Back in July, I shot a really experimental session with the Bangash family. They asked me to come back and do a little bit more of a structured shoot as well as spend some more time just shooting some portraits of the parents together. I was more than happy to see the Bangashes again. The kids grow up so darn fast!
It wasn’t that cold when I shot this session, but I went with a decidedly winter/fall feel for this shoot. There’s something nostalgic about this time of year that I really wanted to convey.
It was an incredible privilege and honor to be asked to do a family lifestyle session for my good friend and gifted photographer Natalie Moser. I shoot with Natalie all the time, at a variety of event and weddings. I think I actually shot one of her last weddings before giving birth to her son, as well as the first wedding she shot after… so I’ve gotten to see this boy grow. And boy, has he grown (22lbs at 7.5 months)! Anyway, I am a bit speechless at this point. I feel like these pictures say more than I can with words about how much love I have for this family. They have a beautiful energy and I hope these pictures communicate that with some clarity.
Last night I had the opportunity to photograph an event in Los Angeles encouraging people to go out and vote. The event was at Les Deux and hosted by Brooke Burke of Dancing With The Stars fame. It was so different from a wedding, so it was nice to do something brand new. While brand new to me, everybody has seen the red carpet photos from things like the Oscars and other events. I joined in with that crowd of red carpet photographers to make sure I got my shots, but I also got to try some other stuff. My friend Jeffrey Neal came to shoot the event with me. He got to shoot inside the club while I was shooting the red carpet stuff.
It’s actually really difficult to get away from the existing aesthetic of red carpet photographs, but I just wanted to share a few things I tried to do a little differently. (No, I didn’t crawl on the ground, or climb any walls this time.)
On a more serious note, I want to encourage people to go out and cast an informed vote next week. It’s an exercise of our citizenship, honoring the freedoms in this country that we take for granted. Wars have been fought for this right, and we neglect it in this country because of our ridiculous sense of entitlement. As far as the presidential race goes, don’t vote for a candidate just because of perception. Read up, understand what each candidate stands for before voting. And don’t forget about third party candidates, i.e. Ralph Nader, Bob Barr. You’d be surprised how much more you might agree with their platforms than the Mc’bama choice.
Even if you aren’t fired up about the presidential elections, there are still tons of propositions to vote on in California. My guess is that everybody cares strongly about at least one of the issues on the ballot. So get off your lazy ass, fire up that world wide web, get educated on the issues and exercise the privilege of voting on Nov. 4.
Human Race And Kanye West At L.A. Memorial Coliseum [permalink]
2008.09.01
Yesterday was the Nike+ Human Race - basically a 24 hour series of 10k runs all across the world. In LA, there was something like 12,000 people running. Pretty cool, eh? It was rather crazy to be running with that many people. As I was running, I saw a girl running with a prosthetic leg. It’s always so inspirational and humbling to me when I see people go out and do things of incredible mental and physical fortitude. Whoever you are, you freaking rock and inspired my run last night.
Perhaps the best part (at least for me) about running in LA was that Kanye West was doing a small concert after the race for the participants. Jeannie and I actually had really wanted to go see him during his summer tour, but that didn’t work out, so this was sweet. Common made a guest appearance as well.
For all the things I don’t particularly love about LA, being able to go to a place like the Getty Villa is definitely an exception. It’s been so busy for Jeannie and me lately that we haven’t gotten to spend that much time together - this was our first day out in awhile. And it was great. Except for the traffic.
Anyway, much silliness ensues in the following picture, so you can either bear with it or skip this blog post altogether. I actually feel like when doing silly pictures, I look back at them and feel blessed to have found such a compatible partner. (I know, I know. I’m such a sap…)
Also, I wanted to mention that my photography professor from Pomona College, Sheila Pinkel, is having a show at the American Jewish University which we went to see yesterday. If you’re into political art, it’s definitely worth checking out.
