good enough?

lately i've been happy with how my pictures are turning out. and i've develop a sense of pride over them. but every time i show my parents, especially my mom, i get nothing out of them. they take a half glance and walk away. or if they do look at my pictures i get criticized for what i photograph. and its really fucking with my head. you know? cause like my friends love it. and i've been starting to get fanmail. like random people wanting me to know they love my pictures. and i can't even get a single "hey thats cool" out of my mom and dad. it's like i always have to prove something to them. like it's not good enough. well i'm sorry. its taken me a little while to get where i'm at right now. but its been a steady progression the whole way. and i've had support from plenty of people along the way. but at the end up the day, if my mom and dad don't approve of my work, it's almost like i did nothing to start with. cause all i want is some praise. from my mom and dad. not my aunt. or my mommom. or my neighbors, or my friends, or strangers. i just want my parents to be proud of me.

lara jade

lara jade is quite possibly one of the most popular photographers you could find online on several sites, including blogspot. today i had a realization. i've known of lara's works ever since i started posting my works online when i started photography 4 years ago. and i admit i am envious of her talents. at first i even hated her. i said things like oh, it's only because she's pretty. and that she edits her pictures a lot. and that the reason she is more successful is because she lives in europe. (the ignorant american that i am) and i knew she was my age, in fact one month younger than me. and that fact killed me even more. how could she achieve so much more than me, if we both started photography in 2005? her work was always better than mine. and i knew it. and i still do believe that. however-
it occurred to me this past year that i need to grow up. i need to stop spending so much time over lara's pictures. envying over how pretty she is, wishing i looked more like her. i'll admit it lara, you are gorgeous. but you deserve to be where you are at. you didn't take an easy road there. and you aren't being cut any breaks even now. in fact there are probably more people now that expressed the same envy and greed that i did when i first came across her pictures. a lot of people are sinister. and i don't need to be one of them. lara needs to be praised for her labor. and photography is work. its not just shoot and aim. thats called a snapshot. a photograph takes thought and creativity put into it. and that is why i commend lara jade. she is a real trooper. and she is brilliant at what she does.
and so, from now on, i'm going to try my best not to be lara jade, in the sense of being one of several people who try to imitate her or her style, but i'm going to try my best to be the lara jade who inspires people with original fresh ideas. in fact i'm going to be myself. and my name is amanda stump. but you can just call me a.stump

...and hey lara... i know you got a brain full of images, as do i. and that's why i like your photos, because their similiar to the images in my head. you just got all the tools and know-hows to portray those pictures. and that's why i admire you. i just hope i'll get there someday.

male nymphs?

two of my guy friends have recently proposed the question to me if they could be a male nymph. now sadly, male nymphs are practically non-existant, since nymphs for women entities. those this proposes a new challenge. to find something simliar to a nymph but for guys. but then i thought about it, and thought maybe i could have them in the picture, not as a n ymph, but as a man falling in love or chasing a nymph. then the thought of clothing crossed my mind. i don't exactly have greek clothing laying around my house.




hmmm. so hold in mitch and ryan. i'll think of something. maybe we can do something like a summer's midnight dream. that could be cool.

rain.

recently i decided that i needed to take a vacation. and i decided to take it in the form of not coming home one night. it helped a tad with my situation, but now i'm grounded from my camera.

so i'll just talk about my last shoot, since its the last bit of pics you might see for a little.
alright. so this past monday i had a shoot with robyn. she was going to be my rain nymph. this is one that i've been waiting to do for a little while. but its a matter of having rain, a model, and being off work. well the weather called for rain. and lots of it, and i had a model, and i only had work from 11-2. while i was at work it didn't rain at all, in fact it was about 20 degrees warmer than usual. but i said i'd wait for the rain. 2 o clock came around; i get off work and theres still no rain. i meet up with robyn. did makeup and dress. got to our location... and there still was no rain. however our "lake" which is actually a creek, was mud-flooded. we lost a shoe on the way. and there was still no rain. so i had to make it look like it rained on her, so i had to throw water on her like a mad woman. i wasn't exactly happy with the mood and lack of actual rain in the pictures. but i did like them after i sat down and really looked at them. and with a tad of post processing the color curves i created the dreary mood i was aiming for.


you can see the outcome at my flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/astumpphotography

nymphs

so i started up my first real photo series, nymphs, in decemeber of 2007. and just recently i have had a 180 of cooperation with finding models. in the past week i have had 6 girls tell me that wanted to take part in this. i'm getting really excited, even though i have to wait for warmer weather for most of my future nymph shots.
but here is a small showcase of what nymphs i have covered so far:
- the sea nymph, julie
- the moss nymph, dana
- the natural springs nymph, stacy
- the winter berry nymph, julie


and i will be covering the following nymphs:
rock, lily, darkness, & lilypad - liz
ocean & sand- alexis
moon/stars- desiree
dirt- robyn
fire- renata

well, now that i'm long supply of models, i just need to find the time to do my photography. my work schedule alotts for very little photography time, that and time that my models are free.

hello

hey everyone. i was a little hesitant to get a blogspot. however xanga is dead, and myspace is too drama filled. so i decided to go here.