So, after I finished shooting Amy and Jim’s wedding, I got on I-66 and started the rather scenic drive back to the D of C.

Except…

Except…:)

Except…Skyline Caverns, the chipped yellow paint on the splintering billboard caught my eye. I thought about what I had to do for the rest of the day (it was only about 4 o’clock or so), and decided to indulge in my inner nerd and take the exit to Skyline Drive. The last cave I’d been to was Cave of the Winds in Colorado Springs, and, well….um, I was like 10, so the urge to revisit my inner spelunker was strong, and I didn’t think about looking like the loneliest nerd as I parked my car, grabbed my camera gear, and hurried towards the entrance of Skyline Caverns.

The mouth of the cave greeted me with a chilly breath.

The tour guide was a young, freckled face expert. And…admittedly, I was slightly afraid of being in a dark hole miles beneath the surface of the earth.

I had no Cory’s arm to clutch, so I grabbed someone else’s arm put on my brave face and readied my camera. I got skurred when she said that a cave is the darkest dark known to man, and if someone was left in a cave without a light source, they would go blind and crazy in 14 days. She also explained how she had to turn the lights off as we passed through each section to prevent the growth of algae and moss on the rocks. And…I scurried ahead of the pack, because I took one look at the super super super BLACK darkness behind us once she flipped off a light switch, and thought of that movie The Descent and was immediately reduced to a big chicken.

Felt a teeeeeny bit claustrophobic

So…I thought this water was like, super deep, like at least a 10 foot pool, and I blurted this answer out, when the guide asked us to guess. Um…boy was I wrong, it’s only only 4 inches deep

We were allowed to touch ONE rock. Doesn’t it look like chocolate? Yum. Chocolate. It didn’t feel that way though. It was cold, icy, even, and reaallllyyy smooth. It shows what the oils in your hands can do to a rock. Over many many manyyyyy years.

This rock scared the beejeebies out of me. Beejeebies.

Sucha tourist, I am

Oooh ooh ooh, this is Mirror Lake. Doesn’t it look like a futuristic space terrain??!!

Rock out!/I Love You!

Anthodite Dynomiiiiite Did you know you can do time in prison if you break one of these off as a souvenir? And they also grow only ONE INCH every 7000 years? Man…Wikipedia is awesome.

This river apparently is 10 miles long up to the surface, and at the surface, is just a tiny little puddle. Isn’t Mother Earth the dopest opus?

Um. Yes. I need to be in the gym. I was WINDED after climbing up this staircase.

Despite me being a bit fearful, it was fun. Earth is beautiful. We gotta do what we can to preserve it.

And I am soooo dragging Cory to Luray Caverns this summer. That tourist whose arm I was attached to at Skyline was super mean at the end of our tour.

I am grateful to shoot weddings for Julie Napear Photography, one because it gives me an opportunity to gain more experience shooting weddings, two, because I really love shooting weddings, and three, because I get to travel to parts of Virginia I probably wouldn’t see on a normal weekend! Win win win situation

Amy and Jim have known each other for a number of years. Jim had this cool idea of tying the ring on the collar of one of their three pet cats, and sending her into the room to surprise Amy, but Amy was sick . So Jim did the next best thing: he waited until she got up from the bed, and then snuck in and left the ring box on her pillow! And duhh, of course, she said yes!

Wayside Inn was where they decided to tie the knot. It’s the oldest motor inn in America!

Some of my favorite shots

Man…the smell of the icing on the cake was grrreaat! I had to pass on it though…I started the fat smash diet–more on that later!

Amy’s father was supercool. We had a lonnng heart-to-heart while waiting for the fellas to show up

We found a little extra Something Blue! A bluebird’s egg! It was on the grass, so I think it rolled out of the nest

I looooooved his reaction when he first saw her

Jim was incredibly sweet. Now, usually, when I’m photographing weddings, when it’s time to get my grub on, I try to do it as quickly as possible, in the back, and out of sight, but Jim invited me to sit up front with his family I was so touched. I think they are such a sweet couple and I wish them all the best.

I’ve known Vanessa since we were in middle school…we have years of hilarious stories (mostly centered around Bone Thugs-N-Harmony…umm. Don’t ask.), adventures and misadventures, and I was super excited to help her get into bridal-mode by shooting her engagement photos with her fiance, Erick. I remember when she first met him during undergrad at George Mason, and how they seemed inseparable–think Bennifer, Brangelina….Vericksa? Umm…Okay I tried

Here are some of my favorites! I think such a great looking couple

To see the slideshow, click here

Umm…notice the wardrobe/location change? Well…the first time we planned the shoot (which was difficult because Erick has a varying work schedule), I got super ready, had my camera (and Behemoth, I wanted to do some LF work for my class, and hey, why not bring it to an engagement shoot?), reflectors, Cory in tow (sometimes he assists me on shoots), and I walk outside to my car–and…it wasn’t there!

I knew it hadn’t been stolen, well, because I live in a neighborhood where people leave their front doors open, so it had to have been towed. I called the towing company number listed on the big sign that says “WE ENFORCE TOWING WE DON’T REALLY EVEN CARE IF YOU LIVE HERE” (it doesn’t really say that), and sure enough, my car was sitting pretty in the tow yard. SINCE WEDNESDAY. I take public transportation to the day job, and usually walk around the back to get to my bus stop, so I didn’t notice my car decided to be towed until SATURDAY, the day of their shoot. Needless to say, we started shooting late, and I always want to make sure my clients (and friends!) are happy, so I offered to do a re-shoot with Vanessa and Erick, which took forever and a day due to Erick’s schedule, wacky weather, and the universe being a meanie

Few hundred bucks later, my Scion is happily parked where it normally is, but with a shiny new CURRENT parking decal should a tow truck try any tactics.

Thank you Vanessa and Erick for being sooooo understanding I can’t wait to shoot your wedding! (And help with the planning, Vanessa!

I’ve seen Marie Antoinette probably more times than I’d care to mention. Although I’m not quite sure that I was pleased with the way she was portrayed, I was enthralled with the cinematography. Sofia Coppola’s signature buttery sunlight scenes coupled with the landscape of France kept me glued to the screen and inspired me to try to create my own Coppola moment.

I shoot weddings regularly for Julie Napear Photography and sometimes I get to meet brides before their big day, and then sometimes, with last minute bookings, I get to meet the brides for the first time on the big day! Kind of like a blind date, but better! (Except I still get jittery before any wedding I shoot.)

Deborah and John’s wedding was one such occurence, and when I met Deborah as she walked into the church, I mouthed ‘YES’ to the heavens and quickly plotted what type of creative shots I’d try. Here’s a few shots:

Annnnd…here’s my attempt at the Coppola

And uhhhh, does she not look like Kirsten Dunst‘s TWIN? They’re both Jersey girls! Man she was GORGEOUS. Her husband, John, had such a classic handsomeness as well. They were such a sweeeeet couple, and I had soooo much fun shooting their big day! Such a genuine adoration for each other. I was tearing up during their first dance (Hi there, I’m Sappy Samantha ) and trying to shoot at the same time. I need to keep tissues on me at all times

I’m typing with no pinky (no, I didn’t lose it or anything I got a massive splinter earlier today and while I removed it, it’s still a-hurtin), so tomorrow, I’ll post:

Vanessa and Erick’s engagement shoot (and the tale of two shoots!)

So, sadly, my large format class came to an end tonight.

I had to bring Behemoth (the name I coined for my large format camera) back to the hallowed halls of the NVCC photo department (though Cory was elated, as he’s come along on my many excursions, dragging the heavy camera box on a luggage cart, and waiting ever so patiently for me to compose, focus, refocus, meter, and finally shoot my photo), and say my goodbyes. I miss B. already, and though I have bruises dotting my arms and neck where the tripod has decided to express its anger, perhaps, I really hope that I’m allowed the opportunity to use a large format camera again.

I haven’t been to the darkroom in over 3 years (I’d only taken one formal class in photography many moons ago), so it was relearning how to make water become an inhibitor of sorts; it resurrected what was hidden in the emulsion, and it took a lot of time, and trial and error, and trying not to scratch the film with my nails, and learning that HC-110 stains, fixer smells funky, and metering effectively without an LCD screen preview to assure my fears. Being in the dark yesterday for 20 minutes developing my last few sheets of film (not as scary as I thought it would be) made me reflect on how far I’ve come, and where I’m going.

This class basically made me revisit patience. Patience not only in slowing down, and composing the photo instead of being quick shot Scott (I just made that up , but also patience in life. I’ve been counting down the months, days and hours for a lot of changes coming into my life, and lately I’ve just learned to take it one day at a time, instead of 20.

My brother has a pool table in his basement, and every time my father comes to visit from North Carolina, they wage war against each other, amid the clack of stripes and solids. This photo took a lot of work to capture, and I was especially afraid that it wouldn’t come out, because I had very little available light, this photo required a very long exposure, the camera wasn’t completely stable (I had one edge of the monorail precariously balanced on the end of the pool table), and my cable release decided to stop working and I had to release the shutter by hand, which means I was terrified of breathing.

I wanted this photo to symbolize my upbringing, in a bicultural family (my mother’s Salvadoran; my father’s African-American). I think in terms of identity, we are especially bound by language and culture, and within that culture, is the subset of food, or nourishment. I wanted the food trailing off the confines of the middle of the plate to symbolize how interwoven my two cultures are, and how much they’ve played a part in nourishing me into the woman I am today, and becoming with each passing day.

Okay, confession time. Cory had research to do in the Engineering building (that’s right. Mechanical Engineering breeds insanity, and then you realize your passion is being a Cartoonist) at Howard during our college days (which aren’t so far in the past; I have the diploma + student loan payment to prove it ) , and I saw these little monkeys sitting, covered in dust at a vacant desk. I asked Cory if he knew if anybody was occupying the desk, and he was so busy surfing the internet doing research on um, microdynamic air fluidity (or whatever Mech. Engineering grad students do) that he didn’t answer my question, which I took to mean ‘Nope, take ‘em!’ soo….here they are

One of my FAVORITE photographers is Richard Avedon (his exhibition is coming to the Corcoran!!! Yay!), and guess what guess what? The majority of his body of work was shot with an 8 x 10 view camera! I adore adore adore his portraits, and when I first got my paws on my LF camera for the semester I figured I’d give it a whirl. Though it was rather challenging…

Jax, one of my portrait guinea pigs, a great friend, fellow g-chat comedienne (seriously, she keeps me chortling during the 9-5), and a phenomenal writer. I think her eyes are simply enchanting.

Kyle Dargan, ridiculously talented (published x 50 grillion) poet, professor, brotherfriend from another mother, and a recurring photo guinea pig of mine. I think the thin black tie really does it for this shot, and I loved the way the light fell on his face.

And last but certainly not least, my father. As a child, I was always intrigued by his huge hands, with how much power they contained, and how gentle they could be with food, and with all of us. During my senior year in high school, he had an accident, and lost his leg, and I remember how worried I was about losing my father. Thankfully, God has kept him around to enjoy a lot of blessings that have come into all of our lives, and I hope He keeps him here for many more years.

…That’s all I have, ain’t got no more (c) Erykah

In the midst of my shock of being selected for a juried photography exhibition, seeing one of my photographs hanging on a wall and ultimately becoming crippled with shyness and unable to speak to the attendees during the opening reception, I realized that I never actually took a photograph of the winning photograph–that’s right, a photo of the photo.

So, I did the other day

And, the original image, since you can see my big head in the reflection of the glass

I’m coming to terms with the fact that for really real, I’m going to be working towards my MFA in photography next year. My life is going to be consumed with nothing but photography. I’m thrilled, anxious and scared. Excited, especially

I began to fall out of love with Psychology during my senior year as I sat in the rickety desks in Douglass Hall at Howard. I remember one day in particular, during one of my most important Psych classes (Stats), I found myself running out halfway through the class towards the Yard to photograph a student protest (I was a staff photographer for our student newspaper). I paid dearly for that moment; I ended up failing Stats that semester, and had to take it again during the summer (but to my defense, the second time around, I was 2 points away from an A as my final grade …)

I recall how I would find myself at ease with a camera in my hand, instead of sitting scratching my head in front a computer screen’s unblinking display of SPSS. I would sit in the Chair’s office, and talk about how I wanted to conduct a longitudinal study on the experiences of Latino immigrants newly arrived in the States versus Latinos who had been in the States for years. He knew, however, that I was pretty passionate about photography and poetry (we had many a conversation about Sterling Brown and Haki Madhubuti as opposed to Manichean Psychology), and probably listened to my 20-something random ideas on how to make a difference in the world, but knew I would not make it to grad school for Psychology. There was always a greater force pulling me away from theories and statistics.

I majored in Psychology because all my life, I’ve been told I’m a good listener, and I consider myself pretty darn compassionate, and I really like to help others. I figured I’d turn that facet of my personality into a career.

I tear up when complete strangers tear up, I smile when I see couples kissing on the metro, I get that warm fuzzy when a mother holds her child. I usually walk in a daze on the way to the day job enchanted by what I see, and kick myself for not bringing my camera along.

Of course, I wanted to make my parents proud; the first child to go to college and make something out of her life…it was just a hard decision at the end of senior year and the summer that followed; what would make me happier, listening to people’s problems, and helping them find their solution, or capturing the happy moments in people’s lives, so when the living isn’t easy, they can use the photographs as reference?  Would I be happier showing students the power of aperture and composition, dragging them out on photo field trips?

So…with a mountain of student loans from my journey in Psychology–which I’m grateful for; I think it helped me in terms of my approach to photography–I’m embarking on a new path. Maybe I will still be able to show my findings on the new immigrant experience, but it will be contained on film, as opposed to on paper, maybe it will be a combination of the two, maybe my experiences as an Afro-Latina will be woven in… 

I am soooo blessed to have such a supportive husband who is willing to pick up and relocate if the need arises, to start this new journey with me, and I don’t know if I couldn’t have done it without him pushing me, helping me tweak my artist statement (it is VERY hard to write positively about yourself and make it 800 words), and endure my many many MANY moments when I have to stop and photograph something, and to all my friends who were supportive in my decision.

’09 is going to be divine. I hope soooo.

We drove to Frederick over the weekend to visit my cousin Levi and see his son Israel’s (who’s 7 now! How did time go by that fast!) baseball game.

Okay, I’m horrible at geography, but how is it that Frederick, Maryland is realllllly close to West Virginia, but SUPER far from Northern Virginia? I have a wedding very close to the WV border in the summertime, yet I saw signs that said Frederick on the highway, and I was scratching my head trying to figure it all out…ANYWAY, Israel is soooo cute, and has the most perfect bouncy hair that I only wish my curls would transform into. It’s so surreal to see my nephews and nieces and cousins all go from little tiny babies, into 1 and 7 and 16 year olds. It makes me feel old. Stay young, kids!

Anyway, of course my nephew came along for the ride. As I’ve said previously, nobody puts Baby in a corner! (They put him in a Lincoln Navigator, duh He was knocked out during most of the ride.

After a GREAT meal (carne asada, Levi’s on point!), we dragged our full bellies into the car and drove to the school were Israel’s game was at. My nephew decided to strike a pose with Mommy.

Isn’t Israel adorable with his uniform on?

And yes, I felt like a proud Soccer Mom (Baseball Mom?) on the sidelines, taking photographs and screaming for him to hit the ball. I don’t really keep up with baseball, so I think he did a great thing when he hit the ball.

The day before my nephew’s birthday, I had a shoot at Unique Style Salon (website coming soon!), and had an opportunity to work with up-and-coming make-up artist (and model) Treneice to shoot some casual portraits of the looks Unique Style had to offer. Darlene, the salon owner, is a little camera shy, but I’m sure next time we do a shoot, I’ll definitely capture her doing her thing. I don’t really wear makeup, usually because I’ll do something totally tomboyish and rub my eye and smear it all. I probably need rub-proof, smear-proof, sweat-proof makeup, and if they make it, maybe a type of makeup that electrocutes your fingers if you touch your face.  

 Anyway, here’s Treneice making the ladies look fab:

Here is the lovely Anika:

 Followed by Ivy:

And Keisha. The world is small, I know Keisha from my middle/high school days!

And last but not certainly least, my sis-in-law, Shawnice, mother of the cutest baby in the world!

I had a lot of fun, and I hope to do it again soon!