Say CHEESE!!!

January Photo Challenge: 31 Studio Portraits in 31 Days. Pretty impressive, and from what I heard- a bit of a scheduling difficulty considering it was done all the while traveling up and down California shooting weddings, engagements, and also babies in there too. But Sarah Dawson did it, and pretty damn well, I think. I am so lucky for the opportunity to help her out with this project and I can't help but smile when I look at these fun shots. She's pretty awesome at making her subjects feel at ease and look natural. Check out her page to see more of her work:

Www.sarahdawsonphotography.com


Pps- I've never seen another photographer rock a tutus while shooting like she can... (The tutu photos will come later)

Successful President's Day

Momo is incredible. When I asked her if she would be willing to make me an adult sized tutu, she didn't ask me why the hell I would want a tutu. Instead her first question was, "what color?" Awesome. She is always up for a sparkly, fun DIY adventure. We succeeded in making a sassy black and gold number, and a standard girly girl pale and medium pink. I am giddy! I love them and am having difficulty thinking of a situation that WOULDN'T be made WAY better if I was wearing one of my new tutus.

More pics to follow.

Bye bye Tahoe

We are back home after a sweet little getaway... Tahoe, hopefully we will see you sooner rather than later. :)

CoolhandLuke

Sunrise

Beautiful and well worth the wake up and get up.

Good morning!

Courtesy of Chef Steve.

Little mountain man

Sweet sweet Bennett. And his kind mama is teaching me how to edit!

The News:

•decided to cut my own bangs. Almost hated them, now I dig em.
•fun visit from AndrewSF (formerly Andrew MonkeyBar
•lovely girl date with Sheena/followed by a Greek feast with the cousins
•Luke's beta testing new Revo Lights
•despite the weather we had an awesome summer double date consisting of bike rides and slurpees
•Valentine's Pizza Tradition continues, this time with Pepperoni (a first)
•taught at my old school, and heard the sad news of an incredible teacher's passing after many years with Cancer.
•looking forward to an impromptu weekend of relaxation and quiet in Tahoe.

Love is in the air

Eli and the Sound Cult

Is the name of a good buddy's band. (Jason Bove- artist who Luke helped with the wall art project is the bass player). We were at this absolutely incredible artist studio/loft/space place above some warehouses on the outskirts of the grid last night and it felt like we had entered a completely different realm. Apparently the space had been a speakeasy during the prohibition times and it still maintained a sense of mystery and magic. The place was jammy packed with twinkly lights, hanging sheets, three bands and 120+ hippy/yogi/artist/musician/cyclist/hipster/rock climbing/peace loving/good vibing people, and one gorgeous dog, Townsend, who was making the rounds trying to beg fresh baked pretzels from people... Not to mention the innumerable knickknacks ranging from flying wire birds to countless doll heads, a clown collection, sugar skulls, nude dummies, harlequin masks, dripping candles, and antique cameras, bikes, books, skulls, as far as the eye could see. It was a trip, trust me. Almost creepy, but what made the night special really was the kind hearted crowd. This wasn't a real concert venue, this was a variety of artists' studio space and bands' practice space (perhaps someone's living space as well). There was no security. No one that actually "worked there", nonetheless nothing was tampered with. Nothing was disrespected, and on the contrary, there was an honor box of cash sitting at the top of the stairs for people to leave a $2 suggested donation for the live tunes. If you had some extra dough, there was another beer box in the kitchen left out to collect cash if someone wanted to put some money in after they grabbed a (freakin glorious) home baked pretzel. Holy crap. Sounds like a scene from another time I know, but it happened and it was awesome. Especially cool was being able to look out the window over the truck yard and see beyond the car lights traveling over the highway and the city lights.

A photographer friend, Nicholas Wray was shooting both video and stills so check out his blog. He also made a rad music video for the band, Eli and the Sound Cult.

www.nicholaswray.com/2013/02/eli-and-the-sound-cult-2/


Ps
Again this might shock you, but I am still NOT a professional photographer. ;) and I took all these with my shitty iPhone in the dark, but I think they are kinda rad, so here they are.

Read all about it!

http://www.examiner.com/review/world-premiere-of-the-sacramento-ballet-s-the-great-gatsby-was-spectacular

Opening night...

The Great Gatsby Ballet was utterly fantastic... Settings, choreography, music, costumes, everything was candy for all the senses. I loved it. If you get a chance this weekend GO!!!!

Ps

Did I mention how excited I am to see The Great Gatsby Ballet this weekend? Sheena got me tickets for Sunday's matinee as a clever Christmas gift (the theme was Sports), and Jason offered us sweet seats that he and Amber can no longer use courtesy of SacTown Magazine for tonight's performance.

From Paris with Love

I was flipping through a friends trip pics from her her latest two month adventure in Paris and I saw this snap of an ad. If this isn't good juju, I don't know what is.

Ps- the friend is a fabulous photographer, Sarah Dawson. Check her out. You might see a familiar face in her work soon.

Weekend update:

Escape to the beach, coffee, doodles, bike rides, beer, cheese, movies, and back home for movie night and laughs with good friends. A win if I've ever had one.

Happiness is

Waking up at Jessie's place in Santa Cruz.