Another Christmas Card

I've completed another Christmas card template that I hope to offer clients.

I'm kind of a tradionalist, green and red colors with Christmas Trees or snowflakes, a church or snow covered landscape when it comes to the holidays. But I've seen where more and more folks want something a little different. In fact browns and grays have become in vogue. I think black and white photography works really well with these themes and will hopefully be a success at the studio.


So I decided to create a card that is less traditional, and reflects more of these colors. The cool thing is that I can remove certain layers and still have a functioning non-Christmas card that I can offer throughout the year.

Christmas Cards From High Noon Photography

Wow, its been too long since I've been here.

I recently decided to put down the camera and develop new Christmas Card templates.
This time of year can get busy with Christmas Portraits and Family Photography and I wanted some new looks for clients in El Paso and Las Cruces.

I'm no graphic artist, but its fun to stretch yourself, plus save a couple hundred bucks from not buying templates. So far I've only designed one look. It has several combinations of colors or messages to choose from -- hopefully I can knock out a few more in the coming days.

I've decided to also develop a new campaign that can save folks money and still get them beautifully customized cards. I probably will limit this to studio work at High Noon Photography... more details to come.

Anyway, here is a look at the first mock ups. Its easy to change out the text and to even further personalize the look for clients. The pics show the Red, Gold and Green tri-fold cards that are 5x7 and horizontal. I also did the workup for the inside elements and displaying what that looks like in the red card version.

Tony Goes Black and White

A friend of mine, Tony, came over to see the studio and talk about old times. I hired him years ago as a photographer/editor. He now is an assignment editor (nice promotion) and doing a heckuva job.

Tony produced a series on a young man who went to Iraq and left that war as a double amputee. The young man whose name is Adrian had been a star basketball player in high school. What Tony and viewers quickly learned about Adrian was that this young man's spirit refuses to allow his misfortune in Iraq, to poison his life. Adrian, besides loving hoops, is a huge admirer of comedian George Lopez. That tid bit will come into play later on.

Anyway, after producing the series, Tony came to befriend Adrian. It was quite something to see the level in which Tony dedicated his time and affections to Adrian. Eventually, news of Tony and Adrian and the story behind their relationship somehow caught the ear of George Lopez. The comedian flew the two to a concert in Los Angeles where he was performing, and soon also found himself wanting to connect in this infectious affair. Two years later we now have an authentic rendition of the 3 amigos, who are constantly in each others company and enjoying friendship at it's truest core.

Alright to wrap this up, as I said Tony came over to see the setup. We really didn't do a shoot, but he wanted to see how strobes work as opposed to hot lights. I fired off 4 or 5 shots and later converted this one to a black and white. I like it because he is also my friend.

Some Of My Favorite People

I'd like for you to check out this really cool slideshow. These are some of my clients from past shoots.

A Trip To The Earth's Core

This past 4th of July we took some family to Carlsbad Caverns. If you've never been there, this is an amazing Cavern system. The cave has over 300 entrances, I believe is 200 miles long and is still a living cave. Water along with other materials continue to grow stalactites and stalagmites. These pics are from the public entrance in the NPS. The cave here drops to 750 ft below the caverns entrance. Fortunately, hydraulic elevators carry you back to the top after you traverse to the bottom.

The first picture is looking back at the caves opening. Just below you can see a trail of people combing down. On the bottom of the pic is more people and another group in the foreground. This depth alone must be several hundred feet. The mouth looks very small, but I would guess it to be about 150' wide by 50' high??? Anyway, if you've never been there, you really should consider a trip, its like going to another planet.







This is my nephew Cameron, his wife Brittaney and their daughter Leahnay. They were down from Albuquerque to visit us. The picture almost looks like a composite. That's because the flash was probably about .5 seconds, but the exposure was probably closer to 3 seconds.



A tripod is almost a waste of time, especially on a holiday. The trail was packed and there is little to no light on the trails. From time to time there are areas to pull off of the trail, but again it is so dark and was so crowded I decided to forgo the use of sticks. I ended up propping my camera on the round trail rails... nearly impossible to stabilize, a frumpy diaper bag or went hand held. There are occasions where you should use a flash, but overall, most of the pics should be natural light. Either way, you end up with 2 to 3 second or longer exposures. It was quite challenging, but even the pics where there is some motion blur I was happy with.





The one room I wasn't able to photograph is the King's Palace. You can only see it with a Ranger guided tour. If you go, book it. This is the most amazing room at the Caverns. It is now closed due to the constant vandalism that people would do, by breaking off pieces of stalactites or other cave material. How very sad. This is the Big Room which is still pretty impressive, but is dwarfed by the King's Palace and doesn't have nearly the displays -- still, it's quite beautiful.

Pooch Modeling

Some good friends took a trip to Disneyland and asked if we would keep an eye on their dog. She is very high strung...a furniture climber, urrrggh, but also very loveable. She doesn't know any strangers and is always looking to spend time with you.

Anyway, I decided to dognapp her and took her into the studio for a shoot... a very brief shoot. I think bright lights and shutters clicking is not her idea of fun. Anyway, how often can you do a shoot without needing a model release form? Here's a pic of this terrific little dog.

Some friends of mine and I went out last night to get some lightning shots. It really was a poor night, as there was lots of cloud cover and strikes that were often hidden behind the mountain or in the clouds. The weather though was one of those spectacular West Texas evenings. Cooling down to probably the 70's with a light wind. These mountains are at a Texas state park. They are known as the Hueco's (HWay-cohs) and are known for their hieroglyphics and great rock climbing. They really are more like hills than mountains, but must be challenging, because rock climbers from all over the world come to give them a workout. A shout out to Jeff, Ginger, George, Jean and the boys -- I had a great time gang.