Monthly Archives: July 2008

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Food Poisoning Kinda Slows You Down

July 31, 2008 – 8:26 am

You know, getting food poisoning kind of slows you down a bit. Suddenly, getting that next blog post up doesn’t seem quite as important. Well, that’s the case for at least a couple of days.

Last week I was in Seattle working with some other great photographers (which I will post about later.) Once I got home my wife and I hosted a party - OK, it was a bridal shower. Yes, guys usually don’t attend bridal showers, but I was asked to take a few photos for them. In any case, it was a fun party, got some cool shots, (oh, and celeb Aisha Tyler - who is so cool - was there as a guest) and then I was going to get down to business with some interesting photo news.. Unfortunately, by Monday morning, I wasn’t feeling so good. The next thing I know, it’s Wednesday morning. Thoughts of heaving, and looking for a plastic trash bag aren’t what I consider to be a good time. At this point we have no idea what got a few of us sick.

Now that I’m feeling better it’s unfortunate that I’m back in the airport heading out for a wedding shoot this weekend, and I can’t get those blog posts up yet. Assuming I don’t come down with e. coli or salmonella this weekend, I should be back to blog business shortly. Thanks for coming by and checking out the blog.

By Michael | Posted in General Discussion | Tagged | Comments (2)

Heading Home

July 25, 2008 – 11:14 am

Whew. I’m writing this from my iPhone, so if it looks a little wonkey that’s the reason why. The photos are from the iPhone too. Right now I’m exhausted, but so inspired and invigorated. That’s the result of spending a week with other great friends and photographers, and to see the results of our work together.

This week I’ve been in Seattle as a special guest of Jim and Katarina Garner - who are rated and known as one of the World’s Top Ten Photographers. Jim is the eye behind the camera and Katarina runs the business. It is really an honor to be in their home town in their home/studio and beach house (which is absolutely AMAZING btw.) My good friend Dawn Shields arranged this week for herself and her close friends.

To be honest, I already knew that Jim is charismatic and a blast to be around, but I had no idea just how much! This man has more energy than anyone I know. We’d be up after midnight and he’s still coming up with amazing solutions to share with all of us. All this and the fact that he’s so humble about his success makes him even more impressive.

Even though it was a trip of a lifetime - especially as a photographer - I’m excited to be heading home so I can implement his techniques into my business. And of course, to celebrate my anniversarry!

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By Michael | Posted in Business, Travel | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

A Beautiful Year Together

July 22, 2008 – 9:10 am
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Image #1 | Happy Anniversary!"]Image #1 | Happy Anniversary![/caption]

This is a short post, but it does have so much to do with my business as a professional photographer. There is no way that I could be doing what I do, without the love and true support of my beautiful wife, Annie. She is the one that gives me new ideas and is always thinking of ways to be creative and to step out of the box. She’s a wonderful photographer herself. We have many many smiles together and sometimes few frowns, but I can’t imagine my life without her.

We’ve been married one full year today, and I count myself as being so blessed that we found each other.

★✩★ Happy Anniversary, Annie! ★✩★

By Michael | Posted in General Discussion | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

Pixar Motorama

July 21, 2008 – 4:31 pm

Pixar knows how to throw a party. A good friend of mine, Marty Lew, works at Pixar Studios in Emeryville. Yes, the same studio that created Nemo, Cars, Toy Story, Ratatouille, and of course, WALL-E.  While there were many examples of WALL-E around the studio, this day was dedicated to cars.

It appears that many of the Pixar employees have a passion for America’s favorite pastime, working on and driving cool cars. Whether they be American Muscle cars, newer Japanese Imports, or well established German exports, they had them all. I would say a good portion of the vehicles on display were employee cars, but they did have a few from some selected dealerships. They had a new Ford vehicle called the Forty-Nine that has a Ford retro-1949-ish look, and the new Dodge Challenger SRT8 (I still remember the Hemi’s back in the early 70’s - and they loved to peel-out just the same.) Both are great looking cars, but very different in who they are appealing to. Here are a couple of up-close photos from the Motorama day.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Image #1 | Ford's Forty-Nine Wheel"]Image #1 | Fords Forty-Nine Wheel[/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Image #2 | Fuel Door for Challenger SRT8"]Image #2 | Fuel Door for Challenger SRT8[/caption] [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900" caption="Image #3 | Another Interesting Car"]Image #3 | Another Interesting Car[/caption]

Along with a nice lunch and some great weather, it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours. Oh, and if you haven’t seen WALL-E, go see it (it’s on my short list of films to see this summer) as we all need to support Marty and Pixar, so I can go to Motorama next year. :)

By Michael | Posted in Art, General Discussion | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)