I am back from my brief hiatus from blogging. Why? Might one ask. Well, to let you in on a little secret, I am totally fired up from an event I attended today, The Flash Bus Tour 2011 with David Hobby and Joe McNally.

The Flash Bus Tour is basically Joe, David, their (Joe's) assistants and all of their (again Joe's) gear piled into this bus:

About 400 of my photographer friends and I that wanted to know all about small flash systems made our way to the Los Angeles Convention Center today for a morning of David Hobby and an afternoon of Joe McNally. Needless to say, it was a full day. Hobby started off the morning with more of a presentation where he took us through shots, building layers of one light on top of the other. Informal and informative, it really set the tone for the rest of the day.

And then McNally took us for a post-lunch ride (no food comas allowed). He went through a live shoot using one of his assistants and members from the audience, building layers of light while gracefully hitting any curve ball that came his way. And during a live location shoot, there are plenty of curve balls.

The afternoon was finished up with an amazing Q&A session with both photographers. Watching these guys together and taking all kinds of questions from the audience was really cool to experience.

I feel really lucky to be a part of this tour. Both guys are really down to Earth, willing to help other photographers, and willing to do things like sign books and posters. Here's a photo of Joe and me after he signed my copy of LIFE Guide to Digital Photography: Everything You Need to Shoot Like the Pros

Note: Of course, why would I set my point and shoot to auto without flash when about to take a picture with master flash man Joe McNally? This is photo #2...

If this tour rolls through your city, it is definitely worth your time and money to attend. I am not only pumped about doing more with my flash photography, but doing more with my photography in general.

A big thank you to David Hobby, Joe McNally and the team and sponsors that made it possible to bring us The Flash Bus Tour 2011! I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store!

And thank you for stopping by!

I know I know, I have not posted in a week! Honestly, I am a sunshine lovin' girl, and the rain gets me down and feeling like a big slug. So, since it has been a week, I am going to pick my three favorite photos from the week, and give you the story and metadata behind those. Of course, you can check out my Flickr set for the week's photos, but I do want to tell you about my favorites so please make sure you keep on reading.

I made my favorite photo from this week on Day 22

I call this one "Mama's hands" because it is of my mama's hands. My mom has used her Brother sewing machine since 1968. Her hands are older now and have arthritis in them, but they are beautiful to me. That coupled with the light from her sewing machine created a perfect photo opportunity. I had her use the green fabric because I liked that pop of color, and noticed that her nail polish and the fabric complemented each other.

Taken with Canon 5D Mark 2, Tamron macro 90mm, 1/320 at f/4.0. Small tungsten light from sewing machine, no flash, ISO 4000 (The high ISO just isn't getting old for me!). Cropping and color correction in Lightroom 2.

I made my second favorite photo on Day 23 (I was on a roll this weekend!)

I just love walking around my neighborhood in the afternoon (around 4'ish) when the light has this gorgeous golden quality. My neighbors just cannot think I'm normal (but what photographer is?).

Initially I was trying to get this beautiful golden light bouncing off of the branches with the moon in the background. Then I shifted the focus to the moon, and I just loved this image. The branches and crisp moon against the vivid blue sky...magic!

Taken with Canon Rebel XTi at 1/320 at f/5.0 with Canon EF 24-105mm lens, at 105mm, ISO 200. Light editing in Lightroom 2.

And I made my third favorite photo on Day 25

Since was so cold here in Southern California (below 50 degrees, good heavens!), I got to sit by the fireplace a lot. I LOVE the way subjects look by firelight, and I LOVE reflections. So, I put some water in a Waterford crystal bowl, and had a little mirror that I set under the bowl on the hearth for reflection from the bottom of the bowl. Joe McNally suggests to place subjects near/in water, so of course I incorporated water into my little experiment.

Taken with Canon 5D Mark 2, Tamron macro 90mm, 1/30 at f/4.0, ISO 3200. Lighting sources fireplace and tungsten light to the right side of the camera.

As always, thank you for stopping by!