The plan is to continue writing a regular column reviewing new products and services for photographers. In this issue I wrote about PixOasis, Propville, and liveBooks. Check them out too!

The visual design of the site is by Steve de Brun of de brun Design, who was excellent to work with. Thanks so much!

I was assisted by super woman Jennifer Lindbloom, with the fabulous Kat Steinmetz on hair and makeup.

Thanks to the whole team for making the day run smoothly, and to my amazing clients. I love you guys!

Last weekend I flew to Seattle to photograph a wedding of a friend who’s been in my life since junior high. What an incredible honor - it really hit me the day before the wedding when I was thinking about sitting in art class with Stephanie in 8th grade, and just being floored that here I am to photograph her wedding to her sweetie Jon. I have so many great memories of Steph, many of them embarrassing to us both (who wasn’t awkward in junior high, really?), and so many of them silly and crazy (Burningman factors in a lot here), which makes it even more fun to see her as such a beautiful bride:

First dance, and I love that Steph chose a really original, deep blue dress:

I just crack up seeing Jon’s face in this one - it’s like he’s looking at the bill for the event (which was gorgeous, with cupcakes!): (more…)

Last week I was sweating away in a field in Marin, dodging cow pies. Community service? Frat boy prank? No…photo shoot. And a really fun one. I’m really excited to be working on an advertising campaign with a client who is absolutely fantastic. I can’t post images until the campaign is published, but this one from behind the scenes is too funny not to post.

This is Kat Steinmetz, probably the best makeup artist on the planet. I hired her to help out with the shoot, and she was an invaluable resource. Helped keep me calm, took great care of our portrait subjects, and was just awesome. When she asked for a photo with the cows…who could resist?

Lined up in around the gym a neighborhood church, waiting for food.

A client of Grupo.

Lots of bread to go around.

Waiting with Grandma.

I love what Grupo De La Comida does for the people in my neighborhood. The other cool thing about Grupo is that they take donations of fresh fruits and vegetables from the San Francisco wholesale produce market to distribute. A good portion of the donations would just be thrown away (although they’re nearly perfect) so Grupo is not only serving a need, they’re also diverting waste from landfills.

I’m proud to be help their organization, and photograph many of their events and food distributions.

And here, in the “after” stage:

I’m proud to say that most of the furniture and equipment in the office is from Craigslist or purchased locally (trying to minimize my carbon footprint on that one). The paint is low-VOC from the local paint store, and the flooring was also purchased off of Craigslist as leftovers from someone’s remodeling project.

The thing I’m most excited about is the desk. It’s custom made and finished with this amazing stain/sealer product I got at Eco Home Improvement in Berkeley. It’s called Rubio Monocoat, and it only requires one coat! Anyone who’s stained anything in the past knows how hard it can be to get the number of coats right, and the smell of regular stain is ridiculously bad. This stuff is totally natural (made from tung oil), very durable, and zero VOC. It was the easiest part of the process. The shelves in the nook in the back of the room are made of the leftovers from the desk.

The other thing I’m geeking out about is the asterisk. I’m obsessed with that thing. I was thrilled to use some old school geometry to figure out exactly how to mark it out on the wall. It doesn’t look like it in this image, but that thing is perfect. My years of engineering school aren’t going to waste, Mom and Dad.

The big wall on the left (a bit hard to see, but it’s currently a big blank white wall) will be used when I participate in Open Studios in October. I’ve got a series of images in mind to hang for display, which will be more fine-art focused than my usual event and portrait work. At least that’s what I’m thinking about this week…

I love portrait sessions, especially with people like Kim. The hardest part was capturing her with a straight face, since we were laughing most of the time. I love her space, too - it’s calm, warm, and smells great. If you need a facial, you have to call this woman!

Shoshana is an amazing, talented woman I met at Burningman seven years ago (I can’t believe it’s been seven years. She’s as likely to burst into a song or a dance as she is to speak eloquently about the nuances of Greek mythology. (more…)