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A banana a day keeps the seamstress away.
As we have discussed…………Jade is a photographer and I am an editor by trade and a self proclaimed writer by night – and although both of us work and function within the entertainment industry, everything from family and wedding portraits to documentaries and reality tv series, following and chronicling the lives of others, we have never actually set out to have ourselves photographed. We’ve never taken the time or initiative to crawl out from behind the desk and / or camera and seek someone out to document who we feel we are at this point in time.
Permit me to leave the beaten path for a moment. Stay here. I’ll be right back.
Right towards the end of our battle with cancer – when people say that, when they refer to it as a battle – it is not an exaggeration. There are war cries and blood and sometimes people die. Cancer was the most horrible thing I’ve (WE’VE) ever had to go through AND it was the best thing that’s ever happened to us. Jade and I are closer now than ever. It’s like those war vets who run into each other and they just understand one another even though they’ve never met before. There is a strange and powerful bond that supersedes words and is in the realm of the unexplainable and unbloggable.
SO. Right towards the end of the battle we meet these people named Mary and Scott. Mary is a photographer and Scott is a filmmaker and attended the film school that I almost went to before galloping off to Colorado at the last minute. Very strange. I wonder if I’d gone to Florida instead of Colorado if Jade and I would have broken up. I wonder if I would have met Scott in Florida. I wonder if I would have moved to LA with him and met Jade again. Maybe life has a way of working things out.
ANYWAY, Mary is a photographer and she shoots weddings and documents people’s lives the same way Jade does and she just purchased a new camera after her old piece was pushed into a fountain by a drunkard at the last wedding reception she shot. SO she bought a new camera and wanted to test it out………..so Jade and I gamely volunteered our services.
For our place and location we choose the strange little carnival that has come to town. We arrive at about one in the afternoon. The place is still shut down. The carnies are still hibernating under the rides and in their trucks BUT…..the gates are open. The three of us walk inside and have the place to ourselves. It was like being at The Neverland Ranch.
We hung out by the ticket booths……
……the thunderbolt……
…….and the bumper cars………
…….before just spinning aimlessly in circles but BOY OH BOY DOES IT LOOK FUN OR WHAAAAAT???
This was such a fun session. Not just amazing or entertaining but FUN. I just love hanging out with Jade. She’s often times quiet when we’re in large groups of people but when we’re alone she is very sassy and funny and often has me cracking up and grabbing my sides with glee. Just the other day while we were driving home from church she was doing this funny thing with her feet (don’t ask) that was just KILLING me.
That said, I like these photos so much because (and I hope I don’t sound conceded in any way, shape or fashion by saying this but……) I really feel like it’s sort of captured a very personal essence about us that people probably don’t usually see. Not because we’re not affection. That’s not what I mean to say at all, but rather, that the photos are super personal and intimate and I think Mary did a great job at capturing those moments and the general “weirdness” that Jade and I believe exists between us. And when I say “weirdness” I mean that in a good way.
After the carnival we headed south towards Topanga Conyon where Mary shot us in some golden fields that look very romantic but were very uncomfortable.
I’ve washed my pants and undies since lying down in the thistle and still have thorns in my cloth. BUT CAN YOU EVEN TELL?? NO! It looks like we’re having the time of our lives. And while it was a little uncomfortable and while it was a little hot and while there were spider webs and sharp objects and animal poop everywhere, we really WERE having a great time and the truth is, most of the time, when we’re together, we ARE having a great time. No matter if that’s traveling down the 101 to Eugene, Oregon or making fun of ScreenVision in a movie theater or finally having our photos taken and “our moment” documented or battling cancer with a bloody sword and an unbreakable will. We laugh and sob and fight and love and these photos show it wonderfully.
Yay, Mary. Three cheers. HIP-HIP-HOORAY! HIP-HIP-HOORAY! HIP-HIP-HOORAY!
You guys are so lovely it makes my heart hurt. XoXo
Oh Danny Boy, the tuba pipes are calling you. Last week…..week before that? I can’t remember. Everything is blending into one another. I’ve been working from home and the days are all fuzzy. Is today Monday? Friday? Am I eating tuna or cat food? I DON’T KNOW!!!!! There was a day, earlier, when things were better and I was out of the house and the sun was shining on my face and I was sitting in the passenger seat of our car. Jade was driving…..no, I was driving….we were heading to my friend Danny’s house. His son and daughter are both talented talent. They do acting and modeling. Stud muffins. Serious babes (I mean kids, not…….the other….).
Aiden and Abigail. LOOK AT THESE FACES!!! Try saying no to them.
I will…..if they ask to have a bite of my candy bar. I’ll say, “you probably get everything you want because you’re beautiful and I’m going to teach you a lesson. Lesson one. Getchyer own candy bar.”
Aiden has been in the acting community for several years now and needed new headshots because his baby teeth all fell out, lost their grip, whatever, and his big teeth came in. BUT, don’t worry. They fit his child head perfectly and I think he’ll be fine.
We took Aiden around the neighborhood and shot him against some cool buildings while we toted around his skateboard and he toted around a strange beetle that he’d found. I loved watching him play with it. He LITERALLY carried it around with him for about 45 minutes. It made me remember being a kid and being amazed by insects. I had a friend that drowned ants – he’d throw them into buckets of water and watch them descend. I always thought that was strange. Not Aiden. He carefully carried the beetle, which he probably later named Bailey, from one location to the next. When it was time to shoot, he had his dad hold onto it and it was really cool because Danny was super careful not to let Bailey get away. Aiden said that when they got home he was going to put Beetle Bailey in a small cage and Danny asked him if he meant a cup.
I would hate to live in a cup…..or a cupboard……or a shoe. That one chick lived in a shoe for a very long time and supposedly she even had children but not a husband.
Speaking of shoes…….check out these awesome kicks.
When we got back to Danny’s place we went out back and fired a few rounds off with the charming and beautiful Abigail. I think she looks 8-10 in these photos but she’s actually somewhere between 4 and 6. I can’t remember which.
They were both extremely easy going and I am being paid by Danny to say that if you would like some child actors, these are the two to use. They play brother and sister roles with incredible ease and they also play a very young married but platonic couple pretty well.
Oh, Danny boy. It looks like your kids have new headshots. Let us know when Aiden’s hair starts falling out (like mine) and we’ll update them again!
Good job guys! Nailed it!
besides my widdo clementine…sherman u r my sunshine