Fritz, The New Addition

My sister and her family just got a 6 weeks old Spanador. Labrador and Cocker Spaniel mixture.

His name is Fritz... He was born the same day as my sister.

He paid a visit to my house this evening. What a cutie...

Wait till I start photographing Fritz with props. Stay tuned...



Cheers,

Hera Bell

I Long For Spring

I long for Spring at this sunny and warm Fall day. I long to walk barefoot on my backyard's deck and watch the ground grow bit by bit.

I don't care to be covered with big winter coats and heavy winter boots. I want to feel free and feel the breeze pass through my skit and caress my naked legs.

I want my garden back.

I might want, but God doesn't grant us such wishes. I have to endure another nine months of snow to see the nature's re-birth again.




Cheers,

Hera Bell

Rome Reflections

While I was in Rome few years ago I shot several reflections. This is one of them.



Cheers,

Hera Bell

The Comma

According to Wikipidia A Comma is:

"The comma ( , ) is a punctuation mark. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline of the text. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight, or with the appearance of a small filled-in number 9.

The comma is used in many contexts and languages, principally for separating things. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word comma comes directly from the Greek komma (κόμμα), which means something cut off or a short clause."

To me this little guy looked like a comma on this very bright yellow wall. I shot this image in Miami few years ago.



I like its South Western feel. It is about a little bit of sunshine in a very grey November day...

Cheers,

Hera Bell

Behind The Scenes

Victoria was among our workshop participants in September 20th Sunday. As I realized that she was photographing me, I pointed out my finger. Just for fun... Do I look nasty or what? (smiles)

Here is the end result... Since then my hair style has changed. Thank you for supplying the shot Victoria.



I was busy these past last two days organizing our April 2010 workshop.

In less then a day and a half we reached our quota of 8 participants. We have quite a balanced gender group. 4 ladies and 4 gentlemen who will shoot a handsome well fit young men with dark brown hair and blue eyes on a special location. Our model is a classical concert pianist. Yup we are going outside of the studio to do this workshop.

As the ladies call it, "it will be an eye candy day"... (smiles)

Cheers,

Hera Bell

Sculpted By Life

In 2005 Canadian Iron Man Champion Marc Martel hired me to photograph him in my studio. He traveled from Toronto.

His tragic story inspired me to create the portrait called "Sculpted By Life"... Marc was a trainer before he lost his arm to a very tragic event. He was tottaly burnt and lost the arm by trying to escape from his apartment by jumping from the window. The fire was set by a jelouse derainged woman. After many plastic surgeries , and a year in coma, he came back to life.

With great determination he became Canadian Iron Man champion with one artificial arm by competing against fully limbed guys. Today he is a motivational speaker and personal trainer.

I kept the shot without much manipulation at first. Then I returned from Rome. After seeing so many sculptures of beautiful men missing body parts, Marc's image inspired me to texturise him as a sculpture.

Digital imagery was just starting. Our local camera club had just opened a new competition category. Digital images. I did enter the competition with this shot. One of the judges voted 65 over 100. Her comments were "I can't see what's the message here. Is he a human or a sculpture? What's the point?"...

Later on in 2006, I took the courage and submitted this same shot at an international studio portrait competition. I had to pay 50 British pounds to enter to compete against some big talents. My investment paid off. The shot took the first place and I was paid 1000 British pounds as a reward...

This shows how an image can tell a story to one person and be totally useless for someone else.

Never judge the judge... Never stop hearing what others have to say, but keep on doing what you have to do... Go with your gut feeling.



Cheers,

Hera Bell

Ordinary Scene Turned Extraordinary

Light can make it or break it when you shoot ordinary landscape scenes like this one. The storm was coming, then the sun just played pica-boo through amazing cloud formations. It was magical to see.

I clicked the camera.



Cheers,

Hera Bell