some wise advice

This is exactly what I needed to see just now. I find that it's nearly 100% applicable to photography, and heck, to life in general. Why not, right?

Also, I'm probably going to end up buying this print. Which you can also do right here, if you're curious.

As for this weekend, I'm going to try to stay cool (more high temperatures, yay!), edit lots of photos that I shot last weekend, and then meet some of my neighbors at a Labor Day pool/block party!

Happy weekend!

let's get creepy for a minute

American Horror Story was one of those shows I quickly got addicted to when it came out last year, so of course I'm psyched for the new season. So, bonus points for these creepy/awesome/fantastic promotional ads that just came out. The photographer in me appreciates these on so many levels....lighting, mood, post-production (especially that last one!), and of course, the creepy factor.

Sometimes I just like weird stuff.

rad gifts are rad

It's so awesome when you get a surprise gift from someone, and the first thing that pops into your head is, "This person gets me!" Such was my reaction when a friend nonchalantly handed over a bunch of Time Life photography books from the 1970's, and said, "They're yours!"

I can't wait to pore through them all :)

Haute As Ever at Del Mar

For the first time in what seems like eons (but in actuality was only a couple weeks), the outside temperature has dropped below 90 degrees, and I am starting to feel like a normal, non-rageful human being. Living in a house without air conditioning of any kind has evidently brought out the Not-Fun-Lisa side of me, where going to my local Target to buy an electric floor fan and finding out they're completely sold out induced a mini panic attack (luckily, Wal-Mart next door had plenty). Even my poor husband, who is currently thousands of miles away from me, had to endure my bouts of grumpiness and listen to me complain about my layers of sweat via Skype dates. Sorry, husband. I'm much better now.

So besides cooler temps, fun things are happening this week! I have two shoots this weekend, and the first one is sort of a shoot mixed in with a event at the Del Mar Race Track.

I was invited to this event by Kylie that I met at last month's Creative Connection, and I was all "heck yes!" I had planned to bring my camera of course to photograph all the swanky, dressed-up people that were sure to be there, so when she later emailed me to ask if I could shoot some fashion portraits at the event for Urban Style, I of course said yes again. It was like she was in my head. So I'm super psyched. Also, if any San Diego friends are reading this and you have some time to kill this Saturday, come to this event and say hi! All you have to do is RSVP and it's free! I've never been to a horse race before either, so I'll probably be asking silly questions like, "How do I know which horse to bet on?" and "What's up with all the fancy hats? Am I at a Spanish wedding?"

My second shoot this weekend is literally the day after the Del Mar thing, and all I can say for now about it is that it's a fashion shoot with a model I've worked with before, and I'm going to be up suuuper early. And hopefully the weather cooperates. And there's animals involved. I just hope we're not in over our heads :)

new selfie + my love of multiples

Hey! A new photo! My most recent self-portrait was inspired by none other than the awful heat wave that seems to be permeating all parts of San Diego, and man, was I a sweaty mess while shooting this. You can read more about it on my flickr page (and see it a little bigger too, if you care about that kinda thing).

I think a natural part of practicing photography is that eventually you start seeing themes in your own work, and I think it's official: I love multiples. When I see multiples of something in an image, it just makes my brain and eyeballs feel good. No wonder I've done more than a few.

Lemons! Lots and lots of lemons. As with most of my 'multiples' images, this was a composite of about seven images. I only had one bowl full of lemons, so I shot the same bowl several times in various places, while also moving the lemons around within the bowl itself. Then I put them all together in Photoshop.

Here I am as a crazy tea lady with her ginormous cups of tea. I think I was drinking Earl Grey that day. For this one, I had two actual cups of tea that I kept moving around as I shot. And this was a bit trickier to composite due to all the crazy shadows. I'll admit, some of my editing was sloppy in this one.

For this one I folded a bunch of paper planes, strung them up by attaching them to an overhead lamp, and then swung them around multiple times while I shot. Now that I'm looking at this again, I'm really not liking the wrinkly bed sheet I hung in the background, but hey, I did this one like two years ago.

If you're a photographer, do you find recurring themes in your work? I'd love to hear! In the meantime, I plan to chug water all day and exert as little energy as possible :)

Currently in the orange stage. Yep.

home video // August

August from Lisa Kimberly on Vimeo.

As with all my previous home videos, this was shot purely on a whim, while I was outside yesterday taking in the late afternoon sun. I loved the way those little gnat/bug things seemed to be suspended in air, and the way the light hit them. They looked like glowing little orbs of light. I know it sounds corny, but while watching the playback, I thought, "this is really beautiful."