Washington DC Destination Wedding Photographer: Terra Dawn Photography

Things I LURVE from left to right:

1. Books – Yeah…biggest book worm in the history of photographer book worms. Favs, you ask?
“Pride and Prejudice”, “Peter Pan”, “Good Omens” and “Harry Potter”. Ecclectic….I know. Awesome? YES.

2. Eric Joyner’s Art – Particularly his “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots” Series. And check out his coffee table book “Robots and Donuts”! It’s EPIC!

3. Anthropologie – Pretty, fluffy, springy, vintagy amazingosity!!!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! (Did I mention mine is right next to the Paper Source!!!??? Seriously bad news for my credit card.)

4. The Wii – I’m kind of addicted to Mario Kart, Guitar Hero, Lego’s anything…..

5. The Decembrists – “Legionnaire’s Lament” is my favorite song EVER. P.S. They are kind of amazing live.

6. Italy – Particularly Florence….but it’s all kind of amazing. Weddings anyone?? I would LOVE to go back. I’ll scratch your back you scratch mine perhaps? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

7. Ferrero Rocher – Ummm….does this NEED any explanation?????

8. Target – They have all the pretty colors.

9. Iron and Wine – For the days you want to do absolutely NOTHING….put these guys on your ipod. Also, if your looking for a good 1st dance, try “Love and Some Verses”. Excelente, my friends.

10. Diana Camera – Toy cameras are amazing!! Check out Lomography.com to get inspired and even get your own!

11. Janan Chandler – THIS, folksies, is my sister’s genius work!! Her fish series is personally my favorite…but you might have your own.

12. LISA FRANK – Better than Barbie. For all you ladies (and slightly feminine gents out there) Lisa Frank is THE definition of rainbows, unicorns and glitter. My sticker collection was QUITE extensive as a child.

13. REAL Mayonnaise – I don’t care HOW healthy they say Miracle Whip is…..that junk’s gross. Gimme the good stuff….with French Fries!!!

14. Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog – Well…actually….Jim Henson and anybody/thing really. The man was magic.

15. Chiante – Yeah…you go to Italy and drink two bottles in one day then tell me how good YOU think it is!!

16. Falcore from A NeverEnding Story – I LOVE the movie….disliked the book (kinda boring actually…). My favorite scenes are any one’s involving ear scratching or Falcore’s tongue.

There you have it!! What would be on YOUR list??

Terra Dawn
www.terradawn.com
www.terradawnblog.com
terradawnphotography@gmail.com

Washington DC Wedding Photographer: Terra Dawn Photography

I had the absolutely privilege to hang with Pam from A Trendy Wedding on Friday. Really…all she had to do was ask me hang, but she decided to “sweeten” the pot by wanting to make fudge!!

Ok….so the fudge wasn’t really for me (although I must say it tasted divine). It was for you!! So head over to her blog and see what this wild woman has in store for her readers….

TerraDawn
terradawnphotography@gmail.com
Skype: TerraDawnPhotog

Washington DC Wedding Photographer: Terra Dawn Photography

“Breath, Terra…..”

Hee, hee, hoo….hee, hee….no wait….wrong kind of breathing.

I think it needs to be more Yoga-ish.

Anyways! Needless to say (unless you didn’t read the above “breathing exorcise”) I have been REALLY busy!! I’ve had a wedding almost every weekend, which is awesome…but takes up a lot of time during the week for photo editing.

An Etsy update for all of you loverly vendors is waaaaaay overdue!! I sincerely apologize for that, but hopefully my marathon emailing has kept you relatively in the loop!!

I had the opportunity to meet with the stunning model Leanne Elena on Saturday to do a photo shoot for a lot of the vendors!! Honestly? Probably one of my favorite shoots of all time!! And it was so simple! No messing around with indoor lighting, bad weather or an entourage. Just me, a model….and Conor (with a lawn chair, and Reba Mcentire on his iPod. Thanks for the company, Conor!!!).

We were working with AMAZING hair accessories by whichgoose and breathtaking jewelry by AnnsCrafts. It was so much fun!!! And tre tre chic.

I am working diligently on the book right now, and am tweaking and cleaning up the overall look of the pages (hence, I haven’t posted any yet….I want you to be wowed!!!). I hope to have them to show off in all their glory by next week.

Not only do I LURVE people who LURVE crafts…..BUT I LURVE CRAFTS TOO!!! If I have no work to do, or am having some down time (or if I find an excuse to do crafts FOR my work!) I am usually surrounded by glue sticks and sparklies.

This week has been super crafty!! Do you remember that post I did last week with the Bokeh hearts behind the birdies? (I’ll wait a second for you to click the link and refresh your memories….

…………..

K. Back? Yeah!! Those hearts!! I used the filter at the Etsy shoot on Saturday…wanna see? Of course you do…if you don’t, you know where the little “x” button is at the top of the window. (That was meant in the nicest way possible…..)

(No snark intended…..)

(At all……)

(Seriously….your welcome back anytime for a post you are more interested in!!)

Ready? I present to you……”Bokeh’s I Luuuurve You : Part Deux”.

I KNOW!!! Do you see the little hearts in the background??!! If I could type in a bitty baby cutesy voice right now….I just might. I wanna play with this more!! But I am super proud of this experiment!!

Again….”Breath, Terra….”

*Finding my center*

“Namaste…”

In other news…I have a new portfolio! My last one was really up-tight, and leathery, and…well….not me. If you know me, you know I’m a bit of a goofball….and incredibly relaxed.

Jell-o like even…..

So….I needed a portfolio that showed off my work at the highest quality, but represented what my company stood for! I found a gorgeous hand-stitched album at Anthropologie *squeeeeeeles* (I LOVE THAT STORE!!) and some photo corners at the paper source *squeeeeeeles* (I LOVE THAT STORE TOO!!!) and voila! My mew album!! I am going to have the main page colligraphized (I don’t think that’s a real word) with my business name and my owl….but other than that, it’s finished! And it’s perfect!!

I think it came out loverly! It cost me $65 (including prints), which is a lot less than some other portfolios I’ve been together. And I think I love this one waaaaaay more.

Whew…..I feel like I’ve run a mile! (That could be b/c I’m watching the US Open on tv and it makes me tired….)

Although I have more fun, crafty goodness to share…I think I will let you read about those adventures later.

So my friends…I bid a fond, and non-permanent adieu. I leave you with love, happiness, and the taste of glue in your mouth….(those photo corners required A LOT of licking in order to stick…).

Till lata,

Terra Dawn

Washington DC Wedding Photographer: Terra Dawn Photography

Bokeh, in case you don’t know, is a beautiful effect…usually seen in the circular or hexagonal shapes, caused when the patchy light in the background is incredibly out of focus and at a great distance from the subject in the for-ground. There is a way more detailed description on Wikipedia involving lenses and planes of focus.

If you want your photos to have Bokeh, you simply have to have bright spots of light (sunlight through leaves on trees, christmas lights, reflections of sunlight in the water), in the background and out of focus. Set your f stop to the lowest possible, and focus on something in the for-ground, and voila! Bokeh!!

Where is this post going?

Preferably to somewhere on the Amalfi Coast with bright sun, cool breeze and nothing to do except play.

Speaking of play!! I found a wonderful tutorial from the DIY Photography blog on how to create shaped bokeh. I tested it out in heart shapes last night (well…technically 2 hours ago, as it’s 2AM) and although I struggled a bit at first and thought I was going to run out of black construction paper, I finally figured it out!!!

Awww….my cameras leak luuuuuurve……

And after a bit of perfecting….BIRDS LEAK LUUUUURVE TOO!!

“Luuurve is in the air…..
Everywhere I look around.
Luuurve is in the air….

C’mon! Sing with me!!!

No? Ok…ok. No pressure……

……….

But I know you’re humming it……

Anyways, be sure to check out the awesome blog post at DIY Photography (they have REALLY awesome stuff on a daily basis!!) and give your own bokeh a try!! I would love to see what you all come up with, so come back here and post a link to your blog posts!!

Terra Dawn

P.S. Ok…ok….John Paul Young doesn’t say “luuuurve”, but I think it’s an improvement to the song!!!

So…..I love music. I love very random music. I love everything from Neil Diamond (oooo….he makes me so happy) to Iron and Wine to Metallica….and Dixie Chicks. Yes…I love everything. But, what I listen to the most is anything that makes me go all jelloid and happy. i.e. romantic music.

I listen to romantic music when I am working, when I am driving, when I am walking….I luuuuurve romantic music. So, as I was listening to my “Awwww” playlist this evening, I got to thinking that I should maybe sort-a share it with you guys. I found a site called “imeem” that allows me to find almost any track under the sun, put it in a playlist and share it with the world.

TA-DA!!! Music magic, folks.

Now, I know a lot of this music you may have heard before and a lot of this music you might not like….but I am willing to bet a whole nickel that there is actually music on this playlist that you don’t know and DO like!!! Take the plunge, people!!!

(If you click the little screen-maker-larger button above the volume doo-hickey thingy, you can listen to the full tracks….highly recommended.)

I would love to know what music makes you go all jelloid!! Ooooo!!! I have an idea!!! Leave your playlist in the comments!! (I don’t think the html works in the comments field, though you can try….but you can always type out a few of your tracks and artists.) If you post your own imeem playlist to your blog, feel free to post the link in the comments section as well! I love finding new music!!!

Romantic

Terra