9-26-08 No seriously where has the summer gone?

9-26-08

I can see now I already chatted a bit about the shoot for Kodak but you never got to see any images. Here are some images from the day shoot in San Antonio for Kodak and the Bravo Group.

Extra, Extra read all about it. I just got a quick call to cover ACL for the New York Times. I haven't been to ACL and there is no better way of doing that than under the cover of the New York Times ;) I should have picture on Wednesday since they publish on Tuesday.

See you soon.

---mel

7-30-09 Where HAS the summer gone?

7-30-08

I'll tell you!

Since my last post on June 17, I have shot a couple new jobs for People magazines. 2 Meaty stories about miracles and tragedies. The first was the story of the woman who had to undergo surgery for her prenatal daughter who had a tumor attached to her that was nearly her entire size. They both made it through with flying colors and the baby is doing wonderfully. 

The second was the story of young couple in Corpus Christi who lost their young twins to a freak overdose of Heprin. 

Lastly, I just shot a national ad campaign for Kodak. The shoot lasted one day but Kodak will get a lot of mileage out of our images. The team from Bravo Group in New York and Cibolo Films in San Antonio were outstanding to work with. It was a 100% pleasure. They should be rolling out that material any day now. It was a mad rush to get it out in the world. 

I know it's been way too long time since my last visit and for that I apologize. I will try to keep better tabs on the blog.

In closing here are a few images from the people shoots.

 

6-17-08 Father's Day in D/FW

6-17-08

Father's Day with Dad and Doug. Martha, my mother by marriage ;) came up with the best entertainment. We set up chairs around a kiddie pool with a toddler in it. It was awesome. Reagan was in heaven until we took off her pool shoes and then had a little bit of trouble with balance, she loved it.

Hope you enjoy.

See you tomorrow with some shots for People Magazine.

---mel

6-5-08 People Magazine Spread

6-5-08

So as I promised I wanted to send out to you the pictures from the recent People Magazine shoot, sadly I had to wait an extra long time as the editors decided to run it in part on the cover of the magazine and also in the Australian edition, so I couldn't put anything up until now.

So if everyone remembers the story correctly, it was a big story here in Texas. The state authorities, based on the allegations of young woman, flooded the FLDS compound and removed over 400 children from their parents and placed them in foster care all around the state. Some parents like the Jessops, seen here, went to court claiming the state had no right as they do not practice polygamy in their family. They won their case the their children were returned two days before these shots were taken.

Thank you for waiting, enjoy them!

---mel

5-7-08 Kitty

5-7-08 Kitty

So I've been on here for a short while but I am coming to enjoy the idea of a digital journal and since no one is paying attention I can post about whatever I want for now and I choose this. Our cats. Their back story; Steve and I had a happy family in our little Brooklyn apartment for a few years before we wanted a pet and since out apartment was in the 300-500 sf vicinity we thought it would be cruel to have a dog + us. So we opted for cats and about that time, our friends sent an email saying his friend had a landlord (a bonafied animal freak.) was giving away a cat and her kittens so she could continue raising birds. So we intended to take a kitten a raise it for ourselves but when I spoke with this woman she said that we had to take the cat and her kittens and she didn't even know how many there were they were tucked up in an igloo house outside, in March in the Bronx. The weather was predicting the worst snow storm of the season that weekend and I couldn't bare the thought of these kittens freezing to death while we decided so we went and picked them all up. the Mamma cat, not happy about her move. She was such a terror that she almost overturned all of the convincing that I did on Steve. So we brought them home and watch in awe and amazement as nature took it's course with the new cats in out house and after a month all of their eyes were open and they were eating solid food and we slowly started giving them away. We picked our favorite the runt, also the first to leave the box, the curious and creative one, we name him Floyd, then we gave away a brother and sister to the same family a couple up the street and we gave one to the kid who lived across the hall. We tried to name Mamma Hooper but it never stuck, so it's Floyd and Mamma. Floyd is first and Mamma is second in the run of pictures. Thanks for looking.

---mel "she"

5-5-08 Cinco de Mayo

5-5-08

I mentioned before that this week was Steve's and my anniversary, so last night we found an elaborate recipe and made a lasagna together, it was quite good though I can't take all or the credit ;) It's all in honor of 2 years ago we tied the knot in New York City with family and friends. Within the wedding week we did a few things to tie it all together. 2 days before the wedding we did a city wide scavenger hunt, where we met up with family and friends @ Virgin in Union Square, since alot of our guests were tourists and wouldn't have alot of time to tour, we thought we'd give them the quick grand tour. Each participating group was given a list of sites and each group had a digital camera. We were set loose to take pictures of ourselves running around town seeing the site. My group was Hillarie (Matron of honor/sister) Doug (BIL) Suzanne (Best Friend/Bridesmaid) Hannah (her daughter/bridesmaid) and me (bride). Steve's group was Steve, Patty + Jim (his parent) Jeff (Friend/Groomsmen) Kristina (Friend)

I wanted to win so I made my group race and race but alas they all wimped out and got tired. So we went back to the hotel where we met up with the rest of our group who didn't make it in until super late and we had almost the entire cast of the wedding at Chevys @ the hotel, we probably should have called and warned them first ;)

See you tomorrow with some photo booth picts.

---mel "she"

Photo 1

Hannah's first subway ride, we were tring t show her what it was like to ride during rush hour.

Photo 2

Our first site the Ghandi statue in Union Square

Photo 3

Suzanne, Hill, Hannah in front of the Wintergarden, Hill was demonstrating what the mannequins in the window looked like.

Photo 4

Everyone wimping out and wanting to go home and sleep. in front of another site 4 Times Square home of condenast

Photo 5

The winning team. They coined themselves the Roundabout group, they were a collection of friends and co-workers from Roundabout Theatre Company. Loren, Laura, Ethan, Bonnie, Jason Decker (our officiant) and Megan Loren's significant other.

5-4-08 Portraits

5-4-08

As I mentioned May 1st I did some shots for UT and I am so excited about the images I thought I'd share a couple with you. Have a look I hope you like them.

4-30-08 Anniversary Issue

4-30-08

I'm getting a bit of a late start this morning, I was totally teased by a Robin Meade story this morning, so I stayed to watch and I fell asleep waiting for it and as far as I could tell it never ran...

So anyway, I promised in honor of Steve's and my anniversary I would show off some of the lovely images that Ryan Benyi shot for us on our special day. I could not have been happier with my wedding photography, in fact I couldn't have been happier with any of my wedding vendors

we had Dine by Design cater the event I can't remember the person who did our flowers, Austinites it matter to you she's in New York, but she was great. Our location was stunning it over looked the hudson river and lower tip of Manhattan and NJ. Breathtaking, right at sunset. You'll see that in just a sec. On out honeymoon and during the week after the wedding my husband and I recorded our memories on wave files to preserve their newness and now we're so glad we did. We get to hear about our wedding day as if it happened just that week. It really helps us rekindle the spirit of it. So last night we listened to parts of it, just out memories of our respective Bachelor and Bachelorette parties and Sunday night we'll listen to the rest our group bachelor/bachelorette party (A scavenger hunt around New York City) and the rehearsal dinner day and our wedding day. It still feel quite fresh especially with out memories to remind us. When we originally did it, we were going to type them out, then we thought well instead why don't record them then type them out, then after we listened to them, we think listening to out own voices say the words is was better. Especially when I leave the room and come back proclaiming CAKE!!! which we ate wedding cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for nearly a week after. Nice.

I've been holding out long enough, here are the pictures.

4-29-08 The Green Issue

4-29-08

Happy Anniversary Baby! I know you check it daily.

For everyone else I know I mention it often so I wanted to show you what all of the fuss was about. Those little tomatoes were grown from tiny seeds, now they are hardy 4 foot plants with little tomatoes arriving on their branches. After that is Sage and Thyme. Doesn't the sage have a lovely texture to it? After that is a pepper, I started this in my garden as a starter plant, and I also just moved it because the tomato plants are light hogs and the pepper plant was missing it necessary sunshine. After that are sweet peas there are new tiny flowers emerging on the vines, I assume to facilitate the growing pod. We'll see, it's all about the science.
Thanks for looking, tomorrow I'll show some picts of mine and Steve's wedding.
---mel "she"

4-22-08 Gardening

4-22-08

As I mentioned last, Patty (MIL) is in town this weekend and we were doing out annual gardening extravaganza. We ripped out the front hodgepodge of business and added an array of lovely new offerings. We put in a hanging plant and planter next to the door, and 3 new Begonias on the window sill. We even added a small feature called "Lemon Zest" Petunia. It's color is exquisite, yellow of course, I've provided a picture. I did now wear sunblock the first day which awarded me with the brightest burn. Thanks for looking. For tomorrow Meg, my first maternity shots.

Thanks for looking.

---mel

4-16-08 Christal + Michael

4-16-08 As promised, in with the old. These shots are from my step-sister's wedding earlier this month. Enjoy.

---mel "she"

4-14-08 Baby Faith

4-14-08 

Since I have only just begun my blogging efforts I thought I would catch you up on a few goings on. This installment is about Meg my lovely next door neighbor. She and her husband are expecting their first in May. I joined her at her recent baby shower where numerous friends and loved ones sent a beautiful outpouring of love and support for their new family. Here are some highlights from their event.