When Black Cats Prowl and Pumpkins Gleam

Halloween is a time for tricks or treats and most prefer treats over tricks, however, I am quite the opposite. I love the tricks, especially when it comes to special effects and optical illusion costumes. From very young on, I would decorate for Halloween. I started by making a scarecrow with a carved pumpkin for our porch at the age of twelve and one year I bought a scary mask and borrowed a big furry coat with a big hood that my mom had, and that was my costume. I've come a long way with costume construction since that time. 

Source St. Croix Casino and Hotel-Turtle Lake

In recent years, my passion has turned to elaborate costume construction and competing for big prizes in local costume contests. To my surprise, I have been winning. I've won for the past 6 years of competitions at our local casino, as that's where the bigger prizes are! (Click here or on the picture to the right for more information). So each year, sometimes as early as March or April, I begin brainstorming for ideas for my newest, and best costume.

My first year, I constructed a Three-headed monster (I, being one of them). The second year, I made a Tiki Bar, (pictured below) which was a huge hit. The third year, I had an evil clown holding my head; the next a Night Stalker; the next, a Haunted Tree House and last year, I was the apple tree from The Wizard of Oz, who overtook Oz.

Source Carmel Suhr-Halloween Costumes

This will be my 7th year of competition and I'm constructing a nostalgic, ghostly Fortune Teller's Booth that will be complete with a lighted crystal ball that will change colors, lighted shapes on the front and sides, and a star/moon projection behind me. This one is so big that I will have to attach wheels to the bottom to push it around. I will also be giving out fortune cookies and paper ticket fortunes to passers-by.

Does this pertain to photography, no; not really, other than it's another artistic form, but it's as much fun as doing photography.

I'll let you know next week how I do on Halloween night. Until then,

May luck be yours on All Hallows Eve!

Tips for Phototastic Family Photos

I've seen so many family photos lately where everyone is dressed the same. You've seen it too, I'm sure; the entire family dressed in navy blue shirts and khaki pants. My own family was guilty of this recently. We all wore jeans with black shirts. Truthfully, it's pretty boring and colors like solid black or solid white are hard to photograph because they lose much of the details in the clothing, such as stitching or embellishments. So here I've compiled a list of do's and don'ts for addressing the issues of the question,

"What should we wear for our family photos?"

Solid colors are better except for black and white.

Avoid patterns and characters. These can be distracting and hard to photograph. The saying, "A little goes a long way," definitely pertains. A little bit of pattern is fine, just not too much.

Accessories are great!

They add to your photos and can be used for fun poses such as the man wearing a tie for the woman to hold, or hats for kids to wear and to peek out from behind.

Gone are the days of matching outfits.

Try selecting coordinating colors and adding complementary colors. The picture below is a great example. As you can see, this family is wearing different hues of blue with some more subtle patterns and a bit of a complementary color in the gentleman's purple shirt. It is very pleasing to the eye, yet each family member still stand out.

Source Fall River Productions, Inc

Look to the interior of your home.

Look at your decorating preferences such as wall colors or curtains and use those colors as inspiration for what you wear. You don't want your color choice for attire to clash with your home's interior since family photos are proudly displayed in the home.

Just because they are called "Holiday Photos..."

This doesn't mean Aunt Jenny needs to be wearing a red sweater with a green scarf and her favorite poinsettia pin. If the clothing is more on the classic side (also avoiding the space/time continuum), then the photos can make a great gift to be displayed all year round and yet still adorn the front of your holiday card.

Have fun with your photos and your attire. After all, you want the pictures to show your family's personality. Part of the love of a great family is the mix of those different personalities. Let them come through in your family photos too.

Pink Ribbons and Honky Tonks

Next weekend I will be traveling to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a weekend escape with some dear cousins to see Trace Adkins in concert. Not only do I love his music, but I have also had the privilege of meeting this man many years ago, while working as an announcer for a radio station. He was very kind and generous, and his support of our troops is to be commended.

Source Pose Photography

One of my favorite past times in photography is taking photos of music artists at performances. One of the biggest artists I've had the opportunity to photograph is Garth Brooks. There have been many others along the way, including classic country greats, Charlie Daniels and Conway Twitty. My two, all-time favorites are Sawyer Brown (pictured left, Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown), and Collin Raye. Getting that one special photo where they are looking at me is what makes it all worthwhile, not to mention the great music. So next weekend, I will try to get that perfect shot again.

Source (Ethan Miller/Getty Images) 

As everyone knows, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I did find one country artist that is doing a lot of good this year for Breast Cancer Research; Jason Aldean. While I'm not a fan of the new country, I was glad to see that he is contributing some of his concert ticket sales and honoring survivors at each of his concerts this year. Kudos to Jason! For more information just click on Jason's picture.

While my own contributions to Breast Cancer Awareness consist of an awareness commercial I had a part in creating for college recently, next weekend I'm going to remember some very special people that my family has lost to other kinds of cancer. Joyce Howie (my mom), James Howie (my dad), Frieda Hansen (my aunt), Debbie Lowrie (my best friend), Jeff Cook (my cousin), Butch Drake (my uncle) and Wally Drake (my uncle). My hope is that Breast Cancer Research may contribute to finding a cure for all cancers. God Bless the ones we've lost, the ones still fighting, the ones who have survived and the ones trying to find a cure.

Musician's Hideaway

Source Josh's House on Facebook

Josh’s House is a unique and innovative idea for everything musical in the comfort of a living room-like atmosphere. It offers sound recording rooms for rent, music lessons, open mic nights and much, much more. What a lovely place to spend some time with great music, a comfy couch and a cup of Joe!

  

Josh is a classmate of mine in our social media class. He is extremely creative and records and edits all the commercials of CVTC’s class-run store, called Bridgeport Gifts and Apparel, which is another marketing degree requirement. 

While Josh’s House is a fictitious business developed specifically for our marketing social media class, it’s still a great page to check out. Just click on the image above. It might bring some creative ideas for your own page, or help Josh develop this into a real business after college. You can also check out Josh’s House on Blogger.