Destination: Chicago {New Braunfels Wedding Photography}

I've been waiting for months to share these images with you! I was so excited when one of my lovely mothers of the bride asked me if I wouldn't mind being flown to Chicago to photograph a bridal session for today's bride. I had never been to the Windy City so I jumped on it. "Sure," I said.

So last September on a beautiful crisp fall weekend, I boarded a plane in San Antonio and hit the big C-town by noon. We then spent the whole day checking out some of the bride's favorite sites and shooting everything we could. We hit the Morton Arboretum, we had a late lunch in LaGrange, which tickled me because of our own notorious LaGrange in Texas. We hit the downtown area to do some images in front of the big "Bean" in Millennium Park, then at sunset and a little after, we hit Soldier's Field for some fun Chicago Bears shots.

We were all exhausted by the end of the day and I had more photos than I knew what to do with. It was hard sitting on these images all this time. But today's the big day, Renee is marrying Diego right now in a big, beautiful, pull out all the stops, ceremony at Boulder Springs.

Thanks for showing me the beautiful city of Chicago ladies! It was an adventure!







Lisa On Location Photography

Boudoir season is in full swing {New Braunfels Boudoir Photography}

Most of you who follow me are familiar with my past Boudoir Balls. I usually host it one day every January and fill the day with a lot of beautiful women back to back all day. This year I did things a little bit different. This year I have a studio so I don't have the need to rent a gorgeous suite at the Faust like I usually did, although I'd love to return there soon because it photographs so beautifully. But I chose to keep it in the studio this year. As a result I haven't had just one day of boudoir. I've had a lot.

Those images are private. I won't show you the gorgeous bride-to-be who is giving her fiance an amazing gift on their wedding day. I won't show you the beautiful grandmother who still has it and isn't afraid to share it with her significant other. You won't see the images from the session I shot with the single mother who found love again and wanted to give her new love something special. Nope all those are private. You'll see none of those or the other lovely ladies who come to me in secret, slipping into my private studio tucked away near the basement of the old historic Landmark building in New Braunfels.

But don't fret. I do have some images that I can share with you. Every now and then I like to put out a casting call for models. These are real women who pose for me for the purpose of sharing images with you. Many of them are just as self conscience and nervous as the women who come to me in secret. But they're stepping out of their comfort zones because they want to try something new and be a part of something special.

It's not too late to get your session in before Valentine's Day. And I'm sure your guy won't mind a belated Valentine gift of this variety.

Give me a call to schedule.

Lisa On Location Photography

My thoughts on digital storage {New Braunfels Photography}

I still have all my film negatives from the pre-digital age. Everything I ever shot on film is neatly stored away in a safe place. I'm screwed if there's a fire, but they're pretty safe from damage for the most part.

I can't say the same about the digital age. I made the digital switch in around 2006. But I continued shooting film with my SLR and digital with my little Fuji Finepix for a while further. I switched totally to digital at around 2008 when I got my first DSLR.

Many of my early digital files are no longer in existence. During a routine file transfer onto an external hard drive, my darling husband kicked over the external hard drive and all files on it were lost. Hard lesson. Fortunately, I had not started photographing clients at that time and I only lost some personal images that would be really cool to have now. Lesson learned. From that point on I made sure my files were all saved in at least two places. My work flow goes like this. Once I shoot a session or wedding. I download to my internal hard drive. I make a copy onto an external hard drive. I process the images and upload them onto my online storage gallery and move the processed images to my external hard drive as well.

After a few months, I delete the images from my internal storage so I'm only left with the external hard drive storage and the online storage.

I don't completely trust online storage. We've all heard horror stories about failures in that method of storage and it's totally out of our hands. So I can't totally trust that the online storage is fool proof. And of course I can't totally trust that my external hard drive is safe.

Case in point, just last week I had an issue with one of my cords behind the computer. I asked darling Jayme to take a look down there. While under my desk he accidentally bumped my Seagate 1TB external hard drive to the carpeted floor just a couple of feet below. We plugged it in and it seemed to recognize the hard drive and we breathed a sigh of relief. But that relief turned to terror the next day when I actually tried to access some of the files on that drive. The computer didn't see them. And the drive started making a horrible churning sound. Great! So I went to Seagate's site and downloaded their software to see if it could fix it. Nope, they recommended sending it in for evaluation. So I paid their $50 evaluation fee and sent it off with a prayer that the files could be recovered. I wasn't too worried because I store everything in two places, I just dreaded the prospect of having to go online and download all those weddings, sessions, family photos from my online storage. It's a chore. But there were some files that I stored on the external hard drive that I did not have in multiple places. I paid $99 for some album templates, digital backgrounds and papers and some fonts. Those would be gone forever if they couldn't recover them.

A few days later I got a nice little e-mail from Seagate telling me they could recover the files -- for a mere $1,250.

That's crazy, I thought! One little knock to the carpeted floor could cost me $1,250?!

So I declined their lovely offer.

They immediately sent another email. I'll just paste it right here so as not to leave anything out:

"Good Afternoon Lisa,

> > I am not certain if you received my voice message. I was reviewing > your case more closely and realized that your original drive is under > warranty. We recently released a pilot program for clients that have > a Seagate drive under warranty and trying to recover basic flat files > (office documents, pictures, movies, music and videos). If we recover > 80%+ of these basic flat files, we consider the case successful. We > use your replacement drive for the recovered data. It appears your > drive is under warranty until 2/1/14. The cost of the pilot program > is a flat fee of $399.00, less the $49.00 eval fee (plus any > applicable taxes). Please advise if you are interested in the Pilot > program (approximately 4 week lead time). If you have any questions, > please advise.

> > Regards,
> XXXXXXXXXXX
> Case Manager
> Data Recovery Division"

Well isn't that nice of them?! Because I've had my 1TB hard drive for less than a year, they'll gladly give me all my lost files for a mere $399 minus the $49 evaluation fee. Wow, that's just so sweet of them! (Note the sarcasm).

They even have a whole division called the "Data Recovery Division." A group of people who's whole job is to get paid to sell people their files back when their hard drives fail!

So I decided to respond with my own little brand of charity.

"XXXXX,

I am disinclined to take this offer. But because my drive is under warranty, I would like a new drive. Although I don't know if I will trust it again.

I am a photographer and I need a place to archive all my past sessions and weddings. That's what I was using the drive for. I don't trust just one storage method, however, so I also archive online. So pretty much everything that was on the drive is also backed up online. There are a few digital papers and digital textures that were on the drive that I didn't have backed up, but they cost me $99 to purchase so I don't see the value in spending $349 on recovering something that cost me $99.

I'd also like to say that I am very disappointed in the durability of the Seagate drives if a 2-foot fall from a desk onto a carpeted floor will damage it. I also don't see the value in a drive that will hold 1 TB worth of files if all those files can be wiped out instantly with a bump to the desk and a short fall to the floor. It would make more sense to get smaller drives so that if it does fall, you lose just a few gigs of files and not a whole freakin' TB. I'm just glad this happened early on before I filled the whole thing and lost backups to 2 years worth of work instead of just one.

No, I will be downloading my files from my online storage and putting them onto another, more secure and less fragile hard drive for long term storage. I am very disappointed in this whole mess. It seems you have, however, found a nice racket. Make fragile, big capacity hard drives, and then when people lose their files from small falls or minor dings, you can charge them outrageous fees to recover those files. Nice little income stream there.

Thank you for the reduced offer, but no thanks. I just can't justify that fee and I'm a bit bitter about the whole situation. I'd really like a refund of the evaluation fee and a refund or replacement of the drive.

Lisa Blaschke, C.P.P."

Her response was a cold, clear message. They're sending me a replacement drive only. No word on refunding my evaluation fee or on the security of their hardware.

So for the next few weeks I'll be downloading and backing up from my online storage. It's all I can do at this point. And ponder about a more secure method of long term storage of digital files. CDs and DVDs wear out quickly. Various drives and storage mediums become obsolete so fast (remember floppy discs and zip drives?)

My search for the perfect solution is ongoing. But that box full of film negatives will most likely outlive us all.

Lisa On Location Photography

Another year, time for a new calendar! {New Braunfels Pin-up Photography}

Most of you have heard about the project I helped put together for the Humane Society of New Braunfels a few months ago. It was a major undertaking to organize models and photograph 12 full months in pin-up style, but it had amazing results for us.

We got a lot of attention, if you'll remember that front page coverage we got from the Herald.

We also made the front page of the TX Citizen and were the talk of the town for a while.

The calendar has been a hot item and there are still some copies of it left. The cost is $20 and because the production was paid for through ad sales, every dollar of that $20 goes directly to the animals at the shelter.

Stop by the shelter to pick up your copy before they're gone. Then hang it on your wall and think of the animals every time you look at it.

Plans are already being made for next year's calendar.

To share a little tease of what you'll see, I offer you a few of the months. Here's February, to make your Valentine's Day bright, sponsored by the Landmark Salon:

And here's Miss September, sponsored by River Road Ice House:

Here's one of my faves, Miss November, sponsored by Dirty's BBQ:

Here's Miss August, sponsored by Tobler Air:

My Favorite dance studio, Diamond Divas Burlesque, sponsored January:

Want to see more? Stop by the shelter, or the Perky Peacock, or the the Hungry Gypsy to pick up a copy.

Lisa On Location Photography

Because some traditions don't fall so easily...

Take a look at my mailbox the other day. What is that stacked on top of the Netflix DVD, filling our mailbox to the max? The family Christmas Card. It's a dying art. Every year I get fewer and fewer. And every year I spend more and more time thinking about, planning, and executing our family Christmas Card. It's like I want to do it just because fewer and fewer families are doing it. As a result, I've become sort of legendary in my family for my Christmas cards.

I didn't always put so much thought into it. I always had a letter that went along with it and I'm told they've been pretty cool letters. It's hard to not be amusing when I'm talking about my children. The adventures they create are better than fiction. But it's just the past few years that I've decided to make our Christmas card photos be more than the average family Christmas card photo.

A couple of years ago we had this amazing demonstration of our adventures.



You would not believe how many people ask how we could let him float away like that. And weren't we worried he'd get too high. Want to know a secret? He's not really floating away. We just got rid of the ladder he was sitting on.

Last year I got into the whole retro pin-up theme so I decided to create a typical 1950s family scene. I had to shop for the right clothes, find an old television and easy chair, and then photograph each little scene by itself on white screen. It was a major undertaking.

This year I drew inspiration from another famous family, with whom I must say I relate quite a bit -- The Griswalds. I fashioned it after the old European Vacation movie poster, which is actually a parody of other famous movie posters. We got quite silly again this year.

And in true Griswald fashion, I got a bit caught up in the season and failed to mail them all out in time. So if you're part of my family and you've been like Clark, sitting around waiting for this year's card much like he waited for the bonus that finally came in the form of a jelly of the month club membership, the wait is almost over. The cards are on their way.

Next year will hold more surprises. Maybe I'll don a mermaid tail and take the camera underwater. I've always wanted to sky dive and photograph the adventure. We'll just have to wait and see what the year has planned for us.

Lisa On Location Photography

Lisa on Location has a Brand New Location

When I started this little adventure known as Lisa on Location 5 years ago I had no intention of opening a studio. "Who needs that kind of overhead?" I thought.

And I've done just fine without it for all these years. But I finally hit a point in my career where it just makes sense for me to have a home base. Pin-up is what really pushed it home for me. And so many boudoir clients would prefer to shoot their sessions away from home to surprise their guy. I needed a place that's fun and comfortable and retro to host these sexy, hot boudoir and these cheesy, fun sessions.

And that's exactly what I found in the Landmark building at 144 Landa Street in New Braunfels. The building itself is about a hundred years old so it's got retro down pat. I teamed up with an amazing lady to share space. You will recognize January, the owner and operator of Diamond Divas Burlesque studio as one of my frequent models. January can strike a pin-up pose like nobody else. She can also dance like nobody's business and she's an amazing teacher. January runs the section of the studio that hosts dance classes -- pole dancing, belly dancing, burlesque, yoga, hip-hop, you name it. They can do it. And while they're shaking their thing in their part, I'm shooting away in my part.

I'm posting a few photos of the studio space, but I still have some finishing touches to make. I'm excited unveil it to the community in full force next Thursday, December 12 with a grand opening Masquerade Ball. We'll have food, a ribbon cutting, a toast, a cash bar and tours. January will also be having demonstrations of some of the dance classes they've begun. The poles should be arriving any day!

I see great things to come for this location. I still photograph all over town and all over the state (and yes I'll still travel to Chicago and the Caribbean and beyond). I like to think of this location as just one of my many locations throughout the world. But this one has really cool furniture.

Lisa On Location Photography

To Blog or not to Blog {New Braunfels Wedding Photography}

I just happened to notice that my last blog was more than a month ago. That won't do. The only thing is, I totally don't have time to blog right now. But I can't stand that it's been so long since I did. So instead of blogging. I'm going to recap the past month so you will see exactly why I simply don't have time for this.

September 25. One day after my last blog. Early release from school then off to the dentist for the kids where I got to spend a whopping 3 hours in the waiting room. Seriously. There would be no blog that day.

September 26. Two days after my last blog. Boudoir party. A very fun day of boudoir with some very fun ladies who snuck out of work together with their most interesting unmentionables on underneath their stuffy work clothes. There would be no blogging on this day!

September 27. Brianna and Travis got hitched. Totally fun wedding, but alas not time for blogging.

September 28. Kelly and Jason got married. Nicest couple ever. No time to blog!

September 29. Wake at 5 am to catch plane for Chicago where I was met by a bride and her family to be taken on a whirlwind tour of the city to shoot her bridals. Blogging? Forget about it!

September 30. Arriving home to a full list of chores and catch up work. sigh.

October 1-3. Full days of catching up, wedding sneak peeks, editing, returning phone calls and trying to breathe. No blog.

October 4. Ugh. Worst day ever. Sad news on the homefront. Forget about getting anything done for the next few days. Where's the hole I can climb into? You wouldn't want to see any blogging from me about this.

October 5. Calendar unveiling party! I'm totally going to blog about this shortly!

October 6. Happy birthday to me. I mean who can blog on their birthday? Really?

October 7. Picture day at school. The glorious annual event in which I stand in line and direct hundreds of children to their appointed Lifetouch photographer to get their stale but extremely traditional school pictures taken. With all the hair combing, nose wiping and smile inducing, how could I possibly blog?

October 8- 9. Still more editing, 2 sessions and a class.

October 10. Bras for a Cause. One of the most fun events I have the pleasure of photographing. Take a look at this . Now this it totally blog worthy. Okay I dropped the ball on this one, but who had time? Because right away we go into...

October 11. Multiple sessions and..

October 12. Lindsey and Seth get married. Beautiful couple and beautiful wedding.

October 13. Darla and Randy get married. Fun couple and a very rainy day.

October 14-18. Studio prep. So I'm breathing dust and cleaning, prepping and moving into my brand new studio space. Who has time to blog when you're doing manual labor. Really?

October 19. Sue and Jim get married in this perfect back yard ceremony.

October 20. Lovely visit with family out of town while I meet up with another fun couple for an engagement. No time to blog on the road.

October 21-29. No fewer than 11 appointments including sessions and meetings as well as studio prep, catch up editing, and quality time with the family.

Which brings us to today, October 30. I concocted a list of excuses for my lack of blogging, which in itself, made a blog. I'm pretty clever that way.

Now for my list of coming attractions, that is, things that are on my list to blog about when I get a minute here and there and I'm feeling spunky and creative: a blog about The Humane Society Calendar, a blog about my most recent experiences at judging (the Guadalupe County Fair one day and then the San Antonio Professional Photographers guild another day), a blog about the difference between there, their and they're because, really, isn't about time we all got that right?, and last but not least, a blog about my brand spanking new studio in the Landmark building. I'm seriously excited about it and I can't wait to share photos and invite all of you out. But alas, that's for another day. I've already blogged today.

Lisa On Location Photography