Natalie | senior shoot

Hanging out in Chicago this week has been incredible! In addition to the workshop, I've been hanging out with the most wonderful family, lots of guitar and piano, shooting gorgeous people, and even filming a promo video for a fun project that will be revealed soon. ;)
Tomorrow its time to head home and tackle all the crazy adventures there. (including but not limited to... teaching a rock climbing class to kiddos, a fun sunrise shoot, and even squeezing in the last snowboarding weekend of the season up in Maine!! aye aye aye... )

So, yesterday we spent some time at the Equestrian Center in Wheaton, IL shooting the beautiful Miss Natalie. This is just the beginning of fun images from this week, so stay tuned!!

Intoxicated | music video

fun stuff!


Back in June, Keith Varon,who has been a featured artist on MTV, (and lends his music to shows such as MTV's Laguna Beach) was filming a video for his new single 'Intoxicated' and I was invited to be apart of the production!
The video took so long to edit I completely forgot all about it, but alas it has been finished!
We are just background dancers, but if you watch close enough you can see me dance by a few times. ;)

Click Here to watch :)

The fabulous Vanessa Felts and I in the middle of make-up...

Spread the Love | day 1

I am running on hardly any sleep so this will be quick, but here is a little peek into the awesomeness taking place here in Chicago.... :)

2 of our fearless leaders, Justin and Mary Marantz

The wonderful Beth

Videographer extraordinaire Andrew

Abigail Smith, Sarah Barlow, Mary, and moi

I had a little "accident" this morning, so walking is a bit of a challenge. (and NO I wasn't wearing heels!)
I am practicing what I learned in sports though...RICE (Rest, Ice Compression, Elevation)... hopefully that will help the swelling will go down so I can actually fit my shoe on tomorrow!

:)

Love is... | april

"We make a living by what we get and we make a life by what we give" -Winston Churchill

Its that time again!
This month's Love is... highlights a charity near and dear to my heart. The Make-a-Wish foundation.
I have dreams of working with this charity in crazy capacities....*sigh*... it truly is my heart.

Anyway, last weekend I had the opportunity to join the Marantz Duo to shoot the annual make-a-wish foundation gala for the Connecticut chapter. The quote at the top were the words used to open the event.

The gala honored lil' miss Teagan who was granted a wish to visit a dude ranch. Teagan happened to have her LAST round of chemotherapy the day before the gala, so the evening was truly a celebration of life.

A little auction action. Through the silent and live auctions in addition to extra giving, the event raised $90,000 for Make-a-Wish in ONE evening. it was AMAZING!
The one thing I didn't quite understand was why someone would pay $5100 for Yankees tickets... but whatever, its for charity, right? ;)

Dancing the night away to some live music...

Maine-iac

The great part about living in New England, is how easy it is to explore different states in close proximity. In the two months I have been out here, I have spent time in CT, NY, RI, NH, and ME.
This weekend I hopped a train to beautiful Portland Maine. I fell head over heels for Maine last fall... its one of those places that immediately feels like home.
Anyway, my friend Doug is a professional umpire and his crew was in P-town for a few days so I went up there for an extended weekend to visit and to see a few games.

Friday night's game was freeeezing and I was soaked to the bone, but I struck up a fast friendship with an usher and 2 old Mainer brothers who hooked me up with some sweet hand/toe warmers and even sweeter conversation.
After the game, the boys and I hit the town for live music. The musician 'J Biddy' covered everything from a lil' Dave to AC/DC and did an awesome job. I haven't decided if I more more entertained that he played "You shook me all night long" (one of my ultimate favs) for me, or by the embarrassingly drunk woman trying to dance in front of our table.

Saturday's game was awesome because Gwyn and Erin drove up to join in on the fun. And we all know what happens when photographers get together... we shoot eachother. Erin is a photojournalist for a local MA paper, so she brought a few sports lenses and we all went at it...

Erin.

Miss Gwyn rockin' Sox pride

Doug in action. Complete with his green lantern pose

I was SO EXCITED about these shots. No, they are not superimposed. ;)

A few more of the baseball I saw.

Bottom of the ninth inning and the home team trailed by like 11 points. All of a sudden we heard an entire row of 12 year old boys belt out in song.... they sang every word of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"

Doug brought us some game balls.

Gotta love New Englanders.....

A child's drawing posted on the wall at FlatBread Co., if you have never experienced the yumminess, then you wouldn't understand the force that is FlatBread. mmmmmmMMmm

yeah, these were taken on two different days before they even met each other.... I have weird friends, right? ;)

the end. :]

Amanda | yodeling veterinarian

Meet my friend Amanda. During our little session today, I asked Amanda what she wanted to be when she grows up and without skipping a beat she replied... "A Singing Veterinarian!"
I had to laugh at her matter-of-factness as if there was actually a degree to obtain in healing animals through song. My first thought was... I love the innocence, imagination, and creativity that dwells in the heart and mind of a child, but then I thought... hey, why not?!
So, my friends, allow me to introduce you to Amanda.... she is gonna grow up to be the world's first veterinarian who will heal through song. (well, the worlds first non-cartoon one anyway... :])

Rambling Thoughts...

I was out to dinner with friends tonight and I heard a beautiful story about the power of creativity.
Translated from Russian, the story went something like this...

There was a blind man who sat along side the road with a sign that read "I am blind and I need money"...
Travelers came and went without so much as a dollar to offer in charity. Then one day, a creative man stumbled upon the blind man and his plea... He had an idea to help the man, and he took it upon himself to rewrite his sign.
The sign then read "I cannot see spring"..... after this, the blind man's pot was overflowing with money.

such a simple story but it really got me thinking about the power of creativity, community, and connection.

We are all creative, but its funny how our creativity really shines when it is used to benefit others... then there is community and realizing that without the benefit of community we would be blind to possibilities that simply take another point of view or perspective to make even better. And then there is the point of connection. Once the words of the sign were changed, people were able to connect and understand what this man was going through. As a person with optical sight, we cannot understand a blind world... but we can empathize with NOT being able to see something we can see and think is beautiful.

That story presents so many facets of correlation and potential reflection but I just thought I would share the to story with ya'all and you can interpret it however you wish :)

smile my friends.

Spring Awakening!

I checked another thing off my list yesterday!
you have no idea how excited I am to announce I saw my FIRST Broadway Musical! (yes, on Broadway!!)
If you spend any time with me, you will know my ridiculous love of musicals. I truly enjoy watching people share their giftings through those forms of artistic expression.

Here is our attempt at a self portrait with the golden tickets. Note to self: Iphones aren't good for self portraits!
[ and yes, I am wearing my Sox hat in downtown NYC. ;)]



We saw Spring Awakening, which is best described as "an angst ridden teen musical about the consequences of repression." With music written by Duncan Sheik, the show had an indie-rock feel and showcased the inner thought life of teenagers. Although set in 1891, the thought patterns haven't really changed... ;) (suprise, suprise) Sexuality, sadomasochism, homosexuality, suicide. It was a show that forces you to acknowledge the human condition, and face it instead of simply sweep it under the rug. It presents you with the opportunity to embrace and learn to be comfortable in what may make you initially uncomfortable.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, the show, the story...everything!

It wasn't the innocent Disney show I expected to see on my first storm of Broadway but I couldn't have asked for a BETTER encounter.
Here is a clip from the show. If language offends you, please don't watch ;)