Photo tip: Lines!

When my camera's in my hand, there are a few things that I'm constantly hunting for.  Whether I'm photographing a wedding, portraits, landscape, or just randomness...one of the things I'm always looking for is LINES.

Lines lead your eye through the photo.  (They can lead your eye out of the photo, too, so you have to be careful with them.)  They help your viewer's eye explore your photo and take it all in.  Just like getting good directions when you're taking a trip, lines in a photo help your viewer travel around the photo and experience what you saw.

Check out these examples...

A beach in Oregon (look at the gorgeous S-curve here!!)

A dirt road in Colorado -- here the lines create depth:

A "road" through the desolate Reserva Nacional de Paracas, in Peru -- again, lines creating depth:

 An ocean inlet near Anchorage, Alaska -- this photo is pretty much just about lines and colors!

And from a fire road on Mt. Diablo, here in California -- the lines created by the road and the overarching trees create depth and keep your eye within the photo.

 

Back to work on a gorgeous (!!!) wedding album!  :)

- Kelsey Schweickert

Discovering beauty...

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Way too much fun with an umbrella

So, on a bright sunny morning, Mary Frances and I took an umbrella and went out and did portraits.  She is a natural poser and she has gorgeous eyes and tons of personality...so needless to say we had a blast!  We were having great fun just being our normal goofy selves and I think the photos reflect that...hehe... ;)

Pensive moment (it was brief, trust me)...

 

Love her smile!

Mischief ahead!

 

This one makes me laugh!!  :D

Sisterhood of the crazy hairs.  Except mine weren't quite as crazy as usual that morning.

Such gorgeous eyes.

And that, my friends, is all for now.  :)  To view the full collection (30+ photos), click [here].

- Kelsey Schweickert

Discovering beauty...


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Ten Lakes...or at least, three or four of them!

If you know me, you know I love Yosemite.  :)  And have spent a lot of time there.  This summer my family and I just did one backpacking trip, but it was a good one...and this time, no sprained ankles or thunderstorms, haha!

My camera loves these high-country trips, of course, but I've been so busy with weddings and such that I haven't done anything with the photos from this July trip.  Soo, I'm taking a quick break from photo-editing and album-designing to post a few!  Enjoy!

(There are many more images coming in a Facebook album...check my profile to see them soon.)

One of the many lakes in the Ten Lakes area.  (I think it should be called A Bunch Of Lakes 'cause I didn't count ten.)

On the trail with my mom

I think this cool flower is the "lettuce" that a few of us became addicted to photographing last year when I helped teach an IPS landscape workshop...Carl and Beth, you know what I'm talking about...

 

Reading "Waking the Dead", one of my favorite books by John Eldredge.

My trusty hiking pole!  (When you have a bad knee, this is an essential!)

Molly, Heidi, Nicole (mom) and Tom (dad).  (Chris couldn't make it this time -- he was in Mexico on a missions trip.)

One of my favorite wildflowers -- mountain columbine.  So delicate and whimsical.

I love the starry sparkles coming off the water here...

Lupine growing by the shore

Yummy cranberry oatmeal :)

 

Alrighty.  See this lake?  I'm going to jump in.

And swim to those islands.

So I did. And it was great.  :D  (And very cold. BRR.)

Star trails over the lake

(This is from the second night I did star trails...you can read about the first one here.)

A pine cone that some little creature had been eating...green on the outside, but hot pink inside!

After several days of hoofing it with heavy packs, this sign was truly a joy to behold... ;)

Check out the Facebook album for more...I'll be posting the rest today and tomorrow.  :)

Have a lovely Friday afternoon, everyone!

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...

Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook

Her Royal Highness

Meet Mesika, an adorable and rather privileged furry friend of mine who lives in Oregon.  ;)  She is a Golden Retriever/poodle cross, and quite the bundle of fun and smarts.  I'm not kidding, this dog is way too cute for her own good!  Check out these photos and see if you agree!

Mesika owns two humans, Janet Schultz and her daughter Emily.  (A third human also lives with Mesika, Betsy, but I don't believe she is owned by Mesika in quite the way the other humans are.)  My sister Heidi also lives in Oregon, where she works as a nurse.  So my camera and I visited this interesting crew the week before last, and after a discussion with Mesika, I have been graciously allowed privileges to post some photos of Her Royal Doggie-ness here.  ;)

Playing catch with Emily. (In which pastime Dog gets Human to throw Ball as long as Dog wants to. Humans are very trainable, you know.)

Pleeease?  Can you throw it for me now?

Goofy little dog. :) She's actually incredibly fast.

Awww.

Emily, by the way, has an art studio that will be featured in an upcoming blog...I did some photo collecting there.  :)

- Kelsey Schweickert

Discovering beauty...

Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook

Cloe and friends

One of the many things I love about photographing weddings is all the little kids I get to work with.  They're so full of life.   You never know what they're going to do!  They're quick to accept you as a friend if you're sincerely interested in them.  They're usually not afraid to let you know exactly what they think, and they have an amazing amount of energy.  The world is a very big place to explore when you've only been in it half a dozen years or so... and I love watching them navigate the exciting new experiences involved in being a ring bearer or flower girl.

Cloe was one of several adorable children (flower girls and...escorts? what do you call multiple iterations of what you'd normally call a ring bearer?) at Steven and Grace's wedding in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. She's the oldest daughter of Natan and Julie Terrell, who do missions work there in Chiapas. (You can check out their website here.)

Hanging out with the groomsmen at the rehearsal

Bubbles and cute flower girls just go together perfectly :)

Cloe has two cute little sisters!  Here's baby Brennah, with John, one of the groomsmen.

Later at the reception with her mommy, Julie...enough excitement for the day.  :)

With her good friend Chris (my brother)  :)

Cloe and Gabi

My brother Chris and I were staying at Nathan and Julie's that weekend, so naturally, I have lots more cute photos of these three cute sisters to share with you...later!  :)  Meanwhile I'm in the process of posting the rest of the photos from this wedding here.

Till next time...

- Kelsey Schweickert


Discovering beauty...


Visit my website  |  Email me  |  Follow me on Twitter  |  Like my photography on Facebook