These kids were a blast to photograph!  We had to cut it short because the sister got stung by a wasp!  Can you say OWIE!???  She is fine, thank goodness!  Maybe one day we can finish up but we did get some gorgeous images!  Here is a sneak peek – thank you, ‘S’ for allowing me to photograph your gorgeous kids!!!  I’m almost done with the edits so I will have your entire gallery ready tomorrow! 

I’m about to have a lot more human subjects here on the blog, but in the meantime, here are a few from recent non-human shots!  I love these because I can be more creative with the processing!

Photographers are violent people.  First they frame you,
then they shoot you, then they hang you on the wall.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to digital photography!  That said, it would be physically impossible for me to be able to sit with every client and customize every photograph.  I typically will apply certain effects (color pop, black and white) based on what I feel is appropriate for the image, but I wanted to show some effects that customers could choose from, too.  So, I took one image and applied various effects so you could see what they look like! 

Fun, huh???

I’m so excited to be building a new flash site!  I really could use some feedback – good or bad – and especially if you have any trouble browsing the site! 

To take a look, go HERE!  Full screen mode works best…

Thanks in advance for your feedback!!

~Robbie

Digital Photography: Careless Power for the Masses

Good June to you, or as we say on Schrute Farms: Guttenjuni!

There is a topic I’ve been meaning to bring up and this appears to be the appropriate time. I have noticed many more people taking photographs of things now that the true start of summer is nearly upon us. Photography is an “art” that I do not endorse. If you’d like to see how something looks, go see it with your own eyes. If you want to see a representation of something, then go look at a drawing or painting. Grandma Mannheim was especially adept at illustrating Strullpeter stories, so don’t try and tell me that photographs are better than drawings. Photographs merely replicate the human visual experience as a frozen moment in time and that insults the eyes and the memory.

When I was a tyke, my family did not have a camera. The general belief was that if a camera were introduced into our lives, our eyes would revolt, leaving us all blind and unable to operate our farm. Now that I’m an adult, I realize that this is unlikely. The eyes are very rational and I think they would adjust to sharing their optical duties with a camera, if a person chose to use such a device. I, however, still refuse to use a camera out of pure ocular respect.

The rise in popularity of so-called “digital cameras” is a direct affront to human biology and it angers me to no end. Traditional film cameras at least have a built-in limit. You can only take photos as long as you have film. When the film is used up, you’re out of luck. On top of that, film is fairly expensive, as is photo development. These costs made liberal camera use cost-prohibitive. Not the case with digital cameras.

Digital cameras allow the amateur photographer the freedom and ability to take six thousand pictures of a baby. Babies should not be photographed in the first place. They never grow up to look anything like they did as a baby, so what’s the point in having a picture of them? You might as well take photos of a small pony because that’s about as close a resemblance as babies have to their future selves and ponies are at least attractive creatures. But I digress. Digital cameras have all the negatives of traditional film cameras with none of the limitations. They’re like a mutated virus – attacking humanity without an antidote.

The biggest problem that I see with digital cameras is that they cause people to place so much less significance on a single image. If Leonardo Da Vinci finished the Mona Lisa and decided he didn’t like her barely detectable smile, would he have just thrown away the entire painting? Of course not. If the Mona Lisa was a digital picture, however, he easily could just pressed a button and the masterpiece would be lost forever. This is the plague of digital cameras. What once was permanent is now digitally expendable.

This is all to say that, even though I savor the taste of victory, I have interest in keeping the digital camera that I won by calling into Froggy 101. If you want to buy this worthless device, go ahead and make me an offer.

That. Is all.

Yours Truly,
Dwight Kurt Schrute

*********************

If you’re not familiar with The Office, you’re probably scratching your head right now.  If you are a fan, you’re probably laughing your hiney off like I am.  What a maroon!!!  Wait, it’s just Dwight!

I know that some people get a little overwhelmed when it comes to buying images from a photo shoot.  Many times people think they only need a couple of 8×10′s and a few gift prints, which makes narrowing down the image selection really difficult!  Many people ask me if I have ideas on how people can use the images from our shoots and/or how to display them.  Here are a few tips and some illustrations to show some grouping ideas!

1.  Measure.  You need to know where you want your images to go before you make your image selections so you know how much room you have.  Once you know where the images are going to go, measure the space so you know how much room you have to work with.  Popular areas for images are above sofa, above fire place, in hallway, along staircase wall, and above bed in bedroom(s).  You can make your own ‘photo wall’ by taking a section of a large wall and filling it with images. This breaks up a wall ‘visually’ and creates a mini-room where you can group furniture to make a more intimate space.

2.  You almost always need larger than you think.  One rule of decorating is that a small print on a large wall is dwarfed by the wall.  An image needs to take up at 30%-50% of the space you’re using the image on in order for it to have impact.  If you prefer smaller images, consider filling up the space with groupings of images instead of one large image.

3.  Keep the visual focus as close to eye level as possible.  You will have a lot more impact if you display your images this way.

4.  Remember framing.  Don’t forget to include the size of your frame when you are figuring your order.  If you prefer your photographs with mats, you’ll have to consider that as well.  I now offer framing services so be sure to inquire before you shop for frames!

5.  Balance.  Balance is not the same as symmetry.  You can have balance without being symmetrical, and in fact, non-symmetrical groupings are more visually appealing than symmetrical ones. 

Here are some visual examples so you can see what I’m talking about!   

I used some of my collection packages as examples of groupings, but you can make up your own collection, of course!  These are to scale using an 8ft x 8ft space for reference and 2 inch frames on each image. 

This is the Simplicity Collection:

This is the Memories Collection.  Not as many images here, but a 16×20 Fine Art Gallery wrap is included in this package.

This is an example of a large Gallery Wrap Canvas on a wall with a 6 ft sofa.  Nice, clean look but with impact.  Notice that even though it’s a large image, it doesn’t overwhelm the space.

This is our Master Collection.  There are (2) 5×7′s not shown that are also included.  You need a couple of images for gifts, right??  The Master Collection also includes a DVD slideshow of all final session images.  By upgrading to the Ultimate Collection, you also get a High Resolution Image CD with a signed photo release so you can get reprints up to 8×10 of your session images. 

I hope you find these tips helpful!   And remember, I’m always available for questions so be sure to ask!

This little darling has such gorgeous eyes!  He also just turned ONE years old!  Happy Birthday!  We had so much fun with his cake smash – he’s so careful about everything he does and it was so cute!  And he was such a trooper in this Oklahoma heat!  Thank you ‘A’ family for allowing me to photograph your lovely family!  I will have the rest for you view soon!