Lisa Whalen Photography Blog!

I found myself rather fascinated by a large letter "A" the other day. Sure, I’ve been using the letter quite regularly since kindergarten, but it just takes on such photographable character when it’s a semi-gianormous, three-dimensional creation surrounded by all sorts of funky murkiness and texture. Irresistible!

And thus, another mini photo series was born:

The experience wasn't complete for me, however, without the addition of a model into a few shots. In this case, "modeling" also included being locked out of an apartment complex and squeezing under a gate in a party dress - without damaging any of the sequins! And people think modeling is an easy job...

At any rate, I got to experiment a bit with mixing flash, video, and ambient light, and learned a valuable lesson in keeping track of such small but necessary things like keys and cell phones. (You think I would have learned that lesson by now. *sigh*)

The idea was to bring in external illumination, but have it match the somewhat jagged, textural, ambient illumination that caught my attention in the first place. Night illumination creates such an "otherworldly" feeling, so I wanted to work off of that feeling with this particular set of images.

Many thanks to Kaelyn for making herself available on the spur of the moment, and for so patiently dealing with the sometimes less-than-orderly process of trying on a new idea for size :-) Your willing participation in all aspects of the evening is greatly appreciated!!!

Posted by lisa at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

A meltingly hot day in June provided the backdrop for a gorgeous Rose Garden ceremony, and a spirited reception at Roux in Santana Row. As hot as it was, the weather didn't seem to matter at all once the ceremony began, and the celebration that followed banished all thought of the heat from our minds as Andy and I continued to document the events of the day. There's NOTHING I love more than a good party...

Soooo.... here are some photos to supplement all the verbiage :-)

Ah, the perfect summer shoe -Comfort AND Bling - gotta love it!

A "Mysterious Secret Agent" shot of Melissas' son in his tuxedo...

Playing around in the gloriously speckled hallways of the Valencia Hotel:

Some images of Sidneys' daughters:

More images from the ceremony:

Melissa and Sidney created their own personalized version of the popular sand ceremony - sand was poured to represent not only the two of them, but their children as well. It was a beautifully visual way to represent the fact that Melissa and Sidneys' marriage is a merging of families, as well as the joining of two individuals .

One of the portraits we shot during our evening walk around Santana Row:

The official "What sort of crazy thing can I do with their rings?" shot:

And I must admit - there are plenty of entertaining photos from the reception as well, but, well - the day is beautiful and I'm going outside to play, so here endeth this blog :-) Andy and I give a great big THANKS to Melissa, Sidney and their family and friends for making us feel so welcome and being so much fun to work with. You definitely made our job a LOT easier! Thank You, and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Posted by lisa at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The gypsy in me loves hearing about new adventures, especially when those adventures belong to people I know who are using them to push against their personal and creative boundaries in the hope of achieving personal growth.

This is where my tremendously talented friend Gillian enters the picture (no pun intended, I think…) Gillian has headed down to LA to attend FIDM and pursue a career in fashion. I can’t think of a better fit than GILLIAN and FASHION - I really can’t - and I’m pretty psyched to see where her combination of raw marketing talent, style sense and enthusiasm takes her. On with the adventure, I say!

Speaking of adventure - Gillian, my beloved gold chair, and I had a small photo adventure a few weeks ago at my storage facility. I’ve been dying to do something photographic with all those orange doors for a while now, and of course Gillian had the perfect outfit picked out to go with my highly orange theme-of-the-day.

So, here's a few photos:

My latest thrift-shop find is a lampshade that ACTUALLY MATCHES the aforementioned beloved golden chair. Vintage ecstacy for Lisa!

As you can see, Gillian is definitely the shy, retiring type... yeah, right... :-)
In fact, Gillian is one of the few people I know who can make loitering at a budget storage place look drop-dead sexy - now THAT'S talent!

So yes, my friend and muse has happily succumbed to the lure of LA, I am absolutely thrilled and excited to see what lies ahead for her. At moments like these I realize I haven't lost a friend - I've simply gained a place to crash in LA! ;-)

Just kidding Gillian (maybe) - Love ya' darlin'! GOOD LUCK IN LA!!!!

Posted by lisa at 03:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)