I'm back!

NO, I did not drop off the face of the earth. I guess I would call it a leave of absence from my Blog. Researching, writing and editing my thesis has been monopolizing my time and energy. That combined with work, travel out east for the Holiday's and trying to meet all the deadlines for all of the above has caused me to prioritize what needs to be done. Unforntunetly blog writing came last. The good news is that I have been just as busy working shooting portraits for clients. So it has been a roller-coaster to say the least!

The Christmas Holiday's have come and gone. For me, it went by way too quickly. I spent quality time with my niece, nephew and my parents which was most enjoyable. Watching movies, reality television and overall enjoying the time spent. Having this quality time with my family has been a long time coming. Blessings are opening right and left of me- for that, I am just taking it all in and feeling so grateful in the process.

Today being the last day of 2010, I walk through with great satisfaction. To start off, I handed in my thesis to both my editor and Thesis adviser. I am exactly on schedule and feel great about it. That, coupled with tomorrow being my Birthday- things just could be or get any better.

Tonight, spending time with close friends and cheering in the new year! Tomorrow- of course, a birthday party for me......You couldn't possibly think I would let the day go by without properly honoring yet another year of life! While it's hard being so far away from family, it gives me so much comfort to know that I am close to my "family" here in Santa Barbara.

So here's to 2011!!!!! Happy New Year!!!!!!

Yosemite

Mica

Portraiture

Carolina Schoenborn Photography

Aside from shooting Landscape and Abstract Photography, I am expanding my horizons into Portrait and Wedding Photography. Recently, I attended a Birthday Celebration for a new client. I will be shooting her engagement portraits and have been contracted as Wedding Photographer for her Fall, 2011, Wedding.

I have been networking within the Los Angeles, Santa Ana, San Diego and Santa Barbara areas, and advertising my Photography business through "word of mouth." I will have my own website up soon. In the interest of gaining more expertise, I have participated in several workshops and have enjoyed traveling and working with fellow Photographers, in the Southern California area.

My home office in Santa Barbara is finally complete. There, clients are able to view my work up close and personal by viewing my portfolio and displayed work. During face to face consultation, I provide the opportunity to review in detail the various packages for special occasions and portraits.

Below is a sample photo of the Birthday girl and an attractive couple, one of the many guests in attendance. Location of event: Tee Off, 3627 State Street, Santa Barbara, 93105

Carolina Schoenborn Photography
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
805.453.5202

Thanks for visiting!

Photography Workshop

What do you see????

Dark Side of the Lens

Eat Pray Love

Big Dipper

THEM

I have been busy working on a few finals for school...in the meantime- how bout some old school Van Morrison? Back when he was in THEM. On October 9, 2010- I will be going to see VM, 5th row at the Santa Barbara Bowl!!!! CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Maternity Photography

“Let your mind start a journey thru a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be...Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar, and you'll live as you've never lived before.”

-Erich Fromm-

Life itself is a journey. My journey is taking me places least expected. When I was 10 years old, I told my parents that I wanted to be photographer. I am 32 years old now. I live on the other side of the United States from where I was raised- I am not sure if I found photography or if it found me. Regardless, I am off on my new journey looking through new lens....and I love it! I have told a few of my friends from School that I feel so happy from the inside out when I am working with my Nikon. I love it.

My most recent client asked me to shoot her Maternity Portraits. I was honored and so willing to document her process of bringing a new life into this world. For the next 6 months I will be completing portraits in different settings. First, as you can see I chose the beach. In all, I shot 945 shots!!!! I had so much fun. When I am working I am so full and extremely in the moment. My client had so much energy which made my job of capturing images much easier. It just flowed.

My portfolio is growing. I can say I enjoy the money involved in this work, but that is not what is important to me. I LOVE MY WORK with all of my heart. Love is all that matters to me. My soul has opened tremendously. That 10yr old in me that was not heard is now free to do what she loves. I feel free and I have an overall feeling endless possibilities in the horizon.

Coming Soon: Website which will have more of the portraiture that I have done with various clients as well as some of my work which is what I would consider more abstract than anything else.

Viva La Fiesta!

I am not claiming this to be my best work by any means, however I could not consider myself a Santa Barbarian without posting Fiesta Celebration which took place this past weekend. I barely made it there. I needed rest after a week of school so it was hard for me to get up the energy to spend time in crowds and deal with lines and lines of people. Just not my idea of fun. Nevertheless, I made it to the show at the SB Court House this past Saturday. I had to grab some shots, however as I had mentioned, this is not my best work at all. It was hard to really get up there without blocking the view for others. In person, it was quite a performance. I look forward to the years to come to really get out to people watch and be more involved in the festivities.

One Step At a Time

Last month at about this time, my computer decided to break down on me. Basically, a virus entered and made it so that I could not get to my desktop. The fact was that what entered my mind was not so much about losing the papers that I had written for class rather, I felt ill with the idea that all of my photos that I have taken to build of my stock may have been lost forever.

My computer had been running slightly on the slow side the day prior. It raised suspicion however I did not see any warnings indicating that there were any viruses. Then while at Natasha's place, I turned on my computer, and instantly my screen turned blue, I froze and preceded to ask Natasha if she knew what was up with my computer. I started to hyper inside. She of course did not pick up on my nervousness and started to question me about whether I had all my files backed up on an exterior hard drive or not. What a remarkable idea to do such a thing, however of course did not- I had always thought that would be a grand idea, but never made it happen. Natasha was calm while all I wanted to do was take a hammer to my computer, which of course would have solved everything.

Natasha preceded in calling Dell Customer service (she is so good to me!) found out that there is probably a virus and that my computer needs to get looked at and adds at the end that there is a possibility that all files are gone. Thanks for stating the obvious. I spent the next few days worried to death as to whether my files would be retrievable or not.

It tore my up to think that the slide show at Pacifica that I had hoped to put on would be canceled due to me losing all my photos. In fact it made me ill to think about it. I found out that my files were retraceable and had everything backed up on an exterior hard drive immediately. Just this past week, prior to showing my slide show, I informed my classmates of how close I came to not having anything to present in my slide show. That for me would be heartbreaking to face. I am grateful that all that I had worried about had a happy ending!

The slide show was a hit. It ran an hour and a half. I was so happy with my shots and was so proud to show my work to both students and staff at Pacifica. I had a large selection of music which added more flavor to the show. I had the music reflect whatever was being showed-I had a mixture, some which was Joni Mitchell, Peter Gabriel, Everly Brothers, Frank Sinatra, Loise Armstrong all the way to Nine Inch Nails and on and on- overall it was quite an eclectic selection.

I learned so much by this experience and loved showing my work. After the slide show was done, I took note of what I would have done differently along with what really worked. I have picked up a few clients along the way thus far, but truly it was great to hear and see the reactions first hand and hear the laughter and sighs as each photo was presented.

On to more great news. After a few weeks of searching for the right place, my friend Natasha and I found a house that we will be moving into this month on the 15th. The house is more than we could have wished for. 3 bedrooms, high ceilings, open floor plan, huge kitchen and plenty of space, 1900 square feet in all with a great front and back yard. We found a great deal with my work. My work has property all around the facility and planned on renovating the house and having it rented. My boss heard word that I was in search for an apartment and mentioned to me that the house was available. It is safe to say that Natasha and I would not ever find this kind of deal anywhere else, so we grabbed it! What makes this wonderful is that Natasha was willing to give me the third bedroom which ultimately allows me to create my own office for my photography. It will be my own studio where I can meet with clients and display my work.

Lately I have been doing a lot of portraiture- both family and individuals. I happily picked up a wedding for next year as well as worked at a graduation party and various family events. I have found my calling which gratefully is just an added bonus to my work as a Therapist. As I may have mentioned in the past, in some way I would like to see myself combine the two. Regardless, I need to work in baby steps for now. Keep things simple and take in all my experiences.

Eventually, I will have a website so I can advertise myself more effectively. In general, there are so many photographers- it seems everywhere I look someone is walking around with a Nikon shooting away, but hey, that's just the way it is. My desire is to love what I am doing, have fun and find each job as an opportunity for more growth. Right now, it is all about starting a name for myself and see what lies in store for me!

I Heart Pacifica

Being in the now

Here I stand once again at an intersection. One road is coming to an end, while a new one lays waiting for me to journey down. But still, I look around and see all the smiling faces of my classmates here at Pacifica Graduate Institute and take everything in. We all have come a long way to meet and share our past our present and the dreams of the future.I am proud of myself as well as my friends who have come such a long way personally as well as professionally, from where they began here at Pacifica.

I am less than two days away from completed the academic portion at Pacifica. It has been filled with many long hours spent in the classroom as well of some really fun filled evenings of spending time with my friends. It has been great fun! For me, it is such a strange feeling to come to realize that next month at this time I will not be looking at a new syllabus, purchasing new text books or planning out the papers necessary for class. I have reached that marker in my academic career. No more classes!

Tomorrow night, I will be presenting to my friends/ classmates a slide show filled with a small skit staring yours truly followed by two years of photos. Here is a sample of some of my work during this last week at Pacifica. It has been amazing fun documenting the past two years as well as taking student portraits of all my classmates. Enjoy the preview!

Clothing Swap

Dance-off

Baby Shower

Some of my classmates

Sand play items

The Night

Froggy

More of Santa Barbara

Art by Denise

On the 4th of July, I photographed a local artist in Santa Barbara: Denise Macintosh. I was honored to watch her process through the creation of her work. From the perspective from one artist to another, I understood the process of wanting to capture what is seen by the naked eye and placing it on a canvas or in my case, processing the images through the lens of a camera.

We arrived at the location at about 1pm. I helped her set up and watched her from afar get acclimated to her surroundings and what she was about to paint. I was able to capture shots from different angles. She told me later that she had forgotten I was even there and was surprised of all the shots I was able to get of her. Here are a few of the shots. Denise and I both agreed that the second shot below was our favorite- if you look closely it looks like her hand is going right through the canvas. Quite the illusion! Enjoy and should you have any questions about this artist, I would be more than happy to forward your information to her. Please write me at alram1978@yahoo.com. Enjoy!

White Lines

Closing Another Chapter

After passing the final exam, I have come to realize how close I am to completing the academic portion of Graduate School. The thought of finishing up all of my class is so bittersweet. For two years, I have been meeting with the same group of amazing people from all over the states for an intensive three day class session that meets just once a month. Here we are, July, 2010, Track C, Counseling Psychology, Master's students- we all will be saying our goodbye's at the end of this month till me meet again at graduation next May.

During the Summer sessions, it is one of the most grueling quarters during the first year and second year. The session itself lasts for one week straight. It is very exhausting however this year will mark the end of classes for us as a group and a new chapter for everyone. I can only speak for myself when I say that I am ready to go my own direction and further my journey into becoming a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. There are a number of directions that I can take however, I am leaving it up to whatever is meant to be.

The one of many great joys of being in California is that I am still in a short distance away from a number of my classmates. Nothing like a road trip to see some familiar faces! Overall, right now, I am feeling both joy and sadness about closing this chapter. My classmates have become my family and will continue to be such a meaningful group of people as well as support for me for me in the years to come.

Just last week, I finally found a job. Currently, I am going through the training process and am waiting to get my fingerprints done so that I can then begin working with clients! Overall the timing was excellent. Not working for as long as I have has been exactly what I needed. Having the final exam behind me has given me the wiggle room to relax and move forward towards beginning the next process of writing my thesis.

It does not end there. This last session is once again will be filled with some good times. Some of the festivities include, clothing swap- sort of a free for all garage sale- bring what you don't want any longer and then take what you see that you want, sorta thing. Then there will be Creative night, where we can bring poems, show artwork and just hang out with everyone! Another night, we will have a drum circles and have a rocking dance off on campus. Can't forget to mention spa night! Nothing like getting a facial, hair treatment, foot massage, back massage and my nails done all in one night! Another night there will be a BBQ off campus, afterwords a night out on town! Finally, for the last evening, I will be able to share my art by presenting the class with a slide show of all the photos I have taken! Below is a preview of some of the photos. I have had so much fun with using my photography to capture the precious memories at Pacifica.

It's hard to say goodbye but the time has to come. My world has opened up and I feel so lucky and blessed to be a part of this process of training and really doing the work on myself as well as watching others dive straight into their material.

Proverbs

Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door. -Emily Dickenson

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. -Abraham Maslow

Treat people as if they were what they should be, and you help them become what they are capable of becoming. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt

People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim. -Landers

Whenever one finds oneself towards bitterness, it is a sign of emotional failure. -Bertrand Russell

Nothing worse can happen to one than to be completely understood. -Jung

Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you. -Aldous Huxley

Creation is the only outcome of conflict that satisfies the soul. -Blake

Backyard