We’re leaving for 11 days starting tomorrow. Going to a concert in Charlottesville and then heading to DeTROIT to visit family and friends. We’ll be returning to the office October 12. Until then, Happy Autumn!

This last Saturday we had a chance to work with Sheila from Habitat for Humanity in Virginia Beach!  Erica and I decided that we would really like to give to some organization or charity, but not just with money. We wanted to be able to use our photography to help somebody out. Literally the first place i could think of was Habitat, so i contacted them on their website and they said they’d LOVE free photography! Here are just a couple shots of their booth and what they were doing.

copyright Blue Shutter Studios 2009

copyright Blue Shutter Studios 2009

copyright Blue Shutter Studios 2009

copyright Blue Shutter Studios 2009

copyright Blue Shutter Studios 2009

copyright Blue Shutter Studios 2009

They were building the house on the trailer as the float went down the street!

So, ok, I didn’t technically go to art school (does a community college count?) but I took a heck of a lot of art classes-painting, drawing and of course photography. It was amazing and I learned a lot and cried a lot. One of the most difficulty and scary assignments I ever had was the use of the view camera.

According to Wikipedia:
The bellows is a flexible, accordion-pleated box, which encloses the space between the lens and film, and has the ability to flex to accommodate the movements of the standards.
The front standard is a board at the front of the camera which holds the lens and, usually, a shutter.
At the other end of the bellows, the rear standard is a frame which holds a ground glass, used for focusing and composing the image before exposure, which is replaced by a holder containing the light-sensitive film, plate, or image sensor for exposure. The front and rear standards can move in various ways relative to each other, unlike most other types of camera, giving control over focus, depth of field and perspective.
The camera must have some means of support, usually provision for mounting it on a tripod.

So sure it may not sound that scary, but let me just put it this way; our professor spent three class periods going over how to use a view camera. That’s got to mean something. In any case the time came where I had to check out the view camera, drag it across campus (mind you it was huge and bulky and awkward), get up at the butt crack of dawn, set up a still life of sorts, stand out in the cold (Michigan in December is no picnic) and pray to God that I knew how to use it (even though I really didn’t). I ended up getting one good photo and my professor (I adored him) actually gave me a pretty good grade on it.
So with that said, here it is the photo of the day.

Ok, so this isn’t going to happen often, I can assure you that, but I just HAD to post a picture that Andrew took of me yesterday. I’ve been expressing to him my wish for some professional photos, you know the kind that he works so hard at taking for clients in Blue Shutter. So finally I dragged him in our back yard and handed him the camera. He snapped away for about 5 minutes and I kid you not, he really is an amazing photographer. I always hate photos of myself; I’m a control freak and usually there is something I don’t like about them. He took this photo and I feel pretty, I really do! How on earth did he capture the essence of me?! So, with all that said, I just want to let you readers know Blue Shutter is pretty awesome because if I can go home feeling good, that’s saying a lot!
Book us! :)

I love grilled cheese on honey oat bread and a cup of delicious organic tomato soup with a side of grapes.
Perfection.