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Memorial Day

May 28, 2018 by alb

It's a day to remember our military men and women who died for the benefit of our freedom during the many wars in our nation's short history.
The meaning of Memorial Day has changed for me throughout the years. As a kid and even into my teens, Memorial Day was just another day off of school and a chance to kick off summer at a picnic or a get together with family and friends. Today I am aware of what this day is all about: a day set aside each year to reflect on the incredible price paid for the freedoms we enjoy.
Memorial Day should be a day of reflection but also be a joyous day. The people who died, did so for a cause. That cause was so that the rest of us could live and enjoy our lives and our freedom to the fullest extent. To do otherwise would make their sacrifices less important.
I created this art piece as a reminder that our freedom was not free, and will always feel gratitude for those who died and will still die so that I can live as I choose.
"Thank You. We won't forget."
God Bless,
Al Buschauer

“Who Wants A Portrait of Me?”

June 26, 2016 by alb

The Answer May Surprise You?

I wish I had a dollar for each time I heard "Who wants a portrait of me?" when suggesting a portrait of a parent with their kids, alone or with their spouse.

Several years ago after just a bit of coaxing, I photographed my parents, George and Audrey Buschauer in my studio. It was a delightful experience being able to finally tell them what to do:)

Actually we all enjoyed it very much. Except dad din't like the part when the makeup artist asked him to sit down in the chair. You see dad's always been the rugged type. The thought of a makeup artist applying makeup to his face didn't sit well, but didn't complain. Well that was fun to watch. Under normal circumstances I don't have makeup artists put makeup on the men, but in this case the opportunity for a good chuckle was too much to resist.

In our family there are five children. I'm the second oldest. I always told my parents they should have stopped at two. But growing up Catholic... well no need for an explanation. I have an older sister Mimi, one brother and two younger sisters.

Mom and dad married 67 years — Married 67 years and going strong!

Portraits always meant a lot to me growing up and I appreciate having them... makes sense since I now do this for a living! When Christmas rolled around that year I knew my older sister would enjoy and find great value in owning one of the portraits of mom and dad as much as I did.

The other siblings received a sack of coal from me... kidding, but I gave them each a gift other than the portrait of mom and dad. Surprisingly, they all showed their disappointment, and happily sold one to each of them! 🙂

Of course there's a lesson here:

Consider those that love you when deciding who to include in your next portrait. When the family is photographed, parents, have some portraits done of you individually and together. Your kids will appreciate them even if you don't think they would.

About Improvising

May 25, 2016 by alb

When you have to figure out
a way to make it work.

On our last night Melissa, one of the volunteers, asked me if I could shoot a portrait of her and Owens, a local boy who she has known and gotten close to over the years of her serving there. Honestly I didn’t know if I should do the portrait for one reason: there was no light! It was dark already and the few electric lights available were barely enough to just get around in the dark. Using a flash on camera would have given terrible results in this situation. Wanting to to help Melissa I had one option; to use the small battery LED lantern I had purchased at Walmart for $8 the previous week. As I got thinking; for its size, it did put out a considerable amount of light and it was color balanced to daylight. It was surely worth a try.

With Nicky as my assistant holding the light as close as possible, I just came in nice and tight. The photo above shows Nicky covering the lantern from one side with her hand as to direct the light more onto the subjects and also not allowing stray light to come into my camera lens. If you have a small light source such as this lantern, the closer you can bring it to the subject the softer it will be. The farther away from the subject the more contrast you’ll get. The main photo shows a cropped version with a bit of retouching and lightening of the background in Photoshop.

Having photographed weddings years ago has taught me that there’s always a way to get out of a jam. Anything and everything can and does go wrong on a wedding.

Two years ago on an outdoor session we ran out of light before the last subject was photographed. I pulled my car up and used the headlights diffused through a small scrim I had with me. It took a little color balancing in post production but it worked! These lighting emergencies can be a lesson in our lives for whatever situation we happen to find ourselves. There’s always a solution if we can think creatively.

I Threw All These Awards In The Dumpster

April 12, 2016 by alb

As we go through life, a lot of things change. Not just our physical looks, but our attitudes about life and what is important. When I got started in this business, I belonged to several professional organizations. These organizations set certain standards; and one of them was to create our best work and compete with other photographers both locally and nationally. This was really fun for me because I would consistently win or score very well in competitions.

Winning consistently was a big part of my receiving my Masters and Craftsmen Degrees from the PPA Professional Photographers of America at such an early age in terms of years of membership.

The photograph above represents the last portion of awards that were deposited to the dumpster this week. I do this not out of disrespect for the accomplishments, but as a reminder that this part of my life is behind me.

All in all, I think it's good to be in the throws of competition. It makes us sharper, better skilled and brings our work to recognized standards in our industry. It also gives us ideas we can share to get out of the occasional rut we find ourselves in. Today everyone with a cell phone is a photographer. I recommend that photographers in business today strive to be their best and to measure up to the standards that were set by the iconic photographers of our past.

Today I look at my work as still evolving, as it always will. In about a week I'll be going to one of my yearly pilgrimages in Dallas to study under a contemporary artist for five days and as usual, will come back with some nice surprises!

My motivation now is to work on my art and to make my portraits more artistic for the clients I serve. Digital has allowed those who master it, to do things that just 15 years ago would have been nearly impossible.

Photo Enhancements: A Game Changer

March 29, 2016 by alb

When we consider retouching on a photograph, I see it differently that most clients and even other photographers. It's one of the things that separates me from the rest, good or bad.

I was in conversation with another photographer from a different state recently. Looking on her website I noticed that her portraits looked a bit unfinished. Yes, the zits were gone, but other than that I could not see any sort of extra retouching or enhancements. She told me she goes for the "natural look," which I can respect. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just her style. And quite frankly, she does quite well with it.

My own style dictates that post production in a portrait is just as important as the capture of the image. It's also part of the creativity that makes what I do a lot of fun, and makes me unique.

While the photo on the left is lovely on it's own, the photo on the right is my interpretation of this girl. It was "my take on it." Other photographers may have left it at its original style, or figured out something totally different or even better. Using artistic liberty is a benefit I appreciate a=having in my profession. However, the customer is number one. If they don't like it, it's worthless. That doesn't happen very often 🙂

In the feature photograph at my sister's wedding in January, I grabbed this shot of them outside the reception room at the Morten Arboretum. While the original captures the feel of the day, I made this gift for them by combining two photographs together. (Actually there's a third if you count the Snow Owl.) The cyan/blue tones in the background symbolizes the cold of the outdoors, I made Mimi and Bill a very warn tone as a contrast. By combining the two images, it created a fantasy feel, leaving the bricks of the original background and leading off to a very happy ending!

Smiles Or No Smiles… What’s Better

March 9, 2016 by alb

The short answer is that one is not better than the other. Smiles are expected. No smiles are not. It just depends on what you want to say in the portrait. In a family group I think smiles are important otherwise people can look unfriendly or unhappy.

However, if I'm going for a little attitude in that portrait I'll definitely go for NO smiles. The non-smiling portraits in these examples won "hands down" with me and the parents.

Non smiling doesn't always mean "having attitude" as in the examples. A neutral expression or slight smile without showing teeth can be the way to go. When people don't smile big, they usually don't squint. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then your more soulful portraits are not smiling!

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The Answer May Surprise You?

When you have to figure out a way to make it work.

When you have to figure out
a way to make it work.