Interested in learning about photography? Check out the link below for two AMAZING photography workshops AND a week long vacation in Santa Fe, New Mexico!! William Enos will be teaching two separate week long workshops in Santa Fe this summer as well as some local weekend workshops. If you can’t make it to Santa Fe, keep in touch for more information about the local workshops! Finally, the chance to really learn the “ins and outs” of your digital camera and how to produce quality results : )
William Enos to Teach Photography Workshops!
April 21st, 2010Updated Website!!
April 6th, 2010Hey everybody!! Check out our updated homepage at www.emeraldlight.com! While you’re at it, peruse the rest of the site and let us know what you think!
“This Old House” Cover - January 2010
January 19th, 2010Check it out!!! Next time you’re in a store, keep an eye out for the magazine “This Old House.” One of our photo shoots from back in November is on the cover this month’s (January, 2010) edition of “This Old House.” More from William on this soon….
It’s a busy time of the year!
November 4th, 2009Hello everybody! I can thankfully say that we have been VERY busy lately!! Thus, the lapse of blog entries in the past three months. Amazing, how times flies.
August was full with two separate 1 week trips to shoot in California and then a weekend shoot in Ohio - the weeks in between filled up with post-production of those shoots. In September we had several local shoots plus a packed 8 day shoot in Park City, Utah at a conference! William attempted to take some time off on the way back from Utah to explore but that didn’t last long. It was back to shooting for two straight weeks a couple days after getting back from Utah. Last week we made a trip to Portland for a cover shoot with This Old House - it’s so fun to get to explore neat, old homes and see how their homeowners or the hired remodelers have kept the old features and incorporated them into new designs!
This week it’s back to catching up on all the things that get pushed aside when a shoot takes precedent - like updating our website!! This week we’ve added a new portfolio of some of William’s photographic work in Shanghai, China this past year. Also, we have added more of our specialty projects to the “Special Folks” library under the “Faces” tab. Check out some of our work for various organizations and businesses like the American Red Cross and Pittman & Brooks, a CPA firm in Portland. As always, we would love your feedback on the updates!
A thought from the Producer . . .
July 31st, 2009If you think about it, the job of Producer in a creative environment is a seriously challenging one. A Producer is basically the organization and structure, the black and white if you will, behind the fluid motion involved in translating ideas – dreams even – into a tangible product. When you get it right, boy what a rush! We get it right – a lot. I love my job!
Have you ever put something off till Monday??
July 27th, 2009Ah, Monday – a great day to begin “BLOG-DOM”, according to Beth…
I was remembering a recent conversation I had with someone who means the world to me, someone I love even more than Crème Brule. It was one of those serious but non-threatening conversations where you don’t have to think about your words but are free to say exactly what you’re feeling. It was one of those I refer to as a “reconnect” conversation.
One of the big reminders (for lack of a better word) that I took away from that chat was that regardless what changes have taken place on the outside each of us are exactly the same person on the inside that we were 10 years ago. The same fears, uncertainties, dreams, desires, hot buttons and warm fuzzies.
In my opinion, that’s what photographs give us, any photograph really. A slice of the past – recent or distant - a place, a person, an emotion, a connection, yes Elizabeth, a pearl.
Just one of the many thoughts on Elizabeth’s mind this week….
July 23rd, 2009A wedding photograph is like a pearl. Wedding portraits may not accumulate monetary value over the years but their sentimental and aesthetic value is brought to life, especially as the human lives captured within them enter into old age. This field of photography captures a moment in time defining a beautiful change in two individual’s lives. While the pictorial memories in one’s mind of that special day are brilliant, photographs of those memories are things that can be passed from one generation to the next in a way that memories cannot be. They allow for little Anna to see the youthful beauty of Great Grandma or for Jacob to see the father he never knew that passed away soon after his birth. I began to ponder this as we photographed a wedding this past weekend. Whether or not it’s a wedding, a birthday, or just a quick trip to the coast – a memory in the form of a photograph is a bit of life that can transcend time. What a great treasure it is to be able to put a face to my 5th generation Grandmother after reading the handwritten letters describing her journey across the Oregon Trail! Photographs are not to be taken lightly in terms of sentimental value. Whether or not you consider yourself a professional or an amateur I encourage you to take your camera with you wherever you go and capture those moments most dear to your heart. That way someday, years from now, defining bits of your life and cherished memories can be shared in a way that most anyone can relate to.
American Red Cross
June 29th, 2009As we all know this messy economy has all of us pretty focused on survival at least in the short term.. but more than likely in the long term. If you are anything like us.. speaking in reference to EmeraldLight.. which includes at the least myself.. Elizabeth and Beth.. you need to keep the checkbook locked down pretty tight. Turning over rocks.. big as well as little ones.. is a daily occurrence. After awhile all of your back-burner projects are caught up and your To-Do list has been reduced to a couple of lines.. what are you to do with the extra time in a day? Knocking on doors with a portfolio in hand seems rather fruitless and personal projects feel rather selfish.
Back in November of ‘08 I had something fall into my lap that I truly had to follow through on. I was given a business card by one of our client’s business managers. Apparently he had been to a luncheon and had a brief conversation with the Public Affairs person from the local chapter of the Red Cross. He had expressed to the Red Cross individual that he knew a photographer who might be able to help them with telling their story. Upon receipt of the card it did not take me long to make the decision to at least make the call. Within a week.. Elizabeth my assistant and I.. had a meeting with the local chapter and the result of that meeting was very positive. I signed up to do what I could in creating imagery that would go hand in hand with their programs. In the hopes I could assist in bringing them more community involvement and also provide recognition for their unsung volunteers. As a bonus my assistant.. Elizabeth made the decision to go with the whole enchilada and donate her time as well.
That was November of ‘08 and it is now darn near the first of July. We are having a blast and at the same we believe we are doing our part to contribute to a wonderful organization and cause. Since day one we have produced several great projects all involving wonderful people. Our first opportunity put us in the position of photographing a gentleman that has 61 years of volunteering with the Red Cross.. simply amazing. Next up we produced a one day photo shoot that involved capturing a very good cross section of the people that volunteer their time on a regular basis. Currently we are working on photographs of individuals that have gone way beyond their normal everyday lives and duties and significantly contributed to the well being of another human being at a time of extreme need. Now we are meeting a whole new group of people that are not necessarily volunteers of the Red Cross.. but have contributed unselfishly to help resolve a bad situation. Pretty moving stuff.
This is silly, but it would be great if I could somehow manage to transcend time.. then have the “transporter” drop me back into my space.. only a few years back. Of course I am only interested in returning with the full knowledge of what the Red Cross stands for and how it works. It feels like I have lost a few years of helping out in some way and would love to regain them. But since that is not possible I have to give it full throttle from here on out and contribute as much as I can. Since the Red Cross is not funded by the government, only “John Q Public” and the donations that they make.. whether that come in the form of a dollar here or twenty there. Maybe even a thoughtful company might get involved. Then of course there are those that provide the manpower to make things happen at the time of need. The drivers who shuttle blood in the middle of the night during a blizzard.. the army of cooks and bottle washers who feed thousands at a disaster. How about the folks who teach CPR to school kids.. that they may save another kid’s life when he goes under at the public pool. The list goes on. Then here we are.. EmeraldLight.. trying to show in a photograph what these people give of themselves.. pretty difficult to do.. showing their heart and soul is beyond monumental and I can only hope to show you a glimpse in the photograph.
Donated Time
June 24th, 2009We recently wrapped up a really nice project with the United Way. Their current national campaign is “Live United” and we had the great fortune to photograph part of it…. what a hoot! To set the stage.. we shot on white seamless paper so the background is perfect white, dress the key people in a white “Live United” T-shirt, put them on the white seamless and ask them to perform their wildest moves. We managed to capture more interesting photos than I would have ever imagined. Running the gamut from the store manager who was secretly a “table top” dancer, to the high school teacher who walked on.. put on an outstanding performance and walked off 30 seconds later. In that short time he managed to give us a huge handful of shots that were all totally great… amazing. Here are a few photo samples of the great people that we were fortunate enough to work with.
White Bread or Affectionately Known as “The Loaf”
June 24th, 2009Certainly you may think that I am going to give you a spiel about Wonder bread.. remember the white bread with the holes in it a generation or so back? Well I think I may have fooled you. White Bread is our beloved 2006 Mercedes Sprinter van dressed in the loveliest color of white. Even tho’ I am color blind I can still pick this “big girl” out in a crowd. The flowing lines of the boxy shape, dark tinted massive windows.. the better to see out of and not see in, mega room for all of our equipment cases (800 lbs worth) as well as a client meeting at the same time. Of course we can use “her” as a mobile capture/post production computer studio while tethered to our camera.. even when shooting out in the middle of a river. Client and digital technician sit inside with furnace on to preview photos as they come in. I get instructions over my headset to move a couple feet to the right. Meanwhile the water is up to my waist and getting deeper and I am about to freeze my “b*$^t” off.. but hey our clients come first and they are in total comfort! We believe in win-win situations.. they get to stay warm and make decisions and I get to play with the camera and drive “The Loaf”.. It’s all good!!