that swallows up Jack Sparrow!  This image was also taken with an 18mm.

This is not an overly exciting image.  It is just a field of flowers.  But there is something about the depth of field in this photograph that really grabs me.  This was photographed with  the same Tamron lens as the green photo toward the top of this post.

As I said before, bugs rarely cooperate for me, and I have a stupid irrational fear of bugs so that doesn’t help. I tend do duck & cover or run when a bee comes near me, so images like this are few and far between for me!  With the plight of Bumblebees (they’re going extinct) and the ton of knowledge my 9 yr old daughter has showered me with about Bumblebees (only females have stingers…interesting!) I have a little extra love for this photograph.  

This is one of my few images that boast blue skies.  The sky in this photograph reminds me of the big skies out west, mainly Montana and Wyoming, where the sky seems to go on forever!  This image was photographed with my kit lens (18-55mm Canon).  A lot of photographers dislike kit lenses but I honestly find that I use mine quite often!

This leaf was probably nearing the end of it’s life.  It was curling up like a rolled up piece of paper.  The previous night’s rain storms favored us and gave us beautiful water drops all over the flowers and leaves.  This image was taken with my kit lens also.  I fancy myself a rule breaker…and I love that this image splits the “canvas” completely from one corner to the other.  Many photographers and teachers would tell you never to split your image in half, but if done right it can be very dramatic.  I do this quite often-sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  In this case I believe it does.
Just a tiny Rosebud but sticking up so high in the middle of all these full bloom roses, it seemed almost proud of itself.  I love how tiny it is, how bare the stem is up toward the flower itself, and the dark background of trees behind it.  I also love that if possible, it LOOKS young.  It’s like the toddler of roses!  This photograph was taken with a 28-135 IS Canon lens.

This is nothing fancy, but I adore it.  I actually really like that the background is so busy.  With a short depth of field and great Bokeh, the wide range of colors behind this flower do not detract too much.

There is just something about metal reflecting color that always draws me to it.  This is a wind chime hanging in the “Idea Garden“.  I love the pounded look of the metal and even more, I love that it is picking up the colors of the sky and foliage around it.  This image was taken with my 28-135 IS Canon lens.  

Macro…Nope!  I smashed my Macro lens a while back and have not yet replaced it.  This photograph of a large water drop cradled between 2 sides of a folded leaf was taken (believe it or not) with my kit lens!  A standard 18-55mm Canon lens that comes in any DSLR kit, took this photo.  It has good depth of field and excellent highlights and shadows.  This is one of my favorite from the day.

This is just a flower I love.  The image itself, aside from the clarity of the center, is nothing to jump up and down about.  It’s just pretty, and how often do you see daisies with blue centers?  Just too cool to not share.
Last but not least, the daisy above is my favorite image from the day.  After 12 inches of hard pounding rain in a 16 hour period, and winds along with that…many of the flowers in the gardens had met their demise.  As sad as that is for a gardener, it was very lucky for some of us.  The flowers had not been down long enough to begin to really die yet, and this particular daisy was exactly half way in the water.  I also love all of the debris that is stuck on the petals of the flower.  The reflection of the flower in the dark muddy water is perfectly focused, and THAT is what makes the picture for me. Beauty is not always what the mainstream’s definition.
Don’t forget to check out our Flickr Group photos to see more images from some other very talented people, and the Scott Kelby Flickr Group to see World Wide Photo Walk images from around the world.

It’s Fair, Baby!

That’s right!  What’s fair is fair and the Fair has come and gone!  What?  In a moment of temporary loss of sanity I let my friend talk me into entering some photographs in the county fair.  It’s been ages, I mean AGES since I have done that!  Quite literally somewhere around 8 or 9 years.  So I spent a few days pouring over images and looking through the category lists and finally came to terms with 39 photos that I felt were county fair appropriate with a chance of bringing home some bacon!  Judging was Tuesday of last week and I waited until Friday to go check out my score.  All in all I was pleased.  As is the case with any contest, there were some places where I disagreed with the judges’ choices (someone had an amazing bumble bee photo that took 2nd and definitely should have been 1st!).



Me crashed on my kitchen floor, surrounded by fair photos, on a pillow of ribbons
 (with the Moose in the corner)
I thought I would share my Fair experiences with you and show you all what my winners were (and maybe the ONE that I was disappointed to say took home a big fat notta!).  I’ll tell you what category & place they took and why I chose the image.
Color Brides:  1st Place
Chose because of the lighting and star reflections on the water.  Just love this image
 Black & White Floral:  3rd
Chosen because I love the dark background and how the lily really pops
(*note* as a general rule, we used to never enter lilies-they’re overdone in contests)
Black & White Farm Animal:  2nd
Honstly, I just love his face.  Plus I like the Bokeh in it-his eyes in focus but everything else out.

Black & White Pet:  1st
My kids chose this…it’s their cat.  I do love the image though…the face is not TOO much in shadow-you can see the details, but the highlights in the fur are awesome.

Black & White Architecture:  1st
I chose this image because it ties back to my Courage & Katrina project and I really believe this is a striking image.  The tree and the building both so abused and in such a stark surrounding are very vivid.
The Tivoli Hotel & Little Tivoli, were the site of the highest number of deaths in one location in Mississippi as a direct result of Hurricane Katrina.  The Little Tivoli collapsed under the pressure of the storm surge, claiming the lives of 9.  Seen above-The Tivoli Hotel just before demolition.

Black & White Character Study:  1st
I chose this because the image is good technically, good highlights and blacks with a good range of grays…but also because it really does show the child’s character.

Black & White People Other:  1st
I chose this because it is just an interesting and intriguing image.  This is Red.  He is a man left homeless by Hurricane Katrina.  He’s on the eccentric side, but full of life.  He survived when his trailer home was washed away by the storm surge, because he was in jail further inland for being drunk & disorderly outside a casino the evening before Katrina hit.

Black & White What is it:  1st  
(It’s looking down into an Iris)  
I chose this because it’s beautiful and because it’s obscure.
The following 5 images were entered as a Black & White Collage.  It took 1st place.

I chose these because they are beautiful soft images of a baby that are not the images that people normally take of their child.  Together I think they are a fantastic set.

Black & White Bride:  1st
I chose this because of her eye.  The look is so soulful and so serious.  

Color Water Scene:  2nd
I love this image.  It came from my archives and is about 9 years old.  

Color Pets:  1st
Chosen because it shows the curious nature of puppies and because the reflection in his eyes is great.  Also the background is not distracting, so that is a bonus.

Color Architecture:  2nd
I chose this because people rarely think of interior shots as architecture yet this image clearly shows the incredible architectural details of this historic home in South Carolina.  The muted colors and soft light are just beautiful.

Color Reflection:  1st
This is a self portrait (duh!) that I took in Gulfport, MS after Hurricane Katrina hit.  I loved that someone scrawled these words on a broken mirror.  They’re very telling of the attitude and resilience of the people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.  I chose the image for the contest because I think it makes you want to know the story behind it.
Color Misc.:  2nd
I chose this because I think its a beautiful image.  I love the lighting, the color, the way the rusty old metal contrasts the baby’s soft feet and the dried up dandelion over to the left.  All in all I love this composition.

 Color What is it:  1st
(It’s hand sanitizer…no joke!)
I chose this because it is just a fun image. Good highlights and darks, lots of colors, and kind of vague in subject matter…that is, after all, the purpose of the category.

Color Babies:  2nd
I chose this because come on…it’s pretty flippin’ cute!  I love the eyes, they really pop.  The somewhat distracted look and of course the mess on the face really give the feeling that I caught him off guard.  Besides, who doesn’t love seeing a photo of their baby win (I sure did with this one!).

Color Industrial:  2nd
This was a sort of last minute decision to use this image.  I have very little industrial work, but this 1940’s John Deere tractor (photographed for my Born & Bred documentary project currently in the works) has a beat up old industrial feel to it.

Black & White Farm Scene:  3rd
Honestly, I forgot I entered this category and had to throw something together.  I like this image because it was shot from a hay loft and it is an angle that is rarely seen in photographs.  I don’t think its a spectacular photograph though.  I would not normally share this work with my followers, it’s not up to par in my opinion.  The lighting was too dull this day to get a really interesting image.
Black & White People at Work:  2nd
I chose this image because I love it.  I love everything about it.  I love the tattoos, the dirty hands, the old motor, the working class feel to it.  Plus it’s my husband and my pick up truck so there’s a little extra love in there for that!
The only image that I entered that took nothing and left me disappointed was this.
I adore the colors and clarity of this image but I don’t think it showed enough of the flower to really win the category of Color Floral.  All in all I walked away with a great memory and a healthy premium check!  Not too bad for a weekend’s work!
 I had a great time entering this contest again.  It was a real blast!

Welcome

I suppose I should start off my posts by making an introduction.  I am a photographer with 9 years experience in documentary photography and 12 years experience owning my own photo business.

I attended and graduated from Columbia College Chicago.  I hold a BFA and degree in Documentary Photography with a concentration in magazine journalism.  I like to think that my specialty is documentary work, but lately I have spent more time doing family photography than anything else…partly because my 7 month old son makes it REALLY hard for me to run off to do doc work.

I owned and operated a photography business doing commercial, wedding, and model photography from 1998 to 2006 and then quit for a while to focus on my family.  In 2007 I opened Silver Eye Photography and focused largely on documentary photograph projects.  As my family photography business is growing, I have dedicated myself to capturing images that are less posed, less stiff, less staged.  I strive to produce photographs that let my subject’s personality shine through in an natural and unforced way.  My images are largely “Real Life Photography; (something I will expand on in my next post).

Life is insanely busy but I keep a fairly decent pace of work and try to keep the same going with my blog.  I will post recent work, behind the scenes and some tutorials on the photo techniques that I know best.  I love comments and welcome constructive criticism and questions!

So welcome to my tumblr page!  Hope you enjoy it!

Abby

Karly & Loren

I had a fantastic photoshoot with Karly & Lauren this past weekend.  We spent part of the afternoon climbing around trees, wood piles and more in a beautifully landscaped far west suburban yard.  The afternoon sun was extremely hot but the ladies toughed out the near 100 heat index and we got some really great images out of the afternoon!
Karly, who I’ve known since she was 4 or 5 years old, was very comfortable shooting and was full of smiles (even hamming it up at times).  Lauren and I just met yesterday but I think that her somewhat shy nature came across beautifully in the images.

Karly
Loren
Karly is pretty outdoorsy and very athletic.  Not at all afraid to climb a tree, kick off her shoes and run through the mud, or touch bugs; she was right at home in and among the abundant flowers and trees on the property.
I broke one of my personal cardinal rules-over using Photoshop actions (top right image above).  I used Photoshop to give the images of Karly in the lilies a faded out 1970’s photograph kind of feel and I absolutely love it.  To achieve this look I used a pre-made action that I got from http://www.mcpactions.com/.  They provide quite a few free actions for Photoshop that are as simple as a single click to get a desired look.  I used quite a bit of back-lighting in these images.  I have always thought the halo effect around hair is beautiful.
As a general rule I don’t use actions in Photoshop, mainly because I prefer having more control over my images, so I do things “long hand” if you will.  But there are definitely times it can be nice to get an instant change in your image.
Loren took a while to get comfortable being photographed.  She seems to be a person with a little more reserved and quiet nature, and that comes through in many of the images from the day.  Once the sandals came off and we had laughed together about dodging bugs flying around our heads; she really opened up and let her beautiful smile out.
An hour and a half and almost 300 images later I found myself struggling to choose my favorites.  You always know it was a good shoot when there are more images you like, than images you want to discard.  The girls were fantastic to work with and I look forward to shoot with them again in the future!