Irace Flowers

Over the past few months, I have done several photo shoots of my friend, Mary Irace's beautiful floral designs.  I also created a few short promotional videos with music of her work for her new website.  Mary is so easy to work with and absolutely loves what she does, which really shows up in her work.  She's done over 700 weddings during her time as a floral designer, which is amazing!  I hope you'll take the time to check out her website and my other videos of her work:

and:

All of the photos on her website were taken by me, as well. 

I hope you're all enjoying the Fall.  Thanks for looking as always,

Cindy

Lucerne Inn Panorama

Lucerne Inn's scenic vista above Lucerne Lake near sunset.  An 8 image handheld panorama. Click on the photo to view it much larger.

I was at a wedding at the Lucerne Inn in Dedham, Maine this past Sunday.  What a beautiful, peaceful place to watch this couple join their lives together.  After all the guests had headed to the reception up the hill behind me, I took a quick 8 image panorama.  I love the rich, golden light on the velvety lawn and the rolling hills and lake beyond.  I wish I could be in Downeast Maine more often.

Thanks for looking, Cindy

The American Quarter Horse

Back in June 2011, I was approached by a publishing company called Bellwether Media about a photo I took at a Barrel Racing competition at Andwemet Farm near Brunswick, Maine.  They wanted to use the photo in a book about the American Quarter Horse for children.  I love children's books and I was really excited about this, so along with a monetary payment for the photo, I also arranged to have a contributor's copy of the book. 

It just arrived the other day and it looks great!  My scans of it, unfortunately DON'T look so great, but you will get the general idea:

Here is a picture of the cover, which I did not take:

You can see the entire gallery of my Andwemet Farm shots here.

Please feel free to share any of my blog posts or website links with your friends and relatives.  My business depends largely on word of mouth "advertisement". 

Thanks for looking,

Cindy

Time to clear out some framed work

I am putting a few matted/framed works I have on a brief sale to make room for more work.  I'll post the pictures with the prices below. 

If you are interested in purchasing any of these images, please Email me for more information. 

Bliss on Spencer Pond.  Finished size: 11x14 $75.00 Now $50.00

Moonrise Over the Red Barn, Pownal, ME Finished Size: 12x15"  $75.00 Now $50.00

Willett Brook, Bridgton, ME Panorama  Finished size: 10x20" $130.00  Now $100.00

A Rose by Any Other Name. . .  Finished Size: 15x18"  $130.00  Now $75.00

 I'll keep these framed prints on sale until September 30, 2011. 

A Departure from my Ordinary. . .

Great Egret, taking off the Boulevard in Back Bay 9.13.2011

Audubon Frog

Audubon Frog 2

Yesterday, after getting all of my work done, I decided to drive to the Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth, Maine.  As I was driving around the Boulevard, I noticed a tall, slim white bird standing motionless in the sea grass just beyond the road. 

As many of you know, Nature photography, unless it stands still (ie: landscapes!) is not my forte, so this was really a departure from the ordinary to be able to capture images of a bird in flight--I was very happy! 

And then, I went to Audubon and got some nice shots of the frogs that live in the little pond there.  They very obligingly sat still on their lily pads and posed for me. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the last of the Summer weather. 

Cindy

Starfruit Cosmo

I had a lot of fun with this one!

How to Photograph an Inhabited Planet. . .

It's a Simpson Kinda World. . .

Yesterday, I was trying out using a grid spot on one of my flashes to do some product photography techniques I was interested in.  I have wanted to photograph this Josh Simpson Glass inhabited planet for a long time but nothing has worked the way I wanted it to to date.  Until now. . .

I placed the gridded flash on the black plexi sheet to camera left at -1 EV and it nicely showed off the details of the planet without blowing anything out.  And I love the reflection of the planet in the glass.  I sent the shot to Josh and heard back from him via email:

"Hi Cynthia!
      Just a great photo... the feather is nice because it speaks to the size and delicacy of the planet... but I also like the shiny surface reflection too.  Thanks for sharing it with me!   Best wishes -  Josh"

You should definitely take a few minutes to visit his website, which showcases all the different types of glasswork he does, from inhabited planets to vases and Tektites and has a wonderful section on "Josh in Action" where he explains a bit about his process and it has some dynamic shots of him at work. 

Also, I just posted my newly finished 2012 wall calendar: A Year in Maine 2012 with twelve months of new photographs.  Check it out on my merchandise page.  Please share it with your friends and family.  It makes great holiday and birthday gifts!

I'd love to hear what you think.

Cindy

Using Watermelon to Make a Splash

Everything got splashed with this shot! 

Watermelon Splash!

We had watermelon left over from dessert last night, so I figured I should probably make some more splashes.  The slices of watermelon made a very satisfying splash no matter how I dropped it into the glassware--very fun! 

What should I do next?  Thoughts?  I was thinking sliced starfruit might be beautiful, especially backlit by the flashes against the background.  Keep watching. . . 

You can see the shots and many more of my splashes and pours here in my fruits gallery on CFW Photography.

Cindy

Casco Bay Sailing Race and some news. . .

This was my favorite shot from the race--it's quite dramatic.

I love the splash of water and how it looks as though the sailboat is about to capsize.  They were really just making a hard turn.

I had the good fortune to be able to go out on my friends', Linda and Mike's boat last week to photograph a sailing race in Casco Bay near sunset.  It was not only exhilarating, as it was extremely windy and choppy, but it was a blast, because the boats were able to really speed along, which made for some dramatic shots!

You can see the rest of the shots in the complete gallery on my website.  I took over 250 shots, but discarded more than 3/4 of them and then settled on a favorite 14. 

Camden Windjammer Days Hoola Hooper!

I also created a new gallery called Lifestyle Favorites that feature all of my best lifestyle shots from skiing to model and horseback photography.  You can see it here on my website too. 

I have some news:  I have taken away the ability to purchase prints directly from my website because I feel it not only gives the site a cleaner look, but it will be more understandable to clients to email me directly regarding shots they'd like to purchase.  From now on, I will handle all price quotes and payment and make the orders myself.  You can contact me directly through the website by clicking on the Email Me area on the homepage below the slideshow.  We'll be making more changes to make it even easier very soon so check back!

Please feel free to forward any of my blog posts or web sites to your friends and relatives and I always look forward to hearing from you about my work! 

Best wishes,

Cindy

Great Falls Balloon Festival 2011

Aloft

Monet Balloon Reflection

15 image 180 degree panorama of the field

Takeoff!

Add caption

Aloft Over the Androscoggin River

On Saturday, August 20th, 2011, my husband and I got up at the horrifically early hour of 4:00 am to drive up to Lewiston and photograph the dawn launch of hot air balloons at The Great Falls Balloon Festival.  It's actually a lot closer to Portland than I realized, so we got there far earlier than we had planned, but that ended up being a good thing, because we were able to pick up a cup of coffee and a pastry before we headed to the launch field in Bonney Park. 

I have a whole gallery of other images that show the setup and inflation of the balloons, which are some of my favorites of over 300 images taken that morning.  You can see the rest here at my website. 

It was so beautiful seeing them all gently lift off at dawn.  I've never had the good luck to actually see them take off, because the last couple of years, I didn't want to get up that early, and I went to the 6:00 pm launch, which is often affected by the stronger winds that you can get in late summer in the afternoon and evening.  At dawn, the air is generally quite still and peaceful, however, which makes for perfect launching conditions. 

If you haven't done so yet, please take the time to click on the "Join This Site" button to show your support for my blog and as always, please forward any of my blog posts or website to your friends and family anytime.  Thanks for looking! 

Cindy