Sunday, January 19, 2014

Punchkin

So as many of you know, my fiance, Michael is a photographer. He has always done weddings and other photos as a side job for years, but it is a passion of his and it is exiting that now he gets to turn that passion into something more. With the help of my most wonderful stepsister, aka "frister" for best friend/sister, Michael's company, Punchkin Entertainment now has an official website!

(click for the website)

My favorite part about dating a photographer is I know that wherever we go, whatever event we attend, or whatever vacation we take, I know I will have good photos to remember it by. Instead of having to worry about carrying my cheap camera around and trying to get awesome photos (that never quite turn out the way they looked in real life), I know that Michael has it covered! It's like having your own, 24/7 personal photographer! (Thankfully he enjoys it!)

We use a lot of his photos and frame them or put them on canvas for our house. I also rope him into taking pictures of the horses for work when I'm desperate - a good photo of an adoptable horse really gets more attention on the websites more than anything else. His photos are also going to be on this month's cover of the Hoofprints magazine, which is a publication of the Hooved Animal Humane Society (click HERE for the HAHS website).


Speaking of horses, the photo above is one of my favorites of the horse I am working with, Robin. I just love how it captured her personality! It was fun watching Michael take photos of the horses and to see how he progressed. It is not always about the quality of the picture with animals, it is also about learning to read their personalities to know when to take the picture. At first, Michael was taking pictures of horses sometimes with their ears back or a Dressage horse with it's head straight up in the air, but he quickly gained perspective on what makes a good horse picture and soon he had a bunch of happy horses with their ears forward!


Another one of my favorite horse pictures - this was taken on our dude ranch trip in Wyoming. Our horses, Thunder and Peppermint, also happened to be the best of friends and would hang out and graze together when we stopped on the trails for a break. This was also the trip that Michael proposed to me, so it was extra sweet that our horses liked each other so much too!


This one of my stepsister and her horse out in the field is just breathtaking - I couldn't imagine a better photo that captures the feeling you get when riding your horse! It is so open and they look so free, I just love it. 

Even though Michael focuses more on family portraits and weddings and those types of photos - I just love when he takes the horse and nature types too! 

I often complain about him taking my picture and his response is usually, "Well that sucks, but you are dating a photographer." But I have to admit, the photos he does take, even though I protest the whole time, are all usually my favorites and the ones I use the most. I was surprised how often I find myself in need of a professional photo of myself, for example, I just had to send in a picture and biography for the website my short story is going to be published in and I actually had one that I could use!


This photo is one of my absolute favorites that Michael took of me. I was so engrossed in the landscape that I actually had no idea he was taking the photo. When I look at this photo I feel like I am right back on the top of that mountain in Wyoming and can even recall how wonderful that day was. When I am having a bad day, it is good to look at this photo and relax.


For this photo, unlike the other photo of me, I totally knew that he was trying to get a picture. I remember because I complained the entire time! We were out exploring a park in Ohio called Old Man's Cave and I had found this neat little cave by the river and climbed into it. I was sitting on the ledge just looking at the surroundings and he had climbed way back into the darkest, creepiest part of the cave to try to frame me sitting there in the opening. It was so funny because every time he asked me to move my leg or my arm I would grumble and do so unwillingly. It probably took far longer for him to get the photo than was necessary because I wasn't being cooperative - he probably has an easier time taking pictures of kids. And the entire time he was laying on his stomach on this damp, cold cave floor and probably loving every minute of it. 


Sometimes it is hard to get Michael to stop taking photos, but for this, it was worth it. We were still out hiking and he had finally put his camera away, but then I saw this bridge. An old stone bridge all covered in moss and deep in the forest and above it, the sunlight sending perfect rays right through the treetops. It was the most beautiful thing, I thought it near impossible to be able to capture such an image on a photograph. Michael took one good look at it and thought out loud, "I wonder how I could catch those light beams." He then adjusted some settings on his camera (he will tell me it was something with the F stop and the ISO, but I really don't understand it at all, so I can't explain in detail what he did) and then he stood square and snapped the shot. "That's how!" he said and turned to me with a big grin to display this perfect photo on the screen - he got it on the first shot. He makes good photography looks easy.






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