28-300 f/3.5-6.3 DG Macro

penn's always good for breaking in a new lens. which still isn't fully discovered, yet. i got so used to a fixed lens that the zoom and etc. trips me up here and there for various reasons. the bonus of it though, is when shooting things like weddings, i don't have to carry that heavy bag of lenses around, playing the cumbersome switching dance for close-ups and wide shots.

absinthe lounge

who was this girl at the absinthe lounge?

so cool. as was hanging with sj, erica and mary. good times.

click here to see the rest of the photos by myself and fellicella.

yarisworks

sarah jane put on a huge series of "grassroots" arty-type events" for yarisworks.com.

i know. *groan* i'm a little late posting on this now that it's all said and done.

but the 24 camera music video shoot for the tah-dahs was a BLAST. it was 24 disposable video cameras handed out and directed by Kris Youmans.

and there was button making!!!

hal made a lot of buttons. i'm pretty sure i want one of those machines now.

*anyone notice how everything in the above pic is out of focus except jason, running down the aisle with his camera? yeah. i thought it was cool too.*

sarah jane asked me later if it was "weird." Weird? Seriously? there's no precedent for something like this, and i loved the music entirely, so, umm. no. not weird. fun. and congrats on landing the job and pulling it all off so well.

click here to see the rest of the photos i took.

click here to see the photos hal took.

with hal

an evening with mr. samples is always supa fun. camera's being our third arm all is always (uncontrollably) well documented.

he came to watch a movie, which we didn't (and i STILL haven't. apparently i'm unable to watch a movie by myself. so.) and to check out the new pad. he also came bearing priceless gifts i absolutley adore.

i think hal was mary and i's first official "company"! (i.e., people we're not related to.)

*last pic by hal samples.*

lots more here.

by the way, the trash pile and mirror that we're obviously fascinated with are the guts and gore of the house cleaned out while they painted and repaired. gone soon. hopefully. walking past a giant pile of trash on my sidewalk everyday isn't good for the moral.

moving day

it's moving day. the honda is full. everything is packed. and friday is going to be a long, hot day.

apologies to the gazillion people i owe phone calls and emails to.

carissa byers photography: tsang-cheng wedding

this wedding was so amazing i don't have the slightest idea where to start. perhaps with the couple. these two are the absolute epitome of couple-perfection.

the entire family, especially the bride and groom, were as relaxed as they come. they're probably more jittery at the grocery store on double-coupon day.

i'm certain they have a tree planted somewhere in china that drops beautiful babies by the bushel.

to my delight we got to do more of the fun and non-traditional bridal party and family portraits.


this is also perhaps the most creative couple i've ever dealt with. the groom and groomsmen shirts were all designed by the groom.


guests were greeted with tables of markers and paper to create a personal message.

then you got to have your picture taken at the mac photobooth.

there were also buttons!!!


outside they had a tv and video games set up. guitar hero is very popular.


if all that isn't techy enough for you, the kids brought their own gameboys and dvd players, the dj was a laptop and some itunes, there was a slideshow running on another laptop in another room and every other young asian male was equipped with a walkie talkie to make sure the event ran smoothly. mac should have sponsored this. and i say that with admiration.

those that didn't have their own camera or camcorder (were there any?) were very comfortable around the camera.


i got to see my first chinese tea ceremony.

again with the cute babies decorating everyone's arm.

more.


to keep with the less than traditional, there was no cake. just yummy little sweets for people to grab as they wanted. gorgeous.

never. . .

have i ever . . . .

heard better wedding toasts.

seriously. i laughed so hard i was crying.

not only was everyone nice and comfortable and laid back, but they were also very well dressed and good dancers.

and if all that isn't perfect enough,


there's this picture.

mary and i decided that if something very strange were to happen to the world and it was up to this couple to re-populate the earth, we'd probably all be better off for it.

thanks for letting me be your photographer!

yes, it's that time of the month kids

i think it's highly unfair that not only do women have to go through the whole babygrowing thing, but we also have to bleed once a month.

and it's not just the regular bleeding, it's that women have to spend money on cotton products so that we can go out in public and function without staining anything and purchase drugs so that we can stand upright and fake a smile as well as deal with the everyday duties of children and debt and dishes and work and 103 degree weather and inadequate customer service and men's lack of understanding.

and it's not just that women have to attempt normality coupled with blood loss, it's that there is this week of ovulation and hormone imabalence and then bloating and pms and appetite irregularity and acne and then the blood, giving us only one week to recover before we get to do it all over again.

the reward we get for years of this? menopause. saggy breasts. vericose veins. the "mommy belly."

our three favorite coping options are yelling at someone, getting pissed with mindless justification and lying in bed while inwardly cursing our ovaries.

and i quote:

"and the thought of my babies growing up thinking they can have WHAT they want WHEN they want at the expense of not only our planet, but those in lower socio-economic groups keeps me up at night."

read more about why sj thinks green is sexy.

penn smith, rockstar

no explanation needed on these. courtesy of the lovely kinome, penn is sporting a new do. he loves it! i love it! and really, how could you not? no, i won't be sticking it up every day, if ever again, but he had a blast being an attention magnet today.

2 year old + mohawk + tanktop + camo's + kicks. . . .seriously. you can't even imagine. sidewalks today sounded like gasps and stutters of begging ovaries. people were literally saying, "what's up little dude!" from across the street.

more here.

that's what my last date said

the semrads are totally some of my most wrawkin friends. i was delighted to be included in the 1st anniversary of full-moon croquet, even though i haven't attended for a year, and i was even more thrilled with the gifts bestowed on us; a t-shirt! and a cd! ummm, that's just all kinds of nifty cool.

thank you, for being so amazing. and for offering up your spoon tix! which i didn't take. i know. after all that whining. but someone's having a good time tonight.

i took only a couple of pics, this one of emo-dog-pavlov being the only one in focus. heh. so you'll have to check out hal's coverage here.

unfortunatley, team darissyl lost.

apple a day

he doesn't quite look like a two year old to me, sometimes. i wonder about nature vs. nurture and what parts will win in my little one.

it does go by so fast. i'm still grappling with mom and single mom stuff, for godsakes, and at the same time, having full-out conversations with my son. and giggling. there's a lot of giggling in this house.

he's been singing a ben harper song recently, "with my own two hands." it becomes a whole other entity, coming out of a child's mouth. normally i'm against blogging song lyrics. but when i read it, i hear penn's little voice, so this is an exception.


i can change the world
with my own two hands
make a better place
with my own two hands
make a kinder place
with my own two hands
with my own
with my own two hands

i can make peace on earth
with my own two hands
i can clean up the earth
with my own two hands
i can reach out to you
with my own two hands
with my own
with my own two hands

i'm gonna make it a brighter place
i'm gonna make it a safer place
i'm gonna help the human race
with my own with my own two hands

i can hold you
with my own two hands
i can comfort you
with my own two hands
but you got to use
use your own two hands
use your own
use your own two hands

with our own
with our own two hands

with my own
with my own two hands

carissabyers.com

new look featuring mr. penn lennon smith. couple things still broken, but should be fixed soon.

ringo: a fabulous update

yesterday evening a couple went for a walk with their dog. ringo followed them and they let him spend the night in their back yard. this morning they took ringo on a walk wondering if he might go to his house. which he did!!!!! they rang the doorbell and benji answered.

so when i woke up this morning, it was to a puppy in my bed and benji grinning at the door!!!

i wasn't aware that i liked the shedding monster so much.

still doesn't explain how he got out of the house. but i wasn't here, and it doesn't matter much because he's home.

home!

i love you catfish and ringo

yesterday afteroon, after coming home from work, i saw something in the front yard. feet. i told benji to go look and he found catfish. not quite in one piece. we assumed that catfish got hit by a car. it must have taken a strong stomach to to scoop up his pieces and put him in our yard because there's no way that he would have landed there naturally.

catfish was, by far, one of the coolest animals i've ever met. large and soft and silver and a great big teddy bear. willing to sleep wherever you were in whatever contortion it took to fit into your lap. catfish was rescued as a malnourished skeleton of a kitten in a parkinglot, bribed with fried chicken. not long after he was diagnosed by the vet as being morbidly obese. but we loved catfish. and i am so sorry that he had to suffer whatever it was that took him. he didn't deserve that.

i'll miss you, catfish. a whole lot.

tonight i came home after shooting a wedding. i prepared myself for the onslaught of puppy love that greets me at the door when i come home. but there was no ringo. i doubly prepared myself figuring he was outside. no ringo. i went to benji, who hadn't noticed him missing. he says he left ringo in the house at 7:30 and came back at 10:30 and he wasn't here then.

does this mean someone came in our house and took our dog? !!!

i didn't start crying until i downloaded the above pics from the card my wedding was on.

it's 1:30 in the morning and i've been walking the neighborhood. and crying. and making other people cry. but apprently, tears don't bring back puppies. if you knew my dog, you'd know that his name or a whistle makes him turn on a dime. i wake up curled next to my puppy every morning. he's never farther than a 4 foot radius around me.

the creepy thing is the rumor that there are a lot of pets missing in the neighborhood. my neighbor said she saw some kids looking for their cat. they didn't find him, but the next day there was a pile of shaved fur on their front porch. catfish could not have landed where he was at from the road. and ringo was in the house. benji says he's calling the police tomorrow.

tomorrow's going to be hard. i miss my puppy. i hope he's safe.

gypsy tea room 8/04

seen last night at the gypsy tea room,

daniel miller and his guitar.
and, voot cha index .

cutest band ever.
and . . . .sj and her free spoon tix. [insert jealousy here]

my flickr's full, but you can see more of them here.

memo to those under three

for your own good and because i said so:

-you can't play with rubbing alcohal.

-you can't use mommy's lotion, i'm almost out.

-you can't use mommy's hair product. and i'm almost out.

-you do have to brush your teeth.

-you can't have any more powdered sugar for your waffle.

-you cannot, for the love of god, and for the umpteenth time since we brought the dog home, under any circumstance, hit the dog. excuses like, "i'm not hitting ringo, i'm hitting robot ringo!" and "ringo is a drum!" and "but, i like to touch his butt," (this means punching his anus!!!!????) will totally, totally, not fly.

-when i tell you the only thing in the house to drink is water that means the only thing in the house to drink is water. which means we are out of apple juice, orange juice, juice boxes, soy milk (which also means we're out of chocolate milk) and smoothies (because they involve the above ingrediants.) no amount of screaming and crying at me while i'm half asleep and declaring you're "unhaaaaappy" and "saaaadd" at 8 in the morning will make anything besides water magically appear.

-if you want a strawberry you have to ask for a strawberry. and you have to ask for a strawberry because every single time you get a strawberry out by yourself you spill the whole entire bag everywhere and the dog comes running and you start running around and it's a giant strawberry stomp fest in the kitchen, like this morning, and i absolutley can't stand it.

-when i tell you not to touch "mommy's work" (which includes photos, files, staplers, whole punchers, computers, paper, permanent markers, lables, packages, folders, rubber stamps, postage stamps, coffee, boxes or anything remotely in the sphere of mommy's desk) it means STOP DESTROYING MY STUFF!!!!!! it also means you can't wash my (read: clients!) cd's with the water you wouldn't drink.

-when you finally decide that water is a wonderful wonderful drink you can't get enough of it would be nice if you could try not spill the whole glass all over me.

***seriously. it's only 11a.m. and this isn't the half of it. if you were ovulating you would probably understand this better. being a mom is so not the funnest thing i'm doing today.