blue wave

Came home for the holidays and ended up working all week at Blue Wave Afterschool. Which is awesome because I love working with the kids. I am also in the middle of making a website for Blue Wave Afterschool/Camp Blue Wave. These are the photos I took for the meet the staff page. Once it is complete, I will share the domain name. Hope everyone is happy that winter break has finally arrived. Now, all that is left is the last minute shopping. Check back in on Monday! Next week I have huge plans :)

The Thompson Family

As promised the full set of photos from the Thompson family. They were such a beautiful family and a joy to work with! The girls, of course, loved having their photos taken and listened to direction perfectly. I am so proud of how the photos turned out.

PeasMotion

I created another blog post for the company I am interning for. At The Pod Advertising, we are called The Peas and we even have cute little Peas in a Pod hanging (see what I did there) around the office. Kris came up with the idea to test out the new Google+ features (see the blog post below for more information) and we tested out the Motion aspect. Of course, we also created our own that is way cooler. But, ya know, Google tried. Check it out below. Also, check out my PeasMotion blog post on The Pod's website.

Google+ has announced several new features including one called Auto-Awesome for photos, which presents users with options for animation, enhancement, creating a panorama, smile, and HDR. They seem to have a lot of potential, and we were intrigued.

We wanted to try this new social feature, particularly the auto-animate aspect that creates an animated .gif from a series of five photos or more. Because the interwebs is so inundated with content, .gifs are resurfacing as a quick way to get an idea across. Users have gone from sharing comments and photos to animated .gifs that are often funny, clever, and to the point.

We took twenty-one photos and uploaded them into an album on our Google+ page. Google+ capitalizes on the fact that it auto-recognizes pictures from a series of photos as long as the background doesn’t change. After uploading the photo, Google analyzes and determines if it can use any of the Auto-Awesome elements. Google did auto-recognize our series of photos and created an animated .gif. However, the .gif produced from our album only used ten of the photos. Testing it even further, we created a new album with only ten photos, that still managed to tell a complete story, from the original set of twenty-one and Google+ only used six  of those photos for the animated .gif. 

  

As amazing (or awesome) as it sounds, unfortunately, it doesn’t give you complete control. For the average hobbyist it might be a fun way to share images and ideas, but for a company, it isn’t guaranteed to work accurately. Knowing Google, I am sure there will be plenty of updates in the near future and it will be a more friendly and accessible feature. In the meantime, we created our own awesome .gif shown below! We wanted to compare our animated .gif with that of the product from Google+. Taking it a step further, we added sound effects and titles! Producing our own allowed us total creative control over the product, and this showcases our company’s talents, which is a win-win situation for our advertising business.

Depending on the social media you use for your company, these new Auto-Awesome features might take your brand to a whole new level. If you’ve tried any of these features we would love to hear how they worked out for you.

Tom Brown Park

So I had a super busy day today, and I have a super busy day planned tomorrow including a session (YAY!). These photos are from last week when Mar and I went location scouting. This is at Tom Brown Park - if you live in Tallahassee, you guys should definitely check it out sometime! I am hoping to edit a couple of photos from my session with Erika tonight, and have a sneak preview (most likely on Thursday) of my session tomorrow!

Thanks guys for keeping up with me. My blog is finally, finally starting to get noticed by more and more clients and I hope that Julia Ray Photography will begin doing even more sessions! So, if you want to book a holiday session please email me so we can set that up. Things are looking up from here.

XOXO Julia

location scouting

Mar and I went location scouting today for a photoshoot we are doing on Monday. We found the perfect location with the perfect fall colors. It will be great! I am so excited. She actually took this photo. I took quite a few as well and will probably be posting sooner or later - I just absolutely loved this one so much. Cannot believe today is over and I am so excited for my three day weekend!

Behind-the-scenes at a photoshoot with the Peas

This is the final image The Pod created for a local Credit Union, Community South. This photo conveys a message in the very literal sense: get cash to finance this truck.

After admiring the final product, do you wonder what went into creating this image? Well, I did and I wanted to share the creative process that The Pod Advertising employs to create effective advertisements for the companies we represent.

First, we have a gigantic brainstorming session. This session includes all the Peas so that we can share ideas about the company and the purpose of the advertisement. Brainstorming allows us to sift through the great ideas and the not-so-great ideas. Once we pinpoint the best idea, one that is in line with the company’s branding and imaging, we begin researching.

The graphic design peas help with research and are able to then flesh out the exact ideas for the advertisement. This includes references for the final photo we want to create. For this particular advertisement, we needed to manifest cash – not only dollar bills, but life-size letters.  Instead of using real dollar bills, Marco our Creative Director, designed the dollar bills we used to resemble real dollar bills following all the rules found here: http://www.secretservice.gov/money_illustrations.shtml.

Next, came the manual labor. The letters were cut out of wood, and then styrofoam was glued on top of these letters. We had to
staple and glue each individual dollar bill onto the letters. We covered every inch of the life-size letters. As you can see it was a pretty intensive process, but exciting nonetheless.

We chose to create physical letters because of their uniqueness. A physical object calls upon other senses.  You don’t just see it, you actually experience it – this carries through to the printed version with a tangible difference.  Like with all of our efforts, our goal is that this advertisement stands out among the rest.

This is the blog post I created for the company I am interning at - The Pod Advertising. Just wanted to share! Happy Thursday! 

XO Julia 

Alzheimer's Project: Appreciation Day

Happy hump day! I know these images have already been featured on the blog, but I wrote a blog post for The Pod Advertising found here and wanted to share it with you guys! Don't forget to check out all the hard work I've been doing and if you haven't already please "like" The Pod Advertising on Facebook!

  

PS: I am currently booking sessions for Thanksgiving break and early December, if you'd like a slot email me (or call me - whatever you prefer).

---

Last year, The Pod helped to rebrand Alzheimer’s Project, a local non-profit organization based in Tallahassee, Florida. The goal of Alzheimer’s Project is to provide support for families dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease or related dementias in the Big Bend. They do this through support groups, respite care, referrals, counseling and education. And all their services are FREE.

Each year Alzheimer’s Project holds “Caregiver Appreciation Day.” This special event honors caregivers with the opportunity to take time for themselves and relax. Local service providers offer manicures, legal advice, eye exams, massages, and make-up. Lunch is also provided. And did we mention it is all free?

“Caregiver Appreciation Day” is one of Alzheimer’s Project’s signature events. Not only does it pay tribute to the tireless efforts of caregivers, but this event also perfectly aligns with their overall mission to support families dealing with Alzheimer’s. They consistently earn valuable media coverage, and the photos from the event serve the organization year-round for publicity purposes.

 

Are you maximizing all the promotional opportunities when you host an event? One of the most effective assets you can leverage from an event costs little to nothing: candid photography. Smiling, happy faces are a powerful way to tell your story, so don’t miss the chance to stock up on digital images for marketing purposes.

 Also, don’t just stockpile the photos; use them liberally! Photos make nearly any report or presentation more interesting, and social media fans love sharing images. The news media also appreciates press releases with ready-to-publish photos, especially for use online.  Best of all, your website will come alive with your brand story with every new snapshot.

*******Need help? The Pod offers a range services from event photography to commercial advertising photos to corporate portraits.

---

What do you guys think? Good, right? XOXO Julia

The Diamond Awards

I only edited these photos, Mar took them. Check out her portfolio here. 

Anyways, I am really really proud of them! These were some of the first photos where I got the color right perfectly, without Marcos help!

my work at the Pod

These are the photos I've been working on lately. I photographed all of these and edited most of them (except the last 5). Mar edited those, you should check out her portfolio here. Also, check out The Pod Advertising if you are interested! Specifically check out this page because all of the above work is showcased on it and I created it :)

A&F

If you are friends with me on Facebook - or in real life - you probably already know that I am a store Model (which is fancy title for Sales Associate) at the local Abercrombie & Fitch. Above I'm representing their style - casual, classic and cool.

Lauren was super kind enough to take this photo. If you haven't checked out her blog lately - you should! www.jeansandjewelry.blogspot.com

hashtag update

Sorry I was off my regular posting schedule last week. This week I believe things should be back to normal - cross your fingers. The first wave of exams just hit and I finally started my job. More on that later this week. Last Friday I had my first assignment at The Pod Advertising. I went to take pictures of an appreciation day that a company we work for sponsored. So that was half of Friday - the other half was building huge letters and stapling money to them (more on that later this week). Anyhow, right in the middle of editing the photos from Friday!

Happy Monday :)