With all the cheesecake baking, homemade garlic & curry hummus, and tonight’s seared salmon dinner I have to brag on Sara’s culinary creativity. I mentioned turning our back deck into a neighborhood cafe tonight, especially as the spring weather brings grilling back to the dinner deck. I loved eating outside in the back yard as a kid when my dad grilled anything and everything (even lasagna once, only took once to learn that a microwave reheats better). This summer marks two years at our townhouse, and two years grilling around the back deck.

If Sara and I had a computer program that combined my image editing skills and her cooking creativity it would be Adobe Photoshop CS3 Cook Extended as demonstrated below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you’re seeing an RSS feed and the video above doesn’t show up check the original post here.

Madeline’s eyes looked hazel when she was born but I’m pretty sure they’re staying blue like her big brother and her Mama’s eyes are. She was rather content to wiggle by herself a bit while I played with Adrian – a welcome break from wanting to be constantly picked up – so I let her stretch out on the turquoise blanket a friend knitted (crocheted?) for Adrian.

Adrian has always been my camera ham. He didn’t want to be left out and hopped right up into the chair when I got Maddie back to her crib. He was behaving so well and sitting still (at the same time no less!) I got Madeline to sit with him for some surprise photos to give Sara when she got home from errands. Two sets of blue eyes melted their father’s heart with a huge smile.

And just like that, they went back to playing. Madeline discussed with her older brother Adrian the finer points of taking extended naps. I think he listened, too, and Daddy got a few minutes to make phone calls while the kiddies slept.

Beat the cabin fever – drop us a line or a call to set up a winter shoot for you, your family, your children or all of the above!

Friends to act like friends,

Neighbors to act like neighbors,

And for me to be a better one of each.

Happy New Year, friends.
Eric, Sara, Adrian & Madeline

10+ countries visited

9…  years snapping photos for business

8… years since I started dating Sara

7…  years of concerts at the Underground Cafe

6… digital SLRs (Nikon D70, D70s, D200 x2, D300, D700)

5… 35mm Film Cameras (Minolta x-370, 7000i, 600si, Nikon N80, Argus C-Four)

4… Apple computers doing photo work (Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, MacBook, iBook G4)

3… continents wandered (North / Central America, Europe, Asia)

2… wonderful children Adrian & Madeline

1… amazing sweetheart Sara.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(Full longwinded ramble recap on the way too.)

Argus C4. C-4, C-Four 35mm

(Fans and friends on Facebook have probably read bits about this project along the way… join the fun)

Early last December a friend of mine posted photos of a classy Argus C-44R 35mm camera. Great 1950s design, shiny metal camera body, very clean looked like a fantastic find! It reminded me of a camera I had on a shelf, shutter not firing. I inherited my Argus C4 in early 1999 when my family’s shutterbug, my Grandpa, passed away. I loved photography since I got started snapping with a 35mm in high school, and Grandpa and I talked about camera news of the day like “APS film! Is it as good as 35mm?” The year before he passed away we had great shop talk while I helped provide in home care for him during the day. I’ll fondly remember times of us leafing through our copies of Popular Photography and talking about our favorite hobby.

I wanted to shoot with the Argus camera since I took it out of the box of camera oddities my uncle gave me. Seeing a friend’s photos of a very similar camera only reignited the desire to see it working again. The night I saw the photos I did what any self respecting Bucholtz male would do – I took it apart on the spot.

There’s something marvelous about opening a machine and seeing how it all works. I instantly knew what my dad found so intriguing about working on older cars that are more mechanical than computerized. I saw the problem instantly and began to find ways to repair it. With the camera now open there was no putting it back together without it working again. I wouldn’t do it, it felt unfair to know what needed to be repaired and forget it. (And maybe that’s why dad’s garage is also full of parts for various older cars.)

I decided that before the year was through I would have the camera working again, and this December I heard the shutters snap for the first time in 10 years. It is almost the same feeling of awe and mystery as when I got my first 35mm camera almost 15 years ago.

The day I got it working I posted this bit on facebook, and I have photos and more story to come. Enjoy.

I better understand the mystique and appreciation for restoring classic cars – today I got my Grandpa’s 1953 Argus C-Four 35mm camera snapping again, 10 years after I inherited it from the family’s orignal shutterbug. Shooting a test roll with this stylish mechanical, metal, all manual rangefinder camera feels incredibly nostagic using an early camera one of the people that first got me interested in photography used decades ago. This roll’s for you Gramps.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“O Holy Night” by Seven Day Jesus. Their encore song from February 1, 1998. The song was recorded for the Happy Christmas compilations, my favorite Christmas songs ever.

Live performance has a bit of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at the end too, years before Shrek caught it.

Find the Happy Christmas CD  or mp3s here

Enjoy! Now let’s get some Christmas festivities started!

I love the way she squishes up her lips and little cheeks

It might be because Adrian hasn’t been this small in 22 months, but I think she has some cute tiny fingers and toes! Here she showed me a fits full of knuckles reminding me to let her sleep or there’d be trouble.

We love our little Madeline Suzanne! Big brother Adrian is getting a little more adjusted to having her in the house, walks up and points to her facial features saying each part he’s learned – nose, eyes, teeth, hair, ears, chin. He doesn’t call her “sister” or “Madeline” yet but he does walk up to see “baby” when they’re in the same room.

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too! – Eric, Sara, Adrian and Madeline

After 8 years of local live music, concerts, and friendships the Underground Cafe is celebrating one last show on the South Side of South Bend. If you know me even a little you know this has been my second home and second family since it’s beginning. My wife Sara was one of the people that hatched the idea to clean the old storage basement and make a cafe. The Underground is part of my family, not just my hobbies.

Join the hunt for RED NOVEMBER and add the Rockfest 6 poster as your social networking profile photo till at least Sunday the 15th.

Get a high-res printable poster to share at
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2759/4025904557_19daa61163_b_d.jpg

Check out the event pages -

Myspace event page – http://bit.ly/rockfest6-ms

Facebook event page – http://bit.ly/rockfest6

Click here to view the embedded video.

See you Saturday!

eB & Underground Crew

I thought about it this morning, but I can’t count the friends, former schoolmates, and acquaintances I know that have served in the armed forces in the last decade. More names keep coming to mind. You know who each of you are, and your service and sacrifices have not gone unnoticed. Thank you for serving.

The veteran closest to my family is by far Grandpa “Joe” Bucholtz, United States Navy, USS Blue. He returned from Naval service in World War II to his sweetheart Eleanor start a family, serve in civil defense, work at Studebaker, and of course, find a free way to watch Notre Dame football home games by ushering in the stadium. (My dad and one uncle picked up that last tradition too!)

My Grandmother’s eyes light up to this day talking about him, even though he passed away when my dad was only 6 years old. His nephew’s family I met a few years ago through wedding photography had nothing but the best to say about him too. Our family would not be what it is today without his love for his family, country, and Fighting Irish football.

Thank you to all those who have served and who serve today. I cannot sing the National Anthem without thinking of all you have done for our country. May God bless and keep you and bring you home swiftly and safely to your loved ones.

Busy week around here. Counting down a very busy November of my daughter’s birth, lots of events, concerts and holidays ahead!

I’m thankful for friends. Friday night the guys from the Underground Cafe ran production for one of our favorite returning bands, Haste the Day. Always a blast to have them in town! Some of the best crew to hang out and work with too.

Everyone’s nostalgic these days as we count down the final week until the Underground’s LAST SHOW – Rockfest 6. While setting up the show we played songs by some of our favorite bands that graced our basement, auditorium and area gyms rocking our speakers. Our resident audio tech Mark (front right in the above photo) has been working shows with me since… 2002-2003? It’s been ages, pretty much since the cafe started having live music.

Turns out he’s mixed a ton of signed, touring, national bands… before turning 21 last summer. He named off a bunch of bands he ran audio for and his ages ending in “teen” – pretty crazy we had teenagers running concert audio and lighting for all these years. Good help is hard to find, that’s for certain, and the Underground Cafe has had a wonderful 8 year streak of finding AWESOME help.

Thanks Mark, Judah, Devin and the folks that showed up to make the show a great night!