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music in the house
So since May Patrick has been taking guitar lessons (first with a borrowed acoustic guitar from our good friends the Nevill’s, then with a new electric guitar from his grandparents for Christmas) with the fantastic Pat from The Turn. He’s come so far and can play a bunch of songs (we definitely don’t have the same taste in music cause he hates everything 80s pretty much-blasphemy!!) but there’s a lot of Green Day and some Metallica & Ozzy, some Beatles, Rolling Stones, Nirvana, U2 amongst other things. He’s not home right now so I can’t ask him about the rest of his playlists. He’s doing so great and really loves it- I don’t ever ask him to practice- he just does! Pat is a fantastic, patient and fun teacher. And available for lessons for both guitar & piano! (if you’re interested, message me for his info).
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7 for Sunday
1. So we embark on our annual baseball trip tomorrow. And this is all I have to say about that.
We will be visiting Minneapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee. Expect to see me on Facebook ALOT. Hope all of my friends have their phones charged up cause I’ll be texting everyone non stop. I have the Kindle loaded and charged. I’ll be posting from the road both about our ‘adventures’ and also portrait sessions while I’m gone so the blog will be way busy. Come and visit and leave me comments to read, ok?!
2. So not only do I have to pack 4 people for the trip but I have to pack up the house today as we’re getting all of the hardwood floors sanded and re-urathaned while we are gone. Good times. I’m just hoping they are done by the time we get back and that house can air out from the stink quickly.
3. One of my Canon 5d classics died this weekend. When taking a picture horizontally, I would get a big black block the entire width of the bottom 1/4-1/2 of the photo. Not good. Looks like a loose mirror, shutter and/or focusing screen. And after my friend Kate borrowed my 70-200 lens (I never liked that lens and hardly use it ever) I found out why I never liked it. I think I got a bad copy- all the images are soft. I didn’t realize since I never shot with that lens before buying it- I just figured it was a little softer than the prime lenses). So into CPS (canon professional services) went the broken 5d and very soft focus 70-200. They shipped out from East Hampton (so fancy- but only because I had shoots out there yesterday afternoon) and I’m hoping they will be ready by the time I’m back from the baseball tour. And a big huge thank you to Kate and Shira who both offered the use of their cameras yesterday so I would have a backup. It’s so nice to have photografriends who are generous with their time and equipment!!
4. I’m happy to announce that I have become a member of OpLove (Operation Love Reunited), photographing full sessions for military members leaving or returning from deployment on a voluntary basis. I’ve had this project in my head forever and couldn’t make a go of it on my own since the military presence in this area isn’t so accessible. I’m hoping that this will send some my way for sessions. If you know of any local to Long Island soldiers heading out or returning from deployment, please feel free to pass on my info. You can find more about OpLove here: http://www.oplove.org/index2a.php
And if you are the praying type, please think of the 31 service members who gave their lives this weekend in Afghanistan. So sad for all of us but especially for their families left behind. I can’t even imagine.
5. Went to Ikea this week with another photografriend Lori and went a little crazy on the blankets for newborn sessions. Well, they already proved their worth this week on a fantastic newborn shoot. Pictures on that soon.
6. This week had the weirdest weather I think I have ever seen. Green skies, hail, torrential rain, rainbows, bible skies… all within a few hours of eachother. Some from the ‘real’ camera, some from the iphone. Oh, and by the way- I’m pretty sure the hail was all my fault. I was in the ocean 3 separate times in the last week which never happens. I think I set off some kind of ‘end of the world’ thing. Sorry about that.
7. Some iphone shots from the Paul McCartney and U2 concerts we went to in July. Just realized I never posted them.Went with the Healys and the Nevills to Paul McCartney and ended the night in some bar in the Bronx with Rosanna doing the electric slide at 1am. It was so fun!!!
Paul looked and sounded great. At 69 years old he still puts on an awesome show!! 
We took the big boys to U2 at the Meadowlands. They loved it!!
Ok, well I’m off to pack. Joy. -
the turn @ longhorns
Last month (omg, how can it be August already) I caught my favorite band for some pictures. Originally, they were supposed to be playing at a new place in town (hence the pictures- a new venue). However, when they arrived, it was closed. On Tuesdays. Always. So they don’t know why they booked them for a Tuesday when they aren’t ever open then anyway. So, their usual bar/restaurant in town was nice enough to let them come play over there instead.
Think it’s going to be a while until I get used to Brian without his glasses. 
Always great listening to them play and sing, no matter which venue they are at. If you ever get a chance, go check them out. They are playing in Manhattan almost every night of the week.
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the turn @ national underground
My first Turn post of 2010. And the band plays on…
Because they were in the city this night for a show, I decided to make a whole fun night of it and brought some friends along. We had a great dinner at Stanton Social (so delicious) and then went over to listen to the Turn rock it. And I took pictures, of course.
This was quite the challenging shoot as the location was so tight, with poles in the middle of the stage area, horrible bad lighting (if for no other reason, I want them to make it huge so we can get some decent lighting for their shows!!) where Patrick was purple for the whole show, and they had Chris (the drummer) smooshed back into a little cubbyhole. Still made it work and got some decent pictures. Not the best ever, but still okay. Which is especially unfortunate because they played SO well that night and I wish that the pictures reflected that better.
Thanks for another rockin night boys! And a special thanks to my girls Dawn, Laura and Beth for coming out with me!
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the turn @ whiskey bar (hoboken, nj)
Been so busy with client shoots for Christmas, haven’t had much time to shoot the band, or really do much else of anything in fact. But, they asked (nicely) if I could make some new posters for them and come and take some pictures at Whiskey Bar. And how could I say no?
Although two out of the three are already done, you still have a chance to catch The Turn for New Years Eve. I highly recommend it.
The show at Whiskey Bar in Hoboken was awesome, as always.
A few things worth mentioning:
-Hoboken was nicer than I had thought it would be.
-I can’t wait for the Turn to make it big so they can get some good lighting during shows. Brian was bright and spotlighted, the other boys were waaaay too dark. So irratating for me.
-My new favorite Turn song is “you can’t make me let go”. So totally awesome!
-On my way into the bar they wanted me to pay the cover. I actually got to say out loud “I’m with the band” and didn’t get charged. So cool.
-big thanks to Nelson for coming with me.
-they put Chris (the drummer) behind some weird glass ‘safety gate’ looking thing. So weird. I’m sure it has some kind of musical significance but it just gave me bad glare for my pictures.
During one of the songs, Brian came off the stage to play.
This shot just cracks me up. The girls just lurve Brian!
Thanks for a fun show (even though I forgot my earplugs and due to shooting right in front of the speakers I was a little deaf the next day or two). Can’t wait for the new songs to be available for my ipod- hurry that up for me, k?