Friday, March 5, 2010, 06:09 AM
So the Rhoads are heading to Vegas today for the biggest (and most fun) photography convention of the year, WPPI [Wedding and Portrait Photographers International] in Vegas. This is such a great time to network, hang out with friends, learn, challenge one another and grow. We cannot wait! 

If you read our blog we would love to meet you! Don't be shy, please just come up and say hello and introduce yourself. We love meeting new people!! We met some of our now closest friends in Vegas last year and none of it would have happened if one of us didn't go up and say "hi, we are 'cyber friends' lets be real friends." I attached a photo that our lovely friend Gabe McClintock took of us in Vegas last year at this time. This is us, we're pretty much attached at the hip so wherever you see Chris you will likely see me and visa versa. A few things you might want to know about us and WPPI. We end up at the McDonalds counter to get an egg mcmuffin about every morning we are in Vegas... health is totally thrown to the wayside here. We don't believe in bedtimes when in Vegas.... our mentality is why sleep when you could be developing meaningful relationships?!  At the evening party's you will most likely find me tearing it up on the dance floor... I love to dance. We aren't afraid to laugh at ourselves and have a good time.

We always try to keep our Vegas Schedule pretty open ended so we can have the opportunity to connect with people and just go with the flow but we would love to bump into some of you so I attached our tentative schedule below. We'll be speaking on Tuesday @ the ProDPI booth so come out and see us!

Our tentative Vegas Schedule is as follows: 
Friday- get into MGM
Monday- plans TBD
Tuesday - 12:15 Speaking at ProDPI booth on the trade show floor about Building a Brand Experience. Come on out and say hello their booth is 1309 in MGM Grand Marquee Ballroom. 5:30pm MARFA girls dinner!
Wednesday-TBD leave Wednesday evening.

As this pertains to our clients, we will be out of the office until March 11th and will return all e mails and calls at that time.

Thoughts
Add a Comment View Comments (14)
Lisa Dashiell says: Monday, March 8, 2010, 10:47 PM

Sounds so fun! I agree that health doesn't exsist in Vegas. The last time I was there I ate at McDonalds after a very long day-night-turned into morning. I think it had been five years since I ate there....then Vegas hit. I hope your having a great time!

Melina Wallisch says: Sunday, March 7, 2010, 08:30 AM

sounds like fun, would love to put it on the itinery for next year!

natasha says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 10:16 PM

have a blast! hopefully i can make it next year;)

erwinwijanto says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 06:04 PM

See u both in Vegas !! :) whoohooo ....

Meg says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 01:12 PM

Hi! It would be awesome to meet you! I'll be at Airhorns and Lasers, too!

Nathan says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 01:01 PM

wish i was going to be there this year - i would totally come say hi :) maybe next year! have a great time!

Tyler Jones says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 10:57 AM

I'll be honest, I've kept on with your blog for a long time and I've never left a comment before. I know, it's bad. But if I see you in a few days at WPPI I'll be sure to say hi!! Just remember me as the non-commenter from Colorado :)

taryn kent photography says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 10:08 AM

i love that photo of you both... you have a beautiful smile. :)
i'll be there... and would love to meet you.

Jill says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 09:20 AM

I'll be there to say hi!

Paige Butcher says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 09:20 AM

Wish I could be there! Have a great time :)

Laura says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 08:15 AM

I hope I`ll be able to start attending in the next year or two!

Kayleen T. says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 07:15 AM

I hope to meet you this weekend Sarah! Your photos are my favorite and your words are inspirational!

Kayleen T. says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 07:15 AM

I hope to meet you this weekend Sarah! Your photos are my favorite and your words are inspirational!

Nikki says: Friday, March 5, 2010, 06:17 AM

Aw, I hope you two have loads of fun! I'm really looking forward to going to WPPI next year, I can't wait to hear all the neat things from this year, though!

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
Add a Comment View Comments (18)
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.

Friday, January 15, 2010, 08:20 AM
Three weeks into our trip in Bangkok we went to the Chatuchak Market, This was the mecca of all markets, the trading place for all of Thailand, there was over 9,000 vendors across several acres selling anything and everything that you could possibly imagine from everyday household items to the unique and strange.  We saw huge half ton metal horses for sale as well as miniature bunnies in dresses... two items I have definitely been needing for my home :). Just being there amidst the thousands of vendors, people and stuff was complete stimulation overload. Amidst of all the craziness I came across this strange little encounter seen in this frame. I walked by and saw this happening at a market in Thailand and I literraly just started cracking up. I have no idea what is happening with this dog having orange ears? And it almost looks like he is eating at the table with the man on a date? And why he is sitting on a little red stool? It just all seemed completely quirky to me and I love it. Bonus points go to anyone who can provide me with a fitting and/or quirky caption (in your comment) to go along with the image :) 

Happy Friday!

Thoughts
Add a Comment View Comments (32)
Kirsty-Abu Dhabi says: Thursday, February 4, 2010, 08:41 AM

Chatuchak is one of my favourite places in the world - I love that you caught one of the many, many wacky sights you see there - I don't love that I'm now lusting after a trip to Thailand!!!

stevie Trischmann says: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 03:14 PM

you never cease to amaze. Thanks for opening your heart up to all of us readers and sharing such a personal part of your very own story. I'm continuously inspired by you. :)

Stevie Trischmann says: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 03:12 PM

you never cease to amaze. Thanks for opening your heart up to all of us readers and sharing such a personal part of your very own story. I'm continuously inspired by you. :)

christin rose says: Monday, January 18, 2010, 11:48 PM

you are truly beautiful, Sarah. Thank you for being a constant inspiration to create and dream. you are the epitome of following your heart--- thank you!

sarahrhoads says: Monday, January 18, 2010, 04:47 PM

@Laura Chris and I read this Friday night while we were out getting some drinks with friends and we started DYING laughing! "Orange you gonna give me some soup!" PERFECT! lol.

Candice says: Monday, January 18, 2010, 06:01 AM

Haha! such a cute pic, Sarah. I wish you could have seen this dog, spray painted purple, on a motorcycle (paws on the handlebars and all:) that would always be at the market on our street. It would just sit on the motorcycle, waiting for its owner. I have a pic, but it's just a little snapshot I took (aka terrible quality). So funny that the Thais do that!

Emma Case says: Sunday, January 17, 2010, 03:30 PM

The future's bright.... the future's orange.

(This only works if you guys have Orange as a network for your mobile phones over there... in the UK this is their slogan and everyone knows it.. ha... I've now probably completely ruined it by trying to explain it!)

Jenny Jimenez says: Saturday, January 16, 2010, 05:16 PM

"I should've known he'd be coo-coo for cocoa puffs!"

amber says: Saturday, January 16, 2010, 10:21 AM

delightful & amusing!!! just what i needed to put a big smile on my face.

Laura says: Saturday, January 16, 2010, 12:01 AM

"orange you gonna give me some soup?"

Harmony Loves says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 09:32 PM

"Keep on movin, no circus here."

david hensley says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 08:18 PM

"Take a picture it will last longer!" haha hilarious pictures.

Sansaara says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 07:08 PM

What!?! Don't hate the playa hate the game!

sk says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 04:31 PM

Match.com at its very best!

Alex Rubin says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 04:07 PM

Nice dye-job!

Martin L. says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 03:19 PM

Lady and the Tramp?
http://bit.ly/QGZnP
Even the ear color fits, I guess, I solved it ;)

Lara Beck says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 03:05 PM

Hehehehee....."But you told me Orange was your favorite color"

Tanya Perez says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 02:50 PM

haha LOVE this picture so much.

Tanya Perez says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 02:50 PM

haha LOVE this picture so much.

Tanya Perez says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 02:49 PM

haha LOVE this picture so much.

Mary Wimmer says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 12:40 PM

"Maybe they should call it 'Mis-Match.com'..."

I love this picture. It's so wonderfully absurd.

Paula says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 11:27 AM

"That is the LAST time I leave my poor Muffy alone with my beauty school dropout daughter."

imthiaz houseman says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 10:48 AM

omg! this is so funny, and i love the captions so far.

Amy says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 09:38 AM

"Finish your soup already. Don't you think I've waited long enough to get my roots done!?"

That's the best I've got. Fantastic image.

Katie Lewis says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 09:36 AM

I love that the dog is looking away and the man looks kind of mad. Like he just said something the dog didn't want to hear.

Dog: 'But I thought you'd like the orange!'

samantha says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 09:20 AM

"sit, stay, play...fashionista?"

Alexandra says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 09:19 AM

Amazing :)

millie holloman says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 08:41 AM

I want a dog like that with orange ears. Where can I get him? ;)

sara montour says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 08:40 AM

that . is . amazing!

Gina Z says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 08:38 AM

"Spunky with a lot of flare, said her E-harmony profile.

love this shot Sarah, the colors are fantastic.

romin says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 08:30 AM

that is so hilarious, great capture!!

Noe says: Friday, January 15, 2010, 08:29 AM

Omg I love it!!

A huge thank you to each of our amazing clients who made this year spectacular for us! You are the people that allow us to live out our passion. You are the ones who caught the vision behind why we do this and believed in it. You are the ones who had complete faith and trust in us. You are the people who have inspired us and encouraged us and pushed us to be greater. You are the people who trusted us and empowered us. We feel so thankful to each of you, but mostly, we feel humbled. 

We found it INSANELY difficult to do a "Best of 2009" post so instead these are some highlights from the past year. Most of the photos are ones that I personally connected with for one reason or another. But that is the hard part, I felt connected to so many of our images from this year. This post started as 220 images (a ton I know!!) and Chris finally made us narrow it down to more like 30, which I found too difficult to do, so I just let him do the picking and these are just a handful of the highlights of 2009. Looking forward to a fantastic year in 2010. It's going to be a great one, I can just feel it in my bones :)

Happy New Year!












Thoughts
Add a Comment View Comments (14)
Heather Gilson says: Tuesday, January 5, 2010, 05:14 PM

Wow-what a great collection for 2009! Amazing really. You two are always so busy having fun and making cool art. Thanks for your earlier posts on your favorite business books, I REALLY enjoyed that and went straight to Amazon to order a few. Keep the reviews coming as you plow through more books in 2010!
Thanks again!

angie says: Sunday, January 3, 2010, 10:37 PM

What an amazing year!!!

kristen says: Saturday, January 2, 2010, 11:58 PM

Loved every one of these...

Michelle sidles says: Saturday, January 2, 2010, 08:23 PM

Happy New Year!!! :) Beautiful images!

arenda says: Saturday, January 2, 2010, 03:10 PM

amazing images sarah! my favourite is the one of the guy twirling the girl in the boots around, it's stunning! happy 2010!

Rebecca says: Saturday, January 2, 2010, 12:51 PM

what a great year for you :)

Maureen Nikonov says: Saturday, January 2, 2010, 12:21 PM

Only 220, Sarah? :) I could've brought another 220 to your attention that were absolutely out of this world. Good work sneaking those three of you in there, Chris, I loved those shots of you. Can't wait to see what you bring to fruition this year... congrats on all your success and all that is still to come!

imthiaz houseman says: Friday, January 1, 2010, 04:06 PM

stunning work. Happy New Year. we can't wait to see what 2010 brings to the two of you. :)

Emily says: Friday, January 1, 2010, 03:33 PM

Happy New Year Chris and Sarah!
Thank you for being part of our first year of married life! We look forward to more fun dinners and geeking out with you guys :)

chatti says: Friday, January 1, 2010, 02:50 PM

all awesome and really reflected your clients personality and your connection with your clients.

Steve Gerrard says: Friday, January 1, 2010, 02:10 PM

What an amazing year you've had. And we've loved keeping up with you along the way.
Here's to an even more incredible 2010.
Cheers
Steve & Evelyne xx

Alexandra says: Friday, January 1, 2010, 01:13 PM

I'm so in love with your work. Wow.

Jennifer says: Friday, January 1, 2010, 12:46 PM

Love them! He did a good job of picking the best!

Jennifer says: Friday, January 1, 2010, 12:46 PM

Love them! He did a good job of picking the best!