Photojournalism

This is my first entry for I♥Faces on my blog. This week they are hosting a photojournalism themed challenge. I took these pictures at Miss C's Occupational Therapy session last Friday and was really disappointed when I saw that I had my ISO set way too high. But then I realized that all the noise lent my pictures perfectly to this week's I♥Faces theme. Hope you enjoy my collage as much I do!

"Our definition of Photojournalism for the sake of this challenge: Using an image (or images) to tell a story.

For this week’s challenge we’d like you to choose a photo that is photojournalistic in style. Or (for this week only) you can enter a collage of photos instead. Please make sure that a human face is showing up somewhere in your photo entry and that you use only a maximum of 5 photos in your collage."

Fix It Friday #67

Here is the original from I ♥ Faces.

Standard fixes: Added Warmth and Sunshine, Sharpened, added Urban Grit to hair and tutu.

This week, rather than playing with actions, I used textures that I've been picking up here and there. I experimented with all the different blending modes to see what they all do. This one is a texture called 1000 Years BC on the color mode. I like how it looks like an old faded photograph.

This one is "Heavenly Vintage" on color mode again.

Again this is "Heavenly Vintage," but I can't remember with blend mode I used :(

Friday Night Karaoke

Last weekend, the Class of 2000 held their ten year reunion. Now I understand that I did not graduate with this class, but I had more friends who did than I did in my own class. So when I found out a bunch of them were getting together on Friday night, I decided to join them. It was fabulous to see all these people who were such a big part of my childhood.

Rachel was there.


Marcus, always an animated story teller.

Miss Jan picks songs out of the binder. This is one of the only shots I could sneak without her giving me a goofy face.


It is serious business!


Kellen plowed through Mambo Number Five.

Simone was gorgeous.

Kellen entertained us all with a little Running Man to go with his rendition of Lou Bega.


I have to say motherhood sure looks good on Candice! She has always been warm and loving. It was good to see her face.


Happy Mr. Kellen.


This girl just keeps getting prettier as the years go by!


More story telling from Marcus.


Matt got volunteered to sing, much to his chagrin.


Jeni, gettin' jiggy wit' it.
(Na Na Na Na Na Na)


Marcus rocking it!


Kellen giving props to Marcus.


Jaimie, back from Boston, and attempting a little R.E.M.

I was very sad to get called into work before I was ready to end the night. We definitely need to not let ten years go by before we see each other again!

Fix It Friday #66

Sorry it took me so long to get this one posted. I did the fixes on Friday, but ran out of time to get them up on the blog. I had a little get together with friends I haven't seen in 10 years. Pictures will be posted soon!

Here is the original from I ♥ Faces.

"A photo that Angie captured during a session with two amazing little twin boys."

I did a couple of standard fixes. Cropped it for a closer perspective, brightened his eyes, and added texture to his hair.

I thought a change in the color of his shirt would bring out his eyes, so a darkened up the red a bit. I think I really like it.

Using PW's Vintage action, I created this look. I again tweaked the levels and completely disregarded the noise level.

I covered the picture using the pewter tone magic brush in PSE, added an edge burn, and defined the eyes a bit more to achieve this look.

Fix It Friday #64

Here is the original from I ♥ Faces.

"A photo of Michelle Johnson’s beautiful little girl dressed in purple… to go along with our weekly theme of course!"

I did a couple of standard fixes. Smoothed the owies on her cheek, brightened her eyes, added texture to her hair, warmed the color on her face and added some bokeh to the background. Then I started to have some fun.

I added a brown tint for a vintage feel. This I had to do in two parts since her face was way too brown at the level that I wanted on the rest of the picture. I ♥ layer masks.

This vintage I like a little better. It's subtler and I love the softness in it. I did this with PW's Vintage action, tweaked the levels and completely disregarded the noise level.

I added a silver tone for this one. I like how her eyes really stand out.

Playing in the Wildflowers

Sometimes you just have to stop by the side of the road and play in the flowers. The girls and I did just that a while ago.


Miss C likes to tramp around the field and map it all out.







Miss G is not too fond of Mom and her camera, but she poses anyway.





The interactions between my girls is what keeps me going. It is amazing when Miss G doesn't see Miss C as disabled, but just as her sissy.


Here she helps Miss C look at a flower that she picked.


However much Miss G hates when I take pictures of her, she sure loves it when I hand the camera over. My munchkin sure can capture a moment!

Fix It Friday #63

I got a little more adventurous this week and did several different fixes:

Original from I ♥ Faces



Edit #1 ♥ A little vintage with some texture



Edit #2 ♥ A little different vintage with some white haze for an ethereal feel


Edit #3 ♥ Sunshiney Vintage


Edit #4 ♥ Faded B&W

Edit #5 ♥ "Silver Sparkle" with a bit of color burn around the edges