Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 08:12 AM
We are stepping into a very busy season with lots of coming and going for a variety of different commissions. It's a good thing we love to travel because we will traveling all over  this year. We just got ourselves an ipad so that we can watch endless movies on the plane rides of all of our international trips :). So for those who might be interested in booking shoots/mentor sessions etc. while we are in your back yard hit us up via e mail. And for our clients, keep in mind while we are traveling we may be slower to respond to e mails/calls but will of course get back with you upon our return home.

May 20th-24th             Banff, Canada
May 28th-29th             Idaho
May 30th-June 1st       Malibu, California
June 11-14th               Durango, CO
June 25-27th               Maryland/ D.C.
July 18-22nd               Upstate New York
July 26-29th               San Diego, CA
August 6th-7th            Los Angeles, CA
August 8th-13th          Moab, Utah
Sept 3-6th                  Maui, Hawaii
Sept15th-27th            Greece
Sept 30th-Oct. 3rd      Rhode Island
November 8-13th        Australia
November 21-24th      Maui, Hawaii
December 23rd-28th   Oklahoma



Thoughts
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lyndsay says: Thursday, May 20, 2010, 12:22 PM

Sad you're not coming to Texas....Austin is a cool city! Have fun in all your travels =)

Leena A. says: Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 04:04 AM

Yaaay!!! So excited that you are coming to Maryland/DC!!! :-)

todd scott ballje says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 08:59 PM

wow (period) ;)

Kevin Wrenn Photography says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 07:12 PM

Moab will be amazing. And if you are driving to Banff you HAVE to go up through Glacier NM. It will blow you away! Have fun and maybe we'll have that tea we talked about in 2011 :-)

Nathan Walker says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 06:07 PM

you're going to LOVE Banff - it's only about 4 hours from my place! As a Canadian, let me be the first one to say Welcome! Too bad we couldn't book a quicky with ya :(

Kate says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 05:11 PM

Lucky ducks! I'm envious that you have the opportunity to hop around the world. I'm ready to bust out of Oklahoma! Traveling with good company is the way to go. Bon voyage!

latteaddict says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 05:00 PM

Great you're coming to Australia. Are you stopping in Sydney? I'd love to do a session with you if you are, and it happens to be my birthday that week, so a little treat to myself maybe! Can you email if Sydney is on the itinerary...so excited.

Lisa says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 04:22 PM

Ooh!! Where abouts in Australia are you going to be?? I know it won't be little old Hobart but you still might be close!

Marissa says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 02:40 PM

SR + CR = 'Most Popular' on my Seattle Superlatives :) Have such a great time and see you both on Halloween, YAY

HannahTaylor says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 01:53 PM

I love it!! You guys are going to have a fun summer!

Darby says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 09:59 AM

Yay August 7th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO EXCITED!

Darby says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 09:58 AM

Yay August 7th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO EXICTED!

sarahrhoads says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 08:36 AM

@Millie Darn Staight!! ;) Moab will be lots of epic.
@Karen I have heard such great things about Banff yet we have never been so we're super excited!

Karen Workun says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 08:24 AM

We honeymooned in Banff! It's our destination of choice...you'll love it...Canada at it's finest :)

millie holloman says: Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 08:22 AM

Many of those places look awesome but nothing is going to beat Moab, Utah. NOTHING! ;)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 08:32 AM
Welcome to a series that I like to call "Underwater Jai," this is where we have sweet Jai cannon-ball into a really cold pool on an overcast day and freeze her buns off! haha. She was such a trooper and even though I know she was freezing she didn't show it for a second. 

Chris has been scuba diving since he was a a kid. He is one certification away from having his master diver so he has the amazing ability to breathe underwater... ;)... not really, but it sure seems like it, the boy can hold his breath underwater for an upwards of three minutes making him the ruling champion on this part of the shoot. Since the underwater portion of this shoot was kind of a last minute decision, we decided to simplify things and not get full on scuba gear. So my husbands' under-water breathing superpower to came in quite handy. 

Although Chris has shot underwater before, it was my first time. I always love experimenting, getting out of my comfort zone and trying new things. One of my goals for myself this year was to rent underwater housing and explore shooting underwater. It is an entirely different experience than shooting on land. I have to say, as I put my camera into the pool in the housing I closed my eyes, held my breath for a good long second and just held onto the hope that the enclosure was fully sealed. It was a bit of a panic because if you miss one step in putting your camera in the housing correctly the entire thing can leak out and then it is buh-bye camera and lens which would be no bueno. Luckily we had a good set up and everything worked as planned. 

This part of the shoot was purely experimental for me. I'm a huge advocate of forcing myself to try new things that scare me. Shooting underwater scared me initially because it was the land of "un-knowns." I am so glad that I did this and faced my fear. This time the underwater shoot was in a cold pool in Palm Springs, but next time hopefully it will be in an ocean in Maui somewhere :)




Thoughts
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Kayla says: Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 09:42 AM

Awesome! I want to shoot underwater SO bad!!!

Kelsey Johnson says: Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 07:12 AM

Amazing! Simply Amazing

Lia Vellardita says: Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 05:59 AM

These are just gorgeous! I love to hear how you faced your fear and challenged yourself... look what came from that.

Jason Williams says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 11:11 PM

Ummm...these images make me REALLY want to try this.

HannahTaylor says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 08:19 PM

Definitely love the huge bubble shot and the ones with the lights?! Yes, lights? I love that one of your goals this year was to shoot underwater and you have accomplished that goal! yea! There is so much about this business that takes away from shooting, that sometimes I feel (and this is probably bad to say) that it takes away from me thinking in photography. The better and fuller an artist knows their medium the more they just start thinking and creating. All the business and nitty gritty just takes that time away from being able to aspire. So I definitely am cheering for you!

Kat Speyer says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 08:10 PM

Sssssweeeeeet!

arenda says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 07:07 PM

love the ethereal look to the underwater photos!
and the makeup underwater! :)

zimtsternin says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 03:40 PM

I love your photos.
They are so creative and inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

julie h says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 12:58 PM

luuuurve them!! I think the waters off Kona are always welcoming for an underwater shoot too! ;) My favorite is the third from last where she's just about to surface.

ashley Parsons says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 12:50 PM

beautiful job, friends.

Nancy says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 12:48 PM

This is just beautiful, love your kindred spirit to experiment.

I've been wanting to go to Palm Springs, it's such a nice relaxing town, hope you enjoyed your stay. ;)

Lydia says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 12:23 PM

Sarah, these are awesome! Way to try something new!

Patricia E says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 11:55 AM

Lovely photos! My favorite so far!!

sarahrhoads says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 11:41 AM

@mary these are a combo of Jai's clothes and my clothing :) don't over-think it. Most times what you need is right in front of you.

mary says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 11:36 AM

the color in the last one is to die for... love that blue :) i do have a question... when you're styling these sessions yourselves, does that mean you're purchasing the goods (clothes, shoes, accessories, etc.) or borrowing? or returning? ;) would love to do some "shoot for me" shoots, but the styling part stumps me...

Jessica says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 11:22 AM

These are awesome! Some of my favorite photos ever!

Laura Elle says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 10:54 AM

Wow. What an inspiring post, and not just becuase of the images, but the admission of doing something outside of the world of comfort. You are truly a teacher. Awesome shoot! LOVE the last shot. There is something beautifully serene about it :) Happy Tuesday!

Nikki says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 10:49 AM

I love these! My favourite is the 3rd from the end. It makes my heart happy.

Alex Rubin says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 09:57 AM

Rad, Rad, Rad, RAD!

paula Player says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 09:43 AM

omg......amazing, amazing, amazing! Sarah...you are so incredibly genuine about your work, your values and the person that you are! I truly admire you!

Anda says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 09:29 AM

Ummm...Holy *%$#W#$IP#OJKLMRP#I)%I#)$U390&%()#&!!!! I'm typeless.

paula Leme says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 09:23 AM

awesome!!!!!!

Joe Anna says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 09:11 AM

I absolutely love these. Awesome and yay you for you pushing your limits. I'd be a little freaked out tossing my camera into the water as well!

shannon sewell says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 09:09 AM

dangit.. I'm literally days away from moving to a place with a pool, already bought the under water camera & there you go ;P
the last one is the money shot. fun stuff :)
-S

Alexandra says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 09:07 AM

Okay seriously you are one of the coolest photographers around. I admire you so much, your work is extraordinary. You are so inspiring and I just love everything you do. Great work!!!!

Alexandra says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 09:06 AM

Okay seriously you are one of the coolest photographers around. I admire you so much, your work is extraordinary. You are so inspiring and I just love everything you do. Great work!!!!

Patricia E says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 08:55 AM

These are some of my favorites of your work. I'd be super afraid that I'd ruin my camera! This is lovely.

Mikkel says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 08:55 AM

I would be totally freaked out to dunk my camera too! I've heard it's good to sink the actual housing unit without anything in it prior to putting the camera in and dunking to make sure the actual unit isn't faulty first.

So glad you were able to try this! The photos are great and getting out of your comfort zone totally makes you grow as a person...and photographer!

Patricia E says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 08:55 AM

These are some of my favorites of your work. I'd be super afraid that I'd ruin my camera! This is lovely.

Calie says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 08:50 AM

SOOOO Awesome!!! You have done it again - I am STUNNED!!! GORGEOUS!!!

Monday, April 26, 2010, 07:10 AM
I am so excited to share this little bit of yumminess with you today! Meet Jai, she is a fabulous actress out of Los Angeles that our friend Autumn introduced us to. And I'm sooo glad she did. Thanks Autumn! We shot Jai in Palm Springs last week and I am just so stoked about these frames. Chris and I concepted the shoot around capturing Jai's fun, playful freedom of spirit. I love this girl. I'm pretty sure we were best friends in a past life.  Jai has never done Myers Briggs temperament test, but I'm pretty positive she has to be an ENFP, because I have never met an ENFP I didn't fall in love with ;)

I have to give a huge shout out to the very talented make up artist, Kimberly Bragalone, who worked with us on this shoot. This whole team was just "locked-in" for this shoot. The moment the four of us (Jai, Kim, Chris and me) were together, the energy in the room just felt incredible and I knew it was going to be a killer shoot. I cannot stress the importance of working with people that you have a good compatibility with. That is sooo HUGE for us. Having someone on set with a good attitude changes the entire day. I think it is pretty safe to say that all of us walked away from this shoot feeling a nice little hop in our step and dorky grins glued to our faces.

I will post the underwater portion of our shoot with Jai later this week and I'll share a little more about that when I post it :) And to our faithful blog readers, I've been a bit off on my post-a-day track record, but alas, life is getting ahead of me! I'm going to do my best this week. I've got a lot more goodness coming your way.

Makeup/Hair: Kimberly Bragalone
Concept/Styling & Photography: Chris & Sarah Rhoads



Thoughts
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mike larson says: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 04:08 AM

Love this shoot, I just realized I forgot to post after I spend an hour going through the 1st 10 pages of archives, but i guess I edit fast and was looking at as much as I could as fast as I could. Nice work. All of it.

Kat says: Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 04:53 PM

These photos are so gorgeous. I love your site!

KyleBarnes says: Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 11:06 AM

Some of the best work ive seen from you guys.. I love THIS you (picture me in my studio clapping for you, slow at first then faster and louder till everyone joins in).

Kayla says: Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 09:43 AM

Gorgeous! SO fun!!!

Patrick says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 01:31 PM

Sarah + Chris, your lifestyle images are DOPE!

Gahhh...! =P

Nancy says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 01:06 PM

OMG, I am just in love. Seriously, I want a photo shoot with you... I'm in LA.

This has to be the ACE Hotel in Palm Springs, how lovely, just lovely!

millie holloman says: Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 09:40 AM

Sarah & Chris - I LOVE this shoot, everything about it. You rocked it out... you should be proud!

LisaK says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 07:13 PM

gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

anda says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 04:58 PM

every photo shoot you post becomes my new favorite shoot from you. i guess that's the way it should be! keep wowing me ... i know you will.

Patty Dover says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 04:36 PM

Beautiful styling and great energy!

Hannah Taylor says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 03:15 PM

OOOOOooooo! I love the green and orange! And the black and white of Jai sitting by the window is so awesome! Great job!

Jenn Best says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 12:38 PM

These are Super Fun Sarah! Glad you had a wonderful time in Palm Springs :)

Kara Mercer says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 12:11 PM

Such a fun shoot!! Awesome job!! I totally am an ENFP too!!!

lesley says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 11:36 AM

Super super cute!! :D

leonie says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 11:33 AM

how i love that first photo on the sofa! and the b/w is stunning.

and i so want a sofa like that!!!

Kevin Wrenn Photography says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 10:07 AM

So many awesome frames! Love the photo booth, love the orange door shot, love the green sofa shots!!! Another well done photoshoot!

Melina Wallisch says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 09:15 AM

looks like fun! could see them in a mag, love the one in the bikini leaning against the ice cream truck.

paula Leme says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 09:08 AM

awesome shoot! she's gorgeous :)

Alex Rubin says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 08:58 AM

Love the energy you captured and created. You had a great creative team for this shoot!

Mirelis Sanchez says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 08:20 AM

Fantastic work. She's such a beautiful girl and you captured her so simple and fresh. Love it!

Christophe D says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 08:11 AM

Great Shots !!
Energy and happiness are flowing down these ones !! Make me feel good !

Aaron Snow says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 07:49 AM

BEAUTIFUL!

italida says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 07:48 AM

Impressive! no words... *_*

taryn kent says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 07:46 AM

what a fun shoot! palm springs is the best... can't wait to see the underwater ones! these are amazing as always! ;)

Mel McLellan says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 07:38 AM

These images are de-lish! You guys executed the concept perfectly!

Megan Eckers says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 07:31 AM

awesome. awesome. awesome. period.

mikhail says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 07:27 AM

wonderful shots!

Feuza says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 07:21 AM

I Heart it! love the concepts and looks

alec vanderboom says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 07:20 AM

great stuff! that ice cream truck is awesome. the first green couch one is my favorite.

alec vanderboom says: Monday, April 26, 2010, 07:19 AM

great stuff! that ice cream truck is awesome. the first green couch one is my favorite.

Monday, January 25, 2010, 08:15 AM
"In photography, creation is a quick business- an instant, a gush, a response - putting the camera up to the eye's line of fire, snatching with that economical little box whatever it was that surprised you, catching it in midair, without tricks, without letting it get away.  You make a painting at the same time that you take a photo." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of the masters of candid photography. He helped develop what we now call the "street photography," a style that has influenced generations of photographers that followed. His work is a brilliant inspiration. 

Although street photography is not often our main medium at the Rhoads, it is something that we really enjoy especially when we travel. We have received several e mails and questions about it since our return home from Thailand. So I thought I would take a moment to share a little bit of what that experience was like and how we went about getting the shots that we did on the streets of Thailand.

Taking photos of people on the street isn't easy. If you are shy or timid, getting close to strangers and snapping the camera is probably not your idea of a great time. Given our temperaments, Chris being more introverted and me being more extraverted, I was much more excited about this type of imagery than Chris.  Getting close and becoming part of the scene is a crucial part to getting the type of images that we want to capture when shooting street photography. We shot all of our Thailand images with our 35mm 1.4 lens or with our 16-35mm 2.8 lens. Shooting wide allows us to be a participant in the scene unraveling before us. It allows us to "be a part" rather than simply being back as an observer, and to us, this is crucial. When shooting street photography we always want to be a participant not a voyeur.

A lot of the questions we were asked revolved around "how" to get the shots that we got of people on the street. It should be mentioned that there are no clear set of rules and guidelines to exactly how street photography should be done, but I would be happy to share with you our personal approach. It can be assumed that when people step into a public space they do give up certain rights to privacy. However, we never want to take advantage of that as photographers.  I prefer to take photos in a relational way. That doesn't mean we have to become best friends with each of our subjects, but learning a few words from the language, smiling a lot, taking a genuine interest in them, knowing cultural norms, and being polite makes photographing a stranger a much better experience for everyone.  

One simple technique that we used since we were in a different country and not everyone speaks english, was to raise my camera up with a smile before taking the photo as a way of 'asking' if it was okay to photograph the person. There will always be those that don't want their photo taken, for those that fall into that category, we of course always want to honor their wishes. In our particular case I would say 92% of the time the people in Thailand welcomed having their photo taken. Thailand is considered "The Land of Smiles" so a smile goes a very long way here, and a simple smile was the door to many of my favorite images from the trip.

There are also certain times when you may be taking photographs of a scene on the street where many people are involved, it can be assumed that you need not ask permission of each individual person in the scene. However, the bulk of what I shot in Thailand on the street was more portrait driven so I tended to use the above approach most of the time.

 A few street photography tips from the Rhoads:
1) Travel light and don't cause a scene. For us that meant that only one of us carried a camera at a time, we never wanted someone to feel like we were going "paparazzi" on them. 
2) Honor & respect the people we photograph and don't be a voyeur. Don't be afraid to get in close. 
3) For the type of street imagery we choose to capture, it is important that we are not sneaky. Don't hide your camera and "sneak" all your shots from a distance with your 70-200mm. Don't be a voyeur, be a participant.

I hope this helped answer some of your questions and shed some insight into how we got many of our shots in our Thailand images. We by no means are experts on the subject and there are no set guidelines and rules. This is just how we chose to go about it and what worked for us. We hope it can help a few of you out on your next adventure. 

A few of street photographers who we dig: 


Thoughts
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Stephanie Motz says: Thursday, January 28, 2010, 06:42 PM

Wow. These images are beautiful. I love the colours. Thanks for the tips. Can't wait to hit the streets with a smile and my camera!

Hannah Taylor says: Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 02:33 PM

I loved the quote by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Another great photographer that shoots in that style is Jeff Ascough (http://www.jeffascough.com/).
The sunset and the street one is beautiful and I agree with a previous comment about the monks and the camera.

Emilie says: Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 02:28 PM

I love your photos!! The colors are fabulous.

galaxie andrews says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 02:23 PM

sarah, thank you for sharing.
the one of the monk taking a photo of you is just priceless. i love that you can still see his big smile through his fingers and his happy squinty eye from the side. that pictures is so uplifting :))

Taylor says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 01:32 PM

I like the second to last image for it's depth and strong sense of place. Well done. The image of the scooters at sunset/sunrise is interesting too. Looks like something Nick Onken would shoot.

Julie says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 12:28 PM

How fun! Thank you for posting more information on the art of "street photography." I actually just enrolled in a class called street photography, because I want to grow in that specific area! Which means I can't be shy anymore... :)

Rensche van Dyk says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 12:00 PM

Thank you so much with sharing, I'm not a shy person at heart to take photos of people, but when I'm in another country I always tend to not get close-up and ask. Your tips will definitely help on my next trip. The photos are amazing! as I was scrolling through the post I was smiling - I love reading and viewing your blog it always makes me smile:)

MELINA says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 11:54 AM

i love it, thank you Sarah.
I'm going to go over to the Heavenly Village this week and practice some "street photography" for the first time...wish me luck!

Sansaara Photography says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 10:39 AM

Sarah, you know we've been blog stalking you for you a while. Your portraits from Thailand are so impressive and speak so much of your ability to relate to the people you photograph (even with language barriers) :-)

Sophie says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 09:33 AM

Nice post.
Have a look at the work of a great photographer, Raymond Depardon. I love his vision.
http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox&ALID=2K7O3R14JHU5&IT=ThumbImage01_VForm&CT=Album

Janet McK says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 09:29 AM

haha. love these! I too really like the monk taking your picture :) And thanks for sharing!

Maggie Hendrix says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 09:10 AM

Just beautiful.

Becka @Studio222 Photography says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 08:43 AM

HAHAH! My FAVORITE is the one of the monk taking a photo you YOU! :) That one made me chuckle out loud. Love all of these. The woman in the purple headband is just mesmerizing! Her smile pulled me in. What gorgeous photos, and people!

Haley Lamb says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 08:36 AM

great post! with great images to go along! ;)

Karen Workun says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 08:30 AM

As always, a lovely post from a lovely couple. I adore the monks with the camera and the watercolor artist the most...thanks for sharing some thoughts on capturing humanity in their elements!

Robert says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 08:30 AM

Thanks for the insight and tips. I've been following your work for 2 months and have been inspired by each and every post. Thanks again!

Alexandra says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 08:29 AM

Beautiful post! Thank you so much for sharing.

Kristen Mallory says: Monday, January 25, 2010, 08:28 AM

I'm in love with these images. I like to do this same thing when I travel, but never got too many of the people because I was afraid to ask. Thanks for the info, I won't be afraid next time! Beautiful imagery.