Beautiful Day Photography’s Weblog

So I have lived my entire life in the Northern VA area outside of DC and NEVER in all my years have I seen DC as insane as it has been in the past two days.  Basically ALL of the streets in or out of the city are blocked off and no one can really get in or out.  So we decided to crash walking distance from the Capital at our girlfriend Candace’s house and WALK to the inauguration.  We thought leaving at 5am would be early, but we were NO match for the people that NEVER slept and left hours earlier.  It was insane to see ALL of the roads closed and ALL you could see was a mass sea of people walking through the streets. EVERY single policeman and Military official was out on the streets.  Even police officers from different states were there offering their services.  They were SO organized and had volunteers in red caps that directed us everywhere and were greeting us and congratulating us and cheering us on since we were trudging like refugees for hours:)  We ended up being able to get onto the Mall on 14th street so we were right inbetween the Capital and the Washington Monument…but the crowds reached ALL the way to the Lincoln Memorial and I have heard that we were a small blip in the middle of a crowd of 3 million people!  What is most memorable about the vibe of the day was despite the bitter cold and everyone on ZERO sleep …EVERYONE was SO nice and courteous and happy and strangers laughed with strangers and complained in good spirits about the cold and cuddled together and said “please” and “excuse me” and everyone was just SO happy to be alive standing out there in the cold! The other memorable moment (other than Obama taking office) was 3 million people booing when Ex-President George Bush took the stage.  Just the SOUND of 3 million people chanting and stomping was so powerful that it echoed off the monuments and buildings and created a roar that sounded like a fleet of F-14 fighter jets were flying over head..Crazy.  Here are some photos from our day…from the morning pilgrimmage to the CRAZY crowds on the Mall to the parade (and then a nap at home:) It has been a most memorable day.  I am just trying to BLOG before we go out again to join the millions of people partying in the streets and bars that they have allowed to be open an extended 3 hours till 5 in the morning.  DC has NEVER been so friendly!! AND considering that it was 10 degrees outside, my fingers and toes were frozen off, we had been standing for 8 hours AND my camera felt like an ice brick to carry…I am shocked I got ANY photos at all!!  LOL

Here are some photos and videos of our 5am pilgrimmage through Washington DC….

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BARACK OBAMA FINALLY IS INAUGURATED AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!

So I met an underwater photographer named, Ludwig Luger, while diving in Pemuteran, Bali.   I begged him to email me a photo of this Pygmy Seahorse that we both saw…and would you believe that he actually did!?  I LOVE it when people keep their word.  So here are some cool shots he has taken while diving.  Also, you should check out his underwater photography website called “Fish and Faces” to see more of his beautiful work.  I have to give him credit…It’s A LOT harder to get a shot underwater than up on land.  It is EXTREMELY technical to get the lighting, color balance, focus and composition right…but also to just FIND the animal and get close enough to shoot it.  He shoots with a super macro lens, so he has to be RIGHT on top of the creature to shoot it.  No wonder I haven’t seen any Shark faces on his site yet:)

This is a photo of another type of Pygmy seahorse that I saw.  Ludwig did not send me a photo of this one, so I grabbed it off a website to show you. It is SO SO small, like an eighth of an inch big and blends in SO well with the coral that it has it’s little tail wrapped around, that I am SHOCKED we even saw one, let alone TWO! THANKS LUDWIG!

I LOVE when family comes into town and you do local trips that make you REappreciate where you live. This time Julie Nunn-Martin from I DO Events invited me and a guest to enjoy a weekend of pampering and wine at the Plumpjack Squaw Valley Inn in Lake Tahoe.  My guest was MY MOM.  I was going to bring Rob my boyfriend, but my mom trumped him…you know, since she gave birth to me and ALL:)  we decided to drive up from LA and I had never driven the 395 all the way up before.  It was SO beautiful and BIZARRE.  Literally we started in the HUGE city of Los Angeles, then through the middle of nowhere in the Mojave desert where it was in the 80’s…to Mammoth Lakes up in the mountains with hidden hotsprings to the evergreen forests of Lake Tahoe (which by the time we got up there it was FREEZING and Snowing!!)  This was all in 9 hours of driving.  It goes to show you JUST how amazing and diverse California is.  I LOVE this state!  I never have spent that much time confined with my mom before and it was fun.  When we got there, Plumpjack COMPLETELY went above and beyond for us as hosts.  They had gift baskets with cookbooks and wine for us in the rooms, took care of our food and lodging, had gourmet dinners and wine tastings set up for us, rented mountain bikes and even treated us to spa treatments!  We were in COMPLETE luxury there and would reccomend it to ANYONE who wants to go visit there…OR have their wedding there!  Julie and her husband, ALSO named Rob, came and joined us and the four of us had a BLAST!  On the way back home, we stopped and visited with some of my mom’s LONG time friends that used to work with her years ago and on a spontaneous whim decided to stop and visit Bodie ghost town.  It was SO neat to see an old gold mining California ghost town, still with all of the original stuff on the shelves in the general store and in people’s homes!  The history was amazing and just eery.  So many people were murdered there and there used to be brothels and bars and even a China town district in that town!  A CRAZY blizzard hit us on the way up the windy mountain road that leads 8,000 feet up to Bodie.  Again, I was proud of my little Toyota Rav 4 that held its own on the snow-covered mountain roads.  We almost got stranded up there in a ghost town with NO electricity, cell service or phones in a blizzard after dark!  We made it out though and even stopped by another hotsprings to warm up a bit on our way back home from Tahoe.  Such a fun roadtrip!

So Esteela and Stefan’s SECOND wedding at The Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills could not have been any more OPPOSITE of their wedding in Sentul, Indonesia.  Instead of 1000 guests they didn’t know, they had 30 of their CLOSEST friends and family in a very intimate ceremony at Wayfarers Chapel and then for a plated 4 hour dinner back at The Peninsula.  Their dinner ALONE was as long as the entire wedding in Indonesia, with every course and wine pairing introduced by Chef James Overbaugh himself.  Ryan Larson with Savoir Flair Weddings, my FAVORITE coordinator EVER and close friend, outdid herself with the details of the decor.  She JUST had a baby girl, Tatum, 6 days before and still made an appearance and made sure everything was PERFECT.!  She IS a superhero I am convinced!  What this wedding had was FABULOUS music and heartfelt speeches, something I felt the Indonesia wedding lacked.  It was extremely personal and Stefan’s son, Nicholas, not only was there, but he was a part of the ceremony AND the cake-cutting. The little touches that made such a great difference was everything from personalized live music to Rich Flynn, an impressionist painter in the corner, that painted the live scene during the dinner and gave them  the finished painting by the end of the evening, to a little guilded notepad where the guests could log their courses and wines.  Ryan even organized to have games on a flat screen TV and a full-time baby-sitter outside to watch the kids and I felt that was SO brilliant.  It allowed the wedding to be more sophisticated.  Esteela, yet agaiun had a fabulous wedding gown…THREE TOTAL!, and how can you leave out her Manolo Blahnik shoes…the “something blue”,  She has THE MOST FABULOUS shoe collection.  Trust me I have SEEN her closet!  I am honored to have been a part of both of their weddings and to have gotten to know their families and FABULOUS friends.  I am looking forward to the pregnancy photos, baby photos and family functions that I am sure I will shoot for years to come!

So instead of each flying home to see our families we decided to have a quiet Christmas here at home in Venice. With my recent trip to Indonesia and weddings over the holidays it was just TOO much traveling to go back East. Although I missed my family (This was the FIRST Christmas I have EVER spent without my family) it was actually nice and relaxing to sleep in and go at our own pace Christmas Day…..Here are some highlights of the day:

-Lisa, my potted plant/ghetto Christmas Tree:)

-Robert’s Car battery that he bought for himself and wrapped under the “tree”..LOL

-Opening the stockings my Mami made for Rob and I (thanks Mom!!)

-and BEST of all, catching Robert trying to sing a ridiculous song to me in the car…ON VIDEO!

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THEN…New Year’s Eve at Cher’s GORGEOUS home… Where not only ALL of my girls were, but my recent bride and groom Maya and Larry made an appearance (even though their baby is due in February!) and my oldest friend in LA, Stone, and his husband Timmy showed up…It was SUCH a great crew!

I LOVE Deia and Todd…They are SUCH a cool, chill couple.  When Deia first arrived she was SO nervous!  It was really cute. She even stumbled on Todd’s name during the vows, but one thing was crystal clear…just how much they love each other and their familes love them.  Their ceremony was at Wayfarers Chapel and then their reception was at a private residence in Rancho Palos Verdes with THE best view of the ocean and sunset. I especially liked how they played the Simon and Garfunkel Song, “Mrs. Robinson” during their grand entrance into the cocktail hour.  Some girls get the BEST last names:) But, This is actually only their FIRST wedding.  They plan on having wedding number 2 in Sao Paolo, Brazil in April….(which if you are reading this Todd and Deia I WOULD LOVE to photograph:)  Honestly, any reason to travel back to Brazil I’ll take!  I LOVE that country, the people, the dancing and culture and ESPECIALLY the food…It should be an AMAZING  time! I knew once I heard Deia was Brazilian that it would be a fun group.  Deia was not sure if anyone would dance considering how small of a wedding it was, but AGAIN we underestimated the BRAZILIAN contingency at the wedding.  Not only was there dancing, but it went all night and everyone went nuts and were like one big family.  They also treated my photographer, Jennifer and I like guests and we joined in with the dinner and dancing.  Honestly, I LOVE my job!

PS- Jasmine Corzo, with JAZZ Flowers, did ALL of the floral arrangements and decorations for the wedding…she was also a friend and guest at the wedding…NICE Friend hook-up!!:)

If you would like to see more photos from this event, please click on this link.

I can’t believe how AWFUL I am that I have not blogged this wedding yet.  I shot this at the end of November, but then I left IMMEDIATELY for Indonesia after that and had no time, but I wanted to revisit Anna and Nick’s wedding, because it was SO fun!!

They got married at the famous Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes and then had an intimate dinner with dancing afterwards at The Madison Restaurant in Long Beach.  The Madison Restaurant is famous for their high ornate ceilings and the 20’s decor.  I went out into the middle of the street at sunset and got some beautiful photos of them…practically killing myself getting in the way of oncoming traffic….but its ALL worth it for the perfect shot!;)  A few memorable highlights from their wedding were: 1. THE BEST First Dance I have EVER seen (and I have been to ALOT of weddings in my time).  They did a medley of 20 differnt songs or so..ALL from completely different eras and when the song would switch, they would start dancing to the song it switched to….Their songs ranged from “Thriller” to “I like Big Butts”, “Bye Bye Bye from the Back Street Boys”, “YMCA” and the ridiculous list goes on:)  It was SO hilarious, cute, and it made you realize JUST why they were made for each other.  2. Anna had an AMAZING wardrobe change halfway through the wedding to a gorgeous red, silk, floor-length, form-fitting chinese gown….that she SOMEHOW managed to do this intense 1st dance while wearing.  THAT was a feat in itself! 3.  Daniel Boswell, my FAVORITE videographer, and crew were there.  It is hard NOT to have a blast when Daniel is around.  He of course created video magic and somehow edited a video of the wedding day for everyone to watch by the time the cake was cut..He’s AMAZING! and finally, 4. Danny Farrell, my FAVORITE DJ, was there…Basically, Anna and Nick went down my PREFERRED VENDOR REFERRAL LIST and hired everyone.  So it was a like a reunion of all of the people I LOVE to work with best, which makes for such a “family rapport” at the wedding.  It was so much fun to work this wedding!!  So Congratulations Anna and NIck!  If you want to see more photos from this event, please just click on this link.

ME and Daniel, the videographer, and Danny, the DJ…MY BOYS!!