Karen Schmautz, telling stories with photographs

Delta Queen - Photo by Karen Schmautz

 This week we focus on a talented photographer who specializes in a lot of different areas of photography. You could say she fits in the All of the Above category. It is a category a lot of photographers would like to say they execute well, and many do, but a lot of photographers tend to find comfort in a specific niche, and vary not outside that range of familiarity.  Karen Schmautz is not one of those photographers. She is a self-proclaimed photographic storyteller who seeks beauty in all subjects.

Karen is a fifth generation Northern Californian who discovered her love for photography through the viewfinder of a Brownie as a child. Born and raised in Placerville, she currently shoots everything from weddings, catered events, senior portraits, and restaurant advertisements in the Sacramento and Lake Tahoe areas, along with all areas in between.

She will tell you that it is people who she likes to photograph most, but her landscape photography and artistic interpretations of food, architecture, outdoor and interior-ambience are too exceptional to overlook. Her photographs are captivating and her vibrant processing easily draws viewers in to marvel at the wonderful stories she is telling. Please make sure to view the slide show at the bottom of this article to see a few of the many beautiful works Karen has produced.

Karen’s photography was strongly influenced by her grandfather who always had a camera with him and documented every event that came into their lives. She is a graduate of San Diego State with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, and she has been married for 26 years. She is also the proud mother of three grown children who were home-schooled until they entered high school.

Karen has been a freelance photographer for five years now and operates as Sierra Springs Photography. I recently ran into her at workshop, and asked her if she would be willing to be the focus of one of my weekly profiles. She happily obliged. Her Q&A follows:

How would you describe your photographic style?
I guess my style would be “Story Telling”. When I head out to take photos of an event or a person, family, wedding, I approach the subject as if it was a story and my job is to tell it in photos. I like to capture the personality of the person or event. I like photographing the details along with the big picture. I like to tell the story of the interaction between people. I love it when someone says to me, “Oh, that captures her personality exactly”, or “I generally don’t like pictures of me, but I like this one”, or “I don’t remember you taking that picture. You captured that moment perfectly”, or if they just look at the photo and it brings tears to their eyes. Then, I feel like I’ve told the story.

What are your favorite events to photograph?
Really, anything with people. I love weddings and baptisms and family reunions, Christmas, Easter, etc. I enjoy events where there are lots of different kinds of people all interacting together in many different ways…enjoying what life has to offer.

Your photos are beautifully vibrant and rich in color. What kind of software do you use in your post processing?
Thank you very much. I use Lightroom for exposure and white balance. Then, I usually import into Photoshop CS4. I take care of blemishes, spots on clothing, distracting elements and other fix ups with the normal Photoshop tools. Then, I use a combination of several actions and/or filters, depending upon my subject and the end result that I’m looking for. Among the ones I use are: Totally Rad, Kevin Kubota, Itty Bitty, Pioneer Woman, Topaz Adjust Filter and Topaz Mask. I also have my own formula for eyes, which I think are the most important aspect of a good photo.

Aside from frequent workshops, have you had any formal photography training?
I’ve taken classes at Folsom Lake College (Photography and Photoshop), online classes with Perfect Picture School of Photography and Better Photo, workshops through NAPP and Kelby Training. I was also enrolled with the New York Institute of Photography (which is a correspondence course) for several years. I have a library of training videos from Strobist, Photovision, Kelby Training and NAPP. I was also given the opportunity to intern with a Sacramento portrait and wedding photographer this year. For me, learning my craft is constant and on-going. I’ve found that the more I learn about photography, the more I realize how little I know.

What equipment (cameras, lenses, speedlights, etc.) is always with you regardless of the complexity of the job before you?
I always have my Canon 40d with my 24-70 f/2.8 lens on it. The lens is a brick, but I can’t do without it. I also have my 70-200mm and my 50mm lenses and my speedlight. I’m using Demb flip-it for my flash modifier and I’m really liking the light it’s producing (and it’s easy to carry around.) I also have my tripod and a reflector on hand. I do carry a strobist set up in my car that I can pull out in a pinch.

What sets you apart from other portrait photographers?
I think I have the ability to capture a person’s personality…the “true moments”. Through persistence and humor (usually pretty corny), I can usually get a person to relax enough so that they become comfortable with my picture taking. When people are relaxed with me and my camera, I get more of their personality in my shots and I can catch a few candids along with the more posed shots. My desire is to have people see what I see in them…the individual beauty that God has given them. I also think my photo processing sets me apart.

Scenario: A photographically rich opportunity is happening quickly that you cannot control. You hurry and reach for your camera, aim, and click the shutter. After the opportunity ends, what are the first thoughts that pop into your head before you look into the LED?
“Wow! What a great moment! I can’t believe I got it”. Then…”I sure hope my camera settings were good.” I probably shouldn’t admit this, but when I’m just carrying my camera around with me, I leave it on Program (or Aperture) for just this type of scenario. I am more interested in getting the shot than fiddling around with exposure/f stop/shutter speed. Sometimes it doesn’t work out very well for me, but mostly I can deal with what the camera decides in these kinds of situations (with some regrets.) My first instinct is to click the camera when I see this kind of situation developing so leaving the setting on manual rarely works for me.

What is beautiful to you personally?
God’s creation is beautiful. I live in Pollock Pines and Lake Tahoe. There is so much natural beauty in those areas. Sometimes it’s distracting for me to drive around the area because I see so much beauty that I want to stop and take pictures every few miles. But even more beautiful than landscapes are people because I think there is beauty and loveliness in every individual. I have a strong desire for people to see the beauty that I see in them by way of my pictures.

Which aspect of your photography services grows continually and which aspect of your services would you like to see grow faster?
My wedding business is steadily growing, which makes me very happy. I would love to see Senior and Family photography grow a little faster. I know the economy is rough right now and photography services are probably not at the top of the list, but I would really like to figure out a way to provide my services to these two groups in a way that would make us both satisfied.

Final Question. If you could tell the story of any celebrity, or celebrities, with your own photographic style, who would it be and describe the location.
I would like to have photographed Norman Rockwell. I realize he passed away in the 1970’s, but I’ve gotten so much inspiration from his paintings over the years. (I think I have 4 books of his work.) I think he was a master story-teller using pictures and his paintings showed a great sense of humor. Rockwell worked from photographs that he set up, directed and then he hired friends and neighbors to pose in them. I would have loved to been able to photograph him in his own element, while he was painting and/or directing one of the photo sessions…photograph him doing what he loved.