I had the honor of photographing Stephanie, a graduating senior this year.  She is an accomplished pianist and wanted to have her picture taken with a piano.  Well, I just happen to have one, so we were able to take some great shots of her inside with the piano.

Then, she changed outfits and we headed outside where we spent some time in the warm sun.  Her mom was there and since it was the day before Mother’s Day, I took a picture of them together.

Both women were an absolute delight.

Congrats, Stephanie!

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Robert Mondavi Winery

I’ve finished a little bit of editing from my weekend jaunt to Napa, CA.  On Saturday we travelled around to a couple of wineries and a few other scenic spots to take some landscape photos.  We were able to spend about 1/2 hour in the high end Cabernet room at Mondavi.  That was very fun.

Barrel room Robert Mondavi Winery

We also found a little pond with some wildlife and spent about 45 minutes there.

Canadian Goose on Pond

I’m not real fond of Canadian Geese, however I thought this guy looked very charming on this little pond.

Red Winged Black Bird vs. the Great White Heron

We witnessed a battle between a pair of black birds and a Heron. The Heron must have been a little too close to the black birds’ nest so they tried to warn him off.  It was pretty interesting to watch.

We also stopped at several other wineries and I was able to capture some pretty flower pictures.

Dogwood

The above photo was taken at Beringer Winery in St. Helena.  By the time we arrived at this winery, the sun was high in the sky and so I needed to find things in the shade to photograph.

Wisteria

The next day, I spent the entire day at Behren’s Family Winery on top of Spring Mountain.  I was with a group of photographers and some wonderful models.  Here are a couple of my shots:

John in the Wine Cave

Krista

These are two of my favorite models.  I’ve shot them several times over the years and it’s great to see them grow in their modeling careers.  I have lots more shots, but I  haven’t had time to edit them.  I will post more later.

If you want to schedule a fun photo shoot with me, shoot me an email at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net.  I promise it will be quick and fun!

I had the honor of photographing a brand new author, whose Christian Historical Romance Novel will be available in July, 2012, at Amazon.com.  She’s a wonderful woman who has a zest for life, a great sense of humor and a humble spirit.  She was a joy to photograph.  We were able to do a few shots in historic Coloma, CA and then finished up at the historic Church of our Savior in Placerville, CA.  Keli was able to gain access to the church for us, both inside and out.

Keli with her computer

The church was a wonderful backdrop for her author photo shoot since her novel takes place in the 1860′s in El Dorado, CA.

Inside the church

She also donned her period outfit for a few quick shots inside the church.

Keli was a lot of fun and I wish her the best of success on her book.

I made Ina Garten’s Grown Up Mac and Cheese. My son loved it!

I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but the one person outside my family that I have known and loved since her birth (I’m a few months older than she) is giving me the privilege of photographing her daughter’s wedding in September. We both grew up in Placerville and amazingly enough, our dads were best friends all their lives and they grew up in Placerville.  Our families shared a summer home together that our dads had built.  I was in her wedding and she was in mine.  Our friendship has lasted a very long time and I love her as a sister.   So, to be asked to photograph her only daughter’s wedding is an honor for which I have no words.

I did her daughter’s engagement shoot a couple of weeks ago and I am charmed by both Janelle and her fiance, Sebastian. Engagement shoots are a way for the photographer and the bride and groom to get to know each other before the wedding day.  The photographer can work with them on poses and get to know their personalities so that during the wedding, she can capture the best pictures possible.  It’s also a way to develop the necessary relationship between the photographer and couple so that the photos will be real.

I could tell right off that this couple is very much in love and they respect each other very much. Janelle has a dazzling smile and a very sweet personality.  Many times as I was taking her picture, I could see her mom in her.  Sebastian is very much a gentleman and extremely polite.   They were also hecka fun.

Here’s a few more shots from this fun session.

And my favorite…

Congratulations Sebastian and Janelle.  Can’t wait until your wedding.

And here’s a link to their slideshow.

Northern California Coast Line, Sonoma County

On Saturday, I went on a day trip to Bodega Bay with a couple of photog friends. This trip was our second annual trip to the wine and coast area.  Last year we drove down to Napa to see if we could get some good pics of the wild mustard that grows all over Northern California but looks particularly attractive in the vineyards. This year, it was the Sonoma Coastline.

Our first stop was the little town of Bodega, where part of the Hitchcock film, The Birds, was filmed.

The Church in Bodega

This was the little church in the movie.  It really is a charming little church that is extremely well maintained and quite active.

Schoolhouse

This was the school in the movie, The Birds. It is now a private residence and because we did not want to disturb the residents, we took a quick couple of pictures and then moved on. The house does not quite look like this today, but I wanted to make it look a little more like what it looked like in the movie.

After this, we headed down to Bodega Bay and had a bite to eat at a little deli in town.  Then we went up the coast to look for some likely places to do some photography.

Windy Beach

I don’t know what the name of this beach was because I forgot to write it down, but when we got out of the car we were almost blown away from the wind and the sea spray was all over us and our cameras.  I took this picture, but it was so windy I could hardly hold the camera still.

Fort Ross Forest

So we drove further up the coast to go visit the Historic Russian fort, Fort Ross.  There was not much wind there and it gave us a chance to stretch our legs and take some photos without the wind blowing us over.

Fort Ross

After we walked around there, took pictures and read about the history a little, we headed back to Goat Rock to see if we could catch a decent sunset.  We had been there earlier in the day, but it was way to windy to take any kind of decent pic.  We were hoping that the wind would die down as the sun went down.

We got there a little early and huddled in the car until the sun began to go down.  Then we braved the elements, grabbed our tripods and trudged to the end of the cliff.  It was well worth the effort.

Hole in the Rock

And my favorite pic of the day…

Roger Aylstock and Steve Batz and Sonoma Coast

These two guys, Roger Aylstock and Steve Batz,  are two of the best photographers that I have ever had the privilege of knowing.  I consider them my mentors along with being my friends. They tolerate my silliness and eccentricities (although I do get a lot of good-natured drubbing about it.)   It was a good trip.

  Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1] Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or “Wild West“-era United States—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. This technology includes such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or the contemporary authors Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfeld and China Mievill

My friend and photographer, Roger Aylstock, organized a Steampunk photo shoot a couple of weekends ago.  He invited me and fellow photographer, Steve Batz, to attend.  I brought two of my favorite people along to model, my oldest son, Christopher, and his girlfriend, Amber.  We also had several other models.  The idea was to dress everyone up in great costumes, photograph them in front of a plain backdrop and later extract them and put them in a made up backdrop or different background. (See picture above.)

Here’s the original photo:

Here’s a few more from the same shoot.

Amber finds some jewels hidden in the book

I added her glasses in post along with all the background elements. (Steampunk elements and backgrounds provided by Tangie Baxter at scrapbookgraphics.com)

Here is the original photo.

And here is the finished photo.  (Elements and backgrounds provided by Tangie Baxter at scrapbookgraphics.com)

And here is my oldest son, Christopher.

This shoot was a lot of fun, and I hope to be attending a steampunk photoshoot again in June.

Pizza with veggies and meat (under all the veggies)

Most women I know envy me.  Not because I’m a photographer or extremely clever or any of that other stuff.  They envy me because my husband is a wonderful cook.  We call him Yes! Chef! around here.  I’m also lucky that I am able to memorialize his creations with my photography.  The above photo is an example of his creation.  Notice the celery…which added a delicious crunch.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Another thing he makes that is so tasty is spaghetti and meatballs.  I’ve never really tasted noodles as good as how he makes them.  The meatballs are juicy and tender…never dry.  In fact, they taste way better than I can make them look.

Roast Chicken Sunday Chicken

Yes! Chef! makes roast chicken almost every Sunday and so we call it Roast Chicken Sunday Chicken. It is absolutely delicious.  There is nothing better than a perfectly cooked roast chicken.  It is a simple pleasure.

Roast Chicken Sunday Chicken Soup

Oh! and after the Roast Chicken Sunday Chicken comes home made soup made with stock from roasted bones, leftover veggies and wonderful noodles. It is wonderful.

Makings for banana bread

Raw ingredients.

Banana Bread

A final pic of the banana bread…that I MADE!  It actually turned out pretty good.  Yes! Chef! probably would have done it better.  But, he couldn’t take a better pic than me.  Ha!

I’m available to photograph your food for your blog or website or just to have a wonderful canvas to hang on your wall.  Contact me at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net for details.

Check out my personal food blog site here:  We Call Him Yes! Chef!

Her Ride

I have been a little lax lately in posting on the blog, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to the Sacramento Executive Airport and photograph some great men and women, some were models, some were wanting to be models and some were just there for the fun of it. I always have fun at these sort of events and I get to practice with my posing and sometimes, my lights.

After Hours

I love to photograph John (above).  He always comes prepared with great clothes and good poses.

Polka Dots

I saw this gal with the cutest outfit and then I looked around and found this plane with the same color stripe as what she was wearing. Ha!  Boy, did I think I was clever.  She struck the perfect pose.

Where is my ride?

Those of you who have followed me for a while will recognize Krista (above).  She is charming, polite, darling, sweet and (insert only wonderful adjectives here).  Plus, she can pose up a storm and does anything I ask her to do with style. Here, I wanted her to pretend like she was waiting for her airplane to arrive.

Push up...

Here’s Jonathan showing off his muscles.  I was impressed.  And, he did this several times.  I’ll try to get to a few more pics later on, but I do have to show off my Steam Punk Photo shoot…

Stay tuned.

If you would like to do a photo shoot just for fun, a mini shoot with me may be in your future.  Contact me at schmautzhaus@sbcglobal.net.

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.