dayinthelifephotography

Combining work and play? No problem.

dayinthelifephotography — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 01:36:47 +0000

Throwing sand to the wind...

Caught in a sunny-skied rain and dressed for the occasion.

Enjoying a cocktail at low tide.

Down the hall to the rare sliver of sun.

Ahh, the beauty of a getaway, a short vacay. It almost always feels like more work to leave town for a few days than it does for an extended vacation for some reason. But, my boys and I headed to Seaside, Florida for President’s Day weekend (a holiday I’ve never paid the slightest bit of attention to until 2012!). And only because some dear friends across the street asked us to come along and stay in their rental for a few days. Great invitation….why not? Well, only because it’s a 6-hour drive (ugh) for 3 nights in predicted thunderstorms consuming the paradise island most of the short trip. Hmmm, is it worth the effort for such a short turnaround, I asked myself and my boys at least 84 times. After waffling for 12 hours, at the last minute we decided it was worth it, even if it did rain on our entire vacation. We finally made a firm decision six hours after our neighbors had headed south, threw some vitals together and hit the road.

When all was said and done, it was one of the most relaxing, fun, short vacations we’d had together and we created some great memories.
As a professional photographer madly in love with my job, I don’t particularly need a vacation from work. So, without thinking it through, I naturally took on a “Day in the Life” of a two-family vacation, out to catch those moments generally considered inconsequential. I fully understand that most people would rather ‘live out’ the present moments on their vacation than have to “interrupt” them by taking it all in through the camera lens. But for me, photographically documenting the present moment is living out the present moment in one of my favorite ways, and the enjoyment of having time away and soaking in the experience are not lost on me.

Doubling up on the way to town.

My son watching the rain in a pensive moment from his bed.

Our almost-rescue cat we named Lucky. A fixture at our rental but disappeared the night before we put in her in car to come home and be ours.

I’m incredibly thankful for what I see as a gift I’ve been given, and an incredibly applicable one considering my chosen profession! It’s the ability to enjoy work and play at the same time. And, with a serious case of ADD, I’ve come to see that I actually stay more focused with the camera along for the ride than not. Weird but often true. I also benefit from discovering new methods of being an unobtrusive snapper while still joining in the conversation. This always seems to surprise those who see a camera in front of my face and naturally think: “Oh no, here we go. Why can’t she just relax and live in the present moment with the rest of us!?!”

I challenge myself to keep that fine-tuned awareness fine-tuned(!), so that I don’t irritate the living hell out of my companions, knowing all the while I’ll have an intriguing, treasured end-product that each person involved will be able to revel in with awe and gratitude when all is said and done. This personal and professional challenge is becoming less and less challenging with each new “Day in the Life” as a documentary photographer.
Although I’m the one behind the lens, I can vouch for my personal vacation experience being just as enjoyable as everyone else’s…..heck, maybe more. And I’m in possession of the documentation to prove it! And fully remember it.

Soldiers in a 50-mile race. "We're halfway there. Should be home by supper."

Weekly Photo Challenge (theme of the week)

dayinthelifephotography — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:33:15 +0000

Any day now.....

In love again…….

dayinthelifephotography — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:36:35 +0000

First shot with my new Panasonic FZ150 Lumix "Bridge" camera. Always had Nikons and probably always will, BUT I needed a bridge camera and, after extensive research, decided on this one. This camera ROCKS in every way! I'm in love

I have an obsession with the moon. Maybe because I’m a Cancer and therefore a “Moon Child”, but how exciting to have this half-moon out when I first put my new camera to the test. Captured craters and all! It’s a keeper.

My “Mission” for Lila Campbell Photography just written on Facebook page…for your reading pleasure ;-)

dayinthelifephotography — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:53:01 +0000

Personal Creative-Thinking Mission:
To continue to take on new challenges in the ever fascinating field that is my (much appreciated) profession. I love what I do and I will be studying and learning about it til my dying day. One thing I love about it…..there’s an endless learning curve to this art and never-ending possibilities in first getting the shot, and then deciding in post-processing how I see it looking its absolute best. I’m blessed with a keen eye those ways, thankfully

Professional Mission:
To show real, raw life through photographs – at its best and worst…and moments in between.
Thus was born: “A Day in the Life Photography” – my latest baby I’ve birthed! See website for what this cool new idea I’m about to launch is all about – excitement prevails! www.dayinthelifephotography.com

And my underlying mission as a pro photographer is to continue to take on random photo jobs as time permits because I love the interaction with people, animals, kids that I have come across with each and every job, whether it’s family portraits in the park, 3 puppies’ annual ‘birthday album’, documenting a legal case against a child molester (ugh), a 50th Anniversary – or two-year-old birthday – party, a kid’s sports event, or good-looking headshots of two young insurance company owners. I feel like I’ve done it all, but I know I haven’t and I love knowing that

Also, I will always continue taking, and exhibiting, the unique-angle shots of things and life as it passes me by. I see life through a camera lens and I like to be able to live Carpe Diem-style, so, while that creative genre is something I aim to be a part of every shot I take – on assignment or not – I am drawn to the unique angle, the strong color, the meaningful moment, the human race interacting.

So….Carpe Diem!! There’s my mission

Into the Great Unknown

dayinthelifephotography — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 04:41:16 +0000

I went with my aunt from Atlanta to my ‘other home’ in Aiken, SC this weekend to visit my parents. Always good to escape from home #1 to home #2. It’s a great getaway weekend and only 3 hours away. I lived there for 11 years, and while I’m more suited at this stage of my life for city life, I need regular doses of my small town home.
While I was there, i had a perfect overcast day for a photo journey.
I headed out in my little SUV to see what photo-worthy subjects were around the corner. Boy, did I find them. Planned on forty-five minutes and ended up dragging myself back home an hour and a half later.
I came across a big wild dinousar plastered on a pink house with sunflowers growing all over the front yard, and in chalkboard – written next to the dino – someone had simply written “Vote!’
And right next door there was a pale pink mailbox in front of a pale pink, old Ford truck, with pink and black dice hanging appropriately from the rearview window. Someone had painted “Willy’s” (Willy, perhaps?!!) in pale blue on the backlift. Oh yeah…picture worthy indeed -I captured every angle possible. But it didn’t stop there……all sorts of campy art was covering the front porch of the pink mailbox house (yes, next to the dinosaur house!).
I also came upon a colorful horse statue in the middle of downtown that had horse sayings in different colors written all over its body. More good stuff to fill up my camera card.
Probably my personal favorite shots though were a couple of old-timers’ smiling faces – country folk who drove by in their trucks to check out what i was doing, slowed down and allowed me to catch them.
Considering i had set out to add to my repertoire of Aiken shots to use for a gallery downtown, I found what i was looking for and way more I wasn’t looking for. I’d struck gold on my spontaneous adventure.
This outing encouraged me to do this more often in my own home town. There’s a surprise around every corner if you keep your photography eye open, and I loved being able to go home after a short, fun stint – just doing my job – with a final result I couldn’t be happier with.
So, thank you God for sending me such a vast array of unexpected craziness and for giving me the eye to see them as I do. And for such a rare, unusually sophisticated, small town I also call home.
As a photographer, it made me realize the value in just setting out the door with no plan – only to look, see, shoot, and smile.

I am Woman (with power tools). Hear me roar.

dayinthelifephotography — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:37:18 +0000

There’s something to be said for taking a break from computer/technical world and hitting the great outdoors, whatever it may look like in your neck of the woods.
I started getting in a blah-I-have-to-remember-there’s-a-world-going-on-out-there mood, and figured it would be good for me to get out in it and breath some fresh (cool for a change ) air.
I unenthusiastically changed into my workout clothes and made myself take a 3-mile walk around the action-packed park. The golf course side is literally right across the street, and it’s a gorgeous park, but I was awful glad to be on foot today and not caught up in the 5:00 every-sports-practice-dropoff-known-to-man traffic…..ugh. If anything stresses me out these days, it’s THAT place in a car at THAT time. Serious insanity, no thanks ;-P
My walk was awesome – music blaring in my ear, cool day, a lot to watch and see along the way (people in lines of cars not moving!), and it did the trick in the “remember there’s world out there, Lila?!” department.
Then I started getting into yard work on my way back up the driveway to my house. It’s my new therapy in my new house with my new BIG yard. I’ve discovered that i really love doing yard work. So far, I’ve become a stellar mower, heavy electric hedgetrimme user on a tall ladder (yikes), weed puller and pile gatherer, and TODAY I pulled my new electric blower out of the box, and and fell in love with yet another power tool. I”m becoming a Power Tool Gatherer – who woulda thought?! I’m becoming obsessive-compulsive about my yard, and I think it’s because I get some good adrenalin-pump up using all these tools.
And, of course, as I learn to take on each new ‘man’ task, I’m singing in my head Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman. Hear me Roar, lalala-la-la-lalala”!
A good hard walk and a power tool fix did me right… back to my wonderful world of photography with a renewed vigor and She-Man attitude Note to self: When I get the blahs, the remedy is right outside my door.

Inspiration is Fleeting…Grab it!

dayinthelifephotography — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:53:26 +0000

Every day now, I’m working on this exciting new project I’ve developed called “A Day in the Life Photography”. And in the process, I’ve recently been able to objectively observe my approach to taking it on each day. I wake up and have to decide which, of the countless aspects of it, I should take on first. This is one of the biggest challenges of developing a new branch of a business and especially for someone with Serious ADD!

Yikes – I’ve always been organized, but working mostly from my home has proven to be tricky. I’ve realized in the past couple of weeks that I have had to come up with a failproof system to prioritize and keep things moving in a swift, consistent direction. Working on it…!

I’ve also noticed and come to accept that there are just going to be days when I’m inspired beyond belief and you couldn’t pull me away from the specific task at hand if you put a gun to my head…”ok, so hold on for JUST a minute before you pull the trigger so I can just clean up these last few details.” And other days that, yes, I’m working, but maybe I get too excited and anxious(?!) and cannot stay on task to save my life, flipping around from one ‘must do right now’ to the next like a little kid at a playground who goes from swing to slide to sandbox to monkey bars and never really sticks with any, but has a good time nonetheless. Rrrgh.

The latter case are the days that make we wonder why inspiration of this sort comes and goes…..why am I SO inspired and on task some days and like a Mexican jumping bean others? Is it the moon phase?! Is it my ADD meds? Is it just that way with every creative artistic thinker in the work arena?

I don’t know the answer – still pondering that one. l guess I need to stop pondering and go do something else (although, maybe not?! Maybe this is what I should be doing right now ;-/? And considering that the inspirational groove is not in swing today, that “something else” should probably be to work on my failproof system mentioned above – at least until the next thing inexplicably demands my immediate attention!

Bored at The Ted?!!……is that even acceptable? :-o

dayinthelifephotography — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 04:37:35 +0000

I went to a Braves game tonight and had 11th row seats between home and 1st – hard to beat seats my cuz and her husband offfered up, as they’re so kindly prone to do.
So, even though it was my ex’s weekend with our boys, I took my older son and a friend (one of his closest who conveniently lives across the street).Click to view slideshow.
I adore the company of my son and his friends (great age for boys), so I was excited to have the chance to just have these two all to myself – no little brothers, no other mothers or fathers, just the three of us.
And we did have some fun, interesting conversations along the way for sure, but then came a shift in our laughing, bonding trio…..oh, bother.
The boys had another friend there with his parents and he asked if they could go to the 755 Club with him…on the direct opposite side of Turner Field. Of course, I let them go, and they loved it so much they took full advantage of all the amenities and just made themselves at home, for quite a while.
Suffice it to say, I was totally dismayed to find myself Bored(!) at a Braves game, even with awesome seats.
After the boys left on their mom-approved adventure and I’d been sitting by myself in my black sundress on a nice, typically entertaining night at The Ted for too long, the drainage of adrenalin started tapering off. The excitement had worn down and I all I could think about was how badly I wanted to suddenly go home and be done with this event that had suddenly turned into a solo ‘adventure’.
It was just a strange, and disappointing feeling to be feeling the way I was feeling(!) and I tried to start the blessing review to lift me up to a more accepting frame of mind (“how can I be BORED?? I’m at this incredible venue with a high excitement level and the kids are having a blast. Life is good, damnit!”) but, alas, it didn’t work ;-/. I got more and more tired and yawning incessantly and sinking down slowly into my chair, feeling myself sinking into my bed.
In the end, the boys came back after a few texts and check-in calls (GOOD boys and we watched one more inning and cruised home, much to my surprising, but now accepting, delight! Ahhh, home is where I needed to be Happy, multi-blessed Mama I am after all.
I just still can’t get over the fact that I can now say I got impatient and BORED at a Braves Game – that’s a first for me. And surely a last?! Just another of life’s strange head-musings that makes you take note of yourself in a new way. They can be fairly useful….so….here’s to more head-musings, and peace with whatever the situation.
Good night, Bloggies, et al

Up With America!

dayinthelifephotography — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:36:49 +0000

Taking in Honest Abe's Gettysburg Address - Lincoln Memorial, D.C.

“A Day in the Life” Photography is about to be launched in Atlanta, GA!

dayinthelifephotography — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:26:57 +0000

Exciting new take on Documentary Photography for the residents of our classy southern city (proudly my hometown), that tells the story of your life as it is in the present day through photography and ultimately in a high-quality coffee-table book that depicts every aspect of your life and will be treasured

Enough of Reality TV! Reality Photography covering a “Day in the Life” of you or another deserving individual is a less intrusive (understatement of the year!) documentation of this time in your life and a you’re giving a gift to yourself, your friends and family,

This is a perfect way to memorialize your self, the life of your family, or the life of your business. And a GREAT gift idea for anyone who feels underappreciated (stay at home mom!) or, conversely, someone who gets plenty of recognition for what a day in their life in this moment in time consists of, but who deserves to have it documented for posterity sake.

More details in posts to follow…….stay tuned, friends Exciting new directions and opportunities in photography story-telling coming your way.

And, peace!