Day 4: The Scariest Part of Halloween: The left over pumpkin {Project 365}

My kids are always after me to carve the pumpkin too early. If we had it their way, we'd carve them October 1. But I tell them over and over, once you carve them, they start to wilt, fast.

So I shall use this image to illustrate my point. Our pumpkins were carved two days before Halloween. Now here we are on November 5, with a nasty, gnat infested mess on our front porch. They literally fall apart into a sticky, stinky, slime when I try to move them.

So what better image to illustrate Day 4 of my project than with the rotted remains of a Hallween Jack O' Lantern. Notice the flies and gnats buzzing nearby. Notice the mold and slime growing in the eyes and mouth. This is scarier than anything on Halloween!

Four days down, 361 more to go. Lisa On Location Photography

365 / 3 {Project 365}

Every year when we attend Wurstfest I make a point to visit the Spass Haus, which is a wonderful, cozy, pub-like German beer hall decked out in wall-to-wall hardwood. My favorite part? It is decorated floor-to-ceiling with more than 17,000 beer bottles from all over the world. It is Jerome Nowotny’s “World’s Largest Beer Bottle Collection,” acquired by Wurstfest nearly three decades ago. It is mighty impressive. During my bachelor days, I amassed quite a large beer bottle collection myself, the product of Double Dave's Pizzaworks "Global Beer Expert" promotion. Alas, when we got married, Lisa made me get rid of it. I always remind her of this when we visit the Spass Haus, and she always rolls her eyes.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8

Lisa On Location Photography

Day 3: The Wurst Day Ever {Project 365}

Today I sort of cheated on my Project 365. Well not really. Actually it's better to think of it as I sort of did extra credit. I didn't just take one photo, I took like, 65 photos. But I couldn't decide which one to share so I'm sharing several of them.

We hit Wurstfest today. It's a New Braunfels tradition, and who are we to fight tradition.

The older girls mostly complained. Once they were finished eating their fattening fare and drinking their sugar sodas and tea, it was all about "are we done yet? are we done yet?"

I took a little perverse pleasure in making them listen to polka and wear stuffed chicken hats on their heads as they followed me around while I photographed all the sights and sounds.

Here are just a few that I decided to share for my project. Three down, 362 to go.

Lisa On Location Photography

365 / 2 {Project 365}

Do you folks have any idea how difficult it is to engage in a 365 photo project challenge with your wife when she's a phenomenal photographer? Yes, I help her out as a second shooter and know the difference between aperture and shutter speed, but really, I'm merely a glorified hobbyist at best. Take yesterday for example. She turns around from her desk, takes a shot of the kitten sitting behind her, and is finished with her first 365 entry before anyone knows what's happened. And with her eye and skill, it becomes art instantaneously. For me, on the other hand, the first installment turned into an ordeal, with Plan A, Plan B and Plan C failing miserably before I came up with my puffer fish photo. It's frustrating how Lisa makes it look so easy. It makes me feel like my reach is exceeding my grasp, as far as this 365 photo challenge is concerned. Which is what gave me the idea for my entry today. I call it "Metaphor." And yeah, that's how I usually feel trying to keep up with her!

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8

Lisa On Location Photography

Day 2: A Matinee with the Kiddos {Project 365}

So on to day 2 of my Project 365. Today was a rare wedding-free Saturday for me. I shot a lovely senior session this morning with a beautiful and fun Smithson Valley High School senior.

But the rest of the day I spent with my darling children. First we cleaned out the hall closet (and when I say "we" I mean me mostly with them sticking their head in every now and then to see what treasures I found) then we headed to the movie theater to see Wreck-It Ralph. It was cute and clever just like my children and a fun time was had by all. We can't go to the movies without a big tub of popcorn, however, and since the refills are free, we always top it off before heading home.

Today's photo is our tub of popcorn -- and that little guy behind the tub is my Boy.

Two days down, 363 to go.

Lisa On Location Photography

365 / 1 {Project 365}

Jayme here with my entry for the 365 challenge. It's my Figure-8 puffer fish, which I'd never photographed before. He didn't particularly like the attention, but curiosity eventually got the better of him. It's no cute kitten, but they're interesting critters none the less.

Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon EF 100mm 2.8 macro

Lisa On Location Photography

Project 365 -- And I Really Mean It This Time {New Braunfels Photography}

This time is for real. I will really truly take a photo every single day and post it here to share with you. A photo of my own choosing. One that I'm not being paid to take. This I swear on my camera. Or rather the threat of something really really unpleasant.

I've said it before and of course I've gotten busy with other projects and then not come back to it. So last night Jayme made a little wager with me. He's going to to do it too. We need to get back to our roots. Back to our passion for photography. What brought this about? You may wonder. Well this time it all started with an e-mail. 101 free prints from Shutterfly. I get this and I say to myself, "Hey how long has it been since I ordered prints for myself?" So I went to my trusty photo album wall of shelves. If you look at my albums you'll see scores and scores of albums from when my big girls were little. I filled an album in a matter of a few weeks. I shot everything. I shot their smiles and their tears, their temper tantrums and their triumphs. At that time I was on a hiatus from professional photography and spent all my creative energy on them.

But alas, I picked up the most recent photo album and looked at the last photos taken, printed up and placed in the album. March 4 of this year. March 4! Seriously. That's like 8 months ago! I then sat down at my computer and looked in the hard drive family file to see if I had shot anything personal since then. Of course I have. There was the trip to Universal Studios, there were a few little events. But they mostly sat unprocessed in raw format in need of some work and some printing. Ouch. Several hours later, I had my 101 images uploaded to Shutterfly (plus a bit more) and the promise of some new photo albums and a renewed vow to photograph my own family a bit more.

Enter in my darling husband and his little wager. I'm never one to walk away from a challenge. And with personal humiliation and a lost bet to boot, how could I turn it down!

So basically the rules are there are no rules. Well not really, but that sounds cooler. The rules are that each of us must shoot an image -- at least one -- of anything we like every single day. We are not allowed to use paid sessions to get our one image. So I can't work a wedding and then upload an image I took at that wedding and count it as my image of the day. But I can stop on the way to the wedding and photograph a pretty butterfly, if I so choose. That counts. I can take a picture of my big toe if I so choose and I just may do that one day if it's 11:45 and I'm tired and want to go to bed! But mostly I'm going to photograph my family. My home, my surroundings, my space. But it's not enough to just shoot it. We have to share it too. On our blogs. I'll be sharing my photos here. And he'll be sharing his photos on his blog here.

Today I'm sharing a photo I took this morning of my sweet kitty, Summerlove. She's so patient with me as I focus, shoot, adjust, shoot again. Truthfully I took about 6 images to get this one, but I won't cheat and use those for the next six days. I don't play that way. I also decided to challenge myself even further by using a lens that I don't use all that often. It's my beloved 85 mm f1.8. I opened it all the way to 1.8 for this image because I don't get to do that very often. I'd love to use this lens more, but it's just not versatile enough to use at a wedding when I'm constantly moving and having to shoot on the fly. I need a telephoto lens to be able to capture all those candids. But this is a lovely portrait lens that I may use a bit on this project.

So I'll shoot my image, put it in a special file on my hard drive conveniently called "365 Project" then I'll share it with you here. Even if I just say "so here's what I took today." And I'll do this every single day for the next 365 days. Even if I'm tired. And even if it's raining. And even if I have a splinter in my shutter pushing finger.

Lisa On Location Photography