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Friday Randomness : Christmasness
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H ow long should a person work on Christmas Eve Eve? I mean, seeing how it's Friday and all, I just can't help suffering from senioritis. Or something. Especially because I convinced JD to host our office holiday party. Whaaaat? We can have an office party too, right?! Sure, it's just the two of us, but I'm all for libations and large plates of food. PA RUM PUM PUM, Internet!!
Here are a few things going though my mind today... |
NEED I SAY MORE?! Exactly.
Let's figure out who this Santa guy is, anyway... |
| I kid you not, I saved this advertisement because I wasn't sure if it was the funniest thing I saw, OR SOMETHING I SHOULD ORDER FOR CHRISTMAS. Leave me alone with an informercial and I'm done for. |
| This is the thing Christmas nightmares are made of. |
| I just about DIED when I saw this USB hub. If someone got this for me in my stocking, I would squeal. LIKE A PIG. |
| Last year I tried to knit myself a scarf, but that lasted about three seconds before I quit. However, seeing these shorts made me rethink my crocheting destiny. I mean, com'on...can you not see JD in these babies?! I so wanna wrap these up and have him open them on Christmas morning while I sing Justin Bieber Christmas carols. |
    
W e're slowly making our own Christmas traditions and it's nice to start things on our own terms. One of my favorite things is hanging the Christmas cards we receive on twine strung in our living room. It's a proud display of those we love, trust, and support.
Another yearly tradition is creating a display of behind-the-scenes photos from the wedding season. Every year we amass hundreds of photos of us photographing our amazing clients as a way to remind us how fortunate we are to do what we love. The 2011 wedding season treated us well and 2012 is shaping up for a repeat...which makes me excited because I love documenting how incredibly and unfathomably cool we are. How we've remained this cool boggles my mind. Every day.
Let's start with this picture because, really, Adam looks like he's begging JD to SAVE HIM, PLEASE. |
| Yes. Yes, I know I laugh too much... |
| JD secretly wished to wear Stephanie's veil and tried stealing it from her... |
| Yea...Yea...I got TEAM SPIRIT! |
| This was the hottest wedding we've ever {ever} photographed. JD discovered that if he blew in a cup of ice, it created a ghetto fab air-conditioner. We air-conditioned ourselves the entire afternoon and felt like geniuses. |
| Here I'm defending my Speed Walking Champion title... |
| There are few who work a cocktail hour better than JD... |
| This year seems to have revealed what we refer to as The Claw...it comes out when I shoot and has a personality all its own... |
| Just in case JD doubts my sense of humor, here's PROOF THERE ARE OTHERS WHO ARE AMUSED BY MY ANTICS! |
| Yup...he's working the cocktail hour...again... |
| The Claw likes to make an appearance when I'm trying to prove a point....aaaaaand in other news, what's up with this outfit?! Why didn't anyone stop me? It looks like the only thing I'm missing is a pile of fruit on my head. |
| Sometimes The Claw decides to become a MUSTACHE! |
| That's the last time we eat Mexican before a wedding... |
| "We represent the Lollipop Kids...the Lollipop Kids...the Lollipop Kids..." |
| Oh, don't mind me...just walking by minding my own business... |
| Oooooh, I'm SO telling on JD...he's not wearing WEDDING DRESS GLOVES!!!! |
| I wouldn't share my speed walking tips because they're top secret and we were about to race... |
| In addition to working cocktail hours, JD loves mothers...at the end of the night, they're usually his best friend. Here Mrs. Adler might be asking for a specific picture...or be giving him her secret recipe for matzah ball soup... |
| When the hotel room is too small and all else fails, stand on furniture. I think that's what you call PROFESH. |
| He's a top notch bouquet holder, one hand shooter, and good lookin' squinter... |
| Oh, sure...go right ahead...standing riiiiiight there...I'm not trying to take a picture or anything... |
| The Claw can sometimes be scary to my grooms... |
| JD's also in a one-man photography marching band... |
| And then my dreams came true... |
I t's that time of year. The time of year when naps are always beckoning like sirens at sea, and holiday cookies are like the Ghosts of Gluttonous Christmas Past. Nothing gets me into the holiday spirit more than a photo of Polo all gussied up and ready to party. I bought a few holiday outfits because I figured it'll make the party invites roll in. Kinda like the Field of Dreams, but with my credit card.
If you buy it, they will come... |
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Good Reads : Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
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H e looked over to me and asked me to stop. To restrain myself. That last part was said through gritted teeth. And that made me laugh even harder. I was reading Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling and restraining myself from a freshly frosted cake would have been easier than not laughing at her writing. But I laughed in a totally annoying way, almost like I was laughing underwater and found myself gurgling. It was way ugly.
The next morning, JD looked at me and said I was overreacting. I spit out the lather and asked how a person can overreact while brushing her teeth. No, the book...you made it sound like it was the funniest thing ever written. Now, I can admit I have a totally random sense of humor, but I've come to grips with the idea JD and I have completely opposite senses of humor. Like, North and South pole different. But this book? This book is seriously funny. It'd make Mona Lisa laugh. Twice.
After a heated conversation about Kaling's writing, I twisted JD's arm and made him admit how humorous the book is. Fine, he said, it's funny, but I didn't laugh like you did...I just smiled really big. Oh! Smiling! Yes, that aptly describes JD's reaction to things I think are funny. He smiles.
I guess I'll take it. A smile. Although I'm sure he'll so regret it when I'm trying to be funny and he doesn't laugh because as long as he merely SMILES, I'll feel like I'm the next Eddie Murphy. |
Regardless if we share a similar sense of humor, here's a few books I've read this month that I think you'd definitely enjoy.
*A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Wow. That's all I can say about this amazing read. Hosseini also wrote the The Kite Runner and though I heard great things about it, I never got a chance to pick it up. When my friend, Shannon K, sent me her copy of Setting Sun, I knew it had to be good. Not only was it good, it was mind-blowingly good. The story spans ten years in war-torn Afghanistan and chronicles how two women's lives intersect and the unlikely friendship that forms, resulting in finding purpose, redemption, and love. Ah-maze.
*Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling. Need I say much about this book? No, but I will. Mindy stars in "The Office" as Kelly Kapoor, but she's also one of the show's writers and completely hilarious. It's similar to Tina Fey's Bossypants in that its comprised of personal short stories about her life, but their lives are so different, which results in their stories being independently funny and overall a great read. And I probably shouldn't admit this because it sounds creepy, but I so wanna be her best friend after reading more about her life.
*Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Okay, so I don't like creepy things. In fact, I once got scared from an episode of Little House on the Prairie and couldn't sleep for a week. I'm weaksauce. I debated buying this book because the photos included in the book were freakishly eerie. And yet I found them making me think and feel differently about my own photography. So I bought it. The fictional book revolves around Jacob finding a series of odd photographs and wants to know more about his family's history. What results is a Harry Potter meets X-files meets meets Back to the Future adventure story. These types of stories aren't really my cup of tea, but it was an enjoyable read nevertheless.
*The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan. I told JD good books make me think, but great books make me feel...and this book? It's like Feel Station Central. The book is a dictionary filled with alphabetical short stories and powerfully written, so, clearly, I was filled with writing jealousy. It's an easy read and quite enjoyable, so if you're looking for a stocking stuffer for a book worm, this is it!
Happy Monday! |
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FAQ : Behind The Scenes to a Styled Shoot
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A few weeks ago, I had the distinct pleasure of shooting an editorial for Rue Magazine. It was one of my most favorite shoots to date and I'm honored to have worked with such a great team. I mentioned before how a styled shoot usually works in this installment of Shooting Star, but I thought I'd take a bit and chat about the questions I'm usually asked about surrounding how these shoots happen and what goes into them.
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How do styled shoots actually happen?
They happen in a myriad of ways, but--usually--a designer/coordinator will assemble a team of vendors to produce a shoot that will, hopefully, serve as inspiration and a vehicle to move his vision forward. The coordinator will hand-pick his team based on the style of the shoot and find a way to play to everyone's strengths.
However, I will say that when I first started photographing styled shoots (here's a look at one of my first), I reached out to a team of vendors on my own. Back in 2009, these types of shoots weren't as popular as they are today and those that were happening didn't include me. There was a distinct crew of high-end creatives who put together shoots (they had the money and resources), but a new wave of creatives entered the field and put together shoots in a way that was less costly by leveraging personal connections...and elbow grease. For instance, the first styled shoot I photographed occurred at a park in my neighborhood, instead of renting a venue. Some of the details in the shoot were personal items of the designer instead of renting/buying what she needed. Thinking outside the box is a great way to get started and showcase your artistic voice. |
Who's in charge?
Traditionally the designer/coordinator is in charge. Afterall, it's her vision we're all collaborating to achieve. In this shoot for Rue, the creative director--Anne Sage--was on hand to articulate what she needed and the outline of the editorial.
I always start each shoot by talking with the visionary to ensure we're on the same page. For instance, I asked Anne to tell me more about the holiday party. Who's it for? What do they do for a living? Where do they hang out on the weekends? How many friends are attending? What type of work do their friends do? All of the answers provided a framework in which I could work and cast a vision for the type of photos I needed. I also mentioned this idea of creating a story in this post if you'd like more ideas. For this shoot, I needed two types: 1. editorial images (photos that appealed to a photo editor); and 2. showcase photos (photos that appealed to contributors).
Because of short time frame in which I needed to work (I had 1.5 hours to shoot five set-ups), I asked JD to join me so he could focus on one thing: shooting editorially. These are candid pictures of guests in action and completely uninhibited. This is his strength as a photographer and freed me to photograph key details that would work both for the feature as well as the creative team involved. |
Do you get paid?
Generally speaking, no. Everyone contributes to a shoot (their time, labor, and talent) for the art of collaboration, being creative, and trend setting (the strong photo shoots, anyway). The way it works for my participation is to provide an online gallery where the creative team can download images after the shoot. They can use the images any way they want as long as they attribute photo credit.
I suppose the creative team is paid in creative currency. There's something magical about seeing an idea come to life and furthering your artistic voice with industry peers. |
What lenses do you use most during a styled wedding shoot?
I've gone into detail about the lenses I use on this post, but I usually shoot with the Canon 50mm, 1.2 most of the time. It yields great perspective for editorial photos of details and versatility in small spaces. I used the Canon 100 Macro, 2.8 IS for photos of the paper goods on the table because the light gray text was difficult to capture otherwise. I'll occasionally use the Canon 85mm, 1.2 but only if I'm working outdoors or have a bit of space to work in. |
What are common mistakes during a styled wedding shoot?
This is difficult to answer, but a general misstep is lack of vision. It's no longer enough to set up a pretty table in a field and call it a day. It's been done far too many times and lacks originality. The strongest shoots are those with a theme and the creative team works in tandem to remain closely tied to the theme. For instance, vintage isn't a theme...the idea of two lovers meeting at the circus in the 1930's and planning a party around how their day unfolded is a stronger idea. Using this outline, every design decision is measured against it. Was pink a color used in circuses during the 1930s? No, so all pastel colors within this hue should be omitted from the design aesthetic. Did brides wear white strapless satin dresses during this timeframe? No, so perhaps style the bride in an ivory lace dress to properly execute the vision. Was ice cream served at circuses in the 1930s? If not, consider refraining from using this idea and instead use, say, a multi-flavored popcorn station. Okay, so maybe that's not the best idea, but you get my point! |
What's a piece of advice you'd share before I shoot my first styled wedding shoot?
Be unique. With the abundance of styled wedding shoots, it's harder to stick out and create resonance on the web. The best thing a creative team can do is think of a unique theme (preferably one that hasn't been done already) and create a plan for the shoot itself. If the shoot is for creativity's sake, then state it in the beginning. If the goal is to get it featured on a wedding blog, state it (but take into consideration which blog you want to submit to and ensure the shoot aesthetic appeals to the intended blogger...for this shoot, we were lucky to have it also featured on Green Wedding Shoes). If the goal is to hone your skills in executing a theme via artistic collaboration, simply ensure everyone is on the same page. |
| I hope this helps and sheds light into how styled shoots work...of course, this isn't the only way they're done, but I thought I'd offer my perspective the best way I can. |
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