Borrowed and Bleu Feature
ANYWHO, talking about my own "accomplishments" is about as fun for me as a root canal so BUH BYE people. I'm off to sunny Florida!!!!!
Why, hello there! I am jetting off to Florida in the early a.m. to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday on a massive DFV (Dunbar Family Vacation...obviousslllyyy) bonanza. I'm sure I will have many pictures to post when I return but I wanted to leave you with two super exciting things that happened this week. The Indie Tot photo contest The Indie Tot is a really fun/trendy/chic blog for parents. They ran a contest for children's photographers and my submission won! Yippee skippy! I have to say, I don't know how much credit I can take because I think Claire pretty much had this one in the bag. And, for the record, I now know that it isn't my Aunt Catherine goggles fooling me...she really is the friggin cutest baby...like ever. Either way, our (Claire is my new business partner....Gillies got demoted) prize is a free business listing and link to my site. Shhhwwinnggg! Borrowed and Bleu Feature The 2nd awesome thing that happened this week was waking up to an email letting me know Julie and Jim's Engagement Session was featured on Borrowed and Bleu. Again, mucho credit to Julie for dreaming up the concept for this session and endless kudos to Jim for actually going along with it! These guys definitely deserve widespread recognition just for being as cool as they are. Check out the full feature here. ANYWHO, talking about my own "accomplishments" is about as fun for me as a root canal so BUH BYE people. I'm off to sunny Florida!!!!!
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I had a quick and sweet visit from my very best good friend Moira and my two favorite kiddos the other day. They picked me up and we headed to a nearby playground. As I was waiting for them to get here I peeked outside and noticed the sun was just starting to set. This is what photographers call "the golden hour." Perfecttttt light. This time of day takes a normal portrait and makes it magical. I, of course, grabbed my camera and we headed out. We weren't there very long and I only took about 6 pictures total but I got a few of Lennon that I just couldn't resist sharing. This boy takes the expression "his Mother's son" to scary levels. My goodness, if it weren't for the blonde hair and blue eyes I could swear this was a picture of Moira when she was a kid. This boy is a Tuohy if there ever was one. Dear Moira, we need a real-deal session ASAP. Love, me.
Today I met up with the multi-talented and muy bonita Ellen Grace Hornberger for some headshots. She is a talented and accomplished actress, film-major and all around awesome cousin. Can't wait to say I knew her when! The weather was warning us of insane hurricane strength wind. PLEASE. We worked it out. Quick backstory: I picked Ellen up and I'm all "OMG your hair!? Did you get it done?." Ellen is all "nah, I did it myself" WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!? Anyway - back to business and hellooooo beautiful...... Oh boy. I love these next two. Like, a lot. hawtness. I won't get all weird on you or anything, but seriously, I remember when this girl was born. Still can't get over how grown up and awesome she is! And also - knowing a film-major is really fun for me. I'm a huge snob and it was nice to finally get to talk about the cinematography in "The King's Speech" without having something thrown at me.
EGH - you are the man. Thanks for braving the winds with me! Today marks the 1-year anniversary of my blog. I was going to bake some cupcakes to celebrate but then I remembered that the last time I tried to bake something I burnt and ruined an entire tray of brownies. When you can't make brownies successfully, it's time to let it go and hang up the apron.
Kids, the lesson here is to stick to what you are good at. I am good at taking thousands upon thousands of pictures of my dog. So without further ado, here are some pointless shots I snapped of Gillies being Gillies last weekend. Happy Blogiverssary! (making up words - also something I'm good at). January and February are notoriously slow months for photographers. While they may be "slow" in terms of actual shooting, I have been a busy little bee behind the scenes. After redesigning my website and blog, my next project was to create and order some new marketing materials for my brand. First up was business cards. Having a background in both marketing and graphic design, you would think something as simple as a business card would be a piece-o-cake. Notsomuch. Designing for myself has been an unexpectedly challenging (and fun) experience and after all the second guessing and obsessing, I am really excited about my new look.
I know most people aren't as dorky about design aesthetic and typography as I am (I turned to Joe and said "geesh...Futura much?" while at a Volkswagen dealership yesterday....good times) but I figured I'd go ahead and share a little piece of what I've been up to while "not busy." Today is Valentine's day and Facebook and Twitter are all aflutter with girls posting status updates depicting the flowery bouquets they received at work and quoting gag-worthy song lyrics. I got to thinking about Hallmark, contrived holidays and the idea of love (channeling Carrie Bradshaw….obvi). Despite my constant verbal purging on this blog, I consider myself a pretty private person, especially when it comes to love. However, if there was one day to let my guard down and get a little personal, I guess Valentine’s Day is as good as any. I met Joe in 2003 (yes I very lazily photoshopped nudy magazine day pictures off the wall in the image above) during my Spring semester of freshmen year at Manhattan College. A fellow lax-gal invited me to her dorm room to hang out with some of her friends. He was there, among others. As the night progressed, people slowly trickled out until we were the only two left standing. The conversation was easy and free-flowing. We chatted until the wee-hours about anything and everything: music, our families, movies, college, life. I remember thinking he was really cute and had a great smile. However, I noticed pretty quickly that he was “too short” for me. I am 5”9 and, at that point, had yet to own my giantism. Considering the fact that I was wearing no makeup at all, dirty lacrosse sweats and had my hair piled into a messy bun (shocker) I’m not sure I really want to know what his first impressions of me were. IRREGARDLESS, we exchanged screen names (Holden3Caufield and AngryYoungMan13…helloooo kindred spirits), mutually filed each other in the “friends” folder and that’s how things remained. A casual friendship became a strong one throughout the next year of college and eventually led to an awkward declaration of feelings for each other on AOL instant messenger (hah…what I would pay to read THAT chat log) and….as they say….the rest is history.
I think there are certain stages of life that bring on extreme amounts of personal change. Ages 18-30 might be the most drastic. It’s when all the “growing up” really happens. First real job, car, apartment, financial obligations etc etc etc. When I think about those two 19 year old kids in tattered tie-dye t-shirts and too-cool-for-school attitudes to match, it feels like a miracle that we have come so far, and done it all completely in-sync with each other. There were inevitable and occasional bumps along the way, but we always seemed to come out of them stronger. Anyway, back to the point at hand. Love, to me, is not measured in diamond rings, roses and Facebook updates (although those things sure are swell). It’s something intangible. It’s the genuine feeling that there is literally nothing I’d rather do on a Friday night than watch a snobby documentary with Joe and Gillies. It is the feeling of utter excitement and anticipation when we talk about the future and where we might be in 5, 10 or 20 years. It is having so many inside jokes that we could probably publish a new vocabulary comprised solely of quotes from our favorite movies and TV shows. Love is Joe never holding me accountable for any of the terrible things I do or say before 9 a.m. and me patiently accepting the fact that, to him, being hungry is a license to be in a really bad mood. Love is feeling like the luckiest girl in the world as I happily wear flats to every wedding we ever go to…because when I really think about it, I never liked wearing heels anyway. I guess everyone has their own definition of love. I don’t know what I’ve done in my present or past lives to deserve finding someone who understands and loves me so completely, but I’ll happily give Hallmark $3.50 of my hard-earned dough, because I think it’s definitely something worth celebrating. Happy Valentine’s Day ya’ll!! WARNING: The following contains an abundant amount of cuteness that may be disturbing to some viewers. Discretion is advised. Claire is almost 7-months old and reaching a level of adorable that I honestly did not think was possible. I literally have never met a more happy and content baby. Ever. Eat my dust... Hangin with (and on) Mommy. You know what's really funny? Sittin on a couch... oh em geeeee the eyelashes. Goofin off while the grownups talk... beautiful. chubby fingers and toes friggginnnn kill me. This next one needs some kind of typographic drumroll... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nom nom.
I officially call this blog post to order! Item #1 on the agenda: I am soooo loving the super fun and thoughtful trend of "Save The Date" magnets. I was equal parts giddy and honored to see two of my engagement sessions from 2011 transformed into "Save The Dates" recently. Item #2: PINTEREST Let me just say, when it comes to Pinterest, I fell hard and I fell fast. I just typed, deleted and retyped 5 different attempts to explain what Pinterest is for those who haven't heard of it. S.O.S. Take it away wikipedia! Pinterest is a vision board-styled social photo sharing website and app where users can create and manage theme-based image collections. The site's mission statement is to "connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting. My first night on Pinterest, I spent 3+ hours "Pinning" like a lunatic. If you are on Pinterest, follow me!
Random blog Post adjourned! One of the items on my 30 in 365 list was to drive to Montauk in the middle of winter. There is something I really love about being in a place that is completely deserted and knowing I could be in the same spot 6 months from now fighting massive crowds of tourists and beach goers. Yesterday Joe and I (did I mention how much he lurvesssss my list? "what are we doing?" "where are we going???") took a little day trip to "THE END" and reached the Montauk Point Lighthouse with 30 minutes of sunlight to spare... Checking in... Taking in the scenery... purrrty.... If you haven't yet, I highly recommend you rent or buy Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It's one of my faves and the inspiration behind this item on my list.
Hello there! I have had a few people ask me recently about my camera and equipment so I figured I'd sum it all up in a pretty little post. I have an undying fascination with seeing what other photographers are shooting with but have learned the hard way that expensive equipment does not a photographer make. In case you aren't aware, professional-grade cameras and lenses are RIDONKULOUSLY expensive so I am proud of my little collection, but I've always got my eye on the item at the top of my *want* list. The good news is there are tons of reputable companies who rent lenses and cameras on the cheap when you can't afford to drop the big bucks. CAMERAS Joe got me a Canon Rebel for Christmas a few years ago. It was an awesome camera, and I definitely recommend it to anyone looking to take great personal photos. When I decided I wanted to pursue professional photography, I sold my Rebel and bought the Canon 60D (right). The 60D has been an amazing learning-tool for me and taught me so much about the inner-workings of a camera (and all it's scary settings). It also jump-started my business, so I will always have a soft spot in my heart for this camera. However, once I upgraded to the Canon 5D MK ii, I noticed an immediate improvement in the quality of my images. I am obsessseddddd with the full-frame sensor and added megapixels. There are rumors of the Mark III coming out soon, but for now, I am a happy Canon-gal through and through. LENSES I'm gonna get a little controversial here. 95% of the time, I have the Canon 24-70 2.8L (left) on my camera. Controversial because it's a zoom lens. The majority of professionals I know shoot exclusively with prime (or fixed focal length) lenses. These lenses are awesome and have super-low aperture settings, but I wouldn't trade my favorite lens for anything in the world. Instead of owning three separate 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm lenses and constantly changing them out, I rock the 24-70 awwwllll day yo. I did invest in the very inexpensive 50mm 1.8 (bottom right) which I use occasionally for added bokeh when shooting portraits. The Tamron 10-24mm 3.5 lens is a fun wide-angle lens but unfortunately it does not fit on my new camera, so I'm hoping to sell it off soon. I'll skip through all the flashes and accessories so you don't all fall asleep on me but there ya have it! I used to get serious gear-envy when I would see how many lenses and awesome things other photographers had but now I have come to appreciate the value of finding the right equipment for me, and adding to it only when I feel limited by my current set up. Until that day comes, I will be renting additional lenses to my heart's desire and filling up my piggy bank for the next splurge! |