Mat got a lot of face time on the blog last week during our trip to New York.
My wonderful clients need some well deserved blog lovin' too!

Check out Pam & Josh on the subway during our "urban romance" session!

I was SO out of my comfort zone with this.
We weren't on the beach in full sun.
We weren't even on ground level -- we were in the subway for crying out loud!
You can't get me farther away from my norm than that!

But, I'm loving the results, and guessing from the squeely email I got back from Pam,
I'd say she loves them, too!

This is a black & white I shot while we were waiting for the right train:

I used a standard black & white conversion, but I did a lot of dodging on Pam & Josh,
and a lot of burning around everything else.
Mat earned his "assistant pay" during this shoot, too, because he was holding my bag
and Pam's purse right behind me the whole time, and he never complained!
I think he was freakin' thrilled not to BE IN the picture for once!

Then we caught our train, and Mat continued bag-holding duties:

That black & white was created with the Totally Rad Old Skool action.
That action can become easily overused, so I try to not use it a lot,
but I think it really works well on that picture.

This shot was taken while waiting for another train to go by:

I used the Totally Rad "Dereclite" action to give it a retro 60's snapshot vibe.
I think it's the kind of shot the kids & grandkids will see years from now and smile.

Pam told me that Josh was NOT looking forward to me telling him to be romantic in public.
Either he was full of crap or he was a really good sport for Pam, because he sure was great!!

That image got some Kubota "X-process combo" action applied to enhance that gritty urban feel.

I've got more images to show you from my recent post-NYC BEACH sessions,
plus a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT for photographers (especially SoCal photographers!),
so stay tuned! I'll try to get to those posts Thursday night or Friday.
You're not going to want to miss it!

~Carey

We made it back home! YAY!

Wednesday afternoon, we wandered around Central Park
(with a soccer ball, as always), and we ended up meeting 3 guys from the UK
who were playing "football" in a circle with a make-shift ball.
Mat fixed the "make-shift" problem and joined the group.
We discovered that they're Liverpool fans.
Chelsea (Mat's favorite team) and Liverpool both love to hate Manchester United,
so it was a good group of Premiership fans.

The lot of them ended up playing a quick US vs England game on the lawn
with some other Americans. It was our own little World Cup Finals.

England ended up winning (but the Americans did let them play downhill the whole game),
and we decided to have a penalty shootout.

Check out the video:


email subscribers, go to THE BLOG to see the video.

Here are all the guys:



The next day, before leaving for the airport, we wandered around the city some more.
We ended up at "The Top of the Rock", and the view was CRAZY BEAUTIFUL!
I busted out two quarters so Mat could look through the telescope thingee:

(that's looking downtown with The Empire State Building in the background)

Here's a picture from the street a little later:

(Mat took that with our point & shoot, metering on the sky so it wouldn't be washed out)

When we just about to leave, we were walking down W 57th Street,
when we literally ran into Andrew & Rachel from La Cour!
What a perfect lucky coincidence!
They were visiting the city before their Hamptons wedding this weekend,
then they're off to London next week for a wedding in Kent.
I couldn't handle al that travel, but it does sound pretty fabulous, doesn't it!?

Here's a shot of the three of us that Mat took for us:


We're back home now, and I have a dead C: drive.
Jason the wonderful geek is on it for me, but the prognosis isn't good.
I think we may be heading to Office Depot soon to pick up a new hard drive,
then it's off to Restore-From-Backup-Land (AKA: H-E-double hockey sticks).
Oh, and don't forget about Laundry-ville!
At least I have the laptop where I can run my blog & email.
(I hate doing Photoshop from the laptop, so I'll resist as long as possible).

~Carey

A long subway ride to the Bronx delivered Mat & I to Yankee Stadium this afternoon.

We saw the new, big, shiny, impressive Yankee Stadium while we waited
for the gates to open before the game.

First stop was the 3rd base line in left field where we watched BP.

(this image was processed with Totally Rad Grunge Rock)

One of the Yankees tossed Mat a ball -- he was right when he said his Yankee wear
gets him nice treatment from New Yorkers!
Once the Padres came out, Mat got his ball signed by Hairston & Headley:


Braving the long lines at Yankee Stadium concessions,
we got our Hebrew National Hot Dogs & sodas, then we went to find our seats.

It became quite obvious that Mat has only been to modern ballparks
when we found our seats and the first words out of Mat's mouth were,
"What!? No cupholders?!"

No worries Mat, I'm sure you'll have cupholders during our next trip to Yankee Stadium.
But, I doubt I'll have money left over to buy drinks if we ever save up enough for the tickets!


Mat figured out the "where to put the drink" delimma and unwrapped the dog:


It was all fun & smiles until the game started...


(processed with Totally Rad Magic Glasses)

(processed with Totally Rad X-process1)

We left when the score hit 7-0. It was fun to see Yankee Stadium,
but not so fun to see the Padres so crushed.

As we left, we told all the Yankee fans around us to enjoy this happiness now,
but BEWARE! Because Jake's coming to get 'em tomorrow!!!

~Carey

How does Rory know that Mat loves her?
Because Mat posed for this picture just for her:

Now we've both had "That's How You Know" from Enchanted
in our heads all day!

I don't think I could have gotten that picture if Mat hadn't still been on a "high"
from this morning's helicopter ride!

Here's Mat during takeoff:


A view of "Lady Liberty":


And downtown from the air:


After the chopper ride, we took the subway back uptown,
got a Subway picnic, and went back to Central Park.

I played goalie with a goal of dark granite rock behind me,
and every time I blocked a shot, Mat had to let me take a picture:
I didn't block very many, but I blocked enough to get some fun shots.



And here's one last "jump for joy"


Right now we're chilling in the hotel room before we head up to the Bronx for
PADRES vs YANKEES at YANKEE STADIUM!!
I think I may take some pictures there.

~Carey

I put together a movie of Mat's first two days in the big city.

Sunday we hit the Toys R Us in Times Square, saw Lion King, stumbled upon a flea market
that took up 4 or 5 city blocks on 6th Ave, and had our nighttime photoshoot in Times Square.

Today (Monday), we went to FAO Schwarz, Niketown (cool store!), wandered around,
and made our way back to Times Square for dinner at ESPN Zone.
That place was Heaven on Earth for Mat -- big cooshy recliners with TV trays
and FOURTEEN big screen TVs in front of us!



Enjoy the movie!

~Carey