photoboothMANIA

blythe and i at sarah and jason's amazing rainy wedding:

we were the testers for Michael---- with photoboothmania

Now let me tell you about Blythe.

Blythe, who I call Blx, is a dear, dear, amazingly lovely friend of mine, who I am so lucky to have as the second shooter at most of my weddings. She is an amazing assistant, an amazing friend, and she and I get to do things like test out the photobooth for the photobooth guy.... and eat cake together at the end of the night.

She deals with all my crazy ideas--- like taking the bride's dress on little adventures all over the place to get perfect shots of it, she does errands for me when I do things like FORGET BATTERIES, she gets us coffee and snacks, because I get hungry often and I am addicted to coffee, she adds such life and SPICE to the day, and everyone loves her, I've even had brides say, "are you bringing BLYTHE to my wedding?".

And in the midst of helping me stay sane, she ALSO manages to get amazing shots!! I'd also like to take this opportunity to talk about the time that I totalled my car on the way to an event I was photographing----- that's where I got the scar above my left eyebrow that you might be able to see in the photos above---- and of course, my BlytheSaver, saved me, and photographed the ENTIRE thing by herself while I was at the emergency room getting dermabond (ie: glue) on my wound, and recovering from getting completely rear-ended by crazy people who apparently 'didn't see me'.

SO!

Blythe, you rule.

i love you so much.

and thanks for these amazing PHOTOBOOTHMANIA pictures that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

a ceiling and a door-----

in Malawi they use what they have.

they do not waste,
they are creative,
they are inventive,
and i love it.

a few more from the amazing Samuel

here's a few more from the shoot yesterday--------

if you haven't already, check out Samuel's blog to look at photos from his life in Long Beach.

changing it up: photoshoot of----------me

I just had one of the most fun days of my life, I think.

I needed some new photos of myself.
The one at the top of this blog in that grey vest is more than a year old... and I needed some SPICE!

My friend Samuel Lippke did a photoshoot of me today, and I left the shoot absolutely glowing. It rocked my world in so many ways.

• first of all, know that i went into the shoot feeling completely nervous because i didn't like my bangs. i know. lame. but----

• the stylist Ann was incredible and did exactly, perfectly what i envisioned and made the bangs look normal, even though they have a random 1" piece underneath that was a mistake.

• Samuel had me climbing on top of buildings and standing on little skinny railings for some of the shots and i felt like i was a model. because that's what models do. right?

• i loved having someone else come up with ideas. so freeing!

• we did them in long beach and Samuel found the coolest locations---- loved it.

• Samuel climbed on top of a basketball hoop to get some of the photos. hello, rockstar! please go hire him instead of me: samuellippke.com

the rest of the photos will come later---
but for now here are a few of the polaroids he took:

I'd also like to thank Taylor, amazing Nordstrom girl,
and the Open Sesame owner, who gave me free pita and tabouleh at his restaurant after the shoot.


Today ruled. :)

Shan

polaroids of a field

i think i might have posted these before, but i love them, and wanted to show them to you.


enjoy today :)
shannon

2 random Africa photos that I really like-

Candice and her pet

this little chicken was a gift to Candice from the woman on the left.

unfortunately, Candice saw the gift as a PET, whereas they meant for it to be dinner. so Michelle and Kyle took it from her

wowey.
shannon

at a restaurant for lunch,

frank, our miracle-worker, hilarious, talented driver.luke, an avid artist who hates trendy glasses

me!the place.

the bathrooms in Malawi

if only we could do such glorious things with dried grass.




- shan

red and blue