State Comp

Last weekend was state competition for solos and ensembles. I didn't get a one rating like the last two years because I probably practiced a third of what I would in the past, so when my nerves kicked in, I didn't have too much familiarity to fall back on. 

Besides taking another classmate's senior pictures while I was in Columbia, I was able to capture a few more shots. 

It was a rainy day, and it kind of made things interesting. :P

I love the mood of this picture. Everyone is just sitting around, tired, and a little anxious.

The building I always performed in.


-MarLeahJoy

Amazing Day

I had one of the best Sundays. First of all, my cousin's baby turned 1, so
we had a party for her (she is an absolute doll... you will understand
when I post the other pictures).
Then the young people that were there played ultimate frisbee (the
best game ever, in my opinion).
After church, we all bombarded Braum's, which was already over-flowing
with people. So we walked to a nearby park to eat our ice cream, and we
ended up playing hide and seek tag. :D

So, if someone needs their days livened up, move to good old Southwest Mo for the summer. :)

I know this blog is not to just tell you about my life; but, this give you
an idea of the pictures I will be posting later this week. :)






































{And I'm kinda proud of myself... this picture was taken with my lensbaby
edge80 lens and completely unedited :D}

Evening Sun

This is a random, conglomeration post... enjoy! :)







Central Dairy: an essential ice cream stop in Jefferson City

This is exactly the way I feel right now! I'm going to have to sleep all summer to make up for these late nights!

-MarLeahJoy

Ordering My Sr. Pics

I've come to one conclusion: I might as well give up on sleep until 

school is over. There has to be a billion and one things going on

right up to the day of my graduation.

Lately, it's been taking, editing, and ordering my senior pictures.

I just finished placing the order, though -- with Meridian Pro, of course. :P

This is their program that you download after becoming a customer.
Everything is super user-friendly.

Who else wouldn't want to get 178 professional wallets for $38?
(around 1/3 the cost of other professional printing services that also
make lab color corrections)


-MarLeahJoy

Triathlon

They began with swimming, which was definitely the most fun to photograph.

















{I really don't know how I missed the watermark on that one... so it's up for grabs...
lol, I don't think the quality is worth stealing, though :)}









So fun to capture!


Then they began a 13.5 mile bike ride... in the rain. So I was soaked along with them. :P











Then, the 5k... as a photographer this was the most boring part of the whole event:
just standing around, waiting for the next runner to come. :/














The sun finally broke through, and it stopped raining after
most of the participants were done, but most people were
just happy that it wasn't scorching hot. :P

-MarLeahJoy

Photoshop Magic

At the present moment... I am just setting back, watching Photoshop do it's thing.
It gives me a pretty good feeling to use batch edits, especially when I have over 100 pictures to edit.

First, I created an action that added auto contrast to the images (that's all I am needing for this situation), then saved them as a jpeg, and then closed them. So, all I have to do is select the folder I want to get the images from, select the folder I want to save them in and press "ok". Wha-lah!

Actually, this Batch edit is such a blessing because it is solving my procrastination. :D I've had some pictures from the Neosho Sprint Triathlon that I really needed to get edited, put on a CD, and sent to the organization. If I would have thought to do this earlier, I could have been done the day I took the pictures. :P  But, that's what the learning process is all about!

So... I will be putting another batch of pictures through a "watermarking" and "re-sizing" action so that I can make an official post of my favorite pictures from the Triathlon. :)

-MarLeahJoy

Oil Paint Filter

When I have a long weekend break from school, I always have way too many ideas

about what I could do. Then you add all of the homework on top of the ambitions... 

and the time just flies by and I find myself back in an old desk in Pre-Calculus trying

 to take a nap.

Needless to say, some of my ambitions this weekend included making a few videos.

So, to maximize a little time -- and to motivate me to get my homework done -- I 

videoed myself working on an art project.

This was the set up for the video. I'm happy with my new tripod.
I decided to wait on purchasing a professional one, but this one is at
least a step-up from my last one. Besides looking a little classier, it is
taller and the head swivels smoother (and, it is not melted state like my 
last one that got a little overheated from a ride in the floorboard of my
car, haha).

I edited in Photoshop CS6; I compressed it from 10 minutes, added the
Oil Paint filter (that I saw and loved in an example in this video), and
added contrast.
To see the full oil paint effect, watch on youtube at higher quality.

This is the color weave project I was/am working on. I drew a cat
with a tangled ball of yarn and a fish bowl, with a wall-paper
design over it all.
I feel like an old cat lady or something... I can't say I love
all cats, but I absolutely adore the two cats we have right
now! Confession: I walk around the house cooing making
affectionate sounds to the cats and telling them how much
I love them. :D



Hey, hey! Countdown to graduation!

FREE COUNTDOWN WIDGET

-MarLeahJoy

Barn and Blossoms

I was finally able to stop by the side of the road and take a picture of this barn. It's 

not like we don't drive by it 3 times a week when we are going to church or anything.

I just never passed by at the right time with a little time to spare. (It also helps 

when you are driving and don't have any passengers waiting on you!)

On my way to my cousin's b-day party I drove by so many of these pretty trees and
really wanted to stop the car and march onto peoples lawns to take pictures of the
blossoms, but I didn't.  So, I was happy to see that my cousin had one of these trees.



-MarLeahJoy

Prints

I am so happy with the way the prints of Abbey's senior pictures turned out.
I ordered them from Meridian Pro, and I can definitely recommend them!

I placed my order Wednesday evening, and they arrived at my house by
10:30am today (Friday).

Their pricing is great for such a high quality print, and shipping was only $5.95.

These are the wallets she ordered for announcements and a proof book for her friends and family to pick from.

It's a good thing there is a imaging service I am happy with that is so fast
because I'm taking my own senior pictures this weekend, and I'll need the
pictures really soon to send out in announcements. (Talk about last minute
for my own senior pictures -- ha!)

-MarLeahJoy

Senior Before and After

I just thought I was done editing Senior pictures :)

So, for a person who specifically commented and said they

didn't want the posts of this senior shoot to end, this post is for you! ;)

after

before

after (one of my new favorites)

before

So, do you see that grey film over all of the pictures? Yeah, I am never letting someone tell me they want their pictures in the afternoon again! Well, at least I've learned some things in Photoshop by having to make some heavy edits. :/

-MarLeahJoy

It's hard to believe that the blossoms are already falling. Yay for green trees, though!




And here is what I've been up to: a new video project.
I have a few places I plan to hit up this weekend to get
the rest of the clips. It is really simple to combine them
Photoshop CS6. While I was watching a video about
how to do it here, I was inspired for yet another video. :)

This is only a fraction of it, but I'm excited about it; and 

I hope to share the real video soon!

-MarLeahJoy

Tying It Up

These are the last of Abbey's Senior Pictures. Edited at 5am this morning, ha!

That's why I found a random brush stroke on one of the pictures later today.

(It was actually more than a random brush stroke -- it looked like a child was

decorating the picture in paint, haha :D)

See the rest in this post.

-MarLeahJoy