THANK YOU

I was getting a massage the other day (well a week ago now) on the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii thinking to myself just how thankful I am to have arrived at this moment in time with a beautiful wife and daughter, good health, amazing friends, and a pretty special job. And though this posting might not be so timely now that its almost two weeks after Thanksgiving, it's still important to highlight how thankful I am for what I have.

My best friend Amanda is the most amazing person in the whole world - she keeps the wheel spinning round and round, the glue that holds us also together, my rock, my angel. Without her, I wouldn't be who I am today. She's the one who leaves for work later in the morning and the one who rushes to get home early. She sacrifices more than anyone I know, and I can't thank her enough for everything. My daughter Sylvie, who is healthy, full of character and personality, smart, and ready to take on the world already at 11 months...wow! My family, who has been nothing but loving and supportive over the years, backing my hopes and dreams. And of course my friends, who I think of as family. You know who you are. Thank you for being such great and supportive friends to Amanda, Sylvie and me.

Thanksgiving was a little different this year. Amanda and I were invited to Brad Cox's daughters wedding on the Big Island of Hawaii. Brad is Amanda's boss and mentor at CBRE. The Cox family has treated us like family over the years, making the long trek to our wedding and inviting us over to their beautiful home in Marina del Rey time and time again. They are very special people. Amanda and I had the greatest time, soaking it in with bride Courtney and her charismatic groom Andrew, as well as all of his 'mates' from down under. The hotel was beautiful, the wedding devine, perfect weather, amazing food...the list goes on and on. It was wonderful to see two people so in love. More importantly it was a treat to spend time just Amanda and I. I love her.

The scenery was absolutely amazing and I was excited to bring all my camera gear. Was fun to pack a specific bag being that you can't take every lens and camera body. What I packed:

Lowepro Flipside 400 AW Backpack
Point and shoot Leica D-Lux 4
D300s body
17-55mm f/2.8
12-24mm f/4
85mm f/1.4
70-300mm f/4.5-5.6
SB-900 speed light
SD and Compact flash cards
Replacement battery and power supply

I think I got a few good shots...here are a few from the weekend.

PICK-UP TRUCK IN A CORNFIELD...LITERALLY!

In the video I posted of Sylvie last month from Ojai, you might have caught this photo for a split second if you didn't blink. Strangely enough, it's one of my favorites from the weekend. And to be honest, I got kind of lucky...the hayride was approaching this truck in the middle of a cornfield and I only had a moment to get my camera off my lap, point and shoot. I eye-balled framing it up and since I was on shutter priority at f/16, at least I'd have great depth of field. I was able to get off three frames. Anyway, i love how the truck is framed, almost like its coming out of the picture. I did some small tweaks in CS3, but for the most part, what you see is what I got. Enjoy.

STEIN FAMILY TRADITION

There has been a Stein family tradition going on for over 60 years. If you were a Stein girl in the family tree growing up in Minneapolis, at some point you were put in this cute little white dress and photographed. From Susan Dame, to Marguerite Rubin, Ashley Rubin, Erica Ashlock, Johanna Stein, Lee Gordon, Amanda Calof, Shiloh Autmn Gordon and now Sylvie Rain Calof...the list goes on and on.

Amanda has been kicking my ass for the past two months to just take the damn photo. But we all know with me, you can't just take the damn photo and be done with it. You need props, some good lighting, a white background, etc. We finally found some time last Sunday morning to get Sylvie in the dress and snap some frames. By the time we started, our little subject was already at her wits end - she was ready for a nap but we managed to get some good ones before she threw in the towel.

People keep asking me how I find time to take photos and blog on top of a 24/7 gig at Paramount. It's all about time management. But then again, I have no time, especially for me, just work, Amanda and Sylvie...and that's how life is I'm realizing. Around we go. Each week comes and goes. If we don't focus on the things we love, then what the heck are we doing. It's all about time management these days.

Check out the best of the batch...







And of course...

HALLOWEEN AT PARAMOUNT

Halloween! No matter what your age, it's that one day of the year you can dress as the sleeziest, silliest, horrific, most out of this world getup on the block and get away with it. I remember when I was much younger I used to have a costume birthday party because my b-day was so close to Halloween. Having been brought up in a "theatrical" household, I of course always had the best costume because my mom worked for the family business, Teener's Theatricals. My bubby and zadie ran the business for over 50 years and though this quick blurb will never do it justice, it was quite the place. Lines around the block come Halloween, people begging to get in before closing time to rent from the best costume shop in town - make-up, dance wear, masks, fabrics, more make-up, props, you name it, they had it and if they didn't have it, they'd make it for you...that was always my grandfather's motto.

So when a bunch of the assistants in our creative group decided to dress up today, it was definitely a photo opp. And would you believe that Jordan Weiss (he's the one in he beanie hat) dressed as yours truly! Some good stuff all around. I tried to switch up the set ups best I could with the short time we had, everyone rushing to get back to their desks to close up shop, but some good group shots, action, and fun looks. Anyway we had a blast. Check em out!

And Andrea and Natalie, I'm sorry we missed you guys...

SYLVIE RAIN IN OJAI

It's been a special few days with my family. Amanda had booked a night up in Ojai a few months back for my birthday weekend and it was finally upon us. I was excited to head to one of our favorite places on earth - weather turned out to be a bit crummy but we managed for the most part. For you photog geeks, I bought a new 85mm f/1.8 a few weeks ago and I was excited to put it to use. Though most of the time, I had the 24-70mm f/2.8 on the mount which is my go to lens...frickin love it! Nice and fast and versatile.

Anyway, we took Little Syl went on her first trip to the pumpkin patch at Boccali's. Bobby, we weren't able to work in a strawberry shortcake but we did have a ton of fun. Just ask Syl what she did Saturday night...oh she'll tell ya. She literally changes before my eyes every day - it's wild! So I've been playing around with making these quick cutting, almost stop motion looking short videos, to try and capture Sylvie from moment to moment. Check out the latest and let me know what you think.