Beautiful Wife + red heels + green suit + hawaii + pineapple

= tropical bliss.

I had a few extra rolls of 220 left over from Laura and Mikes wedding and decided to burn them with Leanne at our local beach before heading out to the airport. I love having a model at my side whenever I need her :). Film was developed and scanned by my friends at Richard Photo Lab in LA, with a few minor photoshop color tweaks by me, but straight out of camera for the most part.

So the story behind this one is leanne is like "take a photo of me standing on this rock with the pineapple" ... so I do. Then she says, "wait for a wave to come up and splash around my feet." So I'm waiting and focusing my camera and out of the corner of my eye a 4 ft wave rolls of from behind and lands right on the rock she's standing on. Gold! I missed pure perfection by about 1/100th of a second. But I think its still hilarious. Leanne didn't think it was so funny :P

My favorite.

New York and Boston : Panoramics

We just returned from a week on the east coast with Leanne's family. Its been a trip a few years in the making, fall colors, hustle of the city, and a chance to revisit the spot where we got married have been on our to-do list for some time. Leanne has a bunch of amazing photos to share too, but I thought I'd beat her to it by posting some of my panoramics.

These are just rough out-of-camera images, I usually "work" them a bit more in post, but decide to let the compositions speak for themselves this time. In a digital world where 5000 photos can fit in the camera for under $50, it is constant challenge for me (and other artists too I assume) to keep their vision focused and get exactly what they want out of a trip or photo session. I hope you guys dig some of them, please check out the full gallery on facebook to see more:

go here

-Paul

Under the arcade - south facing staircase - leading from lower central park, down to the Bethesda Terrace. There was a choir of about 5 children and a cellist playing something wagneresque that filled the arcade with haunting but beautiful sounds

Standing on one of the higher points in central park affords an amazing view of columbus circle, midtown manhattan. Look for Leanne rock-hopping on the left

Words cant express how amazing it was to walk the high line now that its been restructured as a park. It runs almost 3 miles through the westside, cutting through chelsea, hells kitchen, and the meat packing district. For more information and some wonderful photos of the old high line, visit the website and Joel Sternfelds project "walking the high line"

Yellow leaves catching my eye on Newbury st in Bostons Back Bay

Leaves slipping from the shore of a lake in boston commons. Artfully fulfilling the transition to winter

May Day is the Time to Play....

As a "Cinco de Mayo" baby, I love my share of tacos and margaritas come birthday time... but this year I wanted to do things a little differently. I got to talking with my good friend Andy who is from England. He began telling me about May Day and all of it's unique traditions.

May day is a celebration of springtime fertility and longer days. It marks the end of Winter and is best known for its tradition of dancing the May pole. Some other cool customs are making flower crowns and garlands. My favorite tradition which my neighbor Jill taught me is to roll paper into a cone, fill it with fresh flowers, hang it on a neighbors door, ring the bell and run! Ha, this was too fun!

Since we were celebrating the birth of spring and many of my friends were born in April and May I decided it would be fun to have one big birthday celebration! On May Day we honored Kerstin, Heather, Andy, Joe, Jaden and Me!

The most memorable moment was when we danced the May Pole. It was so beautiful to see the colorful ribbons glistening in the sunlight. To hear the laughter and song. It was one of best experiences I have ever had.

Happy May!

xoxo ~Leanne

Morning Inspiration....

Nothing like waking up to the smell of espresso brewing in the Bialetti. Paul makes me coffee every morning and for this I am truly grateful. It is one of those things that makes me fall in love with him all over again, everyday. We take our coffee very seriously around here. First of all it tastes delicious and secondly (let's be honest) we are addicted and need it to stay up all night working on our projects like maniacs. Our favorite coffees are Cafe Illy, Lavazza, and our most current obsession is Stumptown which comes from Portland, Oregon. Paul's twin brother Eric lives there and got us hooked on the stuff. It is strong, aromatic and just plain amazing!

Today while drinking and writing in my journal I noticed that the scene was a colorful one that needed to be documented. Sometimes it is the simple things in life that are the most beautiful. I love being inspired by my surroundings, even if it is just reading a book, planting a flower or having a simple cup of coffee.

Mmmm. Perhaps just one more cup.

~Leanne

Self-Portraits of Old Selves...

Looking back over some old negatives I came across these self-portraits Paul and I took about 8 years ago while we were studying in Paris together. We had taken an excursion to the Chateau de Chambord which is located in the Loire Valley.

Carrying our cameras everywhere (even back then), we couldn't help but take a few self-portraits.
It is funny to see how much we have grown up together. Here we are about 19 and 20. It is so cool to see how our love for traveling, photography, and each other have grown so much.

~Leanne

Playing with Pinhole...

A few years ago, Paul created a wooden Pinhole camera. It is literally a wooden "darkened chamber" or in latin a camera obscura. The device consists of a box with a hole in one side. Light from an external scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside where it is reproduced, upside-down, but with colour and perspective preserved. The image can be projected onto paper or a negative to produce a highly accurate representation.

When a pinhole is made smaller, the image gets sharper, but the projected image becomes dimmer. With too small a pinhole the sharpness again becomes worse due to diffraction. Some practical camera obscuras use a lens rather than a pinhole because it allows a larger aperature, giving a usable brightness while maintaining focus.

Here are some images that we have made:

Pinhole cameras are easy to construct. Find a box that doesn’t leak light. Prink the appropriate size hole at one end and tape a piece of photosensitive paper on the inside, directly across from the hole. Then, affix a small piece of cardboard over the hole, so you can control the amount of light that enters the box. When ready, remove the cardboard flap, let light in for appropriate amount of time and then cover the hole again. Process the photographic paper with chemicals to bring up the image.

A Pinhole Camera is a lens-less camera that only allows a small amount of light to pass through a hole that opens at 0.5mm or less. The rudimentary “shutter” that blocks light generally consists of the photographer’s hand or a small piece of cardboard.

Painting and Taking Photos in the Garden...

It was such a beautiful day today that I couldn't help but go outside! The weather and light inspired me to take my studio outside to create. My series of paintings is almost complete! Just a few more days.

~Leanne

WPPI Las Vegas : Tuesday

Having an amazing time so far! We listened to Elizabeth Messina talk about her perspective behind wedding and lifestyle photography, left absolutely floored (!). We also met up with fellow local southern california photographers Caroline Tran, Sarah K Chen, Aaron Regnier (pictured below), and Joe & Mirta Barnet. Two more days to share our techniques and success stories and absorb new ideas, gear, and perspectives from other amazing artists.

Check out our sweet moves on the dance floor. And no I'm not wearing a man purse ... its called a satchel ... and I get a lot compliments on it :)

-Paul

Monterey : Anniversary Road Trip

February 14th has again come and gone. For most people, the 14th represents valentine's day, chocolates, flowers, and a night off for lovers everywhere. For us, its a bit more. We never really celebrated valentine's day because it was trumped by our anniversary -- our first date was on valentines day 2001, a wednesday, we went out with each other by default because we were insanely attracted to each other and coincidentally both dateless for the evening -- well, our anniversary is actually a few weeks later but neither of us can remember it so we rounded down to our first date. So we usually let valentines day pass by in favor of a calmer weekend to steal away for our anniversary, but braved it this year.

9 Years. We've been married over a year now, but we look back over the past decade for many brilliant memories together. 9 years! The time has really flown by. This year marks the first time we actually celebrated on the 14th ... I took Leanne to Monterey for the weekend. Monterey was the first place Leanne and I ever visited ... and it was substantially better now that we're old enough to drink (!). That and the drive coming home down PCH through Big Sur in the late afternoon is viscerally beautiful.

In a few photos we're showing off our vintage shop scores ... Paul: Agfa Clack 6X9 camera. 1950's German born plastic camera with a glass lens and a 6x9 cm negative (images coming soon). It could put a holga in headlock and indian-burn it until it cried uncle! Leanne: Wood typesetter's drawer. Full of little nooks that originally held lettered dies, but is now destined for our wall ... Leanne is going to paint the inside and (two birds with one stone) organize and display her jewelry.

I love the pic of Leanne looking amazing, but interestingly inappropriately dress for the coastal hike I forced her to follow me on. And the fog rolling over the shoreline of the pacific.

Don't know where I'd be without you, love you babe.

-Paul