A Teaser of the Nursery

On the last day and on the last blog of this year, I would like all of you to know how much I appreciate your ongoing support of the Friday Photography Blog. I can't wait to get on my computer and prepare these pages every Thursday (OK, I admit, sometimes a little later :o)).

I would like to cap this year with and dedicate my blog to something very exciting. 2011 will definitely change my life and make it better :o)

The nursery is coming alone nicely! :o)

Happy, Healthy and a Successful New Year everyone :o)

A Holiday Cheer

I always loved this time of the year. When I lived back in Istanbul and in Montpellier, France; the winter, sometimes the snow, the seasonal offerings and all the festivities would cheer me up.

I love the decorated and lit houses.

I also love the creative touches that one could encounter here and there...

More and more though, it's all about consumption... I took this picture in front of that landmark store on La Brea and 1st...

I'm actually looking forward to a calm night on Christmas Eve...

And the best gift I could ever ask for is on her way anyways, so I am not expecting anything under the small LIVING tree we have in our living room either. We're gonna try to keep this tree alive. We'll see how that will go :o)

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

A fashion shoot that sucks blood

Elena Frickman is a make-up artist who needed to show off her talent and the theme was a modern vampire.

We had a lovely bloodthirsty predator on a rainy Friday afternoon and here are some of the pics as the result of the photoshoot...

Brittani did not hurt anybody during the shoot.

A Lazy Winter Blog Part 2

As usual, coming back from the West Side I took the canyon roads and stopped at the top on Mulholland Drive to snap a picture of the city I live in....

I am working on a Holiday Blog and the stuff I've been shooting for work has not been as interesting as before this past couple of weeks...

So you are stuck with this picure of the lovely smoggy Los Angeles day!

Published pics....

One of my photographs got published in the current issue of OK magazine, and I just wanted to revisit the other 2 published photos.

The links to the old ones may or may not work now or in the future, so snapped the screen captures of them :o)

The first one is the oldest one that was published in a Turkish Newspaper, it was the news of Fahir Atakağlu and  Sertab Erener's US concerts.

The second one was about a wine bar in Echo Park. You can see some other pictures from that shoot on the City Sip issue of my blog. Highly recommended by the way! It's a gorgeous place with great food and a great selection of wine! Check them out here!

And the last one is the most recent one from last month's Corum shoot. Adrian Grenier from Entourage in front of the Corum's boutique.

See you next week!

Mark MacMinn @ Silverlake Lounge

Mark is a singer/songwriter from Austin, TX and he is one of those die-hard musicians... He has a very nice following around the country and he tours a lot. He writes, sings and lives what he has in his heart.

He had a quick stop last week in his old Silverlake neighborhood and I went there to take a few pics and as almost every time I go to photograph an independent artist, I also captured him on video.

This was a very intimate performance. Mark, his guitar and his harmonica.

This Holiday Season, why not support an independent musician? You can sample Mark's work and buy his music here.

Corum at Esquire House Los Angeles

Last week I was at the Esquire House located in the Doheny Estates in the Hollywood Hills. I had tremendous fun with the people from the one and only Corum. The company was having a silent auction to support Oceana, which was celebrating its 10th year anniversary.

I was pretty much at the special room that was specifically designed for Corum to showcase its newest models. It was a busy night and tons of guests, including well-known figures from Hollywood stopped by to see the watches and mingle with Lisa and Jeffrey from Corum. I am not able to post those photographs, but I would love to share a few pictures of the watches and the lovely view of Los Angeles from Esquire House.

First, let's do Corum...

This is the watch Corum donated for the silent auction: Admiral's Cup, Deep Hull 48.

Couple of pics of the lovely Esquire House and its view...

Oceana's ambassador Adrian Grenier (Entourage) was also there supporting the event with his band The Honey Brothers.

And finishing up with a few more views of Los Angeles...

See you next week!

Mazel Tov J.!

As a professional photographer, I work in very different environments and very different industries. Sometimes I have an idea about the place I would be shooting, sometimes I have none. Most of the time I have some time to assess the location and plan accordingly, sometimes it's all improvised.

I don't particularly dislike any of them, but some of them can be more challenging than others.

I find most of the events challenging... They are challenging, not because they are difficult, but because you have to get really creative to use your creativity!

I would like to share a few pictures from a Bar Mitzvah I shot a couple of weeks ago. I was happy to be among a very happy and a very energetic and obviously incredibly young crowd. The organizers of the party were also entertainers, DJs, dancers, MCs etc. and it turned out to be a fun night.

I took tons of photos of this little guy...

One thing I learned the hard way about the private parties is the fact that most of the time, the client doesn't really care about your art or your creativity. They want the entire event to be documented professionally. This create a dilemma within me as I am a professional photographer with an artist side. In certain situations, I have to turn down the artist side (it is impossible to turn it off) and bump up the professional, resulting in quality pictures as far as light and composition is concerned, but not particularly creative.

Despite all that I said above, I sometimes turn the flash off and start playing with the settings and try to capture the very essence of the evening. After all, I am there to document the event as it is happening by accentuating the positivity in the air!

Towards the end of the night a little, light rain started. It wasn't heavy, but it was consistent. I had to document that as well!

Mazel Tov J! And congratulations Levin family!

A Little Photoshop Magic

Due to a birthday weekend followed by a catch-up week, I only have a quick lazy blog for you.

A few years back, during the lovely times Hear Music used to rock my world along with the worlds of other music lovers in Los Angeles, a co-worker was obsessed with Reggaeton, and especially with the album of Luny Tunes & Tainy presentan Los Benjamins La Continuacion.

During a conversation, he asked me if there was anyway I could Photoshop him in onto the album's cover.

I studied the cover, brought my travel lights and took a few pictures I thought it could work. Got home and spend some time and came out with the following result.

This is the original cover:

And this is the result :o)

My friend was thrilled!

I would like to leave you with a fun, catchy tune from this album! Have a fantastic weekend!

Ace And Amir, Your Friendly Local House DJs...

If you are a house music fan like I am and if you are an Angelino or an Angelina who loves to support your local DJs, do yourself a favor and catch these two cool cats in action.

We decided to do a spontaneous shoot and started driving around and ended up in downtown Los Angeles... I really love to shoot there, and the following pics are the results of one fun day.

We finished the shoot by taking pictures around the almost inevitable Walt Disney Concert Hall...

Ace and Amir are blowing the roof off at Villa Sorisso in Pasadena as I write these words. I look forward to their next gig, hopefully I will be able to make it... Who knows, maybe I'll see you there ;o)