Gina + Paul 6.20.09

Deanna and I had a blast photographing Gina and Paul's (99.9% Vegan) Fullerton Arboretum wedding. We're still going through HUNDREDS of images, but here are a few to wet yer whistle. We knew this wedding was for us when we found out that the happy couple were going to have a wedding trophy. Freakin' sweet.

The Final Count Down

On a beautiful early summer night in May, Mount St. Mary’s College held a graduation reception for their ’09 Weekend College graduates. The weekend program is designed for working adults to complete their undergraduate degrees while still maintaining full time jobs and family lives too. As a graduate of this program (Class of ’03, whoo-hoo!), I know how difficult it was to maintain all these aspects of my life at once. The grad reception was such a fantastic ending to long years of late night studying and sleepless nights.
Not only do grads and their families mingle with professors, councilors and fellow students, but each grad has the opportunity to give a short speech (like the Oscars without the annoying “get off the stage” music). I’m such a sucker for this kind of stuff and had to hold back tears as some students recounted their challenges, sacrifices and triumphs.
Anyway. I’m on the college alumni board so I offered up my mad-photography skills to shoot the event and give the grads the images at no cost. In these tough economic times, I challenged the students to find ways to give back to the school that gave so much to them. If one can’t afford to donate money, what about donating a skill, or one’s time? We’ve all got to find creative ways to be generous, even if our bank accounts can’t take the heat, so I used my photography super-powers for good. Here are a few snaps from the event.

-Catherine '03

Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes

We had the honor of shooting a charity event for Hillsides.org, a foster children care and advocacy non-profit based in Pasadena. The Foster Soles event is an annual fund raising auction featuring signed celebrity shoes. A List celebs like Denzel Washington, Jake Gyllenhaal, Shia LaBeouf & Elton John (and dozens more) all chipped in with a pair of signed kicks for the event. And yes, there were hired goons there to make sure no one ran off with Jennifer Love-Hewitt's mile-high silver stilettos (not that you'd make it half a block without breaking your neck).

Bar Celona on Colorado Boulevard hosted the event where well-healed locals mingled, sipped A-FREAKING-MAZING sangrias and feasted on a never ending array of tapas. The evening was capped off by a "Best in Show" shoe contest where attendees flaunted their best footwear. Now, I'm not a shoe snob, but I think I actually fell in love with a gorgeous pair of gossamer-thin black Jimmy Choo stiletto boots. Like, I might leave my husband to marry these shoes (see photos above). Luckily, they weren't my size.

-Catherine