I was fortunate to be able to participate in a photo shoot at the California Museum in Sacramento, CA. It was a fun place with colorful walls, great architectural details and wonderful exhibits. The models were gorgeous and fun to shoot.  The event was put on by Mark Behrens and, as usual, was run professionally and smoothly.

I love these events because I get to meet other photographers and learn from them.  I also get to work with up and coming models and I end up with great photos.  Here is but a small sampling of some of the shots I got from this event.

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.

]]> http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/2010/01/25/old-town-sacramento/feed/ 0 http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/2009/03/11/pin-up-photo-shoot/ http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/2009/03/11/pin-up-photo-shoot/#comments Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:39:26 +0000 Karen Schmautz http://sierrasprings.commanderdata.com/?p=448

I attended a Pin Up and Classic Car Photo shoot a couple of weekends ago.  It was located at the fabulous Heidrick Agricultural Museum in Woodland, CA.   It has all sorts of cool old agricultural equipment and old cars and fire engines and such.  One of the most interesting things is a full size 1956 pickup made entirely out of wood…including the engine.  That was pretty amazing.

However, throw in some pin up models and you have yourself a real humdinger (little agriculture talk, there.)

Now, I think the above photo epitomizes the 1940′s era Pin Up Girls.  The hair, the makeup and the pose.  The dress (I think it’s rubber or latex or something) not so much, but it sure is form fitting.

Also, a bunch of classic cars were on site and so the models posed on these wonderful old cars.  The cars were provided by “The Poor Boys Club” of Sacramento.  The two gals above were sitting in the back of a wonderful old station wagon.  (Please be advised that I know nothing about old cars but I do know what is cool…and this car was cool.)  I love the pops of red in this photo and I wish I had gotten more photos of this darling redhead…I mean look at that hair and those eyes, will ya.

Okay, here’s a shot of a cool car, a pin up model in the cool car, a cool poor boy watching the cool pin up model in the cool car.  There’s also lots of photographers milling around waiting trying to get “THE” shot.  Notice, that I am not doing a very good job of trying to get “THE” shot, but having fun anyway.

Now, here’s the other side of the same cool car (am I in a rut?)  This shot is probably a little different from most of the shots that the other photographers got.  They, and most of them were male, had a different priority than I did.  Their priorities were more like:  1.  Shoot the girl, 2. Shoot the girl with the car, 3.  Shoot the car, 4.  Shoot the girl with the dog.  5.  Shoot the girl.  I was more fascinated with showing the girl as an accessory for the dog than the other way around…and yes, I do see things a little differently than most, or so I’ve been told.  The other advantage I had over the guys, is that I don’t think they would be gutsy enough to cut the head off the model as they’ve been told all their life that all they are interested in is…well, things other than a woman’s head.  Heh.  Advantage me (a girl).

A lot of the Pin Ups had tats.  This darling gal had only one that I could discern and it went so well with her shoes that I had to get a shot.  I also thought that the white walls of the other car (in the background) looked kinda like a quarter moon…or not.  Anyway, I liked the look of it (again I haven’t shown her face.)

And finally…may favorite photo.  This is Ed and he’s a docent at the museum.  He told me that he was a college professor before he retired.  He had a great sense of humor and didn’t mind me taking a photo of him.  (You are probably wondering where all my pin up shots are…

Maybe I’ll put some more up later on.

In honor of Valentine’s Day (which I love), I thought I would revisit Preston Castle and the Pin Up Girls.  I love the way they use red, especially on their lips, to the vintage feel of their look.  In the above photo, I took this in the rather scary basement of Preston Castle.  It was very dark down there, but the textures and colors on the walls were quite amazing and worked well with red.  Here I have her looking towards the basement door, which is wide open behind me and my camera, to get the light on her face.  She has a wonderful bemused look on her face and she had to stand quite still in order for me to get this shot.

Here are the other two pin up girls at the photo shoot.  Note the great red color on their lips and the bright red flower in the one gal’s hair.  This shot was taken in the “back yard” of the castle.  You can see in the next photo that the back yard is really a huge open area of poured cement.  These gals were so much fun.  They had the poses and exaggerated pin up looks nailed.

As you can see, this place is huge.  In fact, you will also note that I’ve cut off part of the top of the castle because I couldn’t back up any further without dropping into the Juvenile Detention Center located next door to the castle. (I think that may have been scarier than prowling around the basement in the castle.)  You can also see how tiny our pin up model looks compared to the size of the castle.  There are a lot of rooms to explore in that old building.

At any rate, I digress…

Here we are in the stairwell to the basement.  I love the cute little red bows on her stockings and she has a wonderful look on her face.  These gals were all pros and I didn’t need to give them much direction.

This final photo is back inside the castle.  I love the light on her face and the way she boldly shows off her features with her clothing and her pose.  If you got it…

…and she’s got it.

My dad, Richard M. Thomas, passed away quietly on January 4, 2009.  He suffered a stroke in November and his health went from bad to worse.  We celebrated his life at a funeral service on January 13, 2009.

It was a beautiful service in a little chapel in Placerville.  Since my dad was in the navy, he was honored by the VFW with an honor guard and a beautiful send off and the family was given a burial flag.  It was extremely touching and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  My brother’s good friend, Pastor Steve Moore performed the service, my brother and nephew played an echo taps on the trombone and trumpet.  I provided a picture video of my dad’s life.  It was very respectful and a celebration of the gentle, intelligent and funny man that he was.

As a surprise, my good friend Pam (background) contacted my best friend, who lives in Southern California, and encouraged her to come.  I was so surprised to see my beautiful friend Julie and darling Pam walk into the chapel right before the service.

After the service, the family, the pastor and his wife, and my good friends headed downtown for lunch.

Here, my two sons and my oldest son’s girlfriend pose for me before heading to lunch.

Here are my youngest son, my daughter and my niece…waiting for lunch.

I’m a very lucky and blessed woman to have had such a wonderful father.  He loved me, my brother and my mom very much.  We were his life.  He taught me to study hard, have a sense of humor and above all, there is nothing more important than family.

Thanks, Dad.  Rest in peace.

A few more shots from my portfolio workshop.  Preston Castle is kind of a spooky place and I would not want to spend any time there alone, but there are many beautiful spots, also.

The above photo was taken in a little garden area in the back of the castle that was quite unexpected, considering the dilapidated state of the castle.  It really did remind me of a fairy tale and Naomi’s outfit is perfect for this setting.  She is a wonderful model and a dress designer.

Inside the castle was not such a pretty picture, although it made for pretty pictures.  The only light available in this hallway was a big bank of large windows on either side of the hallway.  This is the main hallway on the first floor.  It goes from the front door of the castle through to the back where the infirmary was located.  The windows were incredibly dirty making for the most marvelous diffused lighting that a photographer could ever hope for.  The model in this shot is Namantha and her skin tones and large eyes were beautiful with this light.

There was a lone male model available during the workshop.  His name is Ricardo and he was wonderful to work with. I wish there had been a few more male models so that we could have done more couples shots.  But, here he is looking very GQ.

Ricardo was in great demand, so I was happy to catch him and Namantha wandering around the castle without a passel of photographers hounding them.  I grabbed them for a shot I had in mind in the upstairs hallway, which was much brighter than the hallway downstairs.  Another photographer tagged along with me and so we were able to set up a bunch of shots without being bothered by the demands of the more vociferous photographers.  I had in mind a kind of high school, young love with lots of edge shot.  Here’s what I got.  Okay, so I’m still learning, but I like the shot.

They were also able to pull this one off, which is quite different from the one above.  This is more of an engagement type of photo.  By the way, after we were done with this shot, Ricardo turned to Namantha and said, “Hi.  I’m Ricardo.  I don’t think I’ve met you.”  Heh.

We also had a makeup artist helping the models get ready.  Her name is Sabrina Britschri and she has a business called “Envy” in Elk Grove, CA.  She was wonderful and did a beautiful job.

Next installment will be all about the pin up models, who were SO MUCH FUN!

Enjoy.

…this time in Sacramento…actually it was just outside Elk Grove, but who’s counting?  (I love mixed metaphors).

I attended this session on Saturday with 40 eager, talented, friendly, portfolio building photographers and about 14 models, a family of 4, an engaged couple, two fashion designers, a hair-stylist and makeup artist, two modeling coaches and, of course, Mark (who is a very talented photographer and teacher.)  It was held on a large old farm that had lots of charm, barns, farm implements, old cars, etc.  The “Trash the Dress” session was held at Rancho Seco lake at the old Rancho Seco Nuclear facility.

The photo above is an old Chevy Pickup truck that was in one of the barns.  I saw the light on this and I fell in love with it.  Of course, the other photographers fell in love with the truck and the light, also.  So…I only got to photograph the young man you see below in this particular location.  Luckily there were lots of other locations to choose from.  This teenager was looking to boost his acting portfolio and he was a very sweet young man.

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The handsome young man you see below was as nice as he is handsome.  He was also a true gentleman and a delight to work with.  He told me that he was a singer and an actor.  I asked him what kind of photos he was looking for and he gave me a wonderful smile, and I began snapping away as he said, “They tell me I have enough photos of me smiling, so I need a few serious ones.”  So, I took a few serious ones, but honestly, I didn’t find any bad photos.  The camera obviously loves him.

I had so much fun and met so many wonderful photographers and lovely, and handsome young people wanting to beef up their portfolios.  I would highly recommend Mark Behren’s Portfolio Workshop…it’s hard work, but well worth the effort.  I haven’t had much time to go through my more than 700 photos of this event, but I’ll put up some of my best shots as the week goes on.

There were a couple of old cars and a trolley on the Tallac Historic site property that the photographers were attracted to like flies to honey…bees to honey…some kind of bug to honey. Anyway, I enjoy photographing cars but it is hard to get an angle that has never been done before, so I settled on getting a straight-on view and then gave it some antique-ing. Pretty cliche, but I had fun doing it.

One of the biggest differences that I noted this year in the estates were the gardens. They were absolutely breath-taking and I was very jealous. Apparently all the work to maintain the estates is done by volunteers from all over the world. One of the volunteers told me that you sign up for a 5 week gig, but the state only provides an RV hookup, no room or board. There are several hundred volunteers who work very hard to maintain the property.

The gardens not only had flowers and shrubs, but had any items such as this birdhouse, which adds much charm to an already lovely scene.

Now, I enjoyed the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk as well as the next million people who joined in for the walk (I don’t think there were that many…but there could have been). However, there are prizes for this thing. And, not-so-secretly, all of the walkers were vying for that prize…jocky-ing and pushing and shoving to get “THE SHOT OF ALL SHOTS”. “Outta my way”, was the clarion call as tripods were swung at other photographer’s equipment. The photographers that took a moment to kneel down to get the shot were pushed over causing them to roll on the ground like a pill bug, protecting their “precious” Nikon’/Canon/Olympus/etc. camera.

Ha! Just kiddin’. Everyone was polite and nice as pie on our walk…I can’t vouch for other locales that may have more selfish and barbaric tendencies.

I’m just saying…

Anyway, each group leader will pick a winning photo from the group of pictures submitted. The prize for each groups’ winning photo is Kelby’s new book on Lightroom. That’s a nice gift and I wouldn’t turn it down. Those people then have their winning photos submitted to the worldwide competition for a $5,000.00 prize of numerous photoshop/camera related products.

THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT.

I checked out some of the competition on Flickr from other cities, and the competition is stiff. But as someone always says about why they continue to bet money on the lottery…”somebody’s gotta win.”

Right they are.

There were about 15 photo walkers and my husband also came along, (even though he’s not all that interested in photography) because he likes to look at historic stuff and we both like to walk.

We arrived at Kiva Beach/Tallac Historic site around 8:00 a.m. and walked for about 2 hours. The site has been wonderfully restored and is a feast for the eyes. I would highly recommend visiting the site when you are in South Lake Tahoe. After we walked, we all met at Camp Richardson General Store to “chimp” our photos. In case you don’t know what “chimping photos” is, it’s when you look at the photos you took on the back of your camera, and you all say, “Oh”, “ooh”, “ah”, “awww”, etc.

If you want to see photos of the photo walk from all over the world, go to flickr and search for “Scott Kelby Photo Walk”. Amazing photos.

Really!