Thea's Bridal Experience Sun. June 29, 2008 will you
**If your name is Nilsson K., please close this blog right now. Do not scroll down, don't poke around, don't even think about looking any further than this one sentence. Thanks so much.**
Now that that's out of the way, on to the first order of business, the poker set giveaway! That one goes to DARLA DISTEFANO, so Darla, shoot me an email with your address and I'll ship it out. Thanks to everyone who played along!
On Friday, I had the opportunity to shoot something that I don't shoot very often out here in California--a bridal session! In North Carolina, where I'm from, pretty much every bride does a bridal session prior to the wedding. For those of you who don't know, it's basically a shoot of just the bride alone, all dressed up in her hair and makeup and gown (of course), where we go out and shoot some beautiful images generally for display on the wedding day. Huge portraits used to be the custom, but more girls lately are into getting a bunch of smaller prints, and even including them in the wedding album.
Oh, and for those of you whom I know will question this--the dress gets dry cleaned before the wedding, so we're not worried about a little bit of sand!
I am so SO glad I got to do this with Thea. Thea lives in NYC and her wedding is in Oklahoma in September, so it was nice to get a chance to hang out with her and her mother who came along as well. Although Thea's mom is an art director, she showed exceptional restraint letting me run around the St. Regis shooting Thea wherever I wanted. Thanks Gail!
Anyway, on to the images.
My favorite one is actually one of the first ones we shot:
Sometimes there is a piano in the St. Regis rotunda--it was there that day, so we took advantage:
I happen to love these paintings:
Isn't Thea a gorgeous bride? She's also practically a professional dancer, ivy-league educated, hilarious, and humble. Sorry boys, she's off the market:
There's something about this one that gives it a close run for my favorite as well. I also think Thea looks like Sarah Jessica Parker from just one or two angles:
Of course we headed down to the beach!
She is really just a classic beauty:
This one is just perfection to me:
You really can't beat So. Cal light on the beach...
What is it with girls from Oklahoma? Are they all so gorgeous and brilliant? Remember Lauren's Wedding one year ago this week? Yup! Another OK girl.
How did Thea's hair stay so perfect down on the beach after hours of shooting??
There were all these seagulls on the beach and I wanted to shoot Thea running through them, but they wouldn't stay put long enough for her to even get close! However, I absolutely adore this candid shot anyway:
Thea, thanks for being an amazing model, and Gail, thanks for all of your help!
**Stay tuned for part two of this shoot, Thea's boudoir photos!**
Wedding Favors that don't completely suck (and a giveaway) Thu. June 26, 2008 clients
I've been hearing from my brides more and more often these days about how they think wedding favors are silly and that guests don't really even like or take them when they leave. I personally LOVE wedding favors, particularly the edible kind, although I have more than one bottle opener in the shape of a dolphin and shot glass with a couple's name on it that don't get used very often.
Thesis Statement (hello sophomore year English class): Possibly the issue is not "guests don't like wedding favors" as much as "you picked a sucky wedding favor". Just a theory!
I came across a site that has great favors for all kinds of parties called BEAU COUP. The CEO is a friend of a friend, and through that association, I know for a fact that she is a girl with style and class. I spent a morning combing through the site and picked out a few things that I actually really liked and would be excited to get if I were a guest at a wedding or party! So going forward, once a week or every couple of weeks, I am going to give away one thing from the site that I think is awesome.
Today's item is one that ROCKS--a little Mini Travel Poker Set! Completely appropriate considering that I will be headed back to Vegas for the WSOP Main Event next Saturday. If you are a cool girl and support your man having a little fun before the wedding with his guy friends, these sets make awesome groomsmen gifts. I consider that alone to be a good enough reason to get them--you can be the girl that's cool with poker night and can beat those boys at it!!
So today, I am GIVING THIS CUTE LITTLE SET AWAY to one lucky random commenter! If you want it, leave me a comment and tell me why or who this little baby is going to! To qualify, you must leave your real name and email address. And feel free to leave a poker tip for me too!
The set is made out of red suede, it's really pretty
I like how you could play other games too--they give you a little scorepad
**fun fact about this post: EVERY single image below was shot with Gene's 50mm 1.0 lens shot at 1.0 which i borrowed for the day. the thing is heavy and slow, but DANG, 1.0 is buttery!**
Every now and then, everyone needs to escape from something. Maybe it's from your job, your town, your friends or family, or your life in general, even if only for a few days. This past week, I took a little escape from my blog and my life as I normally live it and traveled up to Northern California with Becker. He's got back to back weddings in Carmel, and although I can't stay for both because I have my own awesome wedding this coming weekend, I escaped from the OC for a few days in favor of Carmel and a couple of days in San Francisco.
**if you've emailed me in the past couple of days, I will be responding to you late Wednesday night or sometime on Thursday. thanks for your patience!!!**
The wedding in Carmel was one of the most interesting I've ever been a part of, and I will definitely share some photos from that one later this week (but you can get the gist of it on Becker's blog). However, my favorite part of most trips that I take are the days I spend walking around wherever I am, and shooting some of the local culture that is different from what I see every day. We chose Chinatown for this photo safari, and were joined by good friends Ann Hamilton and fellow Top 10 in the World Gene Higa.
Check it out:
Chinatown really does look like what I'd imagine China to look like:
With some American flair thrown in:
I love neon signs. I only wish it had been dark!
Chinatown is full of interesting patterns and textures:
I fell in love with all the different colors of tile:
And the old doorways:
And windows and textures too:
I don't know what this X is marking but it looks cool anyway:
Yummy, delicious colors!
I don't even know what this is, but it looks cool:
Some of you might be familiar with my LOCK PROJECT. It's still an ongoing work in progress:
A new favorite:
Chinatown is full of fresh foods and delicacies:
My cousin Steven will love all these fresh fruits & veggies:
What are these, anyway?
Speaking of "delicacies", there are quite a few sketchy looking items available.
And WTF is the bottom thing on this spa/haircut menu? And why is the price in Chinese only? Does that mean that other people shouldn't bother with it? Anyone who knows what this is, please enlighten me:
In all, this has been a very refreshing escape, but I'm ready to head home and get back to real life tomorrow night! I've got a bunch of new projects in the worth, several shoots, and the WSOP coming up in the next week or two, so I'm busy busy from here on out!
Audience participation: What do you do or where do you go to escape?
Jonathan's 6th Birthday Party! Thu. June 19, 2008 people
A lot of you might remember Nicola's Birthday from a few months ago, a fabulous Alice in Wonderland party that any little girl would die for! Well, this time, it was her brother Jonathan's turn, and his party was definitely a chance to let boys be boys!
When I arrived at the house, there was definitely no mistaking what this party would be about...
It was amazing! I thought to myself, "those poor cones don't stand a chance". Hey you, guy bending over on the far right, I hope you like that position, because you're going to be standing that way picking up those cones a LOT today:
Jonathan is a really cool, interesting kid. Maybe it's him, or maybe it's six years old, but he's such a BOY and a kid, and at the same time so sophisticated. This was a survey of the area before the party kicked off:
But once the kids showed up, he couldn't get enough of the wild things to do! That's him holding the rope there:
The driving was the biggest hit. I was surprised by how good a driver he was!
Well, there was a crash or two:
For some of the younger kids, there was a whole lego station to play with. I giggled at the idea that some adult somewhere had to sit there and build these at some point...
Nicola enjoying herself too with some Dippin Dots!
The Totally Rad: The Revenge! Sat. June 14, 2008 gossip
A lot of you commented on Monika & Nicholas's wedding a few posts below this--all antique glamour and desaturated color. I can tell you now that EVERY single one of those images was processed with my sneak preview of the BRAND NEW Totally Rad Actions: The Revenge which came out yesterday!
I know I'm friends with the Boutwells and all, but there's no way I would promote these actions so heavily if they weren't my new most favorite thing in the whole world. Since a few weeks/months back when I first started getting Doug's previews, I've been basically obsessed with them. Honestly, I feel like they've allowed me to step up my style and make my images look the way I see them in my head.
I thought you might like to see a few before/after shots of the Monika & Nicholas wedding below. I tried to remember everything I did to them, but you may have to play a bit to achieve the same results! The originals are on top, the adjusted are on the bottom. All of my original images are jpeg's straight out of camera (yes, I shoot BW in camera):
This one has Sparta, Get Faded Autumn, and was adjusted by me in the Color Balance layer:
This one had pro retouch from the old set of actions, Sparta, and Warm it up Kris from the old actions:
My favorite: Pro Retouch, Claire-ify, Get Faded Autumn, and a bump in contrast by me:
This one was Grandma's Tap Shoes at about 40%
Grandma's Tap Shoes at 100%
I hope this helps you get started! **CLICK HERE** to pick them up now!!!
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will you
