Still-Hopeful Photo Blog

BIG NEWS

2011-11-21T23:37:00.001-06:00

This blog hasn't been updated in a while. That's because I've been working on a website set up to house all my photography and blog!You can find the site at www.charlieroch.comI'm slowly adding photos from the past few months of shoots and blog posts. Going forward, all my new material will be there.Thanks for checking out my work!-Charlie

New Camera Time!

2011-11-12T09:31:00.001-06:00

Engagement: Ryan & Shannon

2011-09-02T22:59:00.000-05:00

My sister introduced me to this couple and we scheduled an engagement shoot for a Sunday night. We started in the Bishop Arts District and finished on the rooftop of Ryan's downtown office. Such a fun opportunity! I'd really been wanting to shoot some cityscape portraits, so I was pumped. Enough talky-talky, check out this cute couple:

This is a shameless imitation of a shot I saw by Amy Karp. Her work is amazing, and you should definitely check her out!

I should spend some time using photoshop and make a layout for these.

That's a ton of photos to link, but this shoot had a lot of really great shots and I wanted to share.

Portrait: Family Time!

2011-08-27T14:09:00.002-05:00

I've been busy graduating from school and getting a job, hence the lack of blog posts. In photographic pursuits, I've gotten to do several really fun shoots with families lately and I loved it. Here is a sampling:

Scouting: The Shops @ Legacy

2011-07-31T18:45:00.002-05:00

I've wanted to check out this WAAAY north Dallas shopping center as a portrait location for a while. Last week, I managed to be there with my camera and I was really excited by what I saw! There is a lake on the south side of the development with nice greenery and foot paths as well as some quasi urban-chic outdoor shopping. I think this will make a great portrait location.

Random Camera Times!

2011-07-18T21:45:00.002-05:00

I've been MIA the past couple weeks navigating this whole school wrap-up thing. I should finish University in 3 weeks or so and that is CRAZY. I'm very excited. I'll be working to track down some kind of financial analyst role and working on growing my photography during my free time.

I've gotten to do a couple shoots lately, but mostly I've been taking photos of my own family. I was in Houston visiting my dad last weekend and had a chance to make some portraits with my dad. It was really great to do that, as I'm not sure he's had a good portrait made in a long time. I know I didn't have any. Enough talking, here are some pictures!

The whole time we were doing this shoot in a small park I was struck by how thankful I'm going to be for these shots one day. Kinda got all sniffly whilst I was editing it all up.

In the same vein, my mother in law was in town this past weekend and I made sure to claim some time to make a few photos of her with Michelle and me.

The second was a keeper that came out whilst I was still getting my metering down. I love it when these shots work out as they are usually a lot more relaxed.

I'm thankful for my family.

Portrait: Sharon

2011-06-29T12:25:00.003-05:00

I've been looking forward to this shoot for a couple weeks. Monday night Sharon, myself and an assistant headed to SMU & Snider Plaza to shoot a portrait session. Sharon is great in front of the camera and we came away with some fun pictures!

This was great fun and I had an excuse to use some off-camera flash. This is the first shoot I've planned out with that in mind and I'm really happy with the results.

Adventures in Eyeballs

2011-06-27T22:59:00.002-05:00

So, this may not be the coolest post ever, but it's a true story!

So, last week I hurt my eye:

According to the doctor, my eyeball dried out whilst I was sleeping and my eyelid stuck to my cornea. Then I ripped some of that same cornea off when I woke up. It's pretty much as painful as it sounds and is definitely a "say eight" level situation. This has happened to me over the past 3 years every 3-4 months in alternating eyes. I'd always thought a bit of sleep was stuck under my eyelid and was scratching my eyeball. Boy, was I wrong. Last week was by far the worst ever. My usual procedure of 'take two excedrin, go back to sleep, feel better in a few hours' wasn't working. At all.

I ended up calling a friend to take me to the eye doctor. The doctor managed to get the hurt eye open, put in some numbing drops and figure out what the heck was wrong. He shined some lights in there, poked it with a Q-tip, he *painted my eyeball with some stuff* and then taped my eye shut. I went home and slept for two days straight until my follow up appointment.

At the follow up on Wednesday, the doctor said everything was healing ok, but he wanted it to stay shut another couple days. The patch came loose due to some Wednesday afternoon adventures with Michelle (the brakes in our car failed, it was kinda exciting), so I replaced the gauze + tape with a better patch:

On Friday (go go Rebecca Black) I was allowed to go patchless. My left eye was still super blurry, but it felt nice to be back in the land of stereo vision again. I celebrated by making a self portrait with a nice blue sky in the background:

My left eye still isn't 100% clear, and it affects my ability to get shots in focus with my camera. I hope it clears up soon. Anyway, at least I lived, got to wear a cool eye patch and had friends I could call when I was in full-on 'Ouch' mode. I have to put crazy eyedrops in every night now, but there's reason to hope that this won't happen again. (Fingers crossed)

Engagement: Jesse & Sheree Pt: II - Film Edition!

2011-06-19T22:35:00.003-05:00

I got the film back from Jesse & Sheree's engagement shoot. The film grain adds some neat character and yields really nice skin tones. I really like the low contrast and subdued greens. Here are a few:

The film shots have a simplicity that is really great. It's probably a combo of the unique 'look' of the film and the fact that we slowed down more for each shot. I want to shoot more film!

Film: First Roll Back!

2011-06-16T15:13:00.004-05:00

I got my first roll of film back from the lab and wanted to share a shot or two.

The grain and color character of film is a definite plus. I should have a couple more rolls coming soon. I'll be excited to see them.

Engagement: Jesse & Sheree

2011-06-15T00:08:00.009-05:00

I had the privilege of shooting an engagement session with Jesse and Sheree last Friday and I'm really happy with the results! This is a location I scouted last week at sunset. We ended up meeting to do the shoot at around 9am, which offered completely different light! We came away with some great photos of good looking people sharing a special moment. Check it out:

I know I posted a jillion images, but you can see the rest of the set on Flickr (click here) . I also shot a roll of film with my Elan which I should get back in a week or so. I can't wait to see how those look! (That's blogger code for "stay tuned for an update!")

Film: New (Old) Camera!

2011-06-10T13:23:00.005-05:00

I got my Elan IIe yesterday and I am already in love.

It's just a little bit too awesome.

The big bright viewfinder is AWESOME. It makes my 50D look bad in a few ways. It's got every feature of the digital, a larger viewfinder and is really smooth to use. It's also probably 15 years old. I used it on a shoot earlier this morning and I think I'm gonna try and shoot a roll or two a week. I find that I really slow down and work for a better picture when I know I only have 24/36 of them.

Scouting: Dallas Water Works

2011-06-09T09:04:00.004-05:00

I headed back out to White Rock Lake last night to poke around at the Water Works. I know, it's a cliche to love photos of red brick buildings, but these buildings look so good! Really, I want to live inside of one.

Again, in the absence of smiling faces, a flower will do:

This little pier is going to be an awesome spot for portraits. For now, this beam will have to do

I want to ~~go to~~ live in there.

Scouting: White Rock Marina

2011-06-06T15:30:00.007-05:00

I headed out to White Rock Lake yesterday to scout out a portrait location near the marina. It was beautiful out there, but a little hot.

6/6/11 Update: I came back out closer to sunset this evening to get a look at the different light. This place is gorgeous!

In the absence of smiling faces, a flower must do.

This location is dyno-mite at sunset. I'm excited to shoot here!

New Camera!

2011-06-01T15:08:00.004-05:00

I finally earned enough photography dollars to replace my Rebel. My new 50D arrived today! I was kind of excited.

OMG, 50D!

Maternity: Scott & Kathryn

2011-05-28T18:03:00.004-05:00

I got a chance to do a maternity portrait session for Scott and Kathryn this weekend. We had a great time at the Dallas Arboretum on a Saturday morning.

If these two are any indication, that is going to be one good looking baby!

Pro-Tip: Don't Drive off of Building

2011-05-25T14:02:00.002-05:00

I laugh every time I pass this building

Vickery Threads

2011-05-22T00:00:00.001-05:00

We got a new bag from Vickery Threads. You should check them out!

Party! Party! Party!

2011-05-08T22:53:00.004-05:00

We had some friends over for a party this weekend. Here are a few shots.

Picnic With Michelle!

2011-05-06T23:41:00.003-05:00

Michelle and I headed out for a Friday picnic at a park near our house. I took the camera along to capture the relaxing afternoon and to get some practice with off camera flash.

Concert: Digitour Dallas - 2011

2011-04-22T00:30:00.003-05:00

I got a chance to go to the Digitour tonight and see a few Youtube acts perform live. I was most excited to see the Gregory Brothers of Auto Tune the News fame. They. Were. Awesome. Here are a few pics:

Double Rainbow, indeed

This is my favorite

I've never shot at a concert before. I think it was really cool! I'm excited to try this a bit more and see how it goes!

Well, See Ya Later, Sun!

2011-04-16T23:51:00.002-05:00

I love sunsets.

Wandering Around SMU

2011-03-26T14:22:00.005-05:00

I just got my Tamrom 17-50/2.8 and I've been eager to get out and shoot with it.

Knickknacks

2011-03-15T23:48:00.002-05:00

Nothing Beats a Blue Sky

2011-03-02T16:20:00.001-06:00

Midland, Texas!

2011-02-26T19:03:00.001-06:00

Midland is way the heck out in west Texas, but it is one of the coolest small cities I have been able to visit. Some good friends of ours live there and I had a chance to imitate a famous shot or two and capture a bit of what makes this oil town unique.

I saw this shot in this collection by Peter Granser and had to take a crack at it. You can find his shot of this iconic, downtown Midland bulding here.

I love the old school sign at the Midland Map Company. I like the way the trees frame this shot.

Sixth Floor Museum

2011-02-18T13:50:00.003-06:00

Point Camera at Face. Push Button.

2011-02-04T11:46:00.002-06:00

We have had some awesome snow in Dallas this winter.

I've Fallen In Love...

2011-01-07T22:59:00.002-06:00

With the way the world looks on a ground glass screen!

Thanks for visiting my photography blog! I'll use this site to share shots from photographic adventures and talk about photography in general. This should be fun!

-Charlie