Snow... Now...

It's the end of March and finally we get some snow. WHAT! Yes, snow in town at the end of March. You may know by now that I'm completely in love with Mother Nature. She drives me. I want to help her. She's pissed and rightly so. Some people say that Global Warming is not real. We're just going through a cycle they say. I agree, the Earth does go through cycles but the scientific fact is that Human Beings are speeding up this cycle at astounding rates. If they came up with a better name than 'Global Warming' maybe the ignorant would listen and do something to help our one and only Earth instead of continuing down this irreversible path. New title for 'GW' should be 'Human Influence on Global Destruction'. Just a thought...

Sky and Flare

The spring sky has been amazing lately. Enormous clouds fill the sky with just enough blue popping through to increase the color contrast perfectly. I finally took advantage of having a house-mate, life-mate, soul-mate and model right at my finger tips. Thank you Amy for being a good sport!

In this photograph I exposed for the sky using the suns natural lens flare to give the photo that extra artistic, full of life look. I then used a fill flash to pop Amy. If I didn't use the fill flash she would be a silhouette which is not what I was going for.

This is an example of not using fill flash. See the silhouette! I also underexposed the sky just a tad because, well, I wanted a darker blue sky than what Mother Nature was offering at the time.

This photograph has lens flare to the extreme level. When I captured the shot I was kind of irritated at myself because I thought the flare was too much and smack dab in the middle of her face... She had a great expression and by the next frame she had changed her look. But I kept an open mind and decided to role with this image in the editing stage. Personally I like this image just because of the fact that I know Amy and this to me depicts a certain part of her...

Dab of Color

I just had to add one color photograph from my day trip travels. The clouds were amazing. The light was beautiful. The day was complete!!!

Close Travels

Traveling the open road is a part of my past the I need to keep near in the present and future. In years past I've racked up thousands and thousands of miles all over the USA. Since I've been in my committed relationship for the past seven years traveling for months on end just isn't in the cards. Yesterday I had another epiphany as I was going stir crazy in my cozy little home/office/studio... I don't need to pack up my truck and take off for long periods of time without any plan. I can do day trips. I can do hour trips. The best part about living in Boise, Idaho is that I am in the middle of everything Mother Nature has to offer, minus the ocean. We do have rivers, lakes, mountains, deep canyons, fur trees, desert, city-scape, farm-scape, sports, action, rain, snow, sun, clouds, stars and a whole lot more!

These black and white photo's came from my 2 hour long trip I took on the farm roads south of Boise.

Something New

Art is never ending, ever changing and absolutely enlightening! I've decided to take my photo's to a new editing level. Why not right? I also upgraded my watermark. I'm not sure what I think of it yet and would love feedback! As I said before:

Art is never ending, ever changing and absolutely enlightening!

&

A perfect and only match for SAC

Green Day...

leprechaun |ˈleprəˌkän; -ˌkôn|

noun

(in Irish folklore) a small, mischievous sprite.

I thought I'd try it out for a day. Ya, SAC can pull off the Leprechaun look... Or so I thought! Are they even perceived as green or do they just wear green?
Conclusion to this Self Portrait is:I would make a better little sister to The Incredible Hulk...

This wonderful St. Patrick's Day 2010 has been dedicated to:
Shawn Dalhover
I think of you all the time... Your amazing life skills, art skills and great human being skills...Forever thank you for the short time I got to spend with you......RIP... 

Glutton for Roses

Some of you may or may not know that I am a Rose freak! I love them... Not so much the roses planted in the yard but roses that are given to me to put in a vase, to hold, to place on my dashboard or to tie with a string and hang from my ceiling to dry. One is fantastic and that is what usually comes my way but this year for my fifth wedding anniversary my wife surprised me with a dozen! One would think that I would choose some odd flower from the tropics to be the flower that makes my heart flutter, since I'm an odd type of person... But no, this is one ordinary and not so original thing about SAC that you now know! 


These roses are the first yellow roses I've ever received. Eleven yellow and one white, which symbolizes my favorite color of all roses and it was also one of the two colors of roses displayed at our wedding. 

Thank you Amy for lighting up my life and spoiling me with roses!

Cemetery & Skulls

This is the second part of my shoot with Amy Schoenfeld. She chose the outfit, I chose the setting. I will tell you that this was an amazing experience to share with my sister-in-law-ish. We not only made beautiful photographs but we took the time to respect those of whom lost their lives for our country who lay rest in the Fort Boise Military Cemetery. What sticks out most in my mind is viewing the numerous amounts of 'Unknown' headstones. I am not a huge fan of war, actually I don't agree with war and or hate in any case but I do support our troops. Scroll on to see what we came up with...

Athlete Photo's Take One

Last weekend was a beautiful one! My buddy Davey Pat asked if I would do a photo shoot with him so he could submit them to a contest of sorts. I said hell yes I'll help you out. He had a few different GQ style outfits to change into for diversity sake but I came up with the running idea. He's got an extremely athletic build that I just had to take advantage of while we were out shooting. I do have to admit these photo's were taken for selfish reasons... basically athlete photography practice. I'm not sure if he will submit any of these to his contest but I know I will be using some for my portfolio! Thanks DP!

You can tell we were not using a softbox because of the harsh shadow DP's left hand displays on his t-shirt. For a minimal equipment set-up and first time running shoot I'm pretty darn happy! Always room for improvement...

Photo's taken with my Canon 40D, 24-105mm F4 lens and 580EX II Speedlite

held off camera with my long cord.

*Thank you Amy Curtis–Schaeffer for you amazing assisting skills! 
*Gretchen thank you for keeping Amy company when I didn't need her assistance.

Self Exploration

As I grow older I often think back on my childhood and happily see my foundation has not strayed too far! I was fortunate to grow up with my Mom at home until I attended first grade. My family, Mom, Dad, Sister and Gram Rainy knew when I was just a baby I would be one of those kids who could not keep my attention on anything for very much time unless I was outside and free to do what I please. I was lucky to have the family that I did because they would do anything and everything to make sure I was entertained. When my sister went to pre-school and kindergarden it was just Mom and Me! Our daily routine consisted of up at 6am for Cheerio's, sliced banana's, OJ and or Hot Chocolate if it was a chilly morning. After my sis headed off to school Mom and I would go to aerobics. There I would join in on the work outs or play on the stage... depending on my attention span. Next Mom and I would rush home to clean the house! This was seriously one of the most fun memories I have of my Mom. She would crank on the tunes, start up the vacuum and dance around the house, never once leaving me out of the experience! Who knew cleaning could be so fun! Soon after the vacuum was put away we would sit down for lunch and laughs. By that time my belly would be full and my eyes tiered. Then Mom would say, 'Sarie are you ready for your nap?' Oh man I could remember getting so giddy I could hardly stand it! I would run in and grab my pillow which was the equivalent to many kids blankies... (I still have one special pillow that travels with me everywhere) I would rush out to make sure Mom was coming to tuck me in! She was always on her way down the hallway with a big smile on her face. Maybe it was because she knew she had at least an hour to herself but I still believe it was because she had so much love and was so proud of her baby girl! My head was down, my body tucked in, eyes closed and in less that five minutes I was out for the count. After nap time I was up, refreshed and ready to head outside where I would spend the rest of the afternoon climbing the giant Willows, making forts under the Evergreens, cliff jump off the huge Cottonwood stumps along the creek bed, swing from the one huge branch in the tree that had to be torn down due to a some nasty disease. Man I loved that tree but don't recall what kind it was! Needless to say I spent most of my childhood fifteen feet above ground in any tree that would hold my little body. When my sister got home from school I would usually always greet her but then run right back outside for more fresh air play. Dad would get home around 5pm every night and he would come out to throw the frizbee, baseball, football, basketball and most nights we would do all four with Mom and Sister to join in the fun. Dinner was served around 6pm and yes we would sit together as a family and enjoy every second of each others company. One would think by then Sarie would be ready to rest... Nope not the case at all! Once I had a nice healthy meal my body was re-energized and ready to head back outside. Some nights before bedtime I would still have too much energy to lay down to listen to Mom, Dad or my Sister read me a story so Mom would shoo me outside to run laps around the house! Oh ya, sometimes my Sister would join me and always Mom and Dad would sit on the back porch counting my laps. They wouldn't be a bit surprised if I would show off with cartwheels, summersaults, skipping skills or what ever I could do to get a chuckle out of them!!! It wasn't long after my evening laps that I was in the bath for a quick scrub, lathered in lotion and in bed cuddled with my pillow, my dog and tucked in with my Dad's famous Chucky Tucky. After a deep eight hour snooze I was up and ready to do it all over again!


These are some photo's of me now at age 30 continuing my love for the great outdoors and climbing trees!

    

Client takes camera!

The things I do for my subjects sometimes makes me laugh!!! This one had to be documented so my client took my camera and captured a doozie! We were out in the foothills far far away from the car and needed to carry a few props. The arms on the jacket I stuffed in my jacket were to small to tie around my waist so my second and best choice was to stuff stuff stuff! The scarf just added that extra sexy look that I was in dire need of... Don't you think?

 

Photograph by: Amy Schoenfeld

Edited by: Sarah Anne Curtis–Schaeffer