Editing and manipulating photos has become a big hobby for me, and helped to define my own style as a photographer. Close friends know how much I enjoy it, and I’ve started to do some work for them, and word is spreading so that others have contacted me as well. I love it. I’ll never do graphic or photography as my full-time work, but I love having another avenue of exploring my creative side, as well as bringin in income. ;)

Recently I did a website header up for author Leigh Evans.

and a business card for her as well.

Be sure to check out her site, and see her news.

For now, I want to give you a peek at some of what I did while I wasn’t writing. Most of you know photography has been a hobby of mine for a long time. Well, over the last year or two when I was taking a break from writing, I did a lot more photography, and I want to show some of it off.

It seems I have a knock for making people feel comfortable in front of the camera, and I love it. I got into doing boudoir photo’s and am loving it. Abotu 5 years ago I did a nude shoot for a friend who was a photographer, and the resulting images made me feel so much better than I’d ever anticipated. I looked at them and thought “Wow, that’s me?”

I’ve done several shoots with women, and even a couple, and each time they’ve had the same reaction. I really believe every woman should do one of these shoots at least once in their life. They make you feel fantastic, and show how sexy real woman are.

Check out these pretty ladies who wanted some boudoir shots to share with their men.

I’m excited. It’s a girl from work who is in her 9th month, and I told her I’d do them for free because I’ve never done a maternity shoot before. That way I get some for my portfolio, and she gets some for her baby book- and if they’re not up to snuff quality wise no one is out anything but time. I did the same thing for another friend when she wanted some boudoir photos as a gift for her fiancee, and they turned out great… check them out below.

I must say that I think the baby bump pics will be up to snuff, though. I’m really excited to do them, and already have som e ideas in mind for how I want the final shots to look. Plus, Michelle, is such a sweetheart I just know she’s gonna be gorgeous. LOL
I’ll show you a few next week and you can tell me if you think they’re any good. For now..what do you think of the ones above as “Boudoir” style? I think they turned out great. PLus, when we were done the shoot, S(the lady in the pictures) told me she felt amazingly sexy and beautiful. That made me feel good, because I think everyone woman should feel that way when running around in lingerie.

Go Canada Go!

Hey there! Delilah Devlin, here.

Sasha gave me access to add my comments to the photos. So I’m taking major advantage here. If you can imagine, we all had some trepidation about spending five days couped up in a cottage with five other authors. We knew each other, some of us better than others, but you never know what happens when the “nice” wears off in close confines.

What happened was magical. We worked hard. Sasha has tons of shots with us parked around the living area with our laptops perched on our knees. We brainstormed new ideas. Talked about publishing woes. Shared advice for getting through slumps. Everyone was very giving and supportive.  

As the groups bartender, I have to say I think the daily Margaritas helped.

Pssst…..I’m not showing any of the photos of the girls with laptops and such because this was a RETREAT, and we were WORKING, therefor it was all sweats and messed up hair, and they only let me take the pictures if I promised they wouldn’t get posted on the internet.

On the last day together, we all talked about how well we’d gotten along together. Sure, we’d learned each other’s faults, but we weren’t ready to kill each other. When it’s women, you never know. We’re planning to do this again next year! 

Isn’t this gorgeous? That’s the view of the lake from the cottage where the retreat was held. This was early one morning when the fog sat on the water. Doesn’t it look like sky stretching from the edge of the lawn?

Almost daily, we powerwalked the two-mile route around the lake. One day, Sasha made the trip alone to take pictures of anything that caught her eye.

While I’m not posting the pictures of us working, I will post this LINK to Delilah’s Blog where she posted some of the pictures she took. *bats eyes*

Oh, and have I mentioned that Delilah and I are going on a Caribbean Cruise in December? Yeah, we’re going to work, and research, and write, and have a damn good time doing it all!

DD: Sasha gave me access to her blog to post some comments, so here I go!

When the retreat ended, Sasha and I stayed with my cousin and his partner in Seattle. Sasha took this pic in my cousin’s back yard. She said, “Pick up the baby gargoyle and let me take a shot!” Little did I know the joke was on me. Who knew the gargoyle and I would bear such a strong resemblance! I do love it though.

Sasha Here: I asked you to pick it up so I could get a picture because your story with a gargoyle hero had just released. I know that little guy didn’t resemble your hero, but I thought it was cute.

My cousin and his partner took Sasha and I to Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle so that we could make a tour of the Underground. I know, all the lovely places we could have gone, but we wanted to see the nasty bits. That’s writers for you. Not quite sure what this shot’s supposed to convey, but you can see a bit of the architecture.

Sasha : It’s the shop right next to where the first part of our Underground tour started. That first part of the tour started through a door to the left o the Cafe, and we came back up in that alley to the right of the cafe. So we went around all underground and behind it. PLus, I thought it was cool cus the sign for the shop says “Seattles Oldest Restaurant” on it.

This shot is definitely in The Underground. If you don’t know, Seattle was originally built at sea level. When more people moved in and they built a sewage system, they had real problems every time the tide rolled in. They posted the tide timetable in the newspaper so folks knew when not to flush, otherwise they’d have geysers of nasty backwash. So when the town burned down in the late 1800′s, they rebuilt the streets higher than the ground. Businesses on either sides of the streets had to build up their foundations and put their entrances on the second floors. Everything beneath became The Underground. There was an intricate system of walkways beneath the ground with skylights in the sidewalks above to let in light. Some of those underground structures still exist, and we got to roam the parts that haven’t been closed to the public. 

Sasha: One of my few from the actual underground that turned out. I really need to learn more about my cameras lighting features.

Without artificial lighting, The Underground would be dark as a cave. She shot this of me with just her flash. Of course she didn’t tell me I was sweaty and bedraggled from the rain.

Sasha: I love this shot. I think it’s all moody and cool, especially considering some of the Dark Vampire stuff you write.

After a day of slogging around The Underground, we picked up takeout at a Chinese restaurant and headed home. Seattle is pretty hilly, almost as bad as San Francisco in parts. Sasha was on the uphill looking down at us.

Photos and information about the writers retreat part of the trip are coming up in a separate post at a later date.

I spent the weekend out of town at a Trade show with my mom, selling her wares. (She’s all sorts of crafty and creative.) On the drive back the scenery was beautiful, one of the best things about living in Canada is that yes, we are all apred out up here, but it’s so that we can still enjoy the nature that surrounds us.

Here are a couple of photos of the sunset taken on the drive home-while the truck was moving. Mom refused to stop just so I could take pictures. LOL

The ones below I played with in photoshop. Can’t can’t decide which one I like best. Which one do you like?

You can see some of my other photos from teh whole summer at my Photoblog.