Kitty love FlashMan!

Kitty love FlashMan!, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Tesla (the kitty) loves (as is his want)FlashMan. I'm glad he found a friend.

FlashMan

FlashMan, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

2/365

On NYE, I hand hung my jacket up on my flash stand. I thought it then resembled a somewhat somber man, moping along. So now I've taken a picture of him.

Erica: revisited

Warning:, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

I took so many great shots of Erica on my trip out to Chicago, it was really hard to narrow it down. Since I couldn't keep it to just 2 or 3, I had to split it all up into 2 posts. Enjoy.

Office Attire, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Erica

Comics are Hot, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

So these are some pictures that I took of my friend Erica almost a month ago. I've been dying to get these up here, but I just haven't had time until now.

I'll be adding more of her on Friday or on Saturday. Remember, for full size shots, click on the photos and view them in Flickr.

Smile, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Erica and Emma, originally uploaded by RLHyde.

Dear Idiot

Dear Idiot, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

Kathleen's sister sent her a fancy Llama finger puppet during her recent trip to Peru. This fantastic note came with it. They have a special relationship.

Llama Puppet, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

Karaoke

David and Cammila: Karaoke, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

Saturday we celebrated Cammila's birth by singing karaoke all night long. I kicked some ass, by the way, but I also took some photos. Above are Cammila and David, my previously un-pictured roommate, and below is Charlie Slick, the people's synthesist, singing someone else's tunes for once.

Charlie Slick: Karaoke, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

These were a gift given me by a nice girl named Nicole back when I was just starting my Freshman year of high school. They also made for a great last minute photo idea.

View On Black

Frog Party!

Frog Party!, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

These were once Kathleen's grandmother's figurines. I thought they were perfect subjects for a sparkly bokeh shot.

Hip Reaper

Hip Reaper, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

I woke up today and realized I had no picture to upload. After deciding to give up, Kathleen was very firm on the notion that I should shoot one today and keep to my Monday/Wednesday/Friday routine. She was right, and this is the result.

Hip Reaper 2, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

Poser Superstar

Poser Superstar, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

Cammila really is the best at posing. When I'm working with her, all I have to do is worry about my lights and my camera. She takes care of everything else.

This was a shot taken the other night. Judy and Cammila both modeled for me that night, so I have a few "rainy day" photos in my back pocket for when I'm too busy to take a new shot the night before a posting day :P Conveniently, it's actually raining outside.

This is just one of many awesome shots from this set. To see more, go check out Cammila's site.

First Time for Everything

Parked Trailers, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

This is Judy, and this was her first time trying to be a model. Everybody has had pictures taken of them, but being expected to do something interesting and/or attractive WHILE someone is taking a picture of you can be a little bit . . . intense. And she was a bit tense and nervous at first, but as the night went on, she loosened up more and more. Cammila also came along for the ride to give her some pointers and bolster her confidence, which was great because I was very focused on the photography (manual focus lenses at night when you can hardly see your model are a pain in the ass; I'll be buying an autofocus 50mm lens soon, even though it's going to cost me just under 4 times what I paid for my manual focus one!).

Overall, a successful night was had by all.

Sit like an . . ., originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

The Prom Nightmare

The Prom Nightmare, pt.1, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

The prom was going so well, until the drive home. Without any warning, Cammila's date pulled off into a parking lot and pushed her out of the car. She was shocked and infuriated. What sort of joke was this? And where in god's name was she, anyway?

The Prom Nightmare, pt.2, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

It didn't take long for her to notice that something was very wrong with her surroundings. There were noises like people whispering coming from the shadows, but she couldn't make out the words. There were scraping and clanking noises. She was too afraid to call for help, too terrified to move.

The Prom Nightmare, pt.3, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

The lights went off. All that could be heard, if indeed there were anyone to hear, were a flurry of raking and slicing noises, and then nothing.

Favorite Things

Favorite Things, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

Books are treasure. That's always been my view of them. Even though I'm a Literature teacher, I'm not the most prolific reader in the world (both my girlfriend and my roommate read a ton more than I do), but what I do read I really dig into and fall in love with.

These are a few of the books that have made big impressions on me. If they weren't out on loan, either Poisonwood Bible or Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver would be in this shot as well. Oh, and while I haven't actually read all of that anthology of Ray Bradbury short stories, I'm exceedingly glad I have it.

Dan

Dan, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

Dan is one of the coolest people ever made. He used to be the guitarist in Out of the Water, an old band that I was in that was remarkably influential in my life. That was just the start, though. In recent years he's been in the Peace Corps in Bolivia and has worked as some sort of civil engineer (the details escape me at the moment) in Chile. Now he's back in town for a little bit, but soon he'll end up at Princeton, taking classes for the first time since he graduated from UofM. He's pretty hardcore. If anyone deserves super-dramatic, totally badass lighting, it's him!

Dan: now that you're back in the states, I expect more frequent visits. Nay, I demand it.

A Tip of the Hat

To view today's picture, click on "Read More". It is behind a cut because some may deem this not safe for work.

A Tip of the Hat, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

This is another shot from the boudoir set I did with Amanda a couple of weeks ago. This is going to be the last of them I post up. I just met with her on Sunday to go over the proofs, and she has selected a dozen of them that she's going to turn into 16x24 prints (they're going to be great at that resolution), and she was exceedingly happy with everything. This entire experience has been fantastic, and I look forward to doing more paid work on the side in the future.

How could would it be to be a teacher with a Summer photography gig?

A Series of Lines that Intersect

A Series of Lines that Intersect, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

Clearly I've struck upon a theme when it comes to self portraits. I haven't exhausted the possibilities with it yet, so look forward to some more surrealist/creepy stuff with me as the subject matter in the future.

David, my roommate, helped me decide which pics should go up tonight. He liked the first one here because of how my fingers are splayed out. He thinks it makes it difficult to tell which way is up, and I like that. Here it is large and on black

This second one, he says, appears as though I'm coming through a portal from another dimension. And I am.

From Another Dimension, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

Prowler

Prowler, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

Kathleen is moving to a new apartment soon, so I finally decided to break in through take a photo in her window well like I've always wanted to since I first saw it.

This one looks pretty good large and on black.

Happy Friday. Lock your windows.

Curious Cats

Curious Cats, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

The big tree in the back lot of my apartment complex grows a massive mushroom on it about this time every year. It probably doesn't bode well for the tree, but it makes a fun platform on which to put tiny plastic cats which were originally cupcake decorations.

Also, shooting something this small makes me wish I had been using an autofocus lens. A 50mm autofocus is definitely on my "buy before the year is out" list. That, and at least one more flash.

Swinging By

Swinging By, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

I realized quite late in the day that I needed to post up a photo for today, and the shots from the boudoir set I did on Wednesday (my first paying gig!) aren't ready yet, nor have I screened them with the client. So, as it turned out, Kathleen and I headed out to a nearby playground that we like to take walks through (and play on), but we had only about 20 minutes to get a shot off before a thunderstorm blew in. The thunder storm failed to really come our way, but it was threatening, and I didn't feel like having my equipment out, or be surrounded by a metal play structure, while there was lightning in the sky. Call me nervous.

Dish of Beauty

Dish of Beauty, originally uploaded by RLHyde [breatheindigital].

I've been big into building my own fancy light augmentation tools lately. I could be spending many hundreds of dollars on professional tools, or I could just put together stuff for free or nearly free. Such is the case with this photo.

There are these things called "beauty dishes", which, as you might imagine, are meant to make girls look radiant and beautiful, or rather more so than usual. They're mostly out of my price range, and most of them are built for studio lights anyway, not little flashes like mine. So, I built one out of a turkey pan. Presto, awesome light. Took about 5 minutes to make.

Of course it helps to have people like Cammila on hand to let you experiment with all your new photo equipment, but hey, at least the hardware is easy to come by.