Molly's photos

Photo giveaway

2012-02-20T11:19:00.000-08:00

I'm offering a photo giveaway on my business blog. CHECK IT OUT! It's all about supporting a good cause (the Hogar Program!), so go change some lives and check out the giveaway details!

Baby girl...

2012-01-21T23:34:00.000-08:00

I am currently taking a class from Jonathan Canlas at BYU (yes, yes, I was supposed to graduate in December. I deferred graduation to take Jon's class) and our first assignment was to photograph personal work to show our "voice" or "vision"...AKA something about us or something important to us. For the class we are shooting medium format film cameras, so I was a bit nervous about how my first roll would turn out as I have never shot medium format before (besides the Holga, but that doesn't really count). I was happy with the results, but I definitely have a lot of learning and practicing to do.

The class is good. Jon has a huge personality, and I think he'll push me to produce good work so I'm excited for it. Here are the images I shot:

So duh, of course I photographed baby girl. She's so cute and fun and I love spending ALL of my time with her. I would have included Andrew, but I was a bit rushed to get this assignment shot and he had to work all of the times I was photographing.

What's my voice? My vision? Family, memories, creating relationships with my loved ones. It's interesting to be sitting here now writing that; to be completely proud of that fact that I'm a mom and wife, and want to spend most of my time being just that--a mom and wife. It's interesting because I didn't always feel proud of wanting that for myself. When I was in the photo program before I got pregnant with Reese, I used to be embarrassed to say I wanted to be a stay at home mom with a PORTRAIT photo business on the side. Because it was so 'typical Mormon' to get married at 21 and have a baby by 24, and then stay home and be a mom. I didn't want to be just another mormon girl walking down the same old stereotypical road and give up my dreams of becoming a successful photographer.

Ha, that brings up a memory. This one time I had a conversation with a guy at my work about something very much along these lines. He brought up how silly the girls were in our programs who were spending the time taking art classes (particularly photography or graphic design) just to go have babies and not become professionals in their fields.

"Oh, I couldn't agree more. Why would they do that? Such a waste of time, and so stereotypical. Why not wait to have kids until LATER...I mean, we have the rest of our lives to have kids! Me? Oh, I'm definitely getting my BFA and I want to move to NYC or LA and make money. Of course!"

I lied for our entire 45 minute conversation, all the while knowing I was about 3 months pregnant and not planning on getting my BFA, or EVER living in a big city, or ever doing anything but having my own portrait business. I was just so scared that he would think I wasn't as talented, as legit, or as hard working as any other photographer in our program. Because the truth was, I was just as good as many of the students in my program. I had (still have, I think) potential to rock, but I was choosing to focus most of my energy on a family.

And you know, I'm really glad I did. And I'm glad I got over my silly worry about what people think of my decisions. I have learned to not be (quite as) afraid to express my opinions on matters that mean something to me (like becoming a mom). My face might get red when I speak up, but hey, I'm speaking up. And that's a start!

*Technical: Fuji Pro 400, shot on Pentax 67, 90mm 2.8

Still Life

2012-01-19T19:29:00.000-08:00

Last semester I took a still life class. I learned I kind of suck at still life, but it was still pretty fun. I tried to do things that were more entertaining for me to do than looking AWESOME, so hopefully that comes across.

My favorite thing about still life was how peaceful and therapeutic it could be. Basically it's 2 hours in a studio problem solving, photographing, and thinking. It was nice.

The rest of the mother portraits

2012-01-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

Alright, here are the rest of the mother images I took for my fine art project!

Fertility Treatment/Natural Conception

Breast Fed/Bottle Fed

Circumcised/Not Circumcised

Vaginal Delivery/C-Section

Working Mom/SAHM

Public School/Home School

The last several women I photographed didn't end up in the photos I hung, but I wanted to include them here. I loved photographing these women and their beautiful children. It was the most fun talking to them about the point of my project and hearing their thoughts and opinions on the pressures of motherhood and how to raise a child. I learned a lot.

Photoshop Tilt-Shift Tutorial

2011-12-09T23:39:00.001-08:00

A while ago (ok, a year ago), I posted a photo and mentioned that I did some post work to make it look tilt-shifty.

Well, today I'm going to show you how to get a mock tilt-shift look with photoshop.

Here we go:

I started with this image that I took in NY this past March.
I liked the image, but wanted to give it a little something. MOCK TILT-SHIFT TIME! So in Lightroom I cropped the image to 8x10, converted it to B&W, added a vignette, and burned a little at the top of the image to get this:

Now I'll show you the steps I took to add the tilt-shift look.

Then you turn out with this:

(note: This image above was edited separately from the images I posted at the top...so there may be variations in the contrast of the images)

Pretty fun right? Go try it out! But remember, this is to help enhance a photo, not to showcase the tilt-shift look. Don't add the tilt-shift look to a blah photo because then it's a blah photo with a tilt-shift look. Gimmicky! But still...have some fun.

Comment with any questions. But for your viewing pleasure, here are a few other images I added a tilt-shift look to:

Fine Art Photo Exhibit

2011-12-04T21:15:00.001-08:00

Everyone come check out the Fine Art Class Photo Exhibition!

6 YEARS LATER - Fine Art Photography
WHERE: BYU Harris Fine Art Center - 4th floor
WHEN: Dec 2- 13, 2011

For the last semester, I have been working on two photo projects for my fine art class. This past Friday I hung 4 pieces from one of my projects called "A Mother's Choice".

Here is my artist statement that is hanging next to my images:

I sat on my couch with a screaming baby in my arms as tearsof guilt rolled down my cheeks. Icouldn’t provide what my baby cried for; breast milk. The guilt I felt as I fedmy newborn a bottle of formula was inexplicable, but I never wanted to admit to anyone that Iwasn't feeding her the best.

It wasn’t until I talked with other women who understood mysituation that I realized I was giving my child the best I could offer at thattime. The guilt I felt stemmed directlyfrom societal pressures to provide “the ideal” for my baby; natural birth,breast milk, my undivided time and attention, proper immunizations, and thelist goes on. Yet many mothers, whetherby choice or circumstance, can’t provide the “ideal” and consequently experience unnecessary guilt.

This project is meant to show that mothers, whether theychoose the ideal or the alternative, are beautiful women who should feel noguilt for how they decide to raise their children. Each diptych of portraits shows a mother whoprovides the “ideal” and a mother who provides its alternative withoutindicating who provides which, thus forcing the viewer to see each mother asshe is and not by how she chooses to raise her child.

And here are two images that I didn't have room to hang on the wall, but are part of the series.

Above: Vaginal Delivery vs. Cesarean Section

Fertility Treatment vs. Natural Conception

Go check out the rest in real life, but if you can't I'll be posting them in the near future.

Birth Story

2011-10-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

My birth story is really pretty average (except to me, of course!):) It's a long one, so if you're bored easily, feel free to skip to the photos!:)

At my 39 week appointment with my midwife, I was checked to see how things were progressing. I had been putting off being checked because I didn't want to get my hopes up and then find out nothing was happening. Up to that point I hadn't had any signs of labor...no braxton hicks, no contractions, no dropping, nothing. However, Andrew was anxious to see if I was progressing, so I figured I was far enough along to see how things were going. Well, I was in for a doozy because I wasn't even close to being dilated and was only 60% effaced. Haha! I was so depressed...I was really hoping I miraculously was dilated to a 3.

At that appointment, my midwife actually forced my cervix open to help the process along (not a very pleasant experience) and told me to get myself some primrose oil to help get things going. It was crazy though because when she was up there, she could feel the baby's head! So I knew my baby was down where she was supposed to be... my body was just being stubborn. Anyway, so that night I went to the natural food store and got myself some oil and began my nightly walks with Andrew. I was so anxious at that point to have a baby. I was unmotivated at work, I was hot and uncomfortable, and my hormones were making me a crazy woman, so the nightly walks really helped me out (emotionally, anyway).

Well, another week came and went, and at my 40 week appointment I was still only dilated to a 1 (which is how wide my midwife had forced me open to), but was effaced 80%. The oils were helping to get my uterus nice and thin, but they weren't doing much for dilation. So I went home, depressed and wondering when I'd be given the induction speech. I was really hoping to not be induced since I had been mentally and physically preparing myself for natural labor. I made a birth plan and at the bottom of my list was having a C-section, and right above that was being induced. I just really wanted to avoid pitocin and an epidural. But, I talked to my sister Nicole knowing she had to be induced with one of her boys, and she convinced me that being induced wasn't so awful.

Another week passed and I was DYING. I was so cranky and grumpy and hated talking about labor/baby. I was just done. I'd go into work really late and leave early just to come home and lay in bed and wallow in self pity. It was ridiculous. Luckily, my great husband took me out on walks, or drives to get me out of the apartment. One night we took the most beautiful drive west of Springville by Provo Lake. The colors were perfect, the country side was lit by the most beautiful late evening light, the mountains were surrounding us on all sides...it was amazing. We drove along the Provo Lake shore, and the mosquitos were out of control. There were literally tornado clouds of mosquitos as we drove by...needless to say, we didn't get out of the car. But that was a great drive...I won't ever forget how beautiful it was.

Anyway, so the night before my 41 week appointment (my appt was on a Friday), Andrew and I had a little talk about whether or not I would want to be induced. School was only 4 weeks away from starting, Andrew's parents were coming into town the following Monday, and I was just ready to have a baby. We both thought it would make the most sense to be induced if that was an option at my appointment. So the next day, she checked me, I was still only dilated to a 1, but was 90% effaced. She then realized how far along I was (I met with 6 different midwives at the Central Utah Clinic's Women's Center in Pleasant Grove...I highly recommend it, they were all great!) and asked if I wanted to be induced the next day. She said I technically hadn't progressed enough to be induced, but that she thought I would be fine. So I said yes, and she planned my induction for the next day. I admit, I was a little bit disappointed that I wasn't going into labor naturally. I just wanted my body to do it by itself, but I hadn't the slightest clue what a contraction even felt like. If I was going to go into labor naturally, who knew how long it would have been until that happened?

The next morning at 7 AM I arrived at the American Fork Hospital with Andrew. I changed into my little gown and they hooked me up to all of the necessary IVs, which was mostly annoying. I was on pitocin from about 8 AM-12 when my midwife came in to break my water. I hadn't progressed much and my contractions were really weak. They felt a lot like gas cramps, except in my lower back. I think was dilated to a 1.5, so she attempted to break my water and barely succeeded. After that, I spent most of my time sitting in bed watching tv with Andrew. Once the contractions started getting stronger, I was able to stand next to my bed (couldn't go far with everything I was connected too...so annoying), but honestly, my contractions weren't too bad. They were painful, but painful in a gassy/menstrual cramp sort of way. They started in my lower back and I eventually could feel them in my lower stomach. They were about about a minute and half to two minutes apart and lasted for 45-60 seconds. I was starting to get really tired (because who can sleep at night when they know they'll be having a baby the next day?!?!) and started to get cranky, so I asked for the epidural. I honestly wasn't in that much pain...but I knew I was going to get the epidural since I was on pitocin, so I figured why wait? I was dilated to a 4 once I got my epidural around 4. The epidural kept me comfortable. It was an odd sensation not being able to move my lower body very well, but it wasn't as frustrating or annoying as I had expected it to be.

Around 5 or so, my nurse and midwife came in and were watching the baby heart monitor. Things weren't looking too good as far as the baby's heart rate was concerned. She was averaging in the 120's, and then she was having random dips after a contraction was over, which isn't normal. Her rate would drop super low into the 110's and 100's, so they did all sorts of things to help out. They turned me side to side, sat me straight up, laid me back down, and then they resorted to other things. They took me off of the heart and contraction monitors that stick on the belly and put some internal monitors onto the baby. The heart monitor was stuck into the top of her head and the contraction monitor was put into my uterus to track how strong my contractions were. Then they started pumping more fluid into my uterus. Things were a bit better, so my midwife left. My nurse was in the room with me when Reese's heart rate dropped into the 50's (which is incredibly low for a baby...typical baby heart rate should be in the 120-150's), so she quickly called my midwife and another nurse. I was given an oxygen mask to help get more oxygen to the baby, and then a lot of other things went down. It was a blur and I don't really remember everything that went on, but they turned off the pitocin, and called the doctor that was on call as well. I thought for sure I was going to have an emergency C-section (Reese's heart rate was in the 60's-70's, sometimes jumping to the 90's), but things calmed down. I'm not an emotional person by any means, but I was really close to tears! It was such a weird feeling to feel so connected to my little baby when I hadn't even seen her yet. In that moment I would have done anything to get my girl out safe...screw the birth plan, let me have a healthy baby!

Luckily, with the pitocin turned off, things were better (if you've ever watched The Business of Being Born, you'll being thinking "mmm hmmm"). Her heart rate jumped back up and things were good for a while. Elsie showed up to start taking photos, and she brought her laptop and movies. What a saint! Andrew and I watched Tron (well, he watched it...I was on facebook and talking to Elsie mostly), and just hung out while I was in labor. At some point they turned the pitocin back on in a low dose because my contractions slowed down and my progression was slower than before. Reese really didn't like the pitocin. Her heart rate was continually dropping, so I stayed on oxygen the rest of the time and they monitored me pretty closely.

Things really got moving around 7-8 o'clock. I dilated from a 5 to an 8, and then before I knew it I was dilated to a nearly complete 10. It was about 9:00 when my midwife told me to start getting ready to push. We originally were going to labor down at this point (basically letting the contractions push the baby down after being completely dilated to a 10), but my midwife was concerned about Reese's heart rate and wanted to get her out. So I started pushing around 9:15 and pushed my heart out! I didn't think pushing would take so much energy, but it really does. I would push 3 times during a contraction and then rest. There were a few times when I rested during a contraction as well so that I could let my poor baby have a break (her heart rate was plunging while I was pushing...poor thing). Finally, my midwife told me that she needed to give me an episiotomy to get Reese out right then. I didn't object because I wanted her out as badly as my midwife did. There was a fairly big crowd in the room with my midwife, two nurses, Andrew, Elsie and a respiratory crew (since she was having heart rate problems, they wanted them in the room to help her breathe if needed), which was kind of fun. Anyway, so at 9:57 Reese was born! She came out screaming her head off and was absolutely perfect. She had a ton of light hair (red! At first it looks kinda like bronze, but now it's definitely strawberry blonde/red), and big eyes! It was so emotional when she finally arrived. I just felt SO much love for her...it's hard to describe that feeling, but of course I just cried. She was more perfect than I had imagined her to be. I remember looking up at Andrew after she was born (he was the one who delivered her!) and he was crying too. I felt so connected with my little family, looking at Andrew and holding Reese. It was such a cool moment...having a baby is the best feeling EVER!

I got to hold Reese for a really long time...nearly two hours! She was wiped up, weighed and measured (7 lbs. 10 oz., 19.5 inches), and I got to hold her skin to skin nearly the entire time. I can't even begin to describe everything that I felt. Even though I was induced, had an epidural, nearly had a C-section, and had an episiotomy (everything I DIDN'T want), I loved every little bit of my labor and delivery. It was SUCH an amazing experience and I don't regret a single thing that happened. And while I'd love to have a baby naturally next time, I think my first time was pretty great. I just love my baby so much!

Ok, so I know you've seen some seriously glamorous looking women after having given birth, but I'm not one of them. My hair is a crazy mess and my face is super puffy...but I think it kind of adds to it:)

Reese Marie Hunter, born July 30, 2011. 7 lbs 10 oz, 19.5 inches long. Perfection.

All photos taken by my sister-in-law (Elsie McDonald Lopez). To see more, visit her facebook page.

As a side note, I was induced at 41 weeks and 4 days. My midwife, after having delivered the placenta, said that it was partially calcified, indicating that I was truly overdue. I was so grateful to her for inducing me when she did. Who knows what may have happened? I loved my midwife (Jennifer Walker) and delivery nurse (Autumn) too.

We Are a Happy Family...Pt. 2

2011-10-18T14:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, this may take a while for me to get everything out! But here we go: Pregnancy.

Overall, my pregnancy was fantastic. I started experiencing nausea toward the end of November, which lasted till January. I only threw up twice during that time. Once when I was brushing my teeth (and no, I wasn't gagging myself by brushing my tongue...just brushing my front teeth made me gag), and another time just because. I eventually stopped taking my pre-natal vitamins (once I was past 14 weeks) because they were what caused the nausea.

I was also INCREDIBLY affected by smells. I especially hated the way my apartment and work smelled. The kitchen was the worst, and it always made me gag to walk into the room. Ugh, I hated that. I also started to associate certain songs and photos that I worked on with nausea. For example, for my digital class we were assigned a band and had to interpret their album in a photo. I was given U2's October album, and now every time I hear the song "October", I feel like throwing up--literally. And the photo that I posted on the previous post? I also associate with nausea:) haha. Weird.

Otherwise, my pregnancy was pretty awesome. A few things that I experienced were:
-numb hands when sleeping/laying down (from about 26 weeks and on)

-puffy/swollen feet, but only toward the very end of the pregnancy

-plenty of water weight, which I didn't realize I had until AFTER I lost it...that meant a puffy face too! I gained 35 pounds, and lost 25 of those pounds one week after giving birth!

-stretch marks:\ What can you do though? I lotioned my body twice a day every day for my entire pregnancy...and after doing a bit of google-search, I found out that lotions/shea butter/cocoa butter actually don't prevent stretch marks, but instead help to heal them after the fact. If you want to avoid them, you just have to drink TONS of water and pray for a miracle...especially if you are prone to getting them in the first place, which I am. I thought I was going to be one of the lucky girls who never had to deal with them, but once week 33 rolled around, I could see a few showing up under my belly button. And it only got worse by the time Reese came at week 41.8. Good thing I keep this belly covered up!:)

-amazingly clear, soft skin! I don't think I had a zit my entire pregnancy. Honestly, two days after I gave birth, a zit showed up on my chin. haha:)

- thick, thick hair. Too thick. I know a lot of ladies love their pregnant hair, but I didn't. It was (and still is) thick and constantly greasy. I just hope it thins out soon and starts feeling nice and soft like it used to!

I waited until I was 20 weeks to tell everyone (outside of family) that I was pregnant. I remember feeling really anxious to tell people. It was such a relief to finally get it out in the open. And it's great getting pregnant in the winter because you can hide the awkward fat stage with sweatshirts and coats. Most people didn't have a clue I was pregnant thanks to great winter clothes! But I'm sure they just thought I was getting fat...:)
Our 20 week ultrasound

The belly progression starting at week 12 and ending at week 41

Next month, maybe I'll post Reese's birth story...ok, maybe I'll post it sooner than that. I'm already starting to forget so much! I gotta get on it!

We are a happy family...Pt. 1

2011-09-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

It's high time I write a post about my beautiful new baby, Reese. She is nearly 6 weeks old and I love love love love love her so much. I can't believe I lived without her before! This post is actually for memories sake so I can remember everything about my pre-preg, preg, and post-preg time. It has been an incredible experience from the very beginning.

Let's start from the very beginning: about a year ago Andrew and I decided that we wanted to have a baby. Well, Andrew decided well over a year ago, but I finally figured I'd let go of my fears about having a baby about a year ago:) Heh. I was pretty dead set against getting pregnant, but Andrew was persistant and patient. I prayed a lot about having a baby--whether it was right for me or not. I knew I wanted to have a baby in my future, but not while I was still in school. I always felt like I needed to wait till I got my degree and became more comfortable in my shoes as a real-life adult.

I didn't get any type of definitive answer about whether or not to get pregnant then or later. The thought of becoming a mom while still trying to finish school and work scared the crap out of me. There was no way I'd survive that type of life! I'd go crazy! Well, one evening as Andrew and I were driving home from campus, I expressed those fears for the hundredth time. I said something along the lines of, "There is no way I could be a mom AND go to school. You know how I get when I'm stressed. I'm already at school and work ALL day...how can I fit a baby into that? It will be too hard to do, Andrew. I just don't think I'm ready." Andrew had the best response. You see, Andrew is very level headed and does what he knows he needs to do without question. He isn't ruled by his emotions as much as I am. Anyway, he said, "Molly, life isn't supposed to be easy. Do you think that is what God wants for us? To have an easy life? We're supposed to do hard things so we can become better people. You will be able to be a mom and finish school."

How did I marry such a logical, wise man? Seriously, he is so good. I thought about what he said to me for a while, and made my decision. We'd try for a baby. It was really surreal because for the longest time I felt like I really wasn't going to get pregnant at all and that life would continue as it was...just Andrew and I, finishing school and going on with life. Andrew gave me a blessing before school started and said that I'd be blessed to get pregnant and be healthy. It felt weird to hear those words coming out of his mouth because I really didn't believe I'd get pregnant.

Well, a few short months in November, I missed my period by maybe a day. I had taken pregnancy tests in the previous months and got negatives each time. I was never disappointed by the negative results because I still wasn't sure how ready I was to become a mom. But in November, I had early pregnancy signs like sore breasts and cravings for lots of food. I took the test on evening when Andrew was on campus taking a test (or something like that). A faint light pink line showed up the window that indicated "yes" to pregnancy. I felt happy...not overly excited, but just happy and content. I texted Andrew some lame. vague text like, "You're going to love me" and drove to campus to pick him up. When he got in the car, he asked me what my message was all about. He first asked, "Did you do the dishes?" (We are the worst at doing the dishes and at that time, it had been at least a month since we touched any of the dishes...it was disgusting). I said, "You'll have to wait and find out." So we got home, and I left the test in the bathroom. He saw it, read it, and just smiled. We didn't have any "WOO HOO" moments, we didn't hug and kiss each other in a moment of excitement. Andrew probably said something like, "I told you" or "cool".

But it was still a happy moment. We celebrated later by going to Olive Garden and buying whatever we wanted!

Self portrait shortly after finding out I was pregnant. You can interpret as you please (and forgive the blue-ness of the photo...I never fixed it from before).

July 19th, 2011

2011-07-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today is the day I have been looking forward to for the last 10 months! Of course, it won't be the day that I'll remember as my baby's birthday for the rest of my life, but that's ok. This is an exciting, momentous day anyway. I made it to 40 weeks of pregnancy! That's pretty exciting:)

Anyway, I had a baby shower about 3 weeks or so ago, and we decorated onsies as the baby shower activity. It was a lot of fun! I took photos of them just yesterday, and thought I'd share them on my blog today. It seems like a fitting date to show them, right?

Above R was made by my photo friend Linnea...she's a craft queen! Seriously, I love that onsie so much!

This is another of Linnea's work. It's kind of an inside joke about a photo class we took. It's the large format class, but it's often referred to as the "Zoning Class" and those who photograph with a large format camera are called "zonies". That's part of it, anyway. I love it though. So clever:)

And Linnea made that CUTEST ice cream onsie, and my other photo friend Veronica made the elephant! Isn't it adorable?

The blueish purple onsie is my creation. Not as cute as I wanted it to be, but still cute. And the red one is by Becca, my sis-in-law. Isn't it so cute? I love these camera onsies!!

This is going to be her take home outfit. Isn't it darling? My sister Larissa made it and sent it to me. It's so teeny weeny, and I just LOVE the ruffle butt!

Last, but certainly not least, is Andrew's awesome BYU onsie. He was incredibly proud of his work. He hand wrote the 'Y' without a stencil or anything...and he picked out the material and figured out the layout all on his own. He wanted this to be her take home outfit, but let's be honest. She'd be swimming in it, and sweating like crazy...so I said no. Haha:) Look at that face though...he's so proud of his onsie:)

Well, hopefully I'll have a baby between now and next post. I guess we'll see!

4x5 lovin'

2011-07-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

I had a few 4x5 images that I hadn't scanned from my large format photo class that I took last Fall. I really loved that class. In fact, it has been one of my favorite classes I've taken in the program. Yes, it was frustrating in the beginning with the learning curve, but the process of photographing large format was really just fun. It took about 25-30 minutes for me to take one photo, but I was usually quite happy with my one photo.

Anyway, here are the final 4 images from that class. I hope to photograph more 4x5 in the future for personal use. I still have a box of film with 25 negatives to use!

trashcans in my driveway/parking area

Salt Flats in the fall

my brother Matt at Provo Lake

my niece playing hopscotch. I also took a digital image of this same scene for a different photo class I took last fall, which I post on this blog. I like the 4x5 image better:)

Preg update: Still pregnant. I have a feeling I'll be pregnant for at least another week, maybe two. My due date it tomorrow, which I'm sure will come and go. And so I'll keep working and earning dinero! That's a good thing:)

Memories Pt 3

2011-07-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

Memory 8

Memory 9

Memory 10

There we go. That is the end of my photo series. I will take photos of the actual book and post it soon.

Update on the pregnancy: still pregnant. I know I'm not due until July 19th, but I really want to have her RIGHT now:). I'll miss certain aspects of pregnancy, but not the stage I'm in right now. I am SO tired (always, which didn't hit me until about 2 weeks ago), RIDICULOUSLY unmotivated, and really moody. I feel bad for poor Andrew because I'm constantly cranky, irritable, or weepy. Dag on hormones! But I am feeling positive that things are progressing nicely. I'm pretty sure the little one has dropped, which is a good sign. It means she's coming soon-ish.

My most recent belly shot at 37 weeks. I'm currently 38 weeks and 3 days, so I guess I ought to take a new picture. But things are getting pretty big.

Maybe next time I post, I'll have a sweet little baby laying in my arms, and I'll be up to my eyeballs in laundry and dishes, but won't care. Can't wait!

Memories Pt 2

2011-07-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

Memory 5

Memory 6

Memory 7

Memories of a Girl

2011-07-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

Above is the title of my first ever photo series. The past winter semester in my color theory class, I had to produce a series of images for a major assignment. I was able to choose the subject matter, but it had to maintain some type of color theme. I had spent the majority of the semester thinking of what I wanted to photograph that was meaningful to me and that I would enjoy producing. The idea of creating memory-like photos kept coming up as I brainstormed, but I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to execute that type of photography. I thought about using a digital camera with a tilt-shift lens, then I thought about using a lensbaby, then I thought about just shooting 35 mm film, but finally decided to shoot on my Holga with 120 color neg film.

Best project ever. My idea went from wanting to capture life memories, as I was/am in a time where I OFTEN look back at all of my great life memories and the lessons learned during those times, but I eventually decided to focus on memories of a young girl. I used my niece as my model, which was perfect. I ended up printing the photos onto matte paper and hand binding it. The book is fun, but it was such a stress to make. I seriously re-made the book over and over again to get it right (I handed the book in as the final product for not only my color theory class, but also for my book binding class at BYU), but it eventually worked out. I'm definitely my own worst critic so I can't say I LOVE the book itself. I feel like it's missing some kind of pizzaz to make it AWESOME. But, I do love how the Holga images turned out. There were so many gems that I got from this project that didn't make the cut, but that's alright. Maybe I'll share those at a later time.

For now, here is my entire color series. All images were taken on color positive (E61) film, cross processed (in C41 chemicals), and given a pinky-peachy color overlay in photoshop. The actual images were not photoshopped (ie, the double exposures, etc)...all of that magic was done in camera, with some Holga specialness.

Also, 10 mini series complete this color project and each mini series includes 4 photos. I'll post the first 4 series, and each day show more. Enjoy:

Memory 1

Memory 2

Memory 3

Memory 4

9 months...

2011-06-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

Today I officially begin my 9th month being pregnant. I am currently 36 weeks along and only have 4 more weeks to go. I really wish I could say that I only have 2 more weeks left, but I have a feeling that little Reese is going to stick inside as long as she can.

Anyway, here is my most recent belly photo taken at 35 weeks 4 days:

At my last appointment I was told that I'm measuring small...32 weeks! At the appointment that I had 5 weeks earlier I was measuring at 31 weeks. What the? So I've been drinking more water and hoping that at my next appointment I will have made some progress (I've been bad about drinking lots of fluids).

I'm currently seeing my midwives every week. That means I'm getting REALLY close to the end! Soon baby will be here.

Stretch marks have made their way onto my body. I thought maybe I was going to really luck out because I hadn't had any until around my 8 month mark. Then they came on fast. Oh well. They aren't too bad, and I'm strangely not as bothered about them as I thought I was going to be. And I'm no stranger to stretch marks, so I know they will fade in time. Lucky for me, I don't wear belly shirts and bikinis! Thank you Heavenly Father for never giving me the desire to show off my midriff!

I purchased my crib, changing table, mattress, pack and play, and bedding. The bedding that I showed on my previous post was sold out when I went to buy it (boooo!) so I got something that was a whole lot cheaper from walmart. It's still really cute, is very girly, and it fits my orange, pink, yellow theme quite well. AND I got to use a gift card to get it, which was nice.

Now I just need to focus on the small things like toys, clothes, diapers, etc. I'm excited for this baby!

Baby things...

2011-06-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

Do you like how my last few posts have the word "baby" in the title? That's because I'm entering the world of motherhood, which means I will always be obsessed with my child. Currently, I'm obsessed with the things that I'm buying for her such as her crib, car seat, etc. Obsessed because they are things that she'll need, and also because it is a little bit fun.

It is also fairly difficult to shop for the necessary big item purchases. You gotta stick to (in my case, that is) a limited budget, research the crap out of the product to make sure it doesn't completely suck (and make sure it's safe!!), and attempt to find something stylish. It is way harder than it seems. Not to mention that shopping for baby things is like attempting to read another language. They use special safety rating language, and they have products that I've never heard of that are supposed everyday baby items. It's a whole new world.

Luckily, I'm an incredibly fast learner and feel like I'm a pro now. Well, maybe not quite. I'm still attempting to learn diaper talk. Hah

Anyway, so the last week I got a 20% off coupon from Babies 'R' Us in an email, and decided it was time to buy the stroller and car seat. I bought the Chicco brand because A: my sister-in-law and cousin-in-law both recommended this brand and B: Chicco's car seats are rated #1 in safety. And they had a pretty good deal going on for their travel system (AKA: a stroller that allows the car seat to be attached, so they sell them together...and they match). I got this style:

I didn't buy a girly style because I plan on using this sucker with the rest of the kids I'll be having. Red and brown are pretty gender neutral, right? I mean, yes it looks more boyish, but can't you see a cute little girl sitting in that car seat? I know I can. The style that I really wanted wasn't at the store (boo!). It looks like this:

Isn't the yellow one so much cuter? YEAH, I know. But red and grayish brown are fine. I'm not mad about it.

It feels great to get one item checked off of the list. Unfortunately, there is a lot more to buy. Who knew that baby things would be so dag on expensive? I mean really. I thought the expensive parts of having a baby were the medical bills (prenatal and post natal), and the diapers and food, etc; not the stuff that has to be purchased BEFORE the baby comes! Luckily, some of these purchases will be reused for a future baby!

Anyway, so I came home after buying the Chicco set (purchased for about $240 plus taxes...and I added on insurance for $20...for a grand total of around $280) and decided to look online at cribs. The cribs at Babies 'R' Us were either really cheap quality, or way too expensive. So I looked on target's website and found the crib and changing table I plan to buy after I get home from my trip back East:

I struggled between choosing the white crib and espresso one (shown above). White is great because it goes nicely with the colors I want for the baby's room. However, it's not very realistic because white gets dinged and dirty WAY faster than dark wood. And Andrew liked the dark wood crib/changer better. And get this...so the changer and crib above were being sold as a package on target for around $299, but instead I'm buying them separately and saving $60. And the "package" deal doesn't give me anything more than the changer and crib. Weird...but hey, at least I know I can buy them separately and save some dinero.

Bedding...is way too expensive. Why do they charge $100-$200 for bedding? It's ridiculous! Luckily the bedding I found is pretty gender neutral, so I can reuse it later if I have a boy in the future. Here it is:

Nice and bright, right? So I want my nursery colors to be yellow, pink and orange. I'll still be following that color theme, but it is a pain to find ornage/pink/yellow bedding in any kind of decent design. I'm not into the butterflies and hearts and things. I like cute design, but not the super girly, kitschy stuff. And I like those cute little circles up there. PLUS, there is a lot of yellow and orange. Yesss...

That's all I have for now, but really that is the bulk of the big stuff. Thank goodness.

This is me as of yesterday. I'm getting so huge! It's uncomfortable to sit, lay down, sleep, and stand. AKA, I'm nearly always uncomfortable. Only 6 more weeks till my due date. Can't wait!

Baby body...

2011-05-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

So I am now 8 months pregnant (32 weeks) and I feel pretty huge. I know that every pregnant woman probably knows what I'm talking about...not only has my belly grown, but so has my butt, thighs, face, double chin, nose (I swear it has gotten fatter), hips, arms etc. EVERYTHING has grown with unwanted fat. And I still have 8 more weeks to go! I don't know if I can last that long...

Of course it's all worth it because I'm growing a beautiful little baby, but it can get pretty depressing. Too bad I don't crave salads all day, but I don't. I could probably eat cookies and chocolate all day (and grapes because they are delicious and sweet and juicy).

Despite not loving the newer, bigger me, I decided I should still have some photos taken of Andrew and I. Luckily I have a great photographer friend Jamie who asked if she could photograph me so she could get more practice with her Contax she recently bought (which I am completely jealous of, let me say!) I'm glad we did. While I'm no hot-mama, I think she did a pretty kick butt job with the photos. They are film, which I'm partial to. The colors are so pretty, and I love the bokeh you get out of a medium format camera.

Anyway, here are some of my faves from the session. Thanks again Jamie!

I love this photo of Andrew (above). That is my boy:)

And this place may be one of my favorite places to photograph as well. It's this huge field close to Provo lake. I have no idea whose field it is, but there is a huge tree in it and it's beautiful. I love just being there in the evening. It's so dreamy.

Make sure to check out Jamie's blog:) She's going places in the film photography world!

Baby, baby, baby!

2011-04-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

Yep, we're having a (really cute) baby girl in July. Hey!!

Ok, so maybe it's old news to a lot of you readers, but maybe not to all. Being pregnant thus far has been pretty great. I'm now 6 months along (26 weeks for you pregnant-speakers), and starting to really get a belly! It took a while for me to really show, but now there is no doubt for the average stranger to know I've got a baby on board.

Here are some photos from the ultrasound:

No doubt that she's a girl! And doesn't she have the cutest face!? She totally does.

Here I am at the end of a wedding that I photographed. I was about 23 1/2 weeks here. I look ginormous.

Taken at 26 weeks to the day with my Holga.

Here is a typical "I took this myself in the bathroom" shot. I know it's not anything exciting, but at least I'm documenting my growth...about 25 and a half weeks here.

And I already have clothes for her! I'm so excited that she's a summer baby. She will have the cutest summer clothes!!

I got this darling ensemble at H&M in NYC when I visited in March. It was a deal at $7. Look at those ruffles on the bum. Cute!

My good friend Rachel sent me this adorable onsie because she thought it looked Latin-y (we know each other thanks to the Hogar Program, so we share a love for Latin culture). Isn't it so girly? Adorable.

My VERY favorite dress that I have gotten thus far is this gem. Again, Rachel sent this to me in a package with the onsie above. I think I nearly died when I saw it. I am so in love with every little inch of this dress that I think my baby girl will be wearing it for the first month STRAIGHT after she's born. Words can't express my love for this itty bitty newborn dress. It just screams 'Central America' and I love that Rachel bought it when Andrew and I were at the Hogar during the summer of 2009 (I even remember when she bought it too!). Thank you Rachel!! (PS-did I ever mention that Rachel is getting a little boy in August!! Ahh, so exciting!)

And the softest, cutest burp cloth that my mom made:) Aw, I'm so excited that my mom is going to be my little girl's grandma. She is such a great mom, and my girl is going to love her as her grandma!!

That's all. Can you tell I'm excited for this girl to come? I am.

Facts:
Name: (Most likely) Reese Marie

Cravings: None, really. For a week or two I really craved oreos, and mint oreo shakes. However, I do seem to really like cold cheese and ice cold milk. Mmm. I think I like them more than normal, but I can't say that I crave them.

Sickness: None, thank heavens. The first three months I couldn't handle smells of really any kind, and any kind of food with a strong flavor grossed me out. I was fairly nauseous, but I only ever threw up once. I now associate certain smells at my work with nausea. AND I associate certain photos that I photographed and edited during Fall semester with nausea too. Haha:) But now I feel awesome!

Movement: TONS! I remember feeling something like muscle spams around 14 weeks, and then I knew it was the baby around 16-17 weeks. She kicks a ton and wiggles, especially around 9-10 AM and at night. The other day I felt a foot or an elbow poking through near my belly button. It was awesome.

That's all. Yeah for being pregnant!!

Personal Color Project

2011-04-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

For my color class I am tackling my first project (as in creating a series of photos that go together). It has been REALLY fun (surprisingly because when I first heard we had to do a project, I wasn't excited for it:)), and I have enjoyed every second of the process...except for maybe the price, but its been worth it:).

My project is entitled "Memories of a Girl", and it is a series of images of memories from a little girl's life. My niece is my model and she has been AWESOME! She's the perfect age because she loves playing with me so I can take the photos that I need, and she loves writing and drawing the pictures that I need as well.

Anyway, I originally wanted to do a project that involved capturing "memories", and I thought of a bunch of ways to execute it, but I finally decided I wanted to use my Holga as my camera of choice. Deciding to focus on memories of a little girl was a little bit more of a process. I wanted to focus on children's memories since they are so innocent and happy, but I thought that focusing on a little girl would be more personal to me (I'm a girl, I'm having a baby girl, and all I think about now-a-days is girly stuff!). Plus, won't this project be fun for my niece to have when she's older someday? I think so!

Anyway, here are just a few series from the project. I have about 5-6 more that I'm in the process of getting together. (Each series has 4 photos to it...three photos and one drawn/handwritten page):

Sidewalk Chalk

______________________________________________________________

Bathtime

______________________________________________________________

Playing in the rain

______________________________________________________________

Coloring

The formatting is a bit funky on here since this is how I set the photos up for printing purposes. But there you go. I will post the rest as I get them edited and finished, and I will be sure to taking photos of the final book that I will be making!

NYC

2011-04-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

I went to NYC at the beginning of March with the BYU photography program, which was really fun. We spent approximately 5 days in the city meeting professional photographers, taking photos, and getting to know the city. There was one horribly windy, rainy day that made me a little bit miserable, but for the most part the trip was awesome. I learned a TON! One being that I will never live in NYC, and another that I probably won't become a wildly successful editorial, fashion, or overall commercial photographer since I plan on pursuing a family life. And I'm ok with that. I just want to become a semi-wildly successful photographer on the side of my fully fun family life.

Anyway, here are just a few images from my NYC trip. A few are film, a few are digital, and I still have some BW 35mm negatives to develop. Enjoy!

We visited Rodney Smith's place about an hour outside of the city. His home and studio and lands were absolutely gorgeous. We went on the horribly rainy day, but I think the rain helped set the mood for his home because I felt like I was in some quaint English home. Rodney was incredibly blunt and honest when talking with us (mentioning even that women would get eaten alive in the industry, and if we plan on having a family we can kiss our photographer careers goodbye), but I honestly really loved the visit. He was very nice and welcoming to our huge group, which I thought was very nice of him. While we were looking at some of his prints in his studio, he looked at me and said "You're pregnant." I told him "yes" and he said, "how old are you?" I told him I was 24, and he just shook his head smiling saying "You're a good Mormon", and I just told him that yes, yes I was a good Mormon. Haha:) It made me laugh.

Above R is a cute church that we passed while walking down the road to Rodney's home and studio. It was really cute. And the photo on the L is half of our group trying to cram under the bus shelter while we waited for our bus to come.

My handy umbrella that ripped thanks to the crazy winds that whipped through the city that day. Oh well. It was a great umbrella while it lasted (see his little duck face? Aw).

These are three images are some film shots from Jay Maisel's place in NYC. In the '60's, Jay bought a run-down bank and converted it into his studio/gallery/collection-holder/house. It's a 6 story building, and he got it for a killer deal (because it was run-down and abandoned). We were invited to explore the 5th floor of his building and see his collection of stuff. It was an entire floor that resembled a typical crowded, but nicely organized antique shop. It was so fun.

And the city. More images to come later.

Fickle

2011-03-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

Andrew says I'm fickle...he says ALL girls are fickle, but especially me:) It's pretty true because I often can't make up my mind, and change decisions on a whim. And so I have decided to post pone my "going private" thing for just a bit. At first I just wanted to keep my personal work more personal, and then I thought, "but I still want to share my school work" and that's not very personal. I just can't make up my mind. So maybe I'll hold off for a minute (I learned that in the 'hood "minute" actually means a long time) till I go private. But hey, thanks for the interest to those who emailed me! You'll be on the list when the time comes when I actually go private...

Ok, I need to update on some of my class assignments. I have not been very impressed with any of the work I've produced this semester. I've really lacked a lot of ambition this past semester, and I think it really reflects in my work. BUT, I'm working on a color project for my class that I'm really excited about, so hopefully I'll produce better work for that.

Anyway, here we go:

This is Meredith, a cute roommate of my former roommates. I feel like there is something missing...like there is a lot of dead space above her head/towels. This image doesn't do much for me, but not because Meredith wasn't freaking AWESOME at being my model. She kicked butt...I didn't.

Isn't Michelle adorable? She's in my ward, and is an incredible hair stylist. She had another stylist at her work do her makeup and hair, and she had the most amazing outfit EVER! I was dying, I was so in love with her look. Loved it. This was really fun, but I was pretty confined in my space and didn't do a super hot job on the lighting. Overall, though, I was pretty pleased with these images.

Personal Color Assignment for my color class...meh. The photo isn't that exciting, BUT I did make that yellow book in my book binding class!

That is a detail shot of it. I made the entire thing...by myself (ish). It was exciting to finish this book because I really like it and will actually use it.

I will update more from my school work later!

And right now BYU is winning against Wofford...whoever that is. GO COUGS!

Going Private

2011-03-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

Yep, I've decided to make this blog (mmacphotography.blogspot.com) private. That way it's more for me than it is for the rest of the world. I'll still post photos on my business blog (mollyhunterphoto.blogspot.com) when I have client work to show, but all personal work will stay here on my personal blog.

If you want to continue reading, feel free to leave a comment on this blog, or email me at m.ellen.m@gmail.com with your email (that's how you can sign into the blog).

This transition is happening quickly, so get in contact with me before this Saturday, March 5!

My cats

2011-02-19T17:13:00.000-08:00

No, I don't actually own any cats, but I wish I did. When I lived in my last place (a 70's-80's-ish townhouse in south Provo), we had a TON of stray cats that lived close by and hung around a lot. We (my mom and I) lovingly called them the scaredy cats because they were all wild and they refused to let us get within 10 feet of them. However, if we fed them and kept our distance, they would sit on our porch and lounge around.

Some of my favorite memories of that townhouse were of the summer evenings when we would put some left over chicken and cat food into bowls and watch all of the scaredy cats come around for a bite to eat. Normally, we'd come home after a long day at work and just sit on our mini porch and enjoy the beautiful summer evenings and chat while trying to coax the kitties to let us pet them. It was really fun:)

Anyway, I had my favorite cats (who doesn't choose favorites, right?). There was this beautiful black cat who I adopted as my own. I spent lots of those spring and summer evenings on the porch taming this beauty, and by the end I could ALMOST pick her up. But she would come up to me and purr and rub on my legs, and let me pet her.

Isn't she the prettiest? Look at her pretty eyes. I've never seen a prettier black cat with prettier eyes.

Then there were the twin kittens who were ADORABLE and super scaredy. I never got to pet either of them, but one was kitty-no-tail (because it didn't have a tail and he hopped around like a bunny) and the other was just the twin. Anyway, they were beautiful too, and one day one of the kittens walked into my house and got stuck. Haha:)

It was scared out of it's mind and would just run around and around and never just run out the door. But isn't it so pretty?

I want a cat! I wanted to take the black cat with me when we moved, but I'm not allowed to have pets in my new apartment. I just hope she's still alive, and loving the new residents who live in my old house. Hopefully they are as nice to the pretty stray cats as we were.

High Key Assignment

2011-01-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

Today I photographed my first assignment for my studio portrait class. It was actually really enjoyable (I'm not much of a studio-girl...I prefer natural light). The model is a cute, and really nice girl in my ward. Thank you, Amanda!

Anyway, feedback would be great. For now, I have a "before-and-after" for you to check out. It's wild what photoshop does, am I right? This girl is already beautiful, but for the assignment, we needed to do some re-touching.

Before vs. After

Not a lot was done. I removed a few freckles, smoothed her skin just a bit, plumped up the left side of her upper lip, and copied/pasted her right eye onto her left eye to make them perfectly symmetrical, and opened the eyes just a bit as well. I also lengthened her neck (because of the angle I was shooting at, a lot of her neck was hidden). Like I said, the before already looks nice, am I right?

Although these images are B&W, I'll be handing in a color copy. I'll post my final image here. I may hand in this image, or I may hand in another. But really, I just had a great model!

Blog blog blog blog blog

2011-01-07T15:53:00.000-08:00

I have been in no blogging mood lately, so I apologize for my absence. I can't promise that I'll be around that often because I have realized a growing hatred for technology lately. I'm on a computer ALL of the time and I am frustrated that I'm practically tied to it. And for that reason, I have been absent. Well, I was also working like a madwoman attempting to finish up photo projects last semester. That probably contributed to my lack of wanting to blog too.

But I survived my Digital Imaging class. I didn't do as poorly as I had expected, so that is good news. I spent quite a bit of time on my final images for that class and thought my eyes would dry open from staring at a computer for so long...but they didn't. I survived.

Here are a handful of my final images for my Digital class.

The image above was directly inspired by Deborah Parkin, an incredible film photographer based out of England. I was lucky enough to interview her this past semester and she was so kind and completely genuine in the interview. It was a great experience to talk with her about her work.

The above image is really blue in color because I had to mess with the color balance so that it would print accurately. I was too lazy to change it back to how it was before (because printing color (CMYK) and photo digital color (RGB) are different, and don't always translate accurately).

Thank you Matt for being my model. Everyone wonders if I was inspired by any Rodney Smith, but I wasn't originally. I'll say that I was now because Rodney Smith is one talented photographer. And I want to be a really talented photographer someday too.

The above image has been seen before. My professor made a fairly positive comment toward it, so I knew that it needed to be included in my final images. I mean, if he says good things about it, then I can't go wrong, right?

El fin. I now have a hard time looking at these images without feeling nauseous, but that's okay:) Fall semester 2010 was a bit traumatic, but there was a lot of fun had as well.

Assignment #7

2010-11-29T18:55:00.000-08:00

This assignment was so stressful for me. I thought about it for weeks (okay, maybe just "week", but it felt like a bunch of them) before I settled on an idea. There isn't anything more frustrating than A: having a great idea in your head and NOT being able to execute it or B: not being able to come with a decent idea at all, and having to settle on the only creative something that comes to mind.

Anyway, I thought about my concept for Assignment #7 for my photoshop class for a while. What was the assignment? Interpret the music of an assigned band and create an album cover that would sell that particular album. I had nothing for a while, but finally settled on one of my mediocre ideas. Up until I actually had my model (Matt, thank you) and was on location, I was stressed. But I got over it, and photographed what I had in mind and actually ended up feeling pretty good about what I had to work with. I might even dare to say that I felt confident in what I had and thought that I could have had "B" work in my hands.

Well, I think differently now. I liked the images before I handed them in, but didn't like the images after I handed them in. A critique can do that to you. It's depressing, but part of the (dumb) learning process. So here are the images I turned in (minus a few tweaks I added later):

Front and back. *sigh* I don't know what my grade was, but no one knew what genre I was going for (rock). If you feel so inclined to look up the songs that are listed on the back (yes, they are real songs) you can see what I heard and what I interpreted.

Frustrating, frustrating assignment. I have never felt worse about myself as a photographer than I have in my photoshop class. And yet, I'm sure I'll come out of the class seeing improvement. Hopefully I'll see that improvement sometime soon since the semester is over in just 2 weeks. Hallelujah.

4x5 FUN!

2010-11-16T15:41:00.000-08:00

I think I might be the only person in my class who really loves the 4x5 class I'm in. I (usually) love going out and photographing. I DON'T love lugging this bad boy around with me, but I still love going out to photograph (speaking of love, do you or do you not LOVE the guy's outfit in that link???).

What I love most is developing and printing my film. Being in the dark room is relaxing, which might be why I spend a lot of time in there printing. Either way, I love my advanced photography class. I have learned so much, and it really slows down my thought and photographing process. I do everything as deliberately as I can, which isn't always so deliberate since it does take so long (for me) to photograph one image.

I haven't put up any of my 4x5 work on this blog yet. And so I will do so now.

I have more that needs to be scanned. I will do so and update when I can.

Mock tilt-shift

2010-11-11T19:26:00.000-08:00

Who knew you could have images with a tilt-shifty look without having to have a tilt-shift lens? Thank you photoshop.

I know it's not as sweet as owning a tilt-shift lens, but I can do it my cheap way anytime I want. Maybe I'll show you how. I just learned how to do it in my class the other day. Yeah BYU education!

Holga+more

2010-11-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

It always takes me a while to get my film processed and back into my hands after shooting. I shot these holga images back in Marchish time, and my 35mm color film was actually shot way back in the day in Spring/Summer of 2008. That was right before I got married to Andrew. In fact, the images are from a camping trip I went on with my two best girlfriends and then fiance Andrew near Zion National Park. We hiked Angel's Landing, and I was SO hot. It was cloudy that day, but I still guzzled my water much too fast and ended up drinking the rest of Andrew's supply.

I love looking back on these images, though. Especially my 35mm film because it was during that time I was seriously considering applying to the photo program and so I bought myself a camera for cheap. I remember Andrew telling me to practice on this particular trip, so I took whatever photos I felt like. Overall, they were pretty awful:). It was fun though, and Andrew ended up taking the camera out of my hands to photograph a few things of his own (which aren't in the mix this time), which he still does.

Anyway, here are my film shots that I thought were fun. Enjoy.

These are taken by a window at my old place. I loved it there...I miss it.

Hey, that's me:) Back when I attempted to fix my own bangs. It was ok...but I'm growing them out:) And my old neighborhood.

The Hare Krishna Color Festival

The hike toward Angel's Landing...so pretty!

I think this was right before I tackled him for the water:)

Sorry for the fuzz and dust all over the place. I didn't feel like cleaning all of that mess up in photoshop, so I left it. It kind of gives it some character, right?

PS- Who has started listening to Christmas music? I haven't...but once it snows, I will!

Dia de Los Muertos

2010-11-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in my Spanish 312 conversation class, we celebrated "Dia de Los Muertos" (Day of the Dead) with pan dulce (sweet bread) and chocomil (chocolate milk, get it?:)). It was a lot of fun because we were told to write little poems called calaveritas, which means little skulls, that are about death. Morbid, right? Well, not really. It was really fun to do because the poems are satirical, so they tend to make fun of death/someone who died/will die. Hmmm...maybe I'm not really defending my point that it's not morbid.

Anyway, I guess you'd have to be in a Spanish class OR be someone who celebrates Dia de Los Muertos to understand why these poems aren't as morbid as they sound:) I wrote one, and thought I'd share it. I won a prize for it afterall;) (a sugar skull that is oh-so-popular in Mexico/Central America, also called "calaverita")

Mi Calaverita

¡La Muerte!

Por fin te encontre.

¿Porque mataste a mi perro,

y a mi pez?

¿Al reloj de papa

y a los flores de mama?

¿Porque?

Estoy enojado contigo.

¿Pero, que es eso?

¿Me trajiste un regalo?

Rough Translation:

Death!

Finally, I found you.

Why did you kill my dog,

and my fish?

My dad's watch,

and my mom's flowers?

Why?

I'm mad at you!

But what is that?

You brought me a gift?

Get it?

A creepy doll I photographed. Just to make this post even more creepy/morbid than it already is (actually, I don't think she's creepy...people in my class did though:)).

Oh, and I used this image as my 6th assignment, which was to create a black and white image that, when printed, looked as good as a silver-gelatin print.

Mas Assignments

2010-11-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

I made it on the wall TWO times in a row! Can you believe it? With a C+ on my plate, I was excited to know that I received a good enough grade to have not just one, but two of my photo placed on the wall. You see, there is a hallway in the HFAC (Visual Arts/Music/Theatre building) that is dedicated to photographs taken in classes. If your photo makes it on the wall, that means you did well enough to pass Paul Adams' inspection. He's a really great teacher, but it takes a lot to please the man.

Assignment #5: What is your Ideal World....mine is a world where I could take pictures with my eyes. No need to spend a bajillion dollars on photo equipment.

Comments: Great idea, clear message, could add a few things to it to give it more of your own personal style. Maybe add a few small details that could pep it up...give it more style.
Grade: ? It's on the wall:) So it has to be higher than a B

Re-Do's:
I'm still working on this one...it's my magazine cover assignment. I'm working on these three. I'm having a hard time deciding which to use though.

I'm thinking the top one. I haven't perfected the font and colors since I haven't chosen a photo yet, nor have I completely edited the photos.

Yes, please

2010-10-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

Being a photographer is nice because rarely do I actually have to appear in front of a camera. Sometimes I do, and sometimes it is ok, but for the most part I don't enjoy it. In fact, I avoid it when possible. I have an awkwardness problem in front of the camera. I don't have a good serious face. I need to lose weight. I need to save my money for "the future". I have my own camera to take photos of Drew and I together if I want. I'm too busy. I need to do the dishes. My clothes aren't cute...and the excuses go on and on and on and on and on. They are a bit ridiculous too, but for some reason they keep me from getting in front of the camera and from having photos of Andrew and I together.

Then thoughts occur to me, giving me much more real reasons to have our photos taken. One being that my family doesn't have very many pictures of my dad. He was always the one behind the camera (I like to think I got my love of photography from him:)), and so naturally he would be left out of family photos. Unfortunately, I grew up getting know my dad through home-made videos, tapes and photos, which gave me a limited idea of what my dad looked like. I knew what his face looked like straight on. I also knew what his back side looked like thanks to a mischievous older brother who took over a particular Christmas home-video session as my dad was bent over with this hindside sticking straight up in the air. But I was never familiar with the side of his face or the shape it took when he looked at my mom. I'd love to have more photos of my dad and my mom together. Especially photos capturing their love for each other because I know they had a strong love. I'd give a lot to have photos like that of my parents.

I need to have more photos taken with Andrew. I mean, more couple photos. The sappy, love-sick kind. The kind where we don't know what's going on around us, but only what is going on between us.

That being said, I'm entering a giveaway to win a free photo session with Elise Capener, an incredibly talented photographer in Provo. She is also a current student a BYU in the photo program, but she's a year ahead of me. I don't personally know her, but I have been following her work since I decided to apply for the photo program 2 years ago. The girl has a ridiculous amount of photo talent. Check out her work here and her give-away post here.

Did you see the snow today? I'm not a winter girl, but it felt magical as I was walking through the flakes on my way to work. I love this time of year.

These photos were taken during my 35 mm film class at BYU. I love my mom. She's a beauty.

Model Call

2010-10-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for a model. Preferably a girl between the ages of 17-25. Obviously the ages can range, but I am looking for someone who wants to take photos with me. Send me a photo and your name to: mollyhunterphoto@gmail.com. Please get back to me ASAP! Preferably someone with about 2 hours on their hands (I'll be taking 4x5 film photos, which kind of take a while) this Friday or Saturday.

I can't pay, but I'm willing to trade work. You give me your time, I'll give you my photos. It's a win-win situation! Contact me:)

This is a bit old, but I never shared it. Matt with our nephew Camden in May.

Digital Photography

2010-10-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

NOTE: For google readers, this is now where I will be putting my personal/school work. My new client blog is www.mollyhunterphoto.blogspot.com.
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I'm taking two photo classes this semester. One is my Advanced Film Photography class, and the second is Digital Photography (these aren't the ACTUAL names, but close enough).

They are both really challenging, but I think I'm going to really love the Advanced Film class. Don't get me wrong, it's technical and difficult, but I think I'll have more of an opportunity to photograph what I love.

The digital class is also exciting, but it has been a real challenge to me thus far. Sometimes I forget that I'm an artist, since I have only been working in the arts for such a short amount of time, so I lack essential creative skills.

In the digital class we are given specific themes for each assignment. And while I think it is good to be given a challenge and work outside of what I'm used to, it's has been incredibly difficult to put my style into my photos, to make them stand out and be great. REALLY hard. Haha:) Our teacher, Paul Adams, gave us a pep-talk about how to create great photos...you have to make them great. He said that we have a really high standard at BYU because the average GPA for students is 3.7-3.8. That is an A, people. He said that the new average (aka, a C grade, or 2.something) is the 3.7-3.8 GPA's that are coming into BYU. That means the new C is the old A, which means I had better work my butt off and be as creative as possible so I can produce good work.

Anyway, here are the first 4 assignments that I have done:

#1: "Why my life sucks"- I have short legs and a long torso

Comments: shouldn't have cut off the toes, brighten the background, place other faceless models in neutral gray shirts or something less bright so that I stand out. Stylize it more. Grade: B+

#2: "The most important person in your life", using artificial and natural light. Show WHY is important

I handed in the first for a grade. Comments: Background is cartoonish and bright, while the shirt is dark and distracting. Place model in a bright solid shirt to match the background. Expression looks happy. Not completely sure that it shows WHY subject is important to the photographer. Halo around subject, thus photoshop work not seamless. Grade:B-

#3: "Produce a photo and place it onto the cover of a magazine that you'd love to have your work on"

Comments: Are the girls actually in the picture? Where they dropped in? Slight halo around blonde girl to the right of the photo, and Angel Moroni having selection problems. Photo fits magazine type, looks believable. Grade: C+ (Ouch...I feel a redo coming)

#4:Self Portrait, utilizing texture and interpretive color

Comments: Is it meant to be scary or just fun? What is it saying about the person in the photo? The texture is distracting, and if it weren't for the assignment, it should be taken out. In good control, interesting, fun photo. Grade: I don't know yet.

The grades are frustrating, it's true, but I have been learning a lot. It's fun to learn all of the photoshop techniques. I have learned a ton!

Next time, I'll scan some film that I've been taking for my Advanced Film/4x5 B&W class. Hopefully those will be better.