Jared at Kaama Lounge whipped up some snazzy new cocktails to photograph today. The ones I tasted are as great on the palate as they are on the eyes! Feast your peepers on these, folks – my faves below. Or you can just check out all the photos from the shoot.
For you strobist people, I shot most of these with four speedlights – two SB-800s firing through a softbox camera left; one unmodified SB-800 firing directly behind/through the drinks (or gridded camera right and back for the martinis), and one SB-600 about 8′ away in the next booth – which is what’s creating the amazing background through the grid-like wall.
Tags: bar, closeup, cocktails, drinks, flash, kaama lounge, lighting, lit, lounge, macro, off-camera, photography, photos, professional, restaurant, san jose, softbox, speedlights
I was honored to participate in the event celebrating Joseph George Wines’ 70th anniversary at Villa Montalvo, Saratoga. Only Joseph George could unite all the top vintners to participate in a single event – perhaps you may recognize some of the names: Duckhorn, Goldeneye, Paraduxx, DuMol, Far Niente, Flora Springs, Lewis, Melka Wines, Miner Family, Miura, Patz & Hall, Paul Hobbs, Portfolio, Pride Mountain, Robert Biale Vineyards, Robert Foley, Spottswoode, Switchback Ridge, Viader and more all brought their goods to be samples by the invited guests.
Le Papillon, who I’ve worked with many times over the years, were catering the event and hosted a special 5-course wine-paired dinner after the tasting event was over. Heidieh and her crew with Flower Affairs did an amazing job with the floral arrangements. Many of Silicon Valley’s elite were in attendance, thoroughly enjoying the fine wines, delectable appetizers and of course, the unparalleled beauty of the Montalvo estate.
I captured the event in my usual fashion – plenty of candids, posed groups, details, environmentals and food photos. I included some of my favorites in the slideshow below. If you’d like to browse ALL the edited photos, or perhaps order a print or two, please visit the following links: Details and Location, People, Food, Behind-the-Scenes. If you like what you see, please leave a comment below!
Tags: 70th, anniversary, appetizers, arts, center, dinner, elite, event, formal, joseph george, le papillon, montalvo, party, photography, photos, saratoga, wine, winery, wines
Barbara Wales contacted me a month ago as she was planning a surprise 85th birthday for her husband, Robert. The ruse was she’d be escorting him to a fund raising event (which they frequent) at the beautiful, historic Saratoga Springs Picnic and Campground. There were even signs put up and greeters that all supported the cover story – heck, I almost turned around upon arriving thinking I was at the wrong place! Needless to say, Robert was completely surprised when he discovered the crowd of people at the edge of Cathedral Grove were actually over 150 of his friends! I was a little concerned about startling a man that’s been around the block so many times, but Robert was lively, enthusiastic, and a joy to meet.
Jeff Werner of Bay Area DJ rocked some classics for the crowd (real classics) and did an excellent job maintaining a natural pace as the event unfolded. One of my favorite parts of the night was the s’mores station – where young and old alike crowded around the blazing fire – many creating the marshmallow / graham cracker / chocolate combo for the very first time!
Here’s a slideshow of some of my favorite photos from the evening set to a little Glen Miller Band orchestra music. If you’d like to see the rest of the photos, visit my main website here.
Tags: 85th, barbara wales, barbecue, bbq, birthday, campground, cathedral grove, dj, evening, historic, jeff werner, music, oldies, park, party, photography, photos, picnic, robert wales, saratoga, saratoga springs
Amy and Arthur Raynaud celebrated their vows with close family and friends today in Los Gatos – technically they got married back in April, so this was more of a make-good for the lack of a party the first time ’round. Great lovers of Depeche Mode, I chose a special song for their wedding slideshow. I feel the photos and music tell the tale of the day. Please leave a comment below. Oh, and if you want to sift through all of Arthur and Amy’s wedding photos, maybe order a print or two, mosey on over here. Peace!
Tags: amy, arthur, bay area wedding photographers, bay area wedding photography, los gatos, los gatos wedding photographers, los gatos wedding photography, martinez, raynaud, st. mary's, toll house
I did a shoot today at Le Papillon restaurant on behalf of South Bay Accent magazine. They wanted some shots of Le Papillon’s Chocolate Terrine made with Valrhona Guanaja 70 percent, Valrhona Jivara milk chocolate, and coconut oil. It’s not only visually stunning, but I’ll be damned if I was gonna leave without scarfing that thing down – or rather, politely ingesting it with actual silverware. I highly recommend trying one out at the end of your next date at Le Papillon – tell the owner Mike or Chef Scott Cooper GoodEye sent ya.
Tags: bay area food photographers, bay area restaurant photographers, chocolate, dessert, Dining, Food, food photography, le papillon, restaurant, san jose, san jose food photographers, san jose restaurant photographers, terrine
I met up with my friend and business partner Joelle Cruz today to do a shoot for one of our new advertising clients – Bling Nation. This is a fast-growing, well funded company that has entered the financial processing arena – competing with credit & debit cards at the local business level. They’ve recently partnered with a little company named PayPal, so it’s just a matter of time before everyone’s “blinging” to pay for their coffee at the local shop. In a nutshell, the consumer puts a sticker (with a unique, embedded RFID inside) on their cell phone. To pay for an item, you simply tap your phone on the business’ bling thing and the receipt is texted to you. A small business can start using the Bling setup at no cost (for now) – and can even manage and track their customers’ usage and control promotions. On top of that, Bling charges half the amount as credit and debit card companies for processing transactions. Bling is only in Palo Alto for now, but they’ll be expanding dramatically in the coming months!
Joelle and I visited some of the local Palo Alto businesses to get shots of the owners and the Bling point-of-sale collateral. One of Bling’s promotions is they’re giving out their stickers to consumers pre-loaded with $20! You simply register it at the business you picked it up at and start spending right away. Check out the next issue of Made in Palo Alto magazine as we’ll be bundling these $20 bling tags in every issue…
This is Patama Roj, owner of Fraiche Yogurt in Palo Alto. I’d actually met her before when I took some photos of her place back in April. She’s promoting her baked goods right now, and as I pushed a sample into my mouth I can say that’s a growth business for Fraiche – man they are good!!
This is a cashier at Coupa Cafe on the Stanford University campus – he was kind enough to pose for a few shots even though he had no idea we were coming. He was a pretty photogenic guy, though, and was a good sport.
This is Jean Paul Coupal, owner of both Coupa Cafes in Palo Alto – this one on Ramona St. Note the Bling gear and the signature shamrock in the latte. Nice!
This is Jimmy Viglizzo, owner of Johnny V’s Sports Cafe on the Stanford Campus. Jimmy is a friendly guy and was excited to show off his Bling point-of-sale setup.
Lynn at University Cafe was kind enough to pose for us during the busy lunch hour, showing us her Bling setup. Another great coffee joint!
Lastly we ventured over to Antonio’s Nut House on California Ave. in Palo Alto. Bling works in bars too, as our friendly motorcycle dude demonstrated below.
Tags: bling, business, card, cell phone, credit, local, money, nation, payment, paypal, Portraits, processing, receipt, retail, rfid, sticker, text
Michelle Myers is one of the sweetest people I know – kind, compassionate, empathetic, and non-judgmental. I guess it makes sense that she’s chosen family therapy as a profession! She needed a decent headshot for her business, and since I was already at Santana Row that day shooting for Franco Uomo, I had her meet me there. Here’s a couple shots from the session. More are here.
Tags: bay area business headshot, bay area portrait photographers, bay area portrait photography, business, business portraits, family, head shots, headshot, headshot photos, michelle myers, photography, photos, portrait, professional, santana row, therapist, therapy
One of the defining characteristics of Franco Uomo’s fine men’s clothing is the material used to make it. The colors, the subtle (and not so subtle) patterns, and most especially the luxurious texture. All these elements combine to create truly unique garments that keep discerning clients coming back time and again. We wanted to have a photo shoot specifically to capture the details that make Franco’s clothing so amazing. I wanted to do more than just get closeup detail shots – so we created little staged setups – enjoy them below!
Back in March, I shot ground-based interiors and exteriors for this client – it’s an amazing house set on 28 acres of property near Skyline Blvd. in Portola Valley. Of course the only way to get a shot of the whole property at once is from the air! I met with Cameron Rolfe, the owner of Bay Helicoptours, at 12pm sharp at the San Carlos Airport. While he was checking up on his flying roto-beast, I was getting my “basic” gear ready. Since the helicopter sports one bench seat for the two of us, and the fact that my side has a “missing” door, I had to K.I.S.S. with my stuff. I had my Nikon D300 paired with my 70-200/2.8 for the long-range closeups, the Nikon D3 with my trusty 28-70/2.8 and my Nikon D700 with my buddy’s ultra-wide 14-24/2.8 (which I ended up not really needing).
Because Villa Lauriston is way off the beaten path, my main concern was finding the place. Luckily we were flying low enough to get cell signal – so my trusty Apple iPad with Google maps led the way – which is a good thing because we initially overshot, so I was able to lead the “blue dot” back to the intended destination. Once successfully over the property, we circled around it at varying altitudes. We couldn’t slow down to less than about 40mph, probably because the winds coming over skyline would make us unstable, so it was more challenging than I expected to shoot. It was more like a series of fly-bys and pray-you-got-the-shot than carefully aligned compositions. The many tall trees prevented us from getting as low as I’d have liked, but I still think I got a great variety of photos of the beautiful property. My favorites are below, check out all the photos over here.
Tags: aerial, altitude, aviation, bay helicoptours, cameron rolfe, chopper, flight, helicopter, photography, photos, portola valley, sky, tour, villa lauriston
Patrick and Mariela are expecting their first child in September, about six weeks away from our shoot. We met up around 7 in the evening and we immediately went off to a nearby park to take advantage of the golden setting sun. We had a good time shooting together – this was a maternity shoot of course, but I wanted to also highlight Patrick and Mariela as a couple. Enjoy my favorites from the shoot in the slideshow below – all photos can be viewed and ordered over here.
Tags: family, mariela, maternity, park, patrick phillips, photography, photos, pregnancy, pregnant, roseville, sunset
RJ is the brother of Lee, whose family I shot at the same time (their photos are here). We met at McKinley Park in Sacramento, California to get some shots of RJ and Kim’s 3-week old newborn, Presley and some family shots including RJ, his son Dallas and Kim. Presley definitely stole the show, even though she never really woke up. My wife saw these photos a few minutes ago and I think her ovaries just swelled up this baby is so cute! Enjoy my favorites in the slideshow below, and check out all the printable photos here.
Tags: Dallas Parkins, family, kids, kim leytem, mckinley park, newborn, parents, photography, photos, Portraits, Presley, RJ Parkins, sacramento
Lee and I last saw each other back in middle school – but thanks to Facebook, we’ve reconnected. When I told her I was headed up her way for another gig, she expressed interest in getting some family portraits done. We met up at 2pm at their place in Sacramento – and we were all extremely thankful for the mild summer we’d been having as it was in the low 80s! Even so, I did my usual lighting thing and was able to keep them out of the sun. The girls are so cute, and I did my best to capture their individual personalities. Enjoy some of my favorites in the slideshow below. All the edited files from the shoot can be viewed and ordered over here.
Cassie at Four Seasons over in Palo Alto called me earlier this week as they have some new hires that need some headshots. Most everyone is ambivalent to loathsome when it comes to getting their picture taken, so I try to make it quick, painless, and maybe even a little fun. I’m not a comedian, but I like to talk to people and love the challenge of getting people to open up. There’s almost always an opportunity to capture their true selves – if I’m on top of my game, and have my trigger finger ready. Here’s a few of my favorites from the quick shoot this afternoon of Claudio Villani (Wine Director), Chef Edward Higgins (Chef de Cuisine) and Rich Poskanzer (Assistant Director of Food and Beverage). Click here for all the pics.
Tags: bay area business headshot, bay area portrait photographers, bay area portrait photography, business, business portraits, claudio villani, corporate, four seasons, head shots, headshot photos, headshots, palo alto, photography, photos, Portraits, professional, silicon valley, staff, wine
Franco has a bunch of new clothes to show off, and since he’s already located at beautiful Santana Row, it stands to reason that we’d do our fashion shoot here. Every alley is a gem, with beautiful textured wood and vibrant paint. It’s tough to take a bad photo with all the wonderful backdrops to work with. Here’s a few of my favorites from the shoot – the first several photos showing the prep and background work for the shoot. Thanks to Erandeny Torres for her hair/makeup work, Angelina for all that shoe-taping and wardrobe adjusting – and of course Franco, as this is all his vision to begin with. If you’re interested in seeing all 400+ photos from the shoot, venture on over here.
Tags: backgrounds, chris schmauch, colorful, Fashion, franco uomo, jason, male, model, models, photographer, photography, photos, san jose, santana row, traci halvorson, will
Rachel and Thom had a lovely little wedding in San Jose earlier this year. I designed the album below from their favorites… enjoy!
Hint: click the “Fullscreen” icon to really see the album!
[issuu layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml showflipbtn=true autoflip=true autofliptime=6000 pagenumber=2 documentid=100723001521-f7793220323e4189bf872b115c0a6de6 docname=rachel-thom-wedding-album username=goodeye loadinginfotext=Rachel%20%26%20Thom%20-%20Bride%20%26%20Groom%20Wedding%20Album%20-%20Proof01 showhtmllink=true tag=wedding width=900 height=600 unit=px]
Tags: 2010, album, april 10, bay area, bay area wedding photographers, bay area wedding photography, chris schmauch, Design, irish, photographer, photography, rachel, san jose, san jose wedding photographers, thom, thomas, wedding
I met Rachel and her mom a few months ago through a common friend – they were both so sweet, and I was excited they wanted to use me for the upcoming wedding. Rachel drove down from Sacramento today with her fiance Brandon, who I met for the first time. Talk about a good looking couple! I felt like I was shooting professional models. Plus, they have a natural ease with each other that comes from chemistry and of course, a deep and spiritual love. Rachel wanted a rustic feel to their engagement photos, and had seen some photos form a previous family shoot that had the setting she was envisioning. We both battled traffic (them from Sacramento, me from Santa Cruz) to get to Morgan Hill, but even though we were both late, we had plenty of lovely early evening light to play with. Plus, I always bring my own lights to enhance what nature provides 🙂
We had a great time exploring off Coyote Creek trail and poking around some abandoned buildings. We saw lots of field mice and even a white barn owl during our adventure. Rachel and Brandon never objected to my crazy ideas – even when I had Brandon “wear” the graffiti sombrero hat! I love being the boss… here’s some of my favorites from the shoot, the rest are here.
UPDATE: 9/10/2010 Check out Rachel and Brandon’s wedding photos at Clos LaChance Winery in San Martin!
If you haven’t already, feel free to review our portfolio site, browse past weddings, check our romantic engagement sessions, follow our business on Facebook (like us while you’re at it!), or read our awesome Yelp reviews.
Tags: bay area wedding photographers, bay area wedding photography, brandon, brodzky, clos la chance wedding photographers, clos lachance wedding photographers, clos lachance wedding photography, country, coyote creek trail, engagement, fields, morgan hill, morgan hill engagement photographers, morgan hill engagement photography, photography, photos, rachel, run down, rustic, san martin wedding photographers, session, trail, weber
Kurt Kemling is a good friend of mine (even though we’ve only met a couple times) – it’s weird how you can get to know someone without ever spending time with them. He’s also a professional photographer that I admire, with two adorable girls near my own girls’ age, as well as a wife named Beckie (mine’s Becky). Needless to say, we’ve been meaning to have our families meet up so we could “shoot” each other. Because we’re both busy, we set up a day two months ahead of time – today the day finally arrived, and it was SO much fun! Not only are the Kemlings fun to hang out with, they make some great photos. Here’s a few of my favorites of Kurt’s family. All of them can be viewed here.
Tags: beach, beckie, Children, family, katie, kemling, kids, kurt, monarch, natural bridges, ocean, path, photography, photos, Portraits, sand, santa cruz, sophia
I just happened to be looking for something on Yelp today and noticed that the Yelp Folks were headlining their “Best Of” businesses on their main page. It defaulted to the Santa Cruz area as that’s where I live, and out of curiosity I clicked on the “Professional Services” category. My jaw dropped when I saw that GoodEye Photography + Design held the #1 spot – not only among photographers, but among all businesses in the “professional services” category. Sweet! All credit goes to the clients that have taken the time to write about their experiences with me, of course, and for that I’m eternally humbled and grateful. I don’t know how long the page will be up, so I took the screenshot above as proof 🙂
Tags: award, bay area, best, best of, business, chris schmauch, good eye, goodeye, photographer, photographers, photography, photos, praise, professional, review, reviews, santa cruz, services, yelp
I got a call from a nice lady from Alabama whose family was coming together to celebrate her 70th birthday by spending the weekend together in a rented beach house in Santa Cruz, California. She wanted a group photo of the whole family on the beach, for which I was much obliged. At 5:30pm I met the family at their house and we all walked down to Twin Lakes beach together. Of course it was packed, so we had to walk down a little further to find a spot near the shore to get some unobstructed photos. Of course as I was warming up for the first shot, the waves decided to come in and soak everyone’s feet! That got me a couple of great candids, though, and we quickly got the main group shot done. I suggested letting the kids play around for a bit so I could capture some more candids, and the kids were eager to play in the surf. I got quite a few good shots, they were all the more fun because the kids were still dressed in their semi-formal attire. Luckily I finished up the shoot without soaking my gear. Here’s a few of my favorites below – all of them can be found here.
by Chris Schmauch
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