Happy 50th Strutters!

struttersweb
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

This weekend I had the honor of serving as the official photographer for the Texas State Strutters 50th anniversary celebration and reunion. Can I just say that these ladies were a blast to work with. You're looking at some of the original line from the 1960 Strutters dance team. I loved it when these ladies broke out in a high kick routine on the track of Bobcat Stadium. They could kick higher than I can! I can only hope I'm able to move like that when I'm celebrating my 50-year college reunion! You ladies are beautiful! The day ended with a magnificent gala at the Embassy Suites in San Marcos. They celebrated with a dinner, a dance, a live band, an auction and a giant ice sculpture. Everything was gorgeous. The reunion committee did a great job putting this celebration on and I hope I was able to capture the excitement. Check out my Strutters gallery in the Client section of my site to see what I have.

You say it's your birthday dadadadadada, It's my birthday too!

birthday12
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

So today is my birthday. Usually a wonderful, joyous moment, when I was a kid. Today it seems like just another day. I'm a year older now. This also marks an important birthday for me. I am now 38. I remember when my mom turned 38. I remember the cake my dad baked for her and the big 38 drawn in icing on top of the cake. She wasn't very happy to see that and I couldn't understand why at the time. Today she looks at the photographs and says "I was so young then, I had no reason to be down." So when my darling husband lit up 38 candles that seemed to swallow up that little round cake and asked me to make a wish I had no problem with it. The wish -- why for another 38 years as glorious and happy as the first, of course!

To the Batcave!

Bats8
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

Twenty million bats. I saw 20 MILLION bats! Wow, that's a big number. How long does it take 20 million bats to emerge from a cave? About 4 hours, I'm told. So in fact, I guess I didn't really see 20 million since I only witnessed about 45 minutes of the bat stream. But the numbers are high enough to impress. I was able to attend a private tour of the Bracken Bat Cave near Garden Ridge last night and attempt to capture the magnificent display of millions of bug-eating mammals waking from their slumber for their nocturnal hunt for food. Truthfully, I had no idea what I was doing, I'd never shot small, fast-moving objects in the dark of night before and I wasn't quite sure how to do it. My biggest problem was focus. Because of the low light, I had to use a wide aperture, which means my depth of field was small. Then I had to try to focus on an area of bats and hope that at least a few of them were sharp as I fired off my strobe into the sky. I took no fewer than 250 shots and managed to get a handful of reasonably focused bats. I hope to study up on it a bit more and return with more knowledge of capturing these illusive night predators.

Where-oh-where-did-my-spacebar-go?

So-I-set-up-the-laptop-this-morning-thinking-I-could-write-a-quick-little-blog-about-some-sophisticated-topic-like-High-Dynamic-Range-or-some-new-lighting-trick-I-picked-up-while-reading-the-other-night.--When-what-do-I-find-before-me?--Someone-has-broken-my-spacebar!--Must-have-been-the-boy.--His-recent-fascination-for-Nickjr.com-has-freed-up-much-of-my-time-to-do-things-I-need-to-get-done-without-constantly-entertaining-him,-but-the-downside-of-allowing-a-3-year-old-access-to-a-delicate-piece-of-computer-equipment-has-become-painfully-obvious.--So-this-morning-you'll-find-no-intelligent-discussion-of-my-latest-photo-session.--You'll-find-no-witty-commentary-on-my-class.--You'll-only-find-my-fumbled-attempt-at-typing-without-a-spacebar-and-read-about-my-frustration-as-20-plus-years-of-expert-typing-goes-out-the-window-as-my-sad-little-thumb-feebly-hits-that-impotent-spacebar-after-every-word.

I have a new passion for teaching

When I first took on this teaching project, I must admit I was a little nervous. I've never done well in front of groups of people. I tend toward the shy side and have a naturally quiet voice. I took on the Community Education class because I saw the need for it and wanted to mingle with the public and share some of the exciting techniques I've learned in my own photography education. I had no idea I would have so much fun. The other night's class on composition was one of the most fun hours I've spent in a classroom ever -- as student or teacher. My students are so eager to learn and they have a real passion for photography. It's great to be able to share some of my own knowledge and see their eyes light up when they finally get a concept or learn some piece of useful information. I love it when they grab their pencils to jot down something I just said -- which of course forces me to mentally do a double check to make sure I said that right.

What's also surprising to me is the large turnout we had for this class. It seems to have topped out at 19 people -- pretty much to capacity. I must say I was expecting maybe 6 - 8 when I started. I was hoping for at least four. They had to move us to a bigger space than they originally had planned. Our little class is one of their biggest and NBISD is thrilled about that. They're already making plans for next semester -- that means they want me back!

Lisa on Location joins PPA

Christmas13web
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

I made a couple of big steps this week. Lisa on Location is now a member of the Professional Photographers of America and will shortly be a member of the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce. I have had some major photographic successes lately and I feel the time is right to join the ranks of the professionals.

I've also started gearing up for Christmas portraits. The time is right to start thinking about those Christmas card photos. I have some ideas that I can't wait to get into print.

My big restaurant project is wrapped up and Schobel's Restaurant in New Braunfels will soon open its doors. The walls of this place will feature a dozen or so of my photographs blown up in super size gallery wraps. I'm anxious to see how they look on the walls.

Life After People

oldtruck2web
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

I've always been a bit fascinated with the concept of Life After People, even before the new History Channel show. I had the concept to do a series of photos like this to show the demise of human belongings and places. Abandoned buildings overgrown with vines, empty shells of automobiles and weathered and beaten belongings are great photo subjects. This is one of the images that will be appearing on the walls of that restaurant I told you about the other week. My work on this project is winding down and I'm looking forward to the grand opening.

I had a most excellent bridal shoot this past weekend in Fredericksburg that almost didn't happen. Months of dry weather and absolutely no rain had spoiled us for expecting clear skies for outdoor photo shoots but just as we pulled into Fredericksburg, the skies opened up and began a continuous downpour of wet stuff that lasted for more than an hour. The bride was not very happy and almost sent me home without a single shot. But we waited until later in the day and when we made it out to the venue, we found a clear sky and an almost dry ground. I normally share the shots I get from a photo session here the week afterward, but this time the bride asked me to hold off until after wedding. It's bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress before the wedding and this is one snoopy groom who may just sneak a peak at my site. You'll find none of that here Mister John! Just wait until the proper time!