Cheering Section

I wasn't sure if I was going to cover the marathon again. Last year I ran around the city to cover as much as I could. Last year there were no 8GB cards on sale (so all I had were some 512MB cards). Last year I didn't really know what I was doing. This year, though, I knew I didn't end up doing much with the pictures I took. In fact, I did so little, I didn't even post them on this blog. I was thinking this year it might be fun for the three of us to go down to the marathon and sit and be spectators and cheer.

The weather was pretty nice. We found a sunny spot at the 4-mile area, saw the wheelchair, women's, men's, and the rest run past. On the left is the winner, on the right is Scrappy doing a dance to keep warm. We left in time to get home to see the lead women and men finish on TV.

Getting My Money's Worth

Shoots never come together quickly. This was an exception. A makeup artist and a model contacted me about shooting. I said I would shoot avant-garde beauty with them. They were both excited. I really know nothing about avant-garde, but I wanted something different and I wanted to use my rentals at least one more time.

I totally expected one to say she couldn't shoot--not on such short notice. Both were available Monday, both had no problem with the location, both were responsive to emails. This was bizarre. Shoots don't come together in fewer than three days.

Thirty minutes before the shoot, I get a call from the model. She's hoping I can excuse her tardiness--she spent the night in the hospital after a life-threatening asthma attack. I asked her if she was sure she wanted to shoot. She couldn't wait.

It was a good shoot.

More Abstract

I saw an ad on craigslist for a web designer/photographer. Trying to swap web designing for group shots didn't prove to work out previously, so this time I offered to photograph what they needed in exchange for what I needed. Not until the morning before the shoot did the idea really strike me for how to anchor the shoot. I wanted something more emotive than what I had, but "anxiety" and "happy" were just too vague. I wanted something specific. I decided to pull the more interesting announcements from my Facebook account. The picture above is "[Name] cannot wake up. :("

This is a picture LV, my lovely assistant, took of me taking a picture of "[Name] wants to bury her head in the sand and not wake up until 2009." LV's not into the absurd, so it really wasn't his cup of tea. I am his cup of tea, though, so he bared down, made nice with all the pigeons on the roof, and was a great assistant.

This wasn't really part of the series. More just to make use of the sunset and a group shot.

On the Wall

Scrappy had no idea her art would be displayed in an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum until five minutes before we left for the opening gala. We had the postcard on the refrigerator and I'm sure it must have been mentioned in class, but Scrappy was still shocked to see her work displayed. Then she went looking for the chips and cookies.

Day Three

Day Three of shooting was so long, it easily felt like a week. We shot a meet-and-greet in the morning, prepping for the show in the afternoon, the show, and then the wrap party... It was definitely a good time.

On the Big Screen

After a second day of shooting Christian Siriano (that was the shoot in July where I couldn't disclose details), I had to go check out the billboard created from the July shoot. (The red dot in the middle that says "LG.")

While my pictures made it into the reel playing on the screens at the fashion show and make up a bunch of the content on the lglotus.com (you can download my work as wallpaper!), my stills weren't in the 10 seconds on the billboard. (Christian looking at fabric on the screen just right of center.)

Still, I was part of that billboard in Times Square. :0)

Beautiful Lighting

We went to see Gavin DeGraw again. This time we hung further in the back and upstairs--it wasn't as hot or stuffy, therefore I did not feel like passing out. Being upstairs also meant I had a great view of people using built-in flashes too far away from the stage. (See examples below.)

I'm such a snob, huh?

The opening act included an electric mandolin. I did not think I would ever pay to see someone play the electric mandolin...

Super Cute, Super Fast

More art direction from LV...

This is me and the designer, Alison from Project Runway Season 3, hustling to get through 14 looks. Without her knowing exactly what she likes and having two great models from Race Management, I'm not sure how long this shoot might have taken. Our call time was 10 a.m. and just about everyone got lost. So we started around 11 a.m. and still finished by 4:30 p.m.

Then, completely unprecedented, people stayed to hang out after the shoot.

It was a good shoot.

Something Needs to Change

I didn't like finding LV's drawing materials on my vanity. The whole reason I had cleared off the vanity was so that I could use it as a vanity. But he took that as opportunity to stack up comic boards and rulers and pencils on surface *and* the stool. Something had to change.

We have two kinds of walls in our apartment: those that are impervious to drills (ask the DirecTV guy who ruined his drill) and those that can't support more than a nail. Shelves are out of the question unless they are part of a bookcase. But I was determined to make the office better. Or at least find a new home for all of LV's drawing materials.

The idea didn't hit me until after I had streamlined every other shelf in the apartment. (We have sooo much clutter. "So much" = Christmas cards LV bought and then lost track of among all the books and receipts and action figures on one particular shelf.) When LV came home, he was slightly freaked out that furniture had moved and his toys all had new homes. I had asked him if I could throw out all the receipts, so he knew something was going to be different.

"Where's Venom?"

"With the second shelf of comic-based DVDS."

After he located everyone, I showed him what had happened to the folding table:

He now had a dumping ground for drawing materials that he could also clear off and actually use for drawing. He was excited.

Progress

Today, after designing more mobile banners and applying to gigs on craigslist, I mailed two disks of retouched images and dropped off a third. So, that's something. Then I went to see Stepbrothers and Hellboy 2.

Not Quite the Same

We went to the IMAX to see the Hannah Montana concert in 3-D, but somehow it was still a big deal to sit down and watch it again on TV at home.

Top Secret

I did a paid shoot today, but signed a non-disclosure agreement. So I can't really say anything. Especially because my subject declared he hates bloggers and I'm hoping to work with him again in September. Maybe I'll blog about it September when all is public.

New Office

I suddenly decided it was high time we rearrange the office so that it was more conducive to happy two-person workspace. LV was not excited about this. That's a lot of furniture to suddenly move.

This was before: http://dinosaurgirly.blogspot.com/2008/01/more-computers.html

I think it's much better now. Although, this means I can't hide out on the couch, watching cable and writing comic books all day.

After a day of moving furniture, LV had to carry home 8-foot slabs of foam core for me so I can shoot blow-out white backgrounds. He's the best.

Mother's Day

I haven't taken a lot of pictures lately because I've been writing a lot more. But I pretty much spent Mother's Day retouching photos to be able to finish up disks I owe to stylists.

Just So We're Clear on This...

Babysitting

The good thing about being a full time freelancer is that I can take off for a week. The bad part is falling out of my routines. But I kind of drove myself crazy with all the work to get together my shoot for the 19th and get my postcards out the door, so the week off was good. (And staying with an infant and a toddler don't really make for a week "off.")

I wish I'd used the fill flash for both...

Karaoke

After work was an event to promote the Guitar God/Hero/Legend issue coming up, so we went. LV was loud to get the crowd going and make the advertisers think we're all really enthusiastic about Microsoft. (I think that was my favorite thing I asked LV to cheer about.)

The event was at Spotlight Live in Times Square, so this is where I was when I found out my best friend had just delivered her second baby girl.

Then I sang on stage. I would have dedicated it to the new baby, but I sang "More Than Words," and that would have been weird.

Easter!

The Easter Bunny left a trail of candy from Scrappy's room all around the house. She didn't quite understand to follow it into the armoire where he hid her basket with more candy and a DVD and all that nonsense that goes with Second Christmas.

Yeah, I think the cup says it all.

The Bunny even looked out for the little cats, getting them a wind-up chick and a wind-up bunny. Neither was really a hit. I think I like them more than anyone else.

This is Streaky not caring about the wind-up toys and enjoying the early morning sunshine.

We actually all ate eggs this year--not just me.

March Madness

Why just color hard boiled eggs when you can really say something...?

Scrappy storms through coloring her eggs. Basketball games and intricate designs do not distract her.

How LV keeps an eye on his standings...

How Cupid keeps an eye on what we're doing...

How Titi Julie's egg looked after Scrappy dropped it on the floor and then ate it...

How we discovered I can sing "More than Words"...

Tiny Shirts

I wanted a longer, more-tunic-y shirt to wear to my sister-in-law's birthday party, so I quickly hit the local stores. I didn't find anything for me, but there was a little Mr. Men shirt for pets. "Mr. Noisy" was perfect for how the cats have been acting lately. They didn't dig it. This is Streaky rolling over, hoping the shirt will go away. That pretty much sums up their reaction.

In keeping with my new "I can drive in the city" mentality, we rented a car to get to the dinner. I liked the lighting.