Jan 6

My wedding last Saturday was so cool. The couple, Katie and Jon were great to shoot and the Jones Estate in Orange is always a blast to work because the place is so pretty and the staff is the greatest. Michelle, the owner, is totally on top of everything. The Bride and Groom only 20 and 21 but have been together for six years! Wow!

I had this cool idea to hang the rings from a stick:
I could've shot Katie all day, she was kinda quite and shy but just great in front of the camera.
The flowers in the Girls' hair was so cool to shoot:
Inside the old-time house is always fun to shoot.
Get him, Katie!
Katies Grandfather had just bought this old car- we had a blast shooting in and around it. Lucky for radio slaves, we had a flash inside the car bouncing off the ceiling.

Happy New Year!

We had a great holiday and an even better vacation with the familly.

These first two photos are from Christmas morning... before the birds were even awake. It is so cool, our kids are getting old enough to be totally fired up about Christmas- it brings back all those cool memories about sneaking out of our rooms to try to catch Santa in the act... only to catch Gram wrapping gifts!! This year Caysen came into our bed to wake us up while Bailey was sound asleep.... like most everyone else... I think it was about 5:30. Caysen couldn't wait so we had to wake her up! This is when we first got downstairs- I love the excitement!

This shot is of Caysen and his cousin Jeff playing with his new castle- that's what he asked Santa for.


On the 27th we took a drive up to my Uncle's house outside Sacramento- a little town called El Dorado Hills. The sunset was taken on the 5 fwy heading north. I shot this with my Christmas gift: a Nikon s7c point and shoot- it's so fun. I nearly drove off the road looking at the sunset change and evolve as we drove- it was amazing!






Uncle Jim has some land where the kids can run wild and explore- it's so cool up there. Here's my mom on a walk with her grand-daughters





Here's Mom again with my niece who lives in Oregon- they enjoyed the warm weather










My cousin Trent is learning the guitar- he's pretty dang good too. He sings with a low mellow tone- love it!










Bailey gathering rocks for a little dam they were working on by the well...






The dang kids chucked a brass statue in the pond so they had to go get it in the canoe... it looked like such fun all the kids wanted a ride! The pond was barely wider than the boat was long but they had a blast!!





This is a shot of the whole family:











And a shot of just the four of us!! My brother Jer took it- he was the one who got me into photo in the first place... about 10 years ago. Now he asks me for tips!!









This is Mom and her three boys... she's in heaven! It isn't very often we are all together- I think it's been over a year. From left to right: younger brother Jon who is a reporter of sorts in Portland. He is becoming an amazing photographer too! Jer is next, the surfer of the bunch! Then there's Mom and me.



One night the oldest grandkids got the younger ones to put on a little show. Caysen, my youngest would open the door and yell "Introducing the three princesses" or something.. and they would come out for a song. It was adorable.




One morning the other pond had a thin layer of ice over it so the kids couldn't leave it alone until they broke every little piece with rocks and sticks.






My bro Jon is super excited about photo too, this was the first time all three of us were together making photos... we had a little shoot-out in Old-Town Sacramento one day. Jon doesn't let anything get in his way... 'baby on board'. He is more comfortable shooting on his bike, yes, while riding!



Old Town Sac is so cool, you can totally image cowboys walking on the sidewalks and horses in the streets- it's so cool! What a great place for an engagement shoot- we actually saw one in progress!!









Here's my Jeni with my Bailey- she is the best Mommy!










Another shot from Old Town.







One of my two kids and thier cousin Jeffrey from Mass.
I would totally freak out here on an Eng. shoot! or with a Bride and Groom! So many cool places to shoot. Especially with the low winter sun peeking through windows and between buildings to bounce and play off the walls until landing on great subjects like these.







I was standing on the sidewalk for this shot. There was a cool little courtyard one floor down, wide open to the sky... very cool for a little dinner party. I liked the lights and the old time buildings.





On the other side of Old Town was an old school house, this was inside at one of the desks. They had little mini chalk boards on each desk and a little rag and piece of chalk to be 'learned' to read and write! Yes sir ree!!









This bridge and another nearby had to make way for large ships to travel up the river. This one's whole middle section lifts straight up to the top of those towers to let one by. The other had a mid-section that spun 90 degrees to open up a path.








The next day we went for a mountain bike ride along Folsom lake, just Jon and I. It was amazing flying trough the rolling grassy hills on the roller-coaster type trail passing haunted looking Oak trees. We got dropped off at the trail-head but after riding 20 miles couldn't call without a phone and other guys in the parking lot couldn't get a signal... so we rode another 10 or so back to the house. I was definately tired of cranking my single speed up those dang hills!!


Another shot of Jon. I stopped for this one (I was so far ahead because Jon took a wrong turn!) but tried to pull a 'Jon' earlier by shooting while riding.... well, the smooth flat trail I was on suddenly turned into a rocky road and over the bars I went! I did save my new camera from peril, don't you worry 'bout that!

Here's Uncle Jim with a couple of his great nephews (not sure if that is the right term... his nephew's kids). He built this teeter-totter into the stump of an old tree- so cool.

Of course we had to have a bon-fire to roast marshmallows... this shot makes it look like we had rotisserie kids for dinner!

Here are the three Maus Boys ringing in the new year... yes, those are bags under my eyes.. I'm not such a party animal these days. The balloon hat and a beer was as crazy as I got!!


If you made it this far you must be on No Doz... thanks for hanging in there!

May you have a wonderful 2007!

Vacation

Bay and Cayse with Santa "Would you like a cast

Oh my gosh! It has been so crazy around here with Christmas cards, shoots, print orders, etc. We need to take well deserved break from it all..... so we are.

We will be out of the office from December 23rd until January 2nd, 2007 (wow, it's here!).

The trip is going to be to El Dorado Hills (between Sacramento and Tahoe) where my uncle lives on a huge property with a few houses all the family gets to stay in- It's going to be great!

This will be the first time I will be with my other two brothers since we have all become photographers. My older brother Jeremy has been a hobbiest for 15 years or so (he's the one that got me interested way back.... now he's asking me for advice!) and my younger brother, Jonathan, has recently gotten in to it for his news site: www.bikeportland.org (the biggest bicycle site on the planet!). Jon has been getting some killer photos lately as you will see on his site. And Jer gets some great stuff too. I can't wait to have a little shoot out with them- there is so much to shoot there- lots of good nature and some cool old towns like Placerville.

The kids love it up there too! All the Maus cousins will be together to go nuts! They also love the horses and the wildlife.

I hope you all have a great holiday too!! Fun and Safe!

Cheers!
joel

Art Gallery

So I've got all these images from different trips just sitting on my hard drives.... I thought I would share some with the masses.

I've got photos from our trip to Italy in June '06, Yosemite in May '05, Nevis, West Indies in February '05, images from my first serious photo trip- solo drive to Alaska in '99, and some other random shots.

I will be updating the gallery as I get more images- like from Guadalaraja in January '07 (we are going there for a wedding but are staying 5 days to check it out and photo).

Click here then enter Artofemp and let me know what you think of them.

Cheers!

The New Guy

Ryan and Nikki got married in 2003- the early days! They were great to work with and I also shot Nikki's brother's wedding in 2004.

Sydney was Nikki and Ryan's first child- I got to shoot her just days after her birth... and now she's a big sister!!

Sydney:
With her new bro:


Who says you need a studio for shots like these?? This was on the couch in front of a window with reflectors bouncing some light back...
Sid is the best big sis!!
This shoot was so fun! It was nice to see them all again and I was honored that they call me for every important event in their lives- love you guys!

Funny story: Nikki's dad took up photography after her wedding and has been totally into it ever since. He makes some great photos- I saw a few at their house during the shoot. They have to sneak the shoots with me so as to not make him feel bad.

I love it: when Dad gets a good shot and shows the familly, they say "Great shot, Dad, but it's not a 'Joel' shot!"

Mandy and Dave

The news last week said it may rain this past Saturday so my engagement shoot with Mandy and Dave was up-in-the-air. What a crazy thing: the weatherman was wrong! The skies were blue and the temp was perfect! Jeni (my wife) was my assistant so Bay and Cayse just played on the rocks- they love any chance they get to go to the beach.

We shot in an undisclosed (top secret) beach in Laguna- Dave proposed there!! I love it when we shoot in a place with some meaning. They were so great to shoot- they were up for anything! Even standing on a rock in front of the waves! They got a little soaked once but they were troopers so we continued...

Straight from the camera as they walked:

I love the long shadows of afternoons in winter:
This cool light is from a reflector- they are a pain in the neck but you can't get this light any other way!!
These rocks were very cool with the diagonal lines- I usually have to tip the camera to get a dynamic image with diagonal lines. This was Photoshopped a little- dodging with the history brush in 'Multipy' mode and I used two curve adjustment layers as well- one for the subject and one for the rock.
They were cracking up because I couldn't stop shooting! I get a little excited sometimes as you know, if you have ever been in front of my camera. This shot was on the stairs on our way back to the cars- I just loved the lines of the stairs and the backlight. They were such pros- we shot about six frames here in about 15 seconds and got this great moment.

Christmas Cards

I have been doing many family shoots for the past month or two for Christmas cards and photo gifts. People still call to ask if there is time enough to do a shoot and get prints by Christmas.... With digital technology we can do a shoot, upload to the online gallery that night for customers to order and have prints the in the next day or two..... I love it!

Here is a card I just finished working on- I have been shooting this great family for the last three years and enjoy seeing the kids get older and older. They are great to work with too!!


Let me know what you think of this layout, it will be on the cover of a 5x7 folded greating card (I am doing so many of these this year but they all get a custom layout).

Give me a call if you would like to do a shoot!!