Trash the dress!!

I attended a "trash the dress"session this past weekend down by the train station in San Juan Capistrano. This was a collaboration with make-up artists, new brides willing to get into places thay wouldn't dream of getting into on their wedding day, and photographers to nag 'em on & shoot it all.
My primary intent was to socialize & network with fellow OSP'ers, but the shots I made will end-up in our portfolio and so was well worth the effort.
Thanks to all who participated orchestrated this event. I can't wait 'til the next one.

I am still editing these images, but you can see more here as I get them posted.

Gary Fong's Clean-Collage

I have a new toy from Gary Fong called Clean-Collage that is a simple Photoshop plug-in that is very handy for assembling collages for the web such as what you see above.
I have modified what it can do and will be using images from this as promotional materials.
Perhaps I can make enough money with this software to buy rabbits, veggies and a wilderness tent to wait-out the coming depression ;-)

What do you think?

Cool group project

Holy cow! I'm on Jessica Claire's Blog

..As previously mentioned, I went to Becker's Happy hour gathering, which was a true gift.
I met Becker before & was grate enough that not only did he remember me, but Sandy's name as well. He hasn't even met Sandy & he knows her name.....well this dude should run for political office 'cuz only politicians & high-level business execs have this skill...IMHO...Maybe this is why he gets the $20 grand gigs, eh?
.....anyway, at this gathering I briefly met his gal, Jessica Claire, who is quite an amazing Rock-star photog herself. I was glad to simply say hi to her.
anyway...I'm in the pic linked above.

[b] will be hosting more of these gatherings & I can't wait for the next.

The [b] school will be announced & on-line soon. whatever the cost, if you are a photog living in So-Cal, this is a great gift.
...more on this at some random other time

New sandavi logo!!!

I have had our logo finalized by my old friend and amazing graphic designer, Biff.

Back when I was seeking a name for our photography business, I wanted something that invoked a sense of simple elegance, which is what I feel represents our photography style.
I then thought-up the name Sandavi, which is simply a cute blend of Sandy and David, but also sounds somewhat like a very familiar wine brand. This sounded good enough for Sandy & I so it stuck. Coincidentally, a Sandavi is also a term used in classical music composition for "which has a very particular part to play in the mystical unfoldment of the melody"

So, many, many months later, I knew we needed a clever logo and that I wanted the look & feel of wine label imagery, but this still leaves the canvas wide-open for interpretation. It finally dawned on me...why not incorporate musical elemants into the logo?
So, I came up with most of the font used in the final layout, but I suck at graphic design and am fortunate to have had Biff help me polish it up and add the rest.
These colors will also be utilized in our web site & promotional materials.

Biff has an amazing house with a Tiki and Egyptian motif that looks more like the Indiana Jones ride at disneyland than a house.
Check-out these pics of his fireplace.
Or, check-out these pics from one of his parties

Thanks Biff!!!

House of Brews

This weekend was spent mainly around the house as Sandy is swamped with school work & I have many business building projects to do myself.
The weekend of the 25th I was at the western states convention of the Professional Photographers of California.
This was a great experience and I have a lot to absorb from this. No pics, but pics would be boring anyway.
I have also cleared space in the garage and will be building a simple studio, so free shoots may be available soon as we get our process dialed in.
Yesterday, Sandy & I went to the House of Brews in Huntington Harbor to shoot interior shots for their web site and marketing brochures. The owners are old friends of Sandy's as well as the sister of her (and my) Brother-n-law.
Thanks to Carmen & Sarah for the opportunity.
More pics here