A sweet picture I took recently of my sister and her grandsons playing in the park. (With a bit of stylizing in Photoshop.)
I can’t believe how fast they are growing!
Have a wonderful, creative, day, Janell
Tag Archives: photography
Photographing A Garden Fairy
While my daughter was home over the holidays, I wanted to take some photographs of her in the garden. It has been a while since we did a fun photo shoot and I wanted to capture the feel of a fairy in the garden, yet be true to her spirit.
This was one of my favorite shots.
Have a wonderful, creative, day, Janell
It’s Pumpkin Time!
It’s that time of year again. I photographed these pumpkins a few years ago and thought I would share them with you.
I love all the different sizes of pumpkins…
And all their unique stems.
Have a wonderful, creative day, Janell
A Walk Through My Garden
Last week, I taught a camera phone, photography workshop. Since I needed a few sample pictures for my presentation, I took a walk through my garden with my camera phone. I know they aren’t the quality I get with my Canon 20D, but I did get some nice shots.
A detail of my sweet bird feeder.
A black and white close up of one of my grapevine wreaths.
I LOVE birdhouses. My dad and I have a great time making them whenever we get a chance. They are scattered throughout my garden.
This one is my all time favorite. My dad made it for us for Christmas a few years ago.
These roses were here when we bought the house 17 years ago. I just love their tiny blooms.
My breakfast spot and DIY table.
These hydrangeas are loving the acidic soil between my lemon and orange trees.
A bit of multi-tasking – watering and taking pictures.
My favorite Jasmine plant. It is the Jasmine rose type. Looks like all of the attention I have been giving it has paid off. It is full of blooms and they smell heavenly!
Food for our visitors.
My garden studio where I am very lucky to spend many hours painting and creating jewelry.
Have a wonderful, creative day, Janell
An Infrared Photograph
I have loved infrared B/W photography ever since I discovered it in college. Especially when I photograph trees. Once I started shooting digitally, I created a “similar to infrared” action in Photoshop. This is a shot of a fountain surrounded by trees. I took it a few years ago when I was on location, photographing an engagement session.
Anybody else a fan of infrared B/W photography?
Have a wonderful, creative day, Janell
A Visit to the Past
I have always loved this photograph. I ran across it in an old portfolio the other day. I took it in college (in the 1980’s) with a 35mm Minolta film camera and developed and printed it in the college darkroom. Oh, the good old days when I could spend an entire day printing B/W photographs in the darkroom to my heart’s content! 🙂 And the smell of developer and stop bath. Hmm…I think I just got a whif of them in my memory. LOL 
The dog belonged to the farm and just happened to trot right out in front of me for a second while I was shooting the picture. Then he happily took off down the road, back to the barn.
It is overcast and raining today, a perfect day for reminiscing…
Have a wonderful, creative day, Janell
Some Days are Harder than Others
Last week was a tough week and I just didn’t feel up to posting to my blog. Our precious family cat, Button died. We were lucky to have him with us for the past 10 years. We miss him so very much. I have had other pets who have died over the years, but it just doesn’t seem to get any easier. They bring such joy and love to our lives.
We adopted him from a shelter when he was just a few months old.
At the shelter, they named him Button because they thought he was “Cute as a Button.” We totally agreed!
It was right before Halloween and they were having an adopt a black cat day. It was a Saturday and I was at work at my photography studio. My daughter called me between shoots and said that she and her dad were at the shelter and she asked if she could get a cat. (For the past few months, she had been visiting the shelter after her horseback riding lessons. ) I said, “What did your dad say?” She said, “He said I could if you said I could.”
So when I got home that night, we had a new member of the family. And he was most definitely, Cute as a Button!
Hopefully I will get back to painting and posting new art to my blog soon. I am off to my WP reader to catch up on what all of you blogger friends have been posting.
Have a wonderful, creative day, Janell
Tips For Photographing Jewelry and Sneak Preview of My New Store
I have been busy photographing my jewelry creations for an upcoming show and, in preparation for my new online jewelry store.
Here is a sneak preview. It is officially open, but I have a lot more jewelry to add. The web address is www.janellmithanijewelry.storenvy.com.
Feel free to stop by and check it out. I am planning an official Grand Opening and Giveaway in a few weeks.
I had fun finding props and taking all kinds of pictures. I worked with natural open shade light out on my back patio. (Here in Southern California it is a nice sunny day!) I like open shade light the best as it is flat enough to not cast shadows (like direct sunlight), but bright enough to show off the jewelry. I only cropped the photo’s and did no re-touching as I want the pictures to convey how the jewelry really appears.
I also found out that you want to take more pictures than you think you need. When working really close, you will have some shots that are out of focus. The ol’ “hold your breath and squeeze the shutter” approach worked well, too.
After years as a portrait photographer, it has been fun to photograph my art and jewelry. And, no matter how funny I was, I couldn’t coax a smile out of that jewelry! 🙂
Have you heard of StorEnvy.com? Do you have a store on their website? If so, let me know.
Have a wonderful creative day, Janell
Holiday Getaway and Photographing my Daughter at the Beach
The past few weeks have been busy with family, friends, celebrations, traveling and a bit of time for reading. We had a chance to run off to Cambria for a few days right before Christmas and had a wonderful time. We walked the beach, hiked the trails at Fiscalini Ranch, took a tour of Hearst Castle, enjoyed fish and chips, barbecue… and I got a chance to do a quick photo shoot of my daughter at the beach.
I loved the beautiful light at sunset, but you have to work fast! We were running and chasing the light at the end. I fill flashed her in on the second shot as the light was pretty much gone.
We found both vintage dresses at thrift stores. One of our favorite mom and daughter outings is to look for beautiful vintage dresses at thrift stores and vintage shops. She found the purple dress while we were visiting with family in Oregon in August and the green and black dress here in the Los Angeles area in October. I am pretty sure I had a dress similar to the purple dress when I was a teenager… guess that make me “vintage”. 🙂
Have a wonderful creative day, Janell
A Quick Photo Shoot in Oregon
Last week my daughter and I took a quick trip to Oregon for a family reunion. We had a wonderful time visiting family. We had planned to stay for 10 days, but the trip was cut short since I am still recovering from my car accident and my daughter had some last-minute schedule changes, too. She found a wonderful dress “thrifting” with her aunt and cousin and when we were headed from one town to another visiting family, we stopped at a lake and snapped a few quick pictures.
This was a spontaneous decision, She changed her clothes in the car, and put her makeup on in about two minutes, LOL.
I love the ethereal look to the photographs. It was kind of hazy and the sky was a bit orange due to forest fires north of us, so I did some post production manipulating focus/blurring in Photoshop.
My daughter will always be my most favorite subject to photograph. 🙂 It’s been a while since we did a photo shoot. I am so glad we took a few minutes to take these. I miss photographing my girl!
I am beginning to feel a lot better and I am headed into the final week of my physical therapy, so I am planning to get back to posting to my blog on a regular basis. Thanks for all the encouraging thoughts, comments and emails. I appreciate all of you.
Have a wonderful creative day, Janell
janellmithani.com 
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