Shooting The Opera Reception

Wow - I have been photographing the Sacramento Opera since the first performance in the Community Center Theater - 1981 La Boheme.  And yes. we have files and files of negatives ... :).  I have always loved photographing theater - Joan and I even got married in a friends theater where I also did some photography back in the day ... Our daughter and a friend did a ballet piece to flute music by Rampal, a musician played and then we got married for the 3rd act.

Our studio (Eleakis  & Elder Photography) and the Saramento Opera had a reception showing some of our favorite opera photos at the now closed 'Lounge On 20' last Saturday - right in the middle of the Midtown's Second Saturday event ... opera music playing out the doors with belly dancers and drums in the street ... an unexpected mix that really went with the photography :)

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the show...

Sac Opera Rigoletto

Sacramento Opera is doing Rigoletto.  It is a fun and flavor full Opera with lots of passion, great music and great visuals ... We always do the photos on the last dress rehearsal, which was Wednesday evening for this production.  Tonight is the first live show - if you can go, then go :) ...

No job? Volunteer!

Every time I hear a story on NPR about the economy and those without jobs, I want to climb through the radio and yell volunteer!  Now I know it sucks not to be bringing in money - and the instinct is to spend all of the time job hunting.  And as someone who has never lost a job I feel like I am totally back seat driving, but I just have to say out load somewhere - so I guess it is here - what I think the advantages to volunteering when out of work are, they are as follows ...

• If I was interviewing potential employees, the one that was volunteering would stand out big time!
• Jobs often come from relationships with people who you get to know ... all of the people who you come in contact through your volunteering will know that you are looking for a job ... and they will have there eyes peeled because they will believe in you (because you are volunteering).  And they will be able to talk about you because they will have the story to tell about your volunteering!  That is a lot more assistance than everyone who is just putting in job applications is getting.
• It is hard not to get depressed looking for work ... but if I was spending x amount of time looking for work and the rest of my time being productive as a volunteer, then I would stay in a pretty positive state of mind from working and helping other people.

I realize that the instinct is that the most direct way to get a job is to look for work.  I think the most direct way to get a job is to impress the most people who want to help you get work.  And you don't know who knows who ... the grandma of the biggest firm in town could be your favorite fellow volunteer ...

You can follow your passion for who you want to help, or experiment with different volunteer environments to learn about yourself (like teaching your trade to others, when you have never taught), or you could go totally analytical and volunteer doing basically what you want to do when you are hired.  Regardless, there is a wonderful energy in keeping busy and productive. 

I really hope this idea is a help to someone :)

My fav photo restoration of the year ....

Every once in a while a restoration comes along that is so much fun and just makes me smile!

A friend and client came into the studio with some tiny little bits of photo - most of the pieces made a dime look big. It seems they had a favorite dog that had long since passed and these pieces were what was left of the photo. Could we possibly get some sort of photo from these little scraps of image? If we could, it would be a Christmas surprise for the wife. :)

The dog's name was Zoomer. The next dog to come into the family ate - yes ATE the photo, which is how it got into a bunch of little pieces (I also remember over hearing something about a stomach being pumped, but I don't know if that was because of this photo only, or if other stuff was also eaten ...). Amazing that the pieces were even saved.

So here are the little pieces ...

What A Wedding!

Chantel and Greg ARE MARRIED! They are off honeymooning - don't know where - not supposed to know - that is OK ;). We hired Chantel 9+ years ago - little did we know she would knock our socks off with her talent and sweetness and become our business partner (me and my sweetie, Joanse). We have become family, and Sunday I had the pleasure of photographing their wedding ... such a different experience when it is family ... teary eyed behind the camera and all :) ...

It has taken me forever to choose the photos - I keep adding in family photos that are sweet and then - 'if they are in the blog, I should add this family too' - reminder to self; this is not their wedding album and I want to get this online before they get home! ;) - so not so much family, just some of the the day and the two of them, mostly ...

...I actually was able to get a photo ... :)

Madeline ...

Madeline came in for grad photos today I just love them and had to get them up right away before our busy week end and time got away from me. I photographed Madeline and her brother Ryan when they were little - so a real trip for me to see Madeline all grown up - other than making me feel older, it was real super to see what a sweet and cool person she has become :).

Sara and Evan equals Twins

Sara and Evan are twins, they were here for graduation photos. They share a sense of humor, a gentleness - a kind of self conscious awareness and at the same time they are totally comfortable with who they are - but their favorite thing is definitely not being photographed. They had already had the formal school photos, mom was looking for outdoor photos to have something that really resonated with their personalities.

So we played - hey - it is all about personality. I have to say that I absolutely loved doing the session. Here are a few of the shots I really liked...

I love water and reflections - so I get real low to the water - just think it is pretty ...


For you photographers ... there is a tree to the cameras right the the sun is hitting - that was the light source.








So I handed Sara my camera at the end of the session and showed her what buttons to press and she took this one of her brother - my favorite photo of the session :) - I just love it when I am surprised with something real cool and I think it is real wonderful that Sarah and Evan felt pretty comfortable with me.

Sara and Evan - Thanks!