The Fried Family {Portraits}

When Lauren contacted me about capturing her family, I was super excited. Her kids are just TOO adorable. We had a blast this afternoon at this gorgeous park in Wake Forest, NC (I am so going back there!) and I can't wait to get the rest of the pictures back to the Fried family. Here are the teaser pics from this afternoon!

Sofia


Brandon


Alana


The Fried Family

All photos © Melissa Berg

There were soooo many cute photos to choose from that I just may do a second blog post later of the candid shots!! Thanks again to Lauren and her husband Jason for letting me spend time with their family. :)

NC State Fair 2009

Well unfortunately (or fortunately, he would have been bored) my husband did not want to go to the fair this year...he's never been. So my friend Renee, who is also into photography, went with me and we spent the entire night just shooting the fair. No food, no rides, no 8 legged spider woman (haha)...just us and our tripods and good walking sneakers.

We did meet up with a few people from the Raleigh Outdoor Photography Group that we both belong to, but it's hard when you have a pack of people with tripods (and lots of awkward stares as if we were odder than anyone else there!) lol. I learned a lot that night as far as shooting at night, which is something I've wanted to get some practice with. I had a blast using long exposures and getting those really cool ride shots with the lights. Unfortunately the big ferris wheel was a little disappointing (lights malfunctioning?) but I found a bunch of other rides that completely blew it away. I would have blogged about this earlier, but after walking around the fair for 4 hours, I fell asleep on the couch as soon as I got home. ;)

Butterfly World

I can't believe that I took this shot back in 2007, yet alone with my Canon SD300 point and shoot camera. While visiting my mom in Florida, we went to Butterfly World in Coconut Creek. I was in macro photography heaven, but without the macro lens and quite frustrated. For every good shot, I had about 15 bazillion blurry ones. I will be one happy photographer the day I get my hands on a macro lens. The one I am looking at apparently has gotten great reviews that it doubles as a great portrait lens. PERFECT!! ;)

Click here to see more butterfly photos from that day.

My Favorite Landscapes

I was updating my Flickr photostream with past photos that I have randomly in my iPhoto library. Here are a few of my favorite landscapes and the stories behind them.


Image © Melissa Berg
This shot was taken on November 24, 2006 in Washington DC with my Canon PowerShot SD300. This was my first trip to my then boyfriend, now husbands' parents house who live in Northern VA. We went to DC to see the sights and right before we left as the sun was setting I spotted these weeping willows on the lake and it was just gorgeous. Pretty good photo IMO for a point and shoot camera! I just love how dramatic the light is.


Image © Melissa Berg
This was one of my VERY first photos with my Canon EOS 450D (Rebel XSi) when I got it back in December of 2008. I was in Oklahoma City visiting my brother, his wife and my new nephew and we went to the Myriad Botanical Gardens so I could get some practice with my new camera (using strict auto mode of course!) ;) I love that I was able to capture this night shot (without a tripod) with the lights reflecting in the water and I think the colors are just beautiful.


Image © Melissa Berg
Taken on March 2nd, 2009 from our old Raleigh apartment window taken with my Canon Rebel XSi (auto mode). I love this photo because this is one of the rare snow days that we ever really experienced in that apartment. We definitely miss this view. This shot was taken through the screen of our window but I actually really like the effect it gives the photo. The sun setting in the background is such a great contrast in the still of the snow.

Since I've started shooting in manual, I haven't had the opportunity to shoot a landscape but I hope to do another night shot with my new trip soon. I have this urge to get a shot of downtown Raleigh at night...not sure why?

Michael & Jonathan {Portraits}

Just your typical sweet natured brothers who like to pick on each other. This was actually one of the few candid type shots that I got of the boys this afternoon. Jonathan and Michael were ALL about posing for the camera...and they definitely delivered! :)




Today's shoot only lasted about 45 minutes and I got around 100 shots (around 90 of which were keepers). We were at the Alexan's courtyard and pool areas in the North Hills Mall.



All images © Melissa Berg

Time to package up a CD with the images on them and deliver them to my co-worker hopefully tomorrow! =D

Camera Show

Just LOVE the vintage cameras!!

So today...I knocked another item off of my wishlist. I got a Nikon SB-24 Speedlight circa like 1980s!! My new favorite website is strobist.com and I'm finally getting an understanding for what lighting equipment I need/want.


A little bit of a chip in the infrared cover but I'm going to cover it with a piece of black tape and it should be fine. I had the seller test it out for me to make sure it actually works and it does!

Enough dabbling in stuff I know little about. Time for a portrait session with Michael and Jonathan this afternoon. Hopefully I can post a few up here tonight when I get back.

Alan {Portraits} ie. Check out the hubsters!

All Images © Melissa Berg

I couldn't help myself. Hopefully he won't notice these are up here...lol. The other few favorites need a little more fine tuning since they were head shots more or less. Isn't he cute??? ;) These were also taken at Duke Gardens. Alan is a HUGE fan of bamboo and right when we were about to leave I spotted this mini forest of them!

I just wanted to add that I haven't shot in Auto mode since I posted about wanting to learn manual. And I have to say I LOVE being able to control the camera settings. Makes such a huge difference in my photography. I can already see a progression since I first started this blog, oh what?, a month ago??? ;)