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Make sure to click on the "Vote Here!" button under your favorite photo.
The five with the most votes gets moved up here!
The five with the most votes gets moved up here!
I recently had the opportunity to photograph the Bar Mitzvah of a friend of mine who I went to high school with. That would normally make me feel old but I seem to be doing a lot of these lately and it just makes me feel like I live in a smaller town then I really do. I guess that's what happens when you don't move away from where you grew up!
I also loved that Congregation Or Ami allows photographers to shoot during the ceremony, which is such a bonus for the parents as I can give them a larger variety of photos for their albums. Images that really tell the story of the whole event.
After the morning service, we headed over to the Woodland Hills Maggiano's for a luncheon and some fun on the dance floor. Jodi designed Jack's invitations herself and I loved the vintagy theme. Music by The Party Zone.
http://karenard.com/blog/2011/02/calabasas-bar-mitzvah.html
Well, that was fun! We just finished our first giveaway - the 1st Annual Image of the Year Contest. It's been great seeing the numbers going up as the votes poured in. The top spots were only a few votes away from each other.
Drum roll please...
The winner of the event category, and proud new owner of an 11x14 wrap canvas is...
Stephanie and Andrew (May wedding, San Diego)
The runner up and recipient of a $50 portrait session credit is...
Elisha and Gideon (August wedding, Los Angeles)
In the portrait category, the winner and recipient of another 11x14 canvas wrap is...
Jessica and Eric (Engagement session, Ventura... wedding in Feb at Calamigos)
And the runner up and owner of a $50 portrait session credit is...
Whitney and Rick (engagement session, Calabasas... LA wedding in May)
Thank you to everyone that participated. Please contact me to arrange your gifts.
Maria Haro Flanagan Says:
Great contest Karen, winners are great! I especially love the Whitney and Rick photo!! Yay!!
(02.01.11 - 01:41 PM)
Whitney Says:
Awesome! Thanks Karen! We loved doing our photo shoot with you and can't wait for the wedding!!! xoxo
(02.01.11 - 05:08 PM)
Efrem Bergman Says:
I loved all the finalists. Every one had so much creativity behind them thanks to Karen. My personal favorite has to be Whithey and Rick just because of the spontaneous location and vibe it has.. All the others, I felt, also have such special treatments to them as well. Great work!
(02.03.11 - 05:20 AM)
http://karenard.com/blog/2011/02/and-the-winner-is-1.html
I'm two posts behind on our cake decorating classes. If you have been following these posts you know that we really have no idea what we are doing. lol BUT, we are having a blast. We love cooking and baking and I love that my daughter and I have so many things in common and have fun doing these classes together. (You can do a search on this blog for cake decorating and check out the first three posts.)
So lesson number four was a book cake. I'm not quite sure this looks like a book but we got to learn how to make roses and that was really great.
We decided to do a marble cake this time, which was fun to bake. I have also learned not to under-bake my cakes so they don't fall apart when I crumb coat them. Yea me.
Things I learned: when you carve out the middle and sides to create an open book shape, take the time to taper the edges the way a book would really fall open.
I liked having all my bags filled and the right tip connected before I started so I was ready to go. Pictured here are #104 with purple for my daughters roses, #17 for the shell border in white and the green #4 for the stems.
The pink and white roses are mine. I tried to recreate my favorite rose, the Double Delight.
Here's my daughter's finished cake with edible sprinkles. The instructor had us make a book mark down the middle... not sure about that but we learned some great techniques.
http://karenard.com/blog/2011/01/cake-decorating-101-4-of-8.html
In honor of National Hug Day, I've enclosed my favorite You Tube Video ever.
Happy Friday... go hug someone!
http://karenard.com/blog/2011/01/national-hug-day.html
I have always loved porches. The bigger, the better. I love the ones in the south that warp around the house and the screened in ones that you can sleep on. Here in the valley, the tract homes I've grown up with lack personality and porches. One day I hope to be able to add a porch to the front of my home. There's room... but there's also college to save for, so I'm not sure if this will ever happen!
When I was hired to photograph this large extended family during the holidays, I was thrilled to pull up and find a porch! As I said, you just don't see them much in these parts of LA. And of course it was perfect for a family portrait, don't you think?