This is an adventure in lighting and posing, my personal journey towards being a better people photographer. Come along! 
(Tigerlily) Waiting for Peter Pan - week 29
Come with me where you’ll never, never have to worry about grown up things again. … come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned. Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever, in Never Never Land! - Peter Pan
The Call of the Wild - week 28 of the 52
There’s a whisper on the night-wind,
there’s a star agleam to guide us,
And the Wild is calling, calling
. . . let us go. - Robert Service
Meriem - week 27 of the 52
CrAZy LaDY - week 26 of the 52
Nothing like an international move to drive a woman crazy. Now hold still so I can put your paint on.
Farewell - week 25 of the 52
There are no mistakes. The events we bring upon ourselves, no matter how unpleasant, are necessary in order to learn what we need to learn; whatever steps we take, they’re necessary to reach the places we’ve chosen to go.
Don’t be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.
-Richard Bach
This is my last week in Thailand. It’s been three years of ups and downs and while I am thrilled to be returning to Malaysia a piece of me will miss Thailand - the beautiful mountains, the smiling faces, and of course the good friends we’ve made here. I will see them again.
This shot took some thought in setting up - it is all natural light with the dreaded sun-room to camera left, and a large mirror over my dressing table camera right. One leg of my tripod was in the bathroom and the camera was pressed tight against a dresser. Initially I was annoyed by the breeze in the silk scarf that covers the bench, but it’s grown on me. I feel now it represents my own movement, onwards.
I miss you when you’re gone - week 24 of the 52
Mike has always traveled for work. Around 11 years ago while he was on a trip and I was missing him terribly, I emailed him this song.
Recently, while going through our things deciding what to move to Malaysia and what to leave here I stumbled across the CD. Great memories.
Last week Mike was traveling and I was - you guessed it - missing him.
I always do.
This photo is taken from the hated sunroom looking inwards to our bedroom. No additional light or reflectors were used. I considered adding light behind me, but didn’t as I like the idea of facing the light from darkness. The movers are coming on Friday - onwards to the next adventure.
So Wrong - week 23 of the 52
In our last few weeks here I wanted to take photos in various rooms of the house we are leaving. I realized quickly that I don’t actually like the rooms as much as I thought I did, so it will only be a few. A lot of the furniture is already sold and I have frankly already begun disconnecting from this place. I’ve started with the sun room that is attached to our bedroom. I hate this room with a passion. Who’s crazy idea was it to put a glass room onto my east facing bedroom? Even with black out curtains, most of the afternoon is unbearably hot up there.
So I decided to photographically protest the sun room by taking a photo in it with lots of technically “wrong” things. Most of them are light or pose related. Can you spot them?
Surprised by Joy - Impatient as the Wind
week 22 of the 52
Surprised by Joy, Impatient as the wind is the first line of a rather sad poem written by William Wordsworth. The poem speaks of the sadness left in ones heart with the loss of a loved one and of it’s daily reminders. Read the poem here.
I have been fortunate in not having lost anyone so close to me so far in my life. None the less, I find this first line a rather accurate description of me. I am horribly impatient and often pleasantly surprised by how much joy there is in my life.
Surprised by Joy is also a book written by C. S. Lewis (author of the Narnia books in addition to a great many other books) about his own spiritual journey.
“And spirits of Love were the stars that glowed” - week 21 of the 52
The title of this week’s image is an excerpt from “Song of a Dream” by Sarojini Naidu, an amazing woman. Read about her here.
Read the poem here.
I had to learn how to make stars for this week’s image - took awhile, but once I figured it out it was fairly simple. I ditched all the make up techniques from last week’s lessons and just went with natural, but I did fake the color of the dress - in real life it’s brown. 
Fake! - week 20 of the 52
A bit of Photoshop foolery. Can you spot all the fakes?
Clicking the image will take you to my Flickr site, where you can view an alternate version of this image.
For Burma - week 19 of the 52
a moment of silence and a heart full of compassion
The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another. - Thomas Merton
I had a very different image set for this week, but in light of recent events, felt the need to express my deep sorrow for Burma - a country already in social crisis now suffering unimaginable tragedy in the wake of cyclone Nargis.
Organizations trying to help Burmese people in cyclone devastated areas are being turned away by the country’s corrupt regime. If you’d like to help, please visit Avaaz, who are collecting donations to be given directly to the International Burmese Monks Organization.
Nimue, Lady of the Lake - week 18 of the 52
Follow this link to learn more about Nimue, the fictional character that inspired the post processing on this image.
Love is… - week 17 of the 52
What is love to you?
My friend and I (thank you BC) put my voice (here in Asia) and his musical talent (way overin Europe) together for the audio to go with this image. Find it here. (click it)
Spring Breezes - week 16 of the 52
Relaxed, content in a gentle spring breeze.
It’s not spring here (temps over 100 already), but it is somewhere.
Assertive - week 15 of the 52
Still bare shoulders month, but edgy. 
Love - week 14 of the 52
April is bare shoulders month - get ready!
TAPE - week 13 of the 52
I seem to be constantly looking for tape, despite the fact that we have many, many rolls of tape in our house. Finally found one Lucky 13?
Cheeky - week 12 of the 52
I’m still playing around with chiaroscuro lighting, although much subtler this week. I was in bed looking at product photography images when I got the urge to play with this lighting, so hopped up and had a go. Considering the lack of planning and my um, outfit I left this one very natural. No skin smoothing, etc. I did use it to practice tidying up stray hairs though - reading in bed doesn’t make for the neatest hairstyles…
Darkness and Light - week 11 of the 52
Darkness and light criss crossed. One way on my face, another behind me.
Soft and Sweet - week 10 of the 52
This week was our 10th wedding anniversary. This photo is for Mike.
Eclipse - week 9 of the 52
There was an eclipse this week, but I missed it. So I made my own by adding a rim/hairlight to my lights this week. Frustrating to aim, but pretty neat effect. I still need more practice with it’s placement and aiming it.
Cookie - week 8 of the 52
Cookies are objects used to block light in photography.
Gong Xi Fa Chai - week 7 of the 52
Happy Chinese New Year!
Just for fun - nothing technical here.
Texture - week 6 of the 52
In experimenting with harder, stronger light this week I got the horror of seeing the texture of my skin in extreme detail. Eek! Next week I think I will return to the safety of soft lighting.
Enter the light - week 5 of the 52
I’ve sorted out my strobes. Not a perfect solution, but workable. I’m now ready to begin my uneasy journey into properly lighting people. This one at least…
Annoyed - week 4 of the 52
I’ve had lighting difficulties this week, and spent a few days annoyed that I can’t resolve them quickly. But yesterday I decided rather than feeling sorry for myself, to laugh at myself instead. I increased the blue and cyan saturation in PS to exagerate the funky effect of mixing fluoro, halogen and window light.
Plain - week 3 of the 52
no expression, no hairstyle, not made up, no fancy clothes, pale colors, flat light…
Happy - week 2 of the 52
Happy - why not?
2008 - week 1 of the 52
Foreseeing the goodness of 2008…
4 responses so far ↓
1 Maureen Carey // Feb 12, 2008 at 9:11 am
Athena -
The photo’s are simply beautiful. I love them all - specially the ones of you (it’s about time)! It’s great that you have documented all this - what a great memory it will make years down the road for the boys.
Hugs to the family.
Love ya,
Maureen
2 Athena // Mar 19, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Thanks Maureen - both for coming to look and for your lovely comment!
Love! ~A
3 Mom // Apr 26, 2008 at 7:38 am
Athena,
I have finally found my way into the websight, you have to know that I am the least computer literate of all the people you know. I’m not even sure I’ve seen all the pictures/info of the boys but from what I have seen I am so impressed with their progress, you have so much to be proud of and I know that just doesn’t happen.
Athena, you have a special talent or eye for taking pictures. I thought the 2007 calendar was great and we still have it up on the wall in the kitchen but these pictures we’re seeing on your website are just amazing.
Love,
Dad
4 Athena // May 4, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Thank you Dad, both for coming to the site and for the very nice compliments.
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