Night at the Fair - Los Angeles Photography

I like fairs. I like the colorful lights and bad music and smell of funnel cakes. But I hadn't been to a fair in probably ten years, for whatever reason. So when I heard there was a  small one a few blocks away from my apartment, I knew I wanted to go. As I've gotten older, I'm less adventurous about going on very high or fast rides that can be built in a matter of hours, but it was still fun to walk around, take pictures and go on a few rides that were tame enough for the faint of heart. The Gravitron has always been one of my favorites and I couldn't stop laughing on the Bumper Cars. I took a few Diana F+ and Holga photos too and I can't wait to get those developed. In the meantime, here's a few of my favorites.

 

Lemon & Romeo - Los Angeles Pet Photography

As mentioned in the previous post, when I was taking portraits of Emily and Tim, they wanted to get some with their dogs - Lemon and Romeo. While I've been taking photos of Emma (the cat) and Sidney (the box turtle) for years, I don't usually get the chance to take pictures of other people's pets. Lucky for me, Romeo and Lemon are were completely willing and adorable. Romeo, the black dog, was pretty content to hang out wherever we plopped him and does this very cute head tilt thing without us even asking. Lemon, the white one, was really attentive for his little tennis ball, but was a lot more energetic and kept me on my toes. As an animal person myself, I really get how pets are part of a family and I think having them in family portraits is a great way to show the personalities of the animals as well as their owners. It was a lot of fun to shoot Lemon and Romeo and I'm looking forward to doing more pet portraits in the future!

Emily & Tim - Los Angeles Portrait Photography

Emily is a friend from my hometown, though we didn't actually know each other until film school and we've hung out more in Los Angeles than we ever got to in Tallahassee. Funny how that works. She's started her own wedding and event planning business, Grandes Fetes, and wanted some photos of her and her boyfriend Tim to put on the website. We met in Burbank one afternoon for some portraits of the two of them and their super cute dogs - more on them in the next post! Though these aren't exactly engagement photos, it was nice to get some cute couple shots mixed in with Emily's portraits. Emily's website is still under construction but be sure to check it out soon for more info, especially if you're in the market for a wedding coordinator or design diva. She's pretty handy with a glue gun!

Diana F+ Toy Camera Photography - West Hollywood

Last weekend I took a short workshop on the Diana F+ camera at the Lomography shop in West Hollywood. It was great because I got to learn about the camera first, then shoot a roll of film during a photo walk on Santa Monica Blvd - like test-driving it before I bought one. The Diana is a lot like my Holga camera - plastic and unpredictable. Unlike the Holga, though, it has interchangeable lenses, which is pretty cool. Because I had just started my new job and the workshop entitled me to a 10% discount, I ended up buying a camera at the end of the class. For cameras that are relatively cheaply made, buying the film and getting it developed could turn into an expensive hobby. But it's a risk I'm willing to take. Here's a few shots from my first roll of film, and I'm sure more will be coming soon.

Family Portraits at the Getty Center, Los Angeles

Josh and Erika and I all met in 2001 when we started film school together. After moving to Los Angeles, they started dating and got married in 2007, just a few months before Matt and I did. And then last year they had their adorable son Oliver. I haven't spent too much time around babies, but I really like this one. He's very alert and happy and smart, and he recently started walking. It was really cute how excited he got just walking around and having mobility. 

Now, Josh is an amazing cinematographer and Erika seems naturally talented at every imaginable thing, so they both take great pictures of Oliver all the time. But since one of them is inevitably behind the camera for these, I thought it would be fun to take some photos that had the whole family in them. We headed over to the Getty Center on an overcast Sunday and got a bunch of cute family portraits and candids. These photos were taken two days after Oliver's first birthday, so I was really happy we got to commemorate that milestone with them all.

Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles: Jesse & Marika Engagement Photos

Jesse is one of the first people I met in LA. I hadn't even moved here from Florida yet, but came out for an editing internship with American Cinema Editors in 2004. Jesse was one of the other interns selected that year, so we spent a lot of time together and a few weeks later I met his wonderful girlfriend Marika. Since then, we've all stayed in touch, whether it's working together or meeting up to watch Roller Derby. At a career-coaching workshop Marika hosted in January, I found out that she and Jesse were engaged. They're getting married on the east coast this fall, but I thought it would be fun to take some engagement photos in LA, and the Griffith Observatory is a pretty iconic place to do that. Just in time for sunset, we headed over to Barnsdall Art Park to get a few more shots. The lighting was really pretty there, and I love how you can see the Observatory in the background of some of them. Not only are Jesse and Marika an adorable and great couple, but they were also perfect subjects - lots of fun and willing to try anything. Congratulations, you two!