So here I am, a full week after Spring break and haven't gotten a thing up...They sure don't wait to smack you between the eyes with life when you come back, seriously right? But I figured I'd put my proverbial little foot down and get the Spring break preview up. Later, I will have albums on my Facebook up, but expect snapshots, lol. It's mainly for the students to see their pictures.
Spring break ended up being COMPLETELY different than I imagined, and honestly much better :) I had some foggy plans with friends that just kinda fell through. So I figured I'd just go home, like always. That's when the parents said, "Um...we'll be across the country. You said you had plans with your friends." Woops. So I started planning my solo-lame spring break, deciding to make the rounds on some friends' houses and calling them up to ask if I could crash their place for a couple days. That's when I got a text from my mom: "Hey, you want to come to Mexico?"
Random. Lol, but totally awesome. SO wish I could say the same for the trip there. Never fly Spirit Airlines, just sayin'...there's a reason you've never heard of 'em. Ask me if you're curious and willing to hear a rant about a 4 a.m. mile-walk.
Chetumal is on the Yucatan Peninsula, about 4 hours south of Cancun. ^^ This was on my way there. I've flown in a plane plenty of times, but I've never seen the clouds like this before...if I were completely nerdy, I could tell you exactly what it meant...but since I'm only partly smart like that, I just figured it was some sort of cold/warm front.
The accommodations were amazing at the Hacienda Campestre, and a later trip to Lago Bacalar ("The Lake of Seven Colors"...a fresh-water DREAM).
But the real reason I was there was (awesomely enough) to be a video/photographer. The whole point of myself flying down there was for a mission trip that my old high school was taking, my mother being one of the faculty chaperones.
Share Him is a global evangelism organization that usually travels with the likes of college groups, but for the first time, high school students were taking the reins and preaching at 15 different churches, while 5 other groups of students rotated with children's ministries. They did a phenomenal job in the short amount of time I saw them in action, and their excitement with the results was crazy-refreshing to hear.
They began with worship in the mornings and then split off into their respective meetings: Pastors and VBS/Children's Ministries. They prepared as a group and then broke off to prepare for that night, whether it was a sermon or manly tasks ;-P
As cool as it was to see them prepare and be excited afterwards, seeing them in action was far beyond cool. I only got to see an average of 3 a night, since I was only there 4 days, but you can see the variety of churches they ministered to.
Besides the awesome locations, I got to know some awesome kids there too. Love 'em to death, and there were a couple girls that I convinced to help me practice utilizing locations.
In a lot of my portraits, I tend to close the gap between the camera and subject, making them pop more, but also completely blurring out the background. Well, in the future, say at a wedding I happen to be shooting on June 7 (Woohoo, Tim and Alisha!), if I should be shooting at the Chestnut Hill Estate on the Ocoee, I'd like to be prepared to capture moments, but also the completely fairytale surroundings :).
So I stole away a couple of the high school beauties and we had a couple little shoots. Here are some of my favorites of Brittany and Iyana. Keep a number in mind and vote for your fave at the top! [Poll is now closed, thank-you for voting! Results in brackets]
1. [2 votes, 2nd place]
Brittany
2.
Iyana
3. [1 vote, tied for 3rd]
4. [1 vote, tied for 3rd]
Inevitably, in an airport, I get photography magazines, and American Photo had a spread about senior portraits. One of them was cross-processed with a lightly-textured background...so even if this one is punched in closer, it was an experiment :)
5. [3 votes, tied for 1st]
And I don't know what it is about this one...I think it was the white pavement behind me that put a cool reflection in her eyes, but I think this is one of my favorites :)
6. [3 votes, tied for 1st]
Spring break ended up being COMPLETELY different than I imagined, and honestly much better :) I had some foggy plans with friends that just kinda fell through. So I figured I'd just go home, like always. That's when the parents said, "Um...we'll be across the country. You said you had plans with your friends." Woops. So I started planning my solo-lame spring break, deciding to make the rounds on some friends' houses and calling them up to ask if I could crash their place for a couple days. That's when I got a text from my mom: "Hey, you want to come to Mexico?"
Random. Lol, but totally awesome. SO wish I could say the same for the trip there. Never fly Spirit Airlines, just sayin'...there's a reason you've never heard of 'em. Ask me if you're curious and willing to hear a rant about a 4 a.m. mile-walk.
Chetumal is on the Yucatan Peninsula, about 4 hours south of Cancun. ^^ This was on my way there. I've flown in a plane plenty of times, but I've never seen the clouds like this before...if I were completely nerdy, I could tell you exactly what it meant...but since I'm only partly smart like that, I just figured it was some sort of cold/warm front.
The accommodations were amazing at the Hacienda Campestre, and a later trip to Lago Bacalar ("The Lake of Seven Colors"...a fresh-water DREAM).
But the real reason I was there was (awesomely enough) to be a video/photographer. The whole point of myself flying down there was for a mission trip that my old high school was taking, my mother being one of the faculty chaperones.
Share Him is a global evangelism organization that usually travels with the likes of college groups, but for the first time, high school students were taking the reins and preaching at 15 different churches, while 5 other groups of students rotated with children's ministries. They did a phenomenal job in the short amount of time I saw them in action, and their excitement with the results was crazy-refreshing to hear.
They began with worship in the mornings and then split off into their respective meetings: Pastors and VBS/Children's Ministries. They prepared as a group and then broke off to prepare for that night, whether it was a sermon or manly tasks ;-P
As cool as it was to see them prepare and be excited afterwards, seeing them in action was far beyond cool. I only got to see an average of 3 a night, since I was only there 4 days, but you can see the variety of churches they ministered to.
Besides the awesome locations, I got to know some awesome kids there too. Love 'em to death, and there were a couple girls that I convinced to help me practice utilizing locations.
In a lot of my portraits, I tend to close the gap between the camera and subject, making them pop more, but also completely blurring out the background. Well, in the future, say at a wedding I happen to be shooting on June 7 (Woohoo, Tim and Alisha!), if I should be shooting at the Chestnut Hill Estate on the Ocoee, I'd like to be prepared to capture moments, but also the completely fairytale surroundings :).
So I stole away a couple of the high school beauties and we had a couple little shoots. Here are some of my favorites of Brittany and Iyana. Keep a number in mind and vote for your fave at the top! [Poll is now closed, thank-you for voting! Results in brackets]
1. [2 votes, 2nd place]
Brittany
2.
Iyana
3. [1 vote, tied for 3rd]
4. [1 vote, tied for 3rd]
Inevitably, in an airport, I get photography magazines, and American Photo had a spread about senior portraits. One of them was cross-processed with a lightly-textured background...so even if this one is punched in closer, it was an experiment :)
5. [3 votes, tied for 1st]
And I don't know what it is about this one...I think it was the white pavement behind me that put a cool reflection in her eyes, but I think this is one of my favorites :)
6. [3 votes, tied for 1st]