New Year, new look...

I have been trying to figure myself out lately, and have realized that I am an enigma. Mommy, photographer, artist, dog person, wife, nose blower, teacher, international businesswoman, toenail clipper, meal planner, butt wiper, cancer surviver. I do it all, on a constant, every day basis. I am maniacal about deadlines, and meticulous about my work. I took this picture of TT and our Great Dane Puppy, Athena, the other day. It is totally the direction that I am going in my personal work...part classic, part iconic, part Norman Rockwell. Maybe I am going back to basics in my personal life, because I paint and paint in my professional life, but then again, I painted this shot of my Zoe, and loved every minute of it. What do you think? What should be my new direction for 2009?

The Musser Family

I am so utterly blessed to have such amazing clients...I recently had the opportunity to hang out with the Musser family. Stephanie Musser is the principal of my Zoe's school, so I was a little scared...what if she doesn't like them, will my kid never win a citizenship award again?? Just kidding, Stephanie Musser simply isn't like that!! You can tell a lot about people when you take pictures of them, and I must say, and I'm not kissing any executive booty here, that this family was one of my favorite families of the season! They were always laughing and having a great time together, and teasing each other. Courtnie and Perrie were the coolest teenagers ever, and Dad, Dan didn't hate me at all, which really helped a lot in general. They were a very cohesive unit, and being together and laughing during a photo session makes your having your pictures taken fun memories to have forever. These guys were part of my memories this year. Thanks so much!!

Perfect Moments

I have never been a big fan of saying a word when taking pictures. Like "Say 'Pruning Sheers' Sally!" And don't even get me started on "cheese". Yes, the long "eeee" makes your lips stretch across your teeth, Henry Higgins, but in the most uninspired of manners possible. So getting a family to all look my way with an expression of pain and misery isn't my thing. The Cindy, Christopher, Chris and Claudia Family shows you why. The picture of the whole family at the tree is really nice, beautifully composed, beautiful light, beautiful family, but it's not like anyone has anything going on in their heads besides "let's just get this over with". It's a typical "cheese-er". But the shot of the family all sitting together...MAGIC! Look at the mommy looking at that sweet little baby, all in love with his chubby little self. Look at sweet little Claudia with her arm around her daddy, burrowing her little body as close to him as humanly possible. Look at Chris, leaning his head naturally towards his beautiful wife, showing how much he loves her and respects her. It's a magical moment, and (Gasp) one person isn't even looking directly at the camera. Ooh. Aah. Look at Claudia in the picture where she's running, and the "Ooh" face of baby Christopher in the shot on the tree with his mommy. Look at the proud look on the Daddy's face as he holds that baby. The one where they are both smiling at the camera is a great one, but the one after Daddy thought I was done where he's holding Christopher up in the air and they're both laughing...well, it's just very special. These guys had shot after shot like this. It made me feel really lucky to be able to do what I do.

Shefali

I had a delightful session with the absolutely Shefali and her equally beautiful family at the Anthem Country Club, which is my favorite place to shoot late afternoons because of the fabulous light and tons of different terrain in just a very small area. The family was dressed in traditional Indian wear, but they were totally open to getting crazy, as you can see. I loved those guys! And the way her husband looked at her, I just swooned. He loves her so much!! What a great family.

updates...You need updates!!

Oh my goodness...It has been a very long time since I have updated my site...please forgive me. I have really been at it. This is my favorite shot of a high school senior, Jill. We had such a fun time shooting at the JW Marriott! Jill was one of those perfect clients who just walk in and feel pretty and go for it hard. She was an absolute pleasure to shoot.

Giving Back

The wild and crazy holiday season is rapidly approaching, and I always take the season as an opportunity to see how I can give. Giving back is so important to me. I have been so very fortunate in my life, and sharing the abundance of my experience is the best. I don't have many talents...I'm a terrible committee person, for example. I go crazy in meetings, but I really want to help. Doing what I do, I get to help, without being on any committes! I meet the coolest people, too. I might not have even met The Raddocio Family, had they and I not been helping Team Wish. And they were such a fun shoot. They adopted their two beauties very recently, and I was very excited to be a part of their first family photo. Everyone had a lot of fun, and it was so beautiful for me to see how much love they all had for each other. Their parents had made a donation to team WISH, and recieved my gift of a free photo session and painted 8x10 as a thank you for their donation. I am helping Team WISH again this year, The Anthem Country Club's ClubCorp's Charity Classic, and ChildsPlay, a wonderful theatre company in Tempe, as well as Light the Night, a walk to benefit blood cancer research, in honor of Leukemia Survivor and my Zoe's close friend, Chloe. If you are interested in helping a great cause, and receiving some beautiful portraits of your family as a heartfelt thank you for your gift, please get in touch with me. Email me at photbarb@aol.com, or visit my website, barbstitzer.com, or leave a comment under this blog post, or call me at 480.861.4529, and we can talk. You won't believe how much fun it is to give!

Phoenix Photowalk--Mix it Up!

I did something that I never do last night, which is join a group on a walk, the Phoenix Photowalk, organized by the NAPP, (National Association of Photoshop Professionals.) I must admit, after I got over my initial shyness, I had a great time. I shot some models, met some very funny and interesting photographers, including one very cool woman who sat by me at dinner, who had so much in common with me, it was scary...including saying one thing that I always say, which is that I roll around on the floor all day with the kids I shoot, so that made me laugh... and made me realize that I really don't get out enough. The amount of guys who have been at it for 20 years, just for the love of photography, never imagining that they could make enough to get paid floored me. I thought it was so cool, to shoot whatever I wanted, so I did, which was very freeing for me and just kind of re-engineered my feeling of how much I love what I do. I broke free from the models and started shooting a little boy who was in the waterpark running around with such joy and abandon that it just made my heart happy, and then I waited until after the sun set and shot the Tempe bridge. The people behind me were all like, "Why is she shooting now, she lost the light?" I just wanted to turn around and tell them, but I didn't because I didn't want to make them felel funny, so I'll tell you--the best light to shoot landscapes is after the sun sets--try it. You'll be so surprised.