This Weekend: Finally doing a maternity portrait session!

Photo by Phil Maland

Saturday afternoon I will finally get to participate in a maternity photo shoot! Several members of the Mile High Photographer's Femme Photographie group including workshop leader Shannon Marie Casey are meeting to shoot today at The Studio at SouthLands.

This is perfect timing, as I just got a call from Harriet earlier this week that she should be ready for some maternity shots next month. She will be the first bride whose wedding I've shot that will be having a child, and I can't be happier to be her growing family's official photographer. I would love to be able to recreate this great storyboard I found on Flickr this morning by photographer Yvonne Lorraine.

Photo by Yvonne Lorraine

I hope to be able to use some of the new low key lighting skills I picked up Wednesday in Bill Murphy's workshop. I will be editing some of my images this weekend.

This will be a new location for me, so I'm doubly excited to shoot there as well. The studio just has its grand opening on Feb. 25 in the new SouthLands Mall. I have been considering joining a studio so that I could have a more credible location for indoor shoots besides my basement studio. This studio's location so much closer to my home as well as it's great location in the SouthLands mall would offer some amazing curb appeal traffic. I will check out it's prices today to see how much membership would cost.

This weekend: Pet Photography Workshop

Photo by Mike Haley
This weekend, I will finally get the chance to try something I've long been interested in -- pet photography!

Jaime Rowe of Jaime Rowe Photography pet shooter extraordinaire will be hosting a special workshop for Femme Photographie group members. Femme Photographie is a sub group of the larger umbrella Mile High Photographers group. Each month, one of the group's members tend to throw together a workshop where everyone has a chance to share their skills and learn together. I created one earlier this year for an engagement portrait workshop.

Jaime has gathered several furry models for us to photograph, and she promises to give us some of her pointers and tips for working with different types of dogs. So far, we have a border collie, a red heeler, a beagle/basset hound mix, and a maltese/poodle mix. I seriously thought about bringing trying to bring Raina and Isis, my husky and malamute, but my dogs are so crazed with energy that they would have thought it was social hour instead of being quiet and modeling for us.

I toyed with the idea of adding pet photography in my studio offerings, but then I decided that dealing with those pets' humans was work enough for me! :) I'm still looking forward to a chance to try shooting a new subject because it's pretty common for soon-to-be wedded couples or family portrait shoots to include their furry-loved ones in the shoot. So it would be good for me to learn how to catch and hold a pet's attention long enough to get a good shot.

So if you see several photographers chasing some dogs around Wash Park tomorrow afternoon, that would be us!

From My Portfolio

originally uploaded by Sheba Wheeler.

Here is one of my favorite shots I took on Saturday during a boudoir session held by the Mile High Photographer's Femme Photographie group. In order to get this shot, I used a ladder so I could shoot down on the model from above.

Some general portrait post processing finished off the look. This shot was captured with two lights from Calumet, one to left and right front of the model. I used my Canon 580 EX II on a bracket for fill.

I love how the model's pink panties and the pillow add just the right touch of color to what would have been an otherwise nearly monotone color palette. Plus, that leopard skin toss blanket and velvet brown comforter add fun as well as texture to the shot.