Joshua David Vest

Two days before I left Pretoria, South Africa I did my very first photo shoot with a new born baby. Joshua, Pam and Jim made it a very memorable experience. Here are my favorites.






And finally I put these two together.

Lightning!

South Africa has wonderful lightning storms. Here is my favorite shot.

Kitty in the Window

Another shot from my walk around the city.

Me and my baby

Just put together these two cute photos of me and my fiance Gary. Love you babe!

Irakli and Nick

These expressions are priceless!

South Afrian Catus

Took these pictures while taking a walk around the city. You'd never guess it would be in the city right?

Lunch for One

Another from my roll of film for the Republic of Georgia.

The Two Sides of Tina aka ... the Tinas

Taking a bit of a break on the Vic Falls photos for something a little fun.
I found these photos on an old roll of film that I have been carrying around since I was living in the Republic of Georgia. We have a little naught and a little nice.

As a side note, I almost want to label this as wild life, cause Tina is a bit wild.

Hippo Ears & Silhouettes

More photos from the Zambizi. I loooooove those little hippo ears poking out of the water. So cute! The other two are silhouettes of yawning hippos.

And Now ... Back to Posting Pictures

I will admit it, I was feeling a bit uninspired the last week. I didn't do any editing or posting. But Im feeling a bit more perky now.
Here are some more shots from Vic Falls! All of them were taken on our boat cruise of the Zambizi river.
I photoshopped them all to be super colorful. Im not sure if uploading them here has lost some of the color, but I think you get the point.

My First Wild Life Shots

I just realized that I have never posted any wild life shots on my blog. Its not that I haven't taken any, I actually really enjoy taking wild life. But since this blog is fairly new, I haven't had the chance to put any up.
I think these two are really great. I used my longest lens and my tripod AND we were on a boat. I wasn't sure I would be able to get clear shots, but they came out really good!
And now onto the shots from Vic falls!

The First of Vic Falls!

So here are the first two pictures from Vic Falls! We went on a helicopter ride, my very first! These are my two favorite. I didn't think it would be so difficult to take these pictures. But with only 13 minutes in the air I was really under pressure. I don't think I enjoyed it as much as the other people cause I felt like I was working. But in the end I think the photos are pretty nice.

Back From Vic Falls

So I had an awesome trip to Vic Falls. I have loads of digital photos and just a few film photos. The editing will begin today! I can't wait to post things!!!

Victoria Falls

Will be away in Zimbabwe for 5 days. So here ends my daily posting spree. Will continue with posts when I return. I would love to see some comments on my pictures when I get back :)
Thanks for listening.

Taking a break after this

One last black and white photo before I leave for my trip to Victoria Falls.

Drugs, drugs, drugs ... some are good ... some are bad

On a day when I felt like I was having to take too many pills I did this little shoot ... with all my pills. I was just getting over a back spasm and it seemed like the right thing to do.

Self Portrait in the Bathroom

Did the title catch your attention? Well get your mind out of the gutter. Yes its true I got the idea for this while on the toilet, but its not a naughty picture. Here is the story .... I was at dinner after taking a run with my running club. When I went to the bathroom I looked up and was there was a mirror. I immediately thought of my film camera that was in my purse. So I set it up and just went for it. This is what I came up with ..

The roses and the tea pot

A little photo shoot I did in my old apartment involving roses that Gary gave me and my tea pot.

Contrasty Pool Shot

Another shot from my pool photo shoot with Carolina. I went for a darker more vibrant look with this one. I love that with this photo shoot we did so many different poses with so many different wardrobes. Now I have so many different photos to choose from. But I should set up another photo shoot soon so I have some new material to work with.

Wedding Photography Course

I just realized that I never posted photos from my wedding photography course! So here are three of my favorite. Picked one of just the bride, one of just the groom and one of them together. I really enjoyed this workshop and I think the photos look great in my portfolio!

Surprise Engagement Portraits

This past weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Kendrick & Thembi's engagement. It truly was a magical event. Thembi had no idea that Kendrick was going to propose that night. He told her that they were just going to go out for a special dinner and I was coming along because I needed to take some photos for one of my classes. So I was able to set up my equipment and move around freely while they had dinner and was able to caputre their special moment when it came at desert time.
After the cat was out of the bag we went outside and did some portraits. Here is one set I put together ... Congratulations Kendrick and Thembi!!!!

Self Portrait with Masquerade Mask

I received an awesome masquerade mask from Gary when I fist arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia over a year ago. For the longest time it was just a wall decoration. But when I was living in my first bachelor apartment, looking at it every day on the wall, I felt I just had to do something fantastic with it. And since I'd been wanting to do self portraits I decided I would wear it. Its a fairly simple portrait, simple lighting coming from my window .. I wanted the focus to lie on the mask. And even though I only used window light I think it created great high lights and it still has detail in the shadows.


There are some more shots that are similar to this and they may show up here eventually. But I still have so many other film pictures to put up. And I only want to post once a day .. so slowly but surely :)

More From the Pool

Another shot I did with Carolina by the pool.

Some More of Me

I needed to take a break from editing some engagement photos I took tonight.
Sooooooo .... Another self portrait! I like this one because Im just peeking around the camera. I really do like being behind the camera, but Ive decided that I need to do some self portraits. Ive got a few more from my black and white film that will come out shortly. I also like how grainy this film is. Very retro.

It's Not Always About Glamour

Ive been working with Black and White film a lot lately. Here is a self portrait I did. This was taken after another self portrait I did and while I was scrubbing off my make up I decided to take a picture. After developing the film myself, I got the negatives scanned so I could work with them in photoshop.

I thought that this one deserved a before and after because the negative started out really really flat. I did my best to bring back the detail of the water on my face and the make up under my eyes. Would love to hear any constructive criticism.


BEFORE
AFTER

Photoshoot by the Pool

I had Carolina come over to my new apartment to do a photoshoot by the pool. I will be working on the photos slowly but surely, as I am very busy with other things at the moment. Here is one of the shots!

Studio Work From B&W Course

Here are three of my favorite shots, done at the National College of Photography's Studio. This was for my Black and White class where we developed film and did our own printing. But these photos were done with my digital camera.

Fashion by Accident

This photo was actually a test shot for one of the locations we used. I didn't end up liking the spot so we moved on. But afterwards when we were looking through the shots I thought this one looked rather sassy. She has the whole sexy squint going on. So I did some photoshop and I think it turned out really good!

Headshots

On Sunday I had the pleasure of photographing Kirsten. She is a musical theater student from USA and she wanted me to take some headshots for her just before returning to school. I had so much fun working with her. We did a variety smiling and serious poses in a couple of different locations. Here are three of my favorites.

Self Promotion

A photo taken in the Republic of Georgia by my father .. photoshopping done by me.

Starting New

I recently decided to re-brand myself as a photographer and thus decided to make a new blog site. My former blog: Amila Matthew Photography will probably still be used on occasion but I will mostly be posting here.

I have a unique name and I love it. But often times people don't say it right, which is okay, but I really want to put things straight. So to stop the confusion and to stop being called Amelia or Amille I've put it down as simply as possible. ah-me-la. If this doesn't work, then I don't know what will. I've already got some business cards in the works and can't wait to see how they turn out. I've also got photos from four different shoots ready to be uploaded here. But I don't want to rush into it just yet. Must take time to savor the newness of this project.

My final attempt at having my name pronounced correctly and a new start to my photography career. I can't wait to get started and I hope you will join me on this adventure!