Oh hey there!

This is Shelby and Jess’ wedding I second shot for Debi Parker Photography. I spent entirely too much time trying to make a Steel Magnolias joke, which I am either not funny enough to write or it’s just not funny…full stop. Shelby and Jess happen to be hilarious. And fans of karaoke. Making them AWESOME in my book. Shelby serenaded his new wife with a rousing rendition of Baby Got Back. Afterwards, he was promptly recruited for my District Karaoke league. It’s a shame his schedule wouldn’t allow participating.

Speaking of music, yeah…let’s talk Lana Del Rey. If you follow my Facebook fan page you’ll know that I totally talked her up. I love her songs…all 3 of them…and I’m kinda obsessed with her Valley of the Dolls hair. So, you can imagine how my jaw dropped when she bombed on SNL. While I don’t pretend that had roles been reversed, I would’ve performed in front of America any better, but it brings to mind the idea of ceasing opportunities. That’s what photography is all about. A moment happens, after years of training, spending thousands on camera equipment, putting oneself in awkward networking meet ups, where everyone seems intimidatingly polished, experienced and talented. The moment happens when you tune out the self-critic and press the shutter. It’s about being vulnerable, showing your work, knowing that everyone has an opinion and shares, through social media, what they wouldn’t say to your face. It’s about treating yourself  gently, because others won’t. It’s about doing all these things…repeatedly. Practicing is the only way to mastery. Poor Lana had a very public and awkward practice. She failed to make the most of her opportunity. I added to the cacophony of criticism from the safe distance of my computer. I’ve had time to pause, collect my thoughts and reconnect to my ethos, to never be the bitchy girl. The world doesn’t need my strongly help opinion on topics which do not matter. So, Lana, I offer you my heart felt apology. Aside from your model looks, statuesque height and recording contract, we’re exactly the same. Well, except I sing on pitch. Sorry. Sorry, that was bitchy again. Our works are both evaluated in a public way, the stress of which can make one pathological. Mind you, your public is a lot bigger. Best of luck.

Edited to add: Thanks, Emily, for correcting my spelling of Nickelodeon! Enjoy the mountains. See you next week! I almost typed: Enjoy the mountains! but figured three exclamation points was overkill. Toodles. -BCT

As this wedding wraps up, I begin preparing for the wedding of Katrina & Jesse, friends of Raj & Jesse. Stay tuned for images from Katrina & Jesse’s engagement session, shot earlier this summer.

]]> http://www.moderntoilephotography.com/2010/08/sneak-peek-more-raj-jessica/feed/ 0 http://www.moderntoilephotography.com/2010/08/sneak-peek-raj-marries-jessica/ http://www.moderntoilephotography.com/2010/08/sneak-peek-raj-marries-jessica/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:47:11 +0000 Brandy http://www.moderntoilephotography.com/?p=1125 Mic check! Mic check!Phff Phff. Is this thing on?

Oh, hello! Lovely to see you all after a long, hot summer. I’ve been off being fabulous, doing fabulous things. That is, if you count touring the West Wing of the White House fabulous. Or lake swimming in Maine. Or white water rafting on class 5 rapids and cliff diving from 20 feet up.  The cliff diving falls under “scary” and “things I NEVER need to do again” more so than “fabulous,” but whatevs! Perhaps the best thing I’ve done is celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary. This has been a summer for the record books, but I’ve been remiss in blogging and have lots to catch up on.

Let’s get started with Raj & Jessica. They married this past weekend at Normandy Farm in Blue Bell, PA. It was an emotional outdoor ceremony. Jessica wore her mother’s veil. In this first image, I used the veil as a sort of filter, shooting through it to capture Jessica’s gorgeous red lips. The reception was an awesome DANCE! DANCE! REVOLUTION! Seriously. Raj & Jessica are really really good dancers. In fact, they are such good dancers, the pronunciation of “real” should be changed to “RULL” to drive the point. Everyone was on the dance floor. It took some restraint not to bust out some sweet moves of my own.

I’ll post more tomorrow. For now, I sleep. It’s bedtime for Bonzo.

Love, Brandy

This is fridge worthy. It seems wrong, though, to secure it with my Elvis magnet. Sorry, Veronica.

Loyal readers of the blog (Hi, Kristen! I’m sooooo looking forward to your visit. Where should we go? I want to try Churchkeys. What are you going to wear?¬† What am I going to wear? Oh, sorry non-Kristen readers. I’ll stop addressing her in this parenthesis.)….where was I? Oh, yes! Loyal readers will notice that I’ve been lagging on my monthly playlist. Sorry about that. Teensy bit busy these days. So, I’ll make it up by providing the song you’re going to dance your first wedding dance to. Seriously, it’s so perfect. PERFECT!¬† It has been my musical crack first thing in the morning and last thing before bed for the last 4 months or year…I forget.

Scratch first dance of the list.

You’re welcome.

In other musical news, I saw Phoenix when they performed at DAR Constitution Hall, here in D.C. last month. AWE-SOME. The cobalt concert tee is in heavy rotation.  The tee shirt did, however, confuse a slightly crazy guy on the street who mistook the word Phoenix as some political statement on my part. I was incoherently berated for one of the following offenses:

supporting Arizona’s Immigration policy

opposing Arizona’s Immigration policy

I’m not sure which I was supposed to have done.¬† I said, “This is a concert tee shirt of a band. They’re French.” He said, “Oh,” and walked away. I think he was disappointed. French pop transcends politics, dude. Seriously.

-Brandy

Hey…it’s me, your Doogie Howser inner-monolog. Soooooo…..I couldn’t help noticing in the mirror this morning that our hair is….well, ORANGE! Either we’ve been on a nothing-but-carrots diet in preparation for spring (and we both know that’s not true, I know about the box of Twinkies) or you dyed our hair.

Granted it was “doppelganger” week on Facebook. And yes, we think Claire Danes a la “My So-Called Life” is our celebrity twin…which incidentally did you hear she’s marrying our celebrity crush, Hugh Dancy? OMG! It’s as if our life if being played out in a hyper-attractive alternative universe…but I digress. What possessed us to buy a clearanced box of hair color called Red Penny? Clearance! We couldn’t even splurge on the $30 Fekkai stuff from Sephora? At best, we are strawberry blonde. Now, we look like Wendy, heir-apparent to a burger fortune.

Good job. Fix this. NOW!  РB

Friends, I think we can draw parallels from my current hair color fiasco and wedding photography.¬† Unless you want the “Red Penny” clearanced hair dye version of your wedding…It’s best to leave it to the professionals.

Now, if you’ll excuse me I must find a hat.