Laura Brophy Photography »

I’ve been thinking a lot about backing up, in two different ways, today. First, after watching some heartbreak over lost photos, I had to come to terms with the fact that I have no back-ups and the worst file management system going. So I started working on that today. It’s always so overwhelming, but I decided to take one simple year and get my act together. 2005 is now reviewed, with garbage deleted, and appropriate back-ups made. I also took the whole 2004-05 swim team file and moved it to disk, saving just a couple dozen of my favorites of Will and/or the team. Reduced my library from 8200 to 6200 images in total. Everything prior to September 2004 is on the upstairs computer. That will be the real challenge to sort through since iphoto malfunctioned some time ago and dumped files all over the computer.

Then, as I was looking at last year’s images, as well as this year’s, I see that the 50mm really has me in-camera cropping much closer, especially as I’ve been using it almost exclusively in the house. I love the results, but everything is so up close that there is very little variety in my work. So, it’s a Back Up Baby Sunday here.

I took this one yesterday and have been fiddling with it. After the last post and its even lighting, I wanted to play with more dramatic lighting a bit. I went for a half sepia, vintage look, but I’m losing some of the beauty and drama in the upload…I need to figure that mess out. I think it has something to do with the embedded color, but I’m not sure. Grr…so much to learn.

Tech: ISO 200, 1/100, f 1.8, late afternoon light pouring into the dining room from the west

It’s a strange slow Saturday here. I have a list of things to do a mile long, the house is a disaster, and Rachel is just taking it easy. I’ve been loving the soft look of leather in photos of little people…it’s so warm and gentle.

Tech: ISO 400, ss 1/100, f 1.8

A couple of new developments, I’ve created a gallery at betterphoto.com. There’s a permanent link on the right (under “links” –> “Portfolio Gallery”). I’m still uploading images and figuring out what work I want there to represent me, and I’m just starving for a bit of time to do that.

I’ve also started entering their photo contests. I was surprised at how much feedback there is (yes, it’s good to get some external validation for my efforts sometimes), and I must admit to being a competitive person by nature, so it’s rather fun too. I’m enjoying going back to see previous winners and finalists, both to see the wonderful efforts of others and also to recognize images I’ve seen worked on and reconsidered on other boards. It’s great to see other photographer’s work evolving.

Forgive me that the image above it something of a repeat. I used it in the tea party storyboard, but had never cropped and processed it to stand alone. I continue to struggle with skin tones, a real challenge with Rachel as she has a slight natural yellow cast and I often photograph her in her yellow sun-filled room.

I’m getting no comments and very few readers here. Since I’m doing this mostly for myself, and to keep me accountable each week for the images I make, I guess that is just fine. But it is perhaps time that would be better spent behind a camera, especially if no one is really reading and returning to my babbling and images. Is anyone out there reading this?

One of those ah ha moments happened last night. Nora had been promising to sit for me all afternoon, but we both kept getting distracted. Finally, after the sun had set but it was still light out, we stepped outside for a few quick photos. What great light it turned out to be. I love the top image, though Nora does not. She much prefers the one below.

I’m also experimenting with a watermark. It feels so pretentious to do so given that I am not in business nor do I intend to be anytime soon, but others have cautioned about protecting images on the web. So I made a quick design.

Tonight is sectional finals for swimming for Will. Keep him and his team in your thoughts. It will be exciting!!! Go CA!

Last night a wonderful mother, teacher, artist and friend passed away. Tracy was an extraordinary woman who faced both the joy and heartache of life with courage and grace. She raised two beautiful children, traveled the world with her husband Jim, and taught children to love art as a teacher at a wonderful little preschool. Tracy was the author of a very special art book, Picture the World: Children’s Art Around the Globe, published in 2000.

The image on the right is a painting Nora made with her in 1993 when she was just three. Tracy had it mounted for a community art show, and it continues to hang in Nora’s room to this day. Today, we took a photo of the painting and turned it into a sympathy card for Tracy’s family. It turned out so beautiful.