It’s time to start looking for a 2019 Calendar, and larue.photo is selling a great one. We are accepting pre-sale orders for the 2019 larue.photo 12-Month Fine Art Wall Calendar.

The Photos

The 2019 larue.photo Fine Art Wall Calendar contains 12 images from the larue.photo collection. Each month a new long exposure photograph depicting the passage of time. Moonlit landscapes of the Sonoran and Mohave deserts of Arizona and California.

Witness the relative stillness of the earths surface, as we spin with it through the cosmos.  The universe appears to streak by as earth bound boulders rest peacefully. So when life is overwhelming, let these photographs be your escape. Take a break from the chaos of life, grab some earth and hold on tight, because we’re spinning like mad. 

Calendar Specs

The 12-month calendar measures 12 inches x 8 inches, when folded. Spiral bound to allow the calendar to sit flat against the wall. The calendar grids contain plenty of space for you to write all the important things that are happening in your life. 

Astronomical Events

As a citizen of the universe, I find it important stay up to date on the astronomical events happening in my celestial neighborhood. So, I’ve collected the data and formatted for easy visual consumption. Now you can, too, can prepare for and be ready to witness the wonders of our solar system.

Full Moons / New Moon

This 2019 Calendar labels several astronomical events throughout the year so you can be sure to plan to witness them all. Full moons and new moons are labeled along with the time they hit 100% or 0% illumination. So you’ll know not only which day the full and new moons occur, but also which night to go out for best viewing. All times are listed in AZ Mountain Time (GMT-7).

Eclipses

Eclipses are a relatively rare occurrence. So use this calendar to help you you prepare to watch. There is also a total lunar eclipse in January that you will not want to miss. An orange moon symbol to marks the date of that lunar eclipse.

Meteor Showers

There are many meteor showers each year. They occur regularly as the earth passes through debris fields left by passing comets. Some meteor showers are minor, yielding only 5-10 meteors per hour, while others boast up to 60 meteors per hour. This calendar will tell you which night to go out if you want to see the peak of any given major meteor shower. Make sure you’re ready with blankets and a warm beverage!

Holidays

Major holidays are labeled, including all US Federal Holidays, as well as several Christian, Jewish, and Muslim holidays. Also marked are the Solstices, Equinoxes, and Daylight Savings Time changes.

Connect With larue.photo

Connect with larue.photo on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to stay updated when new photos are released.

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We candidly capture the smiles, interactions, and details of your event to tell the story. Thereby creating lasting memories of the event, for the sake of preserving history, allowing for nostalgia, or promoting an annual event in the following year.

Wedding Photography

Hire larue.photo for your wedding – Request a Quote

Intimate Moments Sessions

The goal of an intimate moments photoshoot is to capture the connection you two share, and the comfort you find in one another. Because of this, these moments often create the most memorable images from the entire day.

Wedding Photography Packages

We understand how expensive it is to plan a wedding. Especially a small wedding. So we’re committed to working with you in creating a photo package that fits within your budget.

WED1 – 3 hours of event photography, and intimate moments – $500
WED2 – 5 hours of event photography, intimate moments, and group portraits (up to 16 people, with 8 subgroups)  – $800
WED3 – 5 hours of event photography, intimate moments, and group portraits (up to 25 people, with 15 subgroups)  – $1000
WED4 – Custom Wedding Photography Package – Request a Quote

All packages include:
Digital delivery of all usable photos at Print & Web Resolutions, plus
Copyright Release form to allow unlimited prints for personal use.

Corporate Event Photography

Hire larue.photo for your next corporate event – Request a Quote

We know you put a lot of effort into planning a memorable party. So, we make it our priority to capture all the details of the day.

Event Photography Packages

EVP1 – 3 hours of event photography – $500
EVP2 – 5 hours of photography, group (up to 16) portraits, including up to 8 subgroups – $800
EVP3+2 – 3 hours candid event photography, 2 hours photobooth usage –  $1,000

All packages include:
Digital delivery of all usable photos at Print & Web Resolutions, plus
Copyright Release form to allow unlimited prints for personal use. Promotional Use Licence pricing available upon request.

Photo Booth

Our photobooth set up at Grandma’s 90th Birthday Party. Yes, you read that right. 90 years, and still she looks so young and vibrant!

Our friendly, knowledgeable photographers remain on site during the entire period. We set up lighting, a background of your choice, and provide fun props so you and your guests can dress up and get silly. We’ll capture the fun and provide each guest with one 4×6 print to remember the night.

PB1 – Up to 50 Guests – 2 Hours of photobooth usage – $500
PB2 – Up to 100 Guests – 4 Hours of photobooth usage – $900
100+ Guests – Request a Quote

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A new school year is upon us, and with it a new graduating class. High School and College Seniors Class of 2019, Schedule a Photo Session for your Senior Portraits with larue.photo.

How to Prepare for Your Senior Portraits Photo Shoot

So you’ve booked a Senior Portraits with larue.photo. What can you do before hand to get the most out of your portrait session time? How can you prepare, so we can capture the best portraits of you that we can during your session?

Brainstorm Places with Special Significance to You

We want to tell your story from senior portrait session. And part your story are the places you love spending time.  Is there a park with a fountain and ducks you like to feed? Your schools softball field? How about that old tire swing where you and your sweetie shared your first kiss? 

I find though, that the senior portraits with the most personality are the one’s we create outdoors, on location, during golden hour, in a place that has special meaning to you. Those are the portraits that will be the most meaningful to you for years to come.

Get a Hair Cut 5-7 days before

You want to look your best for the photos we’ll create together.  Getting your hair cut can make you look much nicer. And you know how you don’t like to way your new hair cut looks, because it’s still fresh and obviously new? Go get it cut a week or so before your photoshoot to give it time to look a bit more natural and lived in.

Bring an Outfit Change

By bringing 2-3 outfits with you, we will be able to deliver a more varied final product to you. Try to bring 1 formal outfit, 1 casual outfit, and 1 outfit which reflects your favorite hobby.  These pieces of clothing reflect who you are in 3 different aspects of you life, and we want to capture each of those sides of your personality.

Think About Props You Can Bring

What are your hobbies? What are the tools you use for those hobbies?  Bring those things and help visually tell the story of who you are, and what makes you unique.  Here are a few suggestions:

• Seniors, Bring:

  

  • Cap & Gown
  • Suit & Tie or Dress
• Athletes, Bring:
  • Your sports gear…no wait…your sports gear is filthy and smells awful. Mom knows. Wash it first. Or better yet, bring…
  • A brand new ball, bat, glove, hat, etc.
• Musicians, Bring:
  • Your instrument(s) and accessories
  • Sheet music
  • Marching Band: Ask your band director if you can borrow your uniform, shako and plume
  • Drummers: sticks, mallets, practice pad, a drum and/or drum head, and a cymbal or two
• Eagle Scouts Bring:
  • Class A: That includes Shirt, Pants, Belt, Hat, Socks, Merit Badge Sash, Neckerchief
  • Scout Handbook
  • Tent, Pack, Stove, Camping Gear

Bring Some Music to Listen to

Feel free to put together a playlist of your favorite songs to play during the shoot. I find that hearing familiar music can be comforting, and can help relax you if you’re feeling nervous about being photographed.  These shoots are meant to be fun, and I want you to feel as comfortable as possible so that I’m able to capture the true, inner you.  We all have plenty of pictures of ourselves giving that same practiced smile.  You know, the one that you put on after hearing “Say Cheese!”  That’s not what I’m after. I want to capture the candid moments that show you as you truly are.  So gather your favorite tunes, and get ready for a fun photoshoot with larue.photo.

Other Milestone Portraits We Capture:

Family Portraits
Engagement Portraits
Maternity Portraits
New Born Portraits
High School Senior Portraits
College Senior Portraits

Take a look at my portraits portfolio

Connect with larue.photo

Connect with larue.photo on Facebook , Instagram, and Twitter  to see new photos as soon as they’re published.

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Nautilus Insurance Group holds an annual Underwriting Convention (UWC18) event in order to build relationships with their agents. I captured event photos last year at UWC17, and they asked me to return and capture this years convention as well.

The 2018 Underwriters Convention, or UWC18, consisted of 4 days of fun, learning, and networking for insurance professionals. Convention attendees were able to choose between several different courses each day, in order to broaden their skills.  A costume party was held on the last night of the convention, and the guests were encouraged to dress as those who inspired them.

Charity Team Building Exercise

My favorite part was the fundraiser/team building exercise.  Nautilus partnered with Kitchen on the Street, a Non-Profit Organization with the mission of “Turning hunger into hope…one child at a time.” 18 teams were formed and participants used donated foods to create a mini-golf course.  Each team created one mini golf hole.  They included secret pathways to make scoring a hole-in-one easy, while use of more obvious routes meant a nearly impossible score.

Once all the teams built their holes, they rotated through all the holes and took turns trying to get holes-in-one.  The team with the most cumulative holes-in-one won a dinner with the CEO of Nautilus Insurance Company, Tom Kuzma.

Then team members broke down their mini-golf courses and boxed up all the food. Kitchen on the Street then distributed all the foods used to those in need.  It was a fun team building exercise mixed with a opportunity to do something positive.

Event Photography for Your Event

Do you have an upcoming event you’d like to remember with professional photography? Use my contact page to reach out to me for a quote. 

Weddings/Receptions
Bar/Bat Mitzvahs
Corporate Events
Milestone Birthday Parties

Hire me to capture your special day and deliver lasting memories!

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Broccoli Tree

Image 1 of 5

Joshua Tree captured in Joshua Tree National Park. Lit by Moonlight, with stars burned in place in the sky with fireworks.

There are many ways to photograph fireworks. Personally, I’ve used several different techniques. Last summer, I captured pictures of the fireworks display I attended. Using my SLR and a telephoto lens, I handheld the camera and captures several hundred images of fireworks launching and exploding. I got some cool images but I feel like I wasn’t present enough with my wife to enjoy her company.

So this year, if I capture any photos, my plan will be to setup my camera on a tripod and use an interval timer or a remote shutter release. This way I can be capturing images while my mind and body can be with my wife.

In the gallery above, I have taken some of the best captures from last years fireworks display, and Photoshopped them in to some of my favorite fine art photographs. You can see the originals of these images without fireworks in my Fine Art Portfolio.

How to Photograph Fireworks Using your Smartphone

If you’re trying to capture photographs of fireworks using your smart phone camera, you may find it frustrating to get the timing just right. You press the button to take a picture, and the camera hesitates a second or two and then fires.  You attempt to compensate for this delay, but it delays inconsistently. It’s maddening. How can you get the timing right.

Well, for best results I recommend an SLR and a tripod. I also recommend putting your phone down and enjoying the show with your loved ones. But if you must capture pictures of the fireworks display, here’s what I can recommend about compensating for the timing.

The reason there is a delay between when you tell your phone to take the picture and when it actually captures it is because the camera is evaluating the scene to set the proper focus and exposure value.  You can get around this by locking the focus and exposure value ahead of time. 

Try this: with your camera app open, watch for a firework to detonate. When it explodes, press and hold its image on screen. This will lock the focus and exposure (you’ll likely see something like AF/EV Locked). Then, when the next firework explodes, you should find there is little to no delay in capture

Safety with Fireworks

In Arizona, there are currently severe fire restrictions. Due to the lack of rain and the extremely dry conditions, it is currently illegal to have an open flame anywhere within the state. The only fires allowed are those produced by a fuel source which can be turned off. This means that propane and butane powered grill are allowed, while campfires and charcoal grills are not.

So with the 4th of July approaching, I am concerned about the possibility of wildfires being started by careless celebration. Most of the “fireworks” for sale in my area do basically the same thing: shoot showers of sparks. Those sparks can ignite dry grasses and spread into a wildfire. So here are some tips for enjoying your spark showers safely:

1. Establish an area for your fireworks – think concrete or asphalt
2. Clear that area of any flammable debris – dry grass, leaves, small sticks
3. Have a fire extinguisher nearby and know how to use it.

I am not a firefighter, a forest ranger, or a fire prevention spokes-bear. Therefore, I am not an authority on fire safety. I am an Eagle Scout, and a human adult with what I like to consider common sense. Please try to exercise some common sense this 4th.

Have fun, be safe, and share your fireworks pictures and stories in the comments below!

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This is the staff portrait that I created for Pinnacle Pain & Spine, a doctors office in Scottsdale, AZ which specializes in pain management solutions.  Look how great they all look! Everyone is smiling and looking into the camera. Not one person is blinking.  I’m very proud of this image.  Let me tell you about how I captured it.

Behind the Shot

This staff portrait is a lie. Well, actually not entirely, but I lied when I refer to it as a singular image. This is a composite group photo. I captured each staff member individually in front of a green screen and digitally composited each person into the final group staff portrait you see here. This allowed me to capture each person with their best smile, and to use that same exposure for both the group photo and the individual portraits.

Here is a gallery of the original images:

I setup a studio inside the doctors office, andeach staff member came to have his/her portrait captured while only missing a minute or two of work.  I was able to capture the portraits I needed before they realized we’d begun, and I think that accounts for the great smiles.  “Wow! That was painless!”, they’d say.

Because each portrait session moved so quickly, I was able to capture genuine smiles.  A genuine smile can be hard to hold and quickly becomes a fake smile if you wait too long.  Often with a group photo, the time spent posing people, and taking multiple shots to avoid any blinks, causes the genuine smiles to fade.  Instead each person puts on their best fake smiles, which are never fully convincing.

Post-Processing

This green screen composite group photo method allowed for a better final product but required quite a bit more post-processing than shooting the group altogether.  The post processing was time consuming, but not difficult. I opened each image in Photoshop then selected the green areas using a few clicks of the “Magic Wand” tool.  Using that selection I created a mask so I wouldn’t loose any pixels, in case I found out I needed some of the back later. (This is a basic rule of non-destructive editing.)  Hair caused some issues for the magic wand and required a bit more finesse, and manual attention to detail, but eventually I was able to preserve their hair styles too.

I created a mask for each person and saved out transparent files, as well as individual portraits on the blue background for use in their company directory.  Then I gathered all the images with transparent backgrounds and carefully placed each person into a pleasing composition, with care given to scale each person evenly, getting smaller according to row.

Feedback

So what do you think? Did you think this was a standard group portrait before I broke it down? Was it obvious that something was just a little off about it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Hire Me

Are you a business in the greater Phoenix area? You can hire me to create a composite staff portrait for your business too.  I’ll also create individual portraits of each staff member. You’ll be able to use these on your company’s website or printed in your promotional marketing materials.  Use my contact page to let me know about your project so I can give you a quote.

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