This has been on my To-Do list for MONTHS!
Updating an online calendar is not as fun as watching a Padres game,
working on pictures, or jumping on the trampoline,
so I hope some of you can commiserate with me and my procrastination.

Google has these great online calendars now, and the interface makes
calendar maintenance SO MUCH EASIER than my old calendar system.

So, my calendar is finally up to date, and I promise I will do my best
to keep it as up to date as possible!

You can see the calendar HERE on its own page,
but I can also stick it in a blog post like this:



Neato, huh???

The Padres have their rubber match with the Nationals in an hour and a half, so I'm outta here!
I'm going to finish my other chores (laundry... ICK!) before the first pitch! I'm determined!!

~Carey

When Brian & Mera said they'd come down to dinner tonight,
I KNEW I had to get Brian on the trampoline.

Even though I'm not completely caught up on post-workshop work,
I wanted to play with my new equipment:
OFF-CAMERA LIGHTS!
These are "I'm not messing around" OFF-CAMERA LIGHTS!
They arrived last week, and today they came out of their boxes.

I played around a bit this afternoon before our guests arrived,
and Mat & Rory had fun hamming it up for the camera & the flash:






Just so you can see the difference, here's what a shot looked like WITHOUT the light:


Then the guests of honor arrived, and I got the shot we've alllll been waiting for:


A little birdee tells me that MORE trampoline pictures may be showing up
on someone else's blog very soon... so you may want to check in every now & then
to see if any more bouncy pictures pop up in the near future!

~Carey

PS:
NEW ADDITIONS:
Now that Mera has put these adorable pictures on her blog,
I wanted to share them here, too!

Here's Blaze with Brian looking on:

and here's a different crop for a whole different look:
(amazing what a crop can do, huh?)


And here's Pascaline with Brian & Blaze in the background:


Enjoy!

The past three days have been a whirlwind -- in a good way!
Yesterday (Monday) was the third day of the Refuse to Say Cheese workshop with MeRa,
and it was our "Business Add-on" day. Fourteen women met at Dana's house for
a panel talk about the photography business:
Branding, marketing, websites, blogs, equipment, business cards,
public relations, client relations, money, insurance, business structure,
outsourcing, order fulfillment, pricing, packages, goals, vendors, and balancing all these
while maintaining a healthy and happy family life! phew!
Each of those subjects could have been a 4 hour workshop on its own,
but we did our best to cover as much as possible to give the women
a really accurate picture of how a mom-owned photography business can succeed.

Here's the group at Dana's house on Monday:

Me, MeRa, and Dana:


I have a few more images to share from the weekend as well! (thanks, Dana, for these pics!)
This is the lunch we had after we got back from the beach on Sunday:

It was somewhat chilly, but it was nice to be outside with great company!

I was wishing I could have my lunch served over by the outdoor fireplace,
and I think Sally agreed:

The funny thing about that picture to me is that it pretty much shows the REAL CAREY:
Sandy feet in flipflops, capris with a polo shirt & hoodie, and the background:
my Gina Alexander bag w/the kids & Molly, my yellow Jill-e bag,
and a Diet Coke that I got on the way back from Jack in the Box.
The RB Inn decided to go with the Dark Side and choose PEPSI instead of Coke...honestly!!!

There's another picture to share with you from the workshop on Saturday!
When Sarah France popped in, she showed us this great little video light
that she uses in low light situations to get easy controllable light:

It was so cool!!!
I put it up on the MyFUNCamera GEAR page, along with the battery,
and it's not very pricey! It sure was fun to play with! I think I have to pick up one of those!

There's a group shot of everyone at the beach that I really want to show you, too,
but it's on MeRa & Brian's camera, and she hasn't given it to me yet!
shhhh..... I think she's keeping it from me because I've done THREE workshop blog posts now,
and she hasn't put one up yet, so maybe we'll see it on her blog soon!
Then I'll snag it from her blog & put it up here for all of you.

Tonight MeRa, Brian & the kids are coming down here for dinner.
My goal is to get Brian on the trampoline AND to get pictures! Stay tuned!

~Carey

Day 2 of our Refuse to Say Cheese workshop was, as Sharpay would say, FABULOUS!

We started with a morning caravan from the RB Inn down to La Jolla,
where I talked to the ladies about different techniques I use
that are specific to shooting on the beach on a sunny day.

Many of us, ok, most of us were very worried about the weather
because this weekend has been just plain WEIRD.
Did I tell you Mat's soccer tournament was canceled?!

Upon arrival at the beach, on Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend,
the clouds parted, the beach was perfect AND EMPTY!!
I guess the freaky weather scared everyone away.
I could barely believe it, but I was THRILLED.

After I spoke to everyone, we broke up into groups and started shooting.

When Dana's daughter started flying, I had to catch it:

For the workshop ladies reading (and anyone else who's interested),
here are the settings I used:
ISO 100 full sun
Evaluative metering for the bluest sky
AI Focus mode for moving subjects
F/2.8 for the fastest shutter speed I could get
70-200mm lens at 70mm
I was down VERY LOW to the ground to get more blue sky and less sand/ocean.

We also worked on fun portraits in full sun:


Portraits in open shade were next, and I wanted to try a dramatic composition
for this 7-yr old who was very good at keeping a straight face:

She was also very smiley, but I asked her to be serious for a while, and she was a pro!
I used Totally Rad Oh Snap and a Kubota BW action to create the black & white.
All of those action packs are on the SOFTWARE page of MyFUNCamera.com.

Back at our classroom, we had more classtime, then we got to the really fun part
where everyone submitted their favorites shots from the 2 days.
WOW! WOW! WOW!
MeRa, Brian, and I are SO IMPRESSED with the images that these wonderful women created!
I hope I can get copies from Brian soon so I can share some with you!

Mat, Rory, and Jason are here in the hotel room with me for a slumber party
(make-up for the disappointment of the tournament cancellation).
I think I see some swimming and some room service dessert in our near future!

Tomorrow morning we'll check out, then MeRa & I head to Dana's house
for our All-about-Business "Add-on" day. I'm looking forward to that!

~Carey

I'm sitting here in the workshop room with MeRa.
Brian's going over Lightroom & data management,
and I'm sitting here typing instead of paying attention
(sorry Brian!!!)

I wanted to take the chance to get a "live report" online instead!

Here's the room this morning when MeRa was talking:


Here's the lovely Kelly paying very close attention:


Here's my photo group during the "live shoot"


As you can see, I gravitated to the full sun and no shade,
while the other groups spent most of their time inside or in the shade.
We did go in the shade sometimes, too,
but it was really fun to show the women in my group how I find
great light even in harsh conditions.

Here are some lovely baby tooties:


We had THE CUTEST baby of all the groups!
(I may be a bit biased, but I really think it's true)

The WONDERFUL Sarah France came by to show us her tricks of the trade
and her awesome new waist packs, GoBEE


Tomorrow is BEACH DAY, but I'll do my best to get more live reports to you!

This is Carey, signing out from the Rancho Bernardo Inn in sunny San Diego.