any one still here?

hello my pretties,
i just wanted you to know that my life just changed big time. like, my life will seriously never, ever be the same. and i'm so pumped about it i'm using words like 'pumped'.

so i just wanted to let you know that i'll be here more often. and i was also wondering if anyone was still here. anyone? (echo... echo...)

for an idea of what's new head on over to the photo blog... but not until after i've posted about my weekend. here's a hint:
photo via

Day 21 of Gratitude

My backlog of gratitude is coming. Let's just say, it was hard to get back into "real life" mode after being on "vacation" mode for a week.

Today I'm grateful that my bride (of the wedding I'm shooting) is so freaking gorgeous and such a natural in front of the camera. It makes my job so, so easy. Seriously, she's one of those girls that you just want to hate because she's so beautiful. But, then you get to know her and realize how awesome she is. Then, you can't help but love her. Love. It's the word of the day.

garage + glow sticks =

I'll make you one too.

yum yum

Seems even the gods of fortune cookies support me in this career change.
Today after a delicious Thai lunch I got a real fortune cookie, not one of those lame advice/statement cookies.

"You will soon be changing your present line of work"

If that isn't a sign I don't know what is.

Christy Cropper Photography

*an email I just sent to all my contacts. Same info applies to you!

Hello friends and family!

I'm excited to be venturing (slowly but surely) into a new career field- Photography!

I've done a fair amount of landscape work but am looking to expand into wedding and portrait photography within this next year (Hurray for 2009!). You can check out some of the work I've posted on my blog at http://cropstar.blogspot.com/search/label/photos and I will eventually start posting all photography work at http://christycropperphotography.blogspot.com/ (say that 10 times fast!)

As I need to expand (ie. start) my portfolio and get some much needed practice doing portraits I'm offering free photo sessions for the month of January (after which my fees will be very modest until I become legit... too legit to quit). Anything from family photos to individual shots. This will include a CD of all the best shots as well as several "enhanced" photos (read: I also need to practice using photoshop!)

Some ideas:
Family group shots
Couples
Children
Newborns
Pregnancy
Head shots
Senior portraits
Pets
Engagements
Bridals/Groomals

I am really excited about this and would absolutely love to "shoot" you and your families. Please feel free to refer any of your friends and family to me as well. The more shooting I do the better!

Feel free to contact me via email at christycropperphotography@gmail.com to schedule a shoot. If there is enough interest from you Utah folks I would love to make a trip up towards the end of the month.

I hope your Christmas was lovely and wish you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! Love to you all!
-Christy

PS- to all the Las Vegans, I'm still accepting piano students if you (or anyone you know) are interested in piano lessons.

Who's the best? I'm the best! Booyah!

Ack! I'm so behind on blogging! I have so much to tell you about!!

But, most importantly, I need to tell you how awesome I am. Seriously people. Awesome.

Remember how I told you I wanted to be better than everyone else in my photography class? Well, guess what. I AM!! They like me! They really like me! (And yes... I do feel total validation from external sources... I mean, why the hell do you think I have a blog in the first place?)

After the critiques of our 5-in-1 assignment in class tonight our instructor asked who did the best overall. I was the only one who didn't vote for me. I mean... I really wanted to vote for myself (and in my heart I did) but I didn't want to look like a complete douche (or whatever the female equivalent of a douche is).

I'm pretty sure the only reason everyone didn't vote for me on our composition assignment was because they didn't want me to win unanimously again (jerks)... but I know they all wanted to vote for me. (kidding... kind of). I still got voted best though. So, I got extra credit on both my assignments. Woot!

I already showed you my 5-in-1's (which were described by my instructor as "killer shots") so today you get to see my compositional photos. Enjoy. And please... leave me some feedback. I'd love to hear what you think (even if you think my photos are crap, let me know so that I can improve).

Cheers y'all!

1. Lines & Shapes
2. Framing
3. Simplicity
4. Asymmetrical Balance
5. Symmetrical Balance
6. Rule of Thirds

action

VeeDubs

Saturday between conference sessions I ran down to Town Square to see the Volkswagen display happening (thanks for the tip, meat pie). Pretty sweet. Here are some of my favs...


So, remember how I'm a grammar snob and I like to correct people when they say things like "I'm doing good*" or "That was the funnest**"? Well, I'm also a stickler about spelling rules like there/their/they're, your/you're, to/too/two. Thus, this*** was the most amazing thing I saw there:


*correct: I'm doing well.
**correct: That was the most fun.
***seriously, if you need me to explain why this is the worst/most amazing thing I've ever seen I'm going to punch you in the throat.

Pacific Palisades, CA

photo sho

I turned in my first photography assignment tonight- the Scavenger Hunt. I think it went pretty well though I definitely felt there were some images I could have improved upon. We critiqued everyone's photos in class and I was quite contented (read: proud- the prideful kind) to see that mine were among the better shots. So... here are some of my favs:










*These look so much better on the calibrated monitor at school.

i call shotgun!

I went out shooting tonight at the Desert National Wildlife Refuge on the far north edge of town because the evening lighting was sure to be exciting and the weather just right for getting some fresh air. I got some cool shots and got scared by the wildlife more than once. And by wildlife I mean rabbits, frogs and other unknown moving things in the bushes. I know... super scary huh?

Along the way I must have made a friend I didn't know about because after I got home, pulled into the garage, parked and turned to grab my belongings I got a fright by my passenger.


Sorry the quality of the photo is really horrible but I was scared and wanted to get out of the car asap. I'm not kidding, that gigantic grasshopper thing had a 3 or 4 inch body alone, not to mention it's legs and antenae. Yikes!

I would show you some of the photos I shot but I had to shoot in RAW and I don't have a program to open that file format. So you'll have to wait to see them.

scavenger hunt

For the first time in 9 years (yikes) I actually had to pay attention to when school starts in the fall. And for the first time (maybe ever) I was actually excited about it. I'm taking a photography class at the colleeege because I figure having a fancy schmancy camera isn't really worth the investment if you only use it on automatic mode.

Last monday was the first class and I loved it, though I've never felt simultaneously smarter and stupider. I finally understand what f-stop, shutter speed and ISO are. However, I don't know yet how to use them properly. I'm very much a hands on learner so all those words only took me so far. Now I've got to put them into practice and see if I can get some decent exposures (that sounds dirty).

Anyway... I'm scared. Typical Cropstar M.O. is thus: If you're not instantly good at something, don't even try. If it's not going to turn out perfectly, don't even start. So, I'm scared that my photos aren't going to be print-ad quality right off the bat. I know, I know... this is beginning photography and I shouldn't expect to be a pro after the first class. But I really hate not being good at stuff (ya know... because it's so rare that I'm not good at stuff). So, I'm trying to convince myself that if my first assignment is less that stellar then by the end of the semester it'll just look like I've really improved (hopefully). But, really I just want to be better than everyone else in the class.

Here's the part where I come to you for help, my dear readers... all 3 of you... I need some ideas. My first assignment is a photo scavenger hunt. I am to shoot 24 things from a list we compiled as a class:

1. traffic
2. architecture
3. automotive
4. nature
5. texture
6. water
7. child
8. pet
9. color
10. landscape
11. family
12. fashion
13. light
14. sports
15. motion
16. close up
17. emotion
18. portrait
19. insect
20. music
21. technology
22. food
23. smile
24. shadow

any cool ideas of what i could shoot?

Neon Boneyard

Friday morning Consumer and I took a tour of the Neon Boneyard. Easily one of THE coolest things I've done in Vegas. Why we chose to go on one of the hottest days of the year is beyond me but at least we went. And we loved it!

The boneyard is a collection of signs that once stood on Las Vegas Blvd and have now passed on to this graveyard of sorts. Behold... where neon signs go to die.

first attempts

OK, yes... some of these had a little editing help. But what great digital photographer doesn't spend time in editing. I really want to take a photography and a photoshop class! Anyway... here are my first attempts at being a photographer. On Sunday I took a drive up to Red Rock and shot for an hour or so before it got too cold and dark. I took about 100 shots. These are some of my favorites. So fun!