happy boxing day

we don't celebrate it in my house, but i *am* aware of its existence, unlike most yanks... i laugh. i got my brother a keg of a wonderful local beer for his empty kegerator - merry christmas! i'm pretty sure i get the "world's best sister" award for that. just another normal holiday, with bottomless mimosas, Lawrence of Arabia on the tv, and not a turkey dinner in sight. happy holidays from NorCal.

on the "occupy ___" movement

i'm so OVER it.
and likening it to similar uprisings and protests in the middle east?
seriously.

here in America we have:
cable TV
uncensored internet
the right to vote
the right to run for office
the right to start a political action committee
the right to drive a car (women) without risk of imprisonment
access to all levels of education
the ability to own your own business
the option of socialized or private health insurance
unlimited food sources
unlimited shopping options, from thrift stores to Macy's
the right to practice whatever religion you want
the right to live with whoever you want
... i could go on...

so what that 1% possess 99% of the world's wealth. IT'S ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THAT!

i suggest: be smart with whatever money you have. buy local. make your own things. cook your own food. grow food if you can. reuse what you can; recycle if you can't or give it to someone else who can use it. be generous to others - whether they have less or more than you. if you have the means, support non-profits that benefit your community; they can always use help. vote. save money. invest in trustworthy sources. "occupying" my town just irritates me and makes parking difficult.

good lifestyle choices make more sense to me than holding a sign.

besides:


...

that was totally a rant. not interested in a political debate; just needed to let off steam. cheers lovelies :)

hmmmmmmmmmmm oops

blogger dropped off my planet!

or vice versa...

let's see: juggling multiple jobs, lots of yard and house work, getting ready to move to a new house, brother got finished with 3 years in the army... i guess i've been busy.

here's a sneak peek at one of the latest additions to the clan:

more later lovelies!

wedding wedding

here are some pictures, finally - life settled down and i could finish editing. i've since learned that wedding photograph is a lot of W O R K. enjoy!

in memoriam

been a long week+. what to say? i'm blessed to be related to some really incredible people, and I'm so glad to have known my granddaddy for 27 years. the lord giveth, and the lord taketh away: blessed be the name of the lord. May 15 1923 - June 9 2011

well, that was a first

shot a wedding: as the lead photographer. wow!
it was a good "first" because the bride and groom are super chill about photos and will love whatever i give them :)
it was a not-so-good "first" because everything was running late, people were stressing, they had to move the ceremony indoors because of unreliable weather (full on sun one moment; rain and wind another. this my friends, is not normal for almost-June, where i live!)... yeah
so...

thank goodness for bounce-off-the-ceiling flash, and friends with cameras, is all i can say!

(said bounce flash, thankee. lovelovelove this, btw)

more photos forthcoming. i have like 2,000+ to go through between the three of us shooters.
between? among? between is used for two, among is used for three or more?
i feel like more comfortable as a grammarian right now than a photographer :) i also left my voice at the wedding! croaking!

Kyle in Action

the North State Symphony has found themselves with a photographer on staff... so here's a taste of how i spend my weekends:



it's the best gig ever.

magic hour

my buddy and i wanted to get up at 5:00 am yesterday to chase the sunrise with our cameras.
his alarm didn't go off...
but i went out anyway (i was already up! sheesh)
my town is awesome: drive for 10 minutes in one direction, and you're in the giant city park with creeks and an amazing canyon; in another direction, and you're in ag country with rice fields, almond orchards, cattle grazing...


I wish i were a morning person. it's almost worth changing one's sleeping pattern

every woman needs one

i, fortunately, have a few... ;)

(contrary to internet opinion, this is not a maya angelou quote... so, apologies to pamela redmond satran for the plagiarism)

a month in the life of lizzy

what does she do all day? what does she see all day? bit o' this; bit o' that...

pub crawling on St Pat's

tombstone typography

lupine

purple owl-clover :: my favorite

local periodicals

the office

down range

cafe view

happy birthday to my nana

happy birthday to my little cousin

Ashland Creek

southern import beer for a cajun crawdad feed

on lenses and guitars

my good friend Shannon Rosan turned me on to this great site, www.lensrentals.com, when i told her i was ready to buy a lens, but wasn't sure what to get...

what a wonderful company! having worked in customer service, i can spot GOOD service a mile away, and this company just reeks of it. with myriads of lenses and camera bodies available, and optional insurance, it's a great way to test mid-to-high priced lenses before you buy, or temporarily upgrade your gear before a big weekend of shooting. I was extremely pleased.

pleased enough to make a plug for them in my blog!

still, i'm sure people are more interested in what i rented.

I rented Canon's 85mm 1.8, and 100mm 2.8 macro (without IS). Two very very nice lenses...

And the verdict?

The 85mm is lovely, with perfect proportions and extremely easy to use. The 100mm is equally lovely, a bit heftier and tricker, but with the macro capabilities... it's gonna edge out the 85mm. For me, the 85mm was just too similar to my 50mm, and if i'm gonna spend a chunk of money (ugh; thank goodness for business write-offs), I want something "different."

I got to test these at a couple of shows - great live, low-light, tricky environments. These aren't award-winners, but i was pleased with the results!


with the 85mm: Mike P, of KWMP


with the 100mm: Jimmy G, of the Jimmy Grant Quartet

night of the band

thanks to my lovely new flash (a Speedlite 270) and good ol' Photoshop (i kept it "imperfect" on purpose), here are the gents of Cold Blue Mountain, performing at a metal show in a downtown gallery:

(full view, please!)

breakfast

i put half and half in my cold cereal.

infuriating... not so much!

What really happened was, the gentlemen of Cold Blue Mountain only had 20 minutes yesterday evening (around 9:00 p.m., so it may as well have been the dead of night) to get some shots for an imminent press piece. Whoops, night shooting? Okay... Derec and i scouted a couple of sites that would have worked great [in daylight] before happening on one of those "oh of COURSE!" locations that's right in front of the proverbial nose and lit up like a walmart parking lot.

Derec, lead shooter and art director, made a good point about the importance of location for a band like CBM. They're an instrumental metal ("instrumetal," so i coined) band, and aren't grungy enough for a graffiti-covered warehouse, but not indie enough for a field of wheat. So you can imagine our complete satisfaction with this sterile, corrugated metal industrial plant right off a main street in town. Cars driving by were honking at us like we were rock stars - oh wait... we were!

infuriating!

I have shots that I want to get, and I can see them in my mind's eye, and even guess at what to do to get them, but I just don't have the technical know-how, or the equipment... I guess that's what I get from hanging out with professionals. Aim high, Lizzy, aim high... the gear will follow!

Scouted out a photoshoot location this evening with Derec. Yeah, the shoot is tomorrow. We have backup locations. This site is grand and glorious, with COMPLETELY tricky lighting that I don't know how to work around. Hope for lucky shots!



kit lens, 2 second exposure, tripod, faked the water spill.

incandescently happy, eh?

ah, such a piece of period romantic drivel, is Ms. Knightly's Pride and Prejudice (while by contrast, Ms. Elhe's P&P is divine in every possible way). In this particular interpretation of Jane Austen's world, middle class women keep their hair in a perpetually unkempt state; it is always 4:45, or dawn - whenever the light is most golden; there is a footman for every guest at the table; one can apparently make a living keeping chickens; pianofortes sound like steinway baby grands. utter silliness!

... until Mr. Darcy strides across a misty morning field, long linen topcoat swinging, no cravat, hair disheveled, looking completely lovely. i'm smitten. it's an ideal, with magic hour sunlight and warm English mist. but that bit of romantic drivel gets me every time.

day o' birth

it's my mommy's birthday today. we started ignoring birthdays years ago :)

gift wrapping made cheap!

- the only way i do it!

i don't really get into christmas very much, but i do like to get a little something for my family and closest friends. usually i wrap these little somethings in newspaper (no color printing) with red ribbon, and black paper tags with silver pen: i like the crafty industrial-ness of the black and white with the bright flash of red. but this year i found a bunch of business cards left over from a job i had for about six months, and i decided to use newspaper in a different, more graphic way.

(really, i just can't bear to throw away good card stock that's only printed on one side... :P )

so, i present, the "financial section gift tag" - ta da! hahah. they're smudgy, but super-cute.

fickle weather

it was a toasty 60+ degrees today, sunny and bright. short sleeves in abundance! i laugh to think of the new students in town, thinking that they'll be going to college in a italianate climate - too bad for them! five days ago it was damp and overcast and almost gloomy. not gonna lie; i prefer the gloomy. i headed up to the park in said gloomy-ness, and romped about in the mud with fashionable boots and my camera. who cares about camera shake in atmosphere like this!

hint to the new year

dear 2011:

please have fewer toads

thankyou :)