Brittney & Andrey

I recently did a photo-shoot with good friend Andrey and his girlfriend Brittney. Here are some of my favorites from the shoot.

Verhoff Party

I just got back from an awesome night with some incredible friends and fellow photographers. Thank you Crystal and Jason for having us over and for the awesome time. We had an amazing dinner, Jason made an incredible chicken parmesan w/eggplant and Crystal made just as an amazing spinach salad. We also played a game of Cranium , in which the guys played the girls, I won't tell you who won but I will tell you that the guys didn't lose. Thanks to Cranium I learned Balaklava is actually a city in Ukraine, not a pastry dessert as we originally thought. I also got to meet their two amazingly beautiful kids, Ella and Gibson (here are some pictures that I took from their blog)

This is Ella-


And Gibson-


If your looking for some talented photographers with awesome personalities, you need to check out Crystal and Jason. Not only is there website incredible but their choice of music on the site is awesome; sometimes I open their site just to listen to the music while I'm doing work on the computer.

Airika and Gerald (George) are another awesome couple that hung out with us tonight. They recently did a photo-shoot at the Seattle Public Library on 4th ave. which turned out incredible. Check out the images on their blog. And you thought libraries were boring......they actually serve a lot of purposes nowadays, those libraries. If your looking for another husband/wife team then I would highly recommend Airika and Gerald, check out their portfolio and other info on their website. Thank you for the company, hope to see you guys at WPPI (if all goes as planned).

And last but not least was the amazing Sarah Rhoads. Unfortunately her awesome husband, Chris, was out of town doing his crazy musician thing that he does, so he couldn't join us. I first met Sarah and Chris at our PUG Christmas party in December and hit it off right away, they moved up here from Oklahoma about six months ago, I don't remember why but I'm sure it was a good reason. Sarah has an awesome/hip/trendy/cool blog (she's watching you the whole time your on her blog) check it out, you'll be blown away. Be sure to check out her site as well - Sarah Rhoads. And then go and check out Chris's site.

So there you have it, three awesome husband/wife teams, you can't go wrong with either one........ Or you can go with this single guy named Yuriy, he does an okay job.

I had an awesome time hanging out with y'all (did I get it right Sarah?) and look forward to next time.

I stole this video off of Crystal & Jason's blog. If your this type of couple, give me a call, I would love to shoot your wedding-

Daniel Usenko Photography

I recently met an awesome photographer, Daniel Usenko, from Everett. Not only is he an amazing photographer, he is also a very genuine good guy. If your a fellow photographer, you need to check out his blog, he's got some really good stuff on there. Daniel used to shoot film and recently got into digital, in his most recent blog he compares digital to film. If your not familiar with the differences or think one is better than the other, than go to his blog and read what he has to say.

He's also got an awesome website, check out the "Texas Project" on the personal side of his site. Good stuff, Daniel. And just to show you a little proof of his talent, I took this image from his blog because pictures always speak louder than words.-


That's some good stuff, if I say so myself.

Gatorade Commercial

I'm sure some of you might have already seen this commercial on TV. But for those of you who haven't, check it out. I had my TV turned on and wasn't really paying attention until I heard O Fortuna of
Carl Orff's opera Carmina Burana, which is an incredible choir, definitely check them out. Gatorade's marketing department does an awesome job, their commercials always inspire and pump me up.

I've watched this clip about ten times and every time, I'm just blown away.

Little Sister Hang-Out Day

My youngest sister, Elizabeth, had an early-dismissal day today, so I being the cool big brother that I, sometimes, am picked her up from school and we decided to go to the Glass Museum in Tacoma. We had an awesome time at the museum, we got the opportunity to watch a live glassmaking demonstration. It's amazing to think that those furnaces can get up to 2150 F. After the demonstration we walked the museum and saw all the works, there current exhibition is called Contrasts: A Glass Primer and it's running through Nov. of 2009, so you've got plenty of time to check it out. My favorite all-time glass blower is Dale Chihuly and the museum has some of his most amazing work. After the museum, Elizabeth and I went over to the Hands-On art activites room and made square collages with little glass beads. I forgot how much fun it is playing with scissors and glue, to tell you the truth I think I enjoyed the activity more than Elizabeth.

After that we went over to the Tacoma Art Museum which is featuring Pierre-Auguste Renoir complete works from 1878-1912. The museum also has Mary Randlett's work on display. I had never heard of Mary until today, she is a photographer from Washington state who did an amazing job photographing the Northwest. She uses film, and some of her black and white image's are just amazing, check them out for yourself at the Museum. The other two exhibits weren't all that great, one was Threads that Bind, bunch of fancy quilts, I guess it's just not my taste. I took Elizabeth to another hands-on activities room at the Art Museum, dropped her and let her make her own quilt out of patterned paper, while I explored Renoir and Mary Randlett by myself. I guess I'm a little spoiled after visiting the museums and galleries in Europe, where it can take you days to see everything. It took me about an hour to walk through the museum and see everything; it took elizabeth about 5 minutes to see everything, I guess 9 year-olds aren't into Renoir and fancy quilts; who would'a known?

I had an awesome time with my sister and need to find more time to do these kind of things with her more often. Before she grows up, becomes a teenager and starts caring more about boys than hanging out with her older brother.

Here is more info-

Tacoma Glass Museum is free every third Thursday of the month from 5-8 PM (otherwise it's $10 for an adult)

You can also see Dale Chihuly's work for free in public places like the Union Station, Bridge of Glass, UW Tacoma, and at the Swiss Pub

The Glass Museum is an incredible place for weddings. They have beautiful plazas, an intimate cafe overlooking the Thea Foss Waterway, and Gallucci's Catering
is the museum's exclusive on-site caterer. If you want more information, contact Liza Holbrook at 253-284-4711.

If your interested in giving glass-blowing a try, you can. Tacoma Glass Blowing Studio puts on classes where you can learn how to make glass art and actually make your own piece. It is $65 for the class and they are located just four blocks from the museum.

The Tacoma Art Museum is free all day every third Thursday of the Month. I would recommend checking out Renoir (runs till June 29th) and Mary Randlett (through May 18th).

I brought along a little compact camera-

Elizabeth, next to some crazy looking glass vases


Glass-Blowing demonstration in progress


Elizabeth working on her glass-bead collage


Me playing with scissors and glue (Elizabeth took the picture)

Women in Art

I came across this video on Olaf Haushulz's blog. I have no idea how they did the transition effect but I'm amazed. Check it out-





Here's one more video of Vincent Von Gogh's self portraits. While in Europe I was really hoping to make it over to the Van Gogh Musuem in Amsterdam, the largest in the world. But it didn't work out exactly as planned but I was still able to see some of his work at the Tate Modern Musuem in London. Check out the video-

How Soccer Explains the World

While backpacking through Europe I had the chance to read an awesome book by Franklin Foer titled How Soccer Explains the World. Franklin Foer, senior editor at The New Republic analyzes the interchange between soccer and the new global economy in the book. Foer uses ten chapters to show us how soccer explains things such as the Black Carpathians, Islam's Hope, and the American Culture Wars just to name a few.

Personally I really liked the book (maybe because there was a whole chapter on Ukrainian soccer clubs) and would recommend it to somebody who is on top of current world events that way you at least have a clue on what Foer is talking about. Or if your just a soccer fan, this book will reveal how big soccer is all around the world.......except the U.S.

Geraldine Georges

If you haven't heard of Geraldine Georges then you've been missing out, Geraldine Georges is a phenomenal graphic designer and artist from Belgium. Her designs take on an abstract form using line art mixed with photography. Her work is mesmerizing, I'm amazed by the creativity and talent of some people. I've attached a few of her images below but too see more of her work click here