The Bat Mitzvah

{Best large without a doubt!}

At Manhattan beach for her commemorative portraits.

What a year our LA neighbours have had. We met them for a few minutes in London over the Olympics, Israel and now the celebrations are starting for Emma's big day. Have the privilege of photographing the service and events in November, with the knowledge that I won't understand a word of Hebrew.

I adore the energy in this image, the rest being a mix of contemporary or dreamy reflective backlit portraits. Spotting some red balloons tied to the pier, we incorporated them into the shoot as they made a gorgeous accessory to the silver of Emma's Bat Mitzvah dress. Shooting action into the light is a shot I'm delighted to be able to capture. This was from one take.

I shot 3 boudoir sessions yesterday and pushed myself in every area. There followed the most amazingly glowing review on Yelp from one of my clients. It's hard to believe that these ladies are not models following the transformations they underwent through careful posing and the magic of both the 70-200/2.8L and the 35/1.4L, the latter being an investment I haven't used much for portraits, but which utterly excelled.

I know with each new shoot I continue to learn, to the extent that each feels the best yet. With several shoots behind me this week and a brimful of editing that'll have to wait til I'm healed, I feel in some explosive creative haze right now. Sincerely don't mean to blow my trumpet, but I do wish to share the enthusiasm I'm feeling.

In other news, I have tennis elbow so shooting (!) and editing are going to be off limits for me until they heal. This was my last shoot for a few days and at one point, Mom Judi held my 70-200 as I blocked the sun to meter. I just couldn't manage it with one hand, in fact, doing so for so long has probably been a major component to the tennis elbow, along with detailed retouching with the mouse.

In strange news, I won't be able to get to the store on Friday on account of a space shuttle being hauled about 30 feet away from my house. That's gotta be about as surreal as it gets. The boys will be off school and we'll join our neighbours for the celebrations.