Hello everyone!

So I'm not actually using this blog anymore because I decided I like wordpress better. Check out all my recent photography there though and enjoy!! www.kaitlynsuter.wordpress.com

Flagship at Harvest House

Harvest House is a new venue in Boone, NC (located next to the bowling alley on Boone Heights Drive).  Last week Flagship played an amazing show for a Why the Woods? benefit concert.

Mohawks!!

I've started shooting a series of people's backs, actually I started yesterday but its going great so far.  I photographed 6 of my guy friends and hopefully next week I'll shoot a few more and a bunch of girls. So excited!! The series is based off of my friend Kelly's back thats a few posts back.  After all that I had some extra time in the studio so I messes around with some more back lighting which I really like.  I forcibly mohawked Brandon's hair and got these cool pics!! I'll post back photos once they're edited!

Joanna

What better way to start Spring Break then with a photoshoot in wonderful weather? Last night at 1am I drove home to Greensboro and arrived super late. It was worth it though, because today was gorgeous and sunny and 50 degrees with NO SNOW!! Finally! I told my friend Joanna that I wanted to photograph her while I was in town, so we got together and did some shooting.  We ended up in Stokesdale in this little nook of woods.  The late evening light was really nice, thought a little hot at times. I'm practicing using my flash....still.....but I think it finally clicked today and I get it now! Enjoy!

Skin and Silhouettes

I haven't posted in a while and feel really horrible about it.  I haven't been shooting as consistently as I would like, besides once a week in the studio, because of all the snow that has gotten dumped on Boone. I have, however, been busy editing some photos that I plan to post soon. In the mean time, here are a few shoots from the other day.

This was a skin shoot for my Fashion and Beauty class.  My friend and dancer, Kelly, modeled for me, so her back is amazing! I think it turned out well and I really love the dramatic shadows!  My friend, Ian, suggested turning it into a series and I'm really excited about that idea, so we'll see where that goes.

After my initial shoot I wanted to mess around with some backlighting.  I did backlighting one other time but it didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted. It took a while to set up the lights because I was having trouble with the floor being too dark and her being too light.  After adjusting my aperture so it wasn't wide open (which I should have realized in the first place, duh!) we had success. This photo required minimal editing which was really exciting! All I did was make the background more white and add a curves layer. The silhouette of Kelly is as it was shot!

Black and White

Once again, Boone is covered in snow with a lovely side of ice. The ice and snow, however, are gorgeous even if it is dangerous, especially for those of us who try and drive in it. I believe my car, Snow White (how fitting right?) is currently stuck in her parking spot.

The other day I developed film that I left in the lab, but was finally able to scan it on Wednesday.  I love film so much now!

My cousins live in the mountains of North Carolina and I visited them over Christmas break.  My cousin, well she's like 60 or something so I guess she's like a 2nd or 3rd cousin (I don't understand that stuff), has this amazing basement with lots of produce from her garden.  I loved the way the light was hitting everything in this photo.  And those potatoes in the bottom right are HUGE!! Probably the biggest potatoes I've ever seen!

My beautiful room mate, Emily. 

Paige

Yesterday I photographed my neighbor, Paige, in the studio.  The shoot was kinda thrown together at the last minute, because I thought my car was stuck in the snow and scratched my previous idea.  Fortunately, I was able to move my car and traverse through the snow to the studio.  I didn't really have a plan for the shoot except that I wanted some kind of fashion and needed to practice posing models. All in all it went rather well, except my lens was being weird and wouldn't focus right, but its all good!  Brooke and Zach assisted for me and they did a great job! I have some more images I might put up later, but the editing is still underway.

Sledding Extravaganza

I am on a strict time limit right now because my room mate is making me go to bed and get some sleep.  This is probably a good thing since I'm currently having trouble spelling right now.  So I have 10 minuted to post this.  Today, due to out wonderful 8+ inches of snow, a bunch of people went sledding.  It was Amazing!! I mean, I finally got to wear my super attractive snow pants that I got a few years ago. What can be better than that?  But seriously, it was super fun!!  Anyways, these are some portraits I took of my fellow sledders. At one point I wondered how a photo from a sledders perspective would look, and then I wondered what in the world I was thinking, because that would be a BAD idea! 

I love how the snow looks on his jeans.

All of these people have gorgeous eyes. And they happen to all be blue. But I love blue eyes!!!

Later this evening I also did a shoot in the studio.  I wasn't going to due to the fact that there was a ton of snow and I couldn't even get my car into my parking lot.  However, I was very desperate and was able recruit my neighbor to model and get my car moving.  I will post a few as soon as they're edited!

The Storm Begins

If you haven't already figured out, North Carolina is in the middle of a snow storm.  Currently we have about 8 inches!!  Last time it snowed, I wanted to do a shoot in the snow but it didn't work out.  So this time, after being at work for a whopping 30 minutes, I had time to shoot.  My wonderful room mate Emily willingly agreed to stand in the snow, which was at this point about 2 inches, and let me photograph her.  We headed to the parking lot, so we didn't have to worry about driving anywhere. 

And my friend Jon came with us!

Back To The Roots

I used to not be a huge fan of film for some reason.  However, after taking Large Format last semester, which I was a little wary about to begin with, I have fallen in love with film.  I love forgetting what I've shot and the anticipation of having to wait to see if the images turned out, rather then knowing instantly.  Due to recent technology we are used to doing things fast and having instant results.  I feel that shooting film is like going back to our roots and taking the time to really focus on what we're photographing, and truly appreciate the art of photography.

This Christmas I got a Canon-AE Program and was finally able to develop my first few rolls of film.  I wasn't sure how accurate the metering system in the camera was, so I went back and forth between guessing, following the meter, and freaking out because I thought I was doing it completely wrong.  To my delight, the film came out pretty nice! Most of the exposure was fairly accurate, but some were really underexposed as I assumed they would be when I shot them.  I'm posting only a few shots from the rolls.....one because I wasn't thinking and left a roll in the lab and two, I have some pics of my family and grandparents I haven't edited yet and want to post all together.  So more glorious film posts will be coming soon!

I don't know where this is.....but there is a possibility it might have been taken while I was driving. What's worse, txting and driving or photographing and driving?

Downtown hanging out with Jessi, Ian and Matt over break!!! I love them so much!!

Oh my gosh, he's smiling, yay!!

Thanks for looking and stay tuned for more upcoming shoots!!

Northern Uganda Meets Charleston, SC- Part 2

After we stayed up way too late talking with Mark, I only got about 5 hours of sleep.  That plus driving 5 hours back to Boone wasn't a good combination.  Thankfully, Zach drove the final leg and I was able to sleep for a bit.  After we got up at about and moving and Starbucks in our systems we went to a panel relating to the exhibition which was great.  There were presentations from Heather McClintock, Blue Earth Alliance, Aperture Magazine, and Tom Rankin from the Center for Documentary studies at Duke University.  The discussion was primarily about the functions of these organizations and the issues they face while dealing with controversial photography.  It was fascinating! I learned so much and have much more respect for those who push the boundaries of art and photography.

Following the panel was an Art-o-mat venture compliments of Mark, lunch, Urban Outfitters and the drive home.  If you dont know what Art-o-mat is check out the website, because its really cool!

Heather's mother is the sweetest, cutest lady ever!!!

Our favorite person!!

So many cameras/photographers!!!!

We were walking down King Street (how ironic for us Boone folks) in Charleston and I saw one of Heather's exhibition flyers in a window.  It was kind of exciting!

A side note concerning our trip home: South Carolina drivers are crazy and apparently have no regard for speed limits.  So I was driving on 26 through South Carolina at 85 mph (which was somewhat over the speed limit) and people were PASSING me!! It was insane, and a kind of scary and stressful experience!!  So if you ever have to drive through South Carolina, brace yourself!

Northern Uganda Meets Charleston, SC- Part 1

Last week I decided it would be extremely awesome to go see Heather McClintock's Northern Uganda exhibition in Charleston, SC.  So here we are, Layne, Robin, Nikki, Brooke, Zach, and I in lovely Charleston.  We left around 10:30 this morning after some minor complications and arrived around 4pm.  Thankfully it didn't rain at all during the drive and we were able to leave all of the nasty, icy Boone weather behind.  

Heather's work is amazing!! Her images are so stunning and powerful.  With each photograph was a quote or description pertaining to the photo.  Most of the images were self-explanatory and needed no explanation due to the impact of the image itself.  However, the descriptions made the image become even more alive and relatable because you could feel the person's pain or at least be able to understand on some small level what they were experiencing.  I can't imagine going through some of the things these people have experienced.  Even through it all they have hope and the joy of life and take their trials with stride and continue to move on with life.  One image that really stuck out to me was a photograph of the phrase "God is love, we need to feel in love" written on a cloth.  It really struck me because with all the torture, rape and hardship these people have endured, they still believe that God loves them and is there for them and is helping them survive.  Definitely check out Heather's website, it is well worth the time!!

During our first day in Charleston I took a bunch of photos, of course, around the gallery and our ventures around town.

Layne decided she wanted to borrow this guy's board and ride on it.....

This is Layne about the ride the board......and this is Layne after realizing that wouldn't be a good idea because the floors were greatly loved. haha. I love her so much!!

Robin being her gorgeous self!

Zach posing for me as we were walking around starving and partially lost.  But this is not new for me and my "amazing" sense of direction.....like the amazing sense of direction that actually does not exist.

More photos will be taken tomorrow and more from today will be posted soon, so stay tuned!!

Ice

Boone is currently in the middle of an ice storm. Oh joy.  So since there is a significant amount of ice on EVERYTHING I decided to venture out in the rain/sleet and take some photos.  I was kinda afraid for my camera because of the rain, but he was ok!

Luckily I'm going to Charleston, SC tomorrow to see Heather McClintock's Uganda exhibition at the Halsey Institute.  I'm so excited to escape Boone's wonderful ice and see some amazing photographs with some awesome people!!

I Could Have Slept In

This morning I went and shot with Zach at about 9am when I could have been sleeping in.  It was a worthwhile adventure though.  He had a model but she backed out, which was fine because we still had a great time!  After driving to the parkway and realizing it was closed, because they dont plow it so there's still a ton of snow which is now ice, we headed to Blowing Rock.  We stopped at Chetola on the way in and took a few shots then headed downtown.

I decided to try another pano with Zach. They're been turning out pretty well from what I can tell. This one consists of 6 images.

AND......

......this is my first HDR.  Well actually the second but the first time I tried it didn't turn out.  I think it went pretty well for my "first" try.  Not as dramatic as I thought it would be but I'm glad it actually worked this time! No

Now time to hang with Layne, yay!

A sunny, snowy day of photography!

Since yesterday evening I've been dying to shoot and finally got to today since I had no classes and had nothing else to do. Brooke and Zach tagged along too, so that made it even more fun! I did two shoots. One with my friends Justina and Kelly, and the other with my neighbor Paige. I must say that they were all great models!

For the shoot with Jutina and Kelly, I liked the nice shadows in this nook of trees because of the harsh lighting. I dont mind harsh lighting in some cases and I think it worked fairly well in these images.

I love the way the light is hitting their hair.

I love Justina's eyes in this photo, they are stunning! She is just so naturally gorgeous!

That is my boot in the lower right....I thought it was funny that Zach wanted to shoot exactly where I was standing. haha.

Paige was a great model, even after almost dying on the ice and having her feet freezing in her chucks after walking through the snow. And last by not least I decided to try another panoramic since Jon so kindly reminded me how wonderful they are.

This is comprised of 11 images that fist together perfectly the first try. I had to do a little cropping of course because it was shot handheld, but all in all I was very pleased.

End of the Hallway...

Yesterday I joined Jon Heller on a shoot he wanted to try out. He found this cool hallway and the lights had a nice effect. It was fun to just mess around with stuff and see what we could do. I took some 35mm too so I'm excited for the darkroom to open so I can develop it! All these are shot with natural lighting.

The photographer, aka, Jon, being Jon and doing what he does best.

My gorgeous room mate, Emily, who modeled for us.

This was my favorite shot! I love the warm tones, esp with her yellow sweater and the way the light it hitting her face. Her eyes are amazing with that gentle fierceness.

Christmas Break

Here are some photos I recently took over Christmas break in Greensboro, NC. I hope you enjoy!

My friend Ernie and I went downtown one evening and did some fun shooting with his new Canon 7D!

My best friend Claire is engaged, so this is one of my favorite shots from their engagement shoot.

A few of us photo kids from App got together for lunch and went downtown to shoot and hang out. I love this chair!

I have more photos from break with my new Canon AE but they are still not developed. When they are I shall post some, so keep a look out.

Random: I had this cool thought today to write down one awesome, funny or amusing sentence/quote each day for a year. I think it'd be an interesting project. Maybe I'll do it....hmmm.