And Now We Are Up To Date!!!

I am happy to say that I am now back on track. These are from this week's news paper.



This is just a little composition I had of interesting photos from Rustaveli.



I was notified about this event two hours before it began, which did not make me a very happy photographer. But I went any ways. I didnt send the photos in until 11:45 last night .. some how they were still able to include it in today's paper.


My first informal attendance at an IWA meeting. I didnt even know that I was going to an IWA meeting until I arrived.

Still More Catching Up

November 6 - 12


I had to photoshop this photograph because I couldnt actually find any cars that were spewing out fumes.


Another street poll!


For this one I used photographs I had taken during my very first visit to the Jvari monastery with Gary and my second visit there with my father when he was visiting.

More Catching Up

October 30- November 5


Once again, the street poll photos are by me.


My photo story including photos taken during my father's visit to Georgia.



My first time photographing any kind of live performance. A very stressful event and actually kinda controversial. After this was publishes, the reporter I worked with got fired. I actually feared that my job was in jeopardy as well. But so far so good!

Catching Up

October 23-29


Photos of the street poll are done by me.


This photo assignment was really great and it is what started my weekly photo stories. That's right, now every week I have a photo story, not just one photo. I am so happy about that, but I am also rather stressed over it. It means I have to have a fresh idea ever single week.

Any way, Gary told me about how some marines were volunteering at this home for disabled young people and how they needed some media coverage. I was more than happy to help out.

Wow I am SOOOO Behind!

I feel a little bad that I havent update in a while, but honestly I have been terribly busy! So rather than rambling on, I will just get right to it!

October 16-22


My street poll and photo from inside the school.


I had to be sneaky about this one because those men did not seem too happy about being photographed.


My photo of the week .. just a simple fountain shot.

More updates to come! I promise!

Twice in one Week.

The paper was published today! Im pretty happy because I was featured twice. The first one is for a public opinion poll. Those are fun to take, because I take them while the person is being interviewed. I have to be careful to not get them with a funny face. I used to do that all the time, but I think I am doing better now. I also took the picture of the expert.



Secondly, my photo of the week. I love this photo so much. I was on my way to a dinner party when I took this. I set out early so that I could have time to take a picture. And this one just materialized in front of me. It was great. It honestly felt so magical.


Unfortunately they didn't print it in color, and choose the land scape version. I prefer the portrait version. And the color .. oh like I said .. just magical.

Cinderella Press

I got a call last Wednesday from Georgia Today asking if I could submit a photo for their section called "Photo of the Week". I was so happy to hear this because they hadn't called me in a while. So even though I was sick, I got myself to the computer and starting shuffling through my library. Since I have been spending a lot of my time working on the production of Cinderella, I decided that that would be the perfect subject. I had to send a lot of hurried emails to the director and producer, but I finally got approval. Not only is this good press for me, but it is good press for the show. I would also like to mention that this is my first photo printed in color in the paper.


For more information on Cinderella, visit Tbilisi Panto.
I would also like to mention, that I am being hired by the paper as a photographer for their new website and to be the primary photographer for Photo of the Week. Soooo there should be many more posts coming this way. Yay! Happy happy happy!

My New Friend

I would like to introduce to every one, my new friend, Sarah Murphy. She is a really wonderful person, great to go shopping with, read Cosmo in Russian and of course always up to going for a drink. Sarah has a beautiful cat with a quirky name: Pizza Jazz. This cat is one of my new favorites because she talks to herself. I believe today she is going to get neutered. I believe, that I have given away too much information about this girl, but I know for a fact that not many people read this, so Sarah, your secrets are safe. You must be thinking by now, why this huge introduction? Well, it is because one night at a pizza restaurant I took some photos of Sarah. Then I photoshopped them. And I would like to share my creation with you now:

Up Late, Posting Portraits

Its sad when 0:02 becomes "late" but I have been trying to get more sleep lately as it makes me a happier person.

Ive been working on some informal portraits that I took at a party at my apartment. I only used Light Room, just for a challenge. I didn't know that there were so many features that would help me with portraits. I especially like the Skin Softening brush, which I did not know as there.

First off we have Shota, looking pensive.


Then we have my roommate Nick talking to a friend.



Next we have Andro. I tried to make this one a little weird and creepy.



And finally, the pièce de résistance .. Tamara! I think she looks so pretty, and should totally use this as her profile picture.

Mhmmmm, so that is it for now. I have been having a craving for portraits, so keep your eyes open for some new stuff and possibly some revamped old stuff.

Tbilisi at Dusk

My original intentions were to go out and get some night time shots of Tbilisi, but I set out too early so it turned into shots of Tbilisi at dusk. I would have stayed out longer but I was wearing a tank top and not only was this attracting too much attention but it was windy and I was a bit chilly. Never the less, the lighting was beautiful and I still got some nice pictures.

This is a building that I walk by often. I really enjoy how the light hits half of the building and gives it this orange glow.

This is taken from a bridge that I cross often. I started taking pictures from below the bridge, but that is a place frequented by exhibitionists, so I moved to the top. Thats where my tank top gave me troubles and where too many cars honked at me. I did capture a nice reflection though and the moon is also in the shot!


I need some opinions though, would it be too weird if I were to photoshop the moon bigger? Maybe just double in size to make it more noticeable?

A Miniature Tbilisi

This really made me excited. I was looking at some Algonquin student's blogs when I stumbled upon Jennifer Allison's post on how to make panoramas into miniature planets. I had seen this used before many many years ago, but then could never find it again .. until now! There was a link to a tutorial which led me to make my panorama of Tbilisi into a miniature planet. Honestly, if you have any panoramas you HAVE to try this out. It is really really simple and a lot of fun!

A Little Bit of Tbilisi

The month of August is a slow month in Tbilisi. Even though I had a photo story published in the news paper a couple weeks ago, there was no work for me last week. I was not very productive with my time. Honestly I sat at home and watched 5 seasons of Friends. Finally on Sunday I got up off my butt and went on a walk with my camera. Today I edited some of the pictures. I haven't use Photoshop a lot since school ended and its pretty sad how much I forgot! Well not that much actually, but some pretty important short cuts. I'll have to look those up when I get a round to it.

One shot I worked on was a little panorama of the city, looking down from Rustavelli Avenue. I only took three shots and didnt use a tripod. All this considered I think it turned out really great.

The next I worked on was this beautifully colored door. The color really jumped out at me when I was walking by so I just had to take a picture. I used Light Room for all the editing on this one. I employed a little technique that gives it an HDR look, with out having to shoot multiple exposures. Other Light Room users: if you like this look, I can give you the "code" on how to do it yourself.


And last, but not least, I finally got a photo of the famous St. George. He sits a-top a giant pillar in the middle of Freedom Square, forever frozen in his dragon slaying position. Its pretty awesome.

So .. since these photos were fairly succesful, I resolve to continue staying off my butt and actually get out of the house and do things. Photography and none photography related!

My First Big Break

On the 7th of August, 2009 I got my first big photo story in Georgia Today. It covered two pages in the center of the news paper and had had ten of my photographs. I'm incredibly happy to have so much of my work in the paper. It definitely makes the two years of school worth it.