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ASAD 2022

The year 2022 was filled with so many highs, and some very low, lows. 2022 brought travel, and weddings, animal snuggles. new friends, and family get togethers. Although some unexpected, I’m grateful to have seen them. 2022 also brought me lots of laughter, and new opportunities for growth in myself, and my art.

As some of you know, the year 2022 started out rough for me. New Years day, I was on a plane heading to my grandpa’s funeral. Although the circumstances were not ideal, I enjoyed seeing family that I have not seen in many years. I loved playing games and reminiscing with them about their childhoods and mine. My grandma is my only remaining grandparent, and I will forever cherish our conversations from this week. I am thankful that she sees me as someone she could talk to, and help her through her grief.

With the United States opening back up from covid, this brought on more travel. Not long after we got home from being in Ohio, my parents came to see me. I also traveled back to Ohio two other times this year. I flew in for my life long best friend’s bridal shower and bachelorette weekend, and then again for her wedding. I also traveled to New York City. I have been there five times, and I do not think I will ever stop being surprised by its beauty and culture.

Everyone that has ever met me knows that I have a love of animals, my favorite being a horse. Growing up in a suburb of Cleveland, its definitely not a typical favorite animal. My bedroom growing up was always covered in horse statues, pictures, toys, etc. After the loss of Molly, I decided it was time to become formally trained. This year, I started my journey towards horsemanship, and hopefully lead to hunter jumper. Bailey was the first horse I felt a bond with at The Equestrian Center. She was very patient with me and helped me through the beginning challenges. The center lost Bailey unexpectedly, and it broke my heart. After riding a few horses, who were all wonderful I found Brigand. I typically use the the phrase “he's a dream” when I talk about him. He pushes me to be better, work harder, and also to expect the unexpected. I am truly grateful for my trainer and friend, Janet, and the entire equestrian center. This is the first time in my life, I have had friends that are also horse people.

I always talk about the things I wish I could improve in the future of my videos. In the past, it was about video organization. I fixed this problem by creating folders per month and adding them at the end of every month, then going and creating that months section of the video. This has helped me a great deal and I definitely will continue it in the future. I was underwhelmed with some of my phones camera quality, but I upgraded my phone so I hope that will improve future videos. Something I really want to improve on will definitely be the blog writing itself. I struggle with writing out the synapsis of my year, and even my art.

I hope you enjoy 2022’s a second a day video, and I can not wait to hear what you think! The link is below, and please do not forget to look for 2023 in the future!

I have four more blog posts, saved in my drafts and I am working to get them to you soon.


If you cannot see the video this blog, click here.

Links to other blogs in yearly order are here!

2021
2020
2019

2021 ASAD Video

Wow. I cannot believe its has been a full year already. 2021 was a year full of loss and heartache. 2021 also brought some amazing memories and an abundance of laughter with some of my closest friends, animal snuggles, a little bit more travel Than last year, and of course, good food that I love to showcase throughout my videos. I always like to explain the things I did well, and the things I wish to improve in the next year.

Due to the world events, I kept my social circle small this year as well as the previous. Which was nice because I got to spend another year surrounded by only my closest circle of friends, who are also family. With them, I got to have many mini adventures such as county fairs, dinner dates, beach trips at all hours of the day, and I even got to help participate in bringing a hometown best friend in to the city to surprise one of my besties for her birthday!


Unfortunately, with the good comes the not so good. We lost some very special animals, and I lost my grandfather at the end of the year. Molly, the Hunters’ horse, was the first one this year. If you know me personally, you’d know that horses are my favorite animal, I absolutely adored Molly. The last time I saw her, before I went down I bought an entire bag on mints. Mints were her favorite treat and though it meant she’d have to let me get on her back for an hour or so a day she gladly accepted. If you were not fast enough though, shed dig through your pockets herself. The next was the Hunters' dog buster, who I think only Chris was fond of, he was known for getting into messes, the stinkier the better. Last but certainly not least, after a long year filled with family stresses and struggles, we suddenly lost my grandpa to the flu and pneumonia. I am grateful for him and the time we got o share. If my family had to choose one thing to say about him, I think it would be that he made life interesting, just not always in the best ways.I am grateful for the two voicemails on my phone from him, especially since I don’t have anything from my other passed grandparents. It’s been about a month and it still doesn’t quite feel real.


I am very excited to be traveling again, Although I am still doing way less traveling because of the pandemic, I did fly to Denver this year, and I had to make in back to Ohio at the end of the year. Denver was fun, I ate lots of good food, went to lots of museums, and of course did a little bit of hiking. My trip back to Ohio was a little bit more stressful. The plan was to fly back to my parents house in South Carolina and then drive to Ohio from there for my grandpas funeral.Then things got a little bit more stressful when I went to check in for my flight, and saw that it was cancelled four hours before I had to be at the airport. Naturally the airline booked me on another flight instead. Since it was just about midnight on New Years eve, and my flight left in the morning I had to wake up my parents to see what they thought was my best option. Long story short, I ended up buying day of plane tickets on New Years day. Luckily in the end, I made it to Ohio and the service was wonderful. It also let me see my family some of which I have not seen since I was in middle school.


Even though i’m not posting as much, I’m still working as you can see in my video, and I am so excited to show you what I have coming. There will be a wedding blog, and at least five product shots coming your way soon.People have also been asking me about showing my before and afters for some of my images because sometimes I really change a lot of things. I think this is a really fun idea because it helps show off one of my strengths, photoshop. I am just unhappy with my coding options for it with my website. I may try it a different way and let you decide if its readable, or if you like it.


There are a lot of things that I consider to be strengths and improvemnets this year. I chose to change the background track from the up beat and tropical tunes that i typically use, because of my losses this year especially near the end, it didn’t feel right. So in the end I swapped out the ukulele and switch it for a nice, still happy just more subdued piano and strings track. I think I also improved my editing and workflow this year, so hopefully I can just keep building onto it. If you want to see my workflow progress, feel free to check back and look at my previous blogs that are down at the bottom of this post. MY workflow consists of a yearly folder. Within that folder I have twelve folders with the month names. This year I added number of days as well as a color system so know when I have put all my videos per month in them through out the year. This is helpful to me because I am a little bit sporatic with my video uploading.


Ofcourse, if i’m going to talk about my strengths, I need to talk about the details i’d like to improve in the next year. I do this video project as a look back through my year like a scrap book, but also a way to stay learning and focused. I would have to say that writing about myself, and my process is one of my biggest on my list of “needs improvement"“ Im just really not good at it, but im trying to better to get out of my own head to improve it. Also, I would say I wish my video was all horizontal frames, although I have much less in this one than my previous, I still have room to improve there.


My 2021 video is here, and below are links my other videos.

***If you cannot see my video below here is a link.***

Thanks for watching, and be on the look out for 2022!

Links to other blogs in yearly order are here!
2020
2019


2019 ASAD Final Video

Hey everyone, I am excited to say, the final project is here! I have Learned many things about myself, and about my techniques, and processes.

Let me start by telling you a few things I would like to improve upon for next years video. Ive already talked about organization in a previous blog, but I have to tell you, it was one of my biggest mistakes in this project was not having my monthly videos organized! My other biggest concern was simply, I wish all of my videos were shot horizontally through out the video. This would have kept the video more consistent. Now These are only a few things I wish I did better on, but I know I will get better, and I am proud of this video.

Since I have told you some of my struggles, let me talk to you about some of the things I really enjoyed about this project, and why I want to continue it. Honestly, one of my favorite aspects of this project, was to remember, and look back at some of the moments, from my everyday life no matter how big or small. The next reason I enjoyed this project was simply because it helps me with my video editing skills, since i only knew the bare minimum of premiere when I started. Video is a very popular skill to know as a photographer in this market, so I like to keep my skills well rounded and sharp. Making this video has been a lot of fun, and a lot of work. I am glad to see it all come to gather. It makes me even more excited for next year!

Without further ado, Here is the ASAD 2019 video!

Below are links the the other A Second A Day Sneak Peak videos and the blogs to go with them just incase you ever miss one, or want to rewatch/reread them.

Links to the other sneak peak videos in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak

4. ASAD April Sneak Peak

5. ASAD May Sneak Peak

6. ASAD June Sneak Peak

7. ASAD July Sneak Peak

8. ASAD August Sneak Peak

9. ASAD September Sneak Peak

10. ASAD October Sneak Peak

11. ASAD November Sneak Peak

12. ASAD December Sneak Peak

ASAD August Sneak Peak

Since starting this video project, I have not been posting as much photography work. I will start posting some of these images and blogs to go with them soon. Many of you have messaged me asking me to start a before and after image series to show my process, I wanted to use an image slider, but I because my website already has extra coding in it, when I added the image slider coding in, it effected the way my website looked a way I was not fond of. I just want you to know that I hear you! and i’m trying.

The month of August was full of sunny days on the beach, work, and friends. Here is the August monthly A Second A Day sneak peak video. I hope you enjoy, and as always feel free to message me.

Below are links the the other A Second A Day Sneak Peak videos and the blogs to go with them just incase you ever miss one, or want to rewatch/reread them.

Links to the other sneak peak videos in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak

4. ASAD April Sneak Peak

5. ASAD May Sneak Peak

6. ASAD June Sneak Peak

7. ASAD July Sneak Peak

ASAD June Sneak Peak

WOW! June flew by way too fast. I barely had time to edit my video through out June! Between my friends going away party, my birthday, my best friend coming to visit, and Chris’s birthday, It’s safe to say June was one of the best months I ever had. This was a significant birthday for me, and i’m thankful for all my loved ones that helped to celebrate it with me. My 25th birthday was definitely one of my top birthdays maybe even the very best one.

Thank you to all my loyal followers that have been asking me about the videos. As always, I linked all my blogs to the previous months below in order. Feel free to check them out!

Links to other blogs in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak

4. ASAD April Sneak Peak

5. ASAD May Sneak Peak

ASAD April Sneak Peak

As promised, here is the monthly a second a day sneak peak for the month of April. This sneak peak so far is definitely one of my favorites.
April was filled with lots of adventure, friends and laughs. the month started out with a trip to New York, and ended with priceless times with my great friends.

I’m sorry but i’m standing by my “no sound in sneak peaks rule”. you will just have to watch the final product for the full experience! The video below is the sneak peak for April. I also have the links to all the previous months sneak peak blogs below, in order.

Links to other blogs in order:

1. Exciting Projects in the Work/ ASAD January Sneak PeaK

2. February’s ASAD Sneak Peak

3. March’s ASAD Sneak Peak





February's ASAD Sneak Peak


So just in case you missed my first post (link below) I am working on a new project that will last me the entire year. Its a video project called A Second A Day or ASAD for short. I have been working hard to stay updated on this project to keep it from being a daunting folder of 365 videos at the end of the year. Since I am keeping up with the editing of the videos, I am also abled to look through each month and pick out some of my favorite moments from that month and share them with you.

So far I’m learning a lot about myself and video editing from this project and I can’t wait to see how the final project turns out. I have been getting lots of great questions about this project, and my blogs. One of the most frequently asked questions was “why is there no sound in the video?” and my answer to you all is simply I have not yet picked out music for it yet, and I don’t want to give everything away in these sneak peaks. Since I am letting you see some of the seconds ahead of time, I need to have another element for your engagement in the final video at the end of the year.

Thanks for watching this sneak peak and all the ones to come!


Link to previous video: January Sneak Peak/Full Explaination

Michigan Fashion Photography

     About two weeks ago, I posted a blog titled "First Michigan Fashion Shoot". In that blog I described a little bit of what brought on this set of images with this amazing woman that I am lucky to call a friend. The other week I finished the images from the extensive fashion photoshoot I did with my friend, Kelli.

     Incase you missed the last blog, what we are trying to achieve is a new branding for Kelli. These images and others to come will be used on her instagram and social media accounts to rebuild her brand and self image for future business opportunities. These images are two more outfit changes we had go the many options we discussed and planned.  We are currently in the process of creating a new concept for the next shoot that im very excited about! Some of you might have already seen them on my updated website within the last week, but they had yet to be blogged.

     As always, I would also like to send out a special thank you to my boyfriend, Chris for learning how to be an assistant to the photographer by moving around the lights and equipment, and even learning how to use and set up all the equpitment to be the best help he could. 

     Out of courtesy for Kelli, I waited to post the rest of the images until I was sure she had received them. So I hope it was as worth the wait for you as it was for her. Enjoy! 

First Michigan Fashion Shoot

      Back in October, I had my first chance to do a fashion shoot in Michigan. This very inspirational woman has become a friend of mine these last few years and it was an honor to work with her while she has so many other projects going on as well. We are currently in the process of rebranding her, so there will be many planned shoots to come that im very excited about! Even though some of you might have already seen them on my updated website, they have yet to be blogged.

      I would also like to send out a special thank you to my boyfriend, Chris for learning how to be an assistant to the photographer by moving around the lights and equipment, and even learning how to use and set up all the equpitment to be the best help he could.     
 
     So without further ado, here are some images from our first shoot. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them!

Memorial Day Weekend

     This Memorial Day weekend I got a chance to visit my grandparents in the middle of nowhere. Also known as Van Wert Ohio. I used this opportunity to photograph the area around me. Coming from living in downtown Pittsburgh, to the suburbs of Michigan has been a little bit of adjustment scenery wise, but with my head still used to downtown living, the country was a huge change. These are few photos that I took on my phone while taking walks along the cornfields, with my boyfriend and family, as well as a few personal usage images from my weekend.  Hope you enjoy! 
 

PGH YOU Magazine

      Right before my final quarter in school, I got the opportunity to take a class about working in a magazine, and learning about how to collaborate with other designers and clients. This was a really big opportunity for me to meet new clients as well.  
 
      PGH YOU Magazine was entirely a student based magazine. Even our editor in chief was a student. We all voted together to choose the name, the cover, demographics, even the content. After all that stuff was finally taken care of, we were able to get into the fun stuff! Planning and executing our shots and pages. 
 

     I worked with three different graphic designers and 2 sets of clients. The graphic designer I worked the closest with was Kirra Stemler. We were assigned to full page spreads. Together we came up with the page layout and the images we should use.  One was an article called "Beauty on a Budget" the other article was called "T Line Adventures".  I also did two ads for the magazine. The first ad was for G6 Sports Nutrition, who I worked with the graphic designer Kendra Saffell. The second ad I worked on was an ad for Jerry Records, and my graphic designer was Amber Wellman. 
 
     This was probably one of my favorite classes I took while I was in college because it gave me a chance to learn the industry in a new way. Hearing about it and actually being a part of it are two completely different learning experiences. 

Below are the images in spreads enjoy!
 

 

Seconds Project

     Last quarter a group of girls and I did a project for our time based media final. we all got together and added different ideas for it to try to come up with a great project incorporating the things you do through out the day with out realizing. Most of it is shot in first person, as if it was your eyes witnessing the day, like when the dog jumps, or looking up at the buildings and sky around you, watching children running through the city, But it is always brought back by the sound of a ticking clock, as well as the image of clocks that are strung through out the video.

     I hope you enjoy the video below! Dont forget to check out the links to the websites of the girls that helped make it happen!

Daisy Blocksidge:
https://www.instagram.com/thefinereyephotography/

Emily Montgomery:
https://www.facebook.com/Emily-Montgomery-Photography-869779103080740/?fref=ts

Bus Stop Fashion

     Just in case you have not seen my website in a few months, I just wanted to let everyone know that I updated it! I am very excited about a few new shoots that were added. This blog is for the retro styled bus stop shoot! But there will be another one coming soon about the sunglasses, and other new shoots so keep checking back!

     This fashion shoot is called bus stop fashion, because we literally shot on location at a bus stop! This was a very challenging but definitely a rewarding experience.

     My thoughts behind doing this, were very simple actually. I wanted to practice my location lighting, and I wanted to add color to my portfolio. After a few weeks of brainstorming, and a long day of waiting for the evening light, we started shooting. When ever I am shooting, or before I shoot, I just become a ball of nerves until it is over because I always expect the worst. Some of the problems I was expecting with this shoot include not being able to find a nice bus stop without people around, finding enough assistants, the models' safety, and the glare of the glass bus stop to name a few. 

     Here are a few images that you can now see on my website!  i hope you like them! I would also like to give a special thanks to my assistant, Tyler Malkowski, and my beautiful model, Hayley Garrison. And again, keep stopping by to see the next blog, about the sunglasses shoot!