Hi, please tell me what you think. Many of these photo's could have been much better due to the fact that I was using a camera I was not used to; heavy lens and couldn't figure out how to use the auto focus made many of these a little soft:( Thanks. 

Austin Stiegemeir in studio behind parents house. 

Stills from movie scenes.

Some of Austin's art hanging on living room wall of parent's home.

Paint supplies.

Austin's "best work" that is hanging in the educational building.

Working with kids at Art On The Edge.

Music Makes Her World Go 'Round

Here are some shots from the first set... I'm meeting with her again tomorrow.  What do you guys think?

 Here she is adding a chord to a song she's been working on

 A page in her song book

(For one of my detail shots, I'd like to use one of the two from above...any thoughts?)

 Playing a chord

 Here she's adding a capo in preparation for the next song

(Again, I'm trying to choose between the two above for another detail shot)

 Tuning her guitar

 To me, this shows some emotion... What do you think?

She laid this all out and was talking to me about her cd she made last year, and her album release party she had last June.  Because she placed everything, is it usable since I didn't ask her to set it up? Is it worth using at all?

 She was being a goofball and tapping her hands over the strings... I know, headchop.  But I kinda like it

 I like the perspective on this one...

Sometimes she likes to listen to her own music... she plugged it into the TV and was listening to it... which of these three should I use?

Amazing Rocker Kid - BMX Biking

Rhett finally does something other than play guitar... he rides a BMX bike like a maniac!  This is not what my story is about but Jerome suggested I try to get a photo of Rhett just being a kid.  I have not had any luck and this might be all I can get as I only have one band practice left to shoot.

I like the first photo but it needs to be cropped from the right and his head is chopped off.  But the second photo is nice too and will probably be the one I pick. 

Any opinions?  I would love some input on all of the photos I have posted so far for this assignment.

...just a few more

In my captions do I have to know everyones names? Can I just say people and NIC students go to Jen Harbour's Yoga class at blah blah blah?

Yoga Story- What do you think?

These are a few of my favorites... Just wanted your guys opinions. I'm not going to post my detail shots cuz I don't think they're that great I need to be faster and fix the lighting on those :) But I have some awesome ideas.

Amazing Kid Rocker - Guitar Lesson #3

Today I shot using only a 28mm lens.  Yes, I know this means only a single perspective but the results were much better than when I used my 17-50mm.  Maybe I needed to have it fixed or calibrated.  I used the tungsten white balance setting for half of these shots as Gabe suggested but it turned my results slightly greenish from the original yellow.  But really, there was no significant difference.  My main goal today was to get some better quality shots than the last few times and to see if I could fix some of the things I did not like in my previous photos.

His fly is open in this shot. Is it too noticeable to use?

I think this will be my detail keeper.

Wow... a smile!

This will replace an earlier shot where you all told me

that the neck of the guitar instructor's guitar at the top of

the frame was not clear enough to recognise.

Two smiles in one day?  I hope I did not use up all my karma in one shot!

New Darkroom Class

For those of you who enjoy darkroom work, or who never even heard of one, there is a new class being offered at NIC next fall. It's PHTO 297-A and it's a two credit course. It will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 to 4:45 and taught by photo dude Bruce Twitchell.
If I had the time, I would take this course because I really enjoy darkroom work and it is a very cool experience to see your images come to life in a pan of developer rather than watching them pop up on screen. 
So sign up, learn some stuff and have fun.

Amazing Rocker Kid - Lesson & Band Practice

So I asked mom: how do I get a shot of Rhett just being a kid?  She says that when he is not in school or on his bike, he pretty much has his guitar on and is playing away.  He has a BMX race this Saturday so I am going to attend and try to get some shots of something different.

My 50mm lens is taking much better photos than my 17-50mm zoom but it does not focus fast enough for fast action.  It is also not wide enough.  But there sure is a difference in image quality.

I am trying to show some different things here than just a kid with a guitar and I am trying to do what Jerome suggested about showing Rhett's experience.  I think I got some shots that accomplish this somewhat.  Any ideas which ones should still be edited from this list?  Please help!

Mother, Danielle, helps Rhett tune his guitar.

Mom looks in on the guitar lesson.

Rhett can already solo like a champ!

Sister, Alyssa, sings and plays guitar and bass

along side her brother in the band Unrated.

These guys are just spazing out here and this is as

close as I have been able to get to kids just being kids

Finally... a smile!