My Halloween Costume

For the first time in a long time, I wore a costume for Halloween. I even won a Scariest Costume contest I entered in the afternoon.

During the evening, I was a JJ's Blues and had my friend Felix take some pictures of me.



I added some glow in the dark makeup for the blacklight shots.



One of the members of the band Night Shift dressed up as Ozzy, so I made sure to have photos taken with him also. I think he has a really authentic look costume.

The M8 about town

A few images from stores around town. I found a lot of interesting colors and textures.

You could count the beads just from this frame.



Though I usually put pictures in black frames, this rainbow of options reminds me of my website where the background frame changes to match the photos.



Two more playing with a more shallow depth of field:


This zebra ride is reminiscent of a carousel animal.

Riki and Nick's Wedding

Today I went to Tiburon to photograph the wedding of Riki and Nick who chose this city as it was where they first met and fell in love.

A closeup of the detail's on Riki's custom sash:


Here was the gorgeous view outside the Corinthian Yacht club that was the setting for both their ceremony and reception.


During this solemn moment of prayer one of the flower girls, Kennedy, at the left, was instead peeking out into the audience.


Enjoying their first dances as husband and wife, in both serious and fun moments.

Pangea Day

Today is Pangea Day, where films made all over the world were shown at the same time all over the planet. I was at JJ's Blues to watch the show locally, which for us in California was from 11:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. My favorite films included "One Thousand Words" (fiction: a man follows clues to try to return a lost camera), "Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars" (documentary: people at a refugee camp improve lives by singing), "Elevator Music" (fiction: people use cell phones to play their own music, with a great twist at the end), "Walleyball" (documentary: volleyball games on a beach divided by a slat wall between Americans and Mexicans, and "I Remember Lebanon" (documentary: a woman who left her country explains what she remembered there during times of peace, and why the world should care as much during peacetime as during war).

The films were funny and sad, the music was great. I really felt part of the one world concept. For me visually, the best time to take photos was during the Laughter Yoga segment, where they had everyone get up and laugh as one, some favorite moments:






To find out more about Pangea Day, and to watch the films go to:

http://www.pangeaday.org

A New Way of Being

So I've been working on a new series of changes in my life and wanted to get the habits going for a while before writing about them, and so far so good so here goes:

I've been eating a lot healthier, whole foods in non-processed or low processed state and exercising. First, I bought some barbells, a jump rope and a stretch ball, but kept finding it hard to get a full workout. So yesterday I joined a gym, 24-Hour Fitness, and yesterday tried the elliptical (legs still feeling the burn in part) and took my first pilates class (not able to do all the moves in the advanced positions, but I think I did well for the first time).

My aunt, Carol, who keeps herself fit with tennis definitely approves, and a dear friend stationed in Japan suggested taking photos of myself at different stages to see the difference. I think I will, but not post them here, sorry.

Any words of wisdom or encouragement welcomed.

First engagement photo collage

While visiting Gary Fong's blog I noticed he had a new collage action set out with a special running until Wednesday. I haven't tried to make a collage of anything since grade school, but I'd liked the concept as one I'd try someday.

Within minutes of downloading it I made my first engagement collage. I really like how it came out (though it probably would have been faster if I hadn't been trying to figure out as I made it what steps exactly Gary put into it to make it run). In any case, here is my first collage, I think it came out great (especially for a first effort) and will soon be posting one from another session:

Facebook

So after reading a bunch of photographers are using Facebook to network and promote their business, I decided to give it a try. Though I'm still learning (just have up a personal page and will have a separate one for my wedding business soon), I did put up some photos from my engagement shoot at Stanford last month.

In terms of networking sites, I haven't used Myspace in a while, and may just do Facebook and perhaps try Linkedin as well. Any suggestions?

Photography as a Glamorous Job?

It's funny how many different ideas there are about photography. I know that when I tell people that I shot the photos on the back wall of JJ's (and I don't even know how many are up now, but I'm thinking at least 100) they either tell me how easy photography is or they tell me how hard the type of shooting I'm doing (low lighting action shots is). One thing is for sure, everyone says it, and the wedding photography if they know about that, is cool, often they call it the best job ever.

In a recent survey by Salary.com people would seem to agree with the latter sentiment as it was number 4 on a list of today's most glamorous jobs. Here's what they say:

"4 – Photographer
The pay: $27,850/year

The allure: A typical day on the job involves meeting high-profile celebrities, traveling to exotic locales and seeing your work on the cover of Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair. Could you BE any cooler?

The reality: Most photographers start off on pretty modest pay as assistants and work their way up. If you're not persistent about pursuing work and marketing yourself, Glamour Shots might be as glamorous as it gets."

As for me, though I've photographed Trent Reznor (http://media.www.thespartandaily.com/media/storage/paper852/news/2005/12/07/Ae/Nin-Comes.To.Town-1501483.shtml), Fiona Apple and Coldplay with a pit pass I didn't get to meet them one on one. I am planning on traveling this year to shoot but for individual clients. It seems like these people were thinking only of magazine photographers, a small sector of a large market of jobs. Still, I agree, it is one of the coolest, most glamorous jobs.

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.

New Year's Eve Reflection

Tonight as I have for the last two New Year's Eves prior, I'll be working at JJ's Blues. Today marks the second year (to the day) that I've been working there as House Photographer shooting musicians in some dark conditions. Ironically Brad Kava, a great friend, will be opening tonight with his band, Doghouse Riley, the first band I went there to photograph (as a favor to him), and soon after started working there.

In two years the stage lights have gotten brighter and I've been able to help influence the color gels used, so now they have more greens and blues and less red. Red while dramatic and intense often looks awful on skin tones when its the only or predominant stage light.

Shooting in dark conditions has surely helped how I shoot in equally dark scenes including in churches at weddings, and some of the anticipation I've learned shooting musicians has translated into weddings and vice versa.

Working in the same club has also shown me how to really bend my creative processes to come up with new ideas, such as shooting the subject and the mirror image which I first did during a long set by Jason Ricci (a technique I also used in wedding photos including one of my favorite images ever (still the first photo on my web splash page).

Merry Christmas, blog rating

Well, I thought this was pretty funny. I only put in my blog address once, honest, and this was an amusing, if probably quite inaccurate, ego boost.



Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all,

Danielle

Asra and Hani's wedding, part one

Asra, right, was a beautiful bride who had her makeup put on by her sister, Sama, a multi-talented artist who described it as "painting" her sister as a canvas. More photos to follow.

Field Trip: San Francisco Networking

Today I went up to one of my favorite cities, San Francisco, to network with some great people I'd met before. I gave Jinza, who designs great gowns some two photos of her with two different dresses on matted metallic paper.

She really liked the paper (so far almost everyone I show it to likes it) and asked if couples could get their wedding photos on it (they can). She showed me one dress that she said was the fabric representation of metallic paper.

I saw some amazing new designs, including one that I'd probably wear on my own wedding day. Photos coming soon.

Onward and Upward

Yesterday I added my sidebar link from this blog to another site. I'm part of a new community called Wedfog where wedding photographers and hopefully soon brides will come together to have questions answered and connect with one another. Below is one of my favorite shots in my gallery profile, though I titled it something else today it feels like "Onward and upward" which was my personal motto throughout much of college, always trying to reach more heights of success.

The shot is one of my favorites from recent weddings and I also had it printed on metallic paper as a portfolio image to show clients.


The name wedfog is a take off of Wed(for wedding) FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), which is what the letters kind of look like. Though I've been in the business so long that I first read it as Wed FOG where FOG is father of the groom. So many acronyms.

Random Photo Tuesday - Music Man

Johnnie, who co-owns JJ's Blues with his wife is often recognized as one of the people keeping the blues alive in San Jose. He's less known for being a really great piano and keyboard player, even though he's incredibly talented. He was concentrating so hard on playing this song, in b flat which he tells me is the hardest key to play in, that he didn't even see me take this photo

Reflections on walking, new study

After making it the whole 2.6 miles yesterday, today in hindsight it's amazing how much easier it was then I thought (having told myself if I get to a certain street I'm almost there and reaching it sooner than expected), and I'm still a little sore today. I guess I just have to keep it up, hoping to do so.

I read a study done in the UK that claims initials effect grades and baseball. Supposedly people whose first names start with the letters denoting the bad grades C and D do worse in school than others, and baseball players with either initials starting with K strike out (with a K symbolizing a strike) more often.

I think that's hysterical, and didn't effect me luckily as a D (for Danielle) I did great in school, and enjoyed most subjects in highschool and college. Remembering back to high school, the top two students (valedictorian and salutatorian, both of whom coincidenally were female) had C names. I don't follow baseball well enough to think of tons of examples, but I know Babe Ruth holds, beyond other things, a record for striking out.

With my friend, David as a new teacher, I've learned so much about students and so much of academic learning involves what preparation one gets and how, not to mention the encouragement and involvement of parents like this woman I photographed teaching her son, in two languages about geography.

Also, I think it's funny that so many studies focus on negative outcomes (bad grades, strikeouts) and not positive (good grades and home runs). Lastly the study didn't mention students with the F initial, I realize some schools won't give out F's but surely enough must to make this trend apply if accurate, or perhaps they just forgot to study or include them. Oh well.

I'm Walking!

I'm walkin, yes indeed and I'm talkin bout you and me
I'm hopin that you'll come back to me, uh uh
"I'm Walking" - Fats Domino

You can do the walk...everywhere you go
Do the walk
"The Walk" - Jimmy McCracken

It's ironic that even though two of my favorite songs above are all about walking (and I've been priviliged to see Jimmy McCracken and his large, amazing band do his twice), I don't walk that much.

I think that's because I'm so used to just getting in my car and going somewhere, even when it's within easy walking distance (though I do often park relatively far from stores to have a little walk inside).

Inspired by others who have posted on their blogs their plans to exercise and eat better (most recently Becker), I'm going to resolve to do more walking starting today, literally. Of course it doesn't hurt that my car is in the shop and I won't have it back till much later this afternoon.

Anyhow, having been dropped off at a destination today where I'll be for a few hours, I have a 2.6 mile journey home. I debated using the Light Rail, and if this was San Francisco I would take a taxi. However, San Jose doesn't have large hills like that, so I'm going to walk home.

I sincerely hope this will inspire me to walk more, and towards that end every Friday I'm going to give an exercise update so my blog readers can help me stay honest, and feel free to offer encouragement.

Yes those are my green sneakers, I love colorful shoes when I'm dressed casually, in high school I got the nickname Punky (from Punky Brewster) though I never dressed quite that mismatched.

I read online that this should take less than an hour, so I'll post my time when I get home.

______

Updated:

My walk took 45 minutes and 29 seconds. Not bad considering I had to stop for traffic lights and some intersections that really should have had some. I walked down a street I don't normally drive for most of it to see and appreciate new things.

A lot of people smiled and said hi which I liked. Two unusual things I noticed were two brick chimneys partially built in a spiral pattern and a young man on a bike with a rake. Don't see those things everyday.

Couples at SF Gay Pride Parade

Inspired this week by looking through and posting some photos from this summer's parade I found two more to share, two couples. I was struck by how long they had been together and the quiet dignity of their statements.

I really enjoyed the parade as a whole with beautiful costumes and amazing music, yet I think these couples and others like them were my favorite part of all of it as they drove home what they are fighting for and how committed they are to the cause and most of all, each other.