New Photo/Design: Rosey Charles Graduation Announcement

Over thanksgiving I was asked to photograph and design a university graduation announcement for Rosey Charles. One of her heroes is Rosie the Riveter, and we thought it might be fun to theme her graduation announcement. The front is a parody of the “We Can Do It” Rosie the Riveter WWII propaganda poster, and the back is written like a breaking news story. I really enjoyed photographing. Rosey and working on this post card. I hope you enjoy browsing through the design and photography.

Thanks for Reading! – Nattles

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TOMS Shoes: Event Photography

A few weeks ago I got an email from a friend of mine that works at Soderquist Center, in Northwest Arkansas. Apparently Blake Mycoskie, founder of Toms Shoes, was going to be speaking at John Brown University for leadership week, and Soderquist Center needed a photographer to document the event. I had heard of Toms Shoes and I knew their basic mission as a company, but most of the information I knew was from passing conversations and campus events that I had experienced during my undergrad.

It was such a pleasure to meet Blake, I had the chance to ask him a few questions and listen to a lot of great stories while the journalists backstage interviewed him. I think the biggest thing I took from interacting with Blake was a reminder that giving back can be simple, but not easy. Toms Shoes reminded me and reinforced the idea that I really want to find a way to use my passion of photography and design in a giving back kind of way, maybe through something like Help Portrait, but, Blake got my brain spinning, trying to think of ways that I could give back to the world through my abilities. I have yet to come up with how to apply his wisdom to my passions, but, I know it’ll come together.

Anyway, here are a handfull of pictures from the day:

TOMS Shoes...

The Interviews

Chapel Video

Blake Speaking

Blake Talking about TOMS Shoes

Blake took photos with students

He also signed things..including shoes...

In the Afternoon there was a Q&A

More Q&A

People could text in questions and Blake would answer them

Blake Mycoskie founder of TOMS Shoes

Anyway, it was a really great day, I learned a lot and I want to thank Soderquist Center for hiring me, it was a joy to photograph this event.

-Natalie

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Halloween Greatness

So, for Halloween, my roommate and I decided what we would go as. The decision came down to Trick or Treating as the people who answer the door for trick or treaters.

So to start out, we had to make a door. We looked  awhile for a real door…but ended up, we made one out of a huge piece of cardboard, it turned out pretty well.

Cutting to Size

Making Handles out of plastic bags

Making the Halloween Sign

Making the Home Sweet Home sign

Adding the finishing touches

Rosey getting into character

Here's the finished Door

 

The reactions we got usually were confusion or laughter, depending on the age group. Adults usually got it, and loved it, kids usually looked really confused…and it ended about like the comic did….

 

anyway, that’s it.

-Natalie

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Sushi Adventure

My birthday was a few weeks ago, and my friend Heather gave me a sushi matt and a book on making Sushi. So being the person that I am, I promised some friends of mine sushi this weekend. I needed to do a practice run. Tonight I had that practice run…and with all my free time I decided to practice food photography. And as it turns out there isn’t much to photograph in the process of making Sushi…but the final photo is pretty nice…so that’s cool, anyway, here’s photos from my adventure. Enjoy.

Cleaning the Rice

Drying the Rice

Cutting the Vegetables

The Final Philly Roll

So that’s it….if you’re interested in making Sushi, I recommend it…it’s not that hard, it’s just slightly time consuming….

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How To: Pizza Box Ring Flash

It’s been almost a month since my California trip and I have been trying to put my inspiration to good use. I have always been enthralled ring flashes, but they are so expensive! I recently found a Pizza Box Ring Flash how to…But, it didn’t go on my camera, it was meant as an off camera ring flash…so I made some changes. And here, for all to use, is my version of the Pizza box ring flash.

Step One:

You will need a few things:

1. Foil Tape, Masking Tape, Duct Tape

2. PVC Pipe the size of your lens (my lens is are big. But if you make one for a smaller lens, like a 50mm, it’ll probably easier to find a PVC pipe piece)

3. Pizza Box

4. 2 Bowls, (1 smaller, but bigger than your PVC, a slightly larger one, so you can have the actual, ring.)

5. Tissue Paper

6. Utility Knife

Step Two:

You will need to find the center of your Pizza Box.

Step Three:

After finding the center, use your smaller bowl to make the ring that will be taped to your PVC piece.

Step Four:

Draw the circle with the bigger bowl, and the circle with the PVC pipe.

Step Five:

You will cut out all the circlues, but the one that matters most is the middle one that says “glue to PVC.” this is the one that will make the ring show up in your subjects eyes.

Step Six:

Cover the entire inside of the box with the foil tape.

Step Seven:

Cut the hole for you PVC from the line you drew. Then draw around the PVC on the the back of the box. On mine I have the inside line and the outside line tha make it easier to know what I’m dealing with.

Step Eight:

Tape the inside ring to the PVC pipe. Then cut the tissue paper to size. I used one sheet, it usually does the trick.

Step Nine:

Tape down the tissue paper, and cut a hole to tape to the PVC pipe.

Step Ten:

Take your external flash and trace around it so you know how big your flash spot needs to be.

Step Eleven:

Cut the hole out, and you have a finished Ring flash. In this particular model, you need Pocket Wizards to work the whole thing.

Final Product:

This is how it looks on the front of my camera.

Examples:

Well there you have it. A pizza box ring flash made for…maybe 10 dollars, depending on how picky you are about your pizza.

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Help-portait…worldwide

Yesterday I had the chance to help with an organization called help-portait. It’s a worldwide organization of photgraphers that get together one day a year and shoot pictures for free for poverty stricken or homeless.

I worked in a small town operation of just me and the photographer. I edited phots all day and he shot. We worked with seven families, while other sites worked with hundreds.

It’s crazy to think that all over the world today photographers were giving there time and talents to people in need. When I got home and started looking at the images and videos on Twitter from Milan Italy and panama, it really hit me that this was changing lives.

I have been trying to find a way to make a difference in my community for awhile with my talents, and I’m grateful for an organization like this that brings so many people together with similar needs and gifts.

Luke from Main Street Studios and I shot in Siloam Springs for help-portrait

We met 5 families on Saturday

After we shot each family they had the chance to look at the images on the computer screen. We also gave them a CD before the left.

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