rio filho!

soooooooo, way back in march, i went on a spectacular 2-week vacation to south america with some friends to see the radioheads...and do other stuff. it was amazing - everywhere you looked in rio and buenos aires was a phototunitiy. (sao paulo was another matter, but i digress.) and i shot some photos...600 or so...really good ones...of really beautiful places...but no one believes me because no one other than me has seen them. because since i've been back, i've taken a million pictures...of lovely people and events...who have paid us money to do so and expect their photos in a timely fashion. but that fact hasn't stopped the chorus of "WHEN ARE WE GUNNA SEE RIO PICTURES???" messages i've been getting from pretty much everyone i know. so, yesterday morning my brain clicks awake waaaaaaaay too early. and instead of diving into work pics, i decided to make a quick run through the vakay pics to quell the masses. so, here are 6...594 to go.

gin courtesy of united



iguazu falls. so ridiculously beautiful.


christ the redeemer. i was more knocked over by this than i thought i would be. the clouds had a lot to do with it.


sao conrado beach in rio...i know, huh!


the view from sugar loaf at twilight...dramatic cloud cover included with admission price.

tchau-
d

And the Winner is....

So, when I don't have my camera strap slung across my shoulder, my day job is in the magazine printing industry. I work with publishers to get their magazines printed and on the newsstand, or in my case, crammed into my barbie-doll-coffin-sized mailbox.

Anyway... there's an association (http://www.wpa-online.org/) that honors the best of the west in magazine publishing at an awards event each April called the "Maggies". Deanna and I shot this year's event and the HIGHLIGHT for me was seeing my favorite magazine, VegNews (http://www.vegnews.com/) winning two Maggie Awards! (THE best Vegan Lifestlye Magazine EVAH!)

When the Publisher and Associate Publisher from VegNews each left the stage with their award, I swooped in for a photograph AND had to tell them that I was Vegan and I loved their magazine and they were awesome, and that VegNews made being Vegan easy and and and and .... okay.... I'm sure I came off like a total freak stalker, but in the end I took a fun photo of them!

I LOVE getting their magazine in the mail and read it cover to cover. I was so happy that they won two WELL deserved awards!!!

Cheers times 2!

-Catherine

Here are a few other fun photos from the event too.

Orange Coast Magazine celebrates.
My favorite photo of the night... these gals from Nails Magazine won at least 5 awards!
Foot and Ankle Magazine posse pose for me.

Heather + Chris + The Easter Bunny = True Love

We shot a Chris and Heather's wedding out in Redlands on Easter weekend and wanted to post a few photos for the happy couple. The Asistencia Mission where the ceremony took place was just so lovely inside.... so after the friends and family went to the reception, we snapped a few shots in this doorway. Thankfully, the rain stayed away and the heavy cloud coverage made for some really soft light. I could have stayed for hours, but its rude to dance to YMCA at the reception without the bride and groom.

-Catherine

Card Tricks, Cross Dressers & Herd Nueroadvantage

Yup... all this and more means another month of Mindshare.

http://www.mindshare.la/

As I've written before, mindshare is this crazy cocktail of science and art.... but there's been an unfortunate side effect. When I shoot, I lose all other perception... hunger, thirst, sense of hearing... it all goes away. I just see light and shape and how best to photograph it. But the moments in between, when I start talking to people, I want to talk more, but I can't because I need to shoot.

Anyway, I've thought about maybe next month just going for fun. Have some cocktails, play some 6-person atari-pong, and most of all, actually stand still and TALK to people for a while. I never really understood the whole social networking thing, but its crazy how many cool people I've met each month (you know who you are).

So we'll see... when May rolls around, I don't know if I'll shoot, or just relax for once and enjoy a night of enlightened debauchery.

-Catherine

Buckle Up!

Okay, so usually we just post stuff about places we've gone and stuff we've photographed... but now I'm setting aside some time for product placement. We're on a newsletter list for a website called photojojo.com.... basically, its a site for cool photography stuff... things to buy, techniques to try, etc. When I got this one today I had to share.

Recycled seat belts used as camera straps! So Cool! I want one in teal and another in purple. My birthday is months away, but its always the right time to get me something I'll love!

http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/seat-belt-camera-straps

-Catherine

Happily Ever After 4.4.09

Gorgeous Flowers by David Blair Designs

On Saturday we had blast photographing Jacque and Kirk's wedding in Santa Monica. Not only are they a beautiful couple, but they're super fun too and were game for anything we asked them to do. It will take a while to go through all of the photos but we wanted to send the couple a few shots to tide them over.

E X T R A ! E X T R A !

It's been a good month here at Four Eyes! A photo I took durung the 2009 Amgen Tour of California bike race was published in two, count 'em, TWO , magazines this month! Yay!

Anyhoo... here's a copy of the image as it appeared in the May 2009 Issue of Road Magazine along with a caption I wrote about how I got the shot. In the April 09 isssue of San Francisco Magazine it ran as a full two-page spread.

(Is it lame to high-five yourself if nobody else is around?)

I didn't shoot the cover... I just wanted to show the issue in which the image appears.

Just in case ya can't tell... that's Lance Armstrong there in the yellow/black helmet to the right.
Gotta go pat myself on the back for a while!
-Catherine