Deal Alert

For all you out there interested in photography,

today's Groupon is an awesome deal!

For $49, you get to take a 5 hour digital photography course for beginners 

through the McKay Photography Academy

and a $25 voucher to One Click Pix.

The cost of the class alone is usually $399!

So even though I'm not familiar with this photography academy,

it's a steal of a deal! 

The class includes learning about:

understanding manual settings, exposure control

shutter speeds

aperture 

ISO settings

lenses and perspectives

and lastly, composition

You can find the deal here.

Let me know if you decide to take the plunge with me,

I signed up for the class on Monday, July 11th, 2011 from 4pm-9pm

Lake Calhoun

Best part about living in St. Louis Park....

living within a mile of Lake Calhoun.

Who doesn't love a lake in the summertime,

let alone one that's only 5 minutes from your house!

Summertime and the livin' is easy...

my roommate's parents' dog, Jasmine

Next up: my trip to Denver last weekend!

Stay tuned, and stay cool (this 100 deg. weather and no AC is killin' me!)

Cheers!

Mr. and Mrs. Jordan Douglas

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a friend from high school's wedding! 

(my first friend to get married mind you, so it was a BIG deal!)

Lauren Donnelly, became Mrs. Jordan Douglas on May 21st, 2011 

at Cragun's Brainerd Resort in Northern Minnesota.

Despite Mother Nature's attempt to rain on the couples parade (quite literally),

The wedding was beautiful, the bride was stunning and it was 

a true testament to the love that Lauren and Jordan have shared for the past 8 years.

Not to mention an excellent high school reunion!

As I've mentioned, this was my real first attempt at photographing people.

I kept having to remind myself that I wasn't their photographer, 

and that I couldn't make a scene snapping photos.

The Groom, Jordan, walking Lauren's Mom to her seat

and... Here Comes the Bride

The Happily Married Couple
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas
(this is my personal favorite because it shows their excitement!)

My Boyfriend, Pete, and I at cocktail hour
(The sun peeked out after the ceremony!)

Jill and I with the Bride
Now, this was only taken with my point and shoot (Canon Powershot)
I have and always will love that little thing,
and just had to include this picture because it shows off the Bride's dress

Eagan Girls during cocktail hour
Cocktail hour was held on a beautiful balcony that overlooked Gull Lake
(back to the DSLR cam, can you tell?)

The couple's first dance
This, too, was shot with my wonderful little point and shoot camera
(didn't want to lug around my DSLR at the dance)
But doesn't this picture just capture it all? Loves this.

Obviously Lauren and Jordan's special day 

gave me ample opportunity to take some great photos .

However, I have a long way to go with learning how to photograph people!

It's harder than you would think!

I'm convinced that a better lens would definitely do the trick,

but that will come in time...

Not to mention a less social event would be helpful as well.

Any volunteers to be models for me to practice?

Bass Lake Preserve

Not even a block from my new home is a little marsh/wetland;

tucked away in the midst of the city. 

It's called the Bass Lake Preserve

and it provides an amazing, stress relieving get away.

There's a trail that winds its way around the area

giving you an easy 1.5 mile stroll whenever you please.

I venture to this area often,

 so of course I snapped some photos.

It's a relatively quiet area, which is nice because

I have privacy while taking my photos.

And well, I don't  feel like such a dork getting all into it.











Obviously I used a combination of my Fisheye Lens and
and also just the standard 18-55mm lens.
Both gave awesome and unique pictures.

You can tell on the fisheye lens the variety that is provided
just by using the zoom on the 18-55mm lens.
If I am zoomed all the way out, it gives a full circle frame
and a more bubbled effect (i.e. the last photo),
where as if I'm zoomed in a little, the circle is cut off
and the photo is a little less distorted.

Stay tuned: next up is the Donnelly/Douglas wedding,
my first real experience with photographing PEOPLE!
and then I'll be all caught up on the last month of my photography adventures!
Hope everyone is enjoying the warmth, FINALLY.

exploring my new surroundings

As mentioned in my previous post,

Merely a month ago, I moved to St. Louis Park.

So far the city has not made me regret my decision.

Not too long after we moved in,

I purchased a Polaroid Studio Series .42x Fisheye Lens.

It basically screws right onto the lens I already have on the camera,

which is convenient,

But takes away from the clarity of the photograph.

Honestly, in the grand scheme of things,

I think it adds its own character to my photos,

and therefore I DO recommend it!

Plus, it's super fun to play around with.



Our New Kitchen



Our new Living Room, aka "Sitting Room"



Tree in our neighbors yard, one of the reasons I love spring!



My Roommate's cat, Buddy aka the devil.

tornado warning

At the beginning of May, my roommate and I decided that we

had had enough of the St. Paul area, packed it up and moved across town

to St. Louis Park. 

Now, don't get me wrong, the Grand Ave area is awesome, especially in the summer!

However, our neighbors were a bit difficult and we spend most of our 

time in Uptown, so we figured it was a good choice for us.

Plus, we're not even a mile away from Lake Calhoun, how much better can it get?

On the negative side, for whatever reason, 

severe weather LOVES to hit St. Louis Park!

Since moving in, we've been under TWO tornado warnings.

(In my opinion the storms were quite a bust...

did I mention I have a life goal of seeing a real tornado?)

Anyways, on the first storm we had golf ball size hail! 

I was able to snap some pretty good pictures,

but believe me when I say, I was dodging bullets to get these shots!

The cloud formations were just absolutely breathtaking, 

I couldn't resist running outside despite the sirens going off... 

Although I can't tell you what those cloud formations are, 

or what they mean, what I can tell you is they were so cool!

Obviously  I do some photo editing (which I'll get to in a later post)

but I didn't have to tweak the colors at all on these shots.

The colors this storm produced were eerie and yet stunning!

So, rain or shine or sirens, I'll be takin' my pics!

Do I get kudos points in the photography world for that?

Almost caught up on the events of the last month... bare with me 

Cheers,

Natalie

Walker Art Center

Mother's Day weekend, I was lucky enough

to not only have my parents, who now live in Denver, CO come to visit

but to also have my grandma, who lives in Ames, IA, come!

To celebrate, My Grandma and I decided to visit the Walker Art Center

which is located right in the heart of Minneapolis. 

It not only features contemporary visual and performing arts exhibits, but 

is quite well known for it's outdoor sculpture garden.

I've always wanted to visit the sculpture garden for it's well known 

Spoon and Cherry sculpture,

so I was extremely excited to once again put my new camera to use.