My new head shot

I just had to post this because it is definitely the best picture ever taken of me. I will be using this head shot for the rest of my life....I don't care if I'm 85! This is the one that will be posted next to my obituary! The photo was taken by the fabulous Susan Stripling of Susan Stripling Photography. Her work is amazing and to have a head shot taken by her is truly a treat!


Here's a shot of my sister that I took this past weekend. Do we look alike?

Palm Springs

I have just returned from Palm Springs (I know I am such a traveler!). People must think I never work--I swear I do! I'm gearing up for a very busy wedding season and can't wait! My son, my sister and I went to visit our parents for the week. My husband Keith had to stay home and work. :(

Check out my parents pool. I just want to dive in.


Here is a flower in their back yard. I almost forgot what flowers look like after this winter in Chicago.


Here is my son, Max, looking happy, right before disaster struck....


...a fall into a mud puddle



For the rest of the week, Max didn't sleep very well and discovered something new....the temper tantrum. They occurred about every 15 minutes for the remainder of the trip. Here is my mother with the 40th tantrum of the day. Doesn't she look patient?


He seemed pretty happy helping my dad in the garden through...


Since I had my sister with me, I wanted to take some portraits of her--both because I don't have any and because I wanted some practice before my very busy wedding/portrait season starts in a few weeks. She's gorgeous.



Here are a few more. Yes folks, this is what my sister's skin actually looks like--I did not have to retouch these photos. She started wearing sunscreen faithfully at about 10 years old and this is the result. She should model for Coppertone or something.






I will leave you with a few images of California at night. I've always loved palm trees and here are some in my parents neighborhood.



Cheers!

New York trip

I just returned from New York city, where my parents and I met to see my sister Heather's big choreography debut at Dance Theater Workshop in Chelsea. For those of you who don't know Dance Theater Workshop, it's quite a big deal to get a show there. My sister rules! She worked really hard for months and the performance was great. For anyone interested in learning more, go to www.dancetheaterworkshop.org and click on "Walter Dunderville/Heather Olson." Heather decided she wanted to be a dancer when she was five and actually is. It was amazing to see her name in lights. She's performed all over the world, but this was her first piece that she choreographed and the New York Times gave her a favorable review. Unfortunately I could not take pictures at the show due to copyright issues, but I took plenty of pictures of NYC.

Here are my parents waiting in the subway with me to go meet Heather at her place in Brooklyn.


Here is Heather's subway stop in Brooklyn. Isn't it gorgeous?




My sister, Heather, is quite a thinker. Can you tell?



After brunch, we went back to Heather's to see her new apartment. Her shoe collection left me speechless. These are shoes that I would look totally ridiculous in, but Heather looks completely normal.




The New York City skyline from the subway window.


The subway in New York is like another city. It's huge. We saw a great band and stopped to watch for awhile.



This is something I think I've only seen in NYC. A fur warm up suit. The store owner asked me if I wanted to try it on. I declined.


Here is something I really wish Chicago had--street vendors, selling everything from Ice Cream to hot dogs. This one was selling donuts. Yum!


Quite possibly the fanciest Home Depot in America.


Obviously the person that put a bunch of garbage in front of this garbage can did not see the sign "Keep New York Clean"


I'll wrap up with some fine art photos of New York

Peru

I apologize for not having posted in the past couple of weeks. Family and friends have kept me very busy and I've been working really hard on new brochures, designing a new website and new business cards. Hopefully everything will be done by the beginning of wedding season!

In the meantime, I've been looking through some of my fine art photos and weeding out my favorites. I am hoping to display some of these in some local hair salons, coffee shops, etc. Here are a few of my favs! These are all from Peru, where I went with my friend Tammy to hike the Inca Trail. Anyone that says that the Inca Trail is just a hike is either in incredible shape or a big fat liar! It was tough! But we made it to Machu Picchu and was it ever worth it. It was gorgeous. Tammy and I were definitely ready to come home after all our hard work!

Nicole and Atman - February 16, 2008

Nicole and Atman had a great wedding. They were actually married in December in Las Vegas, and then they had a big ceremony/party in India, where Atman is from, and then they had a ceremony in the states for all their friends and family here. Many of Atman's friends and family from India flew in for the wedding and fun was had by all...

Susan Stripling Workshop

I have just returned from an amazing workshop where I learned sooooo much. Susan Stripling is a very well known wedding photographer,based out of Tallahassee. She travels worldwide for her weddings and has a wonderful eye for seeing light and how to work with it. The workshop was held in Norfolk Virginia. 13 photographers, including moi, gathered at the home of Eleise Theuer and learned so much. Susan truly held nothing back and gave us tips on, not only photography, but business practices, workflow, connecting with clients, etc. A good time was had by all. In the afternoon of both days, we went outside and shot models in bright bright sunlight (something all photographers dread). I really learned to see light in a whole new way and brought home plenty of images! Here are some samples. I can't wait for my 2008 weddings!