Angela Person Photography

The Spotlight is on ME!!

2011-09-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints now has me featured as their spotlight photographer on their website! Just had to share. Click HERE to check it out!

USS Constitution, Charlestown, MA

2011-07-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

The world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat, first launched in 1797.

Michael & Jenny

2011-05-09T08:50:00.001-07:00

Michael and Jenny Dill were married in Utah a couple of weeks ago, and they hired me to shoot a few photos for them the night of their Clovis reception. It was great to do some wedding photos without the craziness of the wedding day! Just a bit more relaxed. What a beautiful couple!

Caraline

2011-04-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

Lila

2011-02-01T10:06:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I shot another session of beautiful Lila. I could not have asked for a happier baby!

Hannah Follow-up 3 Month Photoshoot

2011-01-27T13:28:00.000-08:00

Ornamental Kale

2011-01-18T07:58:00.000-08:00

Just down the street from my house I was these plants in a neighbor's yard and I was so impressed with their pristine condition and especially the vibrant color during this bleak and gray time of year. And since the sky provided the perfect light diffuser, I had to get my camera out and play!
This image is an in-camera 'Image Overlay' where one sharp exposure was blended with one out-of-focus exposure to give it that dreamy look.

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens in South Carolina

2011-01-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

Clearly it's not exactly the right time of year for lush green foliage, so I put in a bit of time shooting with HDR in mind. Here's just a few with some quick adjustments.

Hannah

2010-10-02T15:26:00.001-07:00

She's here! Baby Hannah Phoenix, 1 day old:

Branching Out of MY Comfort Zone!

2010-09-17T16:48:00.000-07:00

Time to get busy and start advertising! This is a bookmark I created and had printed to help get get my name "out there"!

Kate's Maternity Photo Session

2010-09-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

Just playing around with my good friend Katy and her belly! Isn't she beautiful? I can't wait to meet and photograph the little bun after she's out of the oven!

Latest Favorites

2010-08-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

Just a few of my latest favorites. Sweet Lila.

The Boss

2010-07-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

This short video is the result of working long and hard during week 1 of Summer Arts with Josh Meltzer teaching TONS of stuff that I've never done before. We learned to record audio interviews along with ambient sounds to go with it, photograph the subject, then spend hours editing the audio with software we'd never used before, then edit the photos, and finally put it all together into a slide show. Josh is an amazing teacher, and it was wonderful to stretch my brain in completely new directions learning from a very successful photojournalist.

Pure

2010-07-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

Week 2 of Summer Arts is over...but I'm still on a high! I decided to use this book-making opportunity to create a portfolio of baby photography, since I have decided to focus my efforts in that direction. With the wonderful help of our fabulous guest artist, Susan Hayre Thelwell, I learned about design and flow and content, and was thoroughly inspired and motivated to put together this book:

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1460938

And I think it's beautiful! Many many thanks to Susan. She is absolutely charming and it was such a joy to soak up as much as I could from her!

Little Joshua

2010-06-13T22:57:00.000-07:00

After a fussy start, he finally fell into a very sound and peaceful slumber. These are my favorites. Enjoy.

2010-05-18T12:33:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago the New York Times Lens Blog started a project that involved approximately 14,000 photographers each submitting one photo shot at one moment in time. On May 2nd 2010 at 8:00am pacific time shutters were clicking all around the globe. Then the photos were compiled and presented on the blog in stacks around the earth showing where the photos were taken. They also made it possible to "recommend" photos you like and the photos are in order based on number of recommendations they receive. Much to my great surprise, my photo of Fresno State dairy cows lined up for breakfast ended up on the top of the stack over California, with by far the most recommendations! I could only find one other photo (out of ALL of them world-wide) that had more recommendations than mine. Too funny. I wasn't expecting this photo to get any significant recognition at all. So now I have the fame...when do I get the fortune?

Check it out!!
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/readers-16/

San Francisco

2010-03-28T21:07:00.001-07:00

Just a few images captured in San Francisco that I've been working on. Click on any image to see it bigger.

Kristi

2010-03-10T17:23:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to try a few things with lenses and lighting so I asked my good friend Kristi to come over and be my supermodel. These two turned out to be my favorites:

2010-02-10T17:41:00.000-08:00

I took a bold step recently and applied to be a volunteer photographer for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, which is an organization of photographers who provide private photo sessions and CD's or DVD's of the images (free of charge) for families who are faced with the loss of an infant. I have been accepted as a photographer and digital retouch artist, and now I wait for my first session. Yikes! I have no doubt that this will be extremely rewarding, but at the same time terribly challenging and emotionally draining. I can't imagine the sorrow and heartbreak that these families must suffer through, and I am eternally grateful for my own family's excellent health. Have a look at their website to check out how incredible they are.

http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/

Softbox Practice

2010-01-19T09:52:00.000-08:00

Since it was such a wet rainy day outside for our Martin Luther King Jr holiday, I decided to do a little more practicing with my softbox, and fortunately my kids were willing to model for me! These two are a couple of my favorites:

Monterey Jellies

2009-12-28T19:41:00.000-08:00

Without a significant amount of time and fuss I captured these shots in the Jellyfish exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. With camera set at 3200 ISO and a little bit of Photoshopping here's what I got:

I love how this one looks like smoke.

Yosemite

2009-12-14T01:20:00.001-08:00

On Friday Eric had a (furlough) day off of work and he offered to take care of kid responsibilities, so I took advantage of the opportunity to head up to Yosemite by myself with my camera gear. Unfortunately I was not thinking clearly enough to bring an umbrella along. I'm afraid I missed a few chances for some great photos because I wasn't willing to let my camera get wet! But between the downpours I did manage to get some that I really like. Yosemite is incredibly gorgeous when everything is soaked and saturated, and Oh so peaceful during the cold months.

A Few Recent Portrait Favorites

2009-12-08T21:01:00.001-08:00

Beautiful Frost!

2009-12-08T20:31:00.000-08:00

This morning was, by a long way, the coldest this season. On my way back from dropping off kids at school at 8 o'clock I noticed the beauty of the frost all over the flowers and leaves in our neighborhood and decided that I had to bundle up, grab the camera, and brave the cold for a little while. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

The lesson I learned this time, (well, more like remembered): there's a reason that nature photographers use a tripod. And it's not because it's too cold out to hold a camera. Although these photos may look OK on the web, they just don't have the super crisp focus or sharpness that they should. Next time...

New Location

2009-10-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

I have had my eye on this building for a while thinking it would be a great place for senior portraits. Well, I had the opportunity to photograph a mom and her two sons here last week end and they were a perfect fit for this location! I love the character and texture it gives to the background.

A Little More Toddler Practice

2009-09-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Toddlers are a challenge, but they absolutely crack me up!

Toddler Practice

2009-09-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

One More Multiple Exposure Flower

2009-09-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

I like this one even more. (In camera multiple exposure of flowers in my neighborhood.)

Finding Beauty in the Midst of a Bad Day

2009-09-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it started out nicely enough. Kids played and splashed in the cool water of the King's River, until my oldest son was stuck with a fish hook... in his leg. So the next 3 hours were spent waiting in the ER to have it removed. I had my camera with me (to get shots of the kids in the river) so I took advantage of the waiting time and the flowers that had been planted just outside the ER entrance, and practiced some of the techniques I learned from Tony Sweet and Susan Milestone over the summer. One favorite shot:

Then I felt like I was on a roll, so I practiced some more around my neighborhood. Here's a piece of an in-camera multiple exposure shot:

Lassen Volcanic National Park

2009-09-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

Last month we camped at Summit Lake in the Lassen Volcanic National Park and it was absolutely stunning. Here are a few of my favorite images from that trip.

Big Eyes

2009-08-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

I asked my friend if I could shoot
photos of her son Joshua because
he is just too irresistible.
This is his "Big Eyes" face.
I love it.

CSU Summer Arts 2009

2009-07-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

Two weeks, come and gone. Yet again it was absolutely wonderful to spend so much time playing with my camera, learning some super-cool new techniques, sharing ideas and learning a bunch from fellow class mates, being surrounded by some incredibly talented and creative people. Highlight of this year, by far, was working with the amazing Tony Sweet and Susan Milestone. I highly recommend checking out their stuff. (I put a link in the list at the right.) They were such a joy to be around, and I tried to soak up as much as I could from them!

The focus this year revolved around nature and abstract photography, which by the way is way out of my comfort zone. So I learned things like how to do image overlays, multiple exposures, panning, HDR shots, and used several different software programs like Alien Skin, Nik's Silver Efex Pro and Color Efex Pro, and Photomatix, to give images very unique and creative looks. An added bonus was that Tony and Susan are Nikon people so they could show me Nikon secific stuff on my camera.

We did a handful of field trips to shoot photos and practice new techniques. Beside shooting all over the Fresno State campus (including the vinyard and the farm), we went to Woodward Park, Fresno's Chaffee Zoo, Yosemite's Glacier Point, and a beautiful home (that belongs to one of my classmates) surrounded by a gorgeous landcsape out by the King's River.

Just like last year we were each able to choose two images to print and hang in our gallery show at the end of the workshop. Many thanks to Michael Jones, who knows all the ins and outs of beautiful print-making, for being an excellent teacher. He also happens to be a great wedding and portrait photographer, so during one of our breaks he spent a lot of time with me showing me a bunch of valuable Photoshop techniques for retouching and making people look their best.

So here are a bunch of my favorite images from this year's workshop, starting with the two that I chose to hang in the gallery.

Straight shot. Section of a giant leaf on campus. Tony said it was his favorite of all my photos, so naturally I chose this one first.
Image overlay in Photoshop. One sharp, one blurred, merged together.Tile wall shot while panning upward, then partially converted to B/W using Silver Efex Pro.The big lake at Woodward Park shot before sunrise at several different exposures which were then combined using Photomatix to generate an HDR image, and enhanced with Photoshop.
The back of a flamingo, partially converted to B/W using Photoshop.
Owl with just Photoshop enhancing.Horse at sunrise in the Fresno State farm. Just Photoshop enhancing.Rose using image overlay in camera.
In camera multiple exposure of a flower.
Flower converted to B/W with Nik Silver Efex Pro.
Flowers with some Nik Color Efex Pro filter enhancements.
Rose with watercolor filter and canvas texture in Alien Skin software.
Two HDR shots at Glacier Point after sunset.
Tony Sweet instructing me in the vinyard. I think "Far out" is his favorite thing to say. Can you picture it?

More Baby Addison

2009-06-15T16:50:00.001-07:00

Baby Baby!

2009-06-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

I just had to post this one. This photo is from a baby session I shot on Saturday, and I REALLY liked it ... a lot.

The Golden Field

2009-06-01T10:56:00.001-07:00

This last week I drove all around our area in search of a new location to shoot families in outdoor natural-looking surroundings (without having to go all the way to Woodward Park). So here's what I discovered! (Keep in mind that I gave very little thought to posing or positioning because I just wanted to let the kids run around and have fun while I shot some test photos.)

Beau & Brittany Reception

2009-04-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are a few reception pics:

Beau and Brittany

2009-04-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

I made a huge leap forward on Saturday, due in large part to Cheryl Stoker who had such great faith in me. I never thought I would photograph a wedding day. Just too much pressure and work involved, and I would feel completely worthless if I messed it all up. How nice it was to be given such a beautiful couple as the subject of my first wedding gig. They were wonderful to work with, and I'm so honored that they trusted me to capture this awesome day for them. So here are a few of my favorites from the Fresno Temple. (Just FYI: these only have quick simple adjustments, not finished yet.) I'll share a few reception pics in another post.
The biggest challenge at the temple was the fact that there was very little shade and a clear bright sunny sky. I played a ton of trial and error with my flash and lightsphere diffuser to fill in the dark shadows, and managed to find some success!

The Queen of Spring (AKA Brianna Hammons)

2009-03-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

One special day for a girl getting baptized. Three beautiful locations to capture this self-proclaimed Queen of Spring. I drove around in search of the best orchards and fields for photographs, and these three are my favorites. The golden field and the pink blossoms on Minnewawa south of Copper, and the white blossoms on Sunnyside north of Shepherd.

After this photo shoot I had a bit of a revelation. I love the idea of shooting away as kids run around freely and enjoy their surroundings, and I love the idea of getting portrait quality photos in the same locations. But I realized that the two often do not work together. The photojournalist style of photography is great for catching those priceless moments of genuine emotion and expressions on faces, but it sure is difficult to get clean beautiful portraits at the same time. So I need to not be so irritated when those candid type shots are not as pretty as the posed and carefully planned out portrait shots...

Blossoms Galore

2009-03-05T19:19:00.000-08:00

Here's my first attempt at capturing kids in a couple of local orchards near our home. I've been wanting to do this ever since we moved here!

Getting Ready For CSU Summer Arts 2009

2009-03-02T11:10:00.001-08:00

I've been putting together everything I need to register for Fresno State's 2009 Summer Arts photography workshop. This year the class is all about nature/abstract images... very much NOT my area of focus. So I'm excited to learn a ton of new techniques with my camera and with Photoshop. Here's the photos I decided to use for my portfolio submission:
I decided to add a few portraits too, since that's really what I do most...

Baby Blue Eyes

2009-02-12T21:46:00.001-08:00

I just can't get enough of these BEAUTIFUL blue eyes! I'm sorry he was not feeling well today, but it was great for me to capture this face without the usual motion blur! Thank you, Brett.

Monterey

2009-02-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

I took my son on a day trip to Monterey and was wishing I could have spent a whole week there so that I would have more time to play with my camera. My son was top priority, so we had lots of fun exploring the beaches and tide pools. Every now and then, though, I stopped and attempted to shoot simply a beautiful scene. So here's my favorite from the day.

The Girls With Curls

2009-01-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

After taking the curlers out of Daphne's hair, I immediately thought of this painting and had to put these two girls together. The girl in the painting is Daphne's grandma Molly, my mother-in-law (who has naturally curly hair!). I'm so pleased that Daphne was willing to pose for me for a minute or two.

Senior Portraits

2009-01-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

After all the trial and error in the ongoing pursuit for great photographs of young and active children, it is so refreshing to make senior portraits.

Daphne Downtown

2008-10-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to get in the habit of taking my camera with me wherever I go, so I had it, and Daphne, with me on Friday when I took our car in for an oil/filter change. Instead of hanging out in the Midas waiting room I decided to take Daphne out for a walk down the street and we found a couple of places for me to shoot photos while she played. Fortunately she was in a good mood and willing to let me shoot away. These are my favorites. Not quite portrait quality, but I sure like them anyway! Maybe because she's my daughter?! Still, I feel like I was productive for 30 minutes practicing photography, instead of looking through some junk magazine just killing time.

CSU Summer Arts at Fresno State

2008-09-28T17:04:00.000-07:00

This summer I was able to attend a class called "Digital Photography On The Move" at Fresno State. Since my husband Eric is a professor there I was eligible for a fee waiver, so instead of paying about $1,000 for tuition I only had to pay $3 (plus a $50 materials fee) and it just so happened that Eric was not teaching any summer classes this year so he volunteered to watch the kids while I participated in the class. A thousand thanks to Eric for being a stay-at-home dad for 2 weeks straight. It was an opportunity I could not pass up!
From sun up to sun down for 2 solid weeks (including weekends) I was shooting photos, taking notes in lectures, playing with Photoshop and Lightroom, and learning from classmates and teachers. And when I had free time I was taking advantage of the opportunities to see other workshop students and faculty in performance. Gary Sinise talked about acting and being involved in theater and film, the Urban Bush Women dance company performed with students,

the incredible Kronos Quartet played amazing music, James Hall (awesome gospel musician) and Edwin Hawkins (most famous for his hit song "Oh happy Day") each put on concerts with the students of the Gospel Music workshop,

and the Fresno Art Museum hosted several guest artists for lectures. These are just the few that I was able to attend, and there were several more I would have liked to see but couldn't because of scheduling conflicts. And of course I was taking pictures whenever I could!

The photography workshop started off with Nevada Wier sharing her expertise in capturing stunning photos in camera. (translation: less time at the computer!) What an amazing experience it was to work with her. I even managed to get some one-on-one coaching from her while we were out on a photoshoot at the Forestier Underground Gardens in Fresno. The light and texture in this place are wonderful.

Another excursion we did with Nevada was to a local artist's property northeast of Fresno. Bill Minshew lives at the top of a hill with a 360 degree view of the area and it was a gorgeous place to shoot evening and sunset landscape and nature pictures.

I was so sad to see Nevada go after the farewell dinner. I just absolutely loved her. I highly recommend checking out her website http://www.nevadawier.com/

The next segment of the class was taught by Photoshop and Lightroom expert Tim Grey. So the majority of this time was spent in the computer lab learning the computer end of digital photography. Not nearly as enjoyable as the camera end, but I was extremely grateful for the training. Now I feel like I really know how to enhance photos and make great images even better while maintaining a nondestructive (HARM NO PIXELS!) and efficient work flow, without all of the wasted trial and error time. Hooray!

During this and the last segment of the class a few of us went out around campus several days for early morning photo shoots to practice different techniques and keep us working on things that Nevada taught. Here are some of my favorites:

The last segment of the workshop was led by Micheal Jones who is a print expert at West Coast Imaging in Oakhurst. So it was more computer work, but I learned so much about preparing images for enlargements and fine art printing. It's not as simple as you might think! Michael helped us to each prepare to make 2 large fine art prints for our culmination exhibition in the Conley Art Gallery on campus. I chose to work on the photo of James Hall at the organ (above is the before version) and spent hours practicing using all that was taught on making sure no detail was overlooked. I've never used so many layers in Photoshop! (29 in case you were wondering). Here's the final image:

You'll have to take my word for it that the final print looks way better than this version in my blog! Color's not quite right. Pictures are never quite the same on the computer...
The second photo I printed was the one (above) of Nevada in the mirror in the underground gardens. But I'm mostly excited about the James Hall shot because of all the time and effort I put into it, and it just so happens that it was one of four (out of about 64) prints chosen to be framed to hang in the CSU chancelor's office in L.A. until next summer. Cool, huh?

To sum up, I had a fantastic experience and can't wait to attend next year's photography class. I can't tell you how thankful I am to have access to the CSU Summer Arts program, to learn so much and be surrounded by so many incredibly talented and creative people, and to have such a supportive and awesome husband!

2008-09-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

My photography business is now official! I have business cards, business license, seller's permit, and a business checking account. I feel so professional!
(In case you're wondering, the boy in the photo is my 5 year-old neighbor Nicholas next to his mom's very pregnant belly.)