Come See Me at The Grape and Ale

This Friday I will be installing about 25-30 pieces of my art work at The Grape and Ale in Southport, North Caorlina. They have featured artists on the first Fridays of every month and I am one of their artists for the month of April. A few other artists will be displaying their work as well. There will be a wine tasting  from 4-7pm so come on out and enjoy some art! I would love to see you there!

Josh + Ericka

Yep, they are getting married. I would tell you the date, but I think that is going to be obvious with the baseball pics. So, I must explain. Josh is an assistant coach for UNCW’s baseball team. They are going to have baseball elements at their wedding, so we thought it would be a good idea to carry the theme through the engagement session. I had quite a bit of fun with it. These guys were really great. I mean, they put up with me for an evening so they must be great right. I really did have a lot of fun! Thanks for coming up guys!

More from the Lomo Diana

I pulled the Lomo Diana out at Gerard and Amanda’s to make a few images to commemorate the day. The lomo diana is a great camera for rainy weather because it is made out of plastic…not too much to worry about there as far as the rain goes. I just got done working on a silver gelatin print for Gerard and Amanda..fun stuff! Here are a few: 

Gerard + Amanda

Congratulations to Gerard and Amanda! Amanda and I were in school at Barton in the same class studying art. Amanda is a very talented painter. Her husband Gerard is an Art Professor at Barton and his concentration is photography! I have enjoyed looking at his art work…click HERE to check it out! We had some rainy weather on their wedding day, which just gave us the opportunity to do some fun umbrella shots. A big thanks to my students, Heather Sullivan and Jessica Green for helping me out for the day..they were awesome! These are a few of my favorites from their day:

By the way, Gerard and Amanda had their reception at Barton’s Art Gallery. There was an exhibition up by Arthur Ganson. It was kinetic sculpture (sculpture that moves). It was the coolest thing, I had the best fun checking it out. You really have to watch them move…you can find some videos of them on YouTube. 

Tuesday Tip: Re-use Curves

For the image below I used a Curves Adjustment Layer (found under the half-black, half-white circle from the layers palette) to give the shadows a cool blue feel and the highlights a warm feel. Well, what if I wanted to use that Curve again. I don’t think I would remember the exact setting I used. I could set up an action, and I do have an action for this. But, there is one other option that I use as well, and that is saving your curve to use it later.

Step One: Create a curve adjustment layer that you think will be helpful in the future. Maybe you already have one you use quite often, like an S-Curve, a Cross-Process Curve, etc. Once you have done that, keep the curves dialog box open and click on Save Curves Present from the drop down menu  (top right corner). If you have CS2 or earlier just click Save. 

Next, name your file something you can identify it by later. Preferably something that has to do with the color used. I created a folder to keep all my curves in.

The next time you want to use the curve, get a Curves adjustment layer, then go to the Curves dialog box and choose “Load Curves Preset” from the drop down menu at the top right.

Then navigate to where you saved your curve, select it, and click load.

That’s about all there is to it!

New Disk Folios

Just wanted to share these fun things. I received my first Disk Folio from Loktah .  They have some pretty awesome stuff. I am definitely a lover of natural materials. I wanted to share these pics before I have to part with this folio to give it to a bride and groom. I am sure I will be ordering different designs in the future!! I got a little carried away photographing it. Oh yeah, tuesday tip is on its way (hopefully on tuesday, which is today, I know)

Ethiopia to Wilmington

 

I am very excited to tell you that my friends, Shane and Meredith McCumbee, are in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia. To learn more about the McCumbee family and their adoption click on this link  or visit: http://www.ethiopiatowilmington.blogspot.com 

When they made the announcement via email they sent this link to a video on You Tube about the famine and disease that is affecting Ethiopia. It discusses the  desperate need for medical care as well as the growing number of orphans in Ethiopia.

I was very inspired by the decision they have made to adopt and open up their family. So, I decided to help them in the process by scheduling a weekend of shooting devoted to them. So mark your calendars! May 15-17th I will be scheduing photo sessions in Wilmington to benefit their adoption. Sessions are 30 minutes long and are only $35 and the session fees go entirely to the McCumbee family! We are scheduling one day at the beach, one day downtown, and one day at Poplar Grove. Sign up early for best times and for your location of choice. What an easy way to give back and have fun doing it! If you are interested in signing up to help the McCumbee family contact Meredith via email at Meredith.McCumbee@wilm.ppdi.com.  If you have any questions about the sessions feel free to contact me at jsmixon06@aol.com.

Coming Soon…

Oh my….so many pics to edit. Thought I would share a quick sneak peak of Josh & Ericka’s Engagement session. I had a lot of fun on this one. Josh and Ericka did a great job putting up with me for the day! I will be posting some more of their session soon, so be on the lookout!

Shaun’s a Senior

This is Shaun. He is my sister’s nephew and he is a Senior. Can’t believe it, am I really that old? Of course, he is probably hearing people say, “I remember when you were just a little guy” or maybe I am the only one thinking that. He is so grown up and will be off to college in the fall. So, here are a few pics from our session:

Shaun’s sister Mackenzie jumped in for a few:

Shaun’s Aunt Jill was standing next to him on this one…of course, making him laugh:

Workshop Information

 

This summer, I am teaching a continuing education workshop at Lenoir Community College. The workshop will be held over 2 nights and will be covering post-production techniques. Click on the workshop link on the menu above to read more about it. If you have any questions about it feel free to email me at jsmixon06@aol.com. You get all kinds of great post-production techniques at the community college price! I would love to see you there!