April 27, 2008 at 11:53am
Once upon a time I was 12 years old. The new girl at school, I often sat alone on the bus each morning because I wasn’t what you would call outgoing. Even though both of my cousins went to the same school and took the same bus and had been in the same school district since first grade, they had their own friends and I wouldn’t fit in with their crowds. So, I kept to myself and tried not to stand out, lest I let my awkwardness show.
One morning, though, a girl with dirty blond hair, golden eyes, flannel shirt and 8-hole Doc Martens motioned for me to sit next to her on the bus. Her name was Kim. She listened to Alternative music (remember when we called it that with a straight face?) and was cooler than I thought I could ever be. And we’ve been friends ever since. Kim has been my best friend for what now seems like forever. She’ll be the Maid of Honor at my wedding in July.
When she asked me to take photos of her and her boyfriend, Johnny, I was honored. Not only do I love taking photos of gorgeous couples, but I love hanging out with my Kimmy. Plus, Johnny compliments Kim perfectly so I was eager to celebrate them as a couple the best way I know how––through photos.
We headed down to the beach for a few hours to soak up some of that delicious sunlight I love so much. Kim and Johnny were happy to oblige when I yelled, “Okay, great…now totally make out!” from behind my camera. The most hilarious part of the day was that Kim had a very hard time keeping her eyes open. Every time she heard the shutter click, she’d blink. Roughly 60 percent of the images I took show her mid-blink. To make matters worse, many of the times she manged to keep her eyes open, Johnny would blink. It was a comedy of errors all day long. But in the end, we made a game out of it where I would tell Kim to close her eyes and then count down, “One…two…three…OPEN!” Her peepers would jump to alertness and I’d fire off as many shots as my camera could muster before she’d blink again.
Thank you, Kim and Johnny, for spending a day with me at the beach and for endulging in sushi with Chris and I. We had a fantastic day.
I’ve been a very bad blogger. Because my wedding is a little over two months away (eek!) I’ve been consumed with finalizing details, thus my little online corner of the world has been neglected. Never fear, though––I’ve got a couples shoot this weekend at the beach and I’m feeling pumped. I can’t wait to post my favorite images on Monday!
Also, yay! It’s Friday! Today’s song is by Architecture in Helsinki and can be found on their latest album, Places Like This. It’s a weird song from a weird band and if you know me, you know that’s sometimes how I like my music. Enjoy!
Architecture in Helsinki – Heart It Races
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Colorful architecture in Chinatown. I took this image in between shots at the faith + jason shoot.
Well, another work week has come and gone. I came down with a pretty nasty cold early on in the week so I’ve spent most of my time curled up in bed, feeling sorry for myself. I’ve been a human snot factory all week and spent more time than I care to admit daydreaming about all of the things I could be getting accomplished were it not for the fact that I felt like like death warmed over. I’m feeling well enough to get back to work today, though, so if you need me I can be found propped up in front of my computer, trying to act like a contributing member of society again.
Today’s Friday song is another cover. Chances are you’ve heard the original and it needs no introduction. The cover is done by Swedish indie-pop band, Shout Out Louds. There are many people who don’t like covers, but I always enjoy hearing a new take on an old favorite. I like to see how other bands reimagine a perfectly good song and make it their own. It’s not better, it’s different. I like different. Enjoy!
Shout Out Louds – Man on the Moon
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
April 13, 2008 at 10:48pm
I got to hang out in Chinatown this weekend with Faith and Jason, a gorgeous couple who wanted some nice portraits together and came to me with the task of making them look gorgeous in photos. I use the term “task” very lightly––as you can see from the photos below, these two have absolutely zero chance of looking bad––in a photo or elsewhere. This made my job ridiculously easy. They stood around being lovey-dovey and silly with each other and no matter what angle I shot them from, they looked fantastic. My favorite kind of subjects!
I decided to go to Chinatown about an hour or two before the sun began to set, hoping to get some of that delicious “golden hour” light, and boy, am I glad I did that. The light was nearly edible, which only served to make this fine couple even more photogenic. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day. Thanks to Faith and Jason for not being afraid to get silly with me in Chinatown!
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Sunday’s baby shower was anything but ordinary. I thanked my lucky stars during the entire thing for being able to witness and photograph such an exciting party. But, at the same time, there were plenty of things about the party that did make it feel like baby shower. There were games, pink and blue favors––and even a onesie and bib decorating station! Still so many images to go through for the family, but here are a few of my favorites so far.
I had the honor of photographing a baby shower yesterday. Marjan (the mother-to-be), her husband Avi and over 100 members of their family and friends gathered in one of the ball rooms at Maggiano’s at The Grove. This was by far the largest baby shower I’ve ever been to, and at times it hardly felt like a baby shower at all, but more like a wedding.
I was amazed by the amount of people that turned out to celebrate, though I shouldn’t have been since Marjan and Avi are such sweet and loving people, it’s only appropriate that they have an enormous circle of people who love and care for them. I’ve only just begun to sift through the images from the day, but I wanted to give one small preview today. A part of me wanted to post the image without any context and ask you all to guess what kind of event the image was shot at because I know I would have never guessed a baby shower!
Needless to say, this family knows how to party. There was confetti and glitter thrown into the air as almost everyone in attendance got down on the dance floor. Marjan (in the pink-red dress) is positively glowing in this shot—a truly beautiful pregnant woman. And, yes, that is confetti stuck to her—she was positively covered in the stuff after her first round of dancing!
A big thank you to Marjan, Avi and their family and friends for allowing me to be a part of their very special celebration.
Chris had some guys from work over for a dude night complete with Rock Band, pizza and beer. The last time they came over I took the opportunity to have a ladies night and grab some sushi with some girlfriends but this time I had some wedding stuff to take care of. Namely, RSVP envelope addressing. Our invitations are still being printed, but we got our envelopes today so I’m trying to get a leg up on the process. While the guys rocked out in the next room, I stuck label after label to a seemingly bottomless box of envelopes. But at least I had a cold Stella Artois to keep me company.
Soon enough, though, I got bored of all that labeling so I bugged the guys for a bit. They even let me sing a song! It’s funny how un-rock ‘n’ roll people can seem when they play Rock Band. Where’s the scissor kicks? Where are the big hair and lycra? I’m going to totally insist these guys amp up their showmanship next time.
I don’t know about you guys, but TGIF. Seriously. I’m looking forward to the weekend because I’m shooting a baby shower on Sunday. It’s a big one: over 100 people are expected so I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of fun. Stay tuned next week for some choice shots from that.
And, since it’s Friday, time for a Friday Song! This week’s song is a cover of a Grizzly Bear song by CSS. If you haven’t heard of Grizzly Bear, they hail from Brooklyn and just have an amazing sound. This CSS cover is really great, too. I read today that they’re going to be opening for Radiohead on some of the U.S. dates on the Radiohead tour. Please, please, please…let one of those dates be Los Angeles. Let me know what you think of the song. Enjoy!
CSS –– Knife
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
As promised, here are some Joshua Tree shots from my film camera. I should explain that my film camera is not some super expensive, fancy schmancy job that takes crisp, clean photos with that ever-illusive film look. No, my film camera is a $50 Diana+ that is a replica of a 99 cent camera from the ’50s. It’s a Lomo camera, and if you know anything about those you know they are known for the light leaks, saturated and/or muted colors, vignetting and overall surreal feeling they lend to the images created with them.
My Diana+ was a Christmas gift from Chris and the Joshua Tree trip was the first time I got a chance to use it. Admittedly, Chris used it more than I did (shots of him using it can be found in this entry) because I was busy with my trusty digital. But, I did make sure I had a few cracks at it and while the results are less than amazing, I was reminded of how much fun shooting film is. It was especially entertaining with this camera that had absolutely zero bells and whistles and seemed to weigh less than a feather.
I scanned these images late last night right before going to bed. I’m noticing now that my scanner needs to be cleaned! Oh well, just adds to the crazy film look, I suppose. 
As always, please click ‘Read More’ at the bottom of this post to see the rest.
(more…)
