Photo Fieldtrip - Botham Winery

I mentioned before that we did Kate & Adam's engagement shoot at Botham Winery near Madison. While we were exploring the grounds of the vineyard and the neighboring nature conservancy, I did find a few moments to snap a few shots for fun. And as you know there is nothing like old, rusty, abandoned and grown over buildings, doors, locks and just general rubble to get me excited.









We also got a chance to sample some of their creations and I can tell you that the Riesling is top notch. It is so, so good. My friend Jamie and I had a bottle last Wednesday and we have actually been craving it ever since. Craving it. Their website can direct you to where you can find their many award-winning selections near you. And if you are ever up near the Madison way, take the twenty minute detour and check out their uber-chic tasting room built inside of an old barn and full of fun curiosities.




Let me know what you think!

Revisited

I was looking at the Photo Fieldtrip shots below and realized that I kind of didn't give them their due. What you see in that slideshow is more or less straight out of camera - with some basic adjustments. I admit, I was in a rush to get a blog post up so I could get some other work done here in the studio and so I did what had to be done, but not necessarily what needed to be done. While basic adjustments are often enough, sometimes the presence of a photo needs a little more coaxing to come out. So I revisited four of my favorite shots with a little love in Photoshop this morning. I think they are better - and more what I was really going for. What do you think? Do you like the originals or the edited ones better?

*Tip: You can click on the little button in the lower right hand corner of the slideshow (the one with the little squares in it) to get a thumbnail view of each shot, and then click on the one you want to see)

Photo Fieldtrip - Abandoned House

Last week when I was in Elkhart Lake for Alejandra and Eric's Engagement Session, I took a wrong turn coming home. Lucky thing too, since it was because of that wrong turn that I stumbled upon this fabulous abandoned house. Of course I pulled over grabbed the camera and did some exploring.

I was intrigued by this house because the left half was made of stone, with no roof left, and a big tree was growing up out from inside those walls. The right hand side was two stories and covered in stamped metal tin siding, something I hadn't seen before. It looked like the home had suffered from a house fire at some point, and possibly had been boarded up afterwards. What is particularly striking is that there was a set of electric holiday candles still sitting in each window, almost as if the home was abandoned mid-season. There was a more modern house about 75 yards behind this one, clearly of the same property. And this old home had some fun "country" touches added to the front (post abandonment), and was meticulously locked up. It had an odd combination of windows and doors that had clearly been attended to post-destruction, and ones that had been left to the elements. I'm guessing the people that live in the newer home also own, or maybe once lived in this older one. However, it is hard to tell, because the tree growing inside the left side was huge - and had clearly been thriving there for many, many years, yet it doesn't reason that the holiday candles could have survived the elements that long to look as intact as they did. Curious for sure.

Enjoy.

Photo Fieldtrip - Nelson Family Farm

**This is a repost of last weekend's post - that one was broken. This one, hopefully is not.**



Way back in last fall, I shot Laura & Jesse's Engagement session at the Nelson Family Farm. (On a side note, Laura & Jesse are already married - having taken the plunge on leap day in Vegas- I'll be shooting their "Happily Ever After Party" in May) The Nelsons are good family friends of ours, and their farm has been in the family for generations. You know I love the patina of history - so after Laura and Jesse and I were done with their session, I took some time to wander the farm myself, camera in hand. They have several weathered red barns and one in particular that is half-collapsed and full of all sorts of long abandoned projects and supplies. And all over the farm are little glimmers of personality - liscense plates used to patch holes, the remains of a tree that grew too close to the silo struts, windows dirty with time. To say I had a good time exploring is an understatement.

I bought some new slideshow software for the studio - as I get to know it better I'll be able to add effects, custom timing and music to the slideshows. I thought the images from this fieldtrip would make a good test.

Enjoy!

Photo Field Trip

As an alternative to the Picture A Day (for which I am failing miserably at) I offer you a Photo Field Trip.

My trip to Madison last week for Kate & Bobak's e-shoot was a blast, and my assistant and I got there early to explore the capitol and the neighborhood a little bit.

The hands down, coolest thing I saw was this church. It is being renovated and the roof is off! So all this sunlight is streaming into it, illuminating the stained glass from the inside. Let me tell you, I would have given a lot of things to be able to get inside this church and take some pictures. Alas, it was fenced off and had many, many no trespassing signs.

We also came across some other cool stuff:



And climbed to the top of the Capitol Dome (a very easy climb compared to some of the tower and dome climbs I did in Italy):





We did get a sneak peak inside the Assembly Room where Kate and Bobak will be married:



And this, well, this was just funny: