City Music Concert: Huun Huur Tu

It's so nice to do some work again, especially when it's volunteer work.  I got the pleasure of photographing a concert, Huun Huur Tu, for CityMusic, an organization which is best described by this blurb from their website, citymusiccolumbus.com : "For over a quarter century, CityMusic has worked to expand the musical horizons of central Ohio residents by presenting the best in chamber and world music and by providing musical outreach to inner-city youth."  I have been searching for something locally that helps people that I might help with my photography.  This show was at the beautifully renovated Lincoln Theater.  


Huun Huur Tu is a group that has been around since 1991 and they hail from Tuva, a Russian republic that sits on the Mongolian border.  They practice Tuvan throat singing, nothing I have ever heard before.  It is impossible to describe, you just need to hear it for yourselves.  It was mesmerizing and as I told my husband, some of the songs sounded like they would be in a Chinese Western, if such a thing exists.  I 
highly recommend checking them out.  Their website is hhtmusic.com . 



CityMusic puts on several concerts a year so please help out by taking a look at their site and attending a show or two.

New Year, New Start

Welcome 2011!  I am hoping this will be the best year yet.  Oh the possibilities...  Hopefully some more Ohio State work will fall into my lap.  I hope some other photography opportunities will also come my way.  I hope to learn more about the business side of things.  I got a volunteer gig with City Music here in Columbus to help promote the concerts they put on and how they help keep music education in the community.  I believe it is so important that our schools get as much music education as possible considering how funding for arts programs seems to get lost in the shuffle.

I did meet another photographer, Sara with Treasured Image Photography, another CSCC alum and I hope we can work together on some projects.  I hope to get to do some shoots this year one way or another, so if it is with another photographer, so be it!  Oh the possibilities.....

Parris Island Marine Graduation, 11.19.10

So my sister-in-law asked me to be her photographer for her son's graduation from the Marine Corps so she could focus on her little man (who is not so little anymore).  It was actually pretty fun.  It was like shooting for a photojournalism class or newspaper.  I tried to tell stories with my images so she wouldn't have to write anything down.  I have been to Hilton Head several times, but never to Parris Island.  I loved seeing Spanish Moss everywhere.  Aside from the boot camp activities going on where soon to be soldiers were being reprimanded, it was a beautiful place.  There was one poor young man I saw with his go fasters (sneakers) untied and I was nervous he would be yelled at for the malfeasance.  It's where Marines ( and hopefully upstanding young men and women) are made.

OSU vs Penn State

Well, it was another crazy day last Saturday at the OSU campus.  The weather being beautiful certainly helped. Unfortunately, I missed Game Day but they were there from 9-12 or something like that and there was no way I was getting up that early from working the night before. So, my main goal was to get a decent shot of Joe Paterno.  He is a legend after all.  He has been coaching longer than Jim Tressel has been alive.  that is INSANE!  I got to shoot from the roof of St. John's again, which was cool, and I made a panorama of that area.  I pretty much ran all over the place that day, trying to get what I was paid to do as well as try to get some stuff for myself.  I was able to get a few of the coach, but he really likes staying close to his bench which made it difficult.
Another photographer was trying to get a shot of him when an observer stood right in front of his camera.  The photog
proceeded to hit this man with his giant lens to let him know to get out of the way.  One thing I have learned from my field experiences is that photographers can be extremely rude.  I am fortunately not one of those photographers!

Pet Photos

I just love pictures of pets.  Mine especially, but this little Boston Terrier, Luna, is too funny not to photograph.  Poor thing has some eye issues, but is fast and chipper as ever.  I have never seen a dog so obsessed with being loved and chasing tennis balls at the same time.  She is always a joy to take pictures of.  I am trying to learn more about pet photography.  I get to practice on my dogs from time to time, but it's always nice to see the variety of dogs out there.

Shooting at Ohio State vs Purdue

Brutus being nuts
10/23/10

I also wanted to post about my experience last Saturday.  I do some freelance work for a marketing company and last weekend, this freelancer was taken to the roof of St. John's Arena.  The unfortunate part was having to be there at 10am after going to sleep at 4am.  I needed to take photographs of the FanFest section where sponsors set up booths with games and giveaways, among other activities.  The scariest part was climbing up the rusty ladder with my camera bag on and I barely fit through the rusty hole.  Once up there, it wasn't so bad-although there's no railing and there were snipers watching for any malfeasance.  I got some decent pics, but the trees were covering most of it.  We went to a second, lower, roof about the height of the top of a semi from the ground and I was able to see so much more.  It was really a fun experience.  I then dashed to the stadium to take more pics and the weather was nice, which helped.  Brutus was in rare form, but enjoyable.  After the first half, the game got pretty dull and I left halfway through the fourth quarter.  Overall, a great day.

Meeting with Lauryn Byrdy

So, still trying to find my way and career path.  Lauryn Byrdy is a successful professional photographer who was kind enough to talk to me and let me pick her brain today.  She really helped me to really think about what I want to do.  I need to find some sort of focus and photography that I really enjoy.  I like to shoot too many different things which makes it difficult to narrow down a niche that suits me.  SO, now my next goal is to make some solid goals that I can stick to and to try to get some more work so I can eventually leave the bar (I work at a bar-i wasn't referring to being a booze hound!).  I took some fun pics of my friend's kids at the Circleville Pumpkin Festival and this was one of my faves-Austin licking his fingers after shoving popcorn into his mouth.