Getting Silly with the Headshots

JaymeBlaschke1-web
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

My latest client is also my co-owner and husband. He is a writer --and a quite talented one at that -- and is having an interview about him published this week. He needed a silly headshot to go along with the article so we got to work. This strays a little from the usual stiff and formal headshot but that's just the way we like it. There's nothing normal and run-of-the-mill about Lisa on Location! I love my job.

Old Friends are the Best Clients

Terri4
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

I had a photo session the other day with one of my old high school friends. It was so great to see her again and it was a blast to have a photo session and try different poses and lighting techniques with someone with whom I spent so much of my teen years. We got some really great shots that we're both proud of. She's having a baby girl pretty soon and she's at that glowing pregnancy stage. I love the pregnancy photo sessions the best -- mom's happy, dad's a willing photo subject -- it's all so much fun.

Hurricane Ike leaves Galveston destroyed

Galveston20
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

As I mentioned in my last blog, we took a trip over to Galveston to check out what was left. I wanted to post a snapshot of the tree situation. Many of the streets of the island are lined with old oak trees. At this time last year this was a shady, enchanting street with charming old Victorian houses and lots and lots of oak trees. Now it's just a street with a bunch of dead trees. This scene is pretty much repeated all over the island. Some of the palm trees survived -- but not all.

There were a lot more surviving homes than I expected and I was happy to see so much new construction going on. But the number of for sale signs was outrageous and it was obvious that there were many business and homeowners giving up on the island and leaving.

I have a bridal photo session scheduled on the island in a couple of week and, fortunately, I found some nice beach areas to do the shoot. I'll post those when I get them!

Back to the grind

Beach26web
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

Every year I take off one week -- just one week -- to spend with my family doing the whole vacation thing. Last year we went on a cruise to the Caribbean and next year we're going to Disneyworld. So this year we decided to stay close to home -- because we're still broke after last year and to save our money for next year. We hit the local beaches of Rockport, Port Aransas and then swung by Galveston to check out what Hurricane Ike left for us. The answer to that former is not a lot of Oak Trees. I was most saddened by all the hundred year old oak trees that are now dead or dying. It's going to take a long time for the island to recover from that hurricane. I was happy to see that Murdoch's a.k.a. Mermaid's Pier was being rebuilt. I was saddened to see that all remains of the Balinese are gone forever.

The photo to the right that I decided to share today was taken on the pier at the Rockport City Beach. The park is a nice place to take children because of the gentle surf and the many many yards of shallow, ankle deep waves before you get to the deeper water. There are also countless playscapes to amuse the little ones all day -- my toddler took it as a personal challenge to conquer each one.

M'Liss Stevens

I had hoped to write a fluffy blog this week about our vacation to the Texas coast and post a few photographs of beaches and sunsets. But my vacation was not the carefree adventure I'd hoped. I lost a friend the other day and the world lost a good person. M'Liss Stevens, one of my Girl Scout co-leaders for my daughter's troop passed away after a very short battle with pancreatic cancer. She was only recently diagnosed and had just begun her battle. She leaves behind a husband and two children -- one of them my daughter's age. We shared some interesting conversations while sharing duty at numerous Girl Scout cookie booths and a county fair booth as well as countless swim meets where her daughter and mine compete on the same team. I can only imagine the pain those children are feeling. It hurts to know such sweet kids are suffering. Today I will say good-bye to M'Liss, but she will not be forgotten.

Hot Hot Hot

JS1web
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

It's hot here in Texas. It's really really hot. One of the wonderful things about being a location photographer is the ability to go out and shoot in natural settings using natural props and lighting. That's also one of the drawbacks. In summer it gets hot here in Texas and even at sunset the temperature is at least 95 and this weekend, it was well over a hundred. I had an engagement session near Houston this weekend and got some really fun shots of the happy couple in the country -- and on and off of a John Deer tractor. We waited as late as we could for the sun to get low but the sweat was pouring off all of us during this session. We had paper towels handy to dab to foreheads every few shots and clean off the sweat. It was a lot of fun and this couple -- who also happens to be my brother-in-law and future sister-in-law were great about it. Congratulations y'all! I can't wait for the wedding!

In Honor of Father's Day

Hannah1web
Originally uploaded by lisablaschke

A belated Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Today I wanted to share one of my favorite daddy shots. Isn't it great the way little baby girls can wrap big macho men around their little fingers with absolutely no effort at all! This shot is from a session I had with one of my favorite clients. They're always so willing to let me try new and different poses and techniques out on them. I'm wondering if I should open a new gallery in honor of dads to complement my "Beauty of Motherhood" gallery. I'm starting to collect quite a handful of dad-related pictures and I need a place to display them. That may be in the near future for my site.