Tell Me a Story- November

I think I say this every post, but holy crap where did November go?! I love working with this group because it forces me every month (gosh it should be more than that!) to pick up my camera and take some photos. I'm envious when I read other's blogs from the month and they have such exciting events and adventures. However, I realized that as long as I am picking up my camera it doesn't matter what I'm taking photos of. The silver lining of the whole thing is that nine times out of ten, I take photos of the dogs. While I'm sure most people are tired of seeing my dogs posted everywhere, it's nice to have those memories of them and have the pictures so we can see their growth.

Hannah Flora, our German Shepherd baby girl turned one on the 30th of this month. Hannah has taught us so much in her short first year of life. Her personality has developed into such a strong and sensitive girl. Hannah is strong willed and passionate about us as her owners. She craves interaction (and of course playing ball) and affection. We could never have asked for a better baby girl. We love you Hannah and happy birthday!!

There is not a day that passes that the dogs and I spend some time together, either playing ball or on a walk. Those moments we spend together have helped build the relationship that I have with both girls. While the relationships are so different, I don't doubt for a moment their love for me and hope they never doubt my love for them.

I think this might be one of my favorite photos of Hannah

Please keep the circle moving and visit Sharleen N. Stuart Photography / South Florida Photographer

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving might be one of my favorite holidays simply because it is over shadowed by the two holidays it is sandwich between. Halloween and Christmas take over and poor Thanksgiving is forgotten until the day approaches. While I enjoy Christmas, Thanksgiving reminds us to be thankful for the people and things we have in our lives. While we should be thankful for these things all year round, Thanksgiving forces us to vocalize what it is that we are truly grateful for.

My list of things I am grateful and thankful for would be a mile long if I would let it. The two biggest things this year I would have to say I am thankful for are my girls. Hannah and Lumen (I promise I will not be dedicating another whole blog post to them!). Both of these beautiful girls have made me grow as a person and focus on taking care of them instead of just focusing on me. They have shown me what unconditional love is and given it to me every single second of the day. I always smile when I get to come home to them. There couldn't be anything more amazing in the world than something showing you how unconditionally it loves you. I think that might be one of my favorite qualities about dogs, the realization that they only know a couple things in this world and one of those is to love you with everything they have because they do not know any differently.

Every year I am thankful for my family, they are the people in the world who love me no matter what. They have let me grow as a person and helped lead me in the right directions. They have also let me fail in a sense so that I can come out stronger on the other side. They always have my back and I will be forever thankful for each and every member. However, this year I am especially grateful for my aunt. At the beginning of this year she took me in and let me become a part of her life. She gave me the two greatest gifts I could have ever asked for, Hannah and Lu, she give me some independence while living with her and helped me grow as a person. While doing all of these things, she also became my best friend. Within the short months of her being back in my life, we grew close and opened up to each other. I will forever be thankful for the friendship we have together. I know no matter what, at the end of the day she will always be there for me, as I would be there for her.

This is the time of the year that I want everyone to be thankful for what they have around them and not what they want.  Look around you and realize that what you have is great don't compare yourself to others, because everyone has more than they know to be thankful for. 

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving this year!!! 

Tell Me a Story-October

Wow! I can't believe October is already over. In fact, I cannot believe this year is almost over. The beginning of this year brought many changes for me in my life. Besides moving, this year brought me two of the most important things in to my life. As weird as it may seem, the two biggest parts of my life these days and over this past year have been my two German Shepherd puppies, Hannah and Lumen. Much like raising a child, raising a puppy is no cake walk. We have spent long hours training and getting to know our great girls. The year started with us getting Hannah. Her personality in this last year has really began to shine through and she is an amazingly caring and smart dog. I know Hannah loves me as much as I love her. However, in April of this year, we added my baby girl Lumen to our lives. From day one, Lumen has been the sweetest, most emotional dog I have ever known. Lu and I have sort of claimed each other and have this unspoken bond. She's my baby girl.

I didn't plan on dedicating my whole blog to Lu this time around, but over the weekend, she was laying on my bed, something she does every day, but this time it was different. It was the middle of the day and there had been a lot going on in the house. Often times we have found Lumen outside or in some corner in the rooms staying almost out of the way. She's never been told to do this, just never wants to be the reason for conflict...breaks my heart almost. So, when I noticed her in my room, I removed myself from whatever chaos was around us and crept into my closet to grab my camera. Lu didn't mind, she knew what I was doing almost. I walked back into my door way and then realized how amazing the light was and just snapped photo after photo of her.

There is something special about my Lu, she's not your average puppy. While she enjoys playing, Lumen has never been one to be hyper. Instead, she wants to be your company and make sure you're taken care of. Being [almost] 10 months old, she acts well beyond her years. Lumen has been the one thing that no matter what happens in the day, always puts myself before her. Lu's caring and nurturing traits are what make us want to turn Lu into a therapy dog when she turns one. We want to share her with people and let her bring joy to them.

At the end of the day Lu, all I want you to know is just how much you are loved. We couldn't ask for a better companion through our lives than you my sweet girl. I look forward to the adventures we will take together and the times I'll need to lean on you for support. Forever my baby girl, I love you.

Please keep the circle going by visiting:
Colleen Putman | NYC Traveling Photographer

Taking a Breather

With school back in full swing and work filling in for the rest of my free time, I have had almost no time to edit some of the photos I have had on my computer for exactly a month! Holy crap, that's terrible!!!! I was so concerned about getting my September Circle blog post up that I only edited those flowers and totally disregarded the other photos of the pups I needed to get out. So, I finally made time today to edit these pictures and share them!

I have to share a quick one from the same time frame, but I took this one at home when we were playing outside. One of Hannah's favorite things is to play ball, in fact, she loves it. I secretly wish there was something I loved as much as Hannah loves to play ball. I think this photo shows just how much joy playing ball bring our little girl.

Like I had said, these photos were taken a month ago when I took the dogs to the dog park. I really enjoy spending the afternoons with the girls there, it's our quiet time together but they are still getting their exercise in for the day. A win-win for all! Enjoy the selection below:

Tell Me a Story-September Circle

September means the last days of summer and the first days of fall. With the nights coming quicker and the days getting cooler, I was excited to get the chance to photograph a local sun flower field. The sun flowers were planted in July and began to bloom at the end of August and beginning of this month. The sun flowers were planted for childhood cancer and apart of the group Prayers for Maria. The field is planted along the local highway and seen by everyone. I have been wanting to go to the field for about a week now and just haven't had time to go. Luckily I was able to sneak away between classes today for about an hour and grab some photos of the beautiful flowers growing.

The field stretches far along the highway just grabbing the attention of everyone passing by. Part of me wishes I would have made time to go to the field a week before I did, because when I got there most of the flowers were dying, but many still standing tall. 

One of the many things I am grateful for with my photography, is my amazing macro lens. I rarely even change the lens when I'm not shooting things I want details with simply because I really just love the lens. Allows me to capture the details in these beautiful flowers. 

While walking throughout the field, it was noticeable that the flowers standing tall were standing for those children with cancer who are still fighting. A very moving feeling while being amongst the flowers.

For those of you who are more interested in learning or donating about the prayers for Maria foundation, please visit their website by clicking here

 Thanks for taking a walk through the sun flower field with me. One day hopefully these beautiful flowers can be planted in memory of kicking not only childhood, but all kinds of cancer in the butt and let it be a reminder for those still fighting and those survived and pasted that this battle is never easy. Pray for those who need it.

Please continue the circle and visit Colleen Putman Photography

Tell Me a Story Circle-August

Earlier this month I joined a group that each month to tell a story. I think it will make more sense to you readers once you read the blog and see how it works. At the end of the post you will see a link to another blog where I encourage you to visit others' pages and see the story they have to tell this month.

The middle of this month I was itching to take some photos and I am lucky enough to have a best friend who wanted her picture taken. The best thing about my best friend Nicole, is that she is twin. Well of course I love Nicole for many other reasons, but as her photographer, I loved the fact that she was a twin. Once I learned that Nicole's twin Taylor was going to be coming along on the photo shoot, I instantly knew these photos were going to turn out great. I was excited to capture the both of them together before they left for school again.

We started our journey at the local library where we took the story book trail back to this beautiful bridge that stands over a creek. The path was busy with people on it, but we managed to get some photos between the crowds. I envy the relationship that Nicole and Taylor have. You are both so strong and confident that you radiate it to who ever you are around. Truly a joy to be around.

Being your friend, it was hard to direct you at first and tell you how to stand where to look, felt unnatural to make you two do anything but what was normal. You guys had this great energy around you that let us be silly and get the photos we wanted.

The afternoon contented with you two being the loving sisters you are. Seeing you two bonding and spending time together before you headed your separate ways for school was really neat and made it easy to capture you two. At times it made me want to remind you two that when you're fighting to look back at these photos and remember how well you two get along and how the bond between you two isn't forced ever.

The quote: "There is no better friend than a sister" couldn't be more of a true quote for the two of you. We've all met those siblings that are simply that, siblings. That's the difference between you two, you aren't just siblings, you are best friends and that shows wether you mean it to or not. 

I enjoyed every moment of this shoot you two, you made it easy to get the shots I wanted. I enjoyed taking you two individually as well. You both have such different personalities that capturing you two apart really brings it out. Nicole, when I started shooting just you, you were a natural and looking poised and making sure the photos were good. Honestly the best model ever. Taylor, your laid back personality really shows. Instead of just sitting on the bench, you brought your legs up and made it comfortable. It was easy to get the shots and required almost no work on my end. 

Remember no matter how far you two may take yourselves with school and after graduation, you are always sisters and that bond will never go away. I don't see you two ever being far from each other and always maintaing the relationship you have. Remember to enjoy each other and remind yourselves that no matter what, your sister is always there for you. 

Thanks again guys, it was honestly so much fun to capture you both and capture the love. Enjoy for years to come. 

Please visit for another "Tell Me a Story" : 

Renee Marcov

Editing

There are two parts to considering yourself a photographer. The first part is that you have to realize one, how a camera works and two, how to take a picture. Of course there are other things that make someone a photographer, but these are general. The second half to someone considering themselves a photographer is being able to edit the photos they take. There is a lot more to editing photos than just adding a filter to them, that's what Instagram is for, when editing photos, you have to prefect as many aspects as you can. Programs such as Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop help make the picture you took turn out to be the picture you want to share with your client. I mentioned a few posts ago about joining a photography group on Facebook. After being a member for some time on there, I couldn't help myself to offer to edit some photos for a fellow photographer who had shared some wedding photos she had taken. I was excited when she allowed me to use my editing tools on the photos and help her make the photos perfect. Below I added the selection of photos that I edited for her. 

*Please note that these are not my original photos. They were taken by Nickie Hoback Russell Photography. I simply edited the photos for her, giving me the right to share and place my watermark on them.*

Welcome to Manual

For awhile now, everyone in the photography group I am in, have been talking about shooting in manual and how it's so great. I never really thought much of it and figured my shots were just as good in the sport setting. Well, yesterday, I realized just how WRONG I have been!! I was just messing around with my camera yesterday while the pups were napping and I realized how hazy my photos were turning out. Just to see how things would change, I switched my camera into manual mode and quickly saw just how different the shots looked when I was actually using the right settings!! It's safe to say, once you go manual, it's very hard to go back!

The only problem with manual shooting is movement….as long as you have a quick enough shutter speed, the blur isn't noticeable. However, when you start needing a tripod…that's when manual becomes sort of a pain. So sometimes, shooting with the settings on your camera can help you get a shot especially when the situation you're in, isn't ideal for a tripod to stabilize the camera.

Enjoy the selection below. These might be some of my favorite photos I have ever taken, or at least in a long time. The black and white one of Lumen and Hannah sleeping is probably my favorite from the bunch. Really captures just how sweet Lumen really is. Enjoy!

The Calm Before the Storm

It has been one of those days where the rain has come and gone. Anyone with dogs really dreads rain because that means our precious babies are cooped up in the house all day. Luckily we had a break in the rain earlier and I was able to drag the girls outside to play ball and release some of their bottled up energy.

Before we went outside, I started taking some photos inside since the lighting wasn't awful and I wanted to take the opportunity since it doesn't come around often. Lumen (the White Shepard) was sleeping on the floor just far enough away from me that my macro lens could focus on her. She was semi sleeping but knew I was taking photos of her. The best part about Lu is that she tolerates me taking her photo and rarely moves! I had a vision of what I wanted to capture, but it just wasn't really working out. Of course once I was about to probably get the shot I wanted, Hannah decided she needed to lay near Lumen and was totally in the way of my amazing shot! Of course I couldn't make Hannah move because then Lumen would move, so I had to be creative! I ended up shooting from the couch over Hannah to get to Lumen behind her. Luckily the photos turned out pretty well.

Remember how I wanted to do a before and after shot? Well last time I tried the photo really wasn't the best to do that with but I think I still got the point across. This time however, I have the perfect photo for a before and after! Since I was shooting over Hannah to get to Lumen, part of Hannah's back was in the shot I had of Lumen in the corner. In the camera the photo looked kind of cool, but once I opened it in Photoshop, I realized that it looked like I had a black blob in the corner of my photo….UGH! Luckily Photoshop is so amazing and has all these great tools to help get rid of that kind of stuff!

Before 

After 

As you can see in the photos, I cloned out the black and made it look like the floor. Unfortunately, this is not my best work with cloning….now that they are side by side I can really see it. However, I worked on it for so long that I just had to move on.

The rest of the photos below are also from this afternoon. Enjoy the selection below. Check out the crazy big paws Lu has below too.

Let's Catch Up

Wow! I can not believe it has been over a month since I last blogged! The even sadder part about that, is I really haven't picked up my camera in that time frame either. Last month I did take some family photos, but not everyone is on social media so I didn't post them to protect their privacy!

So much has happened this last month! School started, the weather started getting amazingly nice, and the pups have been going through some intense training. Because of all of this going on, I haven't had much time to pick up my camera! No excuses, I know!! So, here is my post that is LONG over due! I finally got two days in a row off from work and school so I decided I better get my camera out and use the time to get some photos.

Lately, I have felt that when I take photos of the dogs, they all turn out the same. Same photo, different day. So, I have joined a couple of photography groups on Facebook that let photographers from all walks of experience share their photos and have strangers comment on them. Unfortunately, since I haven't taken photos in so long, I haven't had the chance to really post on there. Luckily that can change now!

For a while now, I have wanted to do a before and after part on this. However, I never really had a photo that showed the amount of work I did to it. I decided to just bite the bullet and try it on here. The photos below aren't the ideal photo for a before and after, but there is enough of a difference to show.

Before 

After 

For these photos, there is really only one setting that I changed. The setting Levels, I upped the lighting and created contrast with the blacks. Instead of the photo being more gray, there is now a contrast between the different colors. 

Often most of the photos taken only need a little adjustment. However, sometimes I get a photo that needs a lot of work and I often really enjoy the challenge. However, when I started taking these photos, I started taking these photos at about noon when the sun was way to bright. The first half of these photos have awful lighting and aren't even editable! Later that day, I went back out and got much better results with the lighting. Enjoy the rest of the collection below: