366 Project Day 8

If all else fails, take a picture of my husband’s food.  My husband (I call him “Yes! Chef”) is one of the best cooks I know.  He studied under a local chef (John Evans of Zack Jack’s) for a year or so working in his restaurant.  He also does some catering for some of the local wineries.  Cooking is his hobby and passion, not his vocation.  One of the reasons I took a couple of food photography courses over at ppsop.com is because I wanted to photograph my husband’s food.  So, as I go thru this daily challenge of taking a meaningful photo every day, more than a few of them will undoubtedly be of my husband’s food.  The above shot is of some Bangers and Mash that he made with some sausages he got from my brother as a Christmas present.

Yes! Chef's Chicken Noodle Soup

Oh!  What’s this?  Another shot of Yes! Chef’s food.  Anybody that knows our family, knows that if it’s Sunday, my husband makes Roast Chicken.  We call it Roast chicken Sunday and I look forward to it every week.  The day after Roast Chicken Sunday, we roast the leftover bones and make stock.  Then we frequently make Roast Chicken Sunday soup. It was most tasty!

She will float away if you don't hold on to her...

My daughter called me on Day10 and asked if I would do a quick photo shoot with her and her boyfriend because she was getting ready to leave for a Mission in Africa and they wanted some pictures of themselves while they were apart (5 months).  I’m always happy to take photos of my family and especially happy to take photos of people that are happy…especially with each other.  This is just one of the photos I captured that I especially liked.  If you would like to see a little slideshow I made of the event, go here:  The Adventures of Aly and Brian.

Day 11...editing

I wish I could show a more creative and exciting photo for Day 11, but I spent the whole day delightedly editing my daughter’s photo session.

Day 12

The point of this daily challenge is not to take snapshots (see Day 11), but to think about the photo that you will take each day.  In the end, my photography should improve.  Here is a set up I used earlier in the year and I wanted to try out my snoot on my flash. It didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted, but this is a learning experiment.

Day 13...what the heck?

After my celebration experiment on Day 12, I gathered up the confetti (really some of our shredded paperwork) and placed it on some black shiny plexiglass next to our window.  I liked the colorful reflection and I thought the confetti would add some interest.  Maybe not.  As I said, this is a photographic journey…so back off.

Day 14: Sunset in Old Town Sac Town

I had the opportunity to do a little photo shoot in Sacramento on day 14. Around sunset we headed down to the river and I caught this shot.  I love to use this building as a backdrop for some of my portraits.  It is a pretty building all by itself.

Well (dusts off her hands)…another week done.

Want a fun photo shoot for a Valentine’s Day present?  You and your honey can have a quick photoshoot like I did for my daughter and her boyfriend along with a quick slide show.  The photoshoot took less than an hour. Contact me at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net for the details.

What a great time we had in Napa Valley this weekend.  The whole weekend was devoted to photography.  Saturday was spent studying landscape photography with the help of landscape photographer Dean Gufstason.  I learned so much from him.  He is an excellent photographer (click on his name to go to his web page) and was extremely helpful and kind.

Sunday, we journeyed up to the private Behren’s Family Winery where we literally had the run of the place.  I have lots of photos to edit, but I’ve put a few here for your enjoyment.

I’ll probably do a little slideshow later on and I may add some more to the blog by way of a light box, or something.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun.  Thanks to Mark Behrens for putting the whole thing together.  Disneyland for photographers, indeed.

It was tough to pick because I had so many fantastic people that I was fortunate enough to photograph this past year.  Thanks to all those who touched my life with beauty and grace and down right fun.

Enjoy

I’ve been wanting to do an E-Session (engagement photos) for a while, but I can’t find any victims who would entrust me with taking their photos of such an important event.  (Shakes head in wonder.)  So, I bugged my oldest son and his girlfriend to come visit me.  I offered dinner in exchange for their cooperation.  They are not engaged and I did not refer to my photo shoot as an E-session.  But, they are very cute together.  They were both a little self-conscious at first, but I did manage to get a couple of posed photos of them.

Then, right before we left,  I got the idea to give them each a flash brella to play with.  At first my son looked at me like I was crazy, but I encouraged him to play and so he did a little dance for his girlfriend who found the whole thing delightful.  Frankly, I was laughing so hard that I almost didn’t get the photos.  Anyway…here’s two of my favorites.  I’ll probably post some more tomorrow.