Commissioning Day for Aly

So now I have a half of a month for which to catch you up. You can catch up over a couple of days if you find it’s a bit overwhelming to look at 15 pictures in one sitting.  I should never have let my blog go this long, but life does come up. The above picture was taken of my youngest son while we were waiting for Aly (my daughter) to be commissioned at her church for her mission to Africa. It’s not a very good picture…kinda artsy…but it provides an emotion that we were all feeling.  We were happy for my daughter, but sad that we would not see her for 5 months.

Day 16: My husband's Yummy Spaghetti

It seems that whenever I run out of good ideas, I return to taking pictures of my husband’s food.  It is always yummy and he always plates it attractively (even if it’s just for the fam.)  This particular recipe had sausage in it and a little kick from something spicy.  It was a winner.

Day 17: My Shower

I confess that I stole this idea from one of my contacts on Flickr. I wanted to do a little stop action with water and thought my shower was the best place to try it.

Day 18: Fungi

Saw this on a walk with the dog.  I’m not very happy with it, so I won’t make any other comments. Suffice it to say that I was lazy again on day 18.

Day 19: Class time

I took a class from Kevin Focht over a PPSOP.com called “Posing Men”.  It was only a 2 week class and I might have mentioned it in another blog post.  This assignment had to do with getting the right light using strobes or small flashes. This was not one of the photos I turned in.  It was the first one I took and it had the expression I see on Patrick’s face all the time when he looks at me like I’m a little crazy. Anyway, maybe I can sell it on the microstock market.

Day 20: Steak for dinner

What did I tell you?  When I run out of ideas, Yes! Chef (my husband) to the rescue.  We have not had steak for a long time and I got a couple of T-bones on sale.  My husband cooked them to perfection and served them with my favorite veggie:  green beans.  I couldn’t eat the whole steak, so I ate it over two days.  But it was quite tasty. That’s Yes! Chef in the background.

Day 21: Obie waits patiently for his evening cookie

I’m sensing a theme here.  I wait until the end of the day and then I have nothing to take a picture of, so I point my camera at either the dog, my husband or my youngest (if he’s around.)  This could turn into a real boring year if this pattern continues.

Day 22: A tree runs from the storm trailing her hair behind her

At last I had some really great subjects because a snowstorm hit the area.  To me it looked like a woman’s hair blowing in the wind as she ran from the storm.  I rather like this photo. (Pats herself on the back)

Day 23: a photo for a motion challenge

I joined a photographer’s weekly challenge on Facebook.  For this week, the challenge was “Motion”.  I set these flowers up in front of my window, put my camera on a tripod and zoomed my lens out while using a very slow shutter speed.  As much as I enjoyed making this photo (and believe me I spent about an hour zooming in on all kinds of different subjects), sadly, I didn’t win the Challenge.  I use this same technique at weddings during the dancing at the reception.  It adds a bit of motion to the shot rather than having people frozen in time in some silly dancing pose.

Day 24: Frustration Sets in

You know it’s beginning to get pretty desperate when the photographer takes a picture of a photographer taking a picture.  I thought the idea was a good one and spent quite a bit of time on this project.  The results were not quite what I had in mind.

This would be a good time to take a break and stretch your legs a bit, even though the rest of the pictures are pretty dang good…

Okay.  The next day I joined at 365 Project where the members are sent an email every day with a theme.  I had to wait one day before I got my first theme, so here’s my last lame-o theme-less picture.

Day 25: Let's make banana bread

My husband was out of town and he mentioned that I shouldn’t throw away the bananas because we could make bread out of them.  So, while he was gone I did just that.

Day 26: Theme Windows

Now that I actually have some direction because I’m receiving a theme every day, I can start taking some meaningful pics.  The idea of this Take-a-photo-a-day-for-a-year Project is to improve my photography and stretch what little creativity I have into something more.  I again turned to my youngest son and because in my photography eyes are where the personality is, I thought I would do a riff on eyes being the window to the soul. He is actually looking into one of my Ipad (Eyepad) apps that simulate a window and window light.  But, it made a really nice catchlight in the shape of a window. Yes! (Pumps her fist in the air.)

Day 27: Clouds

The theme that came in my email on Day 27 was: Clouds.  Just my luck!  Not a cloud in the sky.  So, I solicited the help of my oldest son and his girlfriend to set up this shot outside in the blazing cloudless sky. It seemed a lot better in my head.  But, I am learning.

Day 28: Texture

I bet you didn’t think that I actually made banana bread.  How wrong you were.  In this case, I was able to practice my food photography using the bread and my strobes. Banana bread has great texture.

Day 29: Water

New theme in the email:  Water.  Again, I  used my strobes to try depict the wetness of water.  This theme was very fun.  I think I’m beginning to like this project.

Day 30: Symmetry

A little tougher theme for me.  I pondered it for quite a while until I spied my grandmother’s Trifle Dish between the slats of my dining room chair.  It’s not the best picture in the world, but it is somewhat creative and demonstrates the theme.

Day 31: Winter

Hmmm…theme for this day was Winter.  We hadn’t had any sort of clouds or winter-like weather since that little snowstorm that blew thru.  In fact, temps were in the high 50′s.  So, a friend of mine suggested that I set up a little scene that would look like winter.  I got out my snow boots and gloves, put them by the furnace and poured a little water on them to make them look like they were all drippy.  Voila:  Winter!

And that was the end of my first month.  My goal is to improve my photography and my creativity.  Hopefully by day 366, I will see improvement in both.

If you stayed until the end, or came back to view the rest of my photos I congratulate you. I will also reward you with  a free 8×10 if you book a mini shoot with me by the end of February.  Code:  ISAWALLTHEPHOTOS.  Contact me at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net.

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.

Edmond Finds a Girlfriend

Edmond apparently got into my digital scrapbooking stash overnight and created a few items for me. Ever since he saw the Shelf Elf with the cute Barbie in a flashy Barbie car, he’s been busy trying to find a suitable companion for himself. He rummaged around until he found “Cookie”, but she came with a reindeer chaperone. He seemed to be okay with that because she is such cute “arm candy”.

He also got into the spirit of Christmas decorating by decorating a Christmas Card.

Edmond's Christmas Card

I don’t think he understands the fine art of subtlety.  Here’s a piece of advice, Edmond: Less is more.

Anyway, my oldest son and his darling girlfriend stopped by last night on their way to a Christmas party at a local winery (Miraflores).  So I snapped a few photos of them while they were here and all dolled up. I put together a sweet little Christmas card with one of the pics.

Of course, not to be outdone, Edmond had to get into the act and again inserted himself (literally)…

Edmond inserts himself

It’s kind of  ironic that Edmond would do this to an otherwise lovely Christmas card because my oldest has always been a ham and frequently tweeks me by doing something goofy in a picture.  Payback is a bother.

I don’t know where he gets his weird sense of humor…

Anyway, as I was getting ready to post this, I happened to find this very lovely Christmas card underneath a pile of digital scrapbooking stuff that Edmond neglected to put away.  My sentiments exactly.

.

Never a dull moment around here.

If you’d like to have a portrait to help you remember these types of moments, contact me at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net

Santa Obie T. Dogg

So…maybe you’ve noticed that I decorated my blog for Christmas.  I got up early this morning, lugged all the virtual boxes down from the attic, cranked up the Christmas music and decorated my heart out.  If you stop by, you are likely to catch the fever and end up with a Santa Hat on your Facebook profile, or some such nonsense.  (Obie T. really is happy about Christmas.)

I always like to take a peek at my pics from the previous Christmas at the Schmautzhaus just to be reminded of the decorations and the activities that we did.  I apparently took some photos of some of my decorations last year and now I can’t wait to bring them all down and decorate up the house.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Christmas makes me happy.

Last weekend I was out with a bunch of really good photog and model friends at the Sugar Mill in Clarksburg, CA. We were having a wonderful time shooting pretty people and using different gear and socializing.  One of the photogs is my friend Todd Petrik of Todd Petrik Photography.  While we were there he asked if I could take a couple of pics of him for his business and a pic or two of his family for his Christmas Pictures.  Needless to say I was highly honored and did not have to be asked twice. Here are some of the pics I took for him.

Mark Behrens coaches one of Todd’s daughters

And finally, a Christmas card designed by Sierra Springs Photography and Natalie Designs.  There’s still time to set up your family mini-shoot for Christmas Cards.

I mentioned that I had attended a workshop and portfolio building photoshoot for models and aspiring models a couple of weeks ago on a rice farm in Williams, CA.  Here’s a little bit of behind the scenes and a little bit of my finished product.

Or, go here for full screen: Workshop on a Rice Farm

It was a long day, but great fun!

If you like what you see and you would like to have some great looking photos like these, send me an email at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net and we can set you up!

He Could Be Superman

I would like to take this time to thank my family for helping me with my assignments for an Electronic Flash class that I just finished up over at Picture Perfect School of Photography.  The class was taught by Bryan Peterson and Charlie Borland online.  I enjoyed the class, but sometimes I felt like my eyes were crossing trying to figure out the “Geeky” part of the class.  However, both instructors were encouraging and willing to answer any questions that we asked.  I also enjoyed seeing the work of other photogs.

The above photo was taken of my youngest son for my last assignment.  I had fun using two flashes on either side of him, which gives a unique look to the photo.  He must have enjoyed it, too, because he’s using this photo as his Facebook profile pic.  He also helped me out on another assignment, below.

The Sky's the Limit

I took him over to a small lake located near our house and we shot a couple of photos looking up into the sky.  The flash was used to add a little fill light on the non-sun side of his face. Oh! And here he is again helping me with a two flash set up, again.  He didn’t really have to do anything in this shot except look up when I called to him.  He was busy working on his computer and listening to his music.

DJ

My kids are so used to me taking photos of them, that they don’t really notice it too much anymore.  “It’s just something mom does.” Speaking of kids, I caught my daughter yesterday when she came over to use the community pool.  I already had the flashes set up from the Superman shoot that I did with her brother.  So, I just sat her down in our rather embarrassingly sparse grass and asked her to give me a few poses.  She always has people to see and things to do, so I had to make it fast.  We took about 20 photos and it took about 20 minutes from set up to the final snap of my camera.  See, it doesn’t have to be painful.

Taking a peek

Although, I did not use the below photo for my class, I liked the way it turned out. He’s such a good sport.

Beam me up...

The last photo was a concept I had in mind and since the Schmautz family always likes to get together and celebrate…it was the perfect opportunity. Luckily, I have a bunch of hams in my family, so this type of shot is not hard to do.

Surprise!

So…I had a great time and learned much in the flash class. If you want to find out what goes on in my household when the fam gets together…check out this Vimeo.

Schmautzhaus Father’s Day, 2011

I would love to make some great portraits of you with my new-found flash skills.  Contact me at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net to set up an appointment.

Last night I had the honor of attending my son’s high school graduation ceremony.  It was cold and pouring down rain, but after a while it stopped raining and we could enjoy the ceremony.  I didn’t bring my big gun camera (canon 7d) because I didn’t want it to get wet, but filmed the whole thing with my little Canon G12 (I love that camera) which I wore around my neck and it fit snugly under the umbrella.

My daughter helped me out a bit with the filming, so I made a slide show of the whole event.  Enjoy.

Congratulations, Pat.  Your dad and I are very proud of you!

NEW! NEW! NEW!  UPDATED! updated with new video! click on link below!

Patrick Gets Graduated…New and Improved

I had the pleasure and honor of photographing a wonderful family this past weekend.  I’ve known Steve Batz for a couple of years mostly because we are both photographers and I’ve shot with him several times. I’ve known him to be a kind, good humored, low-key personality, who happens to be an excellent photographer.  However, when you put him together with the three beautiful women in his life, his personality blossoms.  I spent a sunny afternoon with them in a park nearby their home and they were all kinds of fun. You can tell by looking at these photos that they are a fun-loving family who enjoy being together.

I put together a quick slideshow or our shoot.  Enjoy.

Thanks, Batz family, for letting me spend a few hours capturing your unique family personality.  It was an honor.

On the Chopping Block

Creamy Smooth Mashed Potatoes

The finished product: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

Hope you enjoyed watching.  We sure enjoyed eating it.