Back to the Old Boring Blog

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” —George Bernard Shaw

I’ve been through a pandemic, so have you. We’ve been stuck inside and forced to do things differently. Things are just different, very different, and we are all different too. 

Here I am again.

I’ve been here before—many times. I’ve been all of the things for all of the people in all of the careers. I think that just about covers it. I’ve been back to this blog, time and time again, a love-hate relationship with photography. Hey, guess what? I’m back to fishing after 30+ years … but first, let’s try Mary Kay; oh, did I forget to mention Insurance sales? Oh, I really meant Real Estate … you get the picture.

Here I am again. Doing the only thing which has been constant since I was little—I’m writing. Maybe, in the beginning, it wasn’t on a Mac, or an iPad, or iPhone; in fact, I know it wasn’t, since none of those things were even a seed in the belly of technology at that time. Paper. The smell of paper and the sound of a pen leaving a trail of my thoughts on the page, and only time, water, and fire can make them disappear.

I’m back. After two years of school and a degree in writing and photography, I’ve come back to where I first sent my thoughts and writing out into the void of the internet to see what would come back. I have very few followers; you could count them on the one hand. Really, you actually can since I have exactly five followers. Surprisingly, what came back were very kind words from five people who stuck with me over ten years of trying to find my way. 

I can’t believe I ever left. I’m sorry I left.

I decided to resurrect my blog; it has been waiting patiently in a shallow grave for the last two years. I missed telling stories, sharing my photos, some of my memories, and maybe there was even a response back from somewhere within the void. I forgot how important it was for me to tell stories. I am a storyteller. Whether it is with my camera, computer, pen, or voice, I was made to tell stories. I have always written my stories to have significant meaning, maybe not as important, as an epic poem, a fable, or myth. But they have always had a purpose, connected with the heart, and left the reader thinking about things differently. I feel we all could use something to connect us with our hearts in times like this. 

So — I’m back.

This time I won’t pretend like I wasn’t destined to do this; I know I was. I have rekindled my love with photography, so I’ve even picked my camera back up. I’m ready to take some incredibly meaningful photos. I’m a little rusty, so if you need a portrait or headshot, give me a shout. I could use the practice.

I went back through every blog post I’ve written over the last 10 years, and I saw so many things I wanted to rewrite, change the phrasing of, the punctuation, and spelling. But then I got honest with myself, and sometimes we need to do that. I am only in competition with myself to make myself better today than I was yesterday. I left every misspelling, comma splice, incomplete sentence, blurry photo, and run-on sentence right where it was. If you want to see how technically flawed a writer and photographer I was, go ahead and read my old posts, there are some doozies. If you’re wanting to read some good stories, go ahead and read my old posts, there are a few I’m still proud of, even without the corrections. 

I’m back, flaws in plain view, humble, and ready to step into shoes I’ve been tiptoeing around since I was 8 years old. 

My name is Corinne Noel North-Fuller and I’m a storyteller. 

I write sentences. I take photos.

I hope you’ll stay and see what happens next. 

To my faithful five — thank you ❤️ and here we go again!

— Corinne Noel 

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Take time to smell the roses!

The reason for this post started out as an excuse to play with my new 100mm macro lens 🙂 I love how close I can get to see the real details on things and how the rest of the background is just a beautiful fluffy, blurry mess! Anyway, I have roses in my front yard and I saw one of my peach Tea roses was in perfect bloom when I took Anderson to school at 5:30 this morning. After running both kids to schools, making sandwiches and breakfast, I quickly ran to  my camera bag to snap a few photos of my rose before anything else came up. I took a few quick photos and then one of my sisters called, she wanted to stop by and borrow a camera for the day. My family doesn’t just “stop by” anywhere! I think I might be the biggest talker in my family, but we all were given the gift of the gab from my grandmother Elsa. Beth showed up at the house, we talked & talked, she cut Winston’s toenails for me, (thanks again Bethie) we talked some more, I gave her a book “power of a praying woman” and we talked some more. Well, 2 1/2 hours later, she was finished stopping by 😉  I realized that it was almost noon and Bret would be home for lunch & I have done nothing!

Okay, if I honestly look at my day, it was full 🙂 I was able to care for my family and make them feel special & to let them know how much I love them. I sat and had a really great talk with my sister 🙂 I loved that! I’m sitting here writing my blog and I have this photo of this amazing rose and the best part of all, I can’t even share with you. This rose is the sweetest smelling rose, when you smell it you immediately think of women from the 20’s wearing lace petticoats, laced up boots and girdles. It’s that fragrant and the scent is just beautiful! Thank you God for reminding me that life is in the small things. Life isn’t in how clean your house is, if you checked everything off your to-do list or if you have the biggest house on your block. Life is about taking time to listen to people, noticing a flower in bloom, staying in bed a little longer to cuddle, tickling little toes, tents in the living room, dirty faces and a bug collection 🙂 In short…take time to STOP and smell the roses…they are simply magical and beautiful 🙂

So…you’re graduating this year…really!

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Well, it’s that time of the year folks, when all of our 17 & 18 years olds are getting ready to have their senior photos done. Being a photographer, this is a great time of the year for me, for the kids, they love it, because they get to express themselves the way they want to. The parents on the other hand are having a rough time to put it lightly. Moms all over the country are coming close to the day where they have to let their little guys and girls, which are almost adults, off the apron strings, out into the big bad world to fend for themselves. Well that and they are faced with the cost of Senior Photos, Graduation parties, graduation gifts and the most expensive of them all…college.

Now that we have placed all the cards on the table, let talk about the least expensive of the four and the most fun, in my personal opinion 🙂 Senior Photos!!! Okay, senior photos do not mean for the elderly, they are for graduating 12th graders to put in their yearbooks and parents to hang on their walls. Senior photos have changed A LOT in the last 10-15 years, really! Gone are the days of the dreaded black drape and tux that schools required everyone to be photographed in. Today seniors are sporting all of their favorite clothes, sitting on a vintage mustang, riding their horses, jamming on a guitar or just showing off their style. These photo sessions are no longer 2 minutes in a chair, turn to the left, okay to the right, face forward, okay now you’re done. Todays seniors have full-blown fashion photo sessions with lights, music to get them in the groove, don’t forget the props, 4 to 7 outfits with matching shoes and several locations. Yes, things have really changed.

Gone is the day where you order prints in a small package like regular school photos. Gone is the day when your friends will only see your photo in the year book or the 8 x 10 your Mom framed on the mantle. Today’s teens are having business cards with their photos on them with all their contact information on it, so their friends will always know how to get in touch after graduation. The kids and parents get 12×12 photo table books made of their favorite photos, to show everyone. The parents are putting 30×40 & 40×60 canvases or metallic prints on their walls. Things have really changed!

So, remember to find someone who will allow your senior son or daughter to express themselves and be prepared for this to be a very special time for them. This is their time to show the world who they really are. I’m really excited for this senior picture season, I hope that you are too…oh and Moms, I’ll be right where you are in about 3 years. I’ll need advice, a shoulder to cry on and lots of scholarships 😉

If you need senior portraits or any portraits, give me a call, I would love to capture your style 🙂

Corinne Noel 941.266.3972

Focusing in on your gift!

The title of my blog today is a double entendre. Let me clarify that I’m not an English scholar, however I do have a teenager in high school who is teaching me all over again what these fancy grownup words are 😉  Usually I would use something like this to be clever or funny, since I’m a photographer, you focus with a camera…oh you get the idea. Most people who really know me, think I’m funny, or they know that I think I’m funny. Today I’m coming from a different place…my serious side.

Much in the way that a beginner photographer and some amazing professional photographers make everything in the photo perfectly clear and easy to see, that is how my photography has been. There is an effect that you get with some lenses that causes blur around your image, it’s called “Bokeh” pronounced like Boca. If done correctly & I don’t mean with the presets in Photoshop, if done correctly, it is the most beautiful effect ever. The part of the image that you want to focus on, is in perfect clear focus, while the rest of the background is a creamy blanket of blurry, erasing away the rest of what might distract you from what you really want others to see.

My fabulously wonderful husband, demonstrating bokeh & his muscle beach pose!

Okay, so here comes the serious stuff. I am applying a type of bokeh to my business. I’m going to blur out some of the styles of photography and bring into focus a smaller more defined style. While the others are still there, they are part of the original photo, they just won’t be showcased right now.  Do you get me? Okay, here goes the too tired to connect the lines version. I’m going to focus only on Lifestyle Portrait Photography. In a nut shell, I will be photographing children, teens, toddlers and their families. Whether it will be in their environment as  documentary style or outside for natural lighting portraits. I want to stay true to what I love doing. I may still do a wedding every now and then, I will still help out the charities & shelters that I’ve always helped and I will continue with my fine art photography.

I really feel that God is moving me into a teens ministry using portraiture. I want to help teens find their inner beauty, worth, love, respect for self and then show it in a gallery setting where they can invite their friends and family. The teens will be able to display who they really are and not who the world wants them to be. Well, this is just a small step in that direction, but you never know who might be able to help me get closer to where I am going.

So, I would like to introduce to you…Corinne Noel Photography † Lifestyle Portrait Photography

At what moment did you realize you wanted to be a photographer?

I woke up yesterday morning about 3:30…yes it’s REALLY early, but I didn’t mind. I took a shower,  loaded up my car with necessities and headed off to Orlando. It’s about a 2 1/2 hour drive, I was a little excited to get there, so…it only took me 2 hours (must have had angels blocking all the police radar guns!) Anyway, I was going to Orlando to a conference for wedding & portrait photographers international WPPI. They had some of the most amazing speakers there, really pushing us to step outside of the box, to feel more & fear less. One of the speakers asked us to ask ourselves, when did you first know you wanted to be a photographer?

I tried to trace it all back to my childhood, other than smiling while looking through National Geographic magazine, nothing! So, I fast forwarded to when I was stationed in Germany in 1990, I was 20 years old. A very specific photo came to mind. I remember while in Germany, I was standing in the train station with some friends waiting to take my first ride on a real train. I had my little disposable camera with 110 film in it, ready to shoot the beautiful buildings and castles along our ride. While we were waiting, my friends were talking & I noticed a little German girl with her Grandma. The Grandma was standing up on the luggage cart while the little girl pushed her around, they were both laughing away. I remember how happy I was to notice what my friends had overlooked. I pulled out my camera quickly and snapped a photo. I’ve held on to this photo for over 20 years. It’s not a great photo and most people would have no idea what the photo is about, but I do. When I took this photo, I knew at that moment that I wanted to be a photographer. I wanted to document life as it happens. I wanted to capture pieces of happiness and share them with people. I love what I do…I’m a photographer 🙂

Georgia on my mind…

Yesterday I had the pleasure to photograph some pretty awesome little friends! There is a local pet rescue in Sarasota called “Gimme Shelter” it’s run by some amazingly selfless people who open their homes to these little sweeties until they are adopted. I was looking for a friend for our pug Winston, so I visited their website & thought that maybe they could  use some help showing the REAL personalities of these furry characters. I spoke with Michelle on the phone, she was grateful for the offer. Little did I know she was doing more for me than I could ever do for her.

I was greeted by Derek and a couple of his pals at the door and then they introduced me to the whole gang. I had such a great time and I feel in love with one little girl there…Georgia. Georgia sweetie, you stole my heart, just wish I had a bigger home. Maybe the bigger home with a fenced in backyard fairy will come tonight and I’ll be over in the morning to bring you HOME 🙂

I went there to help and they helped me to see how there are such wonderful pets waiting for a home, waiting to become part of a family. Stop breeding more animals, stop paying breeders for fullbred animals that push other animals to the point of being put down. I feel bad that we bought a pug! I won’t buy another animal, only adoptions for me…’cause I ‘ve got Georgia on my mind!