At this moment, my weather app says 95 degrees F and feels like 120. How to beat the heat? Danboard has the right idea. I caught him running through the fountain outside our apartment building. Stay cool everyone!
We went in with a few ideas from the bride to be as well as some of our own, and came out with some fun "Save the Date" and engagement photos for the new couple. Natural light and a beautiful park created a great setting for the shoot. Contact us to schedule your session! www.baumgartcreativemedia.com
Being only a short plane trip from Poland, Cyprus was an destination to cross off the list before we move back to the U.S. It was a great experience to roam around the ancient stone ruins set against the backdrop of bright turquoise water. We spent most of our time alternating time between the sea and pool at the resort and sightseeing around the historic coastal city of Paphos. About 2 hours northeast of Paphos was the interesting city of Nicosia, located on the border of the Greek and Turkish sides of the island. Immediately crossing the border, we were welcomed by the sound of the call to prayer echoing from a nearby minaret. Besides that, it was noticeably quieter and more peaceful, although a bit run-down, on the Turkish side with lots of interesting architecture.
This was a fun portrait shoot that took us all over the city. Tomek and Marzena wanted some shots that were a little different than the traditional, posed wedding photos. Of course, we made some traditional shots too, but we focused more on some fun poses and situations throughout Kraków.
Besides the fact that he had to wear a CPAP mask over his face for a couple hours, it was a pretty relaxing photo shoot for our model, Patrick. We were making some lifestyle product photos for the SoClean CPAP sanitizer from Better Rest Solutions. They were looking for some fresh photos for their newly launched website, Amazon store, and other marketing material. We didn't have a real bed in our studio, so we faked it with a chair, ottoman, and some pillows and blankets. Check out their new website at www.betterrestsolutions.com to see some more of our work.
This Falcon Miniature is the newest addition to my vintage camera collection. It was made in 1939 by the Utility Manufacturing Company in New York. The body is made of Bakelite, and it takes 127 roll film. It came with a 50mm lens with a fixed aperture and fixed focus. The simple spring rotary shutter offers only one speed, 1/25.
It's nice to also have the original box. Can't wait to find some 127 film and test it out!
There's no predicting mountain weather, it can change so quickly. The Tatra Mountains near Zakopane, Poland are no exception. What to do when the weather doesn't cooperate? No need to put the camera away! There are always good shots to be found. Since the cloudy skies and fresh snow cover made the views naturally monochromatic, I decided to work with it and go for a black and white treatment. Not much beats hiking through deep snow in the mountains with a camera and tripod!
Black and white winter photography of Tatra mountains in Poland by Jeff Baumgart
Black and white winter photography of Tatra mountains in Poland by Jeff Baumgart
Black and white winter photography of Tatra mountains in Poland by Jeff Baumgart
Black and white winter photography of Tatra mountains in Poland by Jeff Baumgart
Black and white winter photography of Tatra mountains in Poland by Jeff Baumgart
Black and white winter photography of Tatra mountains in Poland by Jeff Baumgart
Black and white winter photography of Tatra mountains in Poland by Jeff Baumgart
Black and white winter photography of Tatra mountains in Poland by Jeff Baumgart
Black and white winter photography of Tatra mountains in Poland by Jeff Baumgart
Black and white winter photography of Tatra mountains in Poland by Jeff Baumgart
Playmobil photographer in the snowy mountains by Jeff Baumgart
Mustache Monday begins on Dec 28!
Starting tomorrow, every Monday we will be posting a portrait from our Mustache Collection, an ongoing photo project we started over a year ago. All the fun of a real mustache without the awkward growing-in stage and no worries about how much of your lunch is living among the whiskers.
I have visited England before, but this was my first time in Yorkshire. What a beautiful, peaceful place! Even on a foggy December day, the landscape was amazing. Much of it was still so lush and green. Most of these shots were taken in and around the town of Holmfirth. Enjoy!
We recently created this commercial for the launch of SoClean 2 Go, the new portable CPAP equipment sanitizer from Better Rest Solutions.
Congratulations Rafał and Natalia! This was another first for us, a wedding shoot in Europe! What a great place Kraków is for wedding photos. Nothing like what we have back home in New England. I really like the custom here in Poland where the formal wedding photos are made a week, or in our case, a couple months, after the actual wedding day. This is nice because everyone is much more relaxed and there is plenty of time to make some nice shots at multiple locations without keeping the hungry wedding guests waiting. In Kraków, it's very common to see a bride and groom along with their photographer posing throughout the Market Square and other parts of the city on any day of the week.
For tourists and visitors from other countries, especially the US, this is something special to see. When Martina and I were photographing Rafał and Natalia, I turned around to see a group of 5 or 6 people taking their own photos of us!
We recently finished a delicious photo project for a chocolate toffee snack called Buster's Bark. What was interesting about this project is that our client was willing to ship some of their product from the US to us here in Poland where we are currently living so that we could make some photos for their website and brochures. We converted a section of our apartment into a temporary "studio". With props from IKEA and the local home center, my wife Martina got to work on the styling. We wanted the look of natural light, but because of the changing weather conditions we chose to use off camera flash for a more consistent look. We even took some to a cafe in the market square here in Kraków for some additional shots. It was a fun and tasty project!
Check out www.bustersbark.com to see how our photos were used on the website. While you are there, you can order some of these delicious homemade snacks for yourself!
Not much to say, just some photos from our trip last week to Poznań, a city in north western Poland.
A new gallery collection has been added to the website!
This will be a collection of Travel Photography for viewing and of course prints for sale. The first 3 galleries are from recent trips to the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Ukraine. Thanks so much for looking, I hope you enjoy the photos!
I have never filmed a music video before, so I offered to practice on my super talented guitarist friend, Paweł Sawicki. We shot several scenes throughout Kraków of him playing Twilight, by Kotaro Oshio. I used a camera mounted external microphone to pick up the audio and in post production, synced the clips with Paweł's studio recording. Enjoy!
I never thought that one day I would be in Poland filming a Lamborghini, but yet it happened. Since living in Poland, I have been partnering up with a friend, Jacek Sopotnicki, on some video projects here in Kraków. We received a call a couple of weeks ago from another mutual friend and manger at Hotel Witek asking if we could create a short film to promote his hotel as well as some special guests. The auto tuning team of Suhorovsky Design and their exotic cars, including a beautiful Lamborghini Gallardo, were in town for the Kraków Moto Show. What better place to stay than Hotel Witek! Despite the challenges of a last minute shoot and filming outside in direct sunlight in the middle of the day, we made it work and had a great time.
We just finished editing a couple of videos that I shot while we were back in the US last month. They were pretty interesting as we were able to get a glimpse inside of a chemical laboratory and manufacturing facility, Thor Chemicals, as well as another company, IN USA, that makes electronic components to measure and monitor ozone levels. The purpose of the videos was to highlight those two companies as well as the partnership they have with their Microsoft accounting software providers, CAL Business Solutions and Altico Advisors
Actually, you don't really have to hunt for them at all. There are some shrubs outside of our building that seem to be a perfect habitat for ladybugs. Armed with a 100mm macro lens, tripod and a collapsible reflector, I tried to get a few photos of the ladies. They don't move around a whole lot, so they are fairly easy to photograph. I had one shot set up perfectly, but just as I was pressing the shutter, it flew away. The result was a cool photo showing a ladybug like I have never seen before. It's amazing how those tiny wings fold up so precisely under that fragile little shell.
This is the view as you travel up one of the paths that lead to Wawel Castle. The sun was low, the balloon was high. My wife says it reminds her of a scene from a Bond movie.
I've realized lately that I think I am becoming hooked on motion blur. The majority of my photos that I have been making as well as favorite photos from other people all include motion blur. There's something vey unique and interesting about having one element in a photo streaking through the frame while everything else remains solid and sharp. I think the fun part of this kind of photography is the experimentation. There is no "correct" camera setting. This allows you to play around and be creative. You really don't know what you will get until after the exposure has been made. Here are a couple shots from yesterday.
