It’s comical to see this tiny, 3 pound fur ball we’ve named LUCA BRASI. You remember him right ? Brasi was the “Godfather”s henchman that ended up ’swimming with the fishes’.
He is incredibly cute and has the sweetest disposition. He was a gift for my 4 children + for me. My husband (and love of my life) had him brought up from Florida this past weekend as part of my birthday gift and I have to say he is the perfect little man.
He is a mix between a Shih tzu and a Brussels Griffon – a SHIFFON. He won’t get much bigger than about 8 or 10 pounds and he kind of looks like an Ewok.
Everyone around us has a dog and I have wanted one my entire life. We stumbled on Luca while on vacation in the sunshine state and fell in love with him!
Look out for more blog entries that include Mr. Brasi in the future !
So I’m back from sunny Palm Beach Gardens, Florida after being away for 3 weeks. Doing lots of swimming with the kids and enjoying time with my family. This pic was an evening swim with my daughter that turned into an experiment in trying to shoot underwater WITHOUT drowning my expensive equipment. I shot this through a glass salad bowl which was submerged + my lens in it. Scary, but cool! I get caught up in this kind of play and won’t stop until I get what I’m looking for.
It hasn’t been just fun + games though; I’ve also been studying. Trying to learn as much as possible about lighting as I can squeeze in every evening.
There are sooooo many bad ass things I can do now (and I’m only at the begining!). I started by simply setting up an old straw hat on my mom’s kitchen table. I used one Nikon 800 speed light off camera on a tripod and my 70-200mm lens (my favorite) - and - I had my dad hold up a white paper napkin in front of the speed light to create a ’softbox’.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Ah, so what ? Well, what you don’t see in this series is the best part. This was taken, in the brightest room (with skylights), surrounded by sliding glass doors, in the middle of the day. I didn’t use any backdrop to shield the ambient light at all. Complete control of light. All of it.
This may seem like a small accomplishment to some of you, but for me, this was HUGE! I was trained to know ambient light and have used this skill my entire, photographing life. To understand that I can manipulate the light was awesome!
Here’s one more for you. I took this off the back end of a cruise ship to the Bahamas at 10pm. That’s the moon you see, not a sunset shot. The orange on the horizon are the lights from the islands. Amazing!
I propped the camera on the handrail of the ship and fired off a 40 second bulb exposure, 200mm.
This is my littlest man, full of life and energy. He is in constant motion! Every day when daddy gets home, it’s always the same question/demand: ”airplane please”.
I’ve been teaching a small group for a few weeks now. Nothing deep, just beginner, photo 101. The one thing that I hope they walk away with is what I’ve been saying to them all along. We are all guilty of glassing over the things that are familiar to us in our daily life; stop + really look around you. The smallest, most ordinary moments in life are the best. Capturing them with your lens……….priceless.
Sorry for the silence. It’s been a crazy, hectic, blah blah blah few months. Big wedding year and rethinking my tragectory a little bit.
Love my weddings and everything thats wrapped up in them – but also need to stretch my artistic wings again.
I recently met a fellow photographer who really got me thinking – I need to get back to the reason I got into photography in the first place. It’s the way I see the world……. its these brilliant, snapshots of life. My memories are even stored this way in my head. It’s wierd, I know…….but some of you will get it.
I’ve heard some people describe their memories as though they are movies. Me, not so much. More like a scratch and sniff picture book. I can close my eyes, see the image and everything else comes back to me – the smells, the tastes, the cold or warmth of the day.
So I had a couple of hours today. My family went down the shore for the afternoon and I didn’t want to just sit around and wait for them. I grabbed my newest Nikon camera and lense and decided to walk around my beautiful town of Cranford, NJ. Not far, just to the Cranford Canoe Club and the bridge. I took a few shots to try and get those creative juices going.
cranford canoe club
So, I’ve noticed a trend over the last six months that’s fun and exciting for me and my clients.
There have been a number of inquiries for “Boudoir” sessions coming in. Now, for those of you that don’t know about this, it’s the kind of photography many of us ladies think about doing -but- most never dare to. The Boudoir of today is a modern take on the “Pin-up’s” of yesterday.
This ain’t your grandma’s idea of sexy. It’s new, it’s fresh + Oh So Sultry.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve picked up the latest ‘men’s’ magazines like Maxim or even last months Victoria’s Secrets catalog and imagined yourself looking like those beauties. Soft and innocent or rough and racy; either way, this is the kind of stuff I’m talking about.
I prefer the illusion of nudity over the bare all T+A. It’s more intriguing and seductive. If done right, it can be a work of art. Something you can display in your home rather than hide away in a drawer somewhere.
Next time you put that cute pair of panties on or boy shorts + tee, think about giving me a ring!
What an incredible way to end 2009 and begin 2010! Thanks to Sophie and Jon Warrick, my husband and I spent an amazing 5 days in the UK this past December. We had the opportunity to shoot in picture perfect, Oxford. At times, we felt like we were dropped right into a Harry Potter movie. It was crazy cool!
