Form submitted successfully, thank you.

Error submitting form, please try again.

Welcome to my photo journal of Life's Sweet Ordinary!

ANNOUNCEMENT: COMING IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS! A pet contest (horses are included). Watch my Facebook fan page to be the first to learn about the details and what you can win.

More to come soon: another model search, something for senior teens (send them to my Facebook page), an amazing discount on this year's digital package, and more.

I'm reducing the number of photo shoots this year so I recommend selecting and holding your date the-earlier-the-better to avoid disappointment. I plan to take on more "people and their pets" in 2010 as well as some "Black & White Only" specials. With that in mind, I will also be putting out casting calls for models to add fresh images to my portfolio in those areas. Watch my Facebook page and this photo journal for those special offers!

I am a custom photographer based in northern Alberta (serving Grande Prairie to Edmonton and all points between & beyond). As a custom photographer I specialize in telling your story or a chapter in your story, through images. To book a creative session please visit my website Diane Schuller photography.

I'm also a Freelance Photographer taking on editorial, environmental, and commercial assignments anywhere in the Grande Prairie and Peace regions of Alberta and northern B.C.


Become a fan on Facebook and learn about casting calls for models, specials & promotions, even the occasional contest!

"Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time." ~Motto of the Baltimore Grotto, a caving society

We Did It!

“Boats are the nearest thing to dreams that hands have ever made.” ~ Unknown

We reached 100 over at the Diane Schuller Photography Facebook page! We have two winners: the person drawn from all those who joined in an effort to reach the magic 100 and the person who referred her. So who are the lucky winners? Kathren J-F is the new member whose name was drawn and she was referred by Kristen M-H. I really look forward to meeting both of you and taking some special photos for you to treasure. Thank you so much to everyone who joined and who recommended your friends — you are the greatest.

There are more exciting things coming up (spring mini-sessions, discount on the new digital packages, another model search) and the next one to be announced is a pet contest. This one is open to everyone. I’ll announce it on the Facebook fan page first and then share details here as well. So please let your friends know and have them join the Facebook fan page so they can get in on some of these upcoming events!

I’m so busy that I’m not keeping up with things here at the blog. Lots of photos to share. I have some fantastic images I took of some senior music students — oh how I would love to do more photo shoots with teens! (send them my way folks — I’ll make them look great!) I also have a newborn session to share, two different freelance editorial samples, and more. See, told you I had a lot of photos to share. A few are already up at the FB fan page but they’re small so I’ll post a few here as well. It’s busy for me right now but I’m going to do my best to get some of the photos from these shoots up for you to see.

QUESTION: If you were looking for a photographer, what would be the FIRST place you would go to locate one?

a) The phone book (Yellow Pages)

b) Google

c) Facebook

d) Ask a friend or relative

e) Other (and let me know what that would be)

Hunkered Down (and don’t forget to enter the contest)

I’ll be hunkered down for the next several days. I have two photo shoots in Grande Prairie, writing deadlines, plus life, so won’t be online much until next week. I will be checking in over at my Facebook fan page once each day so don’t forget to join up on the fan page (it does not reveal or connect to your personal page) to get in on the contest. I’m shooting for 100 fans and hope you will help me achieve that goal.

Have a refreshing weekend everyone! Enjoy friends, family, the outdoors, and don’t forget to take your dog with you.

Diane’s Website || Become a Fan on Facebook

“Follow the river and you will find the sea.” ~ French proverb

Looking Up

dsc_7356

If you look up today you’ll see I have freshened things up a bit. New banners for my photo journal. Enjoy!

Diane’s Website || Become a Fan on Facebook

Become a Fan for a Chance to Win

With the winter Olympics still quivering in our systems, what better time to run a contest!  Not too long ago I created a Facebook fan page for my photography business and am working at building the fan base so I don’t have to send out newsletters by email and to better communicate what’s new and upcoming. My current goal is 100 fans. Between today and when the 100th person becomes a fan, every new fan will be entered in a draw. Odds of winning are very high if you see how close we are to 100. At that point, I will have a friend make a random draw for me and the person whose name is drawn will receive one half (1/2) off my session fee for a 2010 booking, and the person referring the winner will win a complimentary session!  Check out Diane Schuller Photography on Facebook to become a fan!

You’re likely wondering if there is a catch. No catch, but the ideal people to refer are those who live in or around Grande Prairie, Alberta or within the Peace River region of northern Alberta since those are the areas I primarily service. (For example:  Beaverlodge, Clairmont, Grovedale, Hythe, LaGlace, Sexsmith, Spirit River, Valhalla, Wembley — you get the idea! Also, since I’m so close, I also service the Dawson Creek, Pouce Coupe, and Tomslake areas of northern BC).

What’s the advantage of being a FB fan? Fans are the first to know about upcoming specials, promotions, contests, model searches, and other news. Also, some of the contests will be strictly for fans-only. Fans don’t get spammed and Facebook does NOT give the business (Diane Schuller Photography) access to the fan’s (you) personal information. Don’t forget that I also do pet and horse (any livestock) photography — that’s how I got started. So be sure to let your friends, family, coworkers know about my services and Facebook fan page. Thanks a bunch!

Please share my Facebook photography fan page with friends, family, and co-workers for your chance to win!

PS: You do not have to live in the area to become a fan but for this particular contest to win the prize you need to be in the area so you can ‘collect’ your winnings!

Good luck everyone — ready, set, go!

dsc_2688-2
Isn’t she pretty?

Photographing Flowers || Tips from Alberta Photographer

All content and images are Copyright © Diane Schuller. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy, download, or take screenshots. Thank you for respecting copyright.

dsc_3745

{These tips are provided as general interest plus as a service to my clients and the general public. Enjoy!}

Flowers are such a popular subject to photograph, even when we’re in the midst of winter and months away from spring — or maybe for that very reason. Since flowers are such a popular subject for photographing, whether you’re an amateur who simply loves flowers and uses a basic point-and-shoot or you have a DSLR or even an old film camera, I feel this is an ideal subject for experimentation or stretching your wings.

Notice how I’ve focused on the buds of this vibrant Amaryllis rather than the flamboyant blooms. Another thing I did with this image was to use strictly natural light, ensuring the light was streaming in from the side, providing a nice focus on the details of the folds of the buds. I never ever use the on-camera flash — for anything. On-camera flash can be okay, in a pinch, to use as fill if taking photos outside in the shade, but I still don’t like it even then. Most people naturally seem to want to take advantage of lots of streaming daylight. Again, I’ve gone against that by shooting in shutter-priority mode so that I could reduce the amount of light coming in. I wanted to have a more dramatic look and feel to these buds. That’s how I got this result which has an abstract feel to it as well.

Next time you’re taking photos of flowers, whether indoors or outside, I encourage you to consider focusing on something other than the ‘normal’ face-on blooms, play around with the light, and play around with your settings. That’s the beauty of digital cameras; we can experiment to our hearts content and delete the ones that don’t work yet keep the ones we like the most.

In the image below, I’ve done a few things to make this more original or artistic. Again, I used natural light but had my shutter speed adjusted to let in more light so that more of the veining was apparent on the flower. The other thing you can see I did was capture the back of the bloom instead of the face of it. There is so much pretty detail to the back. There is also emphasis on all those lovely curves. The final thing I did was accomplished in post processing: I added a light vintage hue to the entire image and then cropped it square. Again, the result is entirely different from the way most people would automatically tend to take a photo of a flower. Even if you don’t have post processing software, you can create a unique and artistic image simply by changing what you focus on and how you use the available light. Give it a try!

dsc_3771

I have other photography tips in the archives and will do my best to include more posts in the near future on a wide range of tips and suggestions. To see the ones that are in the archives, simply use the “Categories” tab at the top menu bar, scroll to “Photography Tips” and click on that to bring up the list. For those in the Grande Prairie area, become a fan of my Facebook photography business page to learn about an upcoming photography workshop I will be conducting.

~~
Diane is a freelance photographer available for commercial, environmental – editorial, and portrait assignments. Visit her website to view her portfolio or to contact her.

Dog Photographer | Grande Prairie, Beaverlodge & areas, Alberta

dsc_3291-1

Fun in the sun! I’ve been having as much fun as Austin here who is full of glee as he rolls in the snow. I’ve been taking advantage of my extra time to take photographs for the sheer pleasure of taking photographs. I’ve been playing around with abstracts, shadows and curves. The recent hoar frost was full of photographic opportunities. I’ll likely share a few of my fun shots in another post this week. For now, here is a pair of photos of my cooperative office assistants, Austin (above) and Pearl (below).

How are you enjoying yourself and playing and having fun these days?

dsc_3746

PS: I am the featured contributor today over at Vision and Verb.
~~

Diane is a custom, on-location dog/pet photographer serving the entire Peace River region in Alberta. Visit her website and contact her to book a fun session to take memorable photos of your pets. Diane is taking a limited number of portrait sessions this year so book early to avoid disappointment.

Mysterious in Black & White

dsc_3511-edit

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” from Albert Einstein’s essay, “The World As I See It”

dsc_3515

Both photos taken in February while driving through the Fraser Canyon in B.C.

~~
Diane’s Environment column. Here are a couple links to archived columns, “I confess: I compost during winter” and “Easy ‘green’ ways to clean the house.” Enjoy!

Featured || Hythe-Grande Prairie (Alberta) Photographer

dsc_3542

I am thrilled. I just learned that one of my photos is featured today at Shutter Sisters One Word Project. Their theme word for February is “nurture”. Check it out and let me know what you think. Thank you so much Shutter Sisters.

While I’m at it, I should let you know that while I was on my road trip there was another of my posts published over at Vision and Verb if  you care to see that one as well — it’s an abstract image paired with a haibun. As if this wasn’t excitement enough, I just received notification of something else really exciting regarding one of my canine photos. Please stay tuned; I’ll be able to announce the news by the beginning of March (keeping secrets, especially such great news, is so darn difficult to keep).

“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.”  ~Jean Baptiste Massieu, translated from French

Photo information: The fish market at the end of Beacon Avenue in Sidney, BC. One of my favourite places to be.

Home Again

Two weeks. So much happens, changes, and shifts in a two week period. I’m back home and at work but seem overwhelmed with the amount of catching up I have to embark upon. My trip was both business and personal but ended up being fully rejuvenating. Now that I’m back home, I surely do hope some of that rejuvenation carries forward as I plunge into emails and messages, not to mention upcoming writing deadlines. I’ll leave you with a few random images from my two-week road trip.

dsc_3582

I likely should have included the following images first since they were taken while I was still in the cold north:

traintriptych-1

I came across two moose bedded down in an RV parking lot. One in each parking spot.

dsc_3452And now back to Sidney, BC where it is MUCH warmer and far more enjoyable in the winter (or anytime, really). This seagull was trotting along main street Sidney oblivious of traffic, which all yielded to him. He obviously had quite a catch that he was determined to keep from the other seagulls:

dsc_3568

Of course there were some humorous moments:

diptychsidneyfun-1And evening had its visual pleasures as well:

dsc_3695

dsc_3687

Creative Commons License
This work by Diane Schuller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.dianeschuller.com/. Please contact Diane for permission.

Out of Town

meandering …

dsc_3040-2

I will be out of town and without any Internet communication until I return home February 14th. If you have an urgent message I will respond on the 14th, otherwise I will begin responding to messages commencing Monday, February 15th. Feel free to browse around here at my photo journal or visit my Website. You might also want to join my Facebook photography page if you’re interested in being the first to learn about promotions, specials, casting calls for models, and more.
dsc_2723

Watch for my return the week of February 15th — I’m sure to bring back many visual goodies!

Creative Commons License
This work by Diane Schuller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.dianeschuller.com/. Please contact Diane for permission — thank you.