Iceland – Þingvellir National Park

Þingvellir (Thingvellir) is the National Park where the Althing [an open-air assembly, which represented the whole of Iceland]  was established in 930 and continued to meet until 1798. Over two weeks a year, the assembly set laws – seen as a covenant between free men – and settled disputes.

The Althing has deep historical and symbolic associations for the people of Iceland. The property includes the Þingvellir National Park and the remains of the Althing itself: fragments of around 50 booths built from turf and stone. Remains from the 10th century are thought to be buried underground. The site also includes remains of agricultural use from the 18th and 19th centuries. The park shows evidence of the way the landscape was husbanded over 1,000 years.

On the way to the park, we came across a field of ‘stone people’ and a beautiful lake…..

~~~Click on Images for Larger Views~~~

©2010 Adriana Durian Photography

©2010 Adriana Durian Photography

©2010 Adriana Durian Photography

©2010 Adriana Durian Photography

©2010 Adriana Durian Photography

 

Young Painters in Action

What to do when the weather isn’t cooperating for your photoshoot??? The images of Landon and Peyton tell all…..

copyright 2010 Adriana Durian Photography

The End (-;

 

Christine making faces

I met up with Christine yesterday, for what she thought would be a quiet morning coffee. Before she could go, I brought out my camera equipment and the Orbis, and shoo’d her into a busy parking lot to give me some faces. And making faces is always funnier with the wide angle lens.

And finally, I threw in a ‘very’ hi-key shot….

 

December Portraits

Here are a few more portraits from the Self-Portrait shoot on December 12th.

It was hard not to spend a lot of time with Lyndsey, who is beautiful inside and out. Lyndsey was working in the gallery on the 12th, so in between people coming in for shots, we had a lot of fun shooting her. These are just 3 more of the shots we took; have several more that will be part of the Amore-Infinito “People of 2009” video to go up on the site shortly after the New Year.

copyright 2009 amore-infinito photography

copyright 2009 amore-infinito photography

copyright 2009 amore-infinito photography

Keith was walking by the gallery when he noticed the flashes, so he popped in to see what was going on. We suggested that maybe he’d like some photo’s taken; and he jumped at the opportunity.

copyright 2009 amore-infinito photography

copyright 2009 amore-infinito photography

 

Fire

I don’t know that there is a genre of photography I love best … when I’m at events I believe I could be a photojournalist forever; when I shoot weddings I’m in my glory; creating concept shoots pushes my creative envelope. The genre that I keep going back to is product and still life. How to make an object look bigger and better than it is? How to create something that hasn’t already been created, or for that matter, how to re-create something that has been created before?

Having set up a small studio and obtaining additional lighting, softboxes, and equipment gives me more ‘play time’, as I call it. With the ability to set up a shot, work on it for a few hours [often I wonder how 6 hours just disappeared], walk away from it till I get the ‘ah-ha’ moment, and go back to get the shot, is what it’s all about for me.

And in todays age of ‘oh, just fix it in photoshop’, my goal with product is to shoot it the way I want it to look, in camera, without using photoshop to mimic any of the lighting. Just one more challenge thrown into the mix.

Here’s one of the shots I completed; over the next little while I’ll post some more.

copyright 2009 amore-infinito photography

 

Lane, Chelsea & Emily

Last Thursday we did a concept shoot ‘up on the mountain’  in Langford BC. Chelsea and Emily were our ladies of the evening, with Lane being Jack the Ripper. Lane was a fellow classmate of mine at Western Academy of Photography in Victoria [www.westernacademyofphotography.com]. Lane is an incrediable photographer in his own right, his work can be seen at http://www.blackscarletlove.deviantart.com/gallery.

Jo-Ann Way, another fellow classmate and Victoria photographer, assisted with the lighting and setups. Victoria based Alexa Lofthouse provided all makeup for the shoot.

Since last Thursday I’ve been a tourguide to family from Holland, so editing the shoot has been placed on the backburner. I just wanted to post this one image to show that being the models isn’t always go,go,go and glamourous. Here, once again, everyone was waiting for the lighting to be set up.

I’ll post the final images later this week…. cheers for now.

Waiting....

 

Retouching

Retouching is like ironing … you take out the wrinkles, make the inperfections better, and all the while you’re creating fantasies in your mind [or… putting together the ‘to do’ list for next week]. For me, it’s my ‘slow the pace’ down task. I like retouching…hoping someday to be a lot faster at it than I am now.

This is a model that I shot during fashion week at Western. With a fast glance, you don’t see the areas that need a bit of help, but with the assistance of photoshop zoom, you see fly-a-ways hairs crossing through the eyes, blemishes that should be removed, and makeup that needs adjusting.

Here are some before and after shots:

Before Retouching

After Retouching

Lips and Surrounding Area

So you can see, the model certainly is great looking before the retouching, and using a bit of retouching doesn’t take away from her already great looks.

 

Chelsea … in the studio

Chelsea came into the studio on Saturday night and kindly modeled for me. Here are just a few of the many awesome shots I got of her.

MODEL                             Chelsea, Victoria B.C.

HAIR & MAKEUP          Charity, Griffin Makeup, Victoria B.C.

 

 

Aisling in the Studio

It’s fashion week [plus 1, as it’s actually 2 weeks] at school. One model who I enjoyed photographing agreed to come into the studio on Saturday night. We had a lot of fun…. these photographs were taken on her 1-week anniversary in the world of modeling.

MODEL                               Aisling, Victoria, BC

MAKEUP & HAIR:          Charity – Griffin Makeup, Victoria, BC

 

Photoj

 

We have the opportunity, through the school, to apply for an internship with a newspaper. I’m hoping to be selected to go to either Calgary or Medicine Hat, Alberta [people I love a lot live in those places!]. 

Victoria doesn’t lend itself to hard-hitting edgy news, so my portfolio consists mainly of ‘soft’ news and feature shots. Fingers crossed, it’s enough for the selection committee.