Pianista | Portraits

That's Italian for "pianist." (I bet you'd never have guessed!).

So, a little while before I got my harp, my sister got her dream piano. A Schimmel grand. Long story short, there was a private owner selling it, who happened to be 10 minutes away from us, and happened to be selling it for a great deal. It came to live at our house fairly promptly. :-)

Our previous piano was in our back room, which is very dark. The only light coming in is from the sliding door, and the walls are wood paneling. Not the most ideal photo situation. But the new piano has a place of prominence in the front room (taking up approximately half of the room), which is full of light. We took some shots of her with her new baby for use with any music-related activities.

Distracted :-) | Personal

I realize I've been neglecting the blog... I'm sorry, but I figured that the wedding post was so long it could keep you busy for a little while, and I've been a bit distracted from computer work recently. Last week my dad and I drove up to Michigan and brought home my beautiful pedal harp! For those of you harp-illiterate folks :-), there are two kinds of harps. Lever harps change pitch (sharps & flats) with levers at the top of the harp, and pedal harps change with foot pedals. You can play a larger variety of music with a pedal harp. I never dreamed I would get one this soon, and it was so neat how the Lord worked everything out, even to the family we purchased it from being a Christian, homeschooling family!

Needless to say, I'm pretty ecstatic and I've been playing it till my fingers blister. And ignoring my blog. Don't worry, though, I've got some more stuff coming up. Stay tuned! (pun unintentional).

I Heart Faces - Hands

My friend and I went to a concert at the Lyon & Healy harp factory and before the concert started the showroom was open and we got to play the harps! There are probably at least 50 harps on the floor and you can play any and all of them! It was so much fun and the concert was incredible. I can't wait to go back. :-)

The Flutist

Here is my last installment of the series of photos from Pine Crest! This may be my favorite from the portrait sessions. My very talented sister, who sews amazing outfits and plays the piano beautifully, also dabbles in flute and so we did a flute session! I apologize to you all if you are sick of seeing my sister by now, but this comes of her being the only available model. :-)

Who could resist twirling in that dress?

And thus concludes the Pine Crest visit! I hope you've enjoyed seeing all the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them. :-)

Tickle the Ivories

This is a SOOC (straight out of camera) shot of the keyboard of our antique piano... yep, the keys are real ivory!

Shooting Self-Portraits

This is a self portrait I took the other day. That's me with my baby - my beautiful harp. I actually have two babies; my harp and (you guessed it) my camera. At any rate, I was struck by the fact that self portraits are not all that easy. Especially when you are shooting with a wide aperture (which is my favorite mode for portraits!).

I was using a tripod, but it still took several tries to get the photo to come out how I wanted it. I'd say it could still be improved by sharper focus but my harp was sitting on the damp grass and I didn't want to leave it there any longer than was absolutely necessary!

Shooting self portraits with a small aperture (higher f-number - more in focus) is easier; but here are a few basic tips to follow no matter what size aperture you have:

Use a tripod. Duh. :-) Or if you are taking a spontaneous photo, find something steady on which to prop your camera.

Use a focus point. In my case, I had my harp there to give me an idea of where to focus. Wide apertures are very touchy so if you are sitting in front of your object, set it just a hair closer. You could also have someone pose for you so you can set your focus and then you take their place with the timer going. You may have to tweak it a few times like I did!