Chris Hoffmann Photography

A few weeks back my wife (Maggie) and I took my aunt to see the Cleopatra exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Upon completing the exhibit, we decided to walk through my favorite part of the entire Museum (The Streets of Old Milwaukee). We didn’t have too much time to spend since it was getting late and the museum would be closing soon, but for once I had my camera and was able to capture a few shots before we left. Unfortunately, the lighting is very dull and getting a very descriptive photo is nearly impossible without use of a tripod, but with todays incredibly high ISO settings I was able to capture a few using what light happened to be available. 

On March 2, 2012 I went over to Becca and Jared Klug’s home in Milwaukee. Becca is due (with her first child) in late March or early April and was looking to have some portraits done to remember her first pregnancy. I’ve never done a pregnancy shoot before, so I was very willing to give it a go. From my research, I knew that a pregnancy shoot would be tough. You want to show that the woman is pregnant, but keep in mind that even with a new life inside of her, she is still beautiful. With Becca this was incredibly easy, she never once complained about anything and was very confident about her appearance. In the three hours of shooting, I believe Becca made a total of three wardrobe changes, whilst Jared (lucky dog) only changed once.

I’m fairly proud of what has been shot here, but of course there is tons of room for improvement and Becca invited me back anytime before the birth to take some more. I may have to take her up on that.

Waukesha Nature Hike

Mags and I went for a little walk in Waukesha last week-end and just for grins I took along my camera and Canon 75-300 “cheepie” lens. Here’s a couple of snap shots I took. Nothing special here, but it was really fun taking a walk with my wonderful wife.

Chris

I read this article How To Test a Lens on Canon Rumors and figured I’d try it myself. I’ve come to find out I have probably the sharpest possible version of the Canon 24-105mm L you can get. Above are some photos from the test.

Recently I did a simple Christmas shoot with Steve and Shannon. This all sounds fine, until you put little M into the equation. She simply wanted nothing to do with the grey-haired guy and his hefty piece of metal that makes lights turn on-off for no apparent reason. I took a lot of photos and hopefully they are satisfied, but I did realize just how difficult taking photos of children can be. All that aside, it was still quite fun for me; I’m not so sure about Shannon and Steve, however.

Thanks for the opportunity Steve and Shannon and Merry Christmas to all!

Reese’eee Girl

Had a chance to photograph a friends doggie some time ago, but unfortunately I am still using my Canon 20d which is not the best tool to use in low light. I was forced to shoot at ISO 3200 with 1.8 aperture and shutter speeds as low as 1/10th. Not stellar for capturing a cute little doggie that likes to jump around. Maybe if I’m lucky, some cute little elf will bring me a Canon 5d markII for the holidays…   

Happy Holidays to ALL!!!

A few weeks back I had the privilege of doing a historical photo walk with Maggie (my wife) and one of her professors. Father Zeps accompanied Maggie and I through the Forest Home Cemetery looking at the grave stones of some of the most influential past business leaders of the metro Milwaukee area. Mags was especially excited to see the markers of Walter Schroeder and his family. Walter Schroeder was the original hotel magnate for Wisconsin and she has written ad infinitum regarding his life and the philanthropic results of his great wealth. Places such as Marquette University, MSOE, the North Shore YMCA, St Lukes Hospital, and hundreds of other charities across south eastern Wisconsin have benefited from either himself or the Schroeder Foundation (his trust). I learned way more about Milwaukee area history than I expected walking with two people that know, what seems to me, to be everything that ever happened in Milwaukee!

Unfortunately, the lighting this day was completely horrible. There was not a cloud in the sky and it was fairly close to mid-day so I kept the camera in the bag most of the time. As you can see I did bring it out on a few occasions, since I had to capture some pictures for Maggie to possibly use with some of her papers in the future. I included photos that have been played with in Adobe Lightroom 3 (my photoshop program of choice). My main photo is of Father Zeps and this was used for an article in the Marquette Tribune. He had a portrait taken after my shot, but insisted upon having my photo in the article. Too bad they never gave me credit, but I’ll get over it. It is just nice to see others enjoying what I have done.

Photo walk with photo student Val.

Today I took a photo walk with a very nice young lady by the name of Valerie. She is a graphic arts student involved in a photo class. Now, graphic artists and photographers have a lot of similarities in their workflows, but today I learned there are quite a few differences. Val was explaining her procedure when writing/designing and it revolves around keeping eyes moving on the page/medium. Always scanning every aspect to try and “sell” whatever it is they want. I then pointed out to her, photography is more about telling a story, not necessarily selling a product. That may be keeping peoples eyes on the page, but sometimes what the viewer does not see leads to a greater impact of the picture. What the imagination of the viewer fills in can be of great impact and expand upon the meaning of the photograph. Beyond that, you want the eyes of the viewer to go to the focal point with the background working as a complimentary element.

The above pictures were taken by Val with my camera over the course of the last two days. I did the developing, but I think she did a pretty good job with framing. I hope she gets a good grade for this project.