Schneider Weddings

Archive for June, 2009

Laura (a beautiful, sweet bride I will be photographing soon) mentioned she liked pointillism, a form of painting which developed alongside impressionism.   One of the greatest pointillists was named Georges Seurat, who is generally considered the father of pointillism movement.

Below is one of my favorite examples of pointalism, a Seurat painting titled Seine Grande Jatte.

Below is my pointillistic interpretation of a recent engagement photograph, which would look awesome as a 24×30, canvas mounted and framed.  The only thing I’d like more is if it were horizontal, which would make a more pleasing wall hanging.  While this isn’t a photo of Laura & David, I’m trying to get this technique perfected for Laura. 

This effect will look great with David pushing Laura in the swing and the wedding gazebo in the background!

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Phew!  We made it to Kerrville yesterday afternoon, with all children in tow, to the Umpteenth Annual Texas Professional Photographers Association Kerrville Summer Seminar, or “boondoggle” for short.  The boondoggle really does have some serious stuff  happening, like the print competition, print exibition, mini-trade show, great programs from great photographers such as the Romagueras, the Branches, Jenny Hollis, Margreat Bryant, Carrell Grigsby, and Gayletta Tompkins who I’m going to miss if I don’t finish this blog quick.  Then there’s the awards banquet you don’t want to miss.  And the 12th annual golf tournamant, kids photo contest, swimming, evening at the farm, swimming, and other stuff to keep the little ones entertained.  Boondoggle for the family, seminar for me.

 5 hours in the van with 4 kids.  Where’d I pack that the Jose Cuervo Tradicional?  We stopped off at Billy’s Western Wear yesterday to get my oldest Schneiderling a cowgirl bling belt to match her Reserve Champion barrel racing buckle.  It was like “The Clampetts come to the Hill Country.”  It’s bad when you have to apologize to the manager of a western wear store for being so redneck.  Later we went swimming to wear them out and cool them off. 

Joshua endearing himself to an older woman…

Lauren getting Christina comfortable with the deeper water…

OMG!  Is that Lauren being nice to Hannah?!?!
 

Um…

OK, nevermind…

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My apologies, this post has abolutely nothing to do with weddings, but I believe you’ll find it interesting.

Our newest 4-H Vet Science Project (the t-shirt in the first photo was pure coincidence but very fitting).  Our Great Pyrenees dog Baily, a gentle hearted dog bred for guarding flocks of sheep and goats, found a dying doe faun.  He gently carried her home and laid her on our front porch.  He never did this with any of the many healthy fauns he’s found.  Unfortunately, the most gentle and well meaning dog can cause damage to fauns (who were not designed by their Creator to be carried like they were puppies) and this kind of spinal damage may have happened in this case.  We don’t know where he found it so we don’t know where to return it to – TPWD estimates 40% of faun “rescues” are actually well-intentioned kidnappings, which we don’t want to do.  We returned it to the largest deer bedding paddock on our property (our best guess for the doe’s location), but no doe ever responded to the faun’s cries after many hours of observation.   This faun was clearly abandoned and dying and would not have survived the night.  Our choice was let it die or rescue it.

My oldest daughter, severely allergic to deer, is caring for it.  My very fatigued and puffy-eyed daughter is learning what it will be like to be a new mother when her time comes.  She has the same sleep cycle as the emaciated and dangerously dehydrated faun, and has to feed every few hours night and day.   She agreed to ground herself until the faun either recovers or dies.  Her perserverence and dedication to this precious animal has been truly inspiring.  She is not one to open herself up to being vunlnerable, but her extrordinary nurturing nature has overcome her fears of loss.  I can not begin to express how proud I am of her for her sensitivity and her strength.

The faun should be close to walking but after a day of hydration is just now gathering the strength to lift her head.   She doesn’t show any outward signs of pain.  In the photograph below, the deer who can’t stand is being held in an upright position for feeding so she doesn’t  get goat milk in her lungs, which would lead to pneumonia and almost certain death. 

The faun is nicknamed Gabby because she’s starting to “talk”.  Unfortunately she’s already imprinted somewhat on my daughter;  she handles her only during feeding, but it’s almost impossible to prevent some imprinting when this intense level of care is required.  This makes turning her over to a wildlife rescue operation problematic, as she could be euthanized which we don’t want when she’s starting to show improvement.  Gabby is only taking in a tiny fraction of the milk she should be drinking at her age, and has to be coaxed to eat.  She is learning to nurse from a bottle, and prefers to chew the nipple on the side of her mouth rather than sucking from the front.  Assuming she survives to weaning, Gabby will be released back into the doe herd she comes from as soon as feasible, but I fear she will always be more trusting of humans than is safe for her or for people.  Each year whitetail deer kill more humans than any other species of wildlife in America (but almost always while escaping from well-intentioned human attempts to rescue injured adult deer – sharp hooves!).  Hunting is prohibited in our 2-3 acre per lot neighborhood, so her main danger will be neighborhood traffic.

While the photo below looks precious, giving “mommy” kisses after feeding, it highlights that the faun is imprinting which hinders release into unprotected herds.   (Here my daughter was stimulating the faun after feeding, which is a required activity to prevent sepsis).  The good news is that Gabby is now bright-eyed and has the strength to lift her head.  I’m looking for a wildlife rehab specialist who can give care to the faun, but I won’t turn her over to be euthanized unless she has unresolvable problems.  We want to give her time to gather strength to walk before we give up on her.

Life is full of stories.  I hope you agree that this one was worth the telling.

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Day 2: Breaking news!  Gabby has greedily drank 2.5 oz of milk this morning, and 4 oz. this evening!  While still far less than she should be drinking, it is far more than the 0.5-1.0 oz per feeding she has previously been fed.  I believe she is turning the corner!

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Day 3: Final update – due to a decrease in appetite today, we have taken Gabby to a vet.  She still isn’t standing, which is a very bad sign.  Her health and survival is best served this way, and I regret not doing so earlier.  After performing x-rays to insure there are no broken bones and can eventually survive in the wild, the vet will turn Gabby over to a wildlife rehabilitator, such as a member of Friends of Texas Wildlife.  They will raise Gabby with an adopted herd of other rescued fun, and release the entire herd into a state forest where hunting is prohibited.  Some of our actions, based on horribly sparse and contradictory information on the internet, were incorrect and not helpful to Gabby.  Due to the lack of trustworthy information for the general public on wildlife rescue issues, I’ve created http://www.WildlifeRehab.US which will eventually allow licensed rehabilitators and veterinarians to collaborate on authoring information which dispels common myths and provides instructions for the well meaning “layman” rescuer.

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Due to a number of comments I’ve received, I’ve gotten my list of wedding packages as well as a blank copy of my contract posted under the About… menu item.

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This is a new theme I created for this blog which I’ve named “GoldenBrown”.  I used the colors of the bricks in the bridal portrait as my starting point, and built the theme around the bricks.  (Themes are Cascading Style Sheets and other behind-the-scenes thingees which control the look & feel of a website while not altering the content). The previous one was named ”SchneiderNoir” in a blatant fit of egotism.  I’ll create new blog themes about once every month or three and switch back and forth to keep things lively.

I can also create a theme crafted just for you – based on your wedding colors and featuring your favorite bridal photograph – and host a wedding blog for you with a personalized web address on my web server.  Ask me for details at our first photography consultation!

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It’s easy finding gorgeous gowns if you’re willing to spend a small fortune, but what about brides on a budget?  Check out some of these gowns ranging from under $300 up to around $750 compiled by Modern Bride.  The following examples are $258, $508 and $749, respectively:

(linked images by Michael Waring for Modern Bride)

While there’s a few of the gowns in Modern Brides list which are, let’s say, better left on the rack (and that’s being kind!), some of them are very elegant, and they’re well within anyone’s budget!  You won’t find any Princess Di gowns with 40 foot trains in this group; they’re all light and modern as compared to traditional heavy trained gowns.

LOCATION BRIDAL PHOTOGRAPHY TIP:

If you are having location bridal photographs done in natural surroundings (read that: dirt & grass stains), make sure your photographer knows to bring white bed sheets to put on the ground to keep your shoes and gown away from the soil. Even if a tiny amount of the bed sheet peeks out from under your gown, it generally won’t be noticeable as the white will blend in with the gowns hem, and can be retouched out of the image if needed.

A TREND TO CONSIDER:

Your wedding photography will be one of the greatest permanent treasures you take away from your wedding, and it will bring you joy for a lifetime!  Consider purchasing a second inexpensive gown like these examples for location bridal photographs!   Downscaling your “primary” gown budget (or managing other expenses) by a few hundred dollars can allow for a second gown.  This gives you the freedom to really get playful with your pre-wedding bridal portraits – you don’t have to worry about soiling your wedding day gown.  A second gown also can be used for after-the-wedding bridal and couples images – let me explain.

There’s a new very edgy trend in post-wedding bridals called “trash the gown”.  Now I’m not one for trendy fads (what’s faddish today will be tacky and dated 20 years from now – just look at any 70′s/80′s wedding album with faces-in-the-champagne-glass images), but this is actually pretty cool.  In a trash the gown session, the photographer follows the bride and groom to interesting locations (typically the day after the wedding) and they push the creative envelope taking photographs which have the potential to ruin the gown.  Sometimes the gown comes away unscathed, but the idea is to at least risk trashing it.  A second “disposable” gown definitely comes in handy here, as most brides treasure the gowns they wore at the alter!  Now this is certainly not for everyone, but it may give you some ideas on how to work with your photographer to create amazing images which you will cherish your whole life.

I saw a beautiful, romantic image of the bride in her gown lying with the groom on a beach at the waters edge, kissing while the water rushes over them (explain that one to the tux rental shop!).  The photographer did mention that the bride was wearing a secondary gown for that beach image.  A photographer friend from the Texas Valley (hola, Julio!) had a client with personality plus who decided on her own to climb up an old wooden farm windmill in her gown and boots – and that was BEFORE the wedding, in her ONLY gown (see it here)!  The most outlandish image I’ve personally seen is a photo of the bride in a very traditional sunset location pose, with the expensive gown’s long train doused with kerosene and lit on fire!  WOW, talk about IMPACT!  (The crew used fire extinguishers immediately after the photo was taken – “no brides were hurt in the making of this image”).  Of course, I’m not suggesting anyone take it to that ridiculous extreme or do anything dangerous, but the beach-kiss-with-waves level of gown destruction may appeal to brides looking for a eye-popping album covers or wall portraits!

SPECIAL OFFER TO TEXAS GIRLS:

I have a specific image in my mind that I want to create for PPA print competition – I will wave the session fee plus give a $100 discount on a 20×24 or larger canvas mounted wall print to any bride who will do this with me.  I want to create a photograph of a Texas bride wearing gown, cowgirl boots & cowgirl hat riding her horse (or one of my horses) at a scenic park while tossing her (backup) bouquet behind her.  This will require the bride to minimally have some very basic low-speed western horsemanship skills, or be willing to learn (I can teach you). (Of course we’ll do other directed images as well – I also envision one where the horse is nibbling the bouquet!)   You will have beautiful, playful and extremely unique images to choose from for display at your reception!! It’s also an example of when you might really want to use a secondary white gown – even freshly bathed horses can kick up some dust!  The purpose of my discounts are to offset some of the bride’s costs of a second gown & accessories.  If anyone is interested, please discuss it with me – the offer is only good for the first taker.

UPDATE - Laura was that first taker, so the discount offer is gone, but we got some GREAT photos!  Look at my early April 2010 posts (scroll to the bottom) to see some examples.  Laura picked up her ”Trash the Dress” gown from an eBay seller for under $200 (less than the cost of a Bridal Session!)

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