Upgraded & Updated

Happy Monday!

I've been wanting to update my website for awhile now to make things a little simpler and more streamlined, so I finally did it.

Check it out, and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your feedback.

www.katiehodas.com

Infrared Rookie-Part II

Here are more favorites from my infrared adventures.

Infrared Rookie-Part I

My co-worker lent me her infrared camera awhile back for me to experiment. It was nice to challenge myself with something different and capture new, different images of some of my favorite places in the city. It helped me to see things in a whole new light.

There was definitely a learning curve for me. At first I wanted to shoot things with lots of color, but the color looked completely with the infrared. Eventually, I started to think in terms of black and white film, and that really helped me to wrap my mind around making better photographs.

I'm usually a purist when it comes to photography. I don't like to use a lot of filters and adjustments on my portraits; I love it when things look like real life. These photos are not like my portraits at all. As you'll see, the brownish toned photographs are the color straight out of camera. The blue or greened toned images were adjusted with the channel mixer in photoshop. All of these were shot on ISO 100.

More Hipstamatic Days

Here are some more shots from the last few days with the app Hipstamatic and my iphone. Enjoy!

Every Girl Must Know

Or, at least should know how to change a tire. My dad taught me, before I was allowed to drive away my junior year of college in my new-to-me 1994 turquoise Saturn. Sweet! Not so sure what I would recall of that lesson today from ten years ago.

Yesterday I had to change a tire, but thankfully, it was not on my car. My bike had a flat. I'm not sure where it came from, but alas, it was flat. Maria had come over to go riding with me, so I was determined to change it. Needless to say, dad never taught me how to change a flat bike tire.

I've never been so happy to be at home because I consulted the internet. It was minimally helpful, and I set to work. There were some bumps along the way (letting some of the air out twice), but I got it done...eventually. I was really nervous when I hopped on at the beginning of our ride; surely, I had done something ignorant and the front wheel would fall off at any moment, sending me soaring over the handle bars into the hard concrete. Good thing I was rocking my bike helmet (shout out to Meagan for telling me to protect my brain) for the journey.

Thankfully, everything went smoothly, until...

Maria got a flat on the ride home with my other bike. We walked the rest of the way to my house.

I'm happy to say that I'm a little more experienced should anyone need to change a flat. :)

Have a terrific Monday...with NO flat tires.

Bruneau Boys and Dog

I have to admit that I shuddered a little on the inside when one of my new clients mentioned bringing their puppy along on the session with her two young boys. Thankfully, Gris-Gris, was the most well behaved puppy that I've ever encountered. She gave us absolutely no problems and even looked toward the camera for a few of the shots.

We had planned to start at City Park, but it was really crowded because it was the first warm day after some major cold weather. As a result, we ended up at a really sweet spot in Bayou St. John.

Photographing this family was such a pleasure. They're great people and just plan fun as you'll see from a few of the photographs. I'm happy I had the privilege to capture these images and enjoy an amazing afternoon.

Hipstamatic Days 1,2, & 3

As I mentioned last week, I'm going to be posting one picture shot with my iphone and the app Hipstamatic for the next 40 days. However, I have other stuff to post too, so today I'm posting the first three days.

On the first day, I was driving to work and saw an awesome, old school looking RV. I to make the block and come back and park for this shot. I wasn't inspired by anything exciting on the second day, so I took a picture of my chucks as I enjoyed the morning sunshine. Today, I was driving toward my brother's house and saw a cool building.

There's a learning curve to which camera, film, and flash are the best option for a particular photo. These aren't the best, but they're fun. Well, the RV was super cool, and it's still parked on Vets if you need your own photograph. The license plate is priceless; I only wish I had a close up of it.

Camera Apps...Oh My!

A customer came into the store today, and he was asking if I thought the quality of his photo was good enough to print as a 36x36 size. It was taken with his iphone, and at that size it was quite pixelated. Thankfully for him, it kind of worked with his image. It was a square photo with one of those cool vintage borders that I've been seeing on Facebook.

I've wanted to download another cool camera app, so I asked which app he was using. He made the plug for Hipstamatic. It seemed like a sweet application to have, so I decided to buy it tonight. It gives you the ability to switch lenses, film, or flashes. I haven't had the chance to really test it out yet, but I took a few photos to give you an idea.

So, if you're even remotely interested in taking better images of your dog, child, flowers, or a sunset with more variety, you should definitely check this out. We can go out shooting together, and you don't even need a fancy camera, just a fancy iphone.

There's also an app called Retro Camera Plus that has some vintage and polaroid options. It's not quite as versatile, but it is FREE. I downloaded both. I'm contemplating shooting one image a day with my phone using this new app for the entire 40 days of lent. Other folks are giving stuff up...I'm taking more pictures. :)

It's THAT Time of Year Again

Mardi Gras!

I'm avoiding all parades this year and even downloaded a free app for my iphone to help me do so. :)

I'm really excited because tonight I'll be in another city visiting friends. It will be a short visit, but worth the 3.5 hours in my car both ways for the few precious hours with folks that I love dearly. Plus, I get to see one of my favorite kids on the planet! Hopefully, there will be pictures.

See you Wednesday!

And, because God is just amazing and created really cool stuff for us to enjoy, here's a picture from an early morning not too long ago.

Back to the Grind

I'm trying to get back into shape, and I've been saying that for three months now. Today, I finally went out running for the first time in too long. It was a little painful, but it felt great.

I managed to squeak out about 2.5 miles, so I was thankful that I haven't lost everything. Now, I have to stay consistent and either wake up early or go immediately after work. My work schedule makes both of these difficult.

One thing that makes running better for me is music. I downloaded and created a new playlist to use, so that helps to motivate me.

Here's what's on my new playlist....tell me about what music motivates you:

1. OMG - Usher
2. Dog Days Are Over - Florence + The Machine
3. Stronger - Kayne West
4. Forget You - Cee Lo Green
5. Coming Home - Diddy
6. Kiss, Kiss - Chris Brown
7. More - Usher
8. Grenade - Bruno Mars
9. Uprising - Muse