fresh start, new page, new view.

oh, what is that, sunshine? is that spring knocking on the door? gently swirling through my curtains, warming my shoulders in the light? this is my favorite season change, as i suffer from some major seasonal depression. it feels like a complete rebirth, a fresh start, and the smell of fresh buds on the first warm breeze of spring never gets old and always makes me feel alive. i breath it in deep, to fill every corner of my lungs, and hold onto it. and with all the changes, it seems appropriate to go through a bit of a change myself. when i first did all this, i picked up my first dSLR and said "let's see what happens" and somewhere along this road i've learned a lot about myself. about what i like to shoot, about how i spend the time away from my family working, about the photographer i want to be and the client i hope to meet. a rebirth was inevitable. there have been growing pains, there have been days that i haven't touched a camera. because the truth is, of being an artist, is that you're just always changing. constantly. guess what i learned this week? that i'd love to be assisting on food shoots. that's right. the lady who said she'd never shoot anything but kids and families felt completely alive assisting on a food styling shoot. i have learned things about myself, and about the way my craft fits into my life. about the images i want to put out there, to speak for me.

so here i am. an open book about where photography takes me, or where i take photography.

if you can take a minute, please check out the new facebook page at www.facebook.com/isabelfuriephotography or by clicking that adorable little icon over there on the right.

you may also notice a new icon, with an adorable little "t" on it. and wonder, what is that? well. it's another blog. i'm so obsessed with capturing all the in between moments of my life with my kids, and anyone else, that i've started an iPhone only blog. you can head over there and subscribe by clicking said adorable "t" or by following this link right...here.

more blogging! more printing pics of my own kids! more fun with clients!

isabel

camera therapy workshop | devine timing

yea, i had to. try and work her name into the header. har, har. so, two years ago i made the switch to a digital slr. i mean, i had a few good old point and shoots, but had only shot on film slr cameras before. i searched the web, hungry for any knowledge i could find to help use what i knew in the film world to help myself become a good digital photographer. then i found rachel devine \ sesame ellis. i can't remember exactly how i stumbled upon her, but i think i might have read her entire blog in one sitting. ok, maybe i'm exaggerating...slightly. she seemed funny, approachable, full to the brim with knowledge and she was willing to share. exif info and shooting tips. and, we have a friend in common, somehow, even though she lives in australia. weird.

after two years of following her and really working hard to improve my techniques both technically and creatively, she announced she was holding a workshop in DC. i knew i had a few mattresses i could sleep on in DC so i jumped at the chance. i can't believe how lucky i was.

the timing was sort of perfect. i've been doing a lot of soul searching. finding myself. being myself. being ok with being myself. letting myself be creative and trust my eye. take the photos i love to take, not the ones i think are expected or i should be taking. it's a constant struggle, as silly as it may seem. i feel so...alive and confident and excited coming out of this workshop. i know in this kind of career it will always be a struggle to keep myself creative, but i also love that photography is never ending. there are always things you can do to improve, to stretch, to go out of your comfort zone, to create something new and exciting.

this workshop not only gave me the creative injection i needed, but also great workflow and business tips and tricks. weeks and weeks lead up to this day, and in a moment, it was gone. i've been lucky to make a few great friends in the process and i'm so excited to see how this all helps me continue to evolve as an artist. and guess what else i learned? man, would i *love* to get into working with kids commercially for print.

*warning, this post is very picture heavy.

rachel set us up in a bunch of different lighting/posing situations. it was great to not only see how she would approach the lighting/subject but also just to fine tune technical settings.

some quick outfit changes and we were headed outside.

and lots of back-lighting practice!

we wrapped up the day with some tree climbing, i mean lifestyle shooting.

i flew home and had a newborn session later in the afternoon. i thought i was crazy, and while i am totally and completely run down from this whirlwind, i was so excited to put all the things i had just learned into practice. i am so grateful for this age of internet, while creepy at times, it really has brought so many wonderful people into my life. oh, and yes, there were other models there. i got home and looked at my card and it appears i spent a lot of time with Gemma.

also, you might notice the blog looks a little different, along with the site www.furiephotography.com please bear with me while it's a little funky for the next few days. ain't it pretty? and clean? and easy? swoon. if you haven't checked out That PHP girl for your website needs, you SHOULD!

ok. a few more blog posts are in the works. and it's a school holiday. i'm off!

xo isabel

a night out with friends | aka | i turn things into photo shoots

this summer has been so freaking bizarre. i feel like just as soon as the room stopped spinning from the whole stolen camera thing i came down with hand foot and mouth. ew. how the eff did i get hand foot and mouth. and yes, it is as disgusting to have as it sounds. i feel like i've hardly seen anyone and all of a sudden we're on our annual cape cod trip and then boom - school. after a year of trying to connect, i did finally see one someone. my friend holly (who you should check out here and here ) and her adorable kiddo baylen, met us in harvard sq. one lovely late summer evening.

we hit wagamama, which proved too difficult to try and photograph once they gave all 3 kids chopsticks. then we hit the new pinkberry in harvard sq. which i only just discovered exists. and is just so damn delicious and makes me feel like i'm being healthy and like it's ok to feed it to the kids when they maybe kinda sorta didn't eat the world's best dinner that night.

and then it just sorta turned into a photo shoot with bay. he looked like a little baby vampire to me.

and i just couldn't get over his gorgeous golden brown curls.

we (hub and i) admittedly feel a little out of place in our hood, still, but holly is just awesome and if she lived next door to me we'd be so good at bitching about the same things together!

after playing past sunset, we trudged to the train, sweaty and sticky with yogurt. the perfect end of summer gem of an evening.

xo isabel

happy earth day

lots of little earthy tidbits popped into my head when i thought about writing today. a day like today has me taking a look at our life, at our footprint, at our waste. ironically, our power went off for an hour and a half this morning. i am glad no one but my family saw the embarrassing, frantic lunatic i became. my husband, the electrician (ha, yea) said there was nothing he could do and i swear i reacted like he told me his new passion in life was snakes and that he was bringing home a 9ft. boa constrictor whether i liked it or not. shock. horror. it was bad folks, bad. but, we did play with playdoh, my most hated childhood pastime. i'm learning to get over it. the point is, we sat in a room together, lit by the sun, all together with only the sweet sounds of two playdoh high kids. oh wait, wasn't i supposed to be going somewhere positive with this? all the time actually, i am thinking about the ways i'm falling short. the things that i really feel deep down are important, that i just can't seem to implement. somehow buying locally seems way more expensive, as do farm shares, and then i know if i had all this fresh produce in my house, i either wouldn't know what to do with it or it would sit in the veggie drawer until someone noticed a smell. when i think back to the kind of grocery shopping i did when we had just jack, when we were still so young, when we were still shell shocked. it was terrible. TERRIBLE. but we still aren't eating enough fresh produce, we are not cooking enough dinners. i just can't seem to find the balance in it all. and top it off that i just despise the kitchen in this apartment. i have all these dreams for our new place. all the junk we'll abandon, fresh, living, growing, green plants all over the house, a kitchen with light. a girl can dream. and then i'll feel inspired and motivated and happy. this will surely solve all problems.

no. but we do have this dream of one day owning a little old house on a good patch of land. and we'll build a chicken coop and have chickens. leo requests frogs, pigs, sheep and a cow too. i'd be happy to just start with chickens.

but until these dreams can come true, i need to make more of an effort now to try and find a way for what's important to me to be a part of our lives. and keep apartment hunting.

in line with earth day, i'll be photographing the great cloth diaper change for the diaper lab in Somerville. tomorrow is also my husband's birthday. being the lovely assistant he is, he's offered to come along to be my right hand. a man who will spend his birthday with cloth diapers. ladies, i am lucky.

and finally. we spent a day this week with our friends who are family, Leah and Milo. they are so earth friendly. every time i leave from a visit with them i wish we could move to a tucked away little cape house. with a nice garden, plenty of room to sun dry cloth diapers, and there are so many great local farms around them. they are also my most outdoorsy friends. my kids are always guaranteed a nature walk with Stellapuppy when we visit. the cape has so many amazing trails. again. want to move. i wish the two year old had been a bit more cooperative so i could have like, taken a few pictures of the amazing swamps we walked through. instead, he insisted on being carried and then walking and then being carried and then walking. 30+lbs folks...make up your mind! however, if miss new england would get her act together and grace us with some damn warmth that would probably help the whole being outside thing.

we started the day hanging out around the house, letting babies nap and nurse. while the big kids pretty much experienced love at first site. the adorable little girls are courtesy of new to us friends. Avery is the gorgeous blonde bopping around with my big kid and Evan is her gorgeous little sister.

then, we packed up and headed out for our walk.

and when we returned, we were cooked delicious macaroni and cheese with broccoli and headed back to boston. add this to the list of things milo does now, he eats!

look at how he goes in for the kill. this kid knows his way around food.

thanks for playing Milo!

and cheers to the next earth day. as with new years resolutions, i always hope to incorporate more of these things that are important to me in my life with my family. what earth friendly habits do you resolve to add to your life?

xo isabel