thirst relief auction open tonight!

The incredible Thirst Relief Auction bidding opens tonight- and in case I didn't make it clear:

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO TO VEGAS TO BID ON ME!

This is open to ANYONE who wants to win the 90 minute mentoring with me, in addition to a spot in one of my Ten Eyck Tuesday Workshops of your choice!! (from March 2009 on, February is booked) The workshop spot alone is worth $350!

So..... check out the link HERE and preregister!


Here is the site info: http://thirstrelief.shootq.com

i'm available to the highest bidder.....SERIOUSLY!

This year will be my third year going to Vegas for the WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographer's International) Convention. While I am very excited to go (despite the fact that I am not a Vegas kind of gal) I am determined to make the most of my trip.

So, what exactly do I do?

Well I am BEYOND excited to be a part of the fundraising efforts of the well known charity, Thirst Relief, for this year! Here's the scoop:

Dozens of photographers from around the world offer a 90 minute mentoring session (and whatever other goodies they want to throw in) to the highest bidder!

Here is what I am offering: a 90 minute mentoring session PLUS you can come to a Ten Eyck Tuesday workshop, FREE! And maybe I'll even throw in some cupcakes.... :)

Here's the skinny:

The Thirst Relief Mentor Benefit Auction will start this Thursday, January 29th at 6pm EST.

Those who want to bid will need to register before they will be able to start bidding.

The auction will close on Sunday, February 1st at midnight EST.

When someone is outbid they will be notified by email.



In three years time we have we have taken 100,000 people long term sustainable clean water solutions for an average of $3.85 a person!

Connecticut Professional Photographer's Convention (CPPA) speaker

Well it's in print now so I guess it's official!

This coming Friday February 6th from 3:00 PM-5:00 PM I will kick off the CPPA's annual photography convention by speaking on 'Blogging 101.' I am really excited for the opportunity to show how important blogging has been in my businesses success these past two and a half years!

Just his morning I had a meeting with a potential client and she told me how she felt like she got to know me by reading through my blog- the same thing with a client I met with yesterday- they both referenced things that I had written about in my blog and really gave them a strong sense of who I am before they called to set up a meeting with me.

If you want to learn how to bring your blog to the next level (and I am too....I promise!!) or to learn how to get started if you are a newbie then come on down to the CPPA's convention and check me out!

Here are the particulars:

WHEN: Friday February 6th 2009 3:00 PM- 5:00 PM this is my talk: the convention runs from the 6th-9th
WHERE: Crown Plaza Hotel, Cromwell, CT
COST: $250 admits you to all of the speakers and the trade show

or sign up on the spot to be a CPPA member for $250 and enjoy the benefits of being in the organization- a strong network of professional photographers.

To read more about the benefits of membership check out their website HERE

Here are some of the other speakers at the convention:
Motivational speaker Laura Watkins, Ph.D
Joseph & Louise Simone / Fine Art Portraiture
Ralph & Cindy Romaguera / Making a good living with your eyes, heart and camera
Paul Rogers / Illustrating Love
Ben Wilmore / Masterful Adjustments & Photoshop CS4
David Hume Kennerly / Behind the Scenes of History
Stephen Eastwood / Digital convert

February Ten Eyck Tuesday

Just a quick shout to let you know that there is only ONE spot left for the February 3 Ten Eyck Tuesday, so if you are interested email me ASAP at carla@carlateneyck.com to reserve your spot!

We always have a great time and I know that next month's will be no exception, so don't wait!!


Also, there is a lot of new stuff coming up for 2009 with the studio here and I am SO excited to announce what it is... very soon!!

xxoo

marissa and michael pratt winter engagement shoot

Yesterday Mike and I braved the cold with our awesome October 2009 clients Marissa and Mr. Michael Pratt- them more so than us- we were bundled up like the kid in a Christmas Story! We had the brilliant idea of having a fire pit to go back to and warm up in between shots...thanks for setting that up!!

There is a waterfall on the property we were shooting at and it made for quite the cool back drop.

Then provided a nice little set up for my ring shot with all of the ice ice baby

Michael Pratt grew up hauling bales of hay and stuff and was showing me their cool barn with all of the twine for baling the hay- and man, what an incredible back ground this made too with this light?

They put the OOOTT in Boot! Love this shot of them on the stairs leading up to the loft

Up in the hay loft was just........ yeah

Marissa is so beautiful and has the most intense blue eyes!

It's like they just jumped out of an old movie here

Did a little interior tractor shooting here

Mike thought it would be a good idea to see if this HUGE great dane would try to stick Mike's head in his mouth as a show of dominance... so of course I was on standby... but no dice! He just wanted our bagel!

Love the contrast here with the snow....extra special shout out to Miss Tammy Swales for her photoshop skillz...and I'll leave it at that

How cute are they? ?



Thanks so much Marissa & Michael Pratt for such a fun day and for being such troopers on this super cold day!!! We are totally looking forward to your wedding in October!

xxoo

Make sure you check out Mike's blog, for some more super cool shots

maziarz family shoot

I get asked a lot of I shoot family sessions- and while the answer is yes, I have to say that I really try hard not to approach them in any kind of traditional way. You know, like the old school Olan Mills way. And no, I m not trying to hate on Olan Mills at ALL- I have a picture of MY family when we were growing up that was taken in Olan Mills' studio... and I love it!

So my good friend and fellow photographer Erik Maziarz asked me to shoot his family as he falls victim to the same thing we all do as photographers- we have great shots of our kids and spouses but none of US with our kids and spouses! So I spent the afternoon shooting and getting to know Jen and Caroline, both of whom are the sweetest ladies ever!

We started off snuggling since Caroline was really sleepy... I had to try really really hard to be quiet! So of course I got the giggles and then was freaking out (inside) because I was really loving the shots I was getting but could not shout about them! It was a struggle, but well worth it!


Hands are just so important for me to shoot, I love how Erik and Jen's hands look like they are from the same person almost- as they both snuggle their daughter

Their cats were fantastic accessories!! I love this shot of them all on the couch

Her expression just cracks me up here- as she is pulling her mommy and daddy's fingers :)

One of my very favorites from the day, kind of abstract, but of feet and hands, my favorites- and I like how her feet are in the shape of a heart...



erik and jen, thank so much for having me over, I will be back for more tuna melts :) and coffee and I will bring my matching jammies!!

xxoo

stephanie and john wedding at the rocky hill ct mariott hotel

Well HELLOOOO 2009!!!!!

Mike and I are coming into this new season with a BANG, and we couldn't be more excited if we tried! We have so many little tricks up our sleeves that are going to let us do what we love to do even better- we have some new team members!!! Which I am super excited about, watch for their intro blog post coming soon- and we are in general just so excited to keep pushing ourselves right smack out of our comfort zones.

Exhibit A:

Rocking the flash! And not just any old flash! We welcomed a brand new addition to our gear family the other day, the Nikon SB900 flashes. Now, to be honest I was a little skeptical. What exactly is THIS going to do that my SB800 didn't? Well. Silly me! This thing is SO DOPE. Nikon really has an outstanding remote flash- master-commander set up going on that we have dabbled in but never truly mastered to the point of reckless abandon. Until last night! Watch YO SELF people we are going to be tackling the off camera flash like we tackled available light and the video light- until it is our bee-YOTCH!! It' so much fun to challenge yourself to try new things and new technologies, at least we sure think it is and we just about exploded with excitement last night!

On a technical side note for anyone on the fence about buying an SB900- get this- the command dials are SO freaking easy to dig into from the master flash- and switching from master to remote to solo are crazy easy- also it now has a dial on it that makes jumping up and down in power or channel or between flashes super easy to do. The only downside is that even if you use it on manual power super low like Mike and I do, it chugs through batteries. But we are investigating our quantum battery options / rechargeable etc. Any input, leave it in a comment so we can investigate it more!!

OK. onward and upward- on to the images!!!!
I started off simple- shooting the cake with my SB800 backlighting it and my 900 bounced off the side wall to my left, on super duper low, like 1/64 power. Pure lighting deliciousness

During Stephanie's walk down the aisle I shot her future sister in law Becky, tearing up- all available light, no flash here

We only had a few minutes to do their formals before the reception started so Mike and I dragged down two cool chairs to the right in front of a window aka cleanish backdrop for us to try some fun backlighting. We put an SB800 behind them and both pulled from it. The benefit to doing this instead of using our video light is that there was really no way to quickly hide the video light, but since our flash has a little mini stand it comes with we just set it right down on the floor and viola! This is a typical Mike Romano type shot- he loves the darker more dramatic look-we kind of traded places so to speak for the day and each shot like the other, it was pretty funny

I am McLOVIN the lighting in Stephanie's father daughter dance... just enough light in the front and a nice crisp rim light

John's Mom was so expressive and fun to shoot!

John and Stephanie were very open to ducking out of their reception to do some more shots...which Mike and I were so excited about because it was snowing like crazy out! We did some recon and found this awesome little nook right outside of the doors to the ballroom! Complete with snow covered tree and brown walls... uh, we were in shooting heaven!!!!
To freeze the snow in mid air we backlit them with an SB800 on a stand that we both pulled from and then each utilized our 900's as we so chose to. I bounced mine off the side left wall at a super low power so as to not overpower them



We let them duck into this little nook that was protected from the snow fall for a moment and we shot some more! This was just available light here


This one may be my favorite. Yeah. It is!! I love it. Love it. Love it.

We were covered in snow, and so was our gear- good thing our D3's are so weatherproof!! Here is Mike working it

Once we were done with Stephanie she couldn't get inside fast enough, she was such a good sport! I caught her literally saying 'PEACE I'm OUT!!'


Well to say Mike and I are chomping at the bit to shoot our next wedding - Feb 21 with Kevin and Kerri!! Is a bit of an understatement!!

Special super thanks to Steph and John for letting us do our thing!! Congratulations!!

Check out Mike's shots HERE, or on Facebook!

how well do you love?

This week has been a rough one, not only for me but for my dear, dear Hartford. The saddest part for me isn't so much what I know that I lost, it's all of the people that don't know- who didn't realize what a champion of Hartford we lost this week... Mayor Mike was much more than a former firefighter; he was much more than a father, a husband, a son, a friend. And he was WAY much more than just any old mayor. Do you all know who is Mayor of your town? How about who was Mayor ten years ago?

See, Mayor Mike... he left a mark on all that knew him, however briefly.

During his eulogy, the Reverend Gary Miller read something that really hit home with me. It went along the lines of how it all came down to one basic question in your life:

How well did you love?

Many of you that know me, and even those of you that only read this blog probably know that I love HARD- I love FIERCE- and if you wrong someone I love, you better RUN! :) But really, just when I think my heart is full, and that I have no more room for anyone else, I find new people who move me and make their mark on me, and basically just push their way into my big old heart... not that they need to push too hard because I am standing there with arms open, and some air traffic controller mo fo's waving people in...funny, but true.

So reflect on that one question, and see how you fare.

Here are some shots from my day on Thursday..

Outside of the church a fire truck waved the flag high, and there were many, many police officers and firefighters there to show their respect for Mayor Mike. It was an incredible sight to see

The procession passed by Mayor Mike's former firehouse, Engine Company 15 by Trinity College.

This woman had everyone in tears with her sign that says 'we love you mayor mike' as she stood there and waved to everyone that passed, in the cold. What a powerful show of love and respect

The mounted police stood at attention at the entrance to Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford. Mayor Mike is right near my Mom, so I got to wave to her as we drove by.

A firefighter smiles to himself, probably remembering laughs and better times he had with Mayor Mike. I stood there paying my respects with this man- we both have such different memories, but I know they were full of laughs

Seeing my image on the marquee of the XL center was bittersweet- Here is a happier time, when Mike was the JP for his daughter's wedding a few summers back.

Here are two of my oldest, dearest friends who are going to be so mad I put this on here. But TOO BAD! :) We have known each other since 5th grade- and seen each other through good times and hard times and still managed to laugh the whole time...I love you guys!

A friend who went to college with Chris, Mayor Mike's son, shares a typical Mayor Mike story, complete with hilarious punch line

Here Mayor Mike's wife Jeannette prepares to take a bow after dancing to Mike's favorite song, Rockin' Robin, at the end of his memorial luncheon...it was so incredible to see, and so sad to see. She is such a wonderful woman, and she was the love of his life

I loved Bob Englehart's editorial cartoon honoring Mayor Mike

One of the best little touches they had at the luncheon were these buttons that we wore when he ran for Mayor. Kristin Ferris ran the event, she was incredible and so was her staff

This napkin was posted by the bar in Mike's restaurant- it reads: 'Live a good life- it's not the years in the life, it's the life in the years. A-Lincoln Well done Mike, and thanks'

Amy and Jocelyn, two of Bethany's close friends from PC came to town to pay their respects from Providence. I've known these two hooligans for a long, long time and I am a better person for it!

After the luncheon everyone headed over to Mayor Mike's to celebrate his life and share more stories. When the newscast came on showing clips from the funeral and interviews from the day you could have heard a pin drop it was so quiet...but I wouldn't have chosen to be anywhere else than surrounded by so many friends and family that loved and shared in such an amazing man's journey through all of our lives...


Thank you Mayor Mike for always making me feel special, for laughing at my jokes, and letting me into your family. Thank you for being one of my strongest supporters in my work and life... and thank you mostly for showing people what it is to love Hartford.

xxoo

for your viewing pleasure...

While blogger stutters around with their foot up their grass I bring to you a recap of a personal photo project that my girl Jaime O did this year called 366 images. She posted one picture a day during all of last year and this is the result. It's freaking great!

I make an appearance near the end. Well, my feet do!


366 Images from Jaime Oppenheimer on Vimeo.

blogger can ki$$ my internal error

sorry people, my images are here, sort of! I'm working on it but am about ready to smash something so thanks for being patient as I trouble shoot this

January Ten Eyck Tuesday

Hi! Let me introduce myself! I am a BROKEN freaking RECORD!! Know why?

BECAUSE JUST WHEN I THINK IT CAN'T GET ANY BETTER...IT DOES!!!

ok, pause, rewind. So yesterday's class was, well, yesterday! On the first Tuesday of the month, as always, right? Let me start by saying that there was nothing normal about this class for a few reasons:

-it was ALL beginners! And I was SCARED!! I can talk trash with the best of 'em but you know when you are so close to something that it's hard to back up and get some perspective on things? Well, that's me and photography. I'm in it up to my eyebrows, like all the time, so thinking of it from a 'coming to you new' kind of way was challenging to say the least!

-we had one model, not a couple. Doesn't sound like a big deal, right? Oh but it is.

-we stayed in my house to shoot! What? It was warmer, plus we got WAY more shooting time since there was no travel time involved, and no one froze! Bonus.

-I didn't make Mexican food! Unless four cheese baked macaroni and cheese is Mexican!! aye aye aye!!! with a baby spinach salad with feta, strawberries and walnuts. No, YOU stop!

OK, onward and upward people!! Let me spin my tale for you all......

First, meet our gracious model, the uber comfortable in front of the camera, Miss Jacklyn Greenberg of Jag Studios! She is something else!!

Like I was telling the class, having Jackie model for us was kind of like cheating...she is just SO photogenic...



We stayed in the upper hallway of my house, which Dave and I just repainted a nice soft gray (Pebble Beach, Benjamin Moore if you are curious) with crisp white trim... and it just sings to me in the mid morning...the light is ridiculous

Check out the ladies in Georgie's room watching Maura shoot

Love the toys leading to Jackie


The doll with the red hair my Mom made for me when I was little


We really tried to use the entire corner up there, it just yielded so many shooting opportunities





Meet Miss Jessica - she is from Sialia Photography in western CT. She excelled at taking her time to get what she wanted from the day- one of the hardest thing for most photographers to do!!

This is a new one for me: meet Maura, our resident newbie! You want to know what Maura knew before she came to my class? NADA!! She told me, and I quote, sort of 'I pretty much only know how to turn on the camera' Yeah, I was scared because I wasn't sure she would absorb it all but OH.MY.GOD!!! She left completely understanding the concept of aperture, shutter speed and ISO and their relationship to exposure!!!!! She has a killer eye as well, which we all know is half the battle!

Here is Miss Traci from Tru Blu Photography in Simsbury. I was very excited to meet this one as she is good friends with my girl Eileen Broderick... because Eileen is NUTS. Tell Dr. Phill I said :P


And she comes back for more abuse!!! Melissa Wilson just couldn't get enough of C 10 ike love and had to have some more. I can't tell you all how far this lady has come in her understanding of what she wants to capture and what she gets... it's nothing short of amazing to me to see the transformation!!


Had to add this one too...now that blogger is working again :P


And come on, how dope is my salad