I had some fun this morning with my Canon 60mm Macro and thought I’d share a few of the images I thought were pretty cool. Macro photography is fun and challenging at the same time. The fun side is you get to see things in a way you normally don’t – up close and personal. The challenging part is focusing is a pain in the rear if you are hand holding your camera because the depth of field is literally 1/16 of an inch or less. You can see in some of these images how the front of the blade of grass is in focus but the back is out of focus. A blade of grass! So it becomes somewhat of a timing thing. As your body moves from breathing etc. the subject goes in and out of focus. You have to find a rhythm and then press the shutter at the exact right moment. Kind of like a game! The obvious solution to this is to use a tripod. However, using a tripod isn’t always possible – like when you are taking pictures of 2″ tall grass from ground level.

I hope you all have a great New Year and an even better 2011! See you on the other side!

In the meantime I thought I’d share a family pic we took in …hmmm, October I think it was? It’s a self portrait, nothing fancy. We had a super fun day together and took the camera and tripod along so I set it up and used the timer to get a few family pics. I think the smiles from JD and Abbie here are the result of me tripping over rocks and such as I sprinted back to my position after I set the timer. The funny part was I had a remote shutter release in the car but I was too lazy to run back and get it. So, I was the entertainment instead!

Seriously, could a bride be any more fun and beautiful!? Kimberly is just one of those women, that make you feel instantly comfortable.  Her smile lights up a room and her laugh, makes you laugh, right along with her and you feel like you’ve been friends forever. Her dress was a classic beauty and her hair was stunning.  I couldn’t get enough of her hair accessory.  It added that extra sense of drama and brought the entire “look” together.

The guys were keeping it cool at the hotel.  Getting all dressed up and smelling good…still being guys.  Taking a nap, taking the dogs for a walk and trying to prep for the awesome party ahead. Ties were tightened, hair in place, cuff links put on, kerchiefs in place and they were ready to strut their stuff.  Ken was calm, cool and collected. Still doing last minute preparation, making sure everything was in order.  Looking like the GQ stud he is, yellow socks and all! (Sshhh….don’t let Kimberly know about the socks…yet!)   Last minute errands and off to the vineyard,  these handsome men went.

Shades of purple (the hot color this fall ;P) made it all feel rich, elegant and  sophisticated in a relaxed atmosphere.  From the crystals that hung, just so, from the centerpieces. The cake that rebelliously mixed circles with squares! The delectable CANDY BAR…yes, we saw it with our own two eyes!  Grape Gummy Bears, Grape licorice, hershey’s kisses and the list goes on… AWESOME!

The DJ Frank Bratcher of  Bust a Move DJ service, rocked the house! Ken + Kimberly’s guests had an awesome time.  From the fabulous dinner, the spirits and wonderful wines that Willamette Valley Vineyards produces and the entertainment.  There was no way, anyone would walk away from this wedding and not have had, a million things to say about it. Everyone smiled, danced, laughed, fell in love again, POSED and we saw a whole new side to our “GROOM”.  That man can definitely, shake his groove thang!  He really impressed his “wife” and she came back and gave him a taste of his own medicine!  They will not be bored anytime soon…

May your journey in life together, always be a party Ken + Kimberly.  Always remember your wedding day for the amazing celebration it was.  You are surrounded by wonderful, supportive friends and family.  You are both so lucky to have each other to go home to, at the end of your day.  Supportive and loving, even if she is the dominator of the remote control Ken, at least you can always… rock your “lucky yellow socks”!  Thanks for letting us share in your celebration, it truly was our pleasure.

Check out their awesome slide show HERE and a few of our favorite images below.

What a fun family! When I first met them I asked a few questions about their family and one of them was “Are you goofy”? It took Alexis about one second to answer “YES!” and it quickly became apparent that she was correct they had a lot of fun together. We strolled around Hoover Park to start things off and found a few areas of good light to grab a few shots. Along the way we chatted a bit and I really enjoyed getting to know them. They are really great people that obviously enjoy life and enjoy each other and are really easy to just hang out with. Awesome!

Jenni, Brian, Alexis, and Zach – thanks so much for hanging out with me this day and allowing me into your lives for a couple of hours. It was great getting to know you guys! I know you have a bit of a bumpy road ahead but with the bond you guys have I know you’ll pull though everything just fine. JD and I will be praying for a speedy recovery for you Jenni!

Here are a couple of my favorite images:

This is probably my favorite. It makes me smile every time I see it. I told them to make their best funny faces. Awesome!

Ok, ok – here is a “normal” one from the same place.

Love this one!

The bride and groom had just given their kids badges of courage. You can see the brides daughter clutching it tightly in her hand while the groom is telling her how proud of her he is and how honored he is to be a part of her family. She wept and stared into his eyes looking at him in a way that melted my heart.

This family had already been through a lot before it even got started. The bride had been battling cancer and it had been a tough road. The kids had stayed strong though it all,  and on this day they were honoring their courage as they came together as one family. I can’t even imagine how hard it was watching their Mom fight for her life. The ups, the downs, the sick days, the stress of not knowing. Going through something like that would really test a person and those that are close to them as well.

For anyone that has been through something like this – I think you deserve a badge of courage too.

DUCKETT FAMILY…I was so excited to hear about your contests. I have enjoyed all of your wonderful photos and am so excited to have a chance to win. I have three beautiful boys that are full of personality. Your photos see a part of people that they may not even see themselves, as if you capture a part of their personality, their charm, their soul. I want to have you capture that light in my boys that I see and love.  Please consider my family.  Thank you!! and to all of you voting. Pick me Pick me..

Saedis D

BRYANT FAMILY…Hi my name is Cindy. I have two kids named Andrew (14) and Ashley (11). We would love to have our family picture taken together. We have never done anything like this before and it would mean a lot to everyone in this family. I am a hard working single mother with two amazing kids that always help out as much as they can. (Andrew) “I want to say that this is very important to my mom I really want this for her”. (Ashley) “since this is important to my mommy I would love her to take this opportunity for our family to have our first professional family photo.”

Thanks, From the Bryant Family

Take Our Poll

When I was young I wanted to be a marine biologist. I love fish and water that much. When other kids in school were checking out “normal kid books” from the library , I was bringing home books like “The anatomy of a fish” and “Ocean life cycles” and “Pelagic fish of the Pacific.” Over time I decided that it maybe wasn’t for me as a lot of it involves sitting in a lab (which I would hate) but I would have followed through if I could have only done the water part of it (like the stuff you see on TV). I am a certified SCUBA diver though and it’s been far too long since I’ve gone on a dive. One of my Birthday presents was a certification brush up and I’m looking forward to going on a few dives later this summer with my buddy Chaz.

So by now you are thinking “Ok Chris, great, but what does this have to do with the title of this post?” I’ll tell you. I think we are messing up and messing up bad. We depend on our oceans way more than we even comprehend right now. Science is really still in it’s infancy as far as the oceans go and every day they are learning more and more that makes them go “Uh oh, we kinda already messed that up.” Ocean life is collapsing at an alarming rate. The truth is it may already be too late for some things, but it certainly isn’t too late for all of them. We, the humans on this planet, are solely responsible for messing it up and we alone have the power and technology to make it right.

I don’t believe we all need to start living like hipee’s. I certainly don’t (I do love granola though). But I do believe we can make a difference with our voice and pocket book. I often send letters to my local politicians (JD just learned something about me) about the mess on the Columbia river (gillnets, pollution, spill, etc.) and I believe it makes a difference. If we are quiet and think it’s someone else’s problem, or “they” will fix it, we are sadly mistaken. The truth is I think most people just truly don’t know what’s going on. They don’t know that there are bills trying to set up marine preserves that are getting shot down by oil companies. They don’t know that oil companies are trying to tap into existing marine preserves and what that would mean. Same is true for logging, construction, factories dumping waste, and on and on.

My wish is that everyone gets informed. Read something you normally wouldn’t. Watch a show you normally wouldn’t. See what’s going on out there on our planet and then decide where you stand. I’m not asking anyone to become and activist. Hell, I don’t do as much as I should. But just knowing the facts when it’s time to vote would make a HUGE impact. Talk about it with your friends, talk about it with your kids. Little things that take almost no effort like that can actually make a big difference. The bottom line is “they” is actually you and I.

This video is a great place to start. Not only does it have some amazing imagery, but it has a powerful message as well. I have seen Brian Skerry’s work several times before (he shoots for National Geographic) but never heard him speak and had no idea he loved the oceans as much as he does. Kudos to him for speaking out and trying to educate people. I hope you enjoy the video.

THE PRIZE!
A free family portrait session with CL Steele Studio ($250 value) and a free 20×30 fine art wall print ($350 value) of your favorite image from the session!

THE DETAILS!
Make no mistake, this is not some cheesy Sears portrait session where you stand in front of some craptacular background and smile big for the camera. This is an awesome, fun filled, location session at a location of your choice! Maybe we go to your favorite park, maybe we go downtown, maybe it’s at your house, maybe we do a combination, it’s up to you! Our goal on portrait sessions is to get you in an element that you love being in so that your true personalities shine through. This session usually lasts a couple of hours and goes at a very relaxed, fun pace. We want to show you a set of images at the end where you smile and say “That’s totally us!”

The 20×30 print is also not some Walmart quality print either. No sir, not for our clients. I will NOT let you hang some piece of crap up in your home with my name on the back! This print will be printed on fine art linen paper using archival inks so it will last for a very long time. I also will have it mounted on a very thin, very rigid material called styrene so that it will not warp, curl or otherwise distort if in a humid environment (I’m sure you have seen pics do this). This print will WOW guests to your home when they see it. I guarantee it!

HOW TO ENTER!
Send an email to CONTEST@CLSTEELE.COM with a paragraph or two about your family and why you think you should win, and a pic of your family (any pic will do – cell phone, snapshot, whatever you got). You are more than welcome to think outside the box here too. Maybe your family is you and your dog. Maybe you would like to nominate another family you think deserves this prize. Be creative, be fun, show us why you or someone you know needs this prize. The deadline to enter is FRIDAY JULY 9th. That’s only two weeks so get on it people!

HOW TO WIN!
JD and I will look through the entries and select a few finalists after the entry deadline. We will then post their entries here on the blog and let the readers decide via poll who gets the prize! We are doing it this way for two reasons. One, we have personal connections with many of you and it would kill us to have to choose only one. And two, it’ll be fun!

SOME RULES:
Every contest has to have rules right, so here are a few for this one.
1. This contest if for the people that have “liked” us on Facebook. The name you are entering with must match your name on Facebook (or note otherwise). If you haven’t “liked” us but want to participate in the contest, no problemo, just click on the link at the bottom of this post and “like” us. Two seconds of your time and you are in!
2. The prizes in this contest are as stated. No exchanges or credits will be given if you don’t want the prize.
3. One entry per person/family
4. We are doing this to give back and have some fun. If you want to complain, whine, or stomp your feet about anything to do with this contest you are welcome to send and email to the complaints department at stopwhining@dontbemean.com

That’s it! Have some fun with this and good luck to everyone! We can’t wait to see your entries!

After the park we decided to head a few blocks over into downtown Newberg to an area JD and I had scouted out for some urban shots. I have to say, the more I shoot around Newberg, the more I love it. So many colors, textures, and cool buildings to shoot around! We had a bunch of fun walking around getting some great shots.

Emily, it was a pleasure getting to know you. JD and I think you are super cool and had a ton of fun hanging out with you. You were such a trooper shooting in the less than ideal conditions too (it was actually cold and extremely windy that day. We had to wrap Emily in a blanket between sets because she was freezing!).

Emily-0015 Emily-0032 Emily-0008 Emily-0010 Emily-0043 Emily-0012 Emily-0046 Emily-0022 Emily-0023 Emily-0024 Emily-0030 Emily-0033 Emily-0037 Emily-0049

Well, here we are the final upgrade for the new look of CL Steele Studio – the blog! As you can see we put a lot of work into making our website, blog, facebook page, and proofing system all look and feel the same. This all means a better experience for you, the viewer and client! Things will now be easier to navigate around in, have a familiar feel, and most importantly display images as awesome as they can be. No more tiny thumbnail images that you have to look close to make out the details. Everywhere you go on our sites now you will see big, beautiful images – they way they were intended to be!

JD and I will both be updating the blog and Facebook pages so we can keep everyone as up to date as possible on the happenings here. We have a lot to share and hope to make a bunch of new friends in the process. So sit back, relax, grab a frosty beverage, and have a look around all our new sites. Oh, and leave us a comment and let us know what you think. We are glad your here!