Cakes from Flower Flour

At yesterday's bridal fair I saw cakes so beautiful they stopped me in my tracks from Mimi at Flower Flour. The name refers to the fact that her store which she co-owns with her husband, Ed, makes amazing cakes and floral arrangements. After receiving permission to take a few, here is some of her amazing work:





I wanted a photo of the artist herself with her favorite of her cakes. Here she is with a chocolate featuring many different types of chocolate, yum!

Praise from Asra

Amoreena just forwarded me this email from Asra whose wedding to Hani I second shot last month:

"I know Hani just sent you an email, but I want to Thank you and Danielle for all your work and patience. Indian weddings and in particular my family weddings can be a bit unpredictable and chaotic! But in the end, everything turned out great. The pictures are fabulous and I can't wait to share them with my family!

Happy New Year!
Asra"

...

I've started working on my 1001 list, read my first business book "Selling the Invisible", and am working on plans to possibly be in the first bridal show very soon. More details as I have them.

101 Goals for 1001 Days

On a photography forum which I'm a member, Open Source Photo, some people began posting 101 goals to accomplish in 1001 days. As I am posting this today (to begin the new year right), this will give me until September 28, 2010 to get them done. These are mine (and some will probably overlap). They are in no particular order, I originally planned to separate into photo and non-photo lists, but decided to list as they came to me. I think I thought of some of the hardest ones first, ironically.

1. Get accepted into the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA).
2. Get accepted into the Artistic Guild of the WPJA, (AGWPJA).
3. Place first in at least four categories of WPJA and AGWPJA.
4. Buy and implement an off camera flash system for receptions.
5. Buy three Leica M8s and begin shooting weddings more with rangefinders.
6. Buy two Leica R9s and appropriate lenses, begin shooting weddings 90% Leica (see
#s 43 and 44 for exceptions.
7. Shoot two destination weddings.
8. Shoot one celebrity wedding.
9. Photograph a church mission trip to a country I've never been to.
10. Shoot weddings or assignments in three countries I've never been to.
11. Buy and use an iPhone in marketing.
12. Begin offering iPod touch with minislide show in largest packages.
13. Offer three different album company choices to clients.
14. Have a custom designed blog.
15. Mail birthday and anniversary cards to clients.
16. Exhibit at three bridal shows.
17. Place an ad in two national magazines.
18. Have a wedding featured in The Knot Real Weddings.
19. Have a wedding featured in Wedding Bee.
20. Photograph a Hindu, Shikh, Mormon, American Indian and Greek Orthodox wedding.
21. Photograph a wedding in which all or part of the service is in a foreign language
or American Sign language.
22. Hand out an average of five cards or more each day for one year.
23. Join more networking events with other photographers.
24. Join more networking events with other wedding professionals.
25. Write, publish, and photograph four articles in travel magazines.
26. Blog at least three times a week for an entire year.
27. Shoot a paid assignment for my two alma maters, San Jose State University and
Rochester Institute of Technology.
28. Photograph at Nestledon and get on the preferred vendor's list.
29. Get on the preferred vendor's list at five new locations.
30. Photograph three concerts from the pit with credentials.
31. Photograph the world famous surfing competition at Mavericks with credentials.
32. Photograph a wedding at the church I attend, Menlo Park Presbyterian.
33. Teach three children with no or basic photography knowledge how to use a camera.
34. Speak to classes on photojournalism and wedding photography (not simultaneously).
35. Photograph a wedding at a beach.
36. Photograph a wedding in a forest.
37. Photograph a military wedding of each service branch (Army, Navy, Marines, Air
Force and Coast Guard.)
38. Photograph a birth story.
39. Photograph a family portrait in which four generations are represented.
40. Become a Leica sponsored photographer.
41. Become a sponsored photographer for an album company (Image Capsule)?
42. Photograph a New Year's Eve, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter and Fourth of
July themed wedding.
43. Have 20D converted to infrared camera for use at weddings and portraits.
44. Buy and use a Canon G9 for ring and other appropriate shots.
45. Take at least three unique ring shots per wedding.
46. Generate at least half my business through referrals.
47. Attend the Digital Wedding Forum conference.
48. Attend the Open Source Photo West conference.
49. Attend the Wedding and Portrait Photographers of America conference.
50. Be a speaker of at least one of the above conferences.
52. Create and give three vendor specific sample books made from wedding images out.
53. Create and make vendor comp cards from each wedding I shoot and distribute.
54. Have images published in a national magazine.
55. Have images published in a national newspaper.
56. Have images published in a book.
57. Begin flying lessons.
58. Take scuba diving lessons.
59. Volunteer for a charity I admire.
60. Take workshops from Becker, Jessica Claire, and David Jay.
61. Learn to write in calligraphy, use for special mailings.
62. Buy and use a mountain bike.
63. Train for and run a half marathon.
64. Go to Burning Man.
65. Take a wilderness survival course.
66. Celebrate New Year's Eve in a country I've never been to.
67. Create an item or service for auction to benefit Thirst Relief.
68. Visit and photograph Christmas in Bethlehelm, PA.
69. Meet and photograph my cousin Samara Lily (born July 2007).
70. Return to Connecticut and photograph my childhood friend Debbie as an adult with
her family.
71. Read fifteen books on business and marketin.
72. Get involved in an adult literacy program.
73. Freelance as a writer and photojournalist for a major daily newspaper.
74. Visit my first photo teacher, thank him for all his advice and show him what I'm
doing now.
75. Visit my elementary, junior high, high school and college campuses with a camera.
76. Learn to surf.
77. Learn to ski and snowboard.
78. Go bungee jumping.
79. Drive on the Autobann.
80. Ride in a hot air balloon.
81. Be in a parade.
82. Photograph the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
83. Create a wedding anthology album showing all weddings of the year before.
84. Photograph a graffiti artist project in stages.
85. Write and read a poem at a local poetry slam.
86. Photograph a poetry slam at a national level.
87. Photograph animals in the wild, make a calendar of images.
88. Buy some good china inspired by both sides of my family tree.
89. Buy a projector and start projecting work for potential clients.
90. Start offering large canvas prints to clients.
91. Photograph three weddings in Las Vegas.
92. Photograph three maternity sessions.
93. Photograph three trash the dress sessions.
94. Photograph two day in the life sessions.
95. Spend three weeks visiting and photographing places in New England where the
American Revolution began.
96. Cook an entire dinner by myself (appetizers to dessert), invite friends, post
photos and reactions on blog, no matter what the results are.
97. Spend two weeks eating only organic food, blog about results.
98. Go to a classic opera, sit through the entire thing and try to appreciate.
99. Attend training camp of a major sports team.
100. Second shoot with ten photographers I admire.
101. Write handwritten letters to five people I love and tell them why I love them.

I'll keep everyone posted as I make progress on them.