I like cuddling, cuddling is my FAVORITE! I had a hard decision this week…I’m still not certain I picked the right one.

Is it creepy that you’ve now witnessed our bedtime ritual? Oh, well…remember I am always ARMED. I am posting the *reject* on my personal page…check it, YO! Which one would YOU have chosen?!

PS Sara Rae, I am sorry I disobeyed you. I’ll make it up to you…

1/10th shutter speed
f/2.8
ISO 500

Self portraits are a strange phenomenon. If you poll photographers, I estimate that 90% of them hate being in front of the camera. I do not hate being photographed, but I definitely do not love it. Plus, I am asian and so my skin tones always photograph a bit…ummm…yellow? 
For this week’s challenge, I wanted to work on my off camera lighting outdoors and specifically with setting ratios for my flashes. I feel like I have subjected my wife and our canine and feline children enough in my images so I resorted to photographing myself. As soon as I saw it, I started critiquing my slouching, my hand placement, my head angle, my…oh, the things that go through a photographer’s mind. 
1/10th shutter speed 
f/4.0
ISO 800 
Canon 600 Flash to camera right @ 1/32nd power 
Canon 580 Flash to camera left @ 1/16th power
As a photographer, sometime you need to work on things outside of your normal purview and this project is going to help us (and you) challenge, grow and creatively develop your photography as a whole. Weekly for the next year, we will be sharing our images with you here!

For those of you interested in participating, PLEASE join us! The more the merrier! You definitely do not need to be a professional photographer, this is something you can easily do with your point and shoot, cell phone, ipad2, etc. You can comment with a link to your image here on our blog or on our La Brisa fan page or you can tag La Brisa Photography in your image on your own FB page or use the hashtag #52WoA on twitter that way we can share your efforts with everyone else! If you are interested in joining our La Brisa Aspiring Photographer Workshop group on FB, please request to join as we will also be sharing our images there too.

Next Thursday, May 10th, Week 41: “Something that gives you the feeling of warmth” will be due. The image must be created between today and May 10th. Good luck!
Let me know if you have any questions!

To all of you aspiring photographers, we are partnering with our awesome friends at Anecdotally Yours (www.anecdotallyyours.com) to offer an Introduction to Portrait Photography class! 100% of profits will be donated to worthy causes! For more information, click on this link – http://labrisaphoto.blogspot.com/2012/04/introduction-to-portrait-photography.html

Here is the full list of 52 Weeks of Awesomeness!
Week 1               Free for All
Week 2               Introduce yourself
Week 3               Show us your home
Week 4               Your Name
Week 5               Sports (anything related, teams, players, equipment, etc,)
Week 6               Guilty Pleasures
Week 7               ONE object shot at 5 different angels/distances
Week 8               One for the road (signs, streets, traffic, etc.)
Week 9               Objects that tell something about you
Week 10             Things that make your life easier
Week 11             Your favorite color
Week 12             Household item
Week 13             Foods
Week 14             Flashed (an image created using artificial light)
Week 15             Sun (sunlight, sunset, sunrise, etc)
Week 16             Emotion
Week 17             Lines
Week 18             What you do outside the world of photography
Week 19             Weather
Week 20             Emotional attachment (heirloom/special gift, etc.)
Week 21             Pets
Week 22             Things you couldn’t live without
Week 23             Habits
Week 24             Fire (candle, fireplace, etc.)
Week 25             Hats
Week 26             Textures
Week 27             Hands
Week 28             Shoes
Week 29             Jewelry
Week 30             OOF (Out of Focus)…purposely OOF
Week 31             What I consider dessert
Week 32             Fill the Frame (close ups)
Week 33             A week in our lives
Week 34             Faith (what you believe)
Week 35             Dance (body in motion)
Week 36             Family & Friends
Week 37             SOOC (straight out of the camera)…before & after
Week 38             Patriotic
Week 39             Object: straight up shots and then straight down shots
Week 40             Something at night
Week 41             Something that gives you the feeling of warmth
Week 42             Smell
Week 43             Water
Week 44             Animals
Week 45             Music
Week 46             Reflections/Shadows
Week 47             Flowers
Week 48             Sleep
Week 49             Action Shots
Week 50             Circles
Week 51             Your car
Week 52             Self portrait