robinmichelini's Xanga

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:07:50 GMT

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!

What?! My weblog really still shows the last post I did was October 19th? Huh? All my other posts since then must of surely dropped off! Kidding aside I have done about 13 shoots since then and well not sure I can post them all. I always feel if I do one and to be fair I must do them all. So I end up not doing any because of the time. I will think of something soon. January is a month for me to take a breather and get some personal work in.

Robin

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 06:08:54 GMT

OAK PARK Read about the St. Hope Project HERE

I have had an exciting couple of days. Friday was our 2nd "Day in the Life of Oak Park". Four years ago on October 15, 2004, A Day in the Life of Oak Park brought together over 100 photography students from Cosumnes River College, Sacramento High School, PS7, City College, Courtyard Middle School and CSUS to document the economic, educational and cultural transformation occurring in Sacramento's oldest suburb. Over 10,000 images were captured that day, with nearly seventy of the best images being selected for exhibition at the 40 Acres Art Gallery. I was very honored to have two images in the gallery at that time. One of them was in the Sacramento Bee.

This Friday brought more than 200 photographers. I could tell the positive transformation from 4 years ago. My goal was to show all the progress. Well I was slightly detoured but in a rewarding and exciting way. This year a couple of us were able to go inside the food bank which is not only a food bank. It is a huge very old brick building. Inside are many, many awesome programs for ages newborn to the elderly. Two programs that I think are so awesome are the Women's wisdom recovery and the child reading program. The women's program is an every day art program. They produce beautiful scupltures, paintings and many other types of art. I was so impressed with their pieces. Many of them have sold them and have gone on to Art institutes. The reading program is younger kids reading to an adorable large dog. The dog was this three legged loving smart dog. Unfortunately the kids in that program were on a field trip. That was my morning then for the afternoon, they asked if I would teach some kids some photography and take them out to the streets. They provided disposable cameras to the kids. Another photographer friend, Colleen came along and helped. I started walking and talking technical. I don't think I was very captivating because their cameras were still in their pockets. We got to go in this really cool bookstore and I started showing them all this cool stuff to shoot. I started handing off my camera and it was all over from there. They were so excited then because they could see their images right away and I was showing how to utilize the window for light. Well I hardly got my camera back for the rest of the day but it was so rewarding. By the end of the day some of them said they are going home to ask for cameras. Then Saturday morning I went to the school to help edit images. 15,000. images were taken from the whole day and 300 made it in this awesome slideshow that was presented at night. I am sooooooo impressed at all the images the photographers got. They were amazing! At the end of the show they had award ceremony. My friend Traci got first price for her very powerful image. Congratulations Traci! She received a Canon D40 outfit. Me and 3 other students got honorable mention with LIFE's "The Classic Collection". I was very, very honored. At the same time all day, Canon was at our school doing classes and presentations. Canon has provided our school with equipment, training and many guest speakers. We were so priviledged today with our guest speaker. It was David Hume Kennerly! I couldn't believe it! It was so exciting to hear his presentation. Here is a link about who he is. I would be writing pages and pages on his greatness. He signed my LIFE book and gave me one of his original business cards from when he worked for LIFE. CICK HERE to read about David.

The slideshow at the bottom are some of the images I got from the day. CLICK HERE to see a couple of the student's images.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:05:47 GMT

Meet Gerald and Yolanda! This is their portrait session from their wedding. I have several other weddings from this summer I hope to post sooner rather than later :)

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:33:45 GMT

Here is a short blog just to update. Time flies!!! I can't believe it has been since May that I have posted. A lot has been happening. I am still catching up from being away for so long. I have been shooting weddings, families and some commercial work. Although I have processed many, some have not made it up on a site due to me showing the shoots in lightroom and ordering from there. I am working on several albums and a few books that I owe.

Here are a couple of shots from some recent shoots. This is just a start and I have others to post.

Gabrielle

CLICK HERE for a slideshow of L.J. & Kayla's photo shoot.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Mon, 19 May 2008 09:42:03 GMT

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:57:43 GMT

Goodbye to two people dear to me. My family and I were dealing with the sudden unexpected death of my uncle. I then got a call that my dad was in the hospital and given just 3-4 weeks to live and dying with pancreatic cancer that spread to his intestines. When he checked into the hospital with severe abdominal pain, he had no idea he had cancer. I rushed to Montana to be with him. I couldn't bare to leave him alone with how scared and shocked he was. We transferred from the VA hospital to his hometown of Polson, Montana to be in hospice. I stayed by his side until the end 5 weeks later. All the way until his final hours he was very coherent but very weak. The whole experience made me so sad and was such a journey but I wouldn't trade being there for anything. My dad was very loved by all his family/friends and they were so supportive. I took so many photos but right now it is too hard to look at them. I really miss him! (and my uncle too).

My dad was a Jeweler and an artist. He did this his whole life and always told me he has never felt like he worked as he loved what he did. He loved living in Montana and being around the Native American Culture. Another big part of him was his love of music, mostly Rock. He gave his Zune that he loaded 3,700.00 songs on it to my son. It is so special because they were his choices and it reminds us of him.

I made this card to pass out at his memorial. I used one of his business cards and the photo I used was a favorite of his. He had used it when he had his own xanga for his profile pic Here.

Another note: As you can imagine, being away for 6 weeks I have a lot to catch up on. I am catching up on home, clients, etc.... and I will start visiting everyone's xanga.

Thanks for stopping by,

Robin

Friday, January 11, 2008

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:51:50 GMT

I am making a book called "Colorblind" with all the babies born at Mercy General hospital that I take photos of.

I saw a black and white template done with photoshop brushes. I said I can make those and well I got carried away and made around 35 of them. I wanted my book to have a different one on each page with only one baby on it. I love black and white and am leaving the whole book black and white.

Some of these babies are just seconds old. Sometimes I am taking photos during the delivery and sometimes I wait until right after their baths. Since I do photograph them so soon after the delivery, they are sometimes sleeping thru the photos.

Here is the slideshow.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I love taking photos of them and designing.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:24:31 GMT

I am going to try and upload again a slideshow directly to the post. Thanks for all the advice.

Moving backwards.....................this is my latest shoot with Michelle. Michelle's mom, Corinne, hired me to do a photoshoot with Michelle when she comes down to visit from Kelowna, Canada. Michelle is a big inspiration as she has lost around 60 pounds!!!!! How did she do it? The good old fashioned way by eating healthy, eating less and a ton of water she says. You look great Michelle! Congratulations!

There are a couple more individual pictures of Michelle in my photo section of this blog.

Hope it works!

Corinne, at the end of the slideshow double click on the first image on the gallery view and thumb through the images that way. You get a much clearer view. Hope you and Michelle enjoy them. There are of course more.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:41:32 GMT

Happy New Year! Thank you to all my clients and my xanga friends for all your support this last year.

I am trying to get the showit web slideshows to show up right on the blog and they are not coming up. I used the embedded code that Showit Web 2.5 gives you when you go to publish it. Can anyone help me?

I have so many photo shoots to post that I have been working on these past few months. I am trying to figure out how to post them. So maybe just one massive gallery? I have wonderful clients and subjects that I want to share.

Take care,

Robin

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 00:25:34 GMT

Another fun shoot with Cherina and Maida.