Power of the Pen

How often do you get hand written letters in the mail?

When I was in junior high, we'd slip notes into one anothers lockers and pass crumpled slips of paper in science class. By the time I was 18, my family had moved over a dozen times, so I got used to writing letters to friends in the last town we'd left behind.

Years of moving from west to east and back again yielded boxes of letters from last year's best friends. Hand written, with lots of drawings on the envelopes, doodles in the margins and distinct lapses in time. Often it would take a few days to write a letter so moods and ink color could change from one paragraph to the next.

Not that you don't already know this, but thanks to e-mailing, texting and social networking, letters are far and few between. Further, we expect immediate satisfaction when contacting others. We hit send... then refresh and expect swift replies. Anyway... herein lies the point of this blog....

I'd sent an e-mail last Monday updating my alma mater's alum board on the success of the bake sale we'd had that weekend (see my previous post). So, I'd expected an e-mail back from the director with a note of thanks. Monday.... nothing. Tuesday... zip. Wednesday.... zilch. I was starting to get annoyed.

Then Thursday rolls around and after work, I check the mail. There's an envelope addressed to me from the director. Inside, a thick, creamy note card with the College's seal. AND a LOVELY noted inside thanking me for my efforts. Not just a "thanks".... but a long, thoughtful account of the role I'd played in the success of the event.

I welled up with joy. Seriously. It was WAY better than getting an e-mail.

It's SO rare that anyone (including me) takes the time to write. Getting that note (written in cursive even!), made me want to buy some fine stationary and pick up a pen and start writing to people again. I don't know if I'll doodle in the margins this time around, but I like the idea that years from now, the letter might end up in the bottom of a box of mementos, dog eared, and permanent.

-Catherine

I'm sensing a theme...

Okay, so I know this is supposed to be a photography blog dedicated to weddings and events and such, but I seem to post a lot of photos of food. So sue me! In reviewing the last years posts, we've done a ton of charity and fun raising events this year.... and so it was this weekend.

I'm on the alumni board of my college www.msmc.la.edu and we threw a fundraising bake sale on campus to help raise money to adopt a needy family for Christmas. It was the first bake sale we'd done, so we were a little nervous about what kind of response we'd get. I spent all day Saturday baking... peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, mint chocolate chocolate chip cookies AND... Mexican Wedding Cookies (that's sort of wedding related, right?). And I spent all Saturday night worrying about the sale on Sunday. Would anybody buy our cookies?

To my great relief.... it was a GREAT success! Along with generous donations from fellow alums, our table was overflowing with goodies... and a few apples and pears just to make us look a little healthy. In two hours of selling, we raised just over $300! (I was afraid we'd only get $40 or so). I'm so thrilled knowing that we've made some family's Christmas a little brighter.

Anyhoo... here's a photo I took of the Wedding Cookies.... basically, sugar, flour, vanilla and tons of pecans rolled in powdered sugar. YUM.

-Catherine

I <3 Halloween!

Can we all agree that Halloween is THE BEST?! I mean seriously people.

Not the dress-like-a-tarted-up-nun Halloween.... and DEFINITELY not the Saw VI movie Halloween.... just the good ol' fashion spooky Halloween. I LOVE Jack-o-lanterns, the Great Pumpkin, the Legend of Sleepy Hallow... pumpkin carving, bobbing for apples, the crunch of fall leaves, the silvery full moon, the tacky orange pumpkin head candy pails, ghost stories, witches brew, warm mulled apple cider.....and most of all....plastic pullover costumes with stiflingly dangerous plastic masks with tiny eye and mouth cut outs.

I'm terrible at costumes.... I never really dress up.... but I tear up each morning when I drive past the pumpkin patch on Moorpark.... like I wanna load up all the orphan pumpkins and hay stacks in my car and bring them home so they have a warm place to stay on a cold Halloween night.

If you're lucky... you go to sleep that night with the sweet sting of sugar on your lips, piles of candy under your bed, and the faint hope that this is the year the Great Pumpkin will rise from the most sincere pumpkin patch... which just happens to be on the corner of Moorpark and Hazeltine.

-Catherine

Zach + Jude 10.17.09

After three days of pouring rain, we were so happy to see Jude and Zach's blue-sky wedding day!

From the I-phone video processional to the synchronized secret handshake, their ceremony was so much fun.... but also super touching too. Between the poems read by old friends, the traditional breaking of the glass and the thoughtful words of support to their friends who don't have all the rights that they enjoy... I found myself welling up with tears more than once... which, as it turns out makes it hard to take photos.

We've got hundreds of images to go through, but here are just a few from the day. MANY more to follow.

Cheers!

Catherine & Deanna

That Time of the Month

Another month of mindshare brings mirth, masks, mayhem and fire.

Lots and lots of fire.

-Catherine

We want to shoot you...for a good cause

Deanna (2 of our 4 Eyes) will be taking part in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk in San Diego this November. She'll be walking 60 miles along side her BFF Sherri in honor of Sherri's grandmother Geem, who lost her battle with the disease earlier this year.

The two have been best friends since the Reagan administration - Deanna is basically the 5th Beatle of the Fry/Suchy clan - so when Sherri asked Deanna to join her family in the walk, she said yes without hesitation. The trick now (aside from training to walk 60 miles...yikes!) is raising the $2,300 in sponsorships needed to qualify for the walk.

So that's where you come in! We're offering a limited-time, Pink Ribbon $75 Portrait Session (just in time for holiday cards) with proceeds going directly to Teem Geem and the Susan G. Komen foundation. What's included?

• Tax write off!

• 1/2 hour portrait session in LA area

• 15-20 custom edited images uploaded to a private on-line viewing gallery available for purchase at a special Pink Ribbon Rate (50% of print sale profits will go to the cause)

• Low-res set of digital proof images (with Four Eyes Logo) suitable for posting to social media site (facebook/myspace)

Pink Ribbon Rate Extras:

Single edited high-res image on a disk (no logo): $20

Disk of low-res digital files (4" x 6") images suitable for printing (no logo): $80

Disk of high-res digital files of images suitable for printing up to 16" x 20" (no logo): $125

If you're interested, let us know! Offer expires November 15!

Or, if you'd just like to make a donation, click here.

Nothing but Nets!

Friday night I shot a charity event in Hollywood for www.causeitsmybirthday.com. Doug Campbell, ring leader of www.mindshare.la, gentleman adventurer www.tuxedotravels.com, and all around generous guy turned 30 last week, so instead of just spending it in a drunken stupor, he used his 1,964 contacts on facebook and beyond for good. He and a friend, Sloane Barrent, also turning 30, set out on a 7-day, 7-city party to help raise money to buy malaria nets for families in Northern Ghana. Don't you feel bad now for just having cake on your birthday? I know I do.

Anyway.... day 7 landed the two back on their home turf in Hollywood for one last blow-out. I was there to capture the last event at Club Ecco. As of today, the two have raised over $17,000 with all proceeds going to buy nets. Cheers to Doug and Sloane for partying their way across America for a good cause!

-Catherine

Toil & Trouble...

photo credit: Sweetina

Have you ever shopped on Etsy.com?

Well, you should!

Basically its and on-line shopping mall where crafty people post their goods for purchase at a set price. It's like going to the coolest boutique in town but finding pieces from across the country. The bonus... everything is reasonably priced!

You can choose from a list of categories: jewelry, baby clothes, art, etc or you can just put on a word search like "vintage sugar bowl" and EVERY dang cool sugar bowl in the country (869 to be exact) is at your fingertips! Sweet huh?

Get it, cuz its sugar?

In the past few months, I've gotten an AWESOME necklace, gardeners apron for my step-mom, a Munich Germany graphic print, and, my most recent acquisition... this SWEET Halloween Shadow Box from Sweetina http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6228309.

I mean seriously... have you EVER seen anything cooler!?!?!

When I logged onto Etsy, this just popped up in their scroll of new products available. It was LOVE at first site. Anyway... I can't wait to get home to hang it up!!! Plus it feels good to know I'm buying stuff from artists instead of mass produced stuff from Pottery Barn.

The holiday shopping season is upon us, so consider shopping http://www.etsy.com/!

(this is NOT a paid endorsement)

-Catherine

...and i'm so gunna steal this the first chance i get.

—d

Joy, Part 1of 2

At first, seeing Thom Yorke on stage without Radiohead was sorta like seeing one's father with his NEW wife for the first time. You're sure she's nice and all but you hate her because its not your mom and your afraid life is going to be ruined now and how could he do this to you!

And so it was last night.

It took a few songs for me to relax into the Eraser stuff. Its NOT Radiohead in any way other than that 5' 5" lead man Thom Yorke singing sweetly and dancing across the stage as only he and Ed Grimley can.

Matching his footwork was Flea of the RHCP... who I wanted to hate, but just couldn't. Effortlessly working his bass.... I could tell where the bass ended and he began. Its sounds lame, but its true... he was mesmerizing.

About 2/3rds of the way through, they all left the stage and after 5 solid minute of applause, Thom came back alone to play some new Radiohead stuff. (insert deafening cheers). He moved between solo guitar and solo piano... and though he was alone, I could see Jonny, Coz, Phil and Ed building the music around him. Deep sigh of relief.

So.... all is right with the world. Tonight, we see them again and this time, from note one I'll be at ease, able to enjoy the Eraser as a 1-night stand, knowing Radiohead is still in the studio coming up with new ways to leave me breathless.

-Catherine

Using Our Photography for Good... and Pancakes

Tomorrow morning we're getting up at the crack to drive down to Escondido for a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk!

Deanna is doing the 3-Day walk (60 miles!) in November as part of TEEM GEEM with Sherri Fry-Suchy (her BFF since the Reagan Administration) and Sherri's family. They're all walking in honor of the memory of Sherri's grandma Geem, who lost her battle with the disease earlier this year.

Anyhoo... so you ask..... how are pancakes involved? Well, the Fry family is having a pancake breakfast at the Esconido First Church of the Nazerene tomorrow morning from 8am - 11am.

http://www.efcn.com/

There'll be pancakes, and vendors selling candles, and holiday goodies. AND your two favorite photographers (that's us) will be there to snap family pics for the low sum of $35! What a bargain! We'll shoot you with your family, your dog, your Camero or heck, even with your pancakes! If you can't join us, consider donating a few $$ to the cause!

Go Teem Geem!

http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/SanDiegoEvent2009?px=3501262&pg=personal&fr_id=1298

-Catherine

Notre Raison D'être

Thanks to a late night text from a fellow devotee (Kidj), we've got tickets for BOTH nights for Thom Yorke at the Orpheum Theatre this Sunday and Monday. I can hardly believe that we did it.... we're all getting in! I haven't had much time to process this yet, so it doesn't seem real.

But it IS... SO SO SO real.

-Catherine

Shooting Up, Downtown

Shot another month of Mindshare downtown. Art, 3-D music, personal aircrafts, talks about tantric, bass fueled fire displays, cocktails, tacos and fundraising for malaria mosquito nets in africa.....it always makes me wonder what else is hiding in the dark alley ways of our quiet city.

-Catherine

Zach + Jude

We're shooting Zach and Jude's wedding at Pitzer College in October so met up with them a few weeks ago to see the campus and snap some practice pics. They met at Pitzer so it seemed the perfect place for their I do's. Should be a super-fun wedding!

-Catherine