December 2011 POTM, Carolanne Roach

My interest in photography started when I was in my 9th grade English class. Yes, I know, seems like a strange place for it to develop (no pun intended - wink) but that is where my love of photography took root. My 9th grade English teacher showed our class a picture of a building on the edge of a water front or so it looked because of his ability to catch a reflection off the granite in front of the building that made the granite look like water. I later embarked on the adventure of photography with my first photography class in 10th grade with a hand me down camera of my mom's when she was in college photography.

Though I didn't do much else with photography in high school, I later picked it back up thanks a photo exhibit in my university's library put on by the Tahlequah Camera Club that sparked my interest in picking up a camera again. In college I started concentrating my work on nature and macro. I later joined the Tahlequah Camera Club with my 35 mm Canon AE-1 and 3 lenses. Through the club, I learned the benefits of using color slide film over color print film, how to use a tripod and finally purchased one, and I expanded my lens set as well.

As my interests in photography grew, my mom's interest in photography rekindled and she delved into the world of digital photography with her Nikon D-100 and later D-80. With her interests in photography renewed, she and my family joined the Metro Camera Club to learn more about photography and challenge our creativity. Shortly after my mom started in on photography she started breeding dogs. Our combined love of photography was a natural fit for the pictures we started taking of her furry little friends. New challenges in photography and creativity were now expanding our need for more information.

So we embarked on the journey of learning studio lighting for our dog pictures. Through many trials and errors our mini puppy studio emerged. We started with tungsten lights positioned on a PVC stand to our now professional backdrop holder and three flash studio set up. We currently use the SB-8000 flashes coupled with the Nikon D-80 to produce studio photos of our puppies which can be see at www.okcpoms.com.

Baby Blue Eyes, Farmer Boy, Jungle Safari and Little Miss Tutu are some of my later
photos in the more professional mini studio.

BABY BLUE EYES

FARMER BOY

JUNGLE SAFARI

LITTLE MISS TUTU

My favorite photos to take are flowers, with lilies being my favorite flower to take. I love the macro work, because you have to be very attentive to the details to find interesting subjects that someone else might not see.

YELLOW RED LILY #2

FRECKLED YELLOW LILY #3

PINK LILY

COLORFUL PINWHEEL

RED FRECKLES

YELLOW SUNFLOWER