Today, April and I visited the Getty with two new friends...Kent and Christine Hatch. Christine was a student in my recently finished photography class. We went to see the Edward Weston exhibition , and it was great. I snapped these two shots before being politely asked to stop. How was I to know it was only permanent exhibitions you could shoot? Don't you love the design elements in these?

We also saw work by Luc Delahaye, and wow, was it powerful! The image of the Russian people was so gripping for me, because it was lifesize, and so reminded me of my past trips to Russia. These are truly Russian faces.

Both of these shows end November 25th, so drop what you're doing, and GO! You won't be disappointed.

As I write this, I'm looking out the window at blue skies. After 3 days of smoke and ash filled skies, it is good to see that brilliant azure color above us. Adam Charles George, our associate photographer (and the vision behind our high school senior portraits), spent some this weekend capturing portraits of the firefighters as they fought the blazes that seemed to be enveloping California. These powerful portraits were picked up by MSNBC, KNBC, ABC and the Los Angeles Times. To see more of Adam's photographs and video from the Today Show, visit adam's personal blog post about it. Interestingly, Adam's images reflect the evolution of our studio. More and more families commission us to create their family portraits, using both Adam and Mark to capture a range images that reflect their lives. Like these portraits of the firefighters, Adam's images tend to be more photojournalistic, while Mark's work continues to create the portraits and paintings for which he is so well known. I hope you are all safe out there, out of harm's way. April Brandes

Last Sunday, we had a special portrait event in partnership with the Strasburg Children store in Camarillo. The clothes that Strasburg sells are perfect for so many of the portrait styles that our studio creates. We photographed a number of young ladies that day, and I wanted to share some of the results with you. Don't you agree that a beautiful dress really makes a special statement?

We are also doing a number of camera studies here in the studio this next week, and when we have some samples I'll share those with you as well.

For more information on Strasburg Children, call Divina at 805.482.5804.

(click image to enlarge flyer)

Private Photography Class
with Mark Brandes

Mark Brandes, the owner of Brandes Portraiture
in Westlake is offering a 7 week class
in Beginning Photography.

Although Mark has lectured for photographic
seminars internationally, he has never before
offered to do a class like this in his studio!

This class is intended for digital photographers who own a manually
adjustable digital camera (both shutter speed and aperture are able to be controlled).

Subject matter covered in the class will include proper digital exposure, manipulation of shutter and aperture for desired effects, as well as lighting and posing people in photographs. See dates and more information on back. Cost: High School Students, $95. Adults, $145.

Class is limited to 15 students, and will be held on Wednesdays from 7-9 pm at Mark’s Westlake Village studio.

For more information or to register, call: 805.367.8127 or email:
markbrandes [at] brandesportrait [dot] com

Details:
Week 1-September 26
Introduction to the camera. Operation of shutter and aperture.

Week 2- October 3
Review of 1st week’s assignments. Optics. Impact of depth of field

Week 3- October 10
Review of 2nd week’s assignments. God’s Light and Man-made light

Week 4- October 17
Review of 3rd week’s assignments. Photographing people

Week 5- October 24
Review of 4th week’s assignments. Photographing people

Halloween Week Off

Week 6- November 7
Review of 5th week’s assignments. Photographing in new, and fun ways (shutter drag, panning, nite shots)

Week 7- November 14
Review of 6th week’s assignments. Photographing events