Julia's Photo Blog

This week I had the great pleasure of photographing a family that has been very close to my family for a very long time.  Members of the Goodwin family, over the years, have been involved with my own family in a number of roles: friends, neighbors, babysitter, hunting/fishing buddy, and even a bridesmaid in my wedding.  It was a great honor to have all the Goodwin siblings approach me to take a portrait of them, along with their spouses and children, as a surprise gift for their parents to hang on their wall.  It was a sticky, hot day at Bee Tree Park in St. Louis, but we found a nice spot with some shade and everyone was a trooper in the heat- even the little ones!  I took some smaller family shots of the Vestal 4 before the rest of the group showed up.  They are a beautiful family and were thoughtful in planning out their clothing choices- so that made my job easy!  That said, this was one of the largest family groups I have photographed to date; so of course the tricky part was getting everyone (even those adorable little ones!) looking at the camera and looking happy at the same time!  It was a team effort to get cute little Bradley (age 2) to sit still for long, but in the end, we got some great shots.  Before Bradley lost all patience with us, I managed to get a few family pictures of the Goodwin 5. Then, I led the kids in an attack on their Aunt Nehley (she is SUCH an awesomely involved aunt, and those kids love her!). After a huge Aunt Nehley tackle/pile, I got them to all sit with her for a few minutes before the kids had to run off and get some energy out.  We grabbed a few shots of just the Goodwin siblings (the first time they’d posed together since 1990-something, they said!), and then we just had some fun getting more casual shots of the kids running around and hanging out (until an aunt or a mom grabbed one of them up in a hug, that is. :)  Here are just a few of my favorites, with little editing done.  Cheers to new memories with old friends!

For anyone who read my last blog post, you might be interested in knowing which of my photo contest entries were chosen as future wall art for the Jefferson Regional Medical Center.  Ten images were chosen, and a donation of the fine art prints will be made by Julia Noack Photography. :)  Here are the ten images.  Yay! 

“Crowne Range, New Zealand”

“Mirror Lake, New Zealand”

“Milford Sound, New Zealand”

“Fire and Ice, Sunrise in Patagonia”

“New England Farm”

“Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand”

“Niagra Falls Rainbow”

“Railroad Ties in Winter”

“Midday Moon, Argentina”

“Salta, Argentina”

The local hospital in my area is looking to decorate its halls with beautiful landscape photography, and is holding a photo contest for local photographers to submit their landscape images for consideration.  They have specific guidelines for what they want: landscapes that give a sense of place- no macro (no close-up pictures of flowers, for example), color images only (no black and white), and no images that feature people in them.  After spending a good chunk of time yesterday looking through all my landscape images, both new and old, I got together a little collection that I thought might be of interest to them.  Since the work was already done, I decided I might as well share them with my blog readers as well!  Some of these images were taken in MA or NY, and others were taken in New Zealand or Argentina.  I did include a few pictures from my recent road trip home to MO, but since I just put those images in the road trip blog post, I did not repeat them here. Wish me luck, and enjoy the views!

One of our assignments for our final portfolio at school was to photograph reflective metal.  As most photographers know, many metal objects pose a challenge to photographers because they reflect everything around them, including the photographer, the lights, and the camera!  It is important to have the right quality and direction of light to make reflective metal look shiny and pretty, rather than dull, black, or full of distracting reflections.  While I did take a photograph of one very pretty, shiny cheese knife (below), most of the reflective metal objects I chose to photograph were subjects that appeal to me even more than cheese… jewelry! :) I tried a number of different necklaces and rings with different setups, backgrounds, and one very lovely model (classmate Anna Schmitt).  The first three images below made my final portfolio (so only those three have been fully retouched), but since I put a lot of time into each image in the commercial studio, I thought I would post them all in one pretty, shiny blogpost. :)  Many thanks to instructor Beth Reynolds and The Don Muller Gallery for the jewelry loans! 

And a slightly different take on this one with the help of Photoshop…

Book a portrait session for the month of August and receive 20% off the regular session fee! Also earn up to 25% off print orders through the new “Refer a Friend” program! Get in touch through the website: www.julianoackphotography.com for more info or to book your session! Families, children, high school seniors, maternity, pets, engagement photos, headshots, and more!

I recently road tripped back to Missouri from Massachusetts, and even though the drive was only 20 hours, I wanted to take my sweet time and enjoy the sights along the way. Despite a bit of car trouble that hit somewhere in Ohio, I really enjoyed my time on the road, and it was a lot of fun breaking in my new camera and lenses!  First stop was Onondaga Lake Park in Liverpool, NY, which only caught my eye because of the signage for a “Salt Museum.”  Since I am a bit of a salt addict, I thought it might be interesting to learn how the production of salt was a booming industry in this region up until the 1920’s.  The museum was small but interesting, and it was cool to see what a big salt production house looked like. The lake and park were very pretty too!

A cool bridge

And then a long stop at Niagra Falls!  I hadn’t been there since I was a kid, and I think this may have actually been my first time to visit the American side of the falls rather than the Canadian.  I walked all around the viewing platforms, rode the Maid of the Mist (and wondered if it was the same boat they used for Jim & Pam’s wedding on The Office!), and took lots of pictures! I had a relaxing dinner on top of the falls while I waited for it to get dark. I’d seen pictures of the colored lights they put on the falls at night, so I was interested in seeing/photographing them. But jackpot!… Turns out I happened to be there on one of the days they also do fireworks over the falls!  I may go a little crazy with pics of Niagra…. so sue me. It’s kind of impressive.  :)

A note for photographer friends- on a few of the pictures above I had some fun with the new creative editing presets in Lightroom 3- there are a lot more options than in Lightroom 2.  They are fun to play with, and I used them on a few of the following photos as well.  Anyway, back on the road…

I saw some beautiful skies…

… and at least one fabulous stereotypical road trip roadside attraction. :)

In Marblehead, Ohio, I visited the Marblehead Lighthouse- the oldest lighthouse in continuous operation on the Great Lakes (dating back to 1822).  

Then I caught a ferry over to Kelly’s Island- check out the bird segregation going on here- weird!

On Kelly’s Island I rented a bike for the day, which took a little lesson and some getting used to, (I hadn’t been on a bike in like 7 years!) before setting off to explore. The biggest point of interest were the Glacial Grooves: deep grooves and scars cut into limestone rock 18,000 years ago by the slow movement of glaciers, which eventually formed the Great Lakes!  Super impressive!

A few more sights on Kelly’s Island: an old limestone quarry, a cute little Inn with a picturesque storage shed, and a cuddling pair of bikes parked on a dirt road by a winery. 

I spent my last night in Ohio at a place called Lakeside- a “chautauqua”- or a little gated town “dedicated to spiritual growth and renewal, educational and cultural enrichment, and recreational pursuits.” It seemed sort of like a summer camp for whole families, and everyone was sitting out on their front porches, walking around as families, eating ice cream, going to evening entertainment for the whole community, and gathering together on the dock to watch the sunset over Lake Erie.  It felt a little “Pleasantville,” I’ll admit, but I could certainly see the charm and attraction of a place like that for families.  Everyone was very friendly, it was beautiful and peaceful, and the sunset over the lake was absolutely gorgeous.  I even got to dive in off the dock with all my clothes on and go for a nice swim!

I know that I should end my road trip blog with a picture of the St. Louis arch, signifying that I made it home, but truth be told, my car kind of pooped out just as I rolled into St. Louis, and I was kind of preoccupied with getting it to a repair shop!  Anyway, I really want to call this blog post “The Great American Road Trip, Part I.”  I will be making an extended pitstop in Missouri, but someday I intend to drive the rest of the way across country.  Stay tuned for Part II. ;)

I recently did my last session of family portraits in MA, and it could not have been more fun.  Several months ago, while driving to a different shoot location in Leverett, MA, I passed by one of the cutest and most picturesque barns that I had seen in New England (and that is saying a lot!). It was begging to be photographed! Just next door to this barn was a beautiful old mill with a spillway and a yard with gorgeous landscaping.  I made a mental note of the place as a great location for portraits. Another day I went back to ask permission of both property owners to come back and do some portraits on their property. They were super nice folk- both said yes!  However, during the final phase of my photography program, I was so busy every day with shoots and editing and assisting, that I never found the time or the right model(s) for that location. Once final portfolios were turned in, I thought my chance had passed. 

Lucky me- the perfect opportunity  for a portrait session in Leverett presented itself in the form of the Damkoehler family- a beautiful set of parents (Cassie and Eric) and two adorable little boys- David (4 years) and Ethan (1 year).  We started out at the mill- the landscaping had gotten even more beautiful in the last few months with lush greens and colorful flowers everywhere.  We did some portraits with the whole family and then let the boys play around together for a bit in the grass.  Little Ethan didn’t want to sit still for a minute- he was curious, full of energy, and on the move!  Big brother David was adorably gentle and playful with Ethan, and it was easy to see the brothers’ affection for each other. 

David soon got impatient to head to our second shoot location because (!!!) I had told him that the barn now had HORSES in the pasture around it, and he had some carrots that he wanted to feed them.  The owners of the barn were super nice and walked us down to the pasture, introducing us to the horses and showing us how to hold the carrots out flat in our hands.  David and Ethan were a little uncertain about the horses at first, but warmed up to them quickly, and the horses definitely fell in love with their gift-bearing visitors right away. They followed us around and wanted to be in the thick of the action the whole photo shoot!  By the time little Ethan started to get tired and a bit fussy, the sun was starting to set behind the trees, and the light was just beautiful.  I love when I can give a family beautiful pictures to match a beautiful experience!  What a great afternoon! :)