The photographer is now official

Wow. It seems like only yesterday, but it was two years ago that I sold off my Dr. Demento Show CD collection and bought my Canon Rebel XTi DSLR and vowed to learn how to be a halfways decent photographer. Skip forward a year, and The Wife--motivated by my modest growth as a photographer and the quality of my XTi--got her Canon 50D. Shortly thereafter, the idea of pursuing photography as a full-time career crystalized, and she began the long process of building up a network, attending seminars and shooting courses to hone her skill, and developing a business plan. Oh yeah, taking paying photography gigs as well. Late in 2009 she joined the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce, and it all came to a head yesterday.

Picture perfect grand opening for Lisa On Location photography

NEW BRAUNFELS – Lisa On Location photography celebrated its grand opening Feb. 24 with a ribbon-cutting and reception the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce building.

Lisa On Location, a full-service photography business serving the New Braunfels, San Antonio and Austin areas, is owned and operated by Lisa Blaschke. A selection of her portfolio was on display during the event, and her work can be viewed locally at Schobel’s Restaurant and the Family Birth Center.

"I'm so thrilled to be doing what I love," Blaschke said. "Photography has always been a passion -- first photojournalism and now portrait photography. And this area offers the perfect backdrops for portraits. I couldn't ask for a better setting or nicer people to work with."

A former photojournalist, Blaschke earned her B.S. from Texas A&M University and further honed her craft with the New York Institute of Photography. She currently teaches a popular course in digital photography course with New Braunfels ISD Community Education.

Lisa On Location specializes in weddings, events and portraiture in the photojournalistic style. Blaschke has a particular interest in maternity and nursing photography, as seen in her “Beauty of Motherhood” series, and was recently featured in the international magazine New Beginnings.

Lisa On Location is a state-certified Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) vendor, and is a member of Professional Photographers of America and a contributing photographer to the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation. For more information, visit www.LisaOnLocation.com or call (830) 481-3944.

For those of you unfamiliar with her, that's The Wife there in the center of the photograph, about to cut the ribbon with that humongous pair of scissors. And that's Monkey Girl to the left, eying those same scissors and thinking "I've got to get me some scissors like that!" Lisa On Location is now an official, for true, ongoing business concern. Need professional photography? Now you know where to turn.

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You go girl!

Time for a little bragging on The Wife. Monday was a rough day--she hit the wall with certain folks, people more than willing to take advantage of her photography as long as they didn't actually have to pay her for her services. Some things were said that really cut her deep, and the saddest thing is that the folks doing the talking had not the slightest clue they'd said anything insulting, demeaning or offensive. But it established, unequivocally, that they had no regard for her beyond what they could mooch.

The Wife, to her credit, responded aggressively. Not against the dolts, since they are lost causes. Instead, she dove into negotiations with the local Chamber of Commerce and came away with a high-profile deal for the use of one of her signature photos. She also pressed forward on another deal to display her work in a local restaurant. That's two impressive achievements right there. But the latest--and perhaps greatest--initiative of hers is a photo essay she's pitched to La Leche League International for their monthly magazine. The Wife is deeply passionate about her involvement in breastfeeding advocacy, and when the children were younger, wanted tasteful, stylish photos done of her nursing them. Unfortunately, my photo skills were non-existent back then, and studios looked upon such an idea as more akin to sleaze than anything else. Now that she's got her own studio, motherhood, pregnancy and nursing photography have become some of her signature subjects, and I have to say she's damn good at it. In particular, she's developing a series of glamour nursing photos (recall that famous Annie Leibovitz portrait of Jerri Hall nursing her infant son) with the ultimate goal of publishing a book. Some of the creative ideas she has simply ooze irony, and her eyes light up whenever she talks about it. All of this would be featured in the article, which would go out to women worldwide who are the target audience for this project. Very, very cool.

The Wife isn't Leibovitz-famous yet, but the time's coming. Check out her website at http://www.lisaonlocation.com/ so you can say "I knew her when..."

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