Schafer Photography Blog

Colby | Balboa Park photographer

admin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:10:08 +0000

Running on the grass, going for a walk around Balboa Park, playing frisbee and just hanging out with your best friend….sounds like the perfect day. And I think for Colby, this black retriever, it was.

Both Julia and I love dogs. Our yellow lab, Roxy, is always laying at our feet when we are on the computer. She’s ready to play fetch at any moment, and our family is more complete with her in it. So we understand when people want to have photos taken of their animals. Jennifer contacted us a few weeks ago looking for some photos to take back with her to northern California. She was having to leave Colby here in San Diego, but hopefully these photographs help her remember the bond they share. Working with dogs can be a little nerve racking at times, but Colby was content to just walk with us as we hung out at Balboa Park. He loved catching his frisbee. While he was certainly curious about the family of squirrels in the leaves, he was quick to come running when called. Thank you, Jennifer for a fun time at the park. Hope you enjoy this sneak peek of your photos.

Let us know what you think in the comment section below…and feel free to share this post with others.

Gapusan family | Pacific Beach family photographer

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:46:12 +0000

I have to admit that I walked into this session with mixed emotions. I always get a little nervous/ excited before a shoot, but taking family photos for another photographer can turn the nervous setting up a few notches. On the other hand, Arlene is a good friend and her family is as easy going as you will find. As a photographer, I have a gazillion (yep…I counted) photos of our kids on my computer and the walls in our home. But don’t have nearly enough photos of us together as a family. Arlene was feeling the same thing and we set up the session for a morning before her kids went back to school. I have often heard her talk about her unconditional love for her boys. Seeing her surrounded by her family, it is clear how much fun they have together. We met at the pier in Pacific Beach and walked through an alley before making our way down to the beach. We sat by the pier, played in the sand, and chased a few birds. Thanks for a fun time Gapusan family!

These two are awesome together.

Click here to see more San Diego family photo sessions. “Sharing is Caring”, so feel free to click below and share this with others. And…leave a comment below. Arlene reads this blog and she would love to hear what you think.

Benjamin | San Diego Baby Photographer

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:26:16 +0000

We’re still catching up on blogging some of the sessions that we did earlier in the year. I can’t believe it took so long to get this posted. Kirsten contacted us on a referral from Sara and Ed. You may remember the family and baby photos we did with them and their beautiful little boy and his cool monkey pillows.

Kirsten has something that we do not. Kirsten has GRACE. We have accepted that WE are not graceful. The bruise on my toe, the noises I make when I sit (or stand up), the coffee drips on Julia’s shirt and still bent glasses from a recent bicycling fall…all signs that God did not bless either of us with an overabundance of the graceful gene. That’s okay. We’ve come to accept that as who we are. Hopefully our kids will learn someday to accept that of themselves too. We gave Ainsley the nickname “Crash”, for a reason. However, when Kirsten walks, she glides. But it wasn’t only the outward sense of fluidity in motion, it’s internal too. She has that balance of confidence and down-to-earth-ness (yes! my blog, I can make up phrases.). She’s a trained and accomplished dancer who recently left the Sacramento Ballet Company to move to San Diego. Her grace clearly carried over into her new role as a mother. While she mentioned the usual nervousness that comes with being a new mom, it is obvious that she is a natural and LOVES the new role. Luke’s quiet strength and casual demeanor helps create a very comfortable home to be in.

Here’s a few shots of baby Benjamin and his parents from our shoot back in mid-May.

To see some of our other newborn and baby photos, go here.

Stohr family- MyHometown family profile – Chula Vista famly Photographer

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:03:39 +0000

We have been incredibly fortunate over the past year to do a number of photo shoots for MyHometown magazine in Chula Vista. We get to meet the most amazing families and local businesses. The Stohr family invited me into their home for a fun time of just playing in the backyard and shooting some photos. If you missed the original article, check out the May My Hometown issue about the Stohr family here on page 23.

A & E | San Diego newborn photographer

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:31:39 +0000

I mentioned in our summer newsletter that we’ve had several maternity and newborn photo shoots recently. These two young ladies had a bit of a rough start in the world. They came a bit early and got to spend some time under the caring and watchful eye of UCSD NICU for a while before coming home. Their parents are obviously overjoyed that they are now home and safe. They were born into an amazing family. We hope that we get to show more photos of them as they grow into toddler-hood and beyond.

Dallas | San Diego High School Senior photography

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 05:28:19 +0000

We’ve been very fortunate to get to know Dallas over the past few years. We have photographed her and her family on several occasions. As sad as we are that they will be leaving San Diego, we feel blessed that we were able to know them for a short time. For this shoot we went down to Coronado, wandered through a few alley’s and hung out on the beach. We laughed and played through the entire session.

Jett – 3 weeks | San Diego newborn photographer

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:13:08 +0000

Newborn photo shoots are different than any other type of shoot. We always aim to have fun, be comfortable, and just relax during every shoot, but there is a sense of peace that inevitably comes during each of our visits to a family with a newborn. This was our 3rd time photographing this family. By now, we kinda know what to expect. They are such easy people to get along with. The new little addition to the family had a few rough nights in the week before we saw him, but he was a ready and willing subject during our time in their home.

Teachers Rock! | San Diego Photographer

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:24:02 +0000

At Schafer Photography, we feel passionate about the importance of education. We both have strong ties to the education field. Without question, teachers give their heart and soul to their profession. Day-in and day-out, these people provide guidance and love to kids in ever increasing class sizes for less and less money. This year, once again, our kids were blessed with phenomenal teachers who not only challenged them in reading, writing, and math, but also modeled the caring personality, insightful, and resilient character traits that we hope to instill in Christopher and Ainsley. This summer we are offering a special package for all teachers.

Teachers Rock! Package: $350.00:
Book a session between now and Labor Day and receive:

1-2 hour photo session
Online private gallery of digitally edited photos
Complete full resolutions images on disc with copyright release to have images printed at your favorite lab
Web sized images to share with friends and family through email /social networking sites.

Feel free to send this information to any teachers you know. In fact…send it to anyone you know who works at a school (this offer will apply to any school employee). You can even use the “Sharing is Caring” buttons at the bottom of this post to send it out easily.

Photo collage actions

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:46:31 +0000

People often ask us how we make the photo collages you see often on our blog and facebook fan page. We used to create each one in photoshop from scratch until we found MCP blog and the MCP photoshop actions. If you have photoshop, these actions make it incredibly easy to make collages of your own. She even has a few free photoshop action samples to try if you are interested.

Since no post is complete without a photo…here’s a collage of our son making a school project. He read a biography on the Wright Brothers and made a 1903 flyer out of toothpicks, butcher meat styrofoam trays, and a gluegun (with a little supervision from mom).

Learning from the Master – Shooting Kids Workshop with Jay Reilly

admin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:26:59 +0000

Last Friday I got to live Jason’s dream and attend a Jay Reilly workshop. Jason was insanely jealous, as he should be. I spent the day getting lighting, camera and business tips from Jay Reilly and hanging out with a group of great photographers. We used Artist Alley in Oceanside for our first photoshoot with some great kids. This was followed up with another photoshoot on the beach with even more great kids, sunshine and surf. If you are interested in attending a useful and fun workshop go see Jay.

Here are a few images from the day…….

Thanks guys. I had fun. Here are a few of the gang who I hung out with in Oceanside…….