If I said that I didn’t care about the comments on my blog, I would be a liar liar pants on fire. I’m not the best blogger there is out there so when people do drop by and leave some blog love behind, it’s exciting to me. Yes, I’m easily amused.

I’ve been watching the number of my comments inch towards 400 in hopes of honoring my 400th commenter with a gift card. Other photographers have done this on their blogs and I’ve always wanted to be that special commenter for them, so I thought I’d do it for my blog readers.

So, congrats to Cathy Crawley for being my 400th commenter! Cathy is one of my facebook photog friends and I finally got to meet her at WPPI last month. She came all the way from Australia and just the sheer fact that she traveled halfway across the world to go to this convention made me want to give her a bigger hug! She is such a sweetheart and her photography is AMAZING. She has such a cute post about Disneyland on her blog right now. Check it out!

Cathy, please email me back with whether you’d like a $10 gift card to Amazon or iTunes.

And because you can’t post without a picture, I went searching through some of my WPPI photos and thought about Daniel’s photos of us. This is us being silly. Now, don’t you want to be our friends?

(I was trying to glow in the green MGM light with my green sweater on. And yes, this was done while being sober. ha!)

There are a few things in life of which I am sure of and one of them is the power of love within a family. It probably sounds so cheesy to say out loud to the blogsphere, but while shooting Janece and Doug’s wedding last week, the love within this family was just so strong that I could not help but be drawn to it and feel blessed to be able to capture some of it for them. When you have a family of four sisters, there sure is a lot of love to spread around.

I cannot help but be in awe of how God works in our lives. More often than not, we are so clueless about His Plans and how they have no rhyme or reason. So when Danielle of Forever Keep Photography asked me to shoot with her because God put me on her heart, I felt so honored that she thought of me but even more so that God wanted me there for whatever reason - I’m still unsure about His intentions. I have a feeling it was just to bear witness a beautiful union of a man and woman, both who love God, and lend an extra eye to capture some of His amazing beauty that day.

I met Danielle last year at a lunch with Jasmine Star. God has blessed me so much from that point in my life in ways that I ought to write down in a journal to remember. That one lunch has connected me with so many photographers that are even more amazing people in ways that I never expected.

I absolutely LOVED this birdcage veil and could not help but take dozens of photos of it.

It’s special moments like these that I love so much while shooting weddings.

Danielle lent her grandmother’s earrings to Jenece. It was such a touching moment!

Absolutely gorgeous gown. LOVE that flower.

It was so feminine and stylish!

I love it when brides write a special note for their groom.

I am always amazed at how beautiful brides are on their wedding day. Just stunning.

The bride was escorted around town in a 1947 Woody.

Communion

Doug’s first look. How precious.

Jenece’s mom, sisters, and aunt.

Reading their vows.

Washing each other’s feet. What a wonderful idea!

Thanks so much for having me Danielle and Tony! It was such a blessing to me to be able to share in Jenece and Doug’s special day. Thank you!

Please check out the slideshow!

I came across this from Ohana’s blog and couldn’t help but want to post it up myself. As a school teacher myself, I get to see first hand just how much budget cuts are hurting our students and the fact that Tim Ferriss wants to try to help out U.S. public school students is just awesome.

Here are the details:

“Tweet To Beat could generate help for thousands of students in high-need public schools. My colleagues and I are cheering you on!”
-Charles Best, CEO of DonorsChoose.org

The Ethical Bribe

The gist: To benefit U.S. public school students, I will bribe the entire world to follow me on Twitter for $3 each.

I’ll also be giving away a round-trip ticket anywhere in the world and a fully-loaded MacBook Pro. But first things first…

This is “Tweet to Beat”, a follow-up experiment to LitLiberation, which was a campaign by bloggers and their readers, and CEOs and their employees, to spread the power of literacy worldwide. It was a new fundraising model based on competition and social media scalability, and it funded not only US public school projects (20,000+ students) but also libraries and schools in developing countries. I’m in Vietnam with readers right now to visit two of the schools.

With zero financing or hard costs, this model ended up raising more than $250,000 in less than a month, 3x more than Stephen Colbert during that same period.

The Experiment

I think that was just the tip of the iceberg, and Twitter is the perfect laboratory for a new-and-improved approach (at least with a few variables).

It’s public and therefore accountable, it’s trackable, it allows exclusive communication with followers when needed (”protect my updates” under settings), and it’s current media popularity makes it the ideal PR vehicle for this campaign. Last but not least, though this experiment has no victims, produces no spam, nor violates the Twitter Terms of Service, this alternative use will get some purists hot and bothered.

Here’s how the Tweet to Beat campaign works:

1) For every new Twitter follower in the next two weeks, I will donate $1 to DonorsChoose.org, and an anonymous supporter will match $2, for a total of $3 to U.S. public school classrooms per follower. For now, the matching limit is tentatively capped at 50,000 new followers, though I’m open to increasing it later. 50,000 new followers would mean $150,000 to U.S. public school education, and I hope to double or triple this total with a few twists.

The goal is directly helping 25,000 U.S. public school students in low-income and high-need areas in two weeks. This timeline is half the time dedicated to LitLiberation. My current follower count is, at the time of this writing, 22,782, so we’ll round down and begin the count at 22,500.

2) There is a simultaneous competition for those who would like to spread the word. Just do the best you can (Facebook, blog, e-mail friends, FriendFeed, add to your e-mail signature, tell local media, etc.) and detail what you did in the comments here. Tell your friends who are teachers and encourage them to do the same. Bonus points go to people who act sooner vs. later. Deadline for comments is March 23rd at 5pm PT.

If you’re able, I suggest you use a service like http://bit.ly to get a unique URL for this post so you can track clicks on your individual link as you promote it. Click-throughs are more important than “exposure”. Here are a few links you can use:

www.twitter.com/tferriss
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/03/09/tweet-to-beat/
http://bit.ly/tldW (shortened URL for this post)

Not sure of what to say? Here’s the simple version for Facebook status and other channels:
“The Tweet to Beat - Paying $3 per Twitter follower: http://bit.ly/tldW”

Just get them to this post using curiosity and let the post do the convincing. For more promotional tactics that work, see the comments from this past competition.

The prizes:

Grand Prize: Round-trip ticket anywhere in the world Continental Airlines or one of their OnePass partners fly. This is pretty much everywhere on earth. Redeem the ticket anytime within 10 years, so no rush. If you prefer the 2nd-place prize, opt for it and the 2nd-place winner will get the round-trip ticket.

2nd-Place Prize: Brand-new condition 15″ MacBook Pro and laptop backpack with the following specs, donated by direct marketing expert Joe Polish (his Richard Branson interview here):

15″ MB PRO 2.6GHZ 2GB / 200 / SD APPLE $2,794.00
UPG 4GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SODIMM W / INSTL
ADD 2GB(1X2GB) PC2-5300 DDR2-667 SODIMM
APPLECARE PROTECTION PLAN-MACBOOK PRO $349.00
PACE 15.4″ (BLUE) LAPTOP BACKPACK EVERKI $29.99

How Little Does It Take?

I hope you choose to participate and make a difference. Karmic capitalism doesn’t take much.

Taking an hour to mentor a child, sending a single e-mail, or following someone on Twitter — remember that the small things are often what have the biggest impact, as we actually do them.

Please spread the word and further the experiment. I’ll share all of the results so others can duplicate them with non-profits worldwide.

Interested in doing more? Please consider donating a few dollars directly to U.S. classrooms near you through DonorsChoose.org.

“One of the great movements in my lifetime among educated people is the need to commit themselves to action.”
-Peter Drucker

When Jasmine Star emailed me, I had to do a double take. I figured it probably was a mass email that she had sent out to all her readers, etc. Then, when I opened it and she asked if I would help shoot a wedding shower for one of her brides, it literally took me half a day to gather myself up together because I was FLOORED. Me? Shoot one of Jasmine Star’s brides? REALLY?

Even before I met Joanna, I had admired her and Cooper’s engagement session photos from J*’s blog. I remember thinking how beautiful their home was and how much I loved her green dress. On the day of her wedding shower, Joanna was absolutely fabulous and right away I could tell why she chose J* as her wedding photographer. From her pink Betsey Johnson dress and sweater down to her shiny pink Prada stilettos - she was so stunning and Cooper is really one lucky husband-to-be.

The wedding shower celebrating their upcoming nuptials in April was held at her aunt’s home in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. It was such a beautiful home to host and entertain guests in. Every detail was planned out with a lot of love.

Joanna and her mom.

Some of the delicious snacks.

Everyone else looked absolutely beautiful that day too!

LOVED this sweater!

I love the joy in the people’s faces when they greet each other. It’s so genuine and real.

If you were caught saying the word “wedding,” you would lose your ring. Guess who had the most rings at the end of the day? Grandma!

Heart-shaped buttons!

It was such a beautiful and sunny San Diego day.

There were tulips decorated all throughout the house.

Party favors.

The food not only tasted amazing, but was so nicely arranged too!

This was hands down one of the best wedding shower presents I have ever seen.

After Joanna opened up a nightie as one of her gifts, Grandma said, “You don’t become a grandma if you don’t know about that stuff.” Hilarious!

I need to find out where to get some of these! You can clean the floor with them! She received his and her pairs of these cleaning shoes.

Handmade paper flowers from Paper Source. So thoughtful!

I love shots with Grandma. Grandmas rock!

Group shot!

Thank you Joanna for having me at your wedding shower! I wish you and Cooper a wonderful wedding next month and even more amazing marriage. Thank you Jasmine Star for referring me! You have no idea just how much that meant to me!

There are many ways that one shows love for each other as a friend. A friend keeps in touch, remembers your birthday, and spends quality time with you. Well, Jayne has extraordinary friends because it is not everyday that one would dress up from a different generation of your life for your 30th Birthday Party - now THAT’s love!

I learned so much about Jayne this night. You can learn a lot about a person from their the kind of people that they surround themselves with and Jayne has some really amazing friends. She has lived such a full life so far in the past 30 years and I can only imagine what God has in store for her in the upcoming years.

You might recognize Jayne and her family from the Graduation Party I shot last year for her sister, Sarah. I am also looking forward to shooting Sarah and Carlo’s wedding this fall in Monterey/Carmel! Can’t wait!

Jayne’s mom made this collage of photos of Jayne’s life from when she was a baby up to the present time. I especially love the side ponytail!

Jayne celebrated her 30th birthday at Azuki Sushi in downtown San Diego. This sushi restaurant was a great place to throw a party!

Everyone played this game where they had to put the photos in order.

Jayne’s cousin came as “Jayne in a box” and her husband came as a bridesmaid!

Jayne’s Aunt came as Batman from when Jayne was a child.

Her dad came dressed up as flapper which is what Jayne dressed up as for this past New Year’s Eve.

Jayne’s dad, stepmom, and her sister Sarah (dressed as Jayne in her Jazzercise days!)

Jayne’s aunt came dressed as Jayne in her dark hair phase and Jayne’s mom dressed up as Softball Jayne.

The family.

Jayne gave such a heartfelt speech.

Hands down, the best dressed at the party.

Dun-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh… BATMAN!

Daniel and Vaness worked with Jayne at UCSD’s 6th College as resident advisors.

The food at Azuki Sushi was amazing! And I loved how they arranged each dish - so artistic!

Sisterly love!

Jayne and “Jazzercise Jayne” even broke out into her old Jazzercise dance routine. Ghostbusters!!!

Then the party was moved inside.

The DJ.

The bridesmaid tossing the bouquet. Hilarious!

The birthday cupcakes.

Loved these little desserts!

The rest of the night was spent on the dance floor. Everyone had so much fun!

And as if you haven’t seen enough of Daniel and Vaness on my blog lately.

Thank you Jayne for having me again! I am really looking forward to the wedding in September and spending time with your family again. And special thanks to Daniel for referring me!

Here are some photos that Daniel took of us during our silly newlywed-sesh. Check out his blog for more!

This should have been posted under the “Why I love Adam so much” WPPI blog. Hehe.

We had a jam-packed final day at WPPI. I woke up early to go help out at the Shootsac booth. I had a blast helping out because for a couple of hours I was the cool bag lady handing out the super rad Shootsac tote bags. They were going SO fast that we had to slow down and then I was no longer the most awesome person at the trade show. Ha.

Surprisingly enough, I didn’t take very many photos on this day. Too busy absorbing all the madness around me, I suppose.

Ally, Melissa, Kim and I.

With our stylish Shootsac totes!

The FastTrack Blogger’s Lounge. SO many photogs with their laptops in this area and they had lovesacs too!

Ran into some of my favorite photogs ever! Gabriel and Carlie of Gabriel Ryan Photographers.

Kevin Kubota was so nice! Check out his awesome actions! I use them all the time.

I managed to sneak a picture with Jessica Claire.

It was such a treat to finally meet Catie Ronquillo!

And her friend, Alana!

I left WPPI this year, inspired and excited about what’s ahead for Jasmine Marie Photography. Hopefully next year we can stay longer and even check out some of the classes.

We left Vegas in the evening and had to drive through a lot of rain and even some snow. All in all, it was a great trip! Can’t wait til next year!

Sorry the photos are so grainy! Should have just left the flash ON the point and shoot.

“WPPI is amazing! We LOVE WPPI!”

It was Day 2 of our WPPI trip and at this point we really hadn’t done anything “WPPI- related” unless you count when we picked up our badges in the morning. We were having fun just being tourists in Vegas and we kept cheering on how much fun WPPI was wherever we went!

The Galangs!

Adam was so cute and proud when he saw that his badge said, “Jasmine Marie Photography” on it.

We had lunch at the Terrace Cafe at the Wynn Hotel. We had the pleasure of Ginger, who recently moved to Vegas and was Vaness’ MOH, to join us at lunch. Adam and I ate at this cafe when were in Vegas a couple of months ago and thought we’d come back. I just love all the little details in how the restaurant (and the whole hotel actually) is decorated.

One of the skylights.

We had delicious mozarella/risotto cheese sticks. YUM!

And Daniel and I had a prime rib sandwich.

Afterwards, we walked around as touristas and took photos. I LOVE these parasols. So rich in color!

One of the many waterfalls.

Since we didn’t get a chance to do our couples shoot in the desert like we had wanted, we decided to do an impromptu engagement session at the Wynn! Who says photographers can’t be flexible? Poor Ginger had to deal with us crazy photogs.

My sexy husband.

There was this really cool, textured curved wall that we loved.

And this red door! This is the third time I’ve been to the Wynn and each time I’ve always eyed this door and wanted to put a couple in it. So I got my chance! woot woot!

Amanda always does this in her photos and I think it’s so cute.

We walked over the bridge to the Palazzo.

Played with a cute couch.

More Chinese New Year decorations!

Colorful lanterns.

We rested our tired feet and had some yummy strawberry gelato.

It LOOKS huge, but it really wasn’t.

WPPI is SO awesome!

We went back to the timeshare and rested up a bit before hitting up the GO|BEE and Photography Mentor’s party at the Luxor. We also were on a quest to find a super tall drink for our super small friend, Vaness, before the party. That was fun.

The party itself was quite fun. None of us had ever been in a Las Vegas suite before, so that in itself was cool. We had fun with the Fotocabina photobooth. You can see a cool slideshow on Sara France’s blog.

I have no clue what we’re doing here.

We also had a great time dancing too! I ran into a lot of photogs I hadn’t seen in awhile and when it started to get really crowded and hot, we decided to leave. Luckily, on the way out, we ran into Jasmine Star and JD! Vaness and Adam finally got to meet her for the first time and they couldn’t stop talking about her the rest of the night. Adam seriously said that meeting Jasmine Star made the whole trip worth it and he could go home happy. Everyone was too starstruck to ask for a photo though.

So many cool people at WPPI!

After the party, we met up with Catie Ronquillo, the Atreros, Marissa and Stan and Jeanette of Trailbrook Photography. We walked all the way to Excalibur to get our grub on, but all we could think about was this hole-in-the-wall Mexican food place we had driven by on our way to the party. So we walked all the way back and decided we would try it out knowing that our high expectations being spoiled San Diegans would probably not be met.

We figured, the more dive-y the place, the better the Mexican food would be. It was quite an adventure. First, the main sign had lights that were out so it was supposed to be “Tacos Mexico” but it was now “Tacos Ex.” The drive-thru didn’t have a working call box thing (not sure what it was called) AND it didn’t have a menu so we didn’t know what to order. At this point, it was starting to rain too. The boys really wanted carne asada fries. When we finally rolled up to the window, we noticed there was a bug zapper in the window. Ah yeah, real quality food here now. Then, it took ages for us to actually get our food - it better be worth all this trouble.

However, when we finally got back to the timeshare and got our grub on, it was SO WORTH IT. Not quite up to par by San Diego’s standards being spoiled by the Roberto’s, Cotixan’s, Lolita’s, etc all throughout the city. Still, it was past midnight at this point and it was quite yummy.

Man, we love WPPI.