ANYWAY, here's a teaser of Desi in her pigtails running around at an apple orchard. More to come...
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More to come - I think. Me and this blogging thing still haven't come to terms with each other yet, so I'm still taking little baby steps!
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Well, as it turns out, I WAS inspired and motivated with absolutely no guilt involved. I enjoyed the evening immensely, and not just because I got a goody bag filled with chocolate ☺ Caitlin and Kathy lent us their interior design expertise and gave a wonderful demonstration on how to create two different looks in one room simply by switching out your accessories - magic, I tell 'ya! We also watched a demonstration by Kren from Bloomster’s Floral Designs, who proceeded to amaze us all with his ninja-like floral skills (I have NEVER seen anyone create such gorgeous, complex arrangements with such speed and finesse. I was mesmerized) He also custom designed a wonderful floral extravaganza for the winner of one of the door prizes. (oh, did I forget to mention door prizes? BONUS!)
ANYWAY, here’s a few photos from the evening. I had a blast, and would like to give thanks to Caitlin and Kathy for creating such a fun evening, to Kren for giving such an entertaining and informative demo, and to Sharon and Kevin Daroca of Design Mart for allowing us to romp all over their showroom after-hours! Sharon and Kevin were welcoming and fahhhhhhbulous and added so much to the fun, relaxing atmosphere of the entire evening.
Shiny, sparkly things...
Some of the raw materials Kren used for his floral creations
Kren amazing one and all with his mad skillz :-)
One of Kren's creations incorporated into one of Caitlin and Kathy's room set-ups
One more thing - Caitlin and Kathy also have their own individual design businesses. Be sure to check out Symmetry designs, and Inside Out Designs to learn more about Caitlin and Kathy and see more of their work!
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The experience wasn't complete for me, however, without the addition of a model into a few shots. In this case, "modeling" also included being locked out of an apartment complex and squeezing under a gate in a party dress - without damaging any of the sequins! And people think modeling is an easy job...
At any rate, I got to experiment a bit with mixing flash, video, and ambient light, and learned a valuable lesson in keeping track of such small but necessary things like keys and cell phones. (You think I would have learned that lesson by now. *sigh*)
The idea was to bring in external illumination, but have it match the somewhat jagged, textural, ambient illumination that caught my attention in the first place. Night illumination creates such an "otherworldly" feeling, so I wanted to work off of that feeling with this particular set of images.
Many thanks to Kaelyn for making herself available on the spur of the moment, and for so patiently dealing with the sometimes less-than-orderly process of trying on a new idea for size :-) Your willing participation in all aspects of the evening is greatly appreciated!!!
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Ah, the perfect summer shoe -Comfort AND Bling - gotta love it!
A "Mysterious Secret Agent" shot of Melissas' son in his tuxedo...
Playing around in the gloriously speckled hallways of the Valencia Hotel:
Some images of Sidneys' daughters:
More images from the ceremony:
Melissa and Sidney created their own personalized version of the popular sand ceremony - sand was poured to represent not only the two of them, but their children as well. It was a beautifully visual way to represent the fact that Melissa and Sidneys' marriage is a merging of families, as well as the joining of two individuals .
One of the portraits we shot during our evening walk around Santana Row:
The official "What sort of crazy thing can I do with their rings?" shot:
And I must admit - there are plenty of entertaining photos from the reception as well, but, well - the day is beautiful and I'm going outside to play, so here endeth this blog :-) Andy and I give a great big THANKS to Melissa, Sidney and their family and friends for making us feel so welcome and being so much fun to work with. You definitely made our job a LOT easier! Thank You, and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
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Speaking of adventure - Gillian, my beloved gold chair, and I had a small photo adventure a few weeks ago at my storage facility. I’ve been dying to do something photographic with all those orange doors for a while now, and of course Gillian had the perfect outfit picked out to go with my highly orange theme-of-the-day.
So, here's a few photos:
My latest thrift-shop find is a lampshade that ACTUALLY MATCHES the aforementioned beloved golden chair. Vintage ecstacy for Lisa!
As you can see, Gillian is definitely the shy, retiring type... yeah, right... :-)
In fact, Gillian is one of the few people I know who can make loitering at a budget storage place look drop-dead sexy - now THAT'S talent!
So yes, my friend and muse has happily succumbed to the lure of LA, I am absolutely thrilled and excited to see what lies ahead for her. At moments like these I realize I haven't lost a friend - I've simply gained a place to crash in LA! ;-)
Just kidding Gillian (maybe) - Love ya' darlin'! GOOD LUCK IN LA!!!!
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So today. I'm trying something new. Today I say F**K IT, and just post up a series of random images I shot awhile back on a very cold day somewhere in San Mateo. Just for the pure hell of it. Just because I ran across them while I was feverishly searching my BIG-ASS hard drive for something much more important and said "huh, I kinda like these, maybe I'll post them"...
EUREKA!!!! We have a breakthrough Ladies and Gentlemen! And now, without further ado, here's some stuff to look at:
Yes, power lines - one of the things that seems to separate photographers from the rest of humanity is our endless obsession with documenting the mundane!
Here's one of my 80 million sunset images. Ever since I've moved out here to Cali I can't seem to stop documenting sunsets all of these lush, rich sunsets!
Okay, that's it - I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself w/ this whole new blogging thing - LOL!
That wasn't too bad - much better than cleaning out the litterbox!
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Since Jessie so thoroughly ROCKS as a model she clicked into the concept immediately, and patiently half-froze to death while creating her persona on a none-too-warm Vegas evening.
Oh, and by the way... you can’t hate her because she’s beautiful, because she’s also a laid-back, down-to-earth, absolute sweetheart of a human being! So, for any modeling talent scouts out there who might happen to wander across my blog, (hey, it could happen!) let me know so I can give you her contact information so you can make her famous!
One last photo of Jessie while she was turning heads (literally - I thought people were going to hurt themselves by spraining their necks or bumping into each other) on a lowly Vegas pedestrian bridge.
As usual, there are more images from this shoot that my Bad Blogger self may or may not eventually get around to posting :-) We shot some fun stuff inside the MGM as well, which might make its way to Blogland!
And Jessie - I give you a huge THANKS for being such pure delight to work with, and I'm sorry I stole your hair ties... :-(
Every one of these photographers has something unique about the way they approach their businesses Through actively participating in the offered events you get to meet photographers who’s business philosophies and life experience really resonate with yours, and when that happens - BINGO! - inspiration STRIKES!!! What you once thought was an obstacle becomes an advantage instead, and you are just ON FIRE (not literally) and the world is your oyster and Look Out World, and… and… well, you get the idea.
As a first time attendee I carefully checked over all the speakers and picked out the events I wished to attend, and then did the same thing in regards to the multitude of vendors at the trade show. I fully intended to attend every platform class I possibly could, and to see at least half the trade show. Ah, yeah,right… like THAT actually happened!
What got in the way? The parties! The networking! The impromptu photo shoots! All those things I hadn’t really factored in prior to planning out my trip, and you know what? Those wound up being some of the best parts of the WPPI experience. We all have so much to learn from EACH OTHER, that just hanging out and shooting with and TALKING to the other attendees was as equally inspirational as attending the trade show or the Platform classes. What an experience - I can’t wait for next year! (Note to self: Next year bring more party clothes - WAY more.)
I’ll be blogging more of my experiences from the convention (and those blogs will have pictures – YAY!) and sharing some of what I feel I’ve learned from attending this years convention. Right now, however, I think it’s time for a nap – I’m still catching up on all that sleep I didn’t get while I was in Vegas!
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Two words to which Nicole's response was a most definite affirmative, and which has set in motion that whirlwind chain of events that will culminate in Nathan and Nicole's marriage on the 28th of next month. Congratulations, Nicole and Nathan!
In the meantime, preparations are still underway, and this is where I come into the picture (haha, no pun intended, HONEST...) Nicole's friends, family, and family-to-be gathered together last Saturday to throw her a wedding shower, and yours truly was hanging out behind the camera, and taking pictures of all the glorious chaos that a room full of gifts and well-wishers can produce.
This was indeed an awesome event - we're talking all out, ultimate pre-wedding girl-fest!
Check out some of the decorations:
The blue and white color theme was inspired by Tiffany and Co. - can't go wrong with that! Who doesn't love to receive one of their blue and white wrapped gift boxes...?
There were presents galore:
A fun, crazy little game involving ribbon "garters" - the object of the game being to accumulate the most garters. Here's one guest who was definitely well on her way to winning the coveted prize:
There was such a flurry of unwrapping that sometimes I lost the bride amidst the packaging! Nicole? Are you in there somewhere???
Ahhh - found her! Next to her is one of her bridesmaids, Brynne, who is creating the beribboned bouquet that Nicole will use for her wedding rehearsal.
Meanwhile, champagne was being poured, and cake was being served to all the guests. Nicole's Maid of Honor, Anna, was quietly taking care of all the little details...:
There were so many people at Nicole's shower who I could see were just such an important part of her life. This blog would be about twelve miles long if I were to put up photos of all them! There is, however, one other person I definitely want to include in this entry:
Noreen is Nathan's Great, GREAT Grandmother, and today is her 103rd (yes, you read that right - 103) birthday. A Valentine's baby! How cool is that?
Two final photos: One of Nicole as her sparkly-eyed vibrant self:
And one of Nicole with her Mom, who so happily allowed her house to be transformed for the event:
So there you have it - True Love as it is celebrated by the time-honored event of the Bridal Shower! Nicole, best of luck to you and Nathan - always!
By the way, make sure you check out the imagery of Breck Sargent, of Sargent Photoworks. He'll be photographing Nicole and Nathan's upcoming nuptials.
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Isabella has these fabulously luminous brown eyes and four front teeth that are well – too cute for words, so how about some pictures instead?
There was a small grove of "beach trees" (a botanist I am not. I don't actually know what kind of trees these are, I just know that I always find them near beaches) where we took a bunch of photos before heading down to the actual beach.
Down on the beach, Isabella had a grand 'ol time just hanging out, and crawling around on the sand
I enjoy this image quite a bit because Isabella looks like quite the little explorer!
One more photo of the whole family on the beach:
Thanks to Isabella and her parents for making my job so EASY, and thanks for so patiently waiting until I get back from my vacation to see the rest of the photos... I promise that as soon as I get a handle on my jet lag I'll get right down to editing your images! ]]>
This will be an interesting experience for me, because when I first started shooting professionally waaaaaaaay back when during the early 90's, WPPI was sort of this giant joke among those of us who had fine-art training. It was considered the provence of old, bald-headed men with Hasselblads who seemed to have pretty much ZERO creative ability, MASSIVE egos the size of Texas, (sorry Texas, you always get such a bum rap!) and who always seemed kinda creepy because they got a little too excited about creating studio portraits of beautiful young women. The "cheese" factor was remarkably high, and I avoided professional organizations such as WPPI like the plague!
Well, times have changed, and while some of the egos might not have gotten any smaller, (LOL!) the level of commitment to promoting genuine creativity and even artistry within the craft has increased exponentially, and has really pushed commercial portrait and wedding photography in exciting, dynamic new directions. Also, there seems to be less general creepiness surrounding photo shoots of beautiful young women... WPPI, you've come a long way, baby!
So, yeah - how 'bout that video? Check it out! It's part one of the series, where we are introduced to the cast of characters and the challenge is issued... Enjoy!
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We started out our shoot down in Carmel at a local cafe - the purpose being to grab some lunch prior to our shoot, although in reality it wound up becoming the first part of the day's photo session. I worked very hard to keep my elbows out of everyone's lunch, and managed to get some fun photos of Aaron entertaining himself while the adults chowed down.
After lunch we headed down to the beach. This proved to be a less than popular option with Aaron so we didn't stay for too long, but we managed to get some interesting images.
It wound up being a little too cold on the beach for Aaron to really enjoy himself, but even sans smile those compelling eyes of his kept tempting me to click my shutter.
The last part of our photo session was spent in the town of Carmel, and we capped the afternoon off with some amazingly good hot chocolate. (actually didn't taste like brown powder suspended in a cup of hot water, like most hot chocolate seems to these days) Aaron's quite the introspective little guy, and he just hung out and enjoyed people watching while the adults once again stuffed themselves with food items...
Here's a few more photos from the afternoon:
This next image is one of my absolute favorites from the day:
Thanks to Aaron, Mike and Maria for the opportunity to indulge my photographic obsession for an afternoon!
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Party on Sweet Girl, and have a FABULOUS birthday!
More images of Claire and her family from yesterday's portrait session are coming soon... I think... I'm sure I'll get around to blogging them eventually!
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