They are FINALLY here! The raw preset collection that everyone has been buzzing about

THE OLD WORLD PRESET COLLECTION!

This set of 36 Presets (created for both Camera Raw and Lightroom users) is like no set you've seen before now. I literally spent months testing and tweaking to bring you the very first presets that actually do a bit of selective coloring to your images before you even take them into Photoshop for finishing! So I am excited to present you with the very first presets to ever offer something of this nature!

This isn't your old-school, outdated selective coloring either... The Old World Presets offer a new spin on the once-popular masking technique that also gives the familiar feeling of hand-tinted prints. So easy to use, hobbyists can install and use, and reliable enough for well-established photographers who want to offer something special to their clients.

So what you get is 18 presets each with a corresponding studio-version of the preset, tweaked specifically for indoor/studio lighting.... of course you can use them any way you want to. Check out the examples below:




Get them now for just $25 at the shoppe on mb-photoprofessional.com! And be sure to check out my free downloads in the free section while you're browsing!


TWO FREE SAMPLES AVAILABLE HERE:
http://ursylla.deviantart.com/art/Free-Adobe-Raw-Presets-v-1-145431662

Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know you can follow my twitter stream for links to daily inspiration, resources, and my recent work (among other things)!

http://twitter.com/msblackfoto




Also, if you're into metal, please check out my boyfriend's awesome metal review blog,
http://knucklesfirst.com for reviews, interviews, news, and all things brutal!

KF on twitter: twitter.com/knucklesfirst

I love to write. I have always known I was supposed to use my ability to do so as a means to connect with other people. When I write publicly, I try to take personal experience, without getting too detailed, and make connections with other human beings, to relate.

Well, there has never been a moment in which I've been this honest with myself, ever before in my life, and why I feel compelled to share this I do not know. Maybe because I think people need to accept things for what they are, maybe because I need to validate it for myself. Maybe a thousand reasons.

Tonight, in a conversation with my sister, we realized something. The truth, about who we are, and that unconditional love is real.

I have now spent 29 years of my life trying to feel some connection to either of my parents, my sister 27 years of hers. The truth is, we have put more effort into that connection than either of them. WHY? How could you not make an effort, how could you not take responsibility?

It is clear to me now! How have I not realized this before now.

My mother was 17 when she became pregnant with me - I was obviously not planned. In fact, there was a moment during the panic of discovering her pregnancy that abortion was even an option. That is how 'not' planned I was. So, after a lot of drama and tears, my parents decided to keep me, and at an incredibly young age got married. They loved one another, but it was a young, naive, immature love. My mother was MADLY in love with my father, the musician.... but it caused her to act like a crazy person and drove him out of love with her. I think he probably fell out of love with her as quickly as he fell into love with her... I'm considering their ages here and that is only realistic.

By the time my mother became pregnant with my sister 2 years later, I was already spending most of my time going back and forth between my Grandparents. They divorced when I was 3.5 ish? But I don't have any memories of them together or of us as a family. Nothing against my father, but he basically ditched... and now, as a woman getting ready to turn 30, I realize WHY. I understand why I've never felt close to him... because he honestly and whole heartedly just did NOT want to be with my mother, and maybe didn't from the beginning, he was just young and infatuated with her (what can I say, she was freaking GORGEOUS and full of talent, wit, humor, etc).... and she was doubly infatuated with him because he was the popular musician with 50 girls chasing after him when the stage lights shut off after every show. She probably drove him NUTS, I mean come on, he was 20 years old! So I understand (FINALLY). I get it. Not that they didn't want me, but to a degree, they didn't.

Typical, young love. Crazy love.

To shorten a very long story, my Grandparents raised me. Period. My parents just weren't available, and I have no concept of what either maternal OR paternal love feels like; yet I love them both. But this recent acknowledgement of where their heads probably were when I came along, makes me see myself in an entirely different light and I feel a sense of identity that I have NEVER felt. Even looking at photographs of myself right now as I sit here, I feel like a completely different person. I feel like the mystery and the questions are gone.

I love my parents dearly. I feel a duty and sense of respect. Ever being close to either of them, ever relying on them... probably not going to happen unless they let go of their guilt from giving up on what they were blessed with. I feel their guilt; it seeps out in nearly every conversation I've ever had with them. I've heard a thousand apologies and shed a thousand tears. Probably more than a thousand tears. But HOLY SHIT.... I made it, I did it. I am standing on my own two feet regardless of some of the hell I've seen and felt as a child. What my sister feels is probably an even deeper cut being a more passive creature, whereas I have always been the type of girl who wants things so badly that I just go for it and not let a single thing stand in my way, to a degree that it can be blinding at times. Including the belief that I was never a mistake, which I believe now moreso than ever.

Maybe they feel guilty for feeling like we were mistakes, but that is THEIR struggle, their burden, and they can let that go now. I know better. I could dig deeper with this and I'm sure a lot more writing will come out of this, maybe not to such a personal degree, but perspective has been given. I don't know how many times over the years I've asked myself the question "what is wrong with me?" or had a fear of acceptance. Nothing is wrong with me.... I am a strong-willed, persistent, passionate, loving, caring person who has been carrying a lot of pain. I know there are more of you out there who feel angry about something, maybe the anger is even directed towards someone specific.

Let it go..... free yourself! Of course history has shaped you, but do you want to be someone who goes around looking for excuses? Regardless of what happens next, I know that I love my parents despite the distance between us, and I understand how they are feeling. A lot has happened this year and I know they want to be closer with my sister and I than they are, they just don't know how to reach out because they don't know who we are. How sad!

Communication. This is the answer. I think they need to know that I am aware of possibly the ONE truth that they left out, and that is they were never TRULY in love. Its fucking okay. I need to tell them this, and especially my father. Its time to put an end to this ridiculous charade, there are steps to be taken and pardon my use of the good 'ole eff word once again, but if it fucking has to be me then so be it. I'll just have to point out how the idiocy of pretending we don't know has only created more distance.

The truth really does set you free. Tomorrow is going to be a beautiful, new day. And when I press 'publish' I will probably think to myself "why on Earth did I write that?!" but only for a moment. People write books and search for publishers so they can reach people... but for me, I write because its a part of the way I experience life, so be it. If you don't like it, DON'T READ IT! Not to sound rude, but I really am a girl who knows what she wants, and (generally speaking) I know how to get it. It's hard work, it takes some courage, but what is there to lose? Sometimes it even takes more patience than we think we have. But what it boils down to is.... SEEK. Seek for something more, thirst for it, believe it, find it, acknowledge it, and learn how to deal with it once you find it - even if it wasn't what you were looking for!

Its going to work out, because even what we can't grasp eventually turns into something else that we CAN latch onto.

Have a lovely week.
<3

To put it simply, in photography... we learn the rules so we can, in turn, learn to successfuly BREAK the rules. <3 I know there are a slew of things I still want to learn so I can adapt them to fit my own practices. There is an indefinite amount of room for improvement and growth as an artist. Also remember... that if you are going to be a great people photographer, you first have to love people; to be a great photographer in general you have to care for what you are photographing, you have to care about the production of the images if you want them to impact and/or inspire. What is your true motivation?

When you begin to stand still in life... focus on your passion. When are you most sincere, and what good things can you produce from that quiet, honest place within yourself? I once thought that my passion was 'taking photographs' but now I see that my passion is living and progression. I thirst for seeing things in a brand new light everyday. Thankful to have a camera by my side to interpret the people and places I've been introduced to. I get excited when I pull out my camera(s) because I am excited about what is in front of me, that we can take fleeting moments and compose them into permanent works of art - wow this still astonishes me.

Have a beautiful week.....

~Michelle~

Hello everyone! I have been busy and not as able to keep up with messages here on myspace as of late. Please drop me a reply to this blog and let me know how you've been! I've missed you!

Also to my photographer friends, I wanted to let you know I have some new FREE presets for Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw on my deviantART account!

http://ursylla.deviantart.com/art/Free-Adobe-Raw-Presets-v-1-145431662

I am giving out 2 free samples from my up and coming Old-Fashioned Preset Collection, featuring a sexy, faded, slightly selectively-colored look with a modern edge. And you thought selective color was out of style! Not anymore :)

You can also keep up with other free product releases by joining thehideoutforum.com and going to the "Michelle Black's Freebies" section of the forums, where I will be posting monthly freebies for our forum members ONLY! Registration is totally free, too (even better, right?!)

So what are the Presets like? Have a look:

*presets included for both Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw*

I am driving my car down a desolate road on a secluded island, torrential rain plummeting down hard onto the pavement like thunderous applause, as if to celebrate my willing exploration of cognizance, new found acceptance. The warm ground breathes gently as the cold rain creates a haze across earth. I am alive and fully aware, though my palms are perspiring they still grasp the wheel firmly, with determination. I have a difficult time driving in the dark, in the rain. It is late and I am tired. I need to rest. I don't plan on sleeping, however. Sleep is a stranger to me lately.

I see a lonely hotel situated alongside the road, the vacancy sign is lit up, the 'V' and the first 'A' burned out, left reading 'cancy'. Can see. Ironic, its like the world is on my side even upon the face of random hotel signs. I put on the blinker and turn off to the left, as I smile and lower the stereo volume, one song in particular I've been playing on repeat and singing at the top of my lungs. Therapy comes in many forms other than pills or alcohol, although a glass of wine sounds fabulous - and how lovely that there is a bottle in the back that I'll be enjoying once I'm checked in.

I quickly grab my things out of the backseat and tear through the rain to the hotel office. "Well, you're the only one around tonight, miss!" the desk clerk points out. He is of course male, which intimidates me, being that I'm alone in an empty hotel. No matter. I pay him for a room, making as little eye contact as possible, put the key on my keychain and walk a few doors down.

The key isn't fitting into the lock. Great! Wouldn't this be my freaking luck! I jiggle it a few more times, take it out, put it back in (that's what she said.....). OH. oops. I'm using the wrong key (typical of me). I find the correct one, open the door, go inside, drop my bags at my feet. The room is a blast from 1983, like my first memories of home. Its clean but smells of strawberry air freshener and stale cigarettes. I have a pack in my purse and I am planning on smoking them tonight and adding to the scent in here.

All I wanna do tonight is write. "Measuring Success." That is what I want to write about.

I get out my pen and notebook, lay stomach first on the lower edge of the bed and start to write.
"What does being successful mean?". I scribble it out, then remember I want to have some wine and a cigarette first. I actually get butterflies thinking about it.

Back to the pile of bags by the door, I rummage through and find my half-full bottle of wine, then get the fresh pack of Camels out of my purse. Red wine. mmmm. The first sip always makes my tongue tingle. I lean back against the headboard and light up my cigarette, alternating sips of wine and drags of this cancerous wand. "Measuring success." I grow contemplative, I tighten my brow in concentration. At the first thought of success, career comes to mind. It used to be that I envisioned 'being successful' as having a great reputation and a healthy, profitable career. Now, not so much.

Success. Success, success, success. What the fuck!! Why can't I concentrate on this and stop thinking about him for more than a few minutes. I miss him. *drag, then flick of cigarette*

Okay. Being successful. It has nothing to do with money, everything to do with following through. Retaining good things and good people based on honest acts. Not feeling lonely, having stability, allowing ourselves to be filled and to feel 'full'. How does one measure success? I have met and worked with individuals who have earned themselves incredible status, yet they maintain secret (and multiple) affairs behind their spouse's back. Their interpretable 'success' then, in my opinion, would be in vain. Is that a judgment call? Probably. So success shouldn't necessarily have anything to do with reputation, I digress..... *drag of cigarette*

Accomplishment does not equal bank account nor number of friends nor anything physically measurable or countable or discernible. Success is sincerity. Staying true, grounded, positive, appreciative, persistent. *drag of cigarette* If people can count on you, and you can also count on yourself - this is mega success! I really don't feel like writing about this now, or thinking about it. I grab my pen, there is something else to be written. *sip of wine*

"This island is dark and quiet.
The rain is still falling.
I was driving back to the shore that you have left me here to wade upon.
You were with me, now you are gone.
We sailed to this place together
The sun lit our eyes
Our hearts cast out a wind to keep us moving
These sails had a purpose
To find the shore
New earth to explore
My feet hit the sand and I took of running
But you
You stayed on board
Now I sit watching you drift away"

*drag and flick of cigarette, sip of wine*

Success. I'm successfully not making my tears visible to you. I'm successfully focused on other things. I'm successfully able to enjoy you as you are and continue on as myself. I want off this island, but I'll sit here in this empty hotel room lit up by tungsten yellow, I'll drive around aimlessly in the rain until the answers show themselves. I will stand my ground and continue to be strong for the right reasons. Not entirely for you. You are not everything, but you remain a part of all my everythings, whether you are here or there.

© July 2009

Tonight I played my hand at Euchre (and lost, but that's besides the point, haha). All family and friends on my mother's side are oh-so-country. The loud chuckles, the bad grammar, the lack of fashion sense, the Corn Hole setup (ha). But it is so comfortable, so real, there is beauty in it. In fact a beauty so deep, it nearly punched me in the face sitting 'round at the campsite. I was humbled, reminded that closeness is something universally sought and in fact, making connections with people in general is probably the single-most significant experience God has blessed us with. So thankful I have been able to work on this, as I have closed myself off quite a lot in the past.

People need one another. We need to interact.

All night, I could see the sadness upon my Grandfather's face without her presence there. Gram was such a light in these times. The absence of her laughter was certainly obvious. My uncle Elvis didn't even come out to join us; I went on board the camper to grab a sweater and he was sleeping in the back - it was only 7:30pm. Her things were still scattered around, her little housecoat in the closet, and her slippers. I stared bleakly at them for several seconds. Grandpa even called me "Marg" (Gram's nickname) once tonight. My face felt like it swelled a little.

She was wonderful.

No time for sad feelings though, Ky was outside playing baseball with some other children at the playground - HELLO - my camera and I were due for a reunion, and Ky was looking forward to introducing me to his new little friends. Boys. Such a different breed than girls. So funny! I didn't realize you're allowed to tackle people playing baseball, but its evidently so. Evidently even when you're 7, you expect it. "MOM! stop getting so close to me with the camera when my friends are around!". *sigh* is he really that old already?

Light was fading outward as night grew thicker, leaving lavenders and pinks and reds and oranges to illuminate the silver-grey-blue clouds, the sound of children's feet and laughter so beautiful beneath it. I had my camera in hand, yes, the visual beauty of the scene was a driving force. But to feel this moment was something greater than I could capture. I was overwhelmed. It was glorious.

The fact that any of this exists at all leaves me feeling powerless. In awe. What is the meaning of any of this?! We try and make sense of it every day, we grow desensitized to the nature of existence itself, but the fact remains... we live, breathe, die. We are so complex, the things that make up a single 10 second memory. Earth and heavens and children laughing. And the array of awakenings within one's self that can be born from the mere observation of such moments. It is fascinating I am even able to contemplate that.

Amazingly enough, as obsessive as I can be about analyzing things, I think I forgot how refreshing it is to simply watch and observe, to become part of the energy as it cycles through and around you rather than cutting it off to evaluate the meaning of it first. I've not been allowing experiences to filter all the way through. Its like I've been breathing it in, then holding my breath rather than exhaling. I want to give thanks now to Him for being given this new awareness, my arms, eyes, heart, and mind wide open. I am listening. Thank you. Please, show me more, who and what I can be for You.

I realized tonight that I have been swimming in a rather murky pool of fermenting water for quite sometime this year. I've needed to admit this to myself; a lot has been upset in the way my life functions, and yes, it has been disruptive. Sometimes paralyzing. I didn't realize just how much. This acceptance is going to serve as a huge stepping stone to whatever in the world is coming next.... I'm eager to see what that is going to be because there has been such a gigantic standstill. You know what 'they' say... "calm before a storm". I've been unintentionally laying low, but I think it has been a subconscious effort to prepare for the multitudes of new things that are tiptoeing in. Something GOOOD is happening, something wonderful is coming. There's gonna be a knock at my door, and I'm gonna answer it. Now all that is left is to pick up the pieces I can actively use, and leave everything else to serve as the fertilizer. I am ready to grow.

All of our experiences collect, compact themselves, thoughts compact into understanding and understanding compacts into putting forth new action, and then it starts to form into a ball. This ball is gonna roll, yo. Its time for starting over! Things are going to change, I'm super pumped up for it.

I'd enjoy a vacation, who wants to go, and where are we going?

I ran across this statement earlier, and it wasn't until this moment that I started to consider what it means to me. Of course, all of what I am about to discuss is based on my own experiences and understanding.

More often, we hear people say "be a man." Generally speaking, when someone says this to another person, what they mean is tough it up and "be strong". It seems to me that "being a woman" and "being a man" are very similar if not equivalent despite gender. Of course gender presents differing circumstances, and for now I will not discuss those similarities and differences. I would prefer to carry on with what I feel it means to be a woman, which is far more than showing you are able to endure hardships. Furthermore, it has nothing to do with proving anything to anyone, for any reason.

"Being a woman."

First and foremost, 'being a woman' means humbling yourself to the idea that you are even comparable to another female, letting go of that thought "I'm a woman and she's not", being willing to see yourself when you find faults in someone else, and at the first hint of jealousy being able to admit it is conversely some hidden form of doubt living inside yourself.

'Being a woman' is offering a smile to even your enemy - ESPECIALLY your enemy - and a sincere smile at that. What makes a person your enemy? Even the answer to that question has something to do with being a woman. Often times you'll find when you answer that question honestly, you've actually turned people into your enemies as a means to protect yourself, or as some cloudy form of denial. Turn the other cheek, and you'll find that there are better things to do than harbor resentment. When you honestly care about your "enemies" you're probably nearing womanhood.

Being a woman is shutting your big fat mouth when you really just want to go off. It is offering space before it is asked of you. It is laying the cards on the table and watching for the individual who was waiting intensely for you to throw down the 4 of clubs, not worrying if they are going to win the hand, but letting the order of how the game plays out intrigue and inspire you. Being a woman is allowing yourself to feel pain, and at the same time knowing how to self-soothe, look to God, rest in Him and allow the answers to show themselves so you can progress.

Acceptance; this will sum up the rest. Once you learn to accept things quietly, respectfully, you are on your way. When you can stop throwing temper tantrums and whining to anyone and everyone; stop telling too many details before you've had a chance to ingest, digest, and grow from them; when you've learned to walk away and let things show themselves to you willingly (or if they don't - you know it isn't worth it); when you can stop being so feverishly angry and instead allow yourself either to rest, or do something productive.

Loving. We have all loved, some have lost. When I love, I love with all of my being. I invest and submit and wait. and wait. and wait. hahah. But having been a person to lose love, or the idea of love as such, I've come to understand what people who make it last have that I have not, in the past, been able to grasp. Don't get me wrong, sometimes people who love one another just really should NOT stay together. Sometimes that kind of passion turns miserable and greedy, and its best to leave it alone. But what I have learned is that holding on toooo tight isn't healthy either.a) Being patient and b) drilling someone into the ground about how you're "going to make it work" are two entirely different things. I can say this part of me has now advanced to the "woman" stage. I am willing to offer my heart. But I will not try to win someone over. I will fight for who I love, but I will not fight for the love itself. If I am not loved in return, if my love is taken for granted, then what good are my efforts by that time? I have a healthy outlook on this now. Primarily because I have a strong relationship with God and should I remain 'alone' per say, He will fill me up. I don't intend on being alone tho *wink*

Now I am just rambling on but I must make my final point, the one experience that began my journey to womanhood. Not to say that I am indefinitely a 'woman'. I find traces of 'woman' in me, but I am sure things will come up (continually) in which I will revert back to the nature of impulse.

Mothering. Unconditional love. There is no love like this. The want and need to protect, to nurture, to console, to embrace. To bring up. My son is a gift. He teaches me something new every single day. This is why I always say 'children are our greatest teachers'. Always putting us in check. Our morals, values, wants, needs, are under serious investigation after the birth of a child, because then it means those things are going to rub off on our children. So all of what has been aforementioned in this discussion gains even more significance if you are a mother, in my oh so humble opinion.

I think that is all I have for now, and would have probably come up with more if I didn't have a photoshoot in roughly an hour that I need to prepare for. I do hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

=)

$99 Child sessions, includes a 5x7 and an 8x10. Proof sets from this session will be available for an additional $100 (up to 20 proofs). Enlargements available at my a la carte rates.

These are local rates. Out of area sessions will be charged travel fees. Contact me for details!


I may make this promotion available permanently if it works out the way I envision it to :)

Just a reminder, I no longer do senior sessions. I specialize exclusively in childhood portraiture.




**********************************************************




I have been thinking about something that is very important to me, and in fact have put off booking formal portrait sessions most of this year trying to really listen for what I'm called to do in this field.  I treasure my work and the images I create, but even more precious is what the photographs reflect, and that is time. Those reflections of time are invaluable, and are much more important to who the art was created for than to expanding my portfolio.  Once we freeze a moment into something so invaluable as a way to visually recount an experience, it becomes something more than just a photograph. It becomes a direct avenue for remembering, not just the moment itself, but the befores and afters and all that was happening surrounding the image. Seeing a photograph allows us to breathe, to see how we have grown and things that have changed. It teaches us things.



Having been given a gift to understand people and to translate that into photographs is something I feel I may have, at times, taken for granted because of how much it means to express myself and the things I see. Yes, to have an exclusive career in this means it is necessary to make money in order to survive. My prices vary and when I'm hired commercially (bands, fashion portfolios, for garment shoots, editorials, etc) I do and will always price accordingly, factoring in budget, use of the images, and all of those other details such as travel, post-production time, you get the idea. When it comes to photographing children, however, I feel that every family should be able to afford an opportunity to have such artwork upon the walls of their home. To remember them as they were, innocence fleeting, changing moment to moment. Their very existence art in itself.



Continuing on, these times are trying financially.

I'm reconsidering all of my current prices. My Grandmother's recent passing has taught me a lot of things about who I am and what I want to offer in this profession. Where most businesses up their pricing every year, and I was one of them, I'm reconsidering. It sucks I've spent so much money printing out my pricing literature, haha, but.... it will be worth it to me to offer my time producing portraits of children in a way that I feel is more of a gift. I have no regrets in doing so.

I am not yet sure about how I am going to restructure my Portrait Collections, I'm just feeling it out as I go along, and the current special rate as described above will be my only solid pricing outside of my a-la-carte system which I am re-vamping. "Not a very well thought out business move to admit you are unsure about your pricing" you say? I digress..... this is exactly what I am being led to do and until I figure out exactly where I'm going with it, the current sale remains. I'm going against everything I've studied about pricing formal portraits, but it feels right.


This is so very important to me. My time is important, memories of children as they once were are MORE important.