I have always been obsessed with being underwater. There was a period in my life where I dreamt about swimming with dolphins at least three times a week. I lived in Hawaii for a couple of years before I started physical therapy school, and I learned to surf. I learned to respect and love the water. When I started to learn photography, I never in a million years thought that I would end up where I am right now: underwater with my camera. It’s seriously a dream come true. There is something about being underwater that fills my soul. I love the sound. I love the quiet. I love the light and the colors. I love how we move underwater.

And if anyone knows me, they know I also love to edit. I love taking an image, seeing its potential, and bringing that to life through editing. Editing images underwater presents it’s own set of challenges. The color straight out of camera is less than desirable. Skin is often blue. Clarity is lacking. What you see when you look underwater with your goggles is an entirely different thing than what your camera captures. But for me, that’s part of why I love underwater photography. I can uncover that beauty. See what I originally saw, and in many cases, see something even more beautiful than what I originally saw.

Last year, I put my camera into a DiCAPac bag and said a little prayer every time I did. Every image had the port in it, and it was a pain to edit it out of every image, but I did it, and did it gladly, because I knew I would love the final result. Here are some images shot last year. This year, I took the plunge (pardon the pun) and bought SPL housing for my Canon 5dMkIII and a port for my 16-35L lens. I have taken my underwater housing into the pool exactly one time so far this year. I threw out over 200 images. The sun was in and out of the clouds that day, and I quickly found that I craved that sunlight. When the sun would peek out of the clouds, I would beg the kids to do what I told them and do it NOW before the sun was gone. And bonus? Because they were having a great time in the water, they were happy to oblige. Anyone who takes pictures of their kids a lot knows that getting their kids to cooperate is often more than half the battle.

And do you know what happened? Magic happened. My soul lifted. My heart laughed. I felt light.

Here are some of the images I captured that day. I cannot wait to continue this journey and hope you join me.

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Let’s actually start with two from last year that I didn’t edit until this year. My crazy splashers.

My little man.

And here’s the same guy this year. This was the first one that I edited when I got home, and my heart was in my throat. I was so excited. And just to give you an idea…. here’s an image before any editing. Straight out of camera: blue and murky.

My swimming beauty.Wild Child. This one makes me happy.Our fingers were wrinkled. We’d been in the water for maybe an hour and a half. My camera said I had one more picture on my camera, so I turned the camera on me and my kids. I might be happiest in the water with my camera and kids.

And if you are interested in learning more about editing in both Lightroom and Photoshop, check out my SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome Workshop. It’s the last week to register!…

I know some amazing photographers. And amazing photographers like to push themselves creatively…try new things…think outside of the box. So, because we never want to become stagnant, we have decided that this year, we will practice shooting a different type of lighting scenario each month. Thus far, we’ve done Window Light, Artificial Light, and Silhouettes. This month, we are exploring Chiaroscuro lighting. Um, what’s that you say? Is that like a tasty sugary churro or something? Not quite, but it’s still rather delicious.

Chiaroscuro is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark. I loved this idea. I tend to be a bright and shiny photographer and while I love shadows and dimension in imagery, I don’t always look for opportunities to shoot with DEEP shadows. Well, I’ve been missing out. Photography is a journey, an exploration of light AND shadows. It was fun for me to figure out how to shoot with strong contrasting light, and I’m really happy in the results. Also of note, none of these images required much in the way of extra editing work. All the black and whites were converted in Lightroom (that’s where I always convert to black and white), and then brought into Photoshop, where I did a little extra to really emphasize the light. I really love when editing is fast.

So, here we go. This picture is of my adorable four year old nephew. I told him to try to be extra spooky as he held a flashlight under his face, so he was saying “wooOOOOooooo!” This is basically lit by the flashlight and the ambient light on in my dad’s house. This was shot at night. The light in the background is from a lamp casting light on the wall. Did I plan all this out? Nope. Lol. I lucked out, but I love the dimension. ISO 2500 for my photographer geek friends.

And just one more of this cuties, because come on, he’s cute (and oh-so-spooky)!

My daughter was willing to go outside with me one evening so I could try my hand at some more contrasty lighting. This was shot in my front yard. There’s a gate to the left of her and then trees on the right and behind her. Light is pretty much coming from behind me. By turning her face, I was able to get shadows on her face. If she had been facing me directly, I would have gotten great light on her face, but not as many shadows.

Next, I botched a pile of pictures if my attempts to find good places for chiaroscuro lighting, and then I decided just to have her sit at the door to the back of our garage. The big garage door is closed and dark. Light is just coming from the opposite way, so by having her lean against the door jamb with one side of her face facing the dark garage and the other side facing the outside, I again was able to get some nice shadows and great catchlights in her eyes.

Dang, I love her.

And just one of my little dude. He gave me maybe 3 minutes. This was shot as it was starting to get dark. My large window is to camera right, with the curtains pulled open just a little bit so as not to blast him with light. ISO 25,600. How I love my Canon 5D MkIII and noise reduction.

So, the way this works is that you go ahead and click on THIS LINK RIGHT HERE. That will bring you to MD newborn, baby, and family photographer Tonya Teran. I love her!  You can follow the links in each blog post to see everyone’s take on chiaroscuro lighting. Once you’re back to my page, you’ve done the whole circle!

And if you like what you see, I’m way better at updating my FACEBOOK page.

And if you want the latest news about what I’m up to as far as workshops or mentoring goes, sign up for my NEWSLETTER. I’m trying to find time to schedule another SHINE editing workshop. Time…. I need more time!

Thanks for looking!…

I am so blessed to know some incredibly talented photographers that push me to become a better photographer. I have some serious love for them! This year, we are doing a blog circle called “Light and Shadows.” Every month, we explore a different type of lighting scenario. This month is silhouettes! I had a lot of fun with these and love that it got me thinking about light in a different way. I seriously love working on a different type of lighting every month! So fun!

So, here you go:

Not sure this one is technically a silhouette, but hey, I still love it.

Ahhh…. Just looking at these makes me smile. They had so much fun jumping on the bed. My son was in a grumpy mood until I suggested he jump on my bed. What an amazing way to turn a mood around!

Next up is the beautiful and talented Salt Lake City photographer, Marie Sant of Bloom and Grow Photography.  I’ve already seen her images, and seriously, go check them out! Gorgeous!

I just started a Google + page, if you want to follow me over there! Just click right here!

And my Facebook account is right here!…