Stacey Vaeth Photography Soft Color…
Posted on April 6, 2010
What a lovely morning. Mike and Kristi and I spent a really beautiful few hours together on the Tidal Basin. They’re clearly so in love and I am sure going to have just an amazing wedding day in October. I love the soft pastels surrounding them in each of these images. And those willow trees!
Oh, and incidentally. I came home sniffling and wheezing, and pulled in behind these cars:
Proof!
Another beautiful day
Posted on April 5, 2010
Contrary to popular belief, I actually don’t live on the Tidal Basin. But these days, it sure can feel like it. Although when you get to see an incarnation of this every morning, it doesn’t feel a bad gig:
This morning I worked with Jolina and Samara, clients from last year. Although last year we worked in January on the Tidal Basin, when we got this:
And one year later, look how tall!
Working with these lovely ladies, I learned a few things. Sam is a thinker. She’s pensive and mulls a question before finding an answer. She loves bacon. And she hates to get her shoes dirty. Surprisingly, she’s one of many kids I’ve worked with this year who feel the same way. (about the dirt, I mean. I’m not sure about the bacon.)
Engagement images from the cherry blossoms tomorrow! Oh, and i still have to post on the 1000 person yoga class on the mall. More on that soon.
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Project Cherry Blossoms
Posted on April 3, 2010
Your challenge for this week:
Get your clients to the location on time
Hope and pray they find parking
In 20 minutes, get a great portrait of the children, with the cherry blossoms, which are typically hanging 6 feet above their heads
Hope and pray for good, warm weather, not too sunny
Battle tourist throngs to get a shot that looks serene
Fight back little old ladies, as necessary
Keep the kids white dresses somewhat clean. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, after all.
Sometimes. That’s how it feels – this thing I’ve signed up for. But I love it! This morning, we were all struggling with throngs of people. In fact, the hundreds of thousands shut down an afternoon event I had scheduled. But everyone got to the location on time, and in good spirits. And we did some good work. Like the shot above, taken around 7:10am.
This is what the area we were shooting in looked like at 6:45 – it’s usually desolate, even in peak blossom season. Everyone was there to get a frame of the sunset, which I grabbed above another photog’s head.
But we still did good work, thanks to my clients’ good cheer and lots of laughter. A few favs from today:
This was from last weekend, but I love it:
And then there is Ava Rose. We were getting her to smile, calling her name, and at least 30 people surrounding her joined in in the call “Ava” Rose!”
Oh, and then there is this…but I’ll blog about that tomorrow….
more soon…
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Lots of Everything!
Posted on April 2, 2010
Cars, busloads of tourists wearing “i love d.c.” sweatshirts, families, doggies, photographers, and even a bride and groom.
Oh, and blossoms? Did I mention tons and tons of blossoms? And sunshine?
We had a gorgeous morning today, at the cherry blossom mini sessions down by the tidal basin.We had perfect attendance and lots of smiles and fun at this morning’s session!
Here are a few of my favorites, more soon…
Set to Sail….
Posted on April 1, 2010
Wouldn’t it be great to be on the water today? After a fun morning at the Tidal Basin, I got to work in the studio with this little cutie, Conan, laughing and playing in his nautical strips.
Love it! What a joy he and his parents were, all fun and laughter. Tomorrow, more mini sessions. And right now, I’m watching a little robin hop around on my porch. Ahhhh..spring.
Full On!
Posted on April 1, 2010
Those cherry blossoms are bloomin like crazy. This is by far the prettiest season I have seen since living here in DC. Which brings out the challenge of everybody and their brother, their long lost uncle, their pet terrier, congregating on the Tidal Basin at the same time. At 8:45 this morning (a Thursday…by the way), parking was already all full. Yikes.
I was doing a fun shoot with friends this morning (Kelly Dinardo, owner of Past Tense Studio) and her boyfriend, J.P. They are organized enough and kind enough to think about Mother’s Day already, and wanted to get some shots to send to their Mom’s. So sweet! Here are a few quick favorites from this morning.
Rainbows and Ducks
Posted on March 28, 2010
The Cherry Blossom Mini Sessions have begun! It’s been like a reunion with old friends, as over 80% of the families I worked with yesterday and today have done a mini session with me in the last year. Keating, as you probably remember if you follow this blog, was photographed last year at the festival. Some of these kids don’t remember who I am, or all the running I make them do for great pictures, but not Keating. She remembered that her party shoes got muddy last year, so this year insisted on boots:
And…she told her mom “I hope she doesn’t forget the cookies. Do you think she’ll remember to bring them again this year?” And, indeed I did remember. Animal crackers for all!
Here are a few more of the images that struck me….Jason here had a strong hold on my balloons, which I keep by my things to let everyone know where I am. Strategic cropping for each and ever picture got us a few frames sans ribbons.
I photographed Jimmy’s mom and dad when she was seven months pregnant, again when he was just two weeks old (and NOT very happy about being the subject of a photo shoot!) and again yesterday…in a much better mood.
And here with Mom and Dad…I truly love this picture. The rim light on Myke’s hair, Jen’s expression, and the circular arrangement of Myke, Jen and Jimmy keeping your eye in the bottom left corner. The only problem is, I can’t tell if it’s better in black and white or color. This image is a perfect candidate for a canvas print.
And then Emily and Cardon. This picture happened while I was changing out my memory card. The ducks floated up and…poof…instant joy. Luckily grandma was there to call my attention. Emily has these great seasonal pictures of Cardon, as she organized one of our pumpkin patch mini sessions.
Many more to come tomorrow! Thanks to all who made it out this weekend, I hope you had as much fun as I did.
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Sometimes it takes a while….
Posted on March 25, 2010
sometimes it takes a while…for an image to develop. With my dad at the Kodak Camera Club, or in our basement darkroom, or in the high school lab, I would slip an exposed piece of photographic paper (the weight! the gloss! the expense! the absolute magic!) into the processing tray, and I would watch an image reveal itself, like a person slipping out of shadow. I would diligently move it from tray to tray, my fingers immersed in the chemical bath (I can still smell it), rubbing out sections I wanted to deepen, darken, coax to the surface.
The whole process of developing a roll of film, choosing the negatives to to work with, printing each one, hanging them dry could take weeks. Heck, I could work on the same roll of film until the end of time, seeing something different and wanting to explore a new angle with each viewing. I only had a short, imperfect and very surface experience with film and slide. But I’m finding that the same process is happening with digital. But it’s so much more, what is it? Noise, content, movement? Just MORE of everything. More images, more clients, more shooting. So sometimes it takes a while for an image to develop. Like these. I shot these in the fall and wasn’t overjoyed with the result. I was hard on myself, that the opportunity was so vast and the time too short and I didn’t do the day justice. My expectations didn’t match up with reality. But yesterday I came across them in one folder on the three terabytes of images I now manage. And they stopped me. The beauty of this family, these white dancing grasses, the red fall leaves, the joyous little girl. It reminded me that capturing a photo is more than that. It’s capturing a memory. And some times that memory takes a while to develop. Then it stays with you for all time.
more soon,
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Giving Thanks
Posted on March 23, 2010
Melt Down Insurance
Posted on March 22, 2010
A colleague and I were discussing our work this morning, and I recounted this story of a weekend shoot, in which some great clients and their adorable baby were all dressed up and ready to go. They had been practicing sitting, posing and playing with the dog, Dixie, all week, so that they were ready for their big photo shoot. They had new clothes, were well rested, fed, and all in all in perfect form.
I arrive. Mom and I create a space on the floor for dog and baby. We move the rug, adjust the lights. The camera gets drawn out of the bag. The dog gets bribed with his bone. The baby gets lowered into place….and!
So, we decided to redo the shoot next week and hope for a more fruitful outcome. Which brings me back to my discussion with my colleague this morning. What if photographers offered Melt-Down Insurance? Wouldn’t that be a great feeling? No worries if your baby is going to be happy or sad? You can just re-do the shoot until the giggles are flowing!
What about you? Have you worried about a melt-down before a shoot? Has it happened during the session? How did it turn out? Post your experience in the comments section!
more soon,
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Stacey Vaeth Photography 