Carly at the Valley of the Sunflowers

This is Carly and her daughter at the Valley of the Sunflowers in downtown Phoenix. I organized a picnic at the VOS and told folks that they could stop by and get sunflower photos before the picnic, if they wanted.

This was back in the spring of 2012 and I was taking a break from wedding and portrait photography, but I was still doing personal photography projects and charity event photography.

I had recently downloaded the program Exposure Software. Exposure describes itself as “the image editor designed for the art of photography.” It gives you the ability to make your digital images look like film. At the time, I was really enchanted with the creamy pink way some film looks. I played around with the Portra filter and some other filters to give my images a creamy pink look. I was very influenced by the work of Elizabeth Messina Photography, who uses film and medium format cameras.

So you will see that in the way I edited these images (especially that last image.)

I gave these images to Carly and she gave me a gift certificate to her restaurant, Carly’s Bistro in Roosevelt Row in downtown Phoenix. I took a friend there and ordered tasty food and absinthe for my drink and found out that absinthe makes me feel sick, but it was fun to see what the folks in Paris liked to drink in cafes in the 1860s. I had been to Carly’s a few times before and I knew that I loved the place, so to be able to take a friend and get whatever I wanted to eat and drink was super fun.

I’m doing portrait sessions amongst sunflowers at the Rocker 7 Farm Patch in Buckeye this month. I will be editing them with my bright and vibrant style - not with this film style. If you would like photos of yourself amongst sunflowers, click on this link for more information.

Sparkler photos for the 4th of July

My dear friend Catherine came over to my house in Tempe and we took these photos of her a few days before the 4th of July. I love sparklers and every year I make a point to get photos of friends with sparklers. The whole week before the 4th of July, I had different friends come over and I took pictures each night right before it got dark. It was so much fun and I plan to do it again in 2022, so if we are friends and you would like photos with sparklers, let me know! You’ll not just get sparklers photos when you come to my house, you’ll get ice cream too!

I hung up seamless background paper that I bought from Savage Universal online and then hung up banner fringe that I got from Party City. I wish I had thought to iron out the wrinkles somehow. I will do that next time, though I am not sure how! I used the banner fringe in front of my lens to get the effect that you will see when you scroll through the photos. I love this effect soooo much and see photographers doing it a lot with trees and flowers. I even see photo journalists doing it to make images more interesting. I don’t know if there is a name for it! I need to find out. The first thing that comes to mind is that it is the bokeh effect, but it’s not only that…so is there a particular name for it?

There is such a learning curve to taking photos with sparklers, and I feel like I learn a little more every time I take photos with sparklers. Here are some of my tips:

1. Make sure you have a bucket of water nearby for people to put sparklers in when they no longer want to hold them. If you have a garden hose, keep that nearby and ready to use if any sparks go astray. I’ve never needed to use my garden hose, but it was good to have it close by, just in case.

2. Use a lens with the widest aperture that you can. F2.8 or less is great to use, if you have that kind of lens. I love my Canon L 1.2 mm and I used that for this photo shoot. You could rent a lens, if you need one with a wider aperture.

3. A lot of times when you do a photo shoot, you want the hour or two before sunset for the perfect golden light. For sparkler photos, you will get a few minutes, maybe 10-15 minutes where the light will be perfect for sparklers. Goldilocks light - when it’s not too light and not too dark. Start paying attention in the week before you shoot to find out when those minutes will be. For me, in July, in Arizona, that time arrived at about 7:20/7:30 PM and was gone about 10-20 minutes later.

4. If you need more than ~20 minutes of perfect light, consider using continuous lighting. I didn’t for this shoot, but in the future I might rent lighting from LensProToGo. They don’t just rent lenses, they rent pretty much anything a photographer could need, at prices that are easier than other places I have rented from.

5. As with a lot of portrait photography, getting a little higher than your subjects can be helpful, but I feel it’s especially helpful with sparkler photos. I had a step ladder that I stood on to make taking photos a little easier.

6. Lighting sparklers is kind of tedious, so by the third night of shooting photos, I put some candles in mason jars and used them to light the sparklers instead of lighters or matches. That made it a little bit easier.

Rebecca at Agritopia

Agritopia in Gilbert, Arizona has a few restaurants, shops, lots of outdoor seating, community gardens, a farmers market, farm tours, pretty paths to explore, tons of trees, seasonal events like citrus picking, and the cutest coffee shop (that sells cupcakes with edible glitter) plus so much else.

When Agritopia first opened to the public over ten years ago, they didn’t advertise very much and word hadn’t gotten out. I would take my dad there and we were amazed to have this beautiful place almost all to ourselves. I did some of my very first photo shoots there of my friends Annie and Aaron and their two kids, and also of my friends Kelly and Bill and their kiddo. Annie and Aaron’s photo shoot was on a hot summer night that cooled off at the end of the evening because a dust storm monsoon blew through and rained down on us. It was so much fun to go get ice cream afterwards at Joe’s Farm Grill - they make the best shakes! Kelly and Bill’s photo shoot was especially beautiful because the grape vines were in full bloom and made for a gorgeous background. And for each photo shoot, we had the place pretty much all to ourselves.

I got to experience having the place (almost) all to myself when I went there with my sister and nephew early in the pandemic. We got curbside pickup and found a place to sit outside and eat away from other people, picnic-style.

Agritopia makes their citrus and peach orchards available to photographers a few times a year with the purchase of a permit. I love having access to the orchard for photo sessions because the orchards are so beautiful. The grass there is the clover kind - tall and lush. I regularly schedule summer and fall/winter/holiday photo sessions there.

These images are of Rebecca. She met up with me to get portraits created at the beginning of summer early in the morning. I love how summery these photos look. We wandered around the Agritopia grounds for a bit, getting photos in front of their magnificent flowering cactus and then headed to the orchard. Thanks, Rebecca for having me take photos of you at the Agritopia orchard. I love how they turned out!

I will most likely be doing more Agritopia summer portraits, probably at the very end of May and beginning of June 2021. If you are interested in getting photos then, please contact me!

Are you looking for a photographer so that you can get photos at Agritopia? All year long photographers and their clients can walk around Agritopia to get photos, after buying a location permit. Agritopia also gives photographers a chance to purchase permits to photograph in their peach orchards. Those are usually available in September, October, and November and sometimes in the spring. Permits for the pink peach blossoms are available in February. Some years permits are available for the sunflower fields.

Fill out this form if you would like me to photograph you at Agritopia!