Stacey Vaeth Photography Did You Hear?
Posted on January 19, 2010
Did you hear?
No?! Well let me tell you!
Stacey will be out of the country beginning on Saturday, January 23rd, and returning to the office on February 6th. She expects to return stateside recharged, re-energized, and creatively re-awakened! So be on the lookout for new offerings and the scheduling of our most popular events! Although she won’t be available via phone, she will be contactable via email.
And more to come from the Matterhorn, the Irish seaside, Paris at night, and the grand scenes of London in the coming weeks….
sv
A Moment of Silence
Posted on January 16, 2010
For those in Haiti and beyond who have lost all that they have, all that makes their lives whole…
You are in our hearts, our minds, and our prayers.
It’s the Passion…
Posted on January 11, 2010
The end of 2009 has a duel meaning to me. We roll over into a new year, full of new opportunities and fresh starts. But January 5, 2010 was also the second anniversary of Stacey Vaeth Photography. So it only seems right to reflect a bit on the passion, on the fun, and on the joy of these last years. Let’s kick it off with some of my favorite images from over 200 sessions in 2009:
It has been a tremendous honor with you. Here are a few of the boldest memories that came up in my reflections of this past year:
* Capturing the face of a first child less than 12 hours old. * Photographing a family dealing with the impending loss of a parent to cancer. * Meeting and photographing leaders and visionaries, including Alice Walker, Joan Baez, Ben Bernanke, White House Chef Sam Cass, Lily Ledbetter, Sweet Honey and the Rock, Eve Ensler and Dick Gregory. *Capturing the rainy streets of Adams Morgan, spontaneously flooded with thousands of people celebrating the election of President Barack Obama. *Photographing my husband rock climbing and families prostrating on a sacred mountain range in Guatemala. *Shooting with my Dad *Photographing the weddings of friends from middle school, elementary school, and college.
So cheers to another year gone past – and a toast to a great year to come. I hope to see you all in 2010 once again!
To my individual clients from 2008 and 2009, thank you, thank you, thank you.
To my corporate and non-profit clients:
- Mirasa
- Closet Caucus
- Past Tense Yoga Studio
- Perry’s Restaurant
- Neighborhood Restaurant Group
- Children’s Environmental Health Organization
- Center for Health, Environment and Justice
- Bing Stanford in Washington Museum
- Planned Parenthood of Metro Washington, D.C.
- Class of Change
- Live Green
- American Association of University Women
- Georgetown University
- NOMA BID
- Kaiser Family Foundation
- Physicians for Reproductive Health
- Southern Poverty Law Center
- Susquehanna Association for the Blind and Vision Impaired
- Yelp.com
- Ask Miss A
- Fashion for Paws
- Praecere Public Relations
- Golin Harris
- Sara Tuttle Interior Design
- Greenlining Institute
- Smith & Wollensky
May 2010 be even better than the last!!
Looking forward to sharing more soon….
sv
Sugarplum Dreams
Posted on December 10, 2009
are the most fanciful kind…..
hope you’re dreams are sweet this holiday season.
-svg
The Joyful Process of Dog + Baby = Picture
Posted on December 8, 2009
While the title of this blog alone is enough to get most of you to click on it, because, really, who doesn’t love dogs and babies, there is also herewithin a lesson in joyful patience.
So, I am in the process of digging through the hundreds of sessions, which equals over 40,000 images, to fulfill client orders for the holidays. It’s sort of bedlam. It is also why all you parents, who e-mail me at 11pm after the kids are asleep, find me quick to respond to your emails.
Anyway, I was going through this clients’ files, exporting their images and preparing them for print, and I found myself cracking up. A lot. So I thought I should spread a little joy and share a little lesson in the joyful patience it takes to be a photographer. This is not the same patience I have to exercise when a print lab doesn’t seem to know how to print, or when a computer or external drive malfunctions, or when a lighting tool works in all test runs, and on when on location falls apart into an embarrassing pile of junk. Those events require patience, and it ain’t of the joyful kind. But plying a dog with peanut butter and continuously propping a chubby baby up, joyful indeed.
So here is a play by play of about 20 frames, shot back to back, and infused with a lot of photographer self doubt and second guessing, all in an effort to get one great shot. Let’s get started.
1. Dog lays down and licks. Because, well, he’s a dog. Baby is interested in the funky jig dad is doing in the corner. Every parent has one. I have seen them all.
2. Dog’s interested in piqued. Photographer gets excited that “the shot” is about to happen.
3. Dog and baby collapse in exhaustion from all of the expectations put upon them as professional models.
4. Dog snaps back to it, but baby reminds him to milk it for all that it’s worth. They get a better day rate that way.
5. Baby plays the martyr and tries to get the dog to behave, already.
6. Photographer is convinced that ‘the shot’ is not going to happen today, and so focuses on the sure fired cuteness of baby rolls.
7. Photographer begins to think that the parents will pull the plug on this unsanitary shoot. But they are uber-cool, so we continue on and wait for ‘the shot’.
8. We are getting closer. At least dog and baby’s heads are on the same plane. But that is not a happy face.
9. Come on baby! Hang in there!
10. Dog has a scratch. We wait for greatness.
11. Photographer waits requisite amount of time for dog to return to the task at hand. It takes so long that she circles behind to see what is so interesting back there. And of course, dog then turns back around.
12. Back in front just in time….we’re getting closer!
13. And. Lucky 13. The Shot of the Day.
Thanks kids. It’s been fun. And that shot never happens again.
Christmas Delivery Deadline – December 12th!
Posted on December 7, 2009
Hello Clients!
Hope you enjoyed our winter wonderland this weekend and got lots of great pics. If you have any that you love, share them with me on the fan page of Stacey Vaeth Photography fan page on Facebook!
And a friendly reminder that if you are planning on ordering pictures for holiday gifts, all orders must be placed by December 12th for Christmas Delivery, December 15 for expedited shipping.
Sincerely,
Stacey
The Book of Ecclesiastes and my Grandmother the Pool Shark
Posted on November 30, 2009
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
Thanks are given to the things we have, the family, the food, the shelter over our heads. But this season, this trip home, I’m giving thanks for things long past. For the foundation of history that allows me to live my life in the way that I do.
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
For my grandmothers, both in their late 80’s and struggling with maintaining their relevance and dignity and their roles as matriarchs as the world around them ever-quickens its pace.
As their health begins to disintegrate, their memories begin to fail them but the threads of their history sharpen. My Grandmother Vaeth can’t remember the Thanksgiving dinner spent with us just 24 hours earlier, but she can remember all the lyrics to the silly songs she sang as a girl:
He’d never been in a store before, alone tee-hee all alone.
He sat on the cheese,
Wiped his feet on the ham,
And stuck out his tongue at the grocery man.
A fly walked out of the grocery store, alone tee-hee all alone.”
She brightens at my brothers’ request to play pool at her assisted living home, and then proceeds to leave her walker behind and nearly beat him.
My grandmother Courtney, who at 88 and recovering from lung cancer, jumped up to help the boys rearrange furniture at Thanksgiving dinner. When my husband recounted that story to me on Thursday evening and said “now I know where you get it from” I took it as one of the greatest compliments I have received. As cancer invades her body, her strong, political and opinionated voice withered to a whisper. Her informed mind, her spiritual resilience, and her determination to remain independent and useful just grows stronger.
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
And I give thanks for where I come from. For Rochester, NY that has been a city of innovation; from (bad) beer, to the birthplace of modern photography
now struggling with maintaining its relevance and dignity and its role as a vibrant city as the world around it ever-quickens its pace…
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
The ins and outs of each day demand our immediate attention, like rough waves on the surface of the ocean, they rock our little boats and distract us from giving thanks for what is true, for what is fundamental. But when we reflect on our history, we find strength, longevity, and opportunity. We can learn from our history of what mistakes not to make, and what silly songs we should teach our kids. Like support beams on a house, our history serves to hold up our future.
All these random threads of thoughts circled in my mind all week. So when my dad and I awoke in the cold and early hours of Friday morning, driving around our overcast city looking for photographic inspiration, I was not at all surprised at what we found right around the corner.
Gravestone of Susan B. Anthony
My little waves had me quite distracted when I lived in Rochester, but when I turned inside and looked around where I came from, I found that this beam of support had been there all along.
A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time of peace, I swear it’s not too late!
Credits:
“Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a Season), by the Byrds, adapted from the book of Ecclesiastes, the Bible.
“A Fly Walked into a Grocery Store” by Marian Vaeth
A Perfect Rainy Day
Posted on November 24, 2009
A great day at the beautiful River Farm, near Mt. Vernon…
Foodies Delight!
Posted on November 12, 2009
Some of you might not know that in addition to photographing cute babies and spectacular weddings, I also photograph food and restaurant operations. Food photography is actually some of my favorite work because I have the opportunity to work with other artists: chefs and bakers. When a plate comes to me to be photographed, and is stylized perfectly, it’s like photographing a master’s sculpture. The art has already been created, and I get to amplify it by capturing the ways in which light hits that sculpture. Whether it’s a single egg, or a complicated pork chop with parsnips, food photography offers the ultimate in creativity.
But this isn’t an element of my business that I have been promoting. So when The Art Institute of Washington (ironically located in Arlington, VA) contacted me a few weeks back to be a part of their DC FotoWeek Exhibit, entitled YUM!, I was beyond honored.
The exhibit is ongoing until this Saturday, November 14th and the reception is tonight at 6:30pm. Click here for the Washington Post write-up of the event.
The top image and this one are both in the exhibit:
If you’d like to see more of my food photography, check out the Commercial side of Stacey Vaeth.com
On a personal note, yes, I am an aspiring foodie ala the Houndstooth Gourmet. But these days of back to back holiday shoots and orders means “gourmet dinner” in the Vaeth Gonzalez household is Grapenuts with banana and soy milk.
more soon,
sv
Sanjeev and Jennifer – Strathmore Music Center | Bethesda, MD Wedding Photographer
Posted on October 31, 2009
Sanj and Jen are married! I worked with this couple last fall, just about a year ago exactly, when we met up in a freezing cold Meredian Hill Park for their engagement session. For their wedding, Jen’s only wish was that the fall leaves were in all their glory, and, well, that it didn’t rain. We got her wish, and mine. Perfectly overcast skies, gorgeous fall color, not to mention an incredibly fun group of people to work with.
Talented photographer Les came along to assist, and we had a great time.
Latham Hotel, Georgetown canalside, St. Ann’s in Tenleytown, and Strathmore Music Hall provited great inspiration and perfect locations for their amazing day.
Congratulations Sanj and Jen!!
more soon…
sv
Stacey Vaeth Photography 
