It's amazing what a little tweaking in post-processing can do. Each person has their own photographic vision for a particular image that can go beyond the simple composition and capture with the camera.

I remember processing and re-processing particular photos in the darkroom, adjusting the contrast until it created the mood I wanted. Here we have one fence, four ways.

I'm not sure exactly how this poor book became neglected such that it was discarded in a giant snow pile. Regardless, it made for great photographic subject matter. I tossed it around in the snow with abandon.

It's rare to find a variety of colored lights around, except during the holidays. This year afforded me some time to experiment.

I look forward to next year!

What better way to ring in the new year than with sparkling red beverages that warm your heart & tingle your fingers? I'm a particular fan of sangria.

May 2010 bring everyone many blessings.

I first traveled to Haiti in 1999, when I was 17. I was on a mission trip with Partners with Haiti to help build the roof of a church. I returned to continue working on that church (which also ran a school) the following year. I was so moved by those trips that I started sponsoring a child through that organization. Her name is Joceline Exantus.

One of ten children, she lives in Cité Soliel with her family. In May 2003, I had the honor of meeting her and her family in person. I traveled with one of Partners with Haiti's leaders to her house, and had the chance to communicate to them what little I could with an embrace and a few words of thanks through a translator.

My meager donation goes toward funding her education, and providing her with at least one meal a day. Occasionally with her report cards I receive lovely thank-you letters from her, written in French or Creole, and translated into English for me by her teacher. I hope it gives her a chance higher education, or at least a future other than pennilessness or prostitution.

I have no idea if Joceline or her family is alive now, but I am praying every day that they are safe. The news that Cité Soleil escaped the earthquake relatively unscathed gives me hope, but I do remember that Joceline and her family lived in one of those all-too-common concrete and rebar houses that collapsed in the quake throughout Port-au-Prince.

If you have not done so already, please donate. Continue to pray. Read this book. There are several amazing organizations out there doing what they can. Give power to the hands that are healing and helping. Better yet, consider sponsoring a child, and make a difference in the lives of the children--the future--of Haiti.

In early January I had the extreme pleasure of attending Mystic 5, a photography conference in Connecticut put on by Walter Van Dusen. I confess: it's my first photography conference ever. I enjoyed many of the speakers, took lots of notes, and had the chance to network a bit with fellow professionals.

I left energized, in awe, and humbled. It's amazing how much talent there is in the world. I should really stop being so jealous of others' talents and successes; I could waste some serious time, since there's no shortage of masterly photographers to admire.

When I packed up and left, I had filled several pages of my notebook with frenzied scribbles. I left with loads of ideas and things to try from the technical to the personal, from customer service to camera gear. It's going to take awhile to try everything on.

I also left with a little piece of Jerry Ghionis' educational product: PicPockets (the Ordinary to Extraordinary set). Perhaps not the smartest investment I could make with my limited cash flow, but purposeful nonetheless. As a busy working mom, it's tough to sit down and complete long computer tutorials, to make space in my home to experiment the way I want to, or take time to read a manual on photography.

So, I've alloted myself one card per day--one little piece of photographic inspiration--that will help to create the mental habit of looking for ways that I can manipulate the existing (less than ideal) environment to create dramatic or unusual images. Being in the practice of analyzing my environment with a photograph in mind is vital. It's the photographer's equivalent to an athlete's stretching session: warm and tone your creative muscles, and you'll get better results when the pressure is on.

I've been shooting film again.

It makes it quieter here on the blog, but also a little more peaceful inside my head. I'm using my old Nikon FM-10--an all-manual marvel of goodness that I haven't picked up in about 3 years. Working in all-manual again, with no immediate feedback, puts me in a different headspace.

What makes it different is that I think twice about taking a shot, because my resources are limited. Without the immediate feedback of a digital camera, I hedge my bets by taking multiple frames of the same shot at different exposures (known as "bracketing", for those who are curious).

That once-familiar lag time between moment taken and moment seen lends itself to a feeling of delight and disappointment. "Oh, that shot came out beautifully!" or, "Oh my, that didn't work so well." Feelings at the time of capture often don't match feelings at the time of evaluation.

In a way, I think the analog process of photography has the potential to nurture creativity more effectively. True, you can spend a great deal of time criticizing and second-guessing your subject matter, or worry about "wasting" frames on something frivolous. But by eliminating instant feedback, it also eliminates instant criticism of your own work. It creates space between creating and evaluating, which is what many artists need in order to grow.

Conversely, there's a great deal of benefit to having instantaneous feedback. When I first procured a digital SLR, I felt freed to see the photo I had just taken appear miraculously on the screen on the back of the camera. It allowed me to say, "Oh, that didn't work, let me try something else," instead of, "I sure hope that worked, let me bracket that again!" Failed experiments are more obviously failed experiments.

But because it's so easy to try on a style or technique and create frame upon frame upon frame with very little monetary consequence, it's also easy to become sloppy and unfocused in one's work. A just-plain-uninteresting photo or truly bad exposure cannot be fixed in Photoshop. I speak from experience.

Revisiting this medium has been refreshing for me. I hope to glean more lessons from it and bring them into my digital work. I also know that the many things I've learned with my digital camera will feed into what I decide to do with my film. Each medium feeds another, and this is true for film, digital, drawing, painting, sewing, cooking... any creative venture, really.

I don't get much chance to go shopping for myself. The other day, when making a donation to Goodwill, I happened upon this bag...

Which happens to be the same color/pattern idea as the suitcases I put together awhile back.

Because of this striking resemblance, I instinctively bought it. "What fun," I thought, to have my studio branding take over my everyday fashion!" Also, I happen to be on a quest for the Perfect Handbag that doesn't scream "Mom Purse."

It's a tad obnoxious, and the straps aren't quite right. I'm not sure I like it, and then the next day, I love it. Perhaps I wasted $8, but I might be that much closer to the Perfect Handbag.

There's been a semi-secret contest going on. For those who follow me on Twitter or joined my Facebook fan page, it's no big secret.

Last night, I gave away a free engagement session on Facebook.

Twelve couples entered--which was more than I expected, actually! And hey, a one in twelve chance to win something is better than most odds.

And here are the results, folks!

I look forward to working with Lisa & Rob!