Baby Wyatt

I went down to San Diego last week to meet with a very cool wedding coordinator- Emily Smiley- I worked with last September at the Hotel Del Coronado. I brought her some big framed prints to put up in her office.

She brought her new little guy Wyatt with her- she said "hope you don't mind!". She don't know me very well do she! I told her I would love it....!!

Of course I brought my rig and got some cool shots of Little Mister Wyatt right there in the office. There was a big window letting in a huge bank of light which made for the perfect set-up. It also helped that he was so happy and so stinkin' cute!

Check out some shots here.

Lightroom Lightens the Load!

I have been using the beta version of Adobe's new Lightroom and just love the functionality of it! I was seriously considering switching to RAW just to take advantage of the postproduction benefits: ACR in particular (ACR- Adobe Camera Raw).

Now, with Lightroom there is no need to shoot RAW for these benefits because it gives you the same type of processing power with jpegs!! and it doesn't modify the original files, it just uses sidecar files to remember the changes you have made.

There are also 'Presets' which allow you to save a cool treatment or effect you create in LR and apply it to other images in the future. Kinda like actions... but it is instantaneous!

The coolest thing is that I know I'm not using it to it's full potential- there is so much more!!!

FYI: ACR in Bridge allows you to correct one raw image and copy those changes to other like files without correcting them individually or running a batch on them. Furthermore, the alterations you make in ACR don't effect the original raw file. Now this is all possible with Lightroom!!

So Cool!!

I already subscribed to the lightroom magazine by NAPP (www.photoshopuser.com) and can't wait to learn more about this breakthrough software.

Regular price is going to $299 on www.adobe.com but for the first 30 days it will be ON SALE for $199... better still- use discount code: macworld07 to get it for $169!!!

I Love Adobe!!

Lizard Wizard

My son Caysen was so excited for the Lizard Wizard to come to his class!! He loves bugs and creatures as much as the next four-year-old but he was so looking forward to this day it was rediculous!

Daddy was there to get it all recorded- Cayse is so proud whenever we go to his class to help out. Mrs. David, his teacher was complaining about the disposable camera she was using... so we donated a little digital point-and-shoot to the class!! She was so excited to have a decent camera!

This is Cayse in the pond setup: "Oohhh, coooool" was his reaction to the little froggies.
He's such a big boy!


Yep, that's a real croc!

And they all held the boa:

Wedding Life Orange County

Last Sunday was the first episode of Wedding Life Orange County (channel 31 on Cox in southern OC at 10am)!! Alex Hill, the creator, is a long time friend of mine- met him in the wedding business four or five years ago.

Alex had this great idea to create a trustworthy resource to find all types of wedding professionals in the area- from coordinators to photographers. The great thing is that he hand picked the best vendors in the area to keep the credibility of the business high.

Now, this vision did not just include a website with links... he wanted it to be very interactive and information based. He has created a weekly TV show about wedding planning and styles, a very cool interactive website, a location to view vendor's work and portfolios, and, in the future, a magazine or catalog of the vendors.

Of course, I was invited to join and did- I think any resource that is truly information based is a good one. I was unable to view last week's show... as I am in North OC... and we don't have cable!!

This upcoming show (this Sunday at 10am) will be my television debut!! I will be in this next episode so check it out!! there is also a cool commercial Alex made for me.

Kyle

A couple weeks ago I did a shoot to help the brother of one of my grooms get a modeling portfolio started. We shot around Fullerton a bit and had a great time! Kyle was fun to shoot and did a great job for his first time out.

next to the mechanic shop:across the street at the antique shop- loved the brick color and the reflection in the windows!then we went over to the tracks to get some shots. I brought a chair from the living room to use as a prop- Jeni is such a good sport for letting me take it!!
as you can tell, I was using an off-camera flash (nikon's wireless sb-800) . While we were shooting on one track, a train was coming on the next track over. I wanted to get some blur so I quickly adjusted my rig to get some blur and got the shot below... he was going about 50. he blew his horn right as he passed and I just about soiled myself!! here you can see the setup- pretty fancy, huh?

Great Interview.

Cartier-Bresson is my hero! I have enjoyed his work since I first found photography over 10 years ago. This past June I was lucky enough to see a showing of much of his work at the Museum of Rome- so amazing to see these silver prints in person.

I found this interview by Charlie Rose on Google- Cartier-Bresson is so funny in person- I have never seen video of him.

I could really relate to some of what he says:
I rarely ever crop my images either- like he said, you compose in the viewfinder.
You can't teach composition- so true.
He laughs when Charlie tries to make a big deal about his work and tries to over analyze- I just love that- who cares why a photograph is good, it's just nice to look at!
He is very humble- laughs when Charlie calls him a master.
I love the sniff he does when he is explaining why a photo is good- it's just a feeling, nothing concrete, another sense maybe.

The things I didn't agree with:
He can't accept he is a master- more of timing and predicting than anything else, but he is a master.
He doesn't like to print his own- I love, love, love taking an image all the way to the print- either in photoshop or in the darkroom.
A fixed 50 all the time?..... I couldn't handle that!

Have a look, it's an hour long so make sure you set aside some time: click here.

I may be headed to the bookstore to look at his books tomorrow- so inspiring!!!

Shopping Day!

Yes, 'shopping day'...

As you may know if you have ever been to our house, my wife is a total pro decorator and treasure hunter. Our kids had a sleep-over at their cousins' on Saturday night so I agreed to hit the junk piles- scratch that, flea markets- with her on Sunday morning.

She was easy on me- we didn't leave before sunrise like she usually does... I got to sleep-in until 7 or so!!

Flea markets are serious stuff for her- I had to fuel up with Starbucks in order to keep up- it's kinda like walking somewhere with the kids- they have to practically jog to keep up with you.

So I was out on my jog around these booths with old crap from all over the world while Jeni was chatting with her junk buddies and scanning each booth like a lion scanning for gazelle. She can scan a whole booth of stuff in about 3.4 seconds... and move on to the next one.

Actually, I love old stuff and there was a bunch of very cool things to check out and photograph of course!! I just brought my little point-n-shoot so I wouldn't scare the vendors.

These old metal balls were from France- the couple that ran this booth were French- there were people from all over the world there!!
There is lots of fun costume jewelry... I loved the shape and arrangement of these mannequins:

This guy had some super cool stuff, Jeni loved these old wooden bowling pins- he knocked them over so we could experience the unique sound of real wood pins falling over. It took me back to the old days sitting in a smoke filled bowling alley playing as a child. This wasn't a regular occurrence growing up, but we did it a few times.

The owner of the booth informed us that the decorators from Anthro were recently at his house picking up stuff for a new location coming to the OC- Jeni hopes it's in Fullerton!!After the flea market in Santa Monica, we went to a shop on Melrose after getting a famous 'Pinks' hot dog. Then we headed for Venice to check out another shop called Bountiful. Jeni was short of breath at this place- so much cool, unique stuff. This shot was taken out back were the only stuff we could afford was located..... For me, the junkier and more worn, the better! We got a few frames from down South and split.
As we left this shop, we saw Paris Hilton in a photo shoot- right in front of the store and the store next door. It was cool, they had the camera on a tripod right there in the street with a computer and a bunch of people standing around it criticizing each shot.... I love weddings!!

(although a shoot like that would be blast to do!)

We returned home with only a few things... and I got a plant as my reward for being a good sport!

Total Tally:
flea markets- 2
antique shops- 3
miles travelled- 80
venti coffees- 2
photos-75