Enjoy!

Our camera club, El Dorado Camera Club, has been invited to show some of the members photos in the Cameron Park Library.  I have the honor of being the first one to show my prints.  There is room for 6-8 prints and so I have been poring over my photos trying to find a theme and some photos that would represent me as a photographer.  I first thought that I would show my landscapes because it is a library, after all.  But, I don’t think landscapes represent what my passion as a photographer really is.  I love a beautiful landscape, but in the back of my mind I always think a person would really bring the landscape to life.  With that in mind, I’ve chosen several of my portraits for printing and as is always the case, sometimes they look great on the computer screen, but when they are printed, I find things that I don’t like.  So, I’m printing a few extra just in case.

The theme I’ve chosen is “Retro”.  I think these are some good examples of my Retro work.

The above photo of Holly was taken at the Heidrick Ag. Museum in Woodland, CA.  Here are a few more that I took at the same place.

Then, I had a few more shots that I felt fit the theme of “Retro” but were taken at other places and at other times.

This is a bride at a wedding I did last March.

I took this photo at a winery photo shoot in Napa, CA.

This was taken of one of my favorite subjects, Aerolle, at a church in Elk Grove, CA.

And last, but certainly not least, this is my best friend who wanted me to do a photo shoot of her for an upcoming very exciting event (which I will be mentioning in another post.)

I will only use 8 of these in the library (which ought to spice up the library a bit), but the others I will hang in my studio.  I’m printing them 12×18 inches, which is an excellent size for home (or library) use.  I’ll be hanging them next week.  I’m very excited.

Hope you enjoy these.

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”.

I like to do landscape photography, but it’s not really my strong point.  However, I submitted this photo to Snapixel Magazine and it was published last month in their online mag.  Here’s the link:

Sawmill Fishing Hole

This is an HDR photo that I took last fall in South Lake Tahoe.  I saw this weird cloud developing and began to look for a place to capture it.  I knew a million photographers would be over at Emerald Bay or someplace else on the lake and I wanted something a little different.  After trying several places, I settled on this one.  This is a children’s fishing pond that is stocked with trout.  The fishing pole you see belonged to a little boy about 5 years old.  He was there with his father patiently waiting for a fish to grab the line…which happened shortly after this shot.

At any rate, I was also contacted by the Sierra Nevada Geotourism MapGuide (which is a National Geographic publication) to use this very same photo on their map.  The more the merrier, I always say.

Here’s the link:

Sierra Nevada Geotourism MapGuide

Heh…I’m pretty humbled by these honors.

My friend Eric Courtney, who writes for the examiner, wrote an article about me.  Heh…I’m a little gobsmacked.

“Karen Schmautz.  Telling Stories with Photographs”

“This week we focus on talented photographer who specializes in a lot of different areas of photography. You could say she fits in the All of the Above category. It is a category a lot of photographers would like to say they execute well, and many do, but a lot of photographers tend to find comfort in a specific niche, and vary not outside that range of familiarity.  Karen Schmautz is not one of those photographers. She is a self-proclaimed photographic storyteller who seeks beauty in all subjects…”

Click on the above link to read the rest.

I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven…maybe I should raise my rates.  Just kidding. (To be safe, book your weddings and senior portraits now and avoid the rush.)

Here’s a couple more pics from the Retro workshop I attended last Saturday.

PS…Contrary to the rumors, I did not pay Eric money to write the article.