A goal of mine...

Okay, so some of you have asked about my Santa Barbara trip this past weekend, and I promise, photos are on their way from that. But the Oscars tonight reminded me of a long lost dream of mine.

One of my dreams is to do a shoot with Kate Winslet. She's such an amazing woman. I don't necessarily know much about her personally, but I've seen her take a stand for her body, and the bodies of women in the lime-light. That's just cool. Plus, she stands up for her family. I know that currently, she's taking a year off (till summer 2007 I believe) from filming just to spend more time with her kids. That's rare (celebrity or not) in this world. And now, with her fifth nomination, the early 30-somthing has set a new record for actresses, having more by nominations for her age than any other actress in history. Congrats!

Who wouldn't want to photograph this stunning lady? It'd be a piece of cake too, cuz I'm pretty sure she doesn't take a bad shot.

My inspiration

I have a lot of people in my life that spur me on in some way. One of those in the photography realm is none other than Mr. David Jay.

DJ is like 26 (actually, I think he's 27 now) and is an extremely successful wedding photographer (and entrepenuer). His shots are amazing, to be sure, but that isn't what inspires me MOST about DJ. It's his spirit.

DJ is one of the first photographers I met that was really actually friendly. Imagine that. My own personal wedding photographer and colleague, Jessica Verma has always been super friendly and helpful, but until I came across DJ, she was the exception to the rule. DJ is one of those rare photographers that actually cares about improving the life and skills of other photographers. This has turned out to be an utterly radical concept in the photographic community. He inspires me to be a better person, a better businesswoman, and a better photographer as well as help others if I can. Thanks DJ! ;-)

What or who inspires you? Do they know it?

Congrats!

It's not every day I get to go to a wedding as a guest, but I love it. I really love weddings. That's why I was so excited to see my buddy Mark marry his long-time girlfriend Michelle. It was a beautiful day and a gorgeous church. Plus, Michelle's dress was one of the most flattering on a bride I've seen so far this year.

My husband is a great friend of Mark's and had the priveledge of playing as a part of Les Six, a fantastic 6-part french horn group that specializes in weddings, for the wedding. The other picture is all the horn guys (Mark's a horn player too, and usually plays with the group as well) with the happy couple.

So here's to the beautiful bride, the handsome groom, and the beautiful day!

~B

Kids Night Out

Okay, so I was cleaning out some of my files on my little Kodak point and shoot (I don't actually bring the D200 everywhere... well, I do, but I don't bring it out everywhere) and I found this awesome footage from the Dance-Off of the year. :o)

This year, us "kids" in the family decided to start a tradition of the "Kids Night Out" when we all get together. This year it happened while my oldest brother and his fiance were out from Philidelphia for Christmas. We all headed to Dave & Busters (my brothers, sister, almost sister-in-law, and my husband) and rocked the house.

At the end of the night, we decided to try one of those dance mix revolution games - why not? we're five white kids... ;-) So, not that I was completely shocked, but my oldest brother, the skinny one in the stripey shirt, pretty much whooped all of us. Nothing quite like getting to the end of the song and having the machine, in a rather loud fashion, tells you your "grade". Paul, my bro, would get "A" or "A+" every time.

Me? F. Though, I do think I got a D once. ;-)

At the end of the night, after having won a significant amount of tickets from a broken basketball game, and my husband showing a frightening skill for the little slot type machines, we saluted with a drink and purchased our first ever "Kids Night Out" trophy (a bart simpson doll wearing a D&B dog tag). It was pretty awesome, I have to say. I'm looking forward to the next time.

And Paul, I want a re-match. I've been practicing... ;o)