Press
:: Kirstin Radasch Wins Three Consecutive
Accolades of Excellence Awards ::
2006 8 x 10 First Half Print Competition
2007 16 x 20 Print Competition
2007 Awards of Excellence Competition
Berkeley, CA June 2007 -- Kirstin Radasch of Berkeley, CA has received special honors from the WEDDING & PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHERS INTERNATIONAL (WPPI) The annual competition, designed to recognize outstanding wedding & portrait photographers, was held in Santa Monica, CA on June 2006 and in Las Vegas, Nevada in March 2007.
“Untitled” received an Accolade of Excellence in the Children category. (2006)
“An Undeniable Presence” received an Accolade of Excellence in the Children category. (2007)
“What Love Created” received an Accolade of Excellence in the Group category. (2007)
Radasch competed against photographers from all over the world to win such honors.
The WEDDING & PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHERS INTERNATIONAL competitions are advancing the art of wedding and portrait photography. The awards are presented each year at the largest trade show, educational platform and convention in the U.S. for Wedding & Portrait Photographers. These competitions include over 2100 print entries in 19 different categories by photographers from all over the world.
For more information please visit www.wppionline.com
:: Holiday Photos 101 ::
Forbes.com
Do you wish that you could take photos like the pros?
With today's digital cameras it's not the fancy equipment that keeps us from taking great shots-it's our technique.
Get a crash course in better photography with Kirstin Radasch, award winning photographer, owner of ArtVisionsPortraiture.com and your holiday snapshots can be cherished memories today and in the future.
Radasch knows the power of a great image. “To capture the moment, reveal the beauty within the child” she explains. Digital cameras take a lot of the technical guesswork out of photography. Training eyes to look for winning shots just takes practice.
Simplify.
Don't be greedy. Don't pack too much into each frame, making a photo look chaotic. Skip the usual wide angle shots of the whole group sitting at the table or the kids unwrapping gifts. Try focusing on individuals, especially if they're doing something true to their personality. Those are the keepers and what Radasch looks for in her portrait sessions.
About Face
Often individual portraits are the most meaningful images from the season. Look for a range of emotions on faces, and remember to shoot candids as well as posed images. Candids share much more about a person than a staged moment. If you're using a digital camera, shooting lots of images increases your chance of getting a standout picture and you can always delete the ones that aren't.
Lighting Lighting
Any photographer will tell you that morning or late afternoon sunlight is “golden time.” Include an outdoor activity in your holiday schedule to take advantage of natural lighting. When indoors it's best to use a flash but with caution. Too little flash and your pictures may look dark and lose detail. Too much flash and your subjects look like ghosts in a police lineup. Try adding supportive light sources to rooms with candles, bright colored lights from the tree or an additional floor lamp in the room.
Togetherness
Radasch advises to leave the family portraits to the professionals. But if you must, start by setting your camera angle lower than usual and use that self-timer. More than anything, Radasch reminds us to bring joy and love into the photographic experience, which she feels makes the best photos. And remember that saying “cheese” can only bring you just that -- cheesy photographs!
:: Family Circle ::
Beautiful today and in the future - professional family portraits are heirlooms for your children.
Berkeley, CA-- For hundreds of years society's elite have been recording their lives in portraiture. Children of royalty, celebrities, leaders of the age have all been made timeless with an heirloom image. Reinvented, today's hot trend for stylish families is a photographic art portrait.
Once the province of Dukes and Kings, this high status art form no longer requires a court painter and tedious sittings. Today's elite turn to portrait photographers who carry on the traditions of Rembrandt, da Vinci, and van Dyck.
A Symbol of Elegance
Portraits are different from family snapshots because of their unique artistry. This is just one of the reasons why they remain so popular. “A portrait is a work of art that stands apart for time” Kirstin Radasch, award winning photographer explains, “It is a symbol of your values -- family, tradition, elegance, beauty.”
Portraits are one of the most interesting pieces of art throughout history. From Roman times to today, the artistic intent is to show the appearance of the person and capture some characteristic trait of that very person which makes him a distinct human being. Portraitists strive to convey not just the physical beauty of their subject, but also something of their character and personality.
Lasting Value
The world's most famous portraits are generally owned by museums, are rarely sold. As such, they are quite literally priceless; if a painting like the Mona Lisa were to become available the value would be approximately US$670 million in 2006. A portrait of your child -- the winsome smile, her tiny nose, his dimpled cheeks may not hang in a celebrated museum but its value -- priceless.
Choosing a Photographer
There are countless photographers on the web; what makes a portrait artist stand out? Look for an artist, not a technician. Simply walking in to a studio shows you the difference. Radasch's studio, for example, is lined with stunning images of families revealing the wonder of childhood. True artists use light with great clarity to define texture and the simple roundness of faces and limbs, rather than relying on props. When you choose a photographer, be sure to get the feeling of their personality, not just the gallery. Warmth, charisma, and professionalism can enhance a photo session creating a positive the portrait experience for your family.
Timeless Beauty
Over time, some portraits fade into the background while others remain vital. What's the difference? Portraits that emphasize the portrayal of human feelings touch us most deeply. “A child's face holds sweetness and grace” concludes Radasch. “When we look into an heirloom portrait we see the future. “When we look into an heirloom portrait in the future, we'll reflect on the past--capturing a fleeting moment in time.”
:: The Monthly ::
Since ArtVisions Portraiture moved to Berkeley from Mountain View in 1996, families from five Bay Area counties have passed through Kirstin Radasch's Walnut Square gallery to discuss their vision of their child's portrait. People don't cross county lines for just a standard 8 by 10 inch photo print, although if that's what you want, they're available as well. Radasch's specialty is custom portraits on canvas. Leaps into photo technology have made large format canvas printing (24 x 36 inch and 30 x 40 inch) an affordable reality.
Radasch combines creativity, psychology, humor, and 18 years of experience to shoot portraits that represent a child as she or he really is, at play, or caught up in one of those ineffable child moods, evanescent as a fast moving cloud. Care and attention are taken at each stage of the process: an initial meeting, an outdoors shooting session, and a final discussion back at the gallery to choose favorite images from slides.
ArtVisions Portraiture provides other unusual portraiture displays, such as printing an image on slate, then embedding it in a custom-built table. "This is where art meets reality," laughs Radasch. Another popular presentation format is the storybook album with blank pages for poetry, prose, or memorabilia. "I'm very oriented to providing a fun experience," she says, "I don't want the child to dread having their picture taken like going to the dentist." Sessions are by appointment but the public is welcome to view Radasch's portraits in the living room-style gallery.
:: Menuhin in Los Gatos ::
Yehudi Menuhin called his Los Gatos days " a blithe, young, joyful, golden time"
By Dan Pulcrano
Yehudi Menuhin, who died Friday in Berlin, Germany, at the age of 82, was profoundly influenced by his early years in Los Gatos. He maintained his connection to the area even though he lived in London, had taken on British citizenship and been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Although he lived here only a short time as a youth and considered himself a citizen of the world, the renowned violinist developed a special love for the town and its surrounding hills that lasted more than 60 years.
His wandering parents had fled the anti-Semitic pogroms of Russia as youths, then escaped the stifling social strictures of Jewish religious orthodoxy in Palestine as young adults. They came to New York, then crossed the river to New Jersey, but cared little for the ghetto mentality of what the senior Menuhin referred to as "Elizabethdump." In 1918, when Yehudi Menuhin was 2 years old, the family traversed the continent by train and settled in California. They first lived in San Francisco and later moved to Los Gatos, where Moshe and Marutha Menuhin spent their remaining years.
Menuhin used biblical metaphor to describe his special feelings for Los Gatos. "For all my family the Garden of Eden could be very exactly pinpointed in the Santa Cruz Mountains," he wrote.
The memories were not without a touch of sadness at what had become of the idyllic backdrop of his formative years. "The California of the 1970s is but a poor plundered ruin of my childhood paradise," Menuhin wistfully observed in his 1977 memoirs, Unfinished Journey.
"Neither the United States nor any other country puts back what it takes from the earth, and in the last decades we have begun to measure the gap. We Americans have begun to appreciate how well the Indians preserved their inheritance before it was delivered to our rapacity."
His appreciation for California's natural beauty had its roots in family history and his people's tradition. "If anyone felt more strongly than I did, it was my father. Like every Jew, he longed to restore contact with the land, to plant a tree and see it grow to bear blossom and fruit," Menuhin wrote. "It was a biblical urge become a Zionist urge in Palestine, but Aba [Hebrew for father] took it to root in California one day in 1934."
The Menuhins purchased more than 100 acres in the mountains for a reported $7,000, an estate called Villa Cherkess, though they never lived there. Moshe Menuhin backed away from a plan to build a family home there after sticker shock from the architect's $60,000 estimate. "Mammina saved the situation," Yehudi recalled. "Without waste of time or emotion she marshaled us into a hotel in Los Gatos and scouted the countryside for available properties. It took her three or four days at most to find one to her taste, on a hill above the town, a lovely family house which rambled in every direction, with flower beds and greensward framing an ancient oak, and a guesthouse in whose main room we could perform plays among ourselves as the previous owners had built a stage there.
"Our terrace commanded the Santa Clara Valley and the far-distant San Francisco Bay. Behind us, extending to the very top of the mountain, were orchards tended by the fathers and brothers of the Sacred Heart Novitiate.
"No sooner had we become his neighbors than Father Dunn introduced himself, welcoming us to use the novitiate's trails and tennis courts whenever we chose."
Sir Menuhin: Local commentator John Baggerly remembers the former Los Gatos resident.
The Menuhins enjoyed the tolerant and welcoming Los Gatos ambiance. Yehudi described the year he spent here as "happy and carefree. ... It was a blithe, young, joyful, golden time, careless of tomorrow."
He made the most of it in his first car, a used Cadillac V-12 with white-walled tires which he "drove in triumph to Los Gatos."
Menuhin's carefree days ended with a recital in October 1937 in San Francisco, after which career, marriage, fatherhood and World War II occupied his thoughts. During the war he performed 500 concerts for Allied soldiers and war-related charities. After the war, he performed in Germany as a gesture of reconciliation.
Despite his international stature, his love affair with the Northern California hills never ceased, and he returned at least once a year to visit. His parents gave him the land in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which was located near Lexington Reservoir, off Alma Bridge Road.
A 162-acre parcel was sold "at a bargain price" to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in May 1988, according to L. Craig Britton, the district's general manager. "He was very easy to work with," Britton said. "He wanted to help us. He liked the idea of his land being preserved as open space."
An adjacent parcel of 23 acres was acquired from Lord Menuhin around that time by the Peninsula Open Space Trust and sold in May 1991 to MROSD for preservation as open space. A home on the property, damaged by the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989, was demolished.
The original family home owned by the Moshe and Marutha Menuhin was sold to the Sisters of the Holy Names Convent. In 1954, the couple purchased a home at 191 Kimble Ave. at Prospect, near Reservoir and College avenues. Marutha Menuhin lived there until her death in November 1996. On Jan. 7 that year, some 60 guests, including her son and his wife, celebrated her 100th birthday. The event was photographed by Berkeley photographer Kirstin Radasch.
Los Gatan Jeanne Wood, a friend of the Menuhins since the 1960s, recalls that "Yehudi would get here about once a year. He came in May 1997 to receive an honorary degree, and we had lunch with him at the Huntington after Marutha passed away."
The lunch invitation of his mom's close friends following her passing was a touching gesture. "Yehudi was a very considerate person," Wood recalled. "He was kind and thoughtful. He always made us feel very welcome."
While Menuhin inherited his deep love of the land from his father, it is a safe bet that his mother contributed to his genial nature. Wood pulls out a note, torn from a small note pad, left by Marutha on her door on one of Yehudi's birthdays, which they regularly celebrated together.
"Good morning!!! Yehudi's Birthday--let us go to Martinelli's if they are functioning. If Martinelli's is open. Today let us go there for brunch," the nonagenarian wrote. "Whenever you wake up, I will be there 'with rings on my finger and bells on my toes.' "
"Marutha. I miss her," Wood says.
