hilde van der sterren photography

Promotion Mini Russian photo shoot - 21 and 22 April 2012

Last week I went to the Izmailovo market with my friend and there we saw these wonderful Russian clothes. And since we are still quite new to Russia, I immediately wanted to do a photo shoot with my kids. I just know my parents and my parents in law will love to see them in these outfits. And it will be a great memory for them later in life. We also did them in Arabic clothing when we were living in Oman. And so the idea was born to offer a photo shoot with this theme. Who wouldn't love to have some images of their kids dressed up and all?

The mini session is:

- 30 minute photo shoot 

- 2 high res. images on CD (you can choose them from a private online gallery)

- max. 3 children per 1 shoot

- Russian clothing. You can borrow mine which you can see in the pictures here (dresses size 9, boy size 5) or bring your own (it doesn't need to be Russian clothing, it can be anything you like).

- Saturday 21 April and Sunday 22 april 2012 (either inside the studio or outside if the weather is good).

- 1850 Rub. (including photoshoot and 2 full res. digital images on CD)

Please call or email me (hilde@vandersterren.net) if you are interested. And please note that I might need to be hard to reach by phone in the Spring holiday (between 31st of March till the 9th of April, but I will read my mail).

And because it is my first promotion  here in Moscow..... the first two who will contact me will be free of charge

 

Almost ready...

Ok so the container has arrived. My new studio is nearly ready. Ideas are floating in my head. Business cards with new Russian contact details are almost done. So watch this space... I am about to reveal my plans... and they include women...families, new born babies....etc... And as well studio work as location shoots. 

week 52 project - week 10 "close-up"

Yesterday we went on a long walk through the forrest close to our home. Our container has arrived (yeah!) and we needed a break from unpacking boxes. I took my camera. It was so beautiful. The weather was great. Sunny and a bit cold but not too much.

The first shot I took was this one from the sky. 

Not really a close-up ;-) but I still want to share. I like the blue sky and the trees. And here is a close-up. The days are becoming a bit warmer and so the snow is starting to melt.

And here is another close up. I played with it a bit. Converted it to black and white, and added some texture. It is so much fun to play... I like the placement of the branches, the lines.

I love close ups. You can draw the attention into the image to where you want people to look first. 

Please take a look what  Tessa Satake and  Jessica Swatts have done with this week's theme.

Check out the snow...

I love snow. I haven't seen it in a long time. Since we have lived in the tropics for the last 10 years. It has something magical to me.

week 52 project - week 9 "shadows"

This weeks theme in our project is shadows. And I sound like a broken record, but since our container still hasn't arrived I could not make what I have in my mind. My idea involved my softbox with is inside that not arrived container...

So I chose this image from the past. I love what softboxes (and other light sources can do) with placing shadows. Don't get me wrong I still like natural light a lot. But appriciate studio light more and more as well.

In this image I like how the shadow falls of behind her but still creates separation of the background. And the shadow around her face, defines her beautiful face. 

Please take a look what  Tessa Satake and  Jessica Swatts have done with this week's theme.

Maslenitsa - end of winter party

Today we went to a Maslenitsa - end of winter party. It was very close to our house. When we arrived we saw a doll on a stick and heard wonderful Russian music. 

The most characteristic food of Maslenitsa is bliny (pancakes), popularly taken to symbolize the sun. Round and golden, they are made from the rich foods still allowed by the Orthodox tradition: butter, eggs and milk. 

As the culmination of the celebration, on Sunday evening, Lady Maslenitsa is stripped of her finery and put to the flames of a bonfire. Any remaining blintzes are also thrown on the fire and Lady Maslenitsa's ashes are buried in the snow (to "fertilize the crops").

I love the beautiful skirts they wore.

And then the moment we waited for.... Lady Maslenitsa went on fire. 

And then this lady started to dance... while dancing and me photographing her I felt the attention went elsewere...

Anybody who knows me...know I am not a fan of this...to put it mildly. For me it was not necessary at all to have a wild animal there. And to see a bear do the things he had to do feels very unnatural to me... 

week 52 project - week 8 "morning drink"

As you might know by now a group of very talented photographers, all connected through the fab photographer Nicole Van, have decided to do a week 52 project. Each week we will have a certain theme as our guideline and it is our job to show our interpretation of that theme.

This week our theme is our morning drink. I love my milky coffee in the morning. For many to milky....;-), but I love it. Especially when I drink it after my morning run.

And don't forget to take a look how Tessa Satake and  Jessica Swatts have interpreted this week's theme. Have a nice day.

I play the recorder.... | child photographer Moscow

My eldest daughter likes to play the recorder. And since it is a holiday,  we decided to play around a little and do photoshoot featuring her playing...;-)

week 52 project - week 7 "wide"

As you might know by now a group of very talented photographers, all connected through the fab photographer Nicole Van, have decided to do a week 52 project. Each week we will have a certain theme as our guideline and it is our job to show our interpretation of that theme.

We went this morning to the Red Square here in Moscow. It was quite cold and since we also had some indoor shopping plans (read nice fancy shopping malls ;-), we decided to not wear our ski pants. It proved to be a bad decision as it was very! cold. 

And because we will live here for a few years with many opportunities to visit this area again. We cut our visit to the red square short to get not too cold. I had only my point and shoot camera with me with a wide angle lens (24 mm). And this is the theme of this week. 

The good thing of a wide angle lens is you can include a lot. Like the image above you can show a lot of the envirement. The bad thing is you will get distortion at the side of the image. This can make funny faces in people when you shoot them with a wide angle lens. In lightroom, as well as other programs you can 'fix' that distortion. I would not do this with people. I don't shoot people with wide angle lenses but with architecture it is good that you can fix it. 

Here is the image without the distortion fix. You can see the sides angle inwards. 

And you can see the green tower on the left bends toward the building in the middle. 

This morning we past a market with lovely babushka's.

I am looking forward to go back again. Maybe when the kids are in school and it is a little warmer. There are so many photo opportunities here in Moscow.  I can't wait to explore them. 

Please take a look at what my fellow photographer's have to show:

Tessa Satake

Jessica Swatts

Just giving... for pancreatic cancer

I am in awe with this lady and she knows it ;-). We had once one of our long chats in the Al Fair (local supermarket in Oman) about sports. She was training for a triathlon and told me that she didn't really like it. Don't get me wrong, she does like her sports, but not so much the compition, the training together etc. And I can so relate to that. I love my running. I run my 6 K nearly every day or every other day (at least that was in Oman now in Moscow it is a whole other story ;-). But I never liked so much to train with someone else. I like to do it on my own. And so does Tina. 

And in the end she didn't do the triatlon. Her father got sick. Pancreatic cancer. Again, I could relate to that. My dad had cancer several times (Non-hodgkin). He was given up by the docters, but for some reason or the other made it through. And I am still so very thankful for that. And there my feeling to relate stopped. Her father died. 

So when she told me she was training for a Iron man 70.3:

On March 18th 2012 I shall attempt to swim, 1.9km, cycle 90km and run a Half Marathon in an Ironman 70.3 Triathlon in Singapore to raise funds for this cause. This is the only thing I can now do for my Dad. I cannot let him die without doing something for this terrible disease. Please pray that I cross the line on March 18th!!!

to raise money for research. I felt So So proud of her. Here is a woman, a daddy's girl like me, who wants to DO something about it. And if you know me, I always feel that if you want to make a difference you have to DO something. So here is a woman who doesn't particular like competition but decides to enroll in a iron man. Not just another triathlon but an Iron man!

Her goal is to raise (at least) 2000 pounds:

Or in her words:

Please take the time to read my story. (click on the word story)

 

This is my last attempt with four weeks of training to go, to attempt to get my fundraising site up to 2000.00.

 

Please dig deep and help !!!

 

Thank you

 

Tina

x

So please go to her website and donate... I just did...