The Munchkin's Notebook

For my birthday this year I decided to take the train up to New York City with my husband to see a show.  I decided on the train because it the long run it was a bit more convenient and cheaper than flying when you consider seat class, parking at the airport, getting through TSA, and the taxi ride into and out of Manhattan. We traveled by metro from Wiehle-Reston East station, which has long term parking for $5 a day to Union Station to catch the 5:30PM Acela.  (Though we lucked out as we came back on a Sunday and the gates were open.  Yay free parking!) Acela is the high speed limit train from Union Station, DC to Penn Station, NYC, the overall trip is about 3 hours.   We arrived about 90 minutes before departure time, even though Amtrack suggests 45 minutes.   Arriving early let us grab a quick bite at Wolf Gang Puck’s bistro and figure out where we needed to go to board the train.    The Acela leaves Union Station on either track E ...

On February 28th, I attended the  Costume & Camera  (previously DC Cosplay Photoshoots) event at the National Portrait Gallery in DC.  I have a love/hate relationship with shooting at the National Portrait Gallery; it is a beautiful location due to its architecture, especially on the third floor, and I’m thankful that you are allowed to do portrait photography there as long as you don’t use flash.  What I get frustrated with is the varying colors of light throughout the building and the need to use natural or continuous light.  (I’m a flash girly.)  For this event, I used: Canon R6 24 - 105mm lens Neewer 12-inch LED light Assistant Camera Settings: This shoot was inside the Portrait Gallery, which has a no flash policy, thus I was using a mix of natural and continuous lighting, which affects settings. My ISO ranged from 100 ISO to 3200 ISO with the most common ISO being ISO 1000.  My aperture stayed between F4 and F5, with the most c...

On January 24 th , I did a double session with Natalie inspired by her red 18 th century gown, Venice Carnival, and red roses.    Second dress was also an 18 th century gown, but in white with little red flowers.   I used the same set for both but created two different moods. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Westcott FJ400 3 c-stands 1 Backdrop stand 1 blue wall backdrop Sandbags 2 rectangular soft boxes Mini-boom arm 6x6 silver reflector Clamps Spyder color checker Laptop Teather cable Snoot 4 Gold flower stands 3-tier flower stand Table Black and white cloth 2 gold flower holders red flowers (lots of roses) fake candles chair candle holders The set up I wanted the set to remind me of room you would find in the historic villas and manors in Venice....

On January 10 th , I did six studio session during Magfest, at the blackout studio located inside Plus Ultra Entertainment in National Harbor, Maryland.   These were the only sessions I did during Magfest, because I didn’t get a Magfest ticket, didn’t feel like playing in the hotel lottery, and honestly, I’m tired of photographing the Gaylord. I billed these sessions as an alternative to chaos of a convention session and allowed for a more relaxed and private experience. Additionally, with doing the sessions in studio I could use more creative lighting techniques, go at a slower pace, and not have to worry about random people in the background or fighting for a location.   For the cosplayer, they got to step away from the noise of the con for a little bit and chill during the session. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Westcott FJ400 2 Manfrotto light ...