Little Helper

As is true every year, this year's Wallflower/Schoeggl Christmas card features our golden retriever Bailey. She graciously agreed to share the spotlight this year with Caleb, who is now seven and a half months old!

We shot this photo in front of Caleb's closet, and getting our two subjects to perform together, on cue, was a fruitless endeavor. Yes, even photographers can fail to have a perfect family photo! Reviewing our shots afterwards, we found that every photo had some flaw — so we broke out the advanced Photoshop skills to synthesize a "perfect" shot.

The base photo that we chose had Caleb tucked perfectly into Bailey, who moved just a second or two after the shot was taken. But in that photo, Bailey wasn't smiling and Caleb's left elf-ear was drooping.

We ended up using a total of four photos to make the one you see above. In addition to the base photo, we borrowed Bailey's smile from one, a perky left elf-ear from another, and a section of Bailey's leg from a third to patch the part of her leg that had been blocked by the droopy elf-ear. Voila!

We use this technique for our clients, too. For example, big group photos at weddings often have someone blinking, frowning, or otherwise not looking their best, but we can borrow open eyes, smiles, or even whole faces from other photos to create our final image. Our clients never know, and that's how we like it.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We wish you all the best in 2010.

Caleb at 5 Months

The last time we blogged about our son Caleb was when he was 6 weeks old. Then the summer wedding season happened and time flew by. Today, believe it or not, is his 5-month birthday!

Here's a new set of photos of Caleb that Scott took during an impromptu shoot in his nursery. We've noticed that he's at his absolute cutest during tummy time, and sure enough, it only took a few minutes to collect all sorts of cute and funny shots. Two series of four images from that shoot are below. There's no better occasion for photo series than baby portraits — if only every expression was cuter than the last once we grow up!

And one last photo with Caleb and mom:

Caleb at 6 Weeks

Six weeks after our little boy Caleb was born, we had fun with his first real photo shoot. Laura posted some of these shots on her Facebook page a few days ago, and judging from the comments she received, the photo above is nearly everyone's fav. A few more of our favorites are below. Big sister Bailey co-stars in the last shot.

Our Favorite Place in the World

We've been spending a lot of time in Point Defiance Park lately! Followers of the Wallflower blog have seen a lot of photos taken at Pt. D. in recent postings. Time for a change-of-pace posting!

Having grown up in Oregon (Scott) and Colorado/Northern California (Laura), our idea of natural beauty is more mountains and forests than tropical beaches. So it's no surprise that after our wedding in September 2002, we chose to honeymoon in the Canadian Rockies instead of Cancun. It was an amazing trip and we've always wanted to return, but the summer season is short there, and because we're always so busy during the summers, we were never able to schedule a second visit.

Then, last year, the perfect opportunity presented itself: we were hired to photograph a wedding in Banff, a small tourist town in the center of the Canadian Rockies! The wedding itself was cancelled, but by that point we were already committed to the trip. We had a wonderful time, and we got amazing photos — which we had to ignore for months while we took care of our wedding and portrait clients.

Recently, we've found time to identify the cream of the crop. Several highlights are below, but these are only appetizers — our favorite 33 images from the trip make up a must-see new gallery on the Fine Art division of our website. Enter the Landscapes section, click Canadian Rockies and enjoy!

Moraine Lake, featured on the back of the Canadian $20 bill.

Peyto Lake, graced by a rainbow from a hailstorm.

Foul-weather photography at Lake Louise.

"God light" over Bow Lake, sepia-toned.

Announcing Caleb Roy Schoeggl!

Today is the day that our first child was due to be born. So you can imagine our surprise when, on a sunny Sunday 16 days ago, Caleb decided to make his grand entrance! We're thankful he didn't come a day earlier, when Scott was shooting a wedding in Seattle!

Caleb was born on May 3 at 8:00 p.m. on the dot, weighing 7 lbs 4 oz and measuring 19.5 inches long. The whole process went quite well — Laura did the whole thing without any meds or interventions! — and now we have a happy little boy. The photo above was taken when he was four days old, while we shot the rest on his two-week milestone.

What does this mean for Wallflower? Well, don't expect any big changes! We've got babysitters all lined up and will continue to photograph together at every wedding throughout the year. While we settle in to family life, we may not be quite as quick as usual in responding to phone calls and emails, but we are still "on duty" and in the office. Our devotion to quality remains the same, so our summer clients may have to wait just a smidge longer for their photos. We're sending out our sincere thanks in advance for your patience!

Regular followers of our blog have surely noticed that we've been slacking lately. We've actually been working hard taking great photos, and we plan to catch our blog up with our recent shoots and news over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from your friends at Wallflower — Laura, Scott, and our seasonal "mascot" Bailey.

Welcoming Hannah Elise

Recently I traveled down to the Bay Area to visit my sister and meet my new niece, Hannah Elise. Remarkably, Hannah shares a birthday (May 1st) with her mother! She was just over two weeks old when I had the chance to meet and photograph her. And because Hannah's a serious cuddlebug and doesn't like to be put down, I was treated to some quality snuggle time with her.

Of course, another major highlight of the trip was playing with my nephew Kyle, who at almost two years old has changed radically since I last got a chance to spend time with him at nine months old! It was so fun to hear him calling out for "Auntie!" from the other room, and after a very brief period of shyness, he was more than happy to show me all of his trucks and Daddy's garden tools (his greatest fascination). He is almost always full of smiles.

Given that these portraits are close to my heart, it was tough for me to select just one or two to share on the blog! What you see here is a fun shot of the whole family, Kyle in the bath tub, and a couple of my favorite shots of Hannah.

Thanks to Fiona and Dave for being such great hosts, even with a newborn and a tornado (er, I mean a two-year-old) in the house!

~ Laura

Gretchen and Dave's Engagement Party

Two close friends of ours, Gretchen and Dave, are getting married next month, and we brought our cameras along to their engagement party a few weeks ago. Everyone was laughing, goofing around, and playing games to embarrass the soon-to-be bride and groom — conditions we thrive under as photographers!

Party photography is a really fun niche service that we offer. In addition to engagement parties and bridal showers, occasions for great photos include rehearsal dinners, birthday parties (kids and adults alike), family reunions, baby showers, bar/bat mitzvahs, graduation parties, and other celebrations.

Party photography falls under what we call lifestyle photojournalism. We approach these shoots much like we do wedding receptions: by minimizing our presence and focusing on capturing candids of people socializing and having fun. Unlike portrait sessions, lifestyle photojournalism sessions are usually event-based, and can range from you and yours bowling in a league, to running a marathon, to hanging out at the park.

Incidentally, the most excellent hosts of this engagement party, Hannah and Mike, are Wallflower wedding clients as well as two of our oldest and dearest friends. Their beautiful Point Defiance Japanese Garden wedding will be featured in the upcoming issue of South Sound Wedding & Event magazine!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!

A fond Merry Christmas to all the friends of Wallflower Photography! We had a great year and really enjoyed having the opportunity to meet and work with so many great clients. As always, thank you for putting your confidence in us and inviting us into your lives! We have excitng new plans already in the works for 2008 and look forward to sharing them with you soon.

All our best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2008! Of course, this also includes best wishes and a few slobbery licks from our golden retriever, Bailey, who reluctantly modeled for our 2007 holiday card (seen here). Happy New Year!

— Laura & Scott

Narrows Bridge Run

On Sunday we participated in the Narrows Bridge Run, which kicked off the grand opening of the new suspension bridge here in Tacoma. New bridges don't come along too often, so we wanted to take part just for the sake of being right smack dab in the middle of all the action. Over 10,000 participated in the 5K run/walk along with us, and by the end of the day 50,000 people had toured the new bridge. Since we were taking part in the event, we didn't take too many photos but Scott got some great shots nonetheless. Here you can see the sea of white shirts from all the 5K racers.

Hannah and Mike in Tacoma

It's done! Our good friends Mike and Hannah have finally tied the knot. We had a great time at their wedding, balancing photography and partying with old friends, many of whom we hadn't seen for years.

In a nod towards Hannah's Japanese-American heritage and with the added benefit of introducing all of their out-of-state friends to the beauty of the Northwest, Mike and Hannah decided to have their wedding at the Japanese Pagoda in Point Defiance Park. The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect, the decorations were gorgeous, and much fun was had by all.

As part of their reception entertainment, I prepared a slideshow with their childhood and dating photos. It turned out great (am I allowed to say that myself?) and I got an almost embarrassing number of compliments on it during the wedding. I think it's safe to say that we'll soon be offering reception slideshows as a service to our clients!

With Hannah and Mike being such good friends and all, we couldn't pick just one photo to share. So here are a few that caught our eye, with many more to come later.

Congratulations Hannah and Mike!

Kyle's First Flight

My nephew Kyle had his first airplane trip when my family came to visit us in Tacoma in March. He did great during the flight and staying at our house, even though we were without kitchen and well into the remodel demolition!

Fiona, my sister, has told me more than once that she feels lucky to have professional photographers in the family. She's probably right on that one, but the downside of having photos taken for free is that you then have to wait far longer than a paying client before you get to see them! So yes, even though they came to visit in March, I only just finished processing the photos. Here are some of my favorites ... enjoy!

Aloha!

We're back from Hawaii! Thanks to all of our clients and prospective clients who have been patiently awaiting our return. We had such a great time and feel much more refreshed and ready to tackle the next wedding season! Stay tuned for more photos from our trip, including pics from northwest Maui, the Road to Hana, Haleakala, and whale watching. The photo above was taken at a lu'au we attended on our second night.

Half a Birthday

Over the holidays, we visited my family in the Bay Area. We took this photo of my sister, brother-in-law and nephew during a walk along the lagoon that borders my parents' property.

Kyle turned six months old on Christmas Eve. Not surprisingly, we celebrated the occasion with portraits. This is one of my favorites because I can appreciate my sister's genuine smile and how everyone is interacting in their own way — Fiona: with an open smile, Kyle: with a more timid grin, and Dave: more serious, protective and gentle. It was fun to see how much Kyle had changed (already!) and we really enjoyed spending time with everyone. Happy New Year!

www.wallflowerphoto.com/walker6mo

~ Laura

Happy Holidays 2006

Now that our official 2006 holiday card has hit the streets, we're ready to unveil it online. We've received so many great compliments already (thank you). I only hope we can live up to expectations next year! Luckily, Bailey has proven herself to be a very cooperative participant. This year we had a little help from a smudge of doggie toothpaste on her nose. Usually I find all her post-treat lip-smacking annoying, but in this case the predictable licks came in handy.

Happy holidays to all of you. We wish you the best for the new year!

Reluctant Reindeer

One of the downsides of being an exceptionally well-behaved dog owned by photographers is that you get subjected to the annual holiday card photo session. We took this shot after a big snow storm hit the Northwest on Nov. 28, pushing us past the amount of precipitation needed to make it the wettest month ever on record. This photo came in as a close second for our card but didn't quite make the cut. Happy Holidays!