Raul and Caroline Urbano's Photoshoot

I had the pleasure of photographing my Aunt and Uncle and their kids while visiting in Tucson. I always thought the Sonoran Desert was beautiful to look at and now realize how nice it is as a background. The best thing about this shoot was how happy and positive everyone was. Shooting a family portrait can be stressful. Trying to get everybody ready on time is tough. This family looks great, don't you agree?

The Sedlund's Tucson Photo Shoot

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting all of my Family in Tucson Arizona.  While I was there I decided to do a few photo shoots to anyone who was needing them.  This particular shoot includes my Aunt Monica, Uncle Keith, and Cousins Marisa and Emily.  Emily is also my God Daughter but they are both near and dear to my heart.  The Sedlunds decided to all wear Blue for the shoot and made a great decision because Blue goes great with the Green and Brown background.

To see more of my work please visit www.eleazarparadise.com and www.flickr.com/photos/eleazarparadise.

Brand new website!

Attention Ladies and Gentlemen!

Eleazar Paradise Photography is pleased to announce the release of our new website.  Our new site has been redesigned with a fresh new look and has added flash slide shows to highlight all of the great work we did together.  

Visit www.eleazarparadise.com to check it out.  Their might be a photo of you in there. Thank you all for your love and support.

If you see the old site hit the refresh button.  You know you’re at the right site if Chris Isaak music plays.

Sara Osburn - Capturing Sara's Smile.

     I recently had the privilege to meet and photograph Sara Osburn from Mix 94.7 FM here in Austin.  Sara and I both do Improv here in Austin, and she called me up one day because she needed some pictures taken.  Sara needed a new head shot, a full length shot, and something fun that showed her personality.  After a few minutes of chit chat and a quick brainstorming session, we decided to do the shoot downtown.  I grabbed my camera and ran there to scout out a few good locations.  The scouting mission was fun, but the outside temperature was about 102.  It was well worth it, though.
     I found a few great locations near the corner of 4th Street and Lavaca.  I told her what I found, and we met there a few days later.  The best thing about working with Sara was the fact that she knew from the beginning what she wanted. She was also great at conversation, and her smile looked great on any pose I had her do.  The shoot lasted a couple hours, and we both immediately got to work proofing and retouching the images. She chose her 12 favorite images, and I felt they were too good not to post on Facebook and Flickr.
    
Thank you very much, Sara, for giving me the chance to capture these great images of you. I know we had a great time, and you taught me a few things that will make me a better photographer.

Note:  Click Play on the movie.  Then in the bottom right corner click on 360p twice to change the video to 720p.  Then select the full screen button to get the full effect.  Thanks for watching.

Texas Cheetos Massacre

A funny thing happened earlier today. While waiting in line at the local food store, my daughter Helena started getting upset because her daddy forgot to give her a snack while walking down the isles.  So I put down my issue of Teen Dream and reached for the nearest tasty food item to satisfy her hunger.  Lo and behold I found Cheetos Puffs.  Cheetos an American original and awesome standby for clueless Daddies everywhere.  I paid for the snack and opened the bag and handed it to her.  She was on those cheesy puffy orange Cheetos like a hobo on a ham sandwich!  I decided to keep my fingers a safe distance away from her.

While driving home I looked over at her and saw to my horror a gruesome, horrible scene.  My daughter not only ate the Cheetos, she massacred them.  There she was, happy, warm, cheese dust all over her face with a slight smile of someone who devoured little creatures with extreme prejudice.  No Cheeto was spared.

I always remind Celestina that Helena is a Paradise whenever I see her do things like her daddy.  Well here is another example.  When a Paradise is hungry and a Cheetos bag is nearby, do the smart thing and just walk away.  That's my girl.

Austin Photo Walk - Downtown Warehouse District with Absinthe

It's been a long time since I went on a photo walk.  For those of you that don't know what this is, it's taking a walk with your camera and taking pictures of interesting things and while getting in some photography practice.  This particular walk wasn't planned but rather done out of necessity because I've been babysitting for about 60 hours this week alone.  I decided this time to check out Austin's Warehouse district instead of exploring mother nature.

After spending a good 20 minutes looking for any free parking I decided to check out a restaurant and bar called Peche on 4th street.  Peche Website .  Ever since I read a very interesting article about a liquor called Absinthe in an issue of Maxim I've been curious to try it because Van Gogh drank it all the time to help him with his creativity.  According to Wikipedia "Absinthe (English pronunciation: /ˈæbˌsɪnθ/) is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic (45–74% ABV) beverage.^[1][2][3][4] It is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood". Absinthe traditionally has a natural green colour but can also be colourless. It is commonly referred to in historical literature as "la fée verte" (the Green Fairy).".  Peche is known for recreating cocktails that were popular during the prohibition and more notably Peche is an Absinthe bar.  Finally my chance to try the green fairy.

As I entered the beautiful restaurant I couldn't help but notice the amount of detail that the owner put into it's appearance.  The staff looked exceptional and the room made me feel as if I was in a speakeasy.  I immediately noticed the Absinthe behind the bar and the ice water Absinthe fountains on the bar.  These are used in the preparation of the Absinthe.  

I asked the bartender if I should try an Absinthe that was light and easy or should I go for the same caliber of drink that Van Gogh used to enjoy.  She told me I should be bold and try the Pernod.  Pernod Website.  Pernod is the original and strongest Absinthe on the market.  The flavor is similar to Black Licorice.  The correct way to prepare Absinthe is to pour it into an Absinthe glass and place a special slotted spoon over it.  Then add a large sugar cube on the spoon and place it under the ice water Absinthe fountain. The water then drops onto the sugar cube and slowly dissolves the sugar into the green drink below.  As this is happening the green liquid starts becoming lighter in color and almost milky green.  After the cube disintegrates you stir the drink and enjoy.

Will this green fairy help connect me with artistic masters of yesterday?  Will this fairy spark new creativity?  There is only one way to tell.  Bottoms up!


Wow!  Pernod is STRONG.  I do enjoy black licorice flavor but this was intense.  So intense that drinking a cold water chaser wasn't helping.  The drink started making my tongue numb and after 10 minutes a nice buzz presented itself.  The flavor was so intense that it almost became a chore just to finish it.  But finish it I did.


Final analysis - Pernod is good but I don't recommend this for beginners.  Absinthe has a unique flavor and buzz.   If your into trying new and exciting things try Absinthe and be know that it's possible to mix Absinthe into a cool cocktail instead of drinking it the old fashioned way.  


I also want to add that if you visit Austin and want to experience downtown I recommend visiting the Warehouse District rather than 6th street.  I'll explain more later and we'll go over more about photo walks in an upcoming post.


Adios.

How to create a READ poster for your classroom.

As a photographer I'm always looking to photograph interesting people and places.  Until recently I started to create interesting pictures instead of just waiting for them. Creating fun photographs is a lot of work but it pays off.

My dad Blaine Paradise is about to start his 20th year of teaching and needed something interesting to put in his room for his students.  After 5 minutes of brainstorming we decided to recreate a READ poster for his room.  After all, he is a reading teacher.

We decided to to do the shoot in his living room with him sitting on his favorite chair.  Dads everywhere know what I'm talking about.  The following tutorial is how I created a READ poster.  It's not that much work and it's a lot of fun.

1.  Find a location inside or outside that you the model are comfortable in.  If the location makes you happy and relaxed it will show in the picture.

2.  Take the time to iron your clothes and get dressed up in your outfit.  The outfit can be anything.  Basketball clothes if the set is on a basketball court, or casual clothes with an apron if it's a kitchen shoot.

3.  Set up the lighting for the shot.  I had my Nikon SB-600 flash on a light stand with a radio trigger set to manual mode.  I had the flash bounce off the white wall to my left so that it would soften the light.  I also had the white balance set to incandescent and put a 1/2 CTO gel on the flash. I also had a silver reflector on the other side of my dad so that it would reflect some light to the other side of my dad's face.  The camera setting was ISO 800, 1/200 at F/4.0 and focal length was 28mm.  

4.  Have the photographer compose the shot using the rule of thirds with you holding your favorite book.  Do a variety of poses and smiles and choose the right one in editing. Have fun with it.  Also add a void of space either above or below you for the text.

5.  Import the images into your photo program of choice and prepare to add text.  If you don't have a program or if your current program can't add text download Picasa 3 for free from google.

6.  Add the READ text in huge lettering and then add in smaller text __Your Name___ for America's Libraries or @ you local library.

7.  Export the image twice.  One small for the Internet and one original size for the actual poster. I export as a jpeg.

8.  www.samsclub.com has the best price for 20x30 inch posters, around $9.00 each.

Here is a sample of Blaine's new posters.

The twilight poster was done using Rick Nunn's technique, visit http://ricknunn.com/how-i-shoot-lowkey-portrait/.

EAT Brisket!

One of my favorite things to do in life is to smoke a brisket.  After moving to Texas and personally eating about 25 pounds of it over the course of three years I decided to give it a try.  I purchased a BBQ pit at Academy (Sports Store) and a book about BBQ and got to work.  I made a big error the first time we tried it because I cooked the brisket at around 180 degrees for 12 hours.  When we cut it open the inside was still raw and tough.  We then decided to wrap it in foil and finish it off in the oven at 375 degrees for a couple more hours.  After fourteen hours we filled our bellies with brisket even though it was midnight.

I started this blog to start passing my knowledge of life and more importantly photography tips to hungry minds.  I don't know everything and I'm learning new things everyday and a blog can be a powerful tool for knowledge if it's used with other resources.  If you learn anything from this blog please add your ideas and opinions in the comments, and please spread the word. I'll be adding to the blog every few days and I promise to keep the posts short and sweet with tons of info and pictures. To start this off I think I'll add my soon to be in-famous brisket recipe.


Paradise Family Texas Brisket


Time: 7-8 hours
Servings : 10


Ingredients - 
1 - 12-15 pound brisket with one side having a 1/4 - 1/2 inch of fat.
1 - Bag of your favorite dry rub. Salt, Pepper, Garlic if you have no dry rub.
1 - Medium bag of charcoal.
Enough Pecan or Oak wood chunks or small logs that would fill a backpack.
1 - BBQ pit with a fire box on the side and a thermometer attached to the large lid.


Steps - 
1. Start this procedure 8 1/2 hours before dinner.
2. Start a charcoal fire in the firebox.
3. Rinse off your brisket and on a large baking pan lay it down and rub your dry rub all over it. You want the entire surface covered, even the fat side.
4. Place a pie tin full of water in the large chamber of the pit.  This provides moisture to the brisket while it's cooking.
5. 30 minutes after you lit the coals the coals should be ready.  Spread them out so that they're flat and add a couple of pieces of wood chunks to the fire.  The wood is your smoke and the coals are your primary heat source.
Make sure the firebox is getting oxygen and the chimney flue is open.  
6.  Lay the brisket down fat side up on the grill under the thermostat and about 1.5 feet from the fire. Close the lids.
7.  Check the temperature after about 15 minutes.  You want to smoke the brisket for four hours and keep the temperature at about 250 degrees.  Don't worry if the temp is 280 for 30 minutes and 220 for 30 minutes.  I care about averages.  It's hard to maintain 250 for all four hours.
8. Every 30 minutes check the temperature and add more wood or remove charcoal to get your temperature correct.
9. After four hours the brisket will be dark brown/red.  Take it out and bring it into the kitchen.
10. Wrap the brisket in foil and place it in a deep sided pan and put it in the oven at 375 degrees for four more hours.
11. Pull it out and slice it up.  Try to slice it along the grain of the meat.  It will cut better and look nicer. 
12. Enjoy with BBQ sauce or not, it's your choice.
13. Send me your pictures and I'll be sure to add them to the blog.