Earlier This Summer...

Attention Seniors....

 Now booking seniors!

 Here are two packages available...

CD's are only available with the first package and I only offer CD's for senior sessions. 

email me @ crystalinacaptures@yahoo.com

The 'Shoestring' package (below) is currently BOGO (buy one get one free).

You can use the free package for the same senior or you can give one to a friend. 

:)

 

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Mann Inspired Bella Series

This LINK will explain this series more for anyone who does not regularly follow my blog.

 

Part II

Part III

The Eve of Independence Day

These are some photos taken on July 3rd. 

My beautiful Bella...

Another Sally Mann Inspired Series (a bit ) ....

So, for some reason, my eldest daughter has wanted me to take a huge amount of photos of her! I am really loving it but I am also finding that she is putting her 2 cents into how she wants to pose.  That  I'm loving even more!

Bella is an extremely artistic child and she is mature beyond her years as far as how her brain works. She's a straight A student and tonight I actually had to tell her to just enjoy your summer because she is already talking about a science project she has to do the 3rd week of the next school year. 

She is truly amazing. She has been studying (on her own) Salvador Dahli, King Tut and King James and since I have been educating myself more on Sally Mann she has kind of been looking over my shoulder all the while.  

This evening she wanted me to take a few photos of her practicing her splits and her cartwheels (she is a cheerleader) so I took a few shots and then she got more serious and wanted to take an artistic photo and this is what we came up with together. 

Please keep in mind she was never nude.  She had her shirt pulled down around her waist and you see nothing at all that a bathing suit wouldn't show. 

After that we took this one: 

And some more from this evening....

Sparklers!

This was the very first July 4th that we did not go up to the city park and endure the crowds and festivities and the large fireworks display. Last year my baby (now 2) freaked out right away and I had to walk her back to my sister-in-laws house. I thought we'd just play it safe and let off some booms here at home and ease her into it for next year. 

However, due to our neighbors horses I thought it was safer and more respectful to just do sparklers and smoke bombs. 

:)

Sally Mann Inspired (Cont)...

And here is a color version of one of my b&w's in this series. The setting sun was just too pretty for me not to leave one in color. 

 

Sally Mann Inspired Series....

I have become infatuated by Sally Mann. I have researched everything I can about her and last night I actually fell asleep with laptop in hand watching a documentary about her journey through photography and life. There is so much to say about her and she is well known for her controversial images of her three children. For 10 years she documented their life and photographed what she saw. Some of those photos show her children in the nude (hence the controversy).  

Her children are all grown now and all still very close to their mother and love her work. There is just too much to say. You have to research her yourself.  

It upsets me that people say she "photographed nude kids". Yes she did but, if that is all you saw, then you didn't see her work in full. And if you ONLY picked out the nudes then I'm sorry for that. 

She has inspired me to delve into more b&ws and not to worry so much about "portraits" and more about just photographing what's going on at the time. 

I will be doing a series of these photos and yes, there may be a bare butt or two of my own 3 little angels. Not because I'm trying to "copy" her work but because my youngest loves to be naked and I am forever cropping or cloning her little tushy out.  

I guess you can say I'm embrassing the tush. 

:)

Here are some images I've been working on for this series:

This photo is not edited. This is what happens when you click the shutter at the exact time a sparkler is lit! 

 

Petticoats and Kittens

My thought was to photograph my girls in their pretty pettis but on the way out they discovered kittens on our farm. There went that idea! I did get some nice shots though, although most were of my daughter looking at the kittens instead of the lens. 

Oh well, I will take what I can get.