Early Spring

Early spring (aka late winter) in our new neighborhood.

The Art and Challenge of a Self Portrait

As most of my faithful blog readers will know, I've gone a little crazy with studio portraits lately, asking everyone from nieces and nephews to former classmates to take time out and let me photograph them. It's been a great learning experience... and I know, now more than ever, that there is so much more to learn about studio lighting then I ever could have imagined.

I apologize to those who are sick of these photos, springtime is upon us, and I'll soon move on to something else :)

A few years ago while looking for pictures of mini-bangs (yes, the very same I sported for about 3 years now), I stumbled upon a wonderful portrait photographer who has an amazing gift for taking portraits of herself. Her blog is listed in my favorites under Sara's Journal. Check out her stuff, it's fantastic.

Anyway, I thought to myself when I first started looking at her work, "how hard is it to take self portraits, really?" So I tried, and failed, numerous times. The photos ended up blurry and tense with awful, awful lighting. It's hard to take a photo that you don't see in front of you, especially in the studio.

So, I'm still practicing... learning how to take these kind of portraits as I go. It's been awesome for my facebook and myspace (new profile picture every once in awhile), but even better for me as a photographer. I've learned to have more patience in the studio, found flattering ways to pose and learned how to predict lighting without chimping it (term for looking down at the camera with every frame). I think it's made me more confident to take another person's portrait when I know I can take an okay picture of myself. Most of these pictures are pretty straight forward (as I think most of my portrait work is), so, I really want to start pushing myself to think more creatively when taking portraits.

Anywho, here are a few photos I took recently in the studio. My hairstylist (Kristy and Salon Why in Fargo) wanted some photos of my new hair, which, proved to be more incentive to take some self portraits.

Emilia

Once in a while, Emilia (Dave and Sarah's adorable 3 almost 4 year old) visits us at the studio... and sometimes, she'll let me take her picture :)

Happy Easter :)

Photofolio Online!

For some time, I've been hoping to launch a website of personal work. I've finally posted it on the web at www.brittatrygstad.com

I'll try to update it often. There are a few galleries I need to complete a bit more. But, all in all, most of my favorite work is on there. Enjoy!

Ides of March

As I said in the last post, we hosted an Ides of March Toga party last Saturday at our home. It wasn't anything fancy, or crazy. We just ate a lot of food, played a bit of the wii and hung out. I didn't take many pictures, but I do have a few to share.


Alicia and Matthew, winners of the best toga contest




Tony, hot as ever


Al, Evan & Tony hanging in the space


No one puts Jenny in the corner!


Sarah whoopin' Dave at some Wii bowling

I also took a time lapse video with my mac of the party. It has music, so if you're at work, I'd turn your volume off :)

Anna

This Saturday, we hosted an Ides of March party at our house. It was great to see everyone there... considering a good chunk of the 1916 crew (Kris' good friends from college) were all able to get together.

I'll post a video and some photos of the party in the next few days. In the meantime, here are some photographs of Anna (Al & Jenn's awesomely adorable toddler) from this weekend. Notice Bob, our ugly doll, who Anna totted along all Sunday afternoon.

More Mo Hot Shots!

I told you there would be more portraits of Morea! On Monday, my wonderful coworker (and always willing victim) chopped off 10 inches of hair for Locks of Love. Her hair grows like a weed, seriously... averaging more than a 3/4 inch a month. So, I had to capture her cute new 'do quickly, before it morphed into something else.

Also, we've (Milestones) rented a Canon L Series 85 f/1.2 lens for the week, so I had to test that out a bit. Nice lens for portraits... but, not sure if it fills our needs. It has a REALLY slow automatic focus and it weighs a ton.

Q4 WPJA (2007)

WPJA Awards. Woot.

Also, big congrats to Dave! He won two!


Kids being Kids (20)



Humor (9)



Musicians & DJs (10)



Toasting (6)



Weather (15)

Katie Lewis

Katie Lewis and I met a few years ago at MSUM, where we dared to be photojournalism majors. In 2004, with a bunch of photojournalism and english peeps, we took a trip to the British Isles. A few years (and student loan payments) later, we both are still photographin'.

Katie began her own photography business awhile back (http://katielewisphotography.com), and she asked me to take a portrait of her for her website. She swears she's not photogenic... but, I don't believe her.




This photo looks the least like Katie... and probably too photo shopped. But, I like it :)