Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Category: my life

Photo Friday – Summer Sightings

Happy day-before-the-first-day-of-summer! This week’s photo is from a 35mm film scan – I took the image sometime in 2002 when I was living and working in Maryland. I can’t even remember exactly how I found this huge sunflower (I used to drive around frequently looking for anything to photograph) or if a friend found it and alerted me, but I remember being obsessed with sunflowers at the time. If I remember correctly it was just on the edge of someone’s farm property, so I don’t think there was trespassing involved. Obviously my memory is a bit fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure I went back to the location more than once, and on one trip I went with a couple of co-workers/photography friends to see it. A giant sunflower-sighting was practically an event for budding photographers! (No pun intended on the “budding” bit.) The sky that day was completely clear, and when I crouched down looking for an interesting, uncluttered angle, I liked the way the cheerful yellow leaves contrasted with the sky. I took a few photos at various angles using a polarizing filter, and I ended up liking this one the best. The polarizer made the sky look so rich, and in addition to that, the print processing came out extra saturated. I love the way the final image turned out and it always reminds me of summer!

June 20, 2014
Photo Friday – Best Band Ever

This week’s photo is from the Depeche Mode concert last year at Jiffy Lube Live, and I’m posting it because I have concerts on the brain! Or rather lack-of-concerts – usually Chris and I see at least two or three concerts a year, but for some reason this year we don’t have anything scheduled yet. Actually, Chris got to see Imagine Dragons a few weeks ago at a conference for work and I’m so jealous. Of course I’d love to see Depeche Mode again, but I’d also be excited to see Angels and Airwaves, Chvrches, or The Killers (always a favorite). Chris is also waiting for Chevelle to go back on tour, so I’m putting it out there hoping The Universe will make it happen. It’s summer concert time!

June 6, 2014
Invisalign Update

So, I’ve kind of been putting this post off for a few reasons, but it’s been a full year since I finished my Invisalign treatment and I did originally say that I’d post an update so here it is! This is seriously way too many photos of me in one post, but alas, it’s the only way to show you my teeth. (Lady Gaga song, anyone?)

Reason #1 for the delay – I still had a couple of things to do post-treatment, including having my final retainers made, so it didn’t feel like I was officially done. Ever since I finished treatment I’ve been wearing the last set of aligners at night when I go to sleep, which is how I’ll wear the retainers as well. (I think I have to wear them at night for life?! Sigh.) And once I have my final retainers, I can do some at-home whitening with prescription whitening gel, so I thought I’d just do the follow-up post after that. Long story short, I had to have some other dental work done before my final retainers could be made and life got in the way, so I’m only just now getting around to finalizing things. Also, reason #2 – I don’t really like talking about my teeth (or my flair). Annnd…I realized I’d have to post before-and-after photos, and that means people will be staring at my teeth, and the images might even show up in a Google search related to Invisalign. So that’s weird!

Lastly, reason #3 – I haven’t taken any official “after” photos. I think photographers are pretty bad about having their photos taken. I keep meaning to do an updated headshot/portrait, but I haven’t made it a priority, which is awful considering how often I encourage other people to have their photos taken! Do as I say, not as I do, right? I don’t even have many travel snapshots or iPhone selfies from the last several months for some reason. Oh right, because I’m always the one behind the camera. I need to be better about stepping in front of the lens more often I guess. But I promised an update, and maybe it’ll be helpful to anyone considering Invisalign, so here goes. I’ll start with some photos of me before I started wearing Invisalign, although none of these were taken with the intent of being official before photos.

BEFORE

I didn’t have a super dramatic case to begin with, but from a health perspective my bite was pretty misaligned to the point where it would eventually cause problems and I wanted to be proactive about that. And to be honest I was really starting to dislike photos of myself, especially if the photo was taken from a certain angle. Eek! As much as I don’t really want you to inspect too closely, here are two photos where I felt like my smile was wonky, especially the one on the left (where the camera flash made my hair look like tinsel for some reason). You can see the sides of my upper teeth leaning in, my top teeth didn’t line up over my bottom teeth, I had a pretty significant overbite when viewed from the side, and one of my two front teeth stuck out more than the others.

DURING

Next, these are some iPhone snapshots of me during treatment, about a year into wearing the aligners. I did start to feel better about how my smile looked in photos (except for the attachment “buttons” glued on my teeth). The first one on the left below even shows how my aligners looked while wearing them, including the tiny rubber bands that attached from top to bottom. Those things hurt, but they really pulled my overbite back into place. I didn’t wear the bands in public, only at home and overnight.

AFTER

And finally, these last two photos are images taken after being completely done with Invisalign, attachments removed and all. I promise to try to have a headshot done that shows a better close-up of my smile, but in the meantime hopefully you’ll get the idea. I think the first photo shows my new smile pretty clearly. (Ha – I just realized Chris might be subjected to having his face posted in Google images under an Invisalign search since he’s in a lot of my photos! He has a great smile though, so no harm done.) My overbite is hugely improved, the sides don’t lean in as much, and my two front teeth are pretty much in alignment.

Oh and just for fun, here are the computer models of my teeth so you can see where I started and where I was projected to end up, and I think we were able to get pretty close. If you look at the left-hand photo for the uppers, you can see that one front tooth that wanted to hang out in front of the others. I hated that!

As for how I feel post-treatment, I’m pretty darn happy with the results! Do I think my teeth are absolutely perfect? Nah, but that’s totally okay with me. I feel like the alignment is maybe at 90-95%, and the improvement over the before feels so much better to me. I have debated continuing orthodontic treatment to try and correct that last 5-10%, but I’ve decided it’s probably only noticeable to me. And anyway, I’m finally starting to realize that there are some things that just make me ME and there’s no need to try to fix everything. I’m just happy that my bite is properly aligned now which will alleviate future dental health issues, and as a huge bonus I feel like my smile looks better in photos. I would still recommend Invisalign to anyone interested in correcting the alignment of their teeth as long as they understand the discipline required to keep the aligners in 20 or so hours a day AND that Invisalign might not get you to 100% perfect (this was my expectation after doing my research and reading Invisalign patient reviews). For more info about the process, see my original post here. And definitely let me know if you have any questions about Invisalign! I’d absolutely be happy to help. Happy smiling! Smiling’s my favorite. 🙂

May 12, 2014
Charlie

Last week I had quite the scare with my little guy, Charlie. All of a sudden on the day we had a big snowstorm, he seemed to be sleeping more often and breathing a little heavier than usual. He was still eating well though, and didn’t otherwise look ill, so I kept monitoring him for the next day. His behavior didn’t improve, so I made an appointment with the avian vet. She did an exam and determined that he had fluid build-up in his abdomen which was creating pressure on his lungs and making it harder for him to breathe, so she did a belly tap (abdominocentesis) to remove the fluids. The visit was frightening for both of us! We are lucky to have a wonderful vet though – she was great with Charlie. I’m waiting to hear back on some lab results, but in the meantime I’ve been giving him medication and supplements daily (which he hates), and he seems to be improving a little. Today he’s even singing, and that’s a great sign. He’s getting up there in years, but I’m going to do anything I can to keep him healthy and happy.

I know it might sound weird to some people that I’m so attached to a bird, but I am! I think most people understand the connection with a cat or a dog, but a bird?! Yep! They have quite the personalities, they’re fairly easy to care for, and I love the little bit of background noise when he’s singing and chatting.

Charlie shows up on my Instagram feed fairly often. He’s quite photogenic and seems to love having his picture taken! So here are a few of my favorite Charlie snaps. Side note: I know it’s not safe to give birds salty foods and he’s shown in a photo below with a pile of sunflower seeds. He usually picks one up, works on it for a while to crack it open, and then moves on to the next one. He’ll open about two or three and then move on to doing something else. He never actually eats the seed (weird!), and I don’t think he gets that much salt from one or two shells.

Update 4/2: I am so sad to say that Charlie is no longer with us. He passed away quietly at the vet’s office last week while waiting for a follow-up exam. We miss him dearly and the house is just a little too quiet, but I’m comforted in knowing that he is no longer suffering. Rest peacefully, sweet Charlie!

March 11, 2014
Photographing Sunsets and Flowers

I’m often asked how I learned about photography or for advice on how to go about learning. I’m mostly a self-taught photographer – I learned from reading books and practicing on a 35mm film camera (before digital cameras were around), and I’ve probably learned the most just by practice, practice, practice. Seriously, if you want to learn, go out and shoot as much as possible. Take your camera with you everywhere. Examine your resulting images and the settings you used. Identify what you like about the photos and what you don’t. Figure out why an image worked or why it didn’t. If you’re having trouble and wondering why a certain image turned out blurry or underexposed or uninteresting, show it to another photographer to get feedback. Feel free to even send it my way! I certainly don’t know everything there is to know, but I can help you try to figure it out and point you towards some resources for learning the basics.

In addition to self-teaching through books and practice, I did eventually take formal courses to round out my photography knowledge and skills. Wanting to soak up as much knowledge and experience as possible, I signed up for a couple of workshops and eventually for a certification program. I especially loved the studio and darkroom classes – two facets of photography that I might not have otherwise had the opportunity to study. Depending on the specialty in which you’re interested, formal schooling and/or certification may or may not be necessary for a job or career in photography, but it certainly can’t hurt. (If anything, business classes are probably most valuable for running a photography business, but that’s a different story.)

One of the most helpful lessons came from a favorite instructor who challenged us at the beginning of the program NOT to photograph sunsets or flowers. Ever. His reason being that sunsets and flowers are two of the most over-photographed subjects, and unless we could figure out a way to photograph them in a completely new and exciting way, don’t photograph them. I remember being sort of bummed and embarrassed that I had brought in an image of some daisies for our homework assignment that day! But now looking back, I can totally appreciate the request. By forcing us to continually explore new subjects, we grew as photographers. So if you’re new to photography and you’re wanting to improve, look through your images and see if you tend to stick to the same subjects. Are most of your photos sunsets and flowers (or your pet/spouse/lunch/etc.)? Are your images usually taken within a one-mile radius of your home? If yes, try to “ban” yourself from photographing that subject or location for a while. Stretch yourself outside of your photography comfort zone and see what happens!

Of course, if you’re on an island vacation (say, Tortola) and there’s a stunning sunset happening as you enjoy a cocktail from your rental villa balcony, please feel free to photograph away guilt-free.

February 28, 2014