Monthly Archives: January 2009

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Phaunt U Student Interview- Charlotte Stringer

January 29, 2009 – 9:25 am

 

It’s been almost a year since the first phaunt U started, and I thought it would be cool to interview some past students and see where they are now and what they’re doing with their photography.

One of the things I love about the U course is the chance for me to get to know some amazing people. Charlotte was the first student to sign up, and I’ve gotten to know her over the last year. She’s an amazing friend and photographer, and I feel blessed to know her. And lucky me, I get to meet her in April at the phaunt Vention!! :)

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Location: Terry, MS  

Links to blog/website/etc: http://www.charlottestringerphotography.com/  and   http://www.charlottestringerphotography.com/blog

How did you get interested in photography?      When my mom and dad let me have their  Kodak 110 (circa 1972) when I like 10-11 - I loved loved loved going to Fox Photo!!!  I have been hooked ever since… But taking photos of my kids really inspired me to start getting serious about it.

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Primary focus (children, weddings, etc):  I love all ages!  I love people, period.  But mainly kiddos and weddings 

Describe your style in 3 words:  Timeless, Classic,  Emotive

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What is your dream for your business?  To stay relatively small so I can still be the best SAHM…

What’s in your camera bag?  5 CF cards (can’t put all your eggs in one basket) 2 5D’s, a 70-200 2.8 L, my 24-105 L, my 100mm 2.8 macro, my 50mm 1.4 and a Fong lightsphere.  Ok, so I don’t put all of it in there all the time…

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If you could only use ONE Lens for the next year what would it be?  my 70-200!!

Goal in photography for 2009?  to not over-extend myself.. achieve Quality over quantity

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Favorite Photoshop Tip?  use layers always!!

Favorite thing about phaunt U?  Hum.. Honestly I learned {with others} and realized that my photos were  not supposed to look like "that" {yah know, perfect} sooc!

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What was the last movie you saw?  Marley and Me  - yes, I wept like a baby

Last song played on your Ipod?  Put your records on.. Corrine Bailey Rae

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Thank you Charlotte!

By Kylie | Posted in interviews, links, phaunt U | Comments (22)

Miracle Monday- Celebrate with me!

January 26, 2009 – 9:06 am

 

I must proclaim this from the hills……….. I have an EMPTY Inbox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See?

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I haven’t seen this screen since before Christmas, I was beginning to think it wouldn’t happen. But with a little perseverance and a little luck I did it!!! I had to take a picture of it because it’s a rare occurance, and now I’m afraid to check my email because it will probably mar my beautiful bare inbox with more emails. But we can all celebrate the wonderous event together.

I have some cool interviews coming up in the next few weeks, so watch for that! I’m going to be interviewing some former U students who took the course almost a year ago so we can see what they’re up to now. I can’t wait to see their work and hear what their plans are for 2009.

Have a great week everyone!

By Kylie | Posted in random | Comments (1)

Get Purtyfied in 2009!

January 23, 2009 – 5:09 pm

Is one of your New Year’s Resolutions to get in shape and spiff up your look? If so I’ve got a GREAT deal for you!

My wonderful sister in law, Andrea (who is also a vital member of the phaunt forum staff) has branched out and is now a Mary Kay Consultant! To help her celebrate I thought I’d kick it off by hosting an online MK party.

I recently got a custom color look done by Andrea and got all new makeup and I LOVE these products. I’m SO not a makeup girl, but these are easy and look great!

To sweeten the pot I’m going to match EVERY DOLLAR spent with a gift certificate to the phaunt store OR if you’re a VIPhaunt in phaunt bucks! SO.. buy $20 in products, get a $20 GC to the phaunt store.. or 200 phaunt bucks, your choice! Doesn’t matter the amount, big or small, I’ll match it.

Here is all you have to do:

• Visit her web page at http://www.marykay.com/arecla/

• You will also receive a FREE GIFT from Andrea with a $40 or more purchase!!

• All orders will go directly to Andrea and will not be part of any mega list sold to other companies.  She will confirm your order with you as well as arrange for delivery, or shipping, with you via email or phone.  (whichever you indicate on your order)

Be sure to put my name in the comments section so she knows where you’re coming from and we can make sure you get your phaunt bucks/gift certificate!

By Kylie | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)

Life Lately- phaunt in 2009

January 20, 2009 – 12:08 am

 

I’ve been needing to write something on the blog for awhile…. I just never seem to have the time to do it.

 

It’s funny, back in October, before Lilly was diagnosed it seemed like I FINALLY had things going and together. I was getting things done on time, keeping up with all the balls in the air, I was feeling good about where things were going. Sure we had a lot going on, but I was on top of it, I was handling it all!

Then out of nowhere comes the bombshell of Lilly’s diabetes. I seem to have a pattern of dealing with crisis, I keep it together pretty good, I can withstand the storm, which is what I did. I was surprised how well I was handling it..I was overwhelmed, yes, but I was okay.

But then, about 3 weeks after,  I just fell apart. Not noticeably I don’t think, I don’t know how many people really noticed, but I felt like suddenly everything was impossible, I couldn’t figure out how to get anything done, I was barely holding on.

Luckily I have so many supportive and wonderful family members/friends and phaunt members, everyone has been amazingly understanding and PATIENT with me. It wasn’t until after we returned from Christmas in Colorado that I felt like I was coming out from the fog. I can see that life is possible with these new responsibilties, but I also got a wakeup call.

I think God was really using the whole situation to give me a smack upside the head and remind me what is important in my life. For most of last year I was running around 100mph, juggling work and family, adding more things to the pile, just finding a way to make it work.

But then everything came crashing down around me. When you see your child sick, when you’re hit square in the face with the fleeting nature of life and how in a short moment your everything could be taken away.. You wake up a bit.

It’s so easy to lose sight of what is important when you’re busy building a business, and being the driven person that I am, I had crammed so many things onto my plate that something had to give. I finally had to admit to myself that I was trying to do too many things and in the process was making EVERYTHING suffer.

So after a few months of recharging/refreshing and taking a new look at life, I’m declaring 2009 to be my year of cultivation. I spent last year creating and scrambling all over the place, now I need to take a step back and cultivate the projects I’ve already started. Cultivate the relationships that I’ve created in the last year. Invest in those who matter and enrich the projects I’m already working on.

Because of that the Photoshop Naked project is on hold for now. The free ebook is still available to anyone who wants it, but I’m taking a break from creating the entire project, and may just absorb it into the forum. The phaunt forum and phaunt U are what I’m focusing on for now.

I’ve also decided that I want to take this blog back to what it was in the beginning.. a place for me to just connect with other photographers/photoshop nerds just like me. So I’m going to try and post at least once a week, whether I have anything to announce or just wanna say Hi.

I appreciate those of you who are still out there reading, and all the comments/emails I get. Thank you all for sticking with me the last few months and encouraging me.

So that’s all I have to say.. not sure if anyone really cares, but I wanted to announce it incase anyone was wondering what was going on :)

And to end on a happy note, here’s a pic of Lilly and her cousin Harland when they were visiting for Christmas:

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By Kylie | Posted in news, photoshop naked | Comments (9)

Fun Stuff Monday

January 12, 2009 – 11:28 am

 

So it’s Monday, don’t want to go back to work, right? Me either. So I figured I’d give you some good linkage to keep you busy and bring a smile to your face.

First up, one of my new favorite blogs… Cake Wrecks. Jen (the author) takes user submitted pictures of cakes that were made by PROFESSIONALS and shows us what happens when cake making goes horribly wrong.

One of my personal favorites was this little gem:

SEE POST HERE

This is actually one of the decent cakes, just a bit odd in the concept. Check the blog out if you’re needing a laugh. I check my feed burner every day to see if she’s updated.

Next up.. a blog I’ve linked before, but still is amusing from time to time… Photoshop Disasters. They post examples of very bad Photoshop work. Some of the pictures are a bit boring (like the perspective is wrong or something), but some are downright hilarious..like this POST HERE- Nuff Said :D

Another always fun place to stop by is the What the Duck comic strip.

One of my favorite comic strips:

And I just got an email that WTD is now selling Plush Ducks.. I just had to get one.. it has a detachable Camera!!

GET YOUR OWN HERE!!

Plus if you’re one of the first 50 you get a signed poster. I’m hoping I was quick enough. We’ll see when it gets here :)

And the last link I’ve meant to share for awhile, just haven’t remembered to do it. I read Scott Kelby’s blog whenever I get a chance and I was perusing the old posts and found THIS ONE by Matt Kloskowski. He talks about the "non destructive workflow" and how for many of us it is a pain. He sums it up pretty good here:

 

                  "So what you’re saying is I should learn Photoshop like I learn many things in life. I need to learn the rules and know why they’re there. Then I need to learn when to break them. If I’m just starting out in Photoshop then I’m probably better off trying to save as much as I can because I’m still learning my way around. As I become more comfortable though, I shouldn’t feel like I have to work the same way I was taught in the first place?"

I think like most things, you need to learn the rules first before you know when you can break them. I usually tell my U students that if an edit takes me 5 minutes or less I don’t bother saving the layers or saving it as a PSD. If it only took me 5 minutes to create then it would just take me 5 min to re-create. If I’ve spent 30 minutes perfecting something, then I’ll save the layers. Otherwise it’s just a waste of space on your hard drive. I also regularly go back and delete PSD files. If I haven’t printed it in 6 months or so, best guess is that I won’t need the PSD again.

So that’s all the funness I have for this week. Hope that brightens your day a bit.

Oh, have you checked out the forum lately? We have something really cool going to be introduced this week.. it will change how you use your phaunt bucks :)

By Kylie | Posted in Forum, VIPhaunt, links, random | Comments (2)

Great things in store for Jan- VIP Speaker ROCKS

January 8, 2009 – 10:57 am

 

We’ve just announced who the VIPhaunt speaker is this month, and we have the privilege of having Kim Townsend of KimTown & Co all month at our disposal.

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She’s answering questions about websites and what YOU need to know to get yours in ship shape for the upcoming photography season. Since most of us are in the lull between Christmas and spring sessions, this is a great time to think about revamping your website/blog.

She is also doing indepth website critiques for 10 lucky VIPers, and we all get to  read and learn from it.

We are also introducing some awesome new features for VIPers that you do not want to miss, stay tuned to hear more.

Wait.. you’re not a VIPhaunt?? What’s wrong with you?? GO to the FORUM and visit THIS THREAD for more details.

See you on the flipside!

By Kylie | Posted in Forum, VIPhaunt, links | Comments (0)

Snow!!!

January 5, 2009 – 11:22 pm

 

We’re back home (obviously) and I’m starting to go thru the backlog of emails/etc. I’ll do a "real" post soon but wanted to post a pic of the girls today enjoying all the snow we got this morning. I made the storyboard using the Heart is Found Storyboard maker.. my favorite tool for collages/storyboards.

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Now I’d like the snow to go away please… That’s about all I want to deal with, thank you very much.

Oh yeah, Happy 2009 everyone… wahootie! :D

By Kylie | Posted in Lilly, Photography, links, phaunt life | Comments (2)
AJAXed with AWP