In the Light

Finding the sweet light in the low light locations. Just have to look for it and in this case, look up! The kids and I walked a no-traffic trail footbridge and admired a little stream that ran underneath. The forest opened up here letting in some sweet light and if you looked for it at just the right place you found it. I told the kids I was on a mission to find light today. They had fun helping me find it. Here my daughter calls to me, "Mom, take my picture here." She finds some good light. And ya know, she did really good! Low and behold, she found some. To get the light into her face I had her look up at me as I shot down from above. This helped brighten her face and smooth out her skin. Shot wide-open (settings: f/2, 1/125, ISO 200 on a 50mm L).

Brother and Sister

(settings: f/1.2, 1/100ss, ISO100 on 50mm)

Happy Holidays!

A Merry Tri-fold 5x5 Greeting

Yesterday I created a trifold greeting card using some paper from some templates that I had purchased. I love the paper! Anyway, here is my first trifold creation using photos from a recent family shoot.

Happy Holidays!

(click on the card for a larger view)



Thanks for stopping by!

Why I am Thankful

Why I am Thankful.
by "M." (6 yrs

I thankful for what I am.

and what I do for my Dad and Mom to
and the food to.

so the End.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

From THE SCHWARTZ FAMILY

Pirate Grunge

Ok, so this morning I worked on more grunge technique. I just had to play with the photo that I took of Mr. C yesterday. I decided to make this a pirate + matrix + ice grunge style /theme. I had a ton of fun making this one! I love the colors that I had to work with here. There are countless layers to this image now and I can't even recall the many steps though I have the file saved in steps. I will be printing this off in 5x7 to see how these look in print. I'm excited about being able to offer this type of artistic print. Oh, and Mr. C, that is your birthday in code on the image. FYI.

Dreamy Eyes

Meet my cutie pie nephew, Mr. C! He's got the most beautiful puppy dog brown eyes! Today I had fun playing around with my prime lens and shooting wide open. Here he sits mezmerized by a movie on TV as I sat a few feet away from him. I love the sharpness and sparkle of his eyes. Brown eyes can be tough and become black holes but this shot captured the detail of his eye. Thanks Mr. C! I'll show color later and perhaps a fun ice grunge too....

Ice Baby

More plays for the ice grunge look... This is a sweet photo "outtake" (didn't make the proofing gallery for my client) but later I found it a fun photograph to use for plays. What a sweet baby little "B" is! Here I used multiple layers and added a lot of texture. I have two photos presented here, one without bubbles and one I inserted bubbles. I'm still deciding if I like it with them or not. Anyway, it is fun to play around and experiment.

It's Thanksgiving soon! A time for sharing and caring and reaching out to one another. Giving back and giving thanks...... I want to say a special THANK YOU you to those of you who have posed and purchased prints from me this year. It has been a big year for growth for me and the start of a joyful new business.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ice Grunge

This morning during my 3am-6am stretch I learned a new pp technique - Ice Grunge. Oh, the possibilities! This is my daughter when she was playing cowboys with her brother and she was wearing this goofy cowboy hat. I was following them around and taking pictures during their game of shoot-em-up. I wasn't able to get a good closeup of her so I finally asked her to stand still and look at the camera for a portrait. She gave me goofy faces and finally gave me "big eyes" after my final attempt/request. This is what she gave me... It's one of my favorite pictures now of her. It really shows her strong will and shape of her face. Most of all, it shows off her big brown eyes that can be a challenge to capture.

"K" Family Shoot

Introducing the "K" family of five. This family resides in Oregon but were up for a visit with relatives. Seattle dazzled them with the fall weather of clouds, rain and sunbreaks now and again. With an exciting and promising break in the clouds and rain I hurried over to their location and took their family pictures. Here are some of my faves. What a fun family to work with. I love the energy and connection they have with one another. Very sweet. Thank you for all of those beautiful smiles and willingness to pose. You're proofs are available on my website now!

Thanks for stopping by! =)

We've Moved!

Sorry, no new photos to post from the week as we've been very busy moving, again! Yup, our 4th move in 1 year! That's alot of lifting and shifting and re-adjusting. Wow, just writing about it makes me tired. Anyway, we are settling into our cozy new location and we'll be here for the next 6-months. We'll be riding out the winter and early spring here in WA with plans to relocate back to Maine (where our hearts reside) in late May/June '08. Did I just say moving again? Ugh, sigh. Yup, welcome to my world. With each move we try to downsize even more. I didn't think it was possible but each time we move our stuff we ask ourselves why we have it? Why we keep it? So, this time we are doing a deep cleaning of our storage stuff. Thank you www.craigslist.com for being there. We love that site and have sold alot on there already. If you haven't been there yet, go check it out. It's so easy to use and so much easier than ebay.

Some more changes. I will begin homeschooling our first-grader full-time again starting this coming Monday! So I have been planning our study time together in the wee-hours of the morning. I am happy to be able to give her the challenges and subjects of interest custom to her and move at her own pace. She is excited to be back in "Mum-mum's School" (as our son calls it) and looks forward to spending quality time with us. The next few weeks will be an adjusting time for me to determine our schedules.

As the unboxing continues into today, I have yet to get my business computer system setup and operational. I hope to accomplish that today! For those of you waiting to view my Holiday Cards, check back early next week for samples on my website. We have just recently had internet access installed yesterday at our new location and so have been M.I.A. most of the week. I feel so lost without my computer and internet access! Do I really depend on those items so much? Uh, YES! So, anyway, I have them again, wahoo, and will be getting that up and running over the weekend.

Among all of this... dun, dun, dun, dun..... my birthday! At mid-night tonight I will be another year young at 32. Wow, that passed by quickly! Thirty-one has been an amazing experience. A creative age of clairty and perspective and the birth of "Angela Schwartz Photography"! I had expected my 30's to be just that - creative and full of direction - accept I also hadn't expected all this moving along the way.

Thanks for stopping by!

It's a Merry Greeting!

Introducing "Playful", a new greeting card that I just finished. I am offering Playful to clients now as a postcard size custom greeting card. The back of the card will have your return address and optional additional text (no charge) if you should desire. Visit my website to view some of my custom cards as well as some shabby and classy designs that I have purchased from a gifted designer and will be offering to clients later this week. So, check back!

Contact me today to schedule your next family photo session!

A Mother's Love

Last night I was proofing some more pictures from Florida when I came across this shot. A split- second-moment shared between a mother and child and I hoped with all of my heart that I got it and sure enough I did! An image that speaks to me of a mother's love for her children. A moment exchanged between souls that are forever bonded. From the depths of her heart she looks lovingly at her daughter, who she holds so closely, and shares a quiet smile of love and joy.

I chose to process this photo in a bronze finish for the quiet, the classic and the timeless feel it renders. I added some additional processing to give this image a softness that makes if feel more like a painting to me, my other passion that today is in a bin in the garage.