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"Come to Los Angeles! The sun shines bright, the beaches are wide and inviting, and the orange groves stretch as far as the eye can see. There are jobs aplenty, and land is cheap. Every working man can have his own house, and inside every house, a happy, all-American family. You can have all this, and who knows...you could even be discovered, become a movie star...or at least see one."—Sid Hudgens, L.A. Confidential

This East Coast gal is in L.A. this week, helping Denis Reggie's team on a wedding and catching up with old friends. After our walk-through at the client's home in Malibu, we had time to explore the city.

Since I'm a fish out of water here, I decided to make the most of my time in L.A. and visit local hot spots. My college buddy, Jason, met me for a night in Hollywood. He's a local, so I wasn't exactly sure where he'd take me! By 9pm, we were dining in a cool Thai joint, watching "Thai Elvis" perform a cover of "All Shook Up" on stage.

After that foray into campy karaoke, we went to hear some of my favorite musicians perform. Glen Hansard and his band The Frames offered an intimate show at the Music Box. Ever since seeing Glen co-star in the film ONCE, I'd been waiting for a chance to see his band perform live. If you haven't seen the film ONCE, drop everything and go immediately!

ONCE is the story of kindred spirits who unwittingly find each other on the bustling streets of Dublin. As their lives intertwine, they discover each other's shared talents and push one another to realize what each had only dreamed about before. The bond between them surprises them both, and the chemistry created is inspiring.

The film was shot for only $160,000 with a skeleton crew over 17 short days. It proves there's something that big budgets and sophisticated special effects can't buy — authenticity.

I was just quoted in article about "Capturing Quiet Moments" at www.WedPix.com, the monthly online magazine published by the Wedding Photojournalist Association. The article begins:

Weddings can be chaotic, noisy affairs where emotions are displayed publicly, so one of your biggest challenges can be capturing their quiet, intimate side. Trust, anticipation, skilled observation, savvy lens selection and a host of other judgments make it possible to bag those quiet, poignant moments in images that recall the day for those in attendance, as well as give those who were not in sight into what it was like to have been there. It is all part of the unique value proposition that our members bring to wedding photojournalism.

**Click Here to read the rest of the article.

"Hell don't care, but heaven knows, I'm up in Indiana where the tall corn grows!"—Lyle Lovett

I always loved the Choose Your Own Adventure book series as a kid. This weekend proved that I have not outgrown my love of wacky, winding plot lines that require quick decisions and childlike imagination!

LaCour didn't have wedding shoots scheduled for Labor Day weekend. Our grand plan included gardening and cleaning closets. But, boy, were we in for an adventure!

6am Saturday morning: I was stirring in my sleep, my phone's persistent buzzing coaxing me awake. I saw a message from Indianapolis-based photographer Kevin Swan.

He and his wife had been awake all night, sick with serious cases of food poisoning. As all wedding photographers know, this is a crisis situation! Kevin had a big wedding to shoot in Indianapolis, and barely had enough energy to walk out his front door.

7am: After an hour of brainstorming and phone calling, Andrew and I decided to hop on a flight from Atlanta to Indy. I called every major airline, and finally found an itinerary that would get us to the wedding by 4:30pm.

8am: Andrew and I scrambled to get our gear packed, threw on our wedding attire and shoved everything into our car.

9am: We made it to the airport in time to hurry through security and get on board our 10:30am flight.

4pm: Woo-hoo. We arrived in Indy, tired but excited to start shooting!

Despite my classifying him as "walking wounded," Kevin managed to greet us with a characteristically infectious smile. The rest of the day was a blur of frenzied fun, fueled by friendship.

We flew home on Sunday morning at 9am.

What an adventure! I would choose it all over again.




Check out Kev's BLOG for gory details!

Happy birthday to Rachel, who turned 30 yesterday. We threw a little shin-dig at No Mas in Castleberry Hill. Rachel's tastes must be known to all, because she got four bottles of wine, one of which we're enjoying as I write.

Thanks to all of our friends for coming to welcome Rachel to her third decade: Rachel's brother, Jonathan LaCour (Mr. Q) and his wife, Lacey LaCour, Delaney Holliman, Katie and Chris Torres, Mark, Erin, our studio manager, Mel, and her husband, Jeremy, Jean Shifrin (who just got ENGAGED on her birthday!), Patrick Williams, Matt and Melissa Yung and Ella and Robin.

Thanks to all of you for enriching our lives and reminding Rachel to relax and take herself a little less seriously! We love you R!

1. By the time I got to first grade, my vision was so bad that I couldn’t see two feet in front of me. I endured nearly two decades of glasses and contacts before the miracle of technology allowed me to have LASIK surgery in 2000. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about how lucky I am to be able to see without assistance.

2. My favorite movie was The Goonies until it was trumped by Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a few years ago. The message in the latter movie completely knocked the wind out of me – in a good way. (Although I still have a major obsession with pirate ships, and big ships in general, which started with The Goonies).

3. I had my identity stolen in New York in November 2001, after being pickpocketed. In addition to maxing out the one credit card I had, they opened nine department-store credit cards in my name, and I was completely shocked (and terrified) when I received all the bills for $800 each a couple of weeks later. Fortunately, after filling out many fraud reports, everything was forgiven and cleared from my credit report. But it was one of the most harrowing ordeals I have experienced.

4. I have a compulsive need to consolidate/stack dishes at restaurants. Also peripheral items such as straw papers, napkins, plastic cracker wrappers. Even at nicer dinners where it would be improper and just plain weird to do such a thing, my eyes still can’t help scanning the table thinking about which dishes could be stacked together to help the waiter.

5. I took up cello as an adult, starting lessons at age 23. It’s a pretty incredible feeling to be able to create those beautiful sounds that come out of a cello. One of my dreams is to eventually play cello in a rock band.

6. I am music-obsessed, mostly within the indie/punk genre, and spent a few weeks following the band Sebadoh around the Southeast back in high school. I was also a DJ for my college radio station. I still love the thrill of finding and falling in love with a tiny little band that only a handful of people have heard of.

7. I have been a vegetarian for 9 years (with an occasional bit of fish thrown in for extra protein). Everyone asks why, so I’ll say it here: I love animals of every kind, and if I can survive happily without having to create more demand for animals’ lives, I’m all for it.

8. I began dating my husband Mark in 2001 when he used the classic photographer pickup line: “You wanna come inside and see my portfolio?”

I tag: Regina Holder, Woodward + Rick, Corey McNabb, Delaney Holliman and Patrick Williams