by Stacey Wiseman | Mar 23, 2015 | Family Photographs, Interview
I’m super excited to showcase Erica Caligiuri in my Monthly Interview series. Erica is one of my favorite photographers who capture their everyday life with personality and beauty. There is a subtlety and humor to her photographs that instantly place me into her home….and life. I love the way she uses color, light and storytelling. Whenever she posts a photo, I instantly know what compelled her to take it.
She’s participating in a monthly video challenge where she documents each month in a short video. Just take a look at her most recent February video – You’ll see her creativity and humor right away. Amazing, right?!?!
Make sure you check out her blog and follow her instagram feed!
Now for our interview:
1| Me and My Camera:
I shoot with a Canon 6D, Sigma 35 f/1.4, Canon 50 f/1.4, Canon 24-105L. I also have an EOS-M that’s great when I want more portability.
2 | My Family:
My husband (and prom date!) Nick, son Ferris, daughter Athena. Funny story about this – in January, I realized that I didn’t have a boring old picture of us in front of the tree, so we put it back up just to take a few! I knew I would regret not having this from our first Christmas as a family of four.
3 | My current photography challenge:
Trying not to overshoot. I don’t want to leave my children the digital equivalent of an attic full of old newspapers. My goal is to keep 200 photos a month, but I almost never make it.
4 | What I have time for now:
My goal for 2015 is to put together 1 video a month. I love capturing the movement and sounds of my children. The process also helps me be thoughtful about what I want to capture and how. Last year, one of my favorite projects was a video of transforming our office into a nursery, capturing my belly growing along the way.
5 | What I don’t have time for now:
I would love to do a color study, and focus on one color per month – working with contrasting colors, seeing how colors convert to BW, experimenting with mood and color. Maybe next year!
6 | My favorite photography subject:
Though my children are often my subjects, they aren’t my favorite. I can too often shoot from a place of anxiety about them growing up and changing so fast. I enjoy shooting new places, when I don’t have any pressure to get a particular shot, and can just let myself be surprised and inspired.
7 | My favorite place to photography inside my home:
Our bedroom.
8 | My favorite time to photograph:
I don’t have a favorite time! I look for whatever light can be a supporting element to a good story.
9 | My favorite photograph right now:
Thank you to my husband for being an awesome human tripod!
10 | What tip, trick or info helped your family photographs the most:
For photography in general: Learn to see light, tone, and contrast the way your camera sees it. Never stop learning about light! For practice, I walk around with my spot meter on, trying to guess how many stops difference between different elements, then I turn on the LCD with histogram to see if it looks the way I envisioned. For family photography, my tip is not to oversimplify your frame. When I was first learning, I thought it was more professional to eliminate “distractions” from the frame. Sometimes that’s a good strategy, but it’s also important to figure out how you can include elements in a thoughtful way. Use the evidence of life (toys, decor, etc.) to add scale, balance, contrast, depth, context, texture, story, etc. Oh, and one more thing- practice with purpose, and don’t practice on your kids! It took me too long to figure that out. It ends up being frustrating for both of you, and getting a cute expression clouds your judgment about whether you’re learning whatever concept you are trying to learn.
Are you addicted yet? She’s really great and I hope you’ll continue to follow her photography.
A big thank you to Erica for letting me interview her!
Would you like to be interviewed? Simply send me an email {info@bookthisproject.com} and I’ll fill you in on the details.
by Stacey Wiseman | Apr 23, 2012 | Family Photographs, Interview, Photograph, Photography Tip
Hey everyone, time for our next interview! You will love Rhonda McMaster. She is a photographer located in Ottawa and mother to three absolutely beautiful children. I mean, seriously beautiful children. Rhonda’s photographs have amazing color, clarity and light but perhaps what I love the most about her photos is the way she frames an image. She finds a way to make the surroundings tie into and perfectly frame the subject. A perfect example was when she stayed a couple of steps behind her kids going down an empty escalator. The rail of the escalator led perfectly to her children and she got their reflection in the glass sides.
We did not coordinate this in advance…but my favorite photograph of hers is exactly the photograph she selected for #9! I was so happy she included this photograph in the interview. This photograph not only captures light in an amazing way…but the interaction between brother and sister is real and genuine. I feel cold but warmth at the same time. It seems casual but perfectly executed. I long to one day capture an emotion similar to this in my photographs. Right now we are still in the “be gentle, brother” phase; but one day!
To see more of her photography, check out her website and make sure you like her facebook page.
On her website, she has this really cool feature highlighting photographic collages (click the tab “collages” to view). My favorite collage is “girly girl.” What mother of daughters would not love something like this!
[divider]1 | me and my camera:
Hi! My name is Rhonda. I’m a photographer, mother, teacher and life-lover. I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II and the 50 mm 1.2L and 24-105 mm 4.0L.
[divider]2 | my family:
This is my busy, young family. 🙂
[divider]3 | my current photography challenge:
My challenge is to let go of expectations. The images I get are not always the ones I *think* I want to get, but like this one, when I saw it, I knew it was the one I was *meant* to get….
[divider]4 | what I have time for now:
Chasing children.
[divider]5 | what I don’t have time for now:
Afternoon naps. Long ago (it’s hard to remember when) afternoon naps turned into afternoon plays.
[divider]6 | my favorite photography subject:
My children (any of them!). I have never met a mother who doesn’t love a photo of her babies.
[divider]7 | my favorite place to photograph inside my home:
I love taking advantage of the beautiful, natural light that pours in through the largest window in my living room.
[divider]8 | my favorite time to photograph:
It’s not the easiest time to photograph and I shoot more frames, but learning how to embrace the midday sun has made me a better photographer. The way the sun lights up my daughter’s already-vibrant hair makes me smile.
[divider]9 | my favorite blog post (or photograph) right now:
My favourite photograph is usually my newest one, but I keep going back to this image from this past winter, which is perfectly imperfect to me, and shows true sibling love.
[divider]10 | what tip, trick or info helped your family photographs the most:
Contrast in an image makes a beautiful black and white. Also, there are many beautiful locations to take a photograph, but wherever you are, when you see something beautiful or inspiring, take a picture. (This image was taken from the front seat of my van on our way to skiing lessons.)
[divider]All photographs are copyright to Rhonda McMaster, Rhonda McMaster Photography. Do not copy, print, or distribute.
Thanks again for sharing! It was fabulous to see your photographs!!!
[divider] Are you interested in being featured? Contact me at info[at]bookthisproject.com
by Stacey Wiseman | Mar 30, 2012 | Family Photographs, Inspiration, Interview, Photograph
Finally, the second interview is up and ready..and it is a good one! Introducing Monika Eisenbart! She is a photographer in the Hudson Valley area in New York. Her new website is Monika Photography (updated link). If you live in or around New York City, you should definitely look her up for a session. Not only is her work for clients absolutely amazing…but she also has an great eye for capturing her son and family life. She documents everyday life, like celebrating a snow fall or being sick as beautifully as big moments like visiting her family in Poland.
This Poland trip includes one her favorite sessions, listed in number 9 below…but I can not post this interview without listing some of her other work that has really stuck with me.
An Engagement Session. (also apart of her Poland trip last summer…)
Before First Communion and First Communion. There was just something about this session…it really has stayed with me.
And my dream family portrait right now would be very close to this session she photographed.
Oh, and while I was going back through her work, I remembered this post…loved the light and location in these!
Gorgeous, right!
(Some of the links may not longer work due to recent web updates. Make sure you check out her latest work here.)
So here is a little more about Monika:
1 | me and my camera:
Hi,
My name is Monika. I’m a photographer, wife and mother.
I’m a conon girl and shoot with Canon 7d. I have few lenses:
35mm 1.4L – my favorite one, stays on my camera most of the time
50mm 1.4
85mm 1.8
24-70mm 2.8L
2 | my family:
I live with my family just outside NYC. Like me, my husband Peter comes from Poland. Our son Kacper was born here just two years ago.
3 | my current photography challenge:
I think at the moment my biggest challenge is to define my own style and commit to it. I’m searching for the perfect fit and who knows if I ever find it.
4 | what I have time for now:
Well at the moment everything in my life is about photography. I dream and think about it most of the time; that is when my family is not around.
5 | what I don’t have time for now:
Reading novels and other books not photography related. I wish I could go to the movies more often too.
6 | my favorite photography subject:
Besides my son, I love photographing everyone who is willing to share their story.
7 | my favorite place to photograph inside my home:
That would be my bedroom, which offers two huge windows and neutral wall colors.
8 | my favorite time to photograph:
Love the sunset shoots and would love to try sunrise too. And this kind of shoot is on my list this summer.
9 | my favorite blog post (or photograph) right now:
It’s so hard to choose, because I love them all. But most of the time I go back to my grandmothers shoot I did last summer while visiting my family in Poland. It’s so real and raw, every image has so much emotions.
For more from her Poland trip, because it was that fantastic:
here,
here,
here, and
here.
10 | what tip, trick or info helped your family photographs the most:
I think general knowledge of photography helped me take better pictures, including my own family.
All photographs are copyright to Monika Eisenbart, me photographia. Do not copy, print, or distribute.
Thanks again for sharing! I love your work!!!
Are you interested in being featured? Contact me at info[at]bookthisproject.com
by Stacey Wiseman | Jan 31, 2012 | Description, Interview, Photograph, Photography Tip
As mentioned in this blog post, each month I want to conduct interviews with moms (and dads) who document their everyday lives with photographs. The main goal of each interview is to learn more about who, why and how we photograph our families. I loved the idea of using photographs to illustrate the answers.
For the first interview, I put myself to the challenge.
10 photographs to describe… Stacey R Wiseman
[divider] 1 | me and my camera:
Nikon D7000 and lately my 24-75mm f2.8 lens; 
[divider] 2 | my family:
Even if partially…we are all in the frame!
[divider] 3 | my current photography challenge:
I am trying to find interesting interior light and creative compositions to document potty training.
[divider] 4 | what I have time for now:
Puzzles!
[divider] 5 | what I don’t have time for now:
Reading The New Yorker.
[divider] 6 | my favorite photography subject:
The interaction between my two kids.
[divider] 7 | my favorite place to photograph inside my home:
My bedroom.
[divider] 8 | my favorite time to photograph:
After-work walks in the park.
[divider] 9 | my favorite blog post (or photo) right now:
Baking chocolate chocolate chip cookies.
[divider] 10 | what tip, trick or info helped your family photographs the most:
Besides setting your custom white balance (which can even be done with point and shoot cameras!), I would say, facing subjects towards the light to get catchlights in the eyes. Of course I understood windows = light, but I never maximized the light in my kids’ eyes. As mentioned above, I am still learning about how to use interior light…but I have definitely improved!
2009 Photo
[divider] 2012 Photo
[divider] Are you interested in being featured?
Send me an email at info[at]bookthisproject.com and include your blog link, if you have one. Let me know how long it will take you to photograph your answers. Feel free to be as creative as you like! I will respond with the details!
