Move to Maryville, Tennessee

I have finally relocated to Maryville, Tennessee. I absolutely love my new surroundings and getting a new boost of creativity and passion for my photography. I love the mountains here, nature is so beautiful in the Smokey Mountains. I am starting my business here soon; I am getting my website perfected and business cards made. The possibilities are endless. Now to go and build my portfolio up. If you are in the area and would like to get a great rate in a photography shoot please feel free to email or call.

leahbellphoto@gmail.com or (865) 268-9579.

Editing Practice

I have been working on the editing of my photography to create an artful appearance to them. One site I found showed me how to "hipstamatic" my photos, so I tried it. I like the new look of the picture; it is a neat addition to this picture. The building is a friend's work area, it was getting remodeled. I decided it would be a great oppurtunity to practice on my architectual photography.

A Few Photographs of a Friend's Family

I have been working on getting my portfolio a little more vast. I had lots of support and volunteers to get their pictures taken. I recently had the privilege to do a shoot with a friend. She gave me suggestions about poses and helped me with camera settings when the lighting wasn't what we hoped we would have had. Unfortunately it ended up raining and her son wasn't feeling well to begin with, but we did get some good photographs.

Everyone started out with pouty faces to try and get little man to get a smile on his face. It's hard when you don't feel good.

After a little rain and some playing with a little running around, we got a beautiful smile. Of course some of the best pictures are those with crying faces. The benefits of taking candid shots and just enjoying taking photographs of the moment...happy or sad.

Going to the Basics

I have seen some beautiful black and white photographs, so I have decided to on my monochrome techniques. After reading about the techniques on how to make a good black and white photograph I learned to consider the basics of photography; contrast, lighting, etc.. The article detailed many fundamental steps to improve my ability to both take and manipulate monochrome photographs.

In the process of working with one of my photographs I discovered how to do "antiqueing" the color of my pictures. I loved the results. The only way to get better at after processing work is to explore all the options. It can be tedious, but it is truly the best way.

Learning at Photo Club

I love my one thursday a month photo club. We get to meet with some very talented women and mothers. We are learning to be better photographers; some are learning to make a career of it and others are just getting better at their hobby. Our brilliant teacher and friend, Marchet, loves teaching us. This month in photo club we went outside and got to take pictures, which she helped us with our camera settings and framing of the pictures. Here are a few of my pictures. One of the other women is Dora. She got some beautiful pictures of our cute little model also.

Getting Everything in Order

I am filing for my business license and getting my website up an running. I also am excited about a few up coming photo shoots I have scheduled. This is a wonderful career for me and my family. I get the benefit of working from home and being with my children and husband. It is nice to be a stay at home mom!

I have decided what I am getting my friend for her wedding; one of the pictures I took of her with her fiance. I made a nice poster of the picture. I am getting it matted and framed; it should be a wonderful present for her.

Finished My First Photography Session

I finally finished my first photography editing session. All the photos are complete, turned into jpegs, watermarked, and put on cd for my client. I didn't realize how much work this could be, especially when you have a baby to take care of all day and only can work on it when he is sleeping. But overall this has been a great experince! I have learned to use photoshop elements better and more efficiently. I even got a little creative with a few of the pictures.

Things I learned from this experience:

1. Dogs move alot and give blurry pictures...so take alot of pictures.

2. Don't be scared to ask your client to move her bangs out of her beautiful face.

3. When you change your ISO to try and capture moving dogs, don't forget to change it back when you are done with the dogs.

Please let me know what you think of the pictures. Any feedback would help me with future pictures.

Spring Assignment

Marchet, my photography mentor, has been hosting a wonderful and informative photography club once a month. This month our assignment was to go out and get pictures of the beautiful Georgia spring. She suggested we get two picture types, one where spring is the main object and the other spring is the background.

This was a fun assignment; I was driving out of my neighborhood and saw this beautiful pink blooming bush. I drove home and got my daughter and took these wonderful pictures of her. The huge trick for me was getting really, really close. It took me a couple of times but as you can tell with the top picture it turned out well.

I am still working on spring as the main subject but it will come...hopefully. What I want to get a picture of is a spring thunderstorm. One of my favorite things about spring in Florida was the daily afternoon thunderstorms...loved them!! I guess I might be in the wrong state to get that picture.

Easter Weekend

Our trip to Tennessee went great. On top of having a great vacation with family, we got to go hiking. I got several great pictures of our Easter celebration and several pictures of our hiking trip.

When I got home my sister called me and said we should go into business together. At least this way I know she will have to be living in the same area as me(finally).

The first picture I love is one with an easter egg in a blossoming tree. The pink egg stood out perfectly, looking closely at the egg you can see the reflection of the house. My son, Barrett, ended up getting this egg, which also gave me some cute pictures.

The second picture I love was of this awesome barn that belongs to the family. The color and texture of this barn was amazing. When we were traveling thur east Tennessee all the barns were just amazing. I know it's a little odd to think barns could be amazing, but the colors and texture from aging is just undescribable. I want to take the summer and fall to go around east Tennessee and take pictures of barns.

Baby Photo

I have a beautiful baby boy I get to take pictures of often. But the other day I got to take a few pictures of my son's friend who visits often. Unfortunately he was much faster than my son, so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted. The pictures I did get were great. Here is one of him and one of my son.

Next week I am going to the great state of Tennessee where I will be taking lots of pictures of the cute children in my extended family and some pictures of Tennessee when we go hiking. I will add pictures when I return from my trip.

My First Photoshoot - Engagement Pictures

Today was a busy day. My daughter's lacrosse game, then home to drop off my family, then off to my first photoshoot. I was very excited!! Two reasons: First because it was my first photoshoot and second because it was of a friend I haven't seen in a long while.

The photoshoot went really well. The pictures were of my friend and her fiance' and their children, their dogs, for their engagement pictures. It was an easy shoot because they are both very happy and fun people. We took the pictures at their work were they met; it meant alot to them to have the pictures taken there with thier dogs.

Here is one of the many wonderful pictures from the shoot.

First Post- Excited About Things to Come

My husband is a huge fan of my photography and suggested I should start a blog. I have never blogged before, this should be a new and exciting experience. I am working on my photography and hoping to start my business soon. I love taking pictures and with the help of a friend I am becoming more aware of the elements of photography. I have my first professional photoshoot on saturday. It should be alot of fun, it is engagement pictures with one of my best friends. Her and her significant other are great, happy people, hopefully that will come out in my photography.