capturing reflections of light

New blog

2010-02-14T20:38:00.001-07:00

For those of you who have been following this blog, please visit my new blog at www.rachelletelfordphotography.com/blog.

A Christmas Family

2009-12-12T01:19:00.003-07:00

I really enjoy the contrast between the reds, whites, and blacks, but of course the little guy in the middle is the best part about the picture. This was my fourth photo shoot of him, and I have one more planned for his first birthday next month. I recognize that my white background is not perfectly white, and I'm still trying to figure out the best technique for white backgrounds, but I think I've learned a few tricks that I can apply to my next round of photos on this back drop. I love learning form my little mishaps. One of my friends gave me some tips that I can use next time!

Oldies but goodies from July

2009-12-03T13:08:00.004-07:00

I just came across these and thought they were too cute to NOT put on my blog.

My first wedding

2009-12-03T12:00:00.004-07:00

Thanks and little no thanks to Justin pressuring me into it, I photographed my first wedding. Just like in the movies, the wedding started late because the person driving the bride to the church got lost. We were worried about having enough daylight as it was, so that added a bit of stress to the situation. I took pictures in the darkest church I've EVER been in, up on the moutain with a dark overcast sunset, and at a reception in a dark restaurant. I learned a big lesson that day -- in order for me to be a good photographer I need to practice in bad lighting for those moments when it's all out of my control, like a wedding for example!

I know these aren't even comparable to a real professional's pictures, but considering that they paid me about 1/5 of what they would've had to pay someone else I don't feel too bad. It was my first time and they had to talk me into it, so all I can say is I did my best and learned a TON from my million bagillion mistakes.

All in all, I enjoyed myself. I like "hiding" behind a camera in social situations. I went to a church dinner last night for the Relief Society and sometimes wished I had my camera to hide behind.

Even though one can make thousands of dollars, most of my photographer friends refuse to shoot weddings because there is so much pressure. It's not like you can say, Oh that didn't go well, can we reschedule for next week. I guess I'm glad I did this one since it was pretty low key, but mainly because now I have money to buy Christmas presents!!!

After I took these pictures I was on Facebook and looked at Natalie Dean's wedding pictures, which are awesome, astounding, incredible. . . and wonder if I will ever be capable of such pictures. I hope!

The new little family. These are the groom's daughters.

The groom, seeing his bride walk down the aisle.

I added a look of film grain to this one on purpose to give it a classic film look

This one has its original soft look about it

I added a touch of a high-pass filter to define the edges a bit.

This was one of the last pictures I took on the mountain before my camera gave up and become unable to focus. Yes, they were being silly.

Grandma's favorite Grandchild, Natasha

2009-11-16T09:49:00.004-07:00

She was the firstborn granchild in our family. She claims she must be grandma's favorite because there are more pictures of her around the house than any other grandchild. Yes, she was definitely doted on as a baby. I still remember seeing her for the first time. She was one month old. I was 11 years old and I had to fight with my little 4 year old sister for a turn to hold her. We were all surprised by her strawberry blonde hair. It has stayed a beautiful color, and paired with her blue eyes and long legs I'm sure she's breaking many hearts up in Idaho where she's attending college.

Kevin and his brother

2009-11-16T09:38:00.004-07:00

While we were waiting for Valerie to change I played around taking pictures of Kevin and his brother Johnny. And, I should add, Johnny is an eligible bachelor who recently returned from a mission to South Africa. And he seems to have a great sense of humor. I LOVE these pictures because I had my aperture wide open, which is the only way to create the perfectly round circles of light in the background. I couldn't have asked for a better lighting situation. The bright shade was awesome!

Done with Val!

2009-11-16T09:26:00.004-07:00

This is Valerie and Kevin, right after they came out of the temple.
Then she threw her hair up in a messy pony tail for pictures.

Kristin and Blaine at White Sands

2009-11-05T08:29:00.003-07:00

Okay, so check out their gorgeous white smiles!!! I have to say Kristin's smile is one of my favorite smiles. I would trade mine for hers anyday. We took a trip of to White Sands National Monument right before Kristin and Blaine moved so that they didn't miss out on that opportunity. Here are some cute shots from that night. I added some different textures to both these pictures as well. If i know Kristin like I think I do, I'm sure she would want me to point out that we weren't planning pictures, thus the reason she is in "disguise" and not dolled up. But when you're hot, you're hot, whether you're trying or not, right? I should be a poet. :)

I really love capturing pictures of couples. People always seem to remember to get family pictures and pictures of their kids, but I love love pictures of couples! I think if I ever have time to start a business, I'll really put that idea out to all the couples. It can be their date night -- leave the kids at home, and just worry about getting yourself beautiful and ready for pictures. I know Justin and I keep looking at all the pictures we have of other people and wish we had more of US together!

2009-11-05T07:52:00.002-07:00

I am still working on editing Valerie's pictures and I think I will be done in another day or two. This picture is one that my mom picked out as one of her favorites. She said she likes Valerie's face expression and how Kevin is slightly in the background holding her like he is there supporting her. I have to say Valerie does look confident, happy, and peaceful. Because this was not her wedding day, but her temple endowment sealing, it wasn't about all the fluff. I think the simplicity of no jewelry or veil adds to that feeling of focusing on what is most important. This day she was only focused on preparing for the temple, and wasn't focused on all the little things in life that don't matter.

I know both these pictures look the exact same, and it's hard to tell the difference, but if you look closely you can see that I added a linen texture to the background in the top picture. It was my first time trying it out. I layered a picture of linen fabric on top of this picture, under lay options, I selected overlay, and then I erased out Kevin and Valerie, leaving it on just the background. I want to play around with this technique some more.

Christmas is coming . . .

2009-10-25T01:38:00.004-06:00

My friend asked if I could help design a Christmas card for her. Here are the two that she chose. I really enjoyed making them. I have only focused on photography for the last year, and not card making, so I enjoyed getting back into it for a bit. Hmmmm, will my family have a Christmas card this year? There is that saying, "the shoe maker's son has no shoes."

My sister, Valerie: Happy . . . FOREVER!

2009-10-24T21:34:00.002-06:00

Last August Valerie was sealed to her husband, Kevin, in the Billings, Montana Temple. It was a great day and I was so excited to get to take pictures of them together, that is until I realized that would also make me in charge of the big group picture of all attending -- that made my heart sink with fear! Kevin's aunt who was attending is also a photographer and stepped in to help me out. She knew of a great spot for large group pictures and it was a big help. I know Valerie has been waiting for over two months for me to edit her pictures. Val, I apologize I don't have them done yet -- you're next on my list! Here's one picture, with more to come sometime later this week.

My nephew is a SENIOR!

2009-10-23T09:31:00.006-06:00

I still remember Cameron as a tiny baby laying on his tummy on the floor while I watched a movie with my sister. One of my favorite memories of him was when he was two or three years old. I took care of him and his sister while my sister went to girls camp. It was my first experience taking care of someone that age for more than just a few hours. I will never forget how cute he was as he ran back and forth in the room acting out little stories that he imagined up. His energy never ran out. Now that I have a few boys of my own, I fully understand that energy and imagination. So, now he's 17 and seems more like one of my friends than one of my nephews, because nephews are supposed to be little kids, right? Maybe the fact that he's so old now really just means that I'm getting old.

I tried to do a variety of editing. I wanted to keep some soft and have others really pop. I experimented with a couple of different techniques to help bring out the color in some of the pictures and came across a fun Photoshop action that sketches pictures. So, I included one of those just for fun.

blonde hair blue eyed family

2009-10-19T00:12:00.006-06:00

Here are some pictures of a beautiful family that I go to church with. The little boy in the orange shirt used to be in my primary class. Their whole family is gorgeous!!!

Sunset Wedding Pictures

2009-09-20T17:53:00.010-06:00

Last week I had a fun photo shoot at White Sands National Monument with one of Justin's coworkers and his new wife. They were married at the courthouse only hours before and are planning a big wedding later in the year. We got a late start out of El Paso and arrived only minutes before sunset, so without any hesitation I started shooting and was amazed at all the variety of colors in the sky. After returning home I could hardly sleep and was too busy thinking about how I'd surely ruined every picture. But after processing the pictures I'm pretty happy with how the pictures turned out even though I know they could've been better if only I'd done this that and the other. I have to give most of the credit to the beautiful bride, her stylish flower, her photogenic husband, and their great chemistry.

2009-07-26T11:51:00.003-06:00

My brother and his cute family

2008-04-06T20:27:00.005-06:00

This was my first time posing a family for a picture. It wasn't very easy, but I thought these two turned out pretty cute.

My nieces & nephews

2008-04-02T19:52:00.022-06:00

Here are the pictures of my three kiddos, which completes the whole set of Laing cousins.

Recently I went back home to Cody, Wyoming for my little sister's wedding and was able to take a picture of each of my nieces and nephews. These are the pictures my parents chose to go in a frame they have that will hold one picture for each grandchild.

The following pictures are in order from youngest (one month old) to oldest (almost 19).

Most of the pictures were taken using flash photograhy which isn't my favorite and I learned a lot from my many mistakes! That trip was my first big photo shoot. Even though they're not the best quality, I still think they're super duper cute simply because of who is in them and how sweet they all look. Thanks family for putting up with my newest obsession!