Caturday Selfie

Happy Caturday!

Addy has really fallen in love with the front facing camera on my phone. She's always been photogenic, but she's taken it to a new level. I, of course, felt the need to photo bomb her selfie. Sorry, Addy, I'm sort of a jerk like that.

Who knew Addy had her own watermark?

Photo of the Week: Week 49

Just a little Christmas self portrait this week, short and sweet.

Throwback Thursday: Where the May comes from

Me on my 3rd Birthday and Grandma May

 Me, Grandma May on her 71st Birthday and my brother Nick 

(There might just be 71 candles on that cake, my God!)

I wanted to share a couple of old pictures with you this week. Today would have been my grandmother's 98th birthday. As you can see, we were close. My family used to call her Grandma Soup; whenever you were sick she would make you homemade chicken soup from scratch. She was an amazing woman that taught me so much and is where the May of Audra May Photography comes from. While I still miss her tremendously, I know how fortunate I am to have known and loved her.

fr EYE day

You're getting a two for one this week! If you look closely at the patterns, especially dark brown spots around the iris, you might notice that this is in fact the same eye. That's right, I finally bit the bullet and stepped in front of the lens to show you my own eye.

I've always known that my eyes will change color, but never expected to document it. I turned to Trainer Steve to take my pictures because he's also a photographer and this shot takes a steady hand.  Officially, I say my eyes are hazel. The first shot is my happy color: green. The second shot is my angry color: yellowish brown. Yes, I have mood eyes.

The angry eye color was the first shot Steve took and I was really surprised because I wasn't angry at him. Then I realized what had happened: the picture was taken after my workout at the gym. The adrenaline after a tough kettlebell workout does the same thing as someone making me mad. Pretty neat, huh? I brought my camera back in and asked Steve to take a picture of my eye before my workout. He was skeptical of my claim, but there's my proof.

I included the larger versions, but I think you get a better idea of the different colors when they are side by side. In case you were wondering, these are both my right eye and they were both shot in the same room, under the same lighting conditions. I did not enhance the colors in any way.

 Angry Audra

 Happy Audra

Now remember those contraction furrows in the eye I showed you several weeks back? Well, I've got them too. And just one more fun tidbit for you, the only other eye I've seen the horizontal bands in belongs to my cousin.

See, I told you I had special eyes!

Throwback Thursday: Family Vacations

I'm going on vacation next week! What better way to gear up for this than looking through the old family photo albums? Yes, yes, recalling some of my fondest memories here...

Here we are in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1984. I sure do look thrilled. Then again, I'm only four years old, so maybe I hadn't gotten the hang of smiling for pictures yet. On a side note, my brother Jimmy is rocking the Ghostbusters t-shirt while I'm in an R2D2 tank top??? Where is that tank top? I want it back!!!

1985, Plymouth Rock. Ok, I'm not looking very happy in this one either. Nick is clearly having a blast, even if he doesn't have any of his teeth...

1986 at Yankee Stadium. In my defense, we all look pretty annoyed in this picture. At least Nick is pretending like he's having fun while the rest of us are shooting daggers at my father, taking the picture.

Maine fishing trip in 1987. Ok, seriously, who the heck puts their kids in front of a smelly, bloody bin full of dead mackerel and expects a Kodak moment?

Lastly, we have a couple of giddy kids at Hershey's Chocolate World in 1988. It's like Willy Freakin' Wonka; look at the joy and wonder on their faces! Wait a minute...we're not looking all that blissful. I can't understand why. Just look at my teal high top converse sneakers!

Hopefully next week finds me slightly happier than my childhood.*

*My childhood was actually pretty happy and we went on a ton of vacations. Thanks for that Mom and Dad! There were plenty of pictures of us looking happy, I just scanned the angry ones. Honestly, I hated having my picture taken as a kid. I think it was because I was momentarily stopped from having fun and being forced to take a picture. I also think it's hilarious that I'm a photographer. A photographer that to this day, still hates having my picture taken.

Throwback Thursdays

Have you ever Googled your name? I did it the other day and there's a post that still pops up pretty early on. I felt it was time to address this.

Because I really don't want people to get the wrong idea.

In 2001, I recorded a couple trumpet tracks with my friend's band, SiMent. Four years after the release, the band played at Toad's Place in New Haven and they asked me to play with them. That's right, not only do I photograph bands, I've been on stage with one! It was a crazy experience. I couldn't see a thing because the stage lights were so bright and I was completely nervous, but I would do it over again in a heart beat.

I just squirm a little when you search for my name and a video from YouTube pops up named Porn Star.

Here's the video. The brass takes the stage, unannounced about three minutes in, to a roar from the crowd. Pretty darn cool.

So there you have it: Audra Napolitano, Porn Star.