GoodEye Photography + Design bio picture
  • Welcome to the GoodEye Photography + Design PhotoBlog!

    Hey you. Yeah, you. Thanks for visiting my blog. Check here often for the latest and greatest photos by Chris Schmauch. Based in lovely Santa Cruz, California, I'm best known as a photographer specializing in weddings, restaurants, homes, families, children, portraits, events, models, products... well you get the point, I love it all!

    Click on the "Categories" link up top to find posts related to certain types of photography. Click the "portfolio" link to visit www.GoodEyePhotography.com, where you can order prints from over 130,000 photos in my always-expanding archive.

    Oh, a little about me: I'm 33, happily married with two little girls, and am passionate about both Photography and Design (hence the business name). I'm a Nikon shooter, love both Macs and PCs, have that type of personality that gets along with anyone, am totally unflappable, and, well, I'm pretty good at what I do.

    Visit often, and if you'd like to book me, don't hesitate to call: 408.431.4808! (yeah, yeah, I know it's not "831" but I promise I'm a local!!)

      

49ers Patrick Willis and Alex Smith (Portraits, Charity)

Morton’s the Steakhouse (San Jose) is partnering up with the San Francisco 49ers for their upcoming “Celebrity Servers” event. It’s a fund-raising effort to benefit different charities that each celebrity chooses to represent. If you’d like to be served by Alex Smith or Patrick Willis and have the opportunity to bid on signed sports memorabilia at the auction, seats will set you back at least $250 (price not set). But that’s a small price to pay to not only rub elbows with some of the 49ers finest, but also increase your karma by benefiting the charities.

Patrick and Alex were totally cool, we had fun during our 20-minute shoot. I didn’t ask them to do anything crazy – they’re bigger than me so I didn’t want to push my luck. Here’s a few photos from this morning’s shoot below, the rest can be seen here.

Popularity: 1% [?]

July 29, 2010 - 7:24 am

Miguel Valenzuela - I have this feeling you didn’t take that last photo. Of course, Chris bot 2.0 with his lightning speed tires could have.

Rachel + Thom (Wedding Album)

Rachel and Thom had a lovely little wedding in San Jose earlier this year. I designed the album below from their favorites… enjoy!

Hint: click the “Fullscreen” icon to really see the album!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Rachel + Brandon (Engaged)

I met Rachel and her mom a few months ago through a common friend – they were both so sweet, and I was excited they wanted to use me for the upcoming wedding. Rachel drove down from Sacramento today with her fiance Brandon, who I met for the first time. Talk about a good looking couple! I felt like I was shooting professional models. Plus, they have a natural ease with each other that comes from chemistry and of course, a deep and spiritual love. Rachel wanted a rustic feel to their engagement photos, and had seen some photos form a previous family shoot that had the setting she was envisioning. We both battled traffic  (them from Sacramento, me from Santa Cruz) to get to Morgan Hill, but even though we were both late, we had plenty of lovely early evening light to play with. Plus, I always bring my own lights to enhance what nature provides:)

We had a great time exploring off Coyote Creek trail and poking around some abandoned buildings. We saw lots of field mice and even a white barn owl during our adventure. Rachel and Brandon never objected to my crazy ideas – even when I had Brandon “wear” the graffiti sombrero hat! I love being the boss… here’s some of my favorites from the shoot, the rest are here.

Popularity: 10% [?]

July 28, 2010 - 11:13 am

Shaun Leeper - The pictures turned out great! I am pumped for the wedding in September. It has been a long time coming and will solidify what has been an awesome relationship up to this point. Congrats!

July 28, 2010 - 4:38 pm

Christine Epperson - I love this picture! I am the mother of the groom and couldn’t be more happy for my son Brandon. Rachel is a HUGE part of our family, we love her so much and look forward to our future together. I am so proud of you both and all your accomplishments…this is one proud Mom. I love you both! Congratulations!

Mom :)

July 28, 2010 - 4:52 pm

Allie - The pictures of Rachel and Brandon are Beautiful!

July 28, 2010 - 6:16 pm

Jessica Newton - These pictures are amazing!! I love the setting on all of them. Yes, they are definitely a beautiful couple. Fabulous pictures!

July 28, 2010 - 6:26 pm

Tim Spoon - Some beautiful photography work of a cute couple. Almost as good as the wedding photos of Christine and Daron.LOL

July 28, 2010 - 7:13 pm

Shelley Grinager - The pictures are amazing! I love all of them!!!

July 28, 2010 - 7:24 pm

Adam Lenakakis - Ohhhh you so beautiful! So beautiful.

July 28, 2010 - 11:01 pm

Jen Paguel - These are great pictures. You guys look very happy together and will have a happy life.

The Kemlings (Family Portraits)

Kurt Kemling is a good friend of mine (even though we’ve only met a couple times) – it’s weird how you can get to know someone without ever spending time with them. He’s also a professional photographer that I admire, with two adorable girls near my own girls’ age, as well as a wife named Beckie (mine’s Becky). Needless to say, we’ve been meaning to have our families meet up so we could “shoot” each other. Because we’re both busy, we set up a day two months ahead of time – today the day finally arrived, and it was SO much fun! Not only are the Kemlings fun to hang out with, they make some great photos. Here’s a few of my favorites of Kurt’s family. All of them can be viewed here.

Popularity: 2% [?]

#1 “Best of Yelp”

I just happened to be looking for something on Yelp today and noticed that the Yelp Folks were headlining their “Best Of” businesses on their main page. It defaulted to the Santa Cruz area as that’s where I live, and out of curiosity I clicked on the “Professional Services” category. My jaw dropped when I saw that GoodEye Photography + Design held the #1 spot – not only among photographers, but among all businesses in the “professional services” category. Sweet! All credit goes to the clients that have taken the time to write about their experiences with me, of course, and for that I’m eternally humbled and grateful. I don’t know how long the page will be up, so I took the screenshot above as proof:)

Popularity: 4% [?]

July 23, 2010 - 4:53 pm

Marina Popova - You rock Chris! :)

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