ChooChoo – S. Sylvester Photography

Learning…..

Ok then,

It is now May 2nd and I have not blogged anything since December!! What the heck? Who sped the clock up? I was supposed to be doing my self-imposed schooling, starting in January and here it is May already….. Now in my defense (here come the excuses!) I have been learning many of the things on my syllabus, maybe not in the order I was supposed to but, hey learning is learning ! Thank goodness I do not have any teachers to report to, I can just imagine the excuses I would need to come up with for not turning my homework in on time. So here it is May, when my schedule usually starts to lighten up. But not this year! (this is a good thing I think). Two of the things I really wanted to concentrate on this year were A) learning more, and B) really pushing my business further. Careful what you wish for, ’cause it may just happen.

I have met some truly wonderful people in tha last few months and have reconnected with many more. Life really is a good time when you let it. I have joined a couple of Meet Up groups. These are groups of people with the same interests that you can get together with and learn/share your passions. One that I joined is AZ Shutterbugs West where KC Costa and Norman Beer have pushed me to do more and to share my knowledge with the rest of the group. Everyone in the group is great fun, and we always are learing new things from each other. (see I really am learning). And I have to say working with models like Wendy West, Claire Hinder, Jessica Vargas and AJ Martinez make learning that much more entertaining! Thanks you to each of your for your help!! I will be posting photos of our MAD Cap Theater shoot soon, so stay tuned. For now you all will have to settle for Chalupa…….

So back to the learning part – what I have been playing with (sounds more appealing than learning, don’t you think?) . Studio lighting (again MAD Cap photos to follow) and studio lighting for commercial photography.

As well as lighting entire horse show arenas. Which by the way requires LOTS of lights…..lol

Well, I am off to learn more and shoot more!!

California Adventure #3 The Final Chapter

While California has been busy and fun it is time to go. Back to the heat and work that is waiting there. But not before a long walk on the beach in search of beach glass. I love how relaxing it is to stroll along and find little treasures in the sand (and not the kitty kind!). Once we are back to Natalie’s , she proceeds to make a wonderful breakfast of eggs, home-grown tomatoes and bagels. Friends, a stroll on the beach and homemade breakfast, what better way to start the day.

After repacking the truck with dogs, camera equipment and all the other stuff that came along…… we were on the road. But there is a nagging feeling I am having as we are driving out of LA. I need a Broken Horn fix. Now for those of you who do not know what Broken Horn is, it is the largest tack and saddlery store that I have ever been in (and I have been in lots!!!). So a quick stop to overwhelm Sue is in order – yeah!!!! It was fun browsing around and seeing all the changes since I was last there (they were even expanding! good for them in this economy!). But alas, we still need to go back to Phoenix, so back on the road we go.

Now having spent 20+ years in LA, I am way too comfortable with the freeways and the way people there drive, so the fast lane at 75 miles an hour is like taking a leisurely drive. That is until I hear what sounds like sand hitting the front of my truck. Hmmm, maybe we should get off the free way and see what is going on. So I get across 3 of 5 lanes before I loose the a/c, steering and oh yeah the brakes. lol I managed to get off at the next off ramp without any wrecks – Whew! We do not make it all the way off the ramp however. So now what?!?!? Time to find a dealership, tow truck and the Calvary! While trying to get a tow company to answer their phone (they must be really busy because 3 of them never answered!), a highway patrolman pulls in behind me and offers to push me off the ramp and around the corner to a parking lot – great plan if I had steering and brakes……. After looking at my plates he comes to the window and says “well that explains why you could get off the free way. If you had had CA plates you would still be in the fast lane”. So he is kind enough to call us a tow truck. Funny – they answer HIS call. The tow truck comes and is kind enough to tow us to the mall right on the other side of the freeway. Now mind you they have a rule of no dogs in the truck – I thought I was going to have to have the officer take Sue so she would not kill the tow truck driver. With a bit of convincing he finally allows the dogs to ride on our laps, creating a very very full tow truck.

After finding us a nice shady spot to stay with the truck til we figure out how to get it fixed, I spy a repair shop across the parking lot – yeah!!! So off I go to see how much this little part of the adventure is going to cost. Oh sounds like a broken fan belt – $154 – awesome let’s do it! So the repairman comes across the lot, opens the hood and says “uh oh”, now that in my book is never good. And well it wasn’t this time either. “um your water pump is toast”, well that sounds expensive, and sounds like a lengthy fix. These men at the repair shop went above and beyond, while it was expensive $560, they stayed after closing time to get it all done so we could get back on the road. Our original scheduled time to be home was 5:30pm we finally made it at 12:00am only 6 1/2 hours late!! But home safe, and sound!!

Keep checking back to find out what cool projects we were working on while we were there!!

California Adventure #1

Monday morning bright and early my friend and business partner Susan Stoltz and I load up the truck with camera gear, props, Chalupa (Chihuahua), Sharkey, Charm and Foxy (Jack Russell Terriers) and head to California to shoot the next in the series of Sharkey and ChooChoo books. So 5 and 1/2 hours in the truck with 4 dogs….. interesting to say the least…… While that is not the only project we were there to do, it was the first! Our first stop is to meet up with Nancy Black who is our host for this part of the journey. Foxy is being left with Nancy to foster, (although, I think the dog, really found her forever home with Nancy…….) so one less dog in the truck. Off to Nancy’s condo in Port Hueneme, right on the beach where we had all four dogs, plus Nancy’s beautiful corgi Sadie. More on Sadie later. Can you say perfect and beautiful?!?!?! But before we can begin shooting we need our fearless prop guy Bill Diller. This is working into a party!! Off to shoot we go, overcast, and somewhat cold, Sharkey, ChooChoo and Charm were all great sports. 1700 shots, 2 wet, sandy and cold dogs, a ton of props and camera gear later we head back to the condo, tired, hungry and anxious to see what we caught on film. While we wait for those to download, off to Mexican food we go. YUMMY! Back at the condo we check out the photos, and then off to bed for a busy day tomorrow……………….. Stay tuned for the next chapter, it gets more interesting!