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.

I had a last minute opportunity to participate in a photo shoot in a wonderful old garage in downtown Sacramento with two great (and very handsome) guys and a beautiful woman. Two other photographers also grabbed the opportunity and we all met down at the garage, which was heavily graffiti laden.  There were four huge doors opening into this garage which allowed wonderful, natural light in to the otherwise dark interior. The gentleman above, John, was covered in tattoos, which went quite well with the graffiti.

This is Jonathan and I’ve shot him before, a couple of years ago in Napa.  The garage also provided a wonderful backdrop for him, with his blue eyes and well-built frame. Yes ladies, you can swoon and be envious over my good fortune being able to photograph these men.

John, above, is also a cage fighter.  I don’t know too much about cage fighting except that I understand it can be brutal.  However, John was one of the nicest men I have met in a very long time. He had never participated in a photo shoot before, but he was very natural and easy to work with.

We had a bit of fun with the whole fight scene.  The light was so pretty behind them and the graffiti matched very well with the scene.

As it began to get a bit darker, we decided to go down to Old Town Sacramento to get a couple of sunset shots.  It was a beautiful evening and the subject matter was equally beautiful.

This gal was a gymnast and we thought she looked great in evening clothes with the lights of the Tower Bridge behind her.  She was a delight.

If you would like to have your portrait done for beautiful photos worthy of hanging on your walls, please contact me at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net or 530-647-8120.

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

A couple of weeks ago I attended a photo shoot and workshop in one of my favorite locations, Old Town Sacramento.  I never get tired of shooting there because there is so much excellent background.  For example, the above photo.  The sky didn’t quite look like this, so I tweeked it a little to match more of what was in my imagination when I took the shot.  The light was still beautiful because the sun was on it’s way down.  The bride was gorgeous and extremely cooperative.  This is one of my favorite shots from the day.

Here’s another shot with a model in front of the same pyramid building as above.  Shasta is one of my all-time favorite models to shoot because she is innovative, always interesting and gorgeous.

Two models I have never worked with before are in the next two shots.  Naomi, the redhead, has wonderful red hair and a great look.  I especially enjoyed shooting her with the light coming from behind her.

Another new model (above)  with a great unique and sweet look.  Her hair and skin tones were gorgeous with the yellow.

Beautiful redheads seemed to be in abundance at this shoot.  I especially liked this gal’s eyes and hair color with the wonderful tones of the background.

All in all, it was a great day.  I took quite a few shots and there were many other models.  I’ll try to put up  a few more on another post.

well, the Sacramento Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk competition, that is. (Sacramento, CA USA (Old Sacramento & Railway Museum)) Now…on to the Worldwide competition.

This shot was a last minute edit and entry.  I saw and photographed this train early on in my walk through the museum. I saw lots of other photogs taking pics of this train from all sorts of different angles.  So, I tried my hand at an HDR (3 exposures) of this beauty.

Here’s the original after combining exposures and editing:

Not very dramatic.  Its an okay train photo.

So, I jazzed it up a bit, added some motion, submitted and crossed my fingers.

Now, my photo gets submitted to the Worldwide competition where the other 1100 winners will be submitted.  Some of the world’s best photographers have submitted their photos of the day. The prizes are pretty good:

“…leaders will have one week to choose the winning image from their walk. All of those winning images will then be posted in the People’s Choice gallery where you can vote for the shot you think is the best. The People’s Choice winner will receive a $750 Adorama gift card and a 1-year Kelby Training Online subscription.

While that’s going on, Scott will also be narrowing all of the winning images down to the best of the best to select the top 11 images from the whole event. Those will be the 10 Honorable Mentions (who will receive a $250 Adorama gift card) and the Grand Prize Winner (who will receive a $1000 Adorama gift card and a 1-year Kelby Training Online subscription).”

Somebody tell me to “break a leg”.

These are the people that make the photographers job easy.  Hair and makeup, done properly, can cut down the processing time for me by 10-20 minutes per model.  When I have 5-600 photos to go through, that’s a lot of time for me.  I am very grateful to these hard working artists.

The models are already beautiful, but a good make up and hair artist can turn a beautiful gal into “Drop Dead Gorgeous”.

Also, for brides, I would highly recommend a makeup and hair stylist.  Less stress and they know how to make up your face so that it will look good in pictures.  If you need some recommendations, ask me.

I participated in a photo shoot on Saturday in Old Town Sacramento.  What a fabulous place for pictures. We were able to get some fabulous shots, even though it had been raining on and off all day.

Towards the end of the day, the sky began to break up and we were able to get some great shots with fabulous sky.  Take a gander at the one above one with the Delta King in the background.

This was my last shot of the day.  What could be better?

More photos later.

I did a fun photoshoot in Old Town Sacramento a few weeks ago in a place called “Laughs Unlimited”.  It’s a comedy club and there were some models there to audition for a new fashion designer who will be having a fashion show in Sacramento next month.  It was a lot of fun and I was able to work with some of the models I had worked with before, plus some brand new ones.

Here’s what I mean about it being fun.  The club let the models climb up on the bar for a few cool shots.  In fact, we pretty much had free reign of the place until it got close to time for them to open the club.  Then we moved over to the delta and got some more shots there.

These are a few of my favorite shots from the shoot.

And below, is one of my favorite models (I’ve worked with her a couple of times.)  She s a real pro and I wish her the best of luck in her modeling career.