tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30506082286566769822024-02-19T12:00:34.913-05:00Karen Engel Photography | Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton, FL, FloridaWedding Engagement Photographer based in Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida. Specializing in weddings, engagements, baby, family, portraits, special events, golf, commercial photography. Technical writings, commentary and opinions on photo equipment, digital imaging techniques and software, Apple Macintosh computers, OSX, iPad, Apple TV, networking and tech things in general.Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-71847129389503627762012-04-25T18:05:00.001-04:002012-10-21T08:32:17.493-04:00Photo Books for Weddings and Other Occasions<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A trend I'm seeing lately are clients wanting us to publish Photo Books instead of traditional matted Wedding Albums. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Everyone is offering </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Photo Books</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> these days - but make no mistake - you get what you pay for. Still, they can offer a substantial savings cost compared to the Wedding Album - especially considering that some of these albums can carry a wholesale cost of $500 and beyond just for the materials - and that doesn't even begin to cover the cost of any editing, creation, design, graphics, or photos. On a $1,000-$1,200 budget for entry level wedding photography, that's not going to cut it - the "fancy album" would eat 70% of the budget - and nobody wants to do the kind of work a wedding photography gig takes, for free.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Chances are if you've seen a teaser ad for a cheap photo book, it's from a company that does a whole lot of consumer level mass production. In the end - the finished product will be the equivalent of going to Sam's Club or Costco to get prints done. The prints might be in the general shape of the picture you took - but pale in comparison to the top notch quality a professional lab produces! The lab print not only will be more clear and color accurate, but will last years longer too. Books are no different. Quality is everything - and for a truly custom photo book, be prepared to pay for not only a superior hardcover work - but also for specially designed graphics and the skills of an experienced layout designer as well.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Enough of that - let's take a look at one example I've posted on my website -</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.karenengel.com/books/h14928111#h14928111" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.karenengel.com/img/s3/v45/p345145617-3.jpg" title="http://www.karenengel.com/" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The lab I used to produce this piece did a lovely job. I probably spent a sum total of two whole days putting it together trying to get everything just right. Whoa - that doesn't sound right? Well, if you don't count design time for backgrounds, maybe about 6 hours total over two days. Here's what this involved.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Books come in unnatural sizes - many are square - this one is 11x8.5 - and while that's great for your printer - it's not so good for the images a 2:3 crop or full frame DSLR sensor produces. In some cases the images we wanted to use had to be cropped - or in the case of this cover photo - needed to be extended to fit....not just resized but reconstructed to add content where it was needed using advanced post processing techniques. Of course I didn't have to do this - I only did it because that's the exact image we wanted - and I'm a perfectionist.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I also designed custom graphics backgrounds to use throughout the book - lots of them so it wasn't repetitive or cheesy looking. Using cookie cutter backgrounds, stock layouts or plain color, is not only lazy, but just anther way to make a photo book look terrible. I wanted to do it right - and completely custom from the ground up so it would be truly something unique and treasured. </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.karenengel.com/img/s11/v35/p159951675-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.karenengel.com/img/s11/v35/p159951675-2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the case of this photo book I didn't want to use any text at all other than our studio logo. This is really up to the tastes of the client, but I find that catchy sayings and text in general, may actually take something away from the image viewing experience.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Doing the layout is also something else that requires some real vision along with skills and talent - in the design state it's really difficult to picture how the end product will look. I have an extensive background working in graphics, publishing and advertising so was able to freely draw on those skills in "seeing" conceptual things like facing pages and syncing the background graphics with the images on the page as well. It's not anywhere near just dragging and dropping a bunch of pictures into a template - at least if you want a custom, professional looking product in the end.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For a full gallery of images of the book and how it was put together - visit the link below!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #20124d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/books" target="_blank">http://www.karenengel.com/books</a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now for the bottom line - cost. The wholesale price of just printing this single book was $70+ shipping! That doesn't include developing and creating my original artwork/graphics, design time, materials/tools or labor. If I were to charge someone $150 for it - they might think it was outrageous... but in this scenario, I would only be making roughly $13/hour with absolutely no compensation for overhead. That's not much better pay than working at McDonalds. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Moral of the story - there's much more than meets the eye to a photographer's job - so never underestimate the work and time dedicated towards delivering a professional product.</span><br />
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Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-44943521222666682582011-11-04T08:17:00.000-04:002012-10-21T08:32:47.231-04:00How To Choose A Wedding Photographer<div style="font: 16.0px Arial; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">
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<b><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">How To Choose A Wedding Photographer </span></b></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As seen on the <a href="http://gatheringguide.com/">GatheringGuide.com</a> Wedding Blog </span></span></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It doesn’t matter if you’re in Charleston - Huntington, WV or California - no matter where you go there are good photographers available for your wedding day! Ultimately, choosing one is all a matter of personal taste and your budget, though this guide is intended to help you find the best qualified match for someone who can shoot your event and create high quality pictures that will stand the test of time. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anyone can take photos in this day of cheap automatic digital cameras, but it takes a true artist to create timeless classic images that are enduring and captivating. Producing these kinds of images isn’t just pressing a button - it is a craft that requires not only technical skills, but is as intricate as any other art form. The photographic artist puts concepts, materials and development together to create something unique and expressive. This is the difference between a professional photographer and the inexperienced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small; text-decoration: underline;"><b>Things to look for</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When viewing the photographer’s portfolio in person or online, there are some basic fundamentals to look for in their photography. So you can be familiar with what to look for, the following are some of the general points to consider.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Composition</b> - </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">One of the considerable things that makes the difference in quality is the “photographer’s eye”. Professionals can see a vision of what to capture, and are able to create what they see - and fit it perfectly within the frame. The inexperienced will just try to fit everything/everyone all in one shot or do all kinds of random stuff in hope that quantity overshadows quality. Beware someone who claims they only shoot “photojournalist” style - what it may actually mean is that they don’t know how to compose images and may likely shoot like a machine gun and have all kinds of different odd angles and zoom because they can’t envision how to compose an actual cohesive image! The photojournalist style is OK in limited quantities - but doesn't take a lot of talent or creativity. Also keep in mind this "style" is a passing trend so it will be very dated in just a few years. A pro photographer can compose an image and frame it perfectly to tell a story. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Example 1a</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A “photojournalist” style at that identical moment in time would not see or capture it the same way at all and might look quite awkward.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Example 1b</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Exposure</b> - </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There’s a fine line between getting a good amount of light onto a subject and overexposing or underexposing them. A white wedding dress that is so overexposed it looks like a blank sheet of white paper <i>(example 1b)</i> is poorly done - this image also fails by underexposing dark areas at the same time where detail is completely lost. The professionals know how to balance the exposures for both the light and the dark to make them work together harmoniously <i>(example 1a)</i> showing both fine details and subtle undertones.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Color</b> - </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are many technical tools available to serious professionals to ensure color accuracy for their images both in print and digital form. I always use a fair amount of resources to keep things “tuned up”, however there are a large number of people who do not even know about it, care, or bother. Typically online especially, you’ll see pics that are unnatural looking - way over saturated, too red, yellow or other kinds of variations far beyond the human skin tone. Ultimately, images of people should look natural unless the goal is a special effect (to be used very sparingly). Hold your hand up next to that over saturated skin tone you’ve spotted online. Imagine what it would be like if your skin really WAS that color! Now ask yourself - <b>Is that how I want to look in my wedding album?</b> Of course the easy fix for bad color by novices, is to make it sepia tone, or black and white - like (example 1b)! <i> (The average computer at home may not be set up for color accuracy when surfing websites, so keep this in mind as well.)</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Focus</b> - </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are techniques and tools that pros know and use to ensure crisp and clean images for their clients every time, so it won’t be very often that they miss a shot. The inexperienced aren’t so skilled and can often be the inverse of this - only catching a few shots that are actually in focus. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZXM_PIEejwPIZBNClfjaFiMt8a7Ei3Sk-d5Z-498UsfkSYKLcqDe4engsQ2HYbUHYufQPy-rHNpdHjUs4ESUoewwi1O1xEjaRTztW2C8tzFsm8dX6S-aKDyFVP-Qb5_zSf8Xh_If3mg/s320/72DPIeyeSC00596.jpg" width="320" /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Despite the technology of “auto-focus”, it also requires a great amount of skill to be able to frame, focus, and steady a shot, not move, and keep on going quickly to the next. At weddings the pros will be moving REALLY fast! To check for focus and clarity online, try to zoom into the faces of people and see if they hold up upon closer examination. In person, looking at prints, it's handy to have a "Loupe" so you can see if the details are sharp. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A Loupe</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Cheap photo labs can also diminish the clearness of photographs with inferior materials, sloppy work and "mass produced" handling. </span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Prints -</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">One thing inexperienced people do is send prints out to get done by discount merchants or warehouse stores to save time and/or money. A professional will always be very picky about using a high grade professional lab, as the end result is a reflection on their competency and their business. The disparity in quality between the two is absolutely astounding. I like to show my clients one printed image from my preferred lab, and one from Sam's Club - just to tell the story for itself. It makes a difference! Since I live and shoot in West Virginia and the Ohio Valley area, I choose to use an out of state lab to do all my client's prints - it delivers the quality I expect and ensures they are getting something that's going to hold up over time. Make sure you plan your wedding album images with someone who really knows about this stuff. Getting cheap on the bride and groom’s prints is kind of like putting $49 tires on a Lamborghini. </span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Pro Gear -</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You may hear in some places that a "good" photographer can create a fantastic image with even just a disposable camera. While that may be true to a limited extent, pros don't carry big heavy expensive cameras and lenses for the extra calisthenics - good gear makes all the difference in the world! Watch out for “wannabe” photographers that typically have a cheap DSLR from the BigBox store and use the "kit" lens that came with it. This type of equipment is marginal at best and only exacerbates their lack of skills. Granted, all the expensive camera equipment in the world can't make a bad photographer a good one - but in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, high end lenses can skyrocket the quality level from acceptable, to stunning! Camera resolution matters too - especially if the couple or parents want an oversized enlargement. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Post Processing</b> - </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In high end digital photography, an expert skill level in the digital darkroom is mandatory to put out a full wedding’s worth of images. The images from a pro are probably pretty nice to begin with, but the difference between nice and WOW is all done in Post Production. Here, the artist treats each image by hand individually to bring it the “magic” and add their own style and creativity. Having done high end beauty retouching, fashion and commercial work I can personally testify that sometimes even just a single image can take days to finish! Of course if you have a wedding shoot of 1000 or more images to go through, the photographer won’t spend that kind of time - but if they know their stuff they can do brilliant finish work - be patient though - it does take time for greatness! The other side of the coin on post processing that isn’t so good is - everybody is doing it! Your Aunt Mildred can do something very fancy to her cell phone pics with any one of 1000 different photo special effects apps too - so why not hire her to shoot your wedding? Canned effects like the fake sun in <i>(example 1b)</i> or other things to look new, fun, crazy, different, unique etc. - this is what a lot of the “photojournalistic” wedding photographers do - the only thing is - they forgot the photography in there somewhere. Watch out for it. If all they can show you are shots with goofy angles and effects - don’t walk - RUN away.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Selling “All Sizzle And No Steak”</b> - </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So - A great image doesn’t need special effects. But if you are shopping online for a wedding photographer, sometimes you will find you’re not just being sold on heavy handed/tasteless post processing, but also poor composition, bad exposures, unnatural color and marginal focus, cheap prints all put together in some grunge filled, over saturated “eye candy” gallery probably on a website you ran across searching for the perfect photographer for your special day. A lot of them use cheap “flashy” website templates that are slow and clunky and sometimes even pop up/out to hog your entire screen using “Adobe Flash”, (which can bring your computer to a grinding halt). Not to say that they are automatically bad photographers, but it’s poor manners and bad business to put your clients through an experience like that. Its also tasteless and makes one wonder if that's the kind of photos they would do for the bride and groom too? If they were considerate, they would value the viewer’s experience more. It’s just not professional, in this professional’s opinion. Rather than going all out for every bell and whistle one can dump onto a website, why not present something clean, clear and easily viewed? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>Price Structures </b>- </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There is a real wedding photography school out there, actually being TAUGHT in seminars across the country, that tells photographers to charge MORE and compete LESS. True! I just shook my head when I heard about that. What nonsense. In my local business around the Kanawha Valley in WV, I feel like I can provide photography services to just about anyone, and can work within just about any budget if it’s reasonable. Yes, I can do a full tilt wedding engagement family extravaganza with full bound leather albums for each family ranging from $4000 and up - but we can also work with someone who might only have $500. They won’t get the same level of time, products and services that the “royal wedding” gets, but they will get the same quality images (in digital with limited prints). What to be very careful of are the “A La Carte” photographers who have itemized prices for everything under the sun - so you end up paying much more than you were expecting for the so-called "extras". What to look for - a set package of things to be delivered from your wedding photographer. Prints, albums, and beyond. Just make sure you can get it clearly in writing before signing any kind of contract. Final word on prices - just because they charge 3x as much as someone else doesn’t always mean they are 3x better. Sometimes it’s just smoke and mirrors. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The one line advice from this all? Go with someone who can get clean natural looking images and is sincere about doing exceptional work and not just "selling" you something. You will thank yourself with each and every anniversary you have, while turning the pages of your exquisite, timeless wedding album!</span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Karen Engel</span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Owner, Karen Engel Photography</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.karenengel.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">www.karenengel.com</span></a></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Karen Engel is a professional family and wedding photographer in the Charleston - Huntington WV area, with additional expertise in commercial, fashion and modeling. </span></i></div>
Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0Charleston, WV, USA38.3498195 -81.632623438.2501995 -81.7905519 38.449439500000004 -81.4746949tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-61142714063615270032011-10-28T09:44:00.000-04:002011-11-16T09:48:10.406-05:00Steve Jobs' posthumous victory<br />
For the average person this may not mean a lot - but it will make your life better, trust me! :-)<br />
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<a href="http://mashable.com/2011/11/11/flash-mobile-dead-adobe/?WT.mc_id=en_my_stories&utm_campaign=My%2BStories&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter" target="_blank">Adobe Admits: Apple Won, Flash For Mobile is Done, HTML5 is the Future</a></div>
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This is great news for the future - Flash has been choking the web for years and looks like it's on the way out finally.</div>
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<br /></div>Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-28221746498434071572011-10-06T15:06:00.000-04:002011-11-09T15:08:53.489-05:00Mac OS X 10.7 Lion DOES Ship With X11<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">And I’ve got the eyes to prove it. There seems to be some concern online that Mac OSX Lion ‘ships’ (can we even say that any more?) without X11. I did some searching online and found this tip!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Open a Terminal window, type ‘xeyes’ at the prompt and you’ll see X11 staring right back at you, and the "eyes" will roll as you move your cursor. This confirms you have it. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It is an option in the installer - so if it does not appear you may have to go back and look inside the installer package to find and install it... </span></div>
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<br />Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0Interstate 64, Hurricane, WV 25526, USA38.427773511329022 -82.051391601562538.229134511329022 -82.3672486015625 38.626412511329022 -81.7355346015625tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-60494625152866349052011-09-21T06:43:00.001-04:002011-09-21T08:25:59.152-04:00Adding a Blogger page to a Zenfolio website<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
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This is some<b> work around</b> code one can use to embed the blog into a Custom Page in Zenfolio. It is an iframe and where it says yourblogURL, please insert your URL. </div>
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You can adjust the widths and heights to suit yourself.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://pastebin.com/9ZN4BLb0">iFrame Code for Zenfolio page</a></span><br />
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What this does, is puts that page, inside of an "iFrame" (has nothing to do with iAnything else) - basically it's a FRAME - meaning you're putting an entire external website inside of a smaller area on your own page. This can lead to some unexpected problems however. Read on!<br />
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<b>Editing the Blogger page to look/fit better</b><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal;"><strong>Getting RID of the NavBar -</strong></span></b></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://www.ourblogtemplates.com/2008/01/how-to-get-rid-of-blogger-navigation.html" style="color: #cc660b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="How to Remove Blogger NAV Bar">How to Remove Blogger NAV Bar</a></span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">To Turn Off the Blogger Navigation BarJust copy the Navbar1 code below and paste it anywhere inside your blog XML file as a CSS code after the <code>/* Variable definitions</code> section. If you're not sure what this means, follow these steps:</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">#Navbar1 {</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">margin: 0;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">padding: 0;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">display: none;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">visibility: hidden;</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">}</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">1. Login to your blog and click the Edit HTML tab inside the Template tab.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">2. Inside the file, locate the section <code>body { ..... }</code> and paste the Navbar1 code below this section, after the closing bracket.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">3. Click 'SAVE TEMPLATE'.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">4. That's it. You're done.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><strong>Getting RID of the Header/Title/Logo - </strong></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://www.hutsby.net/2009/01/howto-remove-blogger-header.html" style="color: #cc660b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="How to Remove Blogger Header">How to Remove Blogger Header</a></span></h3>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Howto Remove Blogger Header. Maybe you already removed the <a href="http://www.hutsby.net/2008/12/remove-navbar-from-blogger.html" style="color: #cc660b; text-decoration: none;">navbar</a> and maybe customizing the <a href="http://www.hutsby.net/2009/01/customize-blogger-header.html" style="color: #cc660b; text-decoration: none;">header</a> by removing the border wasn't enough, and you just want to remove it completely.<br />
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Go to 'dashboard' and select 'layout' and then 'edit html'.<br />
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Scroll down until you get to the "#header-wrapper" section.<br />
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Change</span></div>
<ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">#header-wrapper { width:660px; margin:0 auto 0px; border:0px solid $bordercolor; }</span></ul>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">to</span><br />
<ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">#header-wrapper { width:660px; margin:0 auto 0px; border:0px solid $bordercolor; display:none; / }</span></ul>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">and save.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">*******************</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><strong><i>Small Caveat</i></strong></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">I discovered that using the Link List Gadget in Blogger within the iFrame has some bad behaviour on certain browsers for an external links - as it will get stuck inside the iFrame as opposed to opening a new window or completely reloading the current one.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The gadget is at fault due to no functionality to specify at "Target". Editing the code on Blogger may fix this. For now - I just removed all external links. Built in and Custom ZF pages don't seem to have the problems. I can't tell if the pages are loading in new windows or within the iFrame but they show no artifact of it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><i><b>Caveat 2</b></i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">While testing this out in different browsers I discovered not only that link handling was unstable across different browsers - but the Blogger Gadgets are also unstable - some will work in one browser while sometimes they don't in another. Support for Blogger is really poor - and it's really seemingly depreciated as a blogging tool with almost no updates since 5+ years ago.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Bottom line - if you have to use an iFrame - do not post any links from within your blog. (That's pretty limiting except for pure text and images. - Tumblr could work)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">No links makes me reconsider the value of even using an iFrame now. The Blog may absolutely need to be an independent website/external link. Until Zenfolio provides an internal blog function - that's probably just the way it will be most functional.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">It is a band-aid after all.</span></div>
Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-49070886608498460902011-09-19T11:23:00.001-04:002012-10-21T08:34:25.003-04:00Migrating a Mac Mini Snow Leopard to a Lion Mac MiniOne thing the photography business does is force you to stay in touch technology. Today's challenge was to replace a 2009 Mac Mini with the 2011 model running the Lion operating system. This is quite different largely because in Lion they have decided to partition the startup disk into two pieces - One hidden partition for the base operating system - and another partition for all your other stuff (user accounts etc.).<br />
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I had the new 2011 Mac Mini sitting in my office for the past month, being too busy to get back to it as I had a few local photo shoots to do in Charleston, Scott Depot and over in Huntington WV. When I first got it - I ran the Apple Migration Assistant - which imported all the old computer's accounts, settings and data into the new one. Problem was, that since then, I kept using the old 2009 Mini - adding more data onto it. So the new one was no longer a complete copy. So you guessed it - I had to do it all over again! But HOW? Migration Assistant is a one time - one shot deal and you cannot choose individual bits to migrate over - it's all or nothing! Plus I could never possibly remember everything I added over the last month anyway - so - I had to reformat the Lion based 2011 Mac Mini and start over from scratch. <br />
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Because of the hidden partition containing Lion, this is different than ever before on a Mac. Seemingly more complex and intimidating, but actually surprisingly simple.<br />
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Restart the Mac holding down the R key (Restore)<br />
Choose to restore the Lion OSX only - or in my case...<br />
Go to Utilities/Disk Utility where you can find the two partitions<br />
Erase/Reformat the MAIN partition (not the Lion bit) using Apple HFS Journaled the default)<br />
Exit Disk utility and then proceed with the Lion OSX restore/install<br />
When the computer restarts (or you restart it) after the full install - go under the Apple Menu and check for System Updates. It will still have some tasks to do, so run it!<br />
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A Big Caveat - 2011 Macs come with 3 extra programs installed (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand) - but they are not included in the base system install - so when you reformat your system - you've wiped them out! Apple's answer to this is a free download and install of the missing programs via the App Store. If you don't have an account - sign up - it's free though may require a credit card verification.<br />
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With that out of the way - the fastest way to get the old data from the legacy Mac to the new one is Firewire Target Disk Mode. (Assuming your Mac would have a firewire port)<br />
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Connect the two Macs directly via Firewire 1394A/B - Firewire 800 is the current port on newer Macs.<br />
Start up the source Mac whilst holding down the "T" key (Target Disk Mode)<br />
It will enter into a mode where you see nothing on the screen but a giant Firewire Icon - you're ready!<br />
On the NEW Mac - go to Utilities/MigrationAssistant and run it using the TimeMachine/OtherDisk option.<br />
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Over Firewire 800, this took 2-3 hours for a nearly full 320GB Mac Mini transfer onto the new one.<br />
Your old user accounts will all come over - so you may need to switch user accounts from the new one you have on the new Mac - to the legacy account by using "switch users" or the Login Menu.<br />
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Some things will need updating - possibly updating or entering license numbers/key codes for software - or in some cases if the software license is machine based, you will have to contact the developer to transfer your authorization.<br />
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For further info - the Apple Lion Recovery documentation is located <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718">HERE</a><br />
<br />Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-48085018673938073912011-09-19T08:28:00.000-04:002011-09-21T08:27:48.009-04:00Qwikster? - You've got to be kidding!<br />
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Netflix has just released a "statement" about further dividing/separating their mail DVD business from the online streaming.</div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://blog.netflix.com/2011/09/explanation-and-some-reflections.html">http://blog.netflix.com/2011/09/explanation-and-some-reflections.html</a></span></div>
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Having used both DVDs+Streaming for many years, I was one of the ones that was OK with the 50% price increase they recently implemented (considering the price of postage and amount of use one can access) - although they did have a massive amount of negative feedback and mass exit from their membership/user base.<br />
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This "announcement" is simply a thinly veiled attempt at justifying the price increase, and a horribly poor attempt to edify the alienated or disenfranchised who are still complaining - or have left. The problem is - spilt milk. The hopelessly lost won't be coming back. This is foolish corporate backpedalling and trying to create a revisionist history with the way it "could have been" - a more politically correct scheme to jack prices on everyone!</div>
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In the same grand broad brush stroke, they are trashing a solid brand name by watering it down into two entities. They will only make life much worse for their DVDs+Streaming customers if they try to further separate the two via two different websites, two different accounts/logins, and two different queues. </div>
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I'm amazed at the stupidity. This "Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO" has absolutely no common sense, but certainly earns himself 7 figures plus because he is “the boss” and the boss is always right? This is just about as intelligent as HP buying Palm for $1.2 Billion dollars, then shutting it down a year later.</div>
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What this statement really ends up saying is - Netflix is in deep trouble. The letter mentions AOL dialup and Borders. Can Netflix be far behind now? </div>
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We’ll have to sit back now and watch to see if Netflix/Whatever implodes.</div>
Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-25781306105824499082011-09-17T17:24:00.001-04:002011-09-19T15:35:40.235-04:00Unique event photography for weddings or golf<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhweNNhybTq01H_KsjVfaDGBfPqkET8RTPmBJSYSI6ZaQJVD2o5BUWuEtgmG54OJPHAWxUNGyJ-LUwlZRl90_Nxo7W2le86-RKRWlaVTVzh8K2acGX2ifyh9ormJfZ-zuagdeinkTwhLQ/s1600/DSC00162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhweNNhybTq01H_KsjVfaDGBfPqkET8RTPmBJSYSI6ZaQJVD2o5BUWuEtgmG54OJPHAWxUNGyJ-LUwlZRl90_Nxo7W2le86-RKRWlaVTVzh8K2acGX2ifyh9ormJfZ-zuagdeinkTwhLQ/s320/DSC00162.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of the greens were under repair today at Berry Hills Country Club in South Charleston today. Just in front of the ones getting worked on - they had these "temporary" greens areas with giant holes. It was hysterical :-)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I'm not shooting weddings or engagement and family photos on the weekend - of course I'm out golfing and shooting low scores (hopefully). It's a great way to meet a lot of great new ladies, have a lot of fun and enjoy the many events we get to attend throughout the year. Berry Hills also has a reciprocal arrangement with Edgewood Country Club for play and use of each other's facilities - so it's double the fun! It's not unusual to see a wedding or party at one of these fantastic, popular venues!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In just a matter of a few months here in WV, I've met over 100 women through my involvement in the golf community from places all over West Virginia - locally where we live in Teays Valley - (right in between Charleston and Huntington) - to Parkersburg, Morgantown, Wheeling, Weirton, Beckley, Fairmont, Martinsburg, Clarksburg, Vienna, Bluefield and beyond!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So many places to shoot - golf - weddings - events - and portraits!</span></div>
Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-61936577889900641802011-09-16T23:03:00.001-04:002011-09-19T15:38:10.477-04:00Zenfolio.com discount coupon code: ESB-HVJ-QZR<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The title says it all - but it's worth saying again -</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Save on <i>Zenfolio.com</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> accounts!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Referral Code:</i><span style="font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Times;"> </span>ESB-HVJ-QZR</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Having been with them for many years now, I'm a big fan of Zenfolio, although it has limitations, I find it's intuitiveness a key factor in being able to maintain a library of now almost 14,000 images online! The only thing better they could do would be to replace their Flash slideshow builder with HTML5. But the features have kept on coming out year after year - so we're sure to see some great additions in the future!</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">If you've been thinking about doing a gallery website check them out - there's a free trial available. </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">And this referral thing - yeah - it saves you some money too. How sweet is THAT? :-)</span></span></div>
Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-45312434634954055862011-09-16T17:46:00.000-04:002011-09-19T15:50:20.213-04:00Karen Engel Photography Website RedesignWelcome back Blog Readers!<br />
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Having moved to Charleston - Huntington WV earlier this year sure was a lot of work and a distraction from wedding and portrait photography to be sure! We did get some last photo shoots in before leaving to West Virginia and the Kanawha Valley area... it's really the entire Ohio Valley as we are also very near Eastern Kentucky and the Ohio borders too!<br />
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While we are still looking for a place to set up the studio, new efforts have begun to relaunch the weddings and portraits this fall and into next year. High school seniors will be wanting those unique portraiture sessions again too!<br />
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As part of this we've just completed a major streamlining/overhaul of our main website (including new music) - gearing up for a busy 2012 of photography for weddings, portraits, events and also some original creative and artistic projects as well!<br />
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Hard to believe there were over 14,000 images to navigate through on the old version - This undertaking was the photographers equivalent of cleaning out your garage, closets, basement and attic - all at the same time! <br />
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In the end though - less chaos = a more focused impact. Let us know what you think of our redesign!<br />
<a href="http://www.karenengel.com/" target="_blank" title="Karen Engel Photography - Charleston - Huntington, West Virginia">http://www.karenengel.com</a>Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-70758065913665608902010-03-19T11:39:00.001-04:002013-04-02T06:34:28.305-04:00Amazing Golden Guard Dog!<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span class="UIStory_Message" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Amazing Golden Guard Dog!<br />
This isn't one of those stories you hear on the news every day about a Golden Retriever dragging a baby off of the railroad tracks seconds before being struck by an oncoming bullet train, LOL. But a "hero" story none the less.<a name='more'></a><br />
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It's 3am last night and I am all alone in the house except for Phoeb<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">e - our Golden Retriever. She usually sleeps somewhere else in the house to keep a watchful eye on the status of things - but up she came into the bed - wide awake and making sure she woke me too by briskly licking my face...and when that didn't suffice in doing the job, she sniffed her frigid nose right right up on my neck and ear.<br />
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At first, I thought she was just playing or wanted to maybe go outside - but that's very unusual for 3am. No - instead, she was doing this because there was something wrong - something terribly wrong going on under the cover of darkness in our house. Awoken now, I heard something - a faint but piercing shriek coming from points unknown in the house - where no sound should be coming from! My heart jumped... Moments later - I heard it again! She was right - there WAS something horrible lurking in the nocturnal void!!!<br />
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Cautiously and with trepidation, I rose from the bed to investigate the ominous screeching from the ravenous void. Like a good soldier, Phoebe marched along side me, to protect and defend the homeland from aggressors, villains, and abominations. One by one, we warily turned the lights on to warn the intruder that we were aware of their presence as we stepped forward in our investigation of the disturbance. The sound got louder and more nerve racking as it seemed to mock our approach with an ever increasingly shrill scream - with just long enough pauses in between to cleverly hide it's location.<br />
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As we made our way to the other end of the residence, like a bolt of lightning or a vision, it suddenly struck me - like in the movie "The Shining" - REDRUM... but in this case it was ALOROTOM - and it wasn't spelled backwards either. It seems that the dangerous nemesis we were about to confront, was an old Motorola Razor cell phone, who was emitting a last chance diatribe into the world as it's battery slowly died, and it's life was coming to an excruciatingly long and painful end. Perhaps it was the betrayal or jealousy over the Palm Pre phones that had replaced her. But no doubt, there was a transparent statement of protest and pain transpiring. How......... could............. you.............. leave.............. me........... and................. just........... let............me...................die?<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: block; float: left; margin-left: -10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></span>????????????<br />
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As for Phoebe - she did an amazing and magnificent job of taking care of her family when danger rose it's ugly head in the night. Good girl! </span></span></h3>
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Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-65023571313442661112009-11-04T09:48:00.000-05:002009-11-07T19:23:34.524-05:00The Social Network and Website Juggling Act<div style="font: 13.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Project waiting in the wings - if I ever get a break between shoots here in Bakersfield, and working on my main website and photoshop skills (ha ha) - Figure out how to synchronize my </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Karen-Engel-Photography/153585654798?ref=nf">Facebook</a></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - Blogger - </span><a href="http://www.myspace.com/karenengelphotography"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My Space</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> blogs so I don't have to bounce back and forth between them all the time! There is syncing working now with <a href="http://twitter.com/karenengelphoto">Twitter</a> to both My Space and Facebook, but sometimes I need more text than just a line or two! It works but sometimes the updates are slow.</span></span><br />
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<div style="font: 13.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then of course I have all my other sites to maintain as well - Model Mayhem, Flickr, </span><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Zenfolio</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (with my other domain name - www.karenengel.com) - which if you haven't checked out, is a great image hosting site which I still use for my client proofing since it has a super fast and easy "drag and drop" Mac style interface. They have free trial accounts but also several levels of higher services you can subscribe to - </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Save some cash on new paid accounts with this - Zenfolio Referral Code: ESB-HVJ-QZR </span><a href="http://www.zenfolio.com/"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.zenfolio.com/</span></a>Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-15855321872213488022009-10-22T16:00:00.000-04:002011-09-21T08:34:30.216-04:00The Completely Superfluous Q & A<div style="font: 13.0px Courier; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: Do you like to talk about yourself or your pictures? If yes, about what aspects of photography? If no, why?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: I don't have a massive ego so I prefer to talk about my images rather than myself. Generally, there is a really interesting story behind every image I create - and every person I shoot. It's a lot of fun and very entertaining to share these things.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: How do you describe your photographic style in one word?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Fluid</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: When did you decide to become a photographer?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Probably when I was given an antique bellows film camera as a child...I was fascinated.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: How technical is your photography?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: I know what I'm doing, but am more enamored with the emotion of an image as opposed to technical perfection... there's always just more feeling in it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: How do you feel about cropping?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Good - for sake of universal things like frames etc. Bad - because one is forced into cookie cutter sizes and shapes to fit "standard" formats. One size does not always fit all.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: What are your favorite subjects to photograph?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Young adults and kids for the fun, families for the friends, models for the high energy and bands for the craziness!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: How would you describe your attention span?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: In my art and work I am extremely focused to the point that I sometimes forget even the basic things in life - like eating! ha ha But the creative side of me is a dreamer - and there are no limits to what I can dream up! Integrating the concepts I dream up into my projects is what keeps things new, fresh and unpredictable.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Q: What does photography mean to you?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Fun, friends, life, memories, communication - it's so much more. Really the only one truly universal language. Bakersfield = home = memories... it's what we all treasure.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: Can you recall the first photo you took that made you go WOW!?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: A black and white film image that was worthy of a magazine cover - the problem was - I was 10 year old!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: Do you have any formal training regarding photography?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: I formally taught myself, but I do keep up with publications in print and online.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Q: Where is your favorite place to live and work as a photographer in the World and why?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: California, because it's a place where I know and love the area and it's people. There are endless possibilities her - even in just one day - from skiing in the mountains to surfing in the ocean, all within a couple of hours.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: Define the word "beauty"!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: BE An Unbelievably Terrific You </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: What is your most favorite and least favorite word in photography or life? How do they make you feel?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Most favorite - Yes! Least Favorite - Can't. There is nothing that "can't" be done. Either someone doesn't want to do it - or they don't know how.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: How does your personality change when you look through the camera?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: I become more focused, when generally I'm not.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: How do you feel about missed shots which cannot be recreated?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: No worries - life is filled with endless opportunities - create new ones!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: What is your favorite image, either your own or someone else's or both? Describe its creation or meaning to you?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: I wouldn't be able to choose a single one other than personal family images in general - the things everyone want to have close.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: Describe a day in your personal or professional life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Caffeine and emails first thing, then usually get into post processing, web development, other business things, and shoot in the afternoons on an average day...then catch up on emails at the end of the day as well.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Q: Tell your funniest, scariest, most bizarre story from a photo shoot!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Um, I had a model cancel on me once because her boat sank... Serious! LOL</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: What types of assignments are you attracted most?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Super artsy high fashion types of shoots with a full staff and lots of money.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: Describe what black and white photography means to you?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: No color. DOH</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: Do you think of yourself as an artist and what do you think of the word artist?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Yes because my work in photography is mostly creative art - not an assembly line. I'm also a musician and multi medium art "artist" too.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Q: What has been the most surprising or most predictable reaction to your photographs?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: When people that have known me for some time see my images for the first time and are overwhelmed. What did they think - I live under a rock and only come out to see them? LOL</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: Tell a little secret about yourself that no-one knows ...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: I don't cheat at golf as much as my husband does - and the only time I do, is against him!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: Who or what would you love to shoot that you haven't already?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Speaking of golf - I would love to shoot in the 60s one day (71 is my low so far). In photography - shooting celebrities would be a blast.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: What would you have done differently during your photography career so far and could this be an advice to others?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: Stuck with it at an earlier age instead of moving around from art to music and beyond.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: What are your thoughts on the paparazzi and their effects on photographers and photography?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: It's their job, but I don't really care for it at all and never look at that type of thing. The effect is minimal as it is not artistic work at all, just snap shots in the wrong place at the wrong time and getting paid for it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: How do you feel about digital manipulation and to what extent do you utilize it?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: It's part of the modern day darkroom and is used by anyone who is serious. The question is - how far? "Manipulation" is a word loaded with bad connotations. "Enhancements" is a more appropriate term for the traditional sense of using post processing. True masters of digital work have taken it to an entirely new level, and it has become an art form unto it's own beyond photography.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: What other thoughts would you like to share?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A: What are you reading this for? Give me a call or email and lets get shooting! :-)</span></span></div>
Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-81122764921041026182009-10-14T15:02:00.000-04:002011-09-21T08:41:40.413-04:00New Links - plus, meet Cecilie Harris<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can't believe I did it - added a MySpace.....what's next? Facebook? Uh oh. And just a day later I added the Facebook page as well, although their system is very strange to deal with if you are not creating a personal page... in fact, one is forced into creating a personal page even if they don't want one! ha ha <br />
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I did have a moment of serendipity in the whole experience however, in meeting a brilliant photographer from the UK named Cecilie Harris <a href="http://www.cecilieharris.co.uk/about.html">http://www.cecilieharris.co.uk/about.html</a> - I ran across her by chance while researching "how to" put a photography Facebook site together. Do take a look at <a href="http://www.cecilieharris.co.uk/Portraits/photography_portraits.html">her work</a>... it's quite nice and she keeps a very engaging <a href="http://cecilieharris.blogspot.com/">blog</a> as well. OK Cecilie - how did I do? Is that enough links for you? :-) If you ever make it out to California, you have a standing invitation to visit if you like.<br />
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Now the only thing about all these social networks and photo sites is running all over the web trying to keep all these places current...I should be out shooting instead! LOL<br />
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Speaking of social networking sites, rumors from high sources indicate that Microsoft is going to buy You Tube, MySpace, Twitter and Facebook and combine them all into one new Microsoft branded social networking site called "You-My-Twit-Face".<br />
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<b>You heard it here first.</b></span>Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-83094056058728331552009-10-04T15:37:00.000-04:002009-11-03T16:49:34.493-05:00Karen's Top 10 Quick Tips for Models<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">1.</span></span><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Be punctual - and be in touch – make sure to let us know if you're running late. We need all your contact info too - cell, email etc. so communication is good between us at all times. The ability to make, and keep appointments is one of the big differences between those who succeed in modeling, and those that don't.</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">2.</span></span><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bring more than one outfit/look – suggested minimum is three. Let us know what style you're going for in advance if you can as we may adjust locations, studio sets and lighting accordingly.</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">3.</span></span><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Accessories/props – coat, hat, scarf, gloves, purse, umbrella, fan, vest, boa, travel case, costume jewelry - any other curiosities you might like - Bring along props that either match your outfit or can tell a story! They make a photo more believable and interesting - and also can give you something else to do with your hands.</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">4.</span></span><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Make sure your outfits are clean and wrinkle free – shoes should be in good condition. The "out on the town" or "classic style" looks are always good - but don't be afraid to bring something crazy, fun, sexy, wild or strange too...</span></span><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5.</span></span><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If wearing sleeveless tops/outfits – shave your pits (ha ha) and use a clear deodorant. Being overly tanned, or showing dark tan lines is not a good thing so keep this in mind as well.</span></span><br />
</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">6.</span></span><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bring a hair brush, comb, curling iron etc. - what ever you need to style and shape your hair. Also bring clips, scrunchies or anything else you have to change your hair stye quickly on the spot so we can get various looks.</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">7.</span></span><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Cosmetics - powder for your nose (to keep the shine off), and any other makeup needed to maintain or alter your look during the course of the shoot - also moisturizers for the skin, and lips and any other items you may have to add that "sparkle".</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">8.</span></span><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Nails should be done evenly in a complimentary or neutral color (or left natural) - eyebrows should be shaped and clean of strays.</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">9.</span></span><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Skin blemishes happen even with the best skin care regimen, do not irritate them. If you have any skin marks or scars that you would like removed in the retouching process, this should be discussed, though typically we will do these things as a matter of course on female models. Tattoos and piercings will remain unless specifically asked for removal.</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">10.</span></span><span style="white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Drink plenty of water, have a good night's sleep beforehand and eat healthy so your skin will look good and there are no bloodshot eyes!</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4Qy56i-MWsE/SvClCkc41_I/AAAAAAAAAHU/GZ5QEKUNAkg/s1600-h/Smiley+Face" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4Qy56i-MWsE/SvClCkc41_I/AAAAAAAAAHU/GZ5QEKUNAkg/s320/Smiley+Face" /></a><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Also don't forget – Let's Have Fun! </span></b></span><br />
</div>Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-77634795931414688242009-10-04T15:17:00.000-04:002011-09-21T08:39:09.915-04:00Tale of a new lens & last minute Kristin!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A brand New Carl Zeiss 24-70 f2.8 had just been added to the lineup...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">See sample results in <a href="http://www.karenengel.com/p680039699">Kristin's Portrait Gallery</a> - (our first shoot with this lens).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Just thrilled and mortified with the expense of such an item is a strange combination - very Yin Yang, but we were looking forward to it nonetheless. Lens in hand and ready.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Then out of the blue came Kristin! She came over after briefly participating and bailing out on a big group shoot over at the local Bakersfield park - just 5 minutes away from us. How perfect!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We exchanged a few calls and accelerated the timing a bit which was fine by me as it was a day of mostly finishing work for me and I needed to take a rest from it regardless. She arrived with a full bag of model goodies, wardrobe and accessories - COOL, and very pro, plus, a model that had her makeup on and ready to go - perfectly! (Advice to the modeling interested - hire a makeup artist or learn how to do it for yourself - and makeup for camera is not what you wear to the grocery store!!!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We got right into it quickly and knocked out some great images in no time flat! She has an amazing and inspiring back story which I will not go into here, but suffice to say, I was thrilled to do this shoot and create the results for her we did! Mega Kudos. A job well done!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Great model - yes I would shoot with her again, no question.</span><br />
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Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-1573355379472571752009-10-04T10:43:00.000-04:002009-11-21T12:05:56.673-05:00FRAMED by this blog!<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The blog on our site - www.karenengelphotography.com - uses a type of web design technology called "Frames" - which is designed to keep the internal navigation links (above) active, and have the reader remain on our site - even when loading an external page via some links within the blog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some pages may go to external sites, while others may not due to how they are set up on the other end. If a page you would like to thoroughly visit does not go to an external site - you can always jump to it by using this link - </span><span style="color: #999999; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.karenengel.blogspot.com/" style="color: #e5ebff; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">External Link to this blog - on Blogger.com</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: black; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - Also seen in the upper right hand corner, listed under My Other Sites.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">UPDATE - </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">As much as I like having my blog page "framed" within a page on my site - I've decided there are just too many limitations when doing so - as a result I am going to do the necessary customization to the formatting of the blog itself so that it integrates nicely with the rest of my website - designed in Freeway for OSX. There is a great tutorial for anyone looking to integrate blogs with Freeway, by Dan Jasker, here - <a href="http://www.danjasker.com/fwtuts/view/creating-blogger-templates/">http://www.danjasker.com/fwtuts/view/creating-blogger-templates/</a></span></span>Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-13920212637214626772009-09-24T20:58:00.000-04:002009-11-07T10:34:28.505-05:00Abby - Part II - Two for the price of One!<span style="font-size: medium;">As we learned from the previous blog entry back in July, Abby is a young, up and coming model here in the Bakersfield area. I thought she did brilliantly in our <a href="http://www.karenengel.com/p178947763">first session</a> together so I rang her up to return for a second set, and she happily agreed. Since our last shoot I had made some considerable improvements in the studio itself, the gear and with my techniques as well so I was enthused to try and improve upon the first shoot with these new things in hand.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v7/p964033825-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v7/p964033825-11.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v7/p550497925-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v7/p550497925-11.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v1/p1054162971-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v1/p1054162971-11.jpg" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/p763095849">The results</a> were excellent - She was much more relaxed this time around (though still quiet as a mouse) - she got right into it and we developed a very good flow during the session- so we managed to get a very high percentage of "keepers". It was very clear that she was confident and improving her skills in addition to being more comfortable. She had also grown her hair out and had a little different look than before with the style of wardrobe she brought - all things that added extra elements of interest to the end results! One thing that I had not anticipated however, was not one - but two surprises arrived on my doorstep as she did...<br />
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She showed up with her entire family! Dad, Mom, multiple sisters, multiple brothers, a friend of hers and maybe a grandma or something, I can't recall now as I was completely overwhelmed as it seemed like about 10 people to me at the time! ha ha Her friend, <a href="http://www.karenengel.com/p941633944">Lorena</a> added to the confusion on my part as it was clear she wasn't a sister (by lack of resemblance), but also because she was dressed in a cheerleading outfit and had these captivating, large amazing eyes! In the back of my mind upon seeing here I was thinking I would really like to shoot her too, but was not sure how to go about asking as this was Abby's session time and I am by nature not a pushy person. Luckily I didn't have to ask, as they approached me to see if it would be permitted for her to have a few images created as well. She was very nervous and I had to work hard to keep her from looking that way, but we did get some very nice images in the few we shot!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v5/p1063472729-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v5/p1063472729-11.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v7/p638994962-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v7/p638994962-11.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v1/p798876044-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v1/p798876044-11.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Abby is however, still so young and new at this - for the first time ever I offered for her to come back another day and view the entire shoot on my Mac in Lightroom so she could see the things that are working for her, and those things which are not and learn from it in order to improve. The side benefit of this was that she actually helped me rate them and cull through them to a select, final group of images. It's not something I would ever normally do, but she is very nice and I really want to help her learn, and find the success she's looking for! Happily, the whole family did not come back for this as I would never have room for them all in my office!<br />
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At some point in the future, I'm sure we will work together again. I would not hesitate to ask her back for any fashion/catalog/commercial work that comes along down the road. She arrives on time, does the job well and sometimes even brings along a few surprises!<br />
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TWO FOR ONE<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v2/p991015995-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v2/p991015995-2.jpg" width="256" /></a><br />
</div></span>Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3050608228656676982.post-66290092835302603852009-07-30T23:14:00.000-04:002009-11-07T10:30:43.753-05:00Abby Part I - Models from Unexpected Places<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The very first time I worked with </span><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/p178947763"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Abby</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, she arrived with her dad Pete at my studio ready to work. This was particularly impressive as she was only 15 years old, but very dedicated to making a success of herself in modeling - and it showed. In fact she was currently a student at a fashion/modeling school so much more serious about it than one would expect a 15 year old to be. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She has an amazing and exotic look and was quite versatile - going from looking her age to well beyond her years with the simple change of a pose or facial expression. I wondered for a while if she even spoke English as she barely made a peep! ha ha But of course she was just very shy and wide eyed. Like a pro, without instruction, she brought several outfits along and had plenty of moves without needing too much direction, which was good as my skills as a director were not particularly stellar at the time, though have seen massive improvements since.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They had driven down from a very small town 1/2 hour north of Bakersfield called Delano, which is by reputation, primarily a farming community. Delano is a town so small in fact, it makes Bakersfield look like a booming metropolis - which it most certainly is not! While this is probably the last place on earth someone would expect a model to appear out of - there she was - a pleasant and unexpected surprise. The place where she found out about me was also a bit surprising - on Craigslist! I had a casting call posted there looking for something new instead of the usual repeat model hopefuls a small town like Bakersfield produces regularly...when I got her reply, I had a feeling there was something special in the offing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was experimenting mixing studio strobes and hot shoe type flashes together - something I discovered was not always the best idea in the world without a very specific lighting design - but <i>part of the way I work is to change things up on every shoot</i>, to make sure I do something that pushes the limits beyond what I already know how to do, into places I've never gone before. It keeps me fresh and different in every shoot instead of being a <b>photographic chimpanzee</b> - mimicking my own shots/setups and going through the motions to produce the exact same thing over and over again with different faces. How unimaginative and boring would that be? Might as well get a job shooting pics a JC Penny. blah</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the end we had a great session and managed to pull off some excellent images together.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v1/p862625947-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v1/p862625947-11.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v0/p208969916-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.karenengel.com/img/v0/p208969916-11.jpg" /></a><br />
</div></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> There was some real magic in some of the images, especially for a first time session with a new model. Without question, we wanted to work together again. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>And we did. See Part II for MORE!</b></span></span>Wedding Engagement Family Photography Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Bradenton FL, Florida - 661.477.2451http://www.blogger.com/profile/04363613047038810255noreply@blogger.com0