Happy New Year - thanks 2010! :)

Well, so much for the "Picture a Day" idea! To be honest, I've been too busy to do it! Which is a good thing, I guess, but I thought I'd show some of what I've been up to. Since I wrote last, I've traveled to Egypt and Sri Lanka (which, by the way, I must HIGHLY recommend - Egypt on the other hand...I'd skip), been SUPER busy with work, been commissioned for a couple (ok 14) new building photo shoots and have just, in general, been enjoying life to the fullest.

Here's some shots from the last 6 months....saying goodbye to 2010 on a really happy note! :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Am I "World" Peace?

The other night, my boyfriend and I got into an argument. Two people who typically can't take their hearts off of each other were suddenly in a battle against each other....a battle of "who's right" versus "who's wrong"...or even who is "more" wrong or "more" right?

Suddenly there was a line that had been drawn between us..and instead of standing together, we stood on opposite sides of that line.

He threw a rock, I retaliated by throwing a grenade. He shot with a pistol, I pulled out an AK-47. It got ugly....and bloody, and in the midst of actively hurting each other, we both continued to stand our ground. Two people who love each other more than anything and are committed to each other. Two people who wake up together, eat together, share stories, laughs, tears....people who travel together, who understand the other one's quirks, likes and dislikes.

Those two people were now on a battlefield standing facing each other, with strong resolve in their eyes and hearts.

I sat on the edge of my bed, while he stood by the door in a threatening move to "leave" unless I could surrender myself to the "being wrong". I refused. I felt like I had a full on metal rod shoved up my spine, that was not going to allow me to bend or be bent in any way, shape, form or fashion.

I'm assuming he felt the same way as he made the last gesture to get me to bend, before he walked out the door.

I sat there for a very long time...in shock that he actually left. He actually walked out on me. Why couldn't he just say he was sorry??? Why couldn't he just put his f'n ego down for one moment and realize that harmony between us was more important than who was right in this argument? Why couldn't he??? Why couldn't HE???

Then I thought of the state of myself in that moment. How resolved I was and how committed I was to my ego in that moment. To being right. To not being the "weak" one that would make the first step to put down my weaponry and instead hold out my hand to him...who I love...to say, "I'm sorry...let's get over this, shall we?". But in that moment....I couldn't do it. Not even to him, who I love DEARLY.

I sat there with my "resolved", "stubborn" self and it all became so clear to me....the "unrest" that exists in the world...in Palestine and Israel, in Iraq, in Mexico and the US...the world peace that we all want and why its so far away. A peace that we all so beg for and don't understand WHY people just won't stop killing, hurting and hating each other.

Hating people that they have never loved...people that they have never even had dinner with...never having seen so much as a smile on each other's face, people that they have never made laugh...people that they grew up being TAUGHT to hate? How can they put down their weapons and hate? How can they give up their "Resolve" to be "right"?

How could I ever see WORLD peace, when I wasn't willing to have peace in my own personal relationships? How could I ever expect Palestine and Israel to stop their fighting? How can I ever expect the unrest in Iraq to stop? How could I?

World Peace doesn't start when the world wars stop.

It starts at the most basic level: It starts with Me.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" ~Ghandi

PS Yes I then made a call to Chris. :)

When you can't say something nice, upload a photo

Happy Weekend...

Not a lot to say today...just thought I would try to post at least one photo for the week...

Hope you guys have a lovely weekend!!

Photo:
Qasr Al Sarab Resort Entrance
Located in Abu Dhabi/Liwa

Learning my "Lens"

One of the things that I love most about photography is that you can give 10 people a camera and an object and no two pictures of it will come out the same. This fascinates me...and the more I learn about photography, the more I love the ways in which we can use our own "lenses" to show life, people, the earth, buildings, etc.

I've recently hired a photographer, whose work I am enamored with, to teach me the technical aspects of photography, i.e. f stops, shutter speeds, white lighting, d lighting and the like.

However, what I'm trying to teach myself is how to find my own "lens"...the view of the world that I give that distinctly makes a photograph a "Tiffany Allen" photograph.

Frequently "lenses" are not that recognizable....and I find, for me...that there are few exceptions to this in the photographic world.

Anson Adams does this well. His is a recognizable "lens" for sure. Helmut Newton has a famous "lens" for fashion...Annie Liebovitz a famous "lens" for portraits...

mine? Well...I haven't exactly figured out the specs of my "lens" yet...but I know one thing for sure....it will be abstractly pointed at a building. I absolutely want to become a well known (heck I can say "famous" can't I?) architectural photographer. I just can't get enough buildings...their details, their surroundings, their context, their use, their shadows, their art, their place in the world...in nature....in our lives.

Here are a few of my new favorites...don't pick too hard on the skies (I'm still learning how to fix a "boring sky" in Photoshop) but I'm enjoying SO much the process of learning my lens.

My glowing father

K, so enough intense emotions and love-sickness....back to the pictures.

I've decided to hire a photographer to pretty much take me under his wing and teach me the trick of the trade. Until we start our classes, however, I've been youtubing photoshop tips alot...there's SO much you can learn from youtube!

I drug out my hard drive and started rummaging through old pictures that I wanted to do something with, but never did...and I found some that I took at Christmas while home with my family. My heart got stuck when I saw this one of my dad sitting in the "Game Room" at our family home in Texas...its just so "authentically" him...

So I pulled him into Photoshop for some color re-working and I found this "distort" tool that is called "diffuse glow". I like diffusing things...and we all love things that glow, so I applied it to this picture and I love it!

This one's for you, Daddy!

(Did I mention being homesick?)

Maybe once a week works better...

Seems like I can realistically only get to this once per week. That doesn't mean that I'm changing my goal of "an image a day"..but perhaps adding in a touch of realism wouldn't hurt. It's been a busy week...so for those of you who actually do read my blog and check for updates, I'm sorry to have disappointed. I will do better next week!

Hope that you all have a lovely weekend...its Thursday here, which is my Friday, so here's a picture to leave you with...

I took this picture last year on a desert safari and have since truly fallen in love with taking photos of the sand. I took it quickly as our tour guide was shoo-ing us back into the car, so I had to turn it into a black and white one because it was too blurry to be used in color. Once I turned it into black and white, it was so obvious where to highlight the shadows...the sand is just so photogenic...like the most perfect model with the most perfect skin and body. You just can't mess it up.

Better Late than Never...

I'm still lagging a bit on the "everyday" thing...

Here's an oldie but a goodie....shot in a friends garden in Paris. I love how the little tip of the petal is turned up...like its waving to me...hello, my little friend!

First Studio Session

I never thought of myself as interested in studio photography...I love being outdoors, I love architecture...which you mostly have to shoot outdoors, I love landscapes and traveling...all which require that you are not secluded in a black box with hot studio lights surrounding you, blinding your eyes with "fake" light..

But I was wrong.

This weekend I met my "studio" self....and here are some of my first attempts with studio lighting...

Oops...doubling up today..

I got a little busy at work yesterday and didn't have time to post a picture, so I'll post two for today...

These were taken at the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi...it literally doesn't look like a real building. You feel like you've landed in a scene from Aladdin when you walk in. That is, until you get escorted out by security for wearing shorts into a mosque (what was I thinking?).

Its such a beautiful building to me...I could almost convert to being a Muslim just to be in it everyday for prayer. Ok, maybe not, but...it is quite the sight to behold.

Life at the End of the Tunnel

I took this picture in Prague. I was walking through this very dim tunnel and at the end of it was an enormous in-pouring of light...but not only that, this vibrantly green tree that was framed perfectly by the arch of the tunnel...and so, I like to call it, "Life at the End of the Tunnel".

An Image a Day...

Recently, I attended a photography seminar, and as many of you know...Photography, like Writing, is one of my favorite hobbies. Photography, however, goes a little deeper for me, than a hobby...it feels more like an extension of me than anything else. Like if I ever were to lose my hand for some reason, and they tried to put a claw on me or something, I'd just as soon have them make it a tripod rather than anything else. Even if I could trade it for a perma-pen. Yes, I would definitely choose a tripod....I digress...

The gentleman leading one of the classes I was taking said that when he was trying to become a better photographer, he started a photography blog and committed to posting one image per day on it. After being introduced to my favorite new photographer, Joey L (www.joeyl.com) and becoming completely and utterly awe-inspired, I've decided to attempt the same thing. I might not post on the weekends....so it likely won't be an image per day exactly, but I want to try it out and see just how many new photos I can take, edit and share. Perhaps, where my words have been lacking lately, my photos can make up.

This picture was taken at the Dhow Wharfage area of Dubai...and in broad daylight. But for me, there was something particularly sad about this boat...it was off to the side away from the other boats..a "loner" boat, you might say....but in all of its "sadness" over there being alone....its face was covered with the light of the sun, and really...what on earth is better than the sun shining on your face? I like to think the boat agrees...

Moving Camels

The longer I stay here in Dubai, the more appalled I am at the ways of the society. I don't mean the way the women dress in all black from head to toe, or the way that men hold hands (as friends) here. I don't mean the fact that I don't live in a Democracy and women don't really have a say over who they are, what they do or who they marry...

I'm referring to the little crazy things that go on here. Like camels in the bed of a pick-up truck.

I grew up in a little tiny town in Texas where it's pretty common to see people coming home from the grocery store on their tractors. Not too abnormal for me...husband goes to work in the cotton field, wife calls husband on his cell while he's in the cotton field because she forgot butter, toilet paper or tampons; husband then has to "run" to the grocery store on his way home from the cotton field on his tractor. Seems pretty normal to me.

But camels in the back of a pick up truck?? A WHOLE CAMEL? What exact situation warrants this? Was there a camel emergency and the driver had no other way to transport the poor awkward thing but to shove it in the bed of his truck? It wasn't even a big truck like the ones we have in Texas with 19 extra wheels on it. It was just your average Toyata sized truck...very normal sized 4 x 4, but with a full size camel in the back.

The poor thing looked like its legs had been turned into giant noodles that were then wrapped and contorted around him so as to fit his abnormally sized and designed body into an equally abnormally small sized box.

Add to that the 140 or so km per hour that the driver was going and you really have the makings of something special.

Ahhh, Dubai.....oh, how I love thee.