Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Abigail loves to sleep on stuff.

Looks like I'm not the only one who doesn't want Joy and the girls to leave today. Or maybe Abigail just wants to be packed in the suitcase and go on an adventure?

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Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Fun ways to procrastinate

I love having my sister and her girls in town!!!

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The Disney Cruise

This past Christmas, my mother surprised everyone with tickets to the Disney Cruise in June. Well, after a super fun week, I'm finally back. What an amazing time!

I didn't really take too many photographs since it was more about spending time with family and less about going on Photo Safaris, but here are a few just to give you an idea of the kinds of adventures we had.

Millie was so excited to meet Mickey Mouse.



Millie and her dad, Brett.



Penelope loved the Mickey and Minnie she got as a cruise gift from her Grandma!



The top deck was pretty windy...



We discovered a lot of Snow Whites on board (Millie is in the middle!)



Miss Mille (aka Snow White).



Mom and I went shopping in Cabo San Lucas.





The girls were able to pet and hold a REAL lion in Cabo!



Playing with their new animal flutes (that were being sold at every corner...)



Jules & Joy



Jules & Joy getting ready to ride off-road buggies in Mazatlan!





I DID do a tiny bit of swimming...



The girls got their hair braided by a young girl in Puerto Vallarta in the middle of the street.



Penelope at the Character Breakfast.



Millie at the Character Breakfast.



The whole family along with the waiters who tended to us throughout the whole trip. THANK YOU, Mom, for this wonderful trip!

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008

my lovely cousin

Last night my beautiful cousin, Anna, came over with her adorable boyfriend, Gary. I snapped a few quick shots of them before we headed out to the local bar to get a drink and catch up. Aren't they the cutest??

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Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Millennium Park

Dad and I hopped in a cab and headed down to Millennium Park to play tourist for the afternoon.



We fell in love with the BEAN. I love the modern art against the old buildings in this shot.



Jules & Dad in the Bean...





The Bean is just so bizarre... looks like a wormhole into another dimension ... Maybe it is...!!



My handsome father and some Frank Geary art.



I was thrilled to see bunnies in the middle of the city.



My mother LOVED Buckingham Fountain when she grew up here, so I made sure to get a shot of it for her. Love you, Mom! Wish you were here!

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Monday, May 05, 2008

The Bianchis

I am in Chicago for the week to spend some time with my family on my father's side. I don't get to see them very often, so its nice to have some time to just hang out.

The Bianchis - My father, my nonno & my uncle

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Saturday, May 03, 2008

Olive wants to be a Star

Being from Hollywood, Olive and her friend, Oscar, decided to try their luck at becoming movie stars. First they went to a fabulous photographer to have their headshots made:





Then they headed on down to the famous Paramount Studios on Melrose Avenue to try their luck!





An uniformed guard stopped them before they could even get in.



They gave him their shiny 8x10 headshots and their most winning smiles....







...but apparently dogs are not allowed on the Paramount Lot.

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Olive Goes to Lassie's Star

Today Olive and her friend, Bear, decided to check out some of the scene on Hollywood Boulevard. They had heard Lassie's paws were in the cement, but all they could find were hands, feet and horsehooves... before too many shots could be taken, they were asked to leave. Well!



Six blocks down or so they found Lassie's star! In the shade!









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Thursday, May 01, 2008

I love Earlimart

I am very particulart about music, and Earlimart has long been one of my absolute favorite bands. I just love their sound and have seen them play out at several small venues around LA. I'm really sad that I'll be out of town when they play at the EchoPlex on May 17th, but I'm getting excited for their new album, "Hymn & Her" to come out.

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Sunday, April 27, 2008

Olive Goes to the Hollywood Bowl

This weekend, Olive and her longtime friend, Matilda, decided to make another page for the "Olive Goes to Hollywood" book with a visit to the famous Hollywood Bowl.





Unfortunately, the season doesn't really start until June, so no shows were on, and no snacks could be obtained.



Still, it was cool to check out this Hollywood Landmark!





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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Personal Projects are good for you

One of the things I spoke about on Monday night was finding personal projects to keep inspired. In fact, here are a few I've done in the past:

The Alphabet at Disneyland

The Colors at the Farmer's Market

Today Kevin had the group go out and shoot a personal project around the Ranch. I decided to join in and use it as a good excuse to play with the Lensbaby. Can you guess what I decided to do mine on?































If you haven't guessed already... I figured since I was here with MY twin, I would find other twins!!

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Hanging out at the Kubota Bootcamp

Even though I am finished speaking, I'm just hanging out here at the bootcamp for a few days to spend time with Joy and soak up Kevin's amazing PhotoShop knowledge. Since Joy's in-laws are in Bend, her whole family came up for the week to stay with them. Yesterday, Joy's girls came out to model for the group. The girls loved it! I couldn't help myself... I joined in to snapped a few shots, too. Later it was fun to see the hundreds of cool shots the group took of my nieces.







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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

PINK'S goes to the dogs

Olive made a new friend today! Ann Hamilton is in town from San Francisco and she brought her adorable Pug, Bogie, with her.

Olive and Bogie became fast friends and they decided to take a little trip to the Hollywood landmark, PINK'S hotdogs.

















I have actually been wanting to make a book called "Olive Goes to Hollywood" for years now. The book would be about Olive taking her dog friends to various landmarks around Hollywood, and I think I'm going to try to start it now. Those of you who read this blog who know me personally and have dogs that know Olive, be sure to contact me to be in the book!

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Friday, April 11, 2008

new hair

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Sunday, April 06, 2008

Happy Birthday, Penelope!

After my engagement shoot on Saturday, I headed back to my sister, Joy's, house to photograph my niece, Penelope's, 7th birthday party. This year the theme was Webkins, and my 16 year old brother, Jeffrey, (the good sport that he is) showed up as the Webkins' "Chef Gazpacho" to bake Popsicle Cookies with the girls!

I was SUPER impressed that my mother personalized aprons for each girl by embroidering their name and the face of Chef Gazpacho onto each one! I have the best family. If you would like anything embroidered, you can see more information about her services by clicking here.









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Monday, March 31, 2008

The rest of the eggs

I am finally cleaning up all of the dyes and tools from my yearly pysanky making. Thank you so much to Stephanie, Sterling, Michelle, Jen, Liz and Alec who came over this week to make more pysanky with me! I shot an amazing wedding this weekend, so come back soon to see images from that. In the meantime, here are the rest of the eggs from this year!!



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Monday, March 24, 2008

The eggs so far

I know I should wait until everyone has had a chance to come over and make their eggs, but I just can't believe how gorgeous they are turning out this year! There are a few folks who visit my blog regularly who are coming over this week, so I thought I would inspire them with a show of how the pysanky are turning out so far.

What do you think, Mom???

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

Happy Easter!

Easter is one of my favorite times of the year because for as long as I can remember its when I make pysanky - Ukrainian Easter Eggs - with my friends and family. I usually have the dyes and tools set up for a week or two right around Easter and anyone who wants to make one can come over. My only requirement is that they bring EASTER CANDY!! I'll post the finished eggs as we make them, but here are the pics from the last two days.

The players so far: Abby, Abigail, Lori, April, Marty, Olive & Victor



The process - its a little bit like batik in that we layer colors over and over using wax and tools called kiski. Its fun to be creative in a way other than photography sometimes.

:)



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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Palm Springs Photo Safari

People always ask me how to stay inspired. I think there is nothing better than choosing a place you've never been before and having a fun Photo Safari. This past weekend, I traveled down to Palm Springs to take a little time off and just shoot for fun.

I fell in love with the Korakia Resort where I stayed. I had been wanting to check it out for the longest time. If you ever find yourself needing a place to stay in Palm Springs, I highly recommend it. It is the most romantic little boutique hotel/bed & breakfast with the most amazing staff you'll ever meet.





I spent the day looking for cool shadows.





Most of the plant life in town looked like this:



This strange fellow was guarding an abandoned Pioneer Town that was used as a movie set years ago.





I think this shot of me is really funny.



Here is what I was shooting:



I found a bizarre little collection of desert trinkets.





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Sunday, January 20, 2008

love

Olive & Abigail have been hanging out in my office all week while I prepare for the lighting seminar I'm giving with John Mireles on Thursday! They are quite good company.



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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I want to take a few minutes to not only wish everyone a very prosperous and wonderful 2008, but to talk for a second about how you might make a good year into a great one.

I spent most of today with my sister and mother writing down our goals for 2008. Goal setting is very important, but WRITING DOWN your goals is just as important. I've heard it said that writing down your goals will make you 80% more likely to accomplish them. I know it certainly helps me shape my days when I have goals to move toward.

I broke my lists up into two groups: personal and business. Then I categorized the goals by date... meaning I wrote down dates and what goals were supposed to be accomplished by that time. Its very exciting!

Its important to set realistic and attainable goals that are as specific as you can make them. For instance, rather than writing down that I wanted to be a better guitar player, I gave myself a specific date by which to learn a new song. This way I can track my progress and put a nice fat checkmark next to this goal after its done.

I think its important to consider small, fun, personal goals as well as big, serious business goals. Both are equally important for a fulfilling life.

I have been in the Bay Area since a few days before Christmas, and because I have my first wedding of 2008 on Janurary 5th, I will be here until then. I have really been enjoying this time with my family. When I'm in Los Angeles, its easy to get caught up in the minutia of my daily life and forget how important it is to nurture relationships with those who matter most.

This is a shot of me and my twin sister, Joy, that my Mom took of us a few days ago. Thanks, Mom!!

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Tuesday, December 25, 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I'm having such a lovely day with my family...I hope you are, too!

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Sunday, December 09, 2007

Happy Holidays!

This is the last week of the year that Jules Bianchi Photography will be open. I'm excited to be shooting my last wedding of 2007 next weekend and then taking a much needed break... don't worry, though, we'll be starting right up again with our first wedding of 2008 on January 5th!

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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Happy St. Nicholas Day!!!

My mother is Ukrainian, so every 6th of December we celebrate St. Nicholas Day. This is the day we wake up to our stockings filled with goodies! Since I haven't lived with my mother for many many years, instead of waking up to stockings, I now find exciting packages on my doorstep!!

This year was a really BIG box with a cute Hello Kitty stocking that had my name embroidered on the front! There were gifts for me, Olive & Abigail.

Check it out! THANK YOU, MOM! Um, I mean St. Nick!!





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Kathy Weller Pet Portraits

I believe it was one of my loyal blog followers, Jeanne, who originally told me about the fabulous Pet Portraiture artist, Kathy Weller (and if it wasn't you, Jeanne, then whomever it was, please leave a comment!)

As a gift to myself, I decided to get my pet's portraits painted by Kathy. If you have a pet lover in your life that you'd like to get a very original gift for, this is a really fun idea! Click here to check out her site.

This is the amazing portrait she created of Olive & Abigail! I love that she included some of my favorite things such as my vintage camera collection, Blythe, Pysanky and sunflowers as well as two of Olive's favorite toys and a greenie, her favorite snack.



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Saturday, December 01, 2007

Happy Holidays!

I love having my sister in town! Joy flew in today to shoot a wedding with me this weekend. Tonight we got into the holiday spirit and bought a little tree for my house! Joy strung popcorn while I made bows and put on the lights. Miss Abigail and Olive helped celebrate as well.





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Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! This is as good a day as any to take a moment to think about all the things in life we are thankful for. Personally, I am thankful first and foremost for my amazing family. They have always been so incredibly supportive and full of nothing but love for me. Today I am spending Thanksgiving at my mother's, and we've been spending the morning carving a turkey and making the table pretty. Yesterday we spent the day at Joy's making her famous cranberry apple pie!! Its fun to make a fuss over a meal once in a while!

I am also so thankful for you, my clients and blog readers. Thank you for all of the support and kind words you have given me over the years. I do feel so blessed, and I hope you are feeling blessed and loved in your life, too.

Here is Mom's table!! (If you look carefully, you can see a certain fluffy dog who is hoping to get in to just check out the turkey...)

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Thursday, October 18, 2007

Olive portraits

Today I had the great pleasure of spending a few hours with the talented photographer and my friend, Ann Hamilton. Ann is very well known for not only her wedding photography but her dog portraits, so when she offered to shoot us I jumped at the chance! I know I am constantly photographing my dog, but I thought it would be great to not only be in front of the camera with Olive, but to see her through another photographer's eyes. It was a wonderful experience! Olive is being featured on her blog right now - click here to check it out!

How CUTE are these?? THANK YOU, Ann! Ann is also going to shoot with me and Joy on Sunday for part two of this weekend's two-part wedding, so I'm really looking forward to that. Part one is tomorrow, so come back to the blog soon to see images!

















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Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Incredibles Party!

On Sunday we celebrated my niece, Millie's, 3rd birthday. She decided a while ago that she wanted the theme to be "The Incredibles" so everyone got pj's that looked like Incredibles costumes. ElastaGirl showed up, too!







Joy brings out the cake!!



I love this shot of Millie trying to figure out how old she is now.



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Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Earlimart

I have been "tagged" this week by a few different bloggers - the idea is that I'm supposed to share eight things about myself that maybe you don't know. Okay then, here you go!

1. I was the personal assistant to Chris O'Donnell for five years. I lived and traveled with him to London, Italy, New Zealand, Mississippi, New York and Chicago, and worked on "The Chamber," "In Love & War," "Batman & Robin," "The Vertical Limit," and "The Bachelor." Those were some of the most fun times I ever had in my life. Now I shoot Chris' family Christmas portrait every year. In fact, when he got married in 1997, although Denis Reggie was his wedding photographer, it was one of my photographs (taken as his guest) that Chris used on the first Christmas card he sent out with his then new wife. It was a moment from their first dance that I shot on black and white film and later handpainted using Marshall's oils.

2. I'm closer in age to my mother than I am to my brother.

3. I have a bizarre wood phobia and get goosebumps if I see someone rubbing chopsticks together. I can't actually stand it. I'm getting goosebumps right now just thinking about it. When I eat sushi (which I LOVE), although I do use chopsticks, I can't actually let the chopsticks touch my mouth. I told you it was bizarre.

4. When I was about five or six years old, Mike Cleary and Frank Dill did a radio show together every Saturday morning. One time, my twin sister, Joy, and I called in to talk to them about something. They thought we were so cute and liked us so much, that THEY called US every Saturday after that for the next year just to include us in their show. They even brought us to some of their public functions because we started to have fans.

5. The tiny town of Clayton where I grew up (and my brother is currently growing up) has a Fourth of July parade every year. One year, they had a contest to see who could come up with the theme of the parade. I entered "Leap to the Future while Looking to the Past" and won. I got to be the Grand Marshall and sit in the car that lead the parade and wave to all the people.

6. My mother dressed me and my sister as Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy every Halloween before I was old enough to choose my own costume. I always refused to be Andy, so Joy graciously did it. (thanks, Joy!)

7. I knew I would grow up to be a professional photographer by the time I was 10 years old. It was my "fall-back" career because I really wanted to be a director. (I studied film in college at UCSB and moved to LA immediately afterward. I've been here ever since.)

8. I really love to go listen to bands play out, but not at huge stadiums. I much prefer going to small venues where you can stand in front of the musicans and hang out with them afterwards like I did tonight with one of my favorite bands, Earlimart, at the CD release show they held at the Echoplex in Echo Park.

Here is a shot I took of the lead singer, Aaron, with my Razr phone. Afterwards, I shook Aaron's hand at the bar and told him his band kicked ass. They do. You should definitely check them out.

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Friday, August 17, 2007

Bear Valley

This past week I have been in Bear Valley with my family and some friends. My mother runs the Young Musicians Camp for the Bear Valley Music Festival every August, and she owns a historical Stone House on Lake Alpine where the camp is held. The Stone House was built to hold the explosives that made the dam and created Lake Alpine.

Its actually been kind of fun to have such limited access to my email and cell phone! It allows me more time to roast marshmallows and eat S'Mores, a near-daily activity. Olive is having so much fun, too, and she swims in the lake every day. The first night here everyone sat under the stars and watched a meteor shower. That was amazing. I have been shooting all week, but here are a few highlights.

The Stone House.



The strangest addition to the Stone House... a giant swanboat.





Swancam...



Joy captured this one of me enjoying my favorite activity here.



The first night everyone learned how to make baked oatmeal for the next morning's breakfast.



Eating our baked oatmeal outside the Stone House!



Because its a music camp, there are instruments everywhere. I even played guitar for the first time in months. I love this shot of Millie trying her hand at the piano. The deer head above her is "Buck," who talks. Yes, you read that right.



Everyone went hiking on Tuesday up to Slick Rock to play in the natural waterslide. And by "hiking" I mean dragging the kids over two miles to get there and back. I also like to call this picture "Why I Don't Have Children."



I LOVE this shot that my brother captured of me and Joy sliding down Slick Rock. Olive joined in on almost EVERY slide! She is such a funny dog!

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Tuesday, August 07, 2007

My new toy

I owned a 1973 3.0 CS BMW for eight years. I had bought it for myself as a birthday gift, and I adored that car. I actually got choked up watching it drive off the day I sold it. (I bought it for $6000 and sold it for $5500 eight years later... I always thought that was pretty great.)

I have searched on and off for a model just to have for sentimental reasons, and I couldn't believe my eyes this morning when I took my X3 in for service. Getting coffee in the salesroom, I discovered not only a tiny model of my beloved car, but one in the same color! Okay, the interior is different (mine was camel and this one is navy) but I couldn't leave without it.

Petite Blythe and Olive kindly help demonstrate the size:



Here is my actual car the day I sold it.

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Monday, August 06, 2007

My Wonderful Clients

I feel so incredibly loved and fortunate! Firstly let me explain just how grateful I am to have the job I have and the opportunity to spend the one day of my clients lives with them that they will treasure forever. After viewing their slideshow and receiving their keepsake book of highlights in the mail, my July 21st clients, Stephanie & John sent me the most thoughtful gift. My present was a matching make-up and toiletry kit to use on my many travels! I'm constantly on the go, so it is just the perfect thing. And I love how its in Jules Bianchi Photography colors, too!! THANK YOU, STEPH & JOHN!! I love you guys!



To me, though, I just love reading how happy they are:

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Sunday, August 05, 2007

Ciudad downtown

I really love the community of wedding photographers here in Southern California. Last night I met two of my favorites, Robert Evans and Sara France, for tapas at the yummy Ciudad restaurant downtown. Thanks for the good company, guys!

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Friday, July 27, 2007

Camera Happy Please

I really LOVE my clients. Earlier this year, Joy and I shot Monica & Martin's beautiful wedding at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco. I'm at my sister's house today and what arrives in the mail but a big thank you package for me, Olive and Abigail! The super thoughtful Monica & Martin have not only sent me a Blythe petite doll (I'm completely obsessed with her) but they found a photographer's outfit for my full-sized Blythe to wear as well. Olive & Abigail got toys and treats!

Monica & Martin - you are so thoughtful. Thank you so much! I love how your Thank You cards turned out. The image you chose to use is one of my favorites from the whole day. When we went to the top of that hill to shoot, I loved that we could see your church down in the background. It just MADE the whole shot!

Check out the loot - You can see Olive back there... she couldn't wait for her rope toy to be photographed before she started chewing on it.



I'm in the Bay Area for a wedding in Sonoma tomorrow, but the first thing I'm going to do when I get home is put Blythe into her new photographer's get up. I think the Engrish costume title makes it perfect.



on to the next yummy...



The BEST part...

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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Back in the Bay Area!

My twin sister, Joy, is an incredibly integral part of my business. She and I are best friends and lead about as opposite lives as you can imagine. (I'm single and live alone in West Hollywood. Joy is married with two beautiful children and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.)

I'm at her house now because tomorrow's wedding is in Sonoma. I love shooting weddings in the Bay Area because it not only means Joy is my second shooter, but it means I get to play with my cute nieces, Penelope & Millie!

I used my "jb low red" preset on both of these images. I just love the look.



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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Photopiece, Los Angeles

My friend, photographer Leanna Creel, is a volunteer for a cool organization to help inner-city kids called Photopiece. Photopiece is a 10 week course with the goal to expose, inspire and accompany teenagers as they learn basic photographic skills.

Each week they invite a different kind of photographer to speak, and this week I was invited to speak about wedding photography. I brought sample albums and talked about how I started and what it was like to be a wedding photographer. I was very flattered to be asked to speak and very impressed with the kid's work that I was shown.















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Sunday, June 24, 2007

Family photo SAFARI!

Many of you know that my twin sister, Joy, is an essential part of the Jules Bianchi Photography team. She is my second shooter for all Bay Area weddings (and a few lucky Los Angeles ones when we can time it out right!) as well as (award winning) album designer, image editor, publicity manager, etc.

Even though we live far apart, we communicate by cell phone and IM every single day. In fact, we were just IMing tonight when she started sending me images from the safari she just took with her family! She doesn't really have time to go to Africa, but there is an amazing place called Safari West in the lovely wine country of Santa Rosa that will bring Africa to you!

Here are some of Joy's great shots:

On the way to an adventure! (I love that Millie has headphones and Penelope is watching a DVD. When I was a kid, we had to count cars...)



Millie & Brett



Encountering a tall friend...







Penelope, budding photographer!



More wildlife...



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Monday, June 11, 2007

My funny pets

I adore my pets. Anywhere I go in my house, within a few minutes they are both there. They like to keep me company when I'm working in the office, and they've both recently adopted new places to hang.

Abigail likes it near the computer.



And Olive has decided she likes to sleep under the extra work station.

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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Go A's!!

I'm finally back in LA after 10 days in the Bay Area. I have had a wedding every weekend for roughly eight weeks, so it was fun to finally have one with only meetings - no actual shooting. Chris and I hung out in San Francisco and ended up at a ball game in Oakland on Saturday night with Joy's family.

GO A's!!

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Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Happy Birthday, my Olive!!!

Today is Olive's 9th birthday! This is what she looked like when I first got her at FOUR WEEKS OLD!! Back then she had blue eyes and a white chest.




This is one of the most recent shots of her that I took during a lighting test in my backyard. She is so great. I just love having Olive in my life. Who knew she would make my life so much richer and fun?

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Saturday, April 21, 2007

Trippin'

Olive & I travel to the Bay Area approximately once a month. Usually, I am in a rush to get there or get home, but on my recent return to Los Angeles, it was such a gorgeous day that I just had to stop and shoot a little bit of what I see on my regular trip back & forth.











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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Jules goes to Kindergarten!

On Monday I went to kindergarten with my niece, Penelope. She was celebrating her 6th birthday AND she was the "Special Person of the Week!" As the "Special Person", you make a poster all about yourself, and each day you present another part of it. On Monday, she shared what she wanted to be when she grew up. An auntie and a photographer!!!



So of course she told all the kids about HER auntie who is a photographer...



All the kids sang "Happy Birthday" to her...





...and she passed out the Rice Krispie Treats Joy and I had made the night before.



Penelope loves her friends!! Aren't they the cutest?

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Saturday, April 14, 2007

Penelope at the Animal Rescue Foundation!

Happy Birthday, Penelope!!

Tomorrow is Penelope's 6th birthday, and she had her party today at the Animal Rescue Foundation.

Millie was so excited when Joy loaded balloons into the car...its not a party without balloons!



Penny's beautiful cake...





Everyone got into the animal spirit!







The kids practiced taking their pets to the vet...



Some faces of ARF...



This is Scrapple, the cat I REALLY wanted to take home with me... I'm just not so sure how Olive and Abigail would feel about him!







Even Ms. Olive got a special toy from ARF! Doesn't she look so happy?

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Friday, April 13, 2007

Pixar Studios

One reason I love coming to the Bay Area is that I am able to spend time with my family. My mother organized a tour of Pixar for my family since she'd hooked up with someone on the inside. What a really cool place! For their employees they provide an Olympic sized pool, a soccer field, a sand volleyball court, a gym, a cafeteria, a theater... the atmosphere there is great.

At the end of our tour, they gave us gift bags filled with every Pixar movie, Pixar hats, toys and other goodies.



I loved the conceptual art from the newest Pixar movie, "Ratatouille", that was hanging on the walls.



Mom loved the conceptual art from "A Bug's Life" that was hanging in the cafeteria (behind her).



Story boards from "Finding Nemo"



John Lasseter's office!!



We met some new super friends...



Jules & Joy. :)

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Friday, April 06, 2007

Pysanky, 2007

Easter is one of my most favorite times of the year. This is because every year my friends come over throughout the week to make Pysanky (Ukranian Easter Eggs) with me. The only pre-request I require is that they bring Easter candy for us to munch on while we work. Its fun to get creative while catching up on the latest gossip!

Thank you to Dina Douglass, April Rocha, Chris Jaros, Tiffany Shine and Julie Weaver who joined me throughout the week to make their own eggs! I am really impressed with everyone's eggs this year. Julie had so much fun she went out and bought her OWN kit!!

To see last year's efforts, click here and here!















Thank you to Dina Douglass for this cute pic of me!











Poor Julie made this GORGEOUS egg, and it broke as she was taking off the wax!! I just love the color combination of orange and blue....



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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Jules is boring

I think my pets are trying to tell me something.



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Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Happy Valentine's Day!

I can't think of anything that says "Happy Valentine's Day" more than a tiny heart-shaped mylar balloon-on-a-stick.

They say Valentine's Day is the day for love (well, at least Hallmark says it...) so if you find yourself engaged today, please visit my website and shoot me an email to set up a meeting!

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Tuesday, January 23, 2007

my beautiful mom

Recently my sister and mom came to visit. The first day we spent having fun and going to the spa... the second day they worked in my office to help me get organized for the new year. My family rocks. Mom needed a new headshot for the Bear Valley Music Camp that she runs every summer, so we shot one in my living room against my favorite blue couches!

isn't she pretty??

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Saturday, January 20, 2007

The J. Paul Getty Museum

Yesterday I went to the "Where We Live, Photographs of America" exhibit at the Getty. While I love being at the Getty, and its great to be inspired by other photographers, I have to say that I felt this exhibit's depiction of America was too depressing, sarcastic and drab for my taste.

Turns out, I could have just stayed home for a REALLY awesome look at America! Talk about inspiring... check out the blogs of two of my friends, Jessica Claire and Becker, who are currently taking a "photo safari" of Southwest America. I think their images rock and I'm hoping they get published or at the very least put on a real exhibit somewhere other than the internet.

Jessica's take on the Southwest

Becker's take on the Southwest

I'm sooo jealous!!

Taken with my Razr phone:



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Sunday, December 24, 2006