On being a cinema snob

I used to be a huge film-goer. I'd see practically every movie that came out on circuit (unless it was a horror or something with the Wayans Brothers). I just saw random stuff because it was there. When I first met Mr Ruby Slippers, we used to go to the movies at least once a week, if not more. It was what we did together, because we're both movie nuts. But gradually it kind of started tapering off. Partly that's because the last year or two, or three, have produced some pretty crap movies. But mostly it's because we hate the way people behave in the cinema.

Yes, I'm a cinema snob. I don't believe you should talk during a movie, EVER. Unless you're dying and need to alert someone. People who sit there and have a chat during a movie that they've paid good money to see completely mystify me. If you wanted to have a fat chat, you could do it at home without paying for two tickets and popcorn. And spoiling it for everyone else who paid for their tickets because THEY actually want to see the movie, and not listen to you talk talk talk.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up now is because of something that just happened on Twitter. The movie INVICTUS opens here today, and of course everyone is keen to see it because it's about...um, South Africa. Actually I have very little idea what it's about, other than the Springboks winning the World Cup in 1995 and Nelson Mandela being there. I don't know how you make a whole movie out of that, but anyway. I couldn't care less about sport if I tried. I think the way people get worked up about sport is quite insane. Do you know what I was doing when the Boks won that game in 1995? I was at the opera with my family. Yep, we watched The Merry Widow (ok, I was at the operetta) instead of watching our country win a sports competition. Because we don't care.

I've just got totally off the subject. The point is, I'm actually pretty keen to see Invictus, if only to see Matt Damon putting on a heavy Afrikaans accent, and Morgan Freeman trying to emulate Madiba's unique voice. And see local places that we don't usually see in movies (I loved District 9 for this - I loved it anyway because it was excellent - but it was great seeing Johannesburg on screen!). So today on Twitter some guy says, "Are you a South African? Then you've bought tickets for INVICTUS, opening nationwide tonight, the movie every SA-n must see? Yes? Good."

To which I responded, "No; I'm waiting because I don't see movies with the talking masses."

His response: "  do you ever go to stadiums or are you generally living with Heidi's grandfather in a mountain hermitage?" AND "think you should make an exception here. Be an enthusiastic citizen of your own country, belong to a sense of community"

At which I, of course, took offence. So apparently I must go and PAY good money to sit through a movie on a Friday night, which will be filled with loud talkers and silly teenagers and people loudly mocking the attempts at the South African accents on screen? Because this will somehow give me a sense of community?? (Yeah, a sense of 'I hate my community') Because if I don't go, then I'm living like a hermit (and why is that a bad thing, anyway?)? 

If I don't want to see a film about a sport I despise amongst a crowd of people whom I will begin to despise as the opening credits roll, and they all start talking, playing on their cellphones, and laughing, WHY DOES THIS MAKE ME A BAD PERSON???


*Rant Over*


And yes, I AM going to see Invictus. Just at a time when the cinema is mostly empty. And that won't be this weekend at any time. Should I apologise for that? Cos I'm not going to.

How Babes on Broadway stole November

Having NaNoWriMo in November was a really bad idea, for me, because November is also when my community theatre puts on its musical show. And if you say the words "musical show", I'm there. If you say the words "Broadway musical show", I will be there five hours early with a list of songs I'd like to sing (I'm like a less pushy Rachel from Glee), fifty musical soundtracks, and the complete score of Wicked. If I had it.

This show was called "Babes on Broadway", and they had me at the title. The "babes" part came in because, as per usual, no men auditioned for the show. What is it with men and theatre? In Allo Allo they had to have two women playing some of the men's parts, although at least they had five men, which is five more than we had!

We started rehearsing in August, and by early November most of the cast never wanted to hear "You Can't Stop the Beat" ever again. Or "Fame", or "There's no Business like Show Business". Except me, cos I'm theatre-geeky that way. :-) The show was to go on stage on the last two weekends of November, with three shows the first weekend and two the second. And as November wore on there was more shouting, more tantrums, more people crying because they were being picked on, more threats of walking out (between August and November we did lose about 12 cast members, but you get that with every show. There are always people who can't be bothered to show up and perform properly), and lots of yells of "You're not ready to go on stage in front of an audience!" from the director. And yes, we do this for fun. :-)

And it was fun! I LOVE those 15 girls who were in the cast with me. Not only did they include Sister Ruby Slippers and BFF Ruby Slippers (whom I blackmailed into joining by promising to watch all her June Allyson movies, because she adoes June and I kind of hate her), but a there were a few old friends and some fantastic new ones! And not a bitchy diva amongst the lot of them. Which is unbelievable.

Anyway, the long rehearsals and then weekend performances really took it out of me, especially since I was spending all my free time writing that darn novel. Which is my second excuse reason why I haven't been around on here.

And when we get the dvd of the show I'll try post some clips on here. It went amazingly well; we played to almost packed houses every night, and people couldn't gush enough. But the best part was making all these new friends, who are now my karaoke posse and party pals!

Here are some pictures of the fun we had on Sunday at our Christmas party:

Bombs away!

The Producer of the show, Paul:

Something so great about sitting round on the grass in the evening, eating boerewors rolls and salad...

This is a running joke that I can't even begin to explain...

There's me on the left at the back. The downside to being the photographer is that you're never in any pictures! I can't remember who I got to take this one, but I'm glad I got to be in one with my lovely ladies.

How NaNoWriMo stole November

Because in November I pretty much vanished from this blog, didn't I? I'm not going to keep apologising or make excuses. Except this:

There was NaNoWriMo.
Have you heard of NaNoWriMo? It's short for National Novel Writing Month. You can read more here, but the basic premise is that you have to write 50 000 (yes, fifty thousand) words during the month of November. It can be any kind of story you want, but you're not supposed to go back and read over what you've done and change things, because that slows you down and discourages you. The point is to make you write, however bad it might be; just to let the words flow out, and worry about fixing it later.

Mr Ruby Slippers and some of our mutual friends were taking part, but I wasn't sure if I was gong to have the time and, let's face it, the dedication to do it. But I'm terribly guilty of starting stories and never finishing them. I write the good bits and then I give up after 2000 words, or something. And there was a novel I'd been writing on and off for over two years, which really needed some impetus. In two years I'd written about 16000 words of it, and, while those wouldn't count - everything has to be written in November - it was something I could definitely carry on with. You don't need to write a complete novel, just 50000 words of it.

However, by the time November rolled around, I was still dithering about taking part. Mr Ruby Slippers got cracking on Day One (a Sunday) and wrote even more than the daily target (which was a1667 words). I, on the other hand, went off to rehearsal, danced, painted, sang, and came home exhausted. Wash, rinse and repeat on the Monday and Wednesday, and by Saturday I still hadn't decided if I was even going to take part. And if I did, I was going to be incredibly behind - the target for that day was 11667 words. Still, it was Saturday, I felt bright and chirpy (for once), so I decided to start and see how it went.

Of course, once I'd started I had that "I will not fail and get beaten by my husband and friends" competitive feeling come over me, so I persevered and wrote nearly every day, even when I wanted to throw the keyboard on the floor and scream at my characters for talking like a really bad soap opera. Even when my arms and neck were aching and I just wanted to watch Glee or House or ANYthing that would let me sit back and not have to think about what to write next.

Here's my stats graph for November. Having a graph you can use to see how you're doing compared to the target and compared to others is really motivating! The blue bars are the daily targets, and the brown ones are where I was each day. I started late, but I trucked along just behind target every day, only finally hitting it on the last day. But that's typical of me. I was always the one having to get up early to finish school projects on the morning they were due, and writing essays during break before they had to be handed in. Oh, school. You were...fun in spots, but better to look back on. :-)

Anyway, my point is - I WROTE 50000 WORDS IN NOVEMBER! It's completely crazy, and the book is nowhere near finished, and it's pretty damn sucky, I'm sure, but I DID IT.

Skreeeeee!!!

And that, readers (if you're still out there!) is what happened to my November. Well, it's part of what happened to my November...

That Guy Thursday #6

I've been so neglecting this blog lately! I even forgot to do a That Guy Thursday yesterday.

So, one day late, here's That Guy, who, today is That Gal:

Ok, you probably know who this is. Some of you are going, "Hey, it's Stiffler's Mom!", aren't you? Or "It's Elle's friend in the Beautyshop from Legally Blonde!"

In case you aren't, but you know her face anyway, her name is Jennifer Coolidge. She was also on "Joey", which I never watched - I didn't want to spoil Friends with a bad spinoff -  and appeared in Lemony Snicket, Down to Earth, American Dreamz, and tons of tv shows.

That Guy Thursday #5

Today's That Guy:

Now don't tell me you've never seen this guy. Maybe as a therapist? A writer? That quiet guy with a bit of a nervous tick or stammer? Yeah, that guy.

His name is Bob Balaban.

(I just totally went, "His name was Robert Paulsen" there) :-)

You've seen him in License to Wed, Capote, No Reservations, Lady in the Water, all those Christopher Guest movies such as For Your Consideration and A Mighty Wind, The Tuxedo,  Gosford Park, Ghost World,  and the Mexican. He hasn't guest-starred in as much tv as some of my previous That Guys, but he has been on The West Wing and (if you're a Friends nutter like me), he was Phoebe's father in the one where she meets him at her Gran's funeral. Yes, That Guy!

Question for the Americans

This is completely random, and will probably never happen, but call it idle curiosity in case it ever does.

If Mr Ruby Slippers and I were to move to America, where would we want to live?

Firstly, my priority would be weather. I need to live in a place that:
1) is generally warm, but when it gets hot it's a dry heat, rather than a humid, sticky heat that makes you feel like you've been hit in the face with a hot, wet towel.
2) Doesn't go over 30 C (86 F) as a general rule. (I used an internet converter; hope it's right :-))
3) Doesn't ever go below freezing in winter, and preferably stays a bit above. (Is freezing 32 F for you guys?)
4) Doesn't snow.
5) Stays fairly mild all year round; no massive temperature fluctuations
6) Where you can go out in the evening in summer wearing a light dress, and in winter wearing no more than one jacket/jersey/sweater/similar.

(I really want the moon and stars, don't I?)




Other priorities:
1) Must have a good number of cultural activities like a number of professional theatres, amateur dramatics, choirs etc. Actual celebrities appearing in plays/shows would be a bonus :P
2) Must be open to various lifestyle choices, such as homosexuality, atheism, etc. I don't want to live somewhere where people get beaten up because they don't believe everything everyone else does.
3) Doesn't have to be a big city; in fact I love peace and quiet, but must be nearby enough so one can attend functions mentioned in #1, and have a good supply of stores.
4) Prettiness. I'm thinking mountains or the sea. I'm deprived of those where I live, and I'm always happier when I'm near them.



I don't want much, do I? Seriously, does such a place exist?

Love Ruby S xxxx

PS - now I'm singing "I like to be in America, okay by me in America..." :P

Last night...

...I dreamed that I was pregnant and both Mr RS and I were totally excited about it.

However, I'm not reading too much into it, since I also dreamed that I was held hostage by a group of people and made to live on the upper level of a double decker bus, where they ran episodes of I Love Lucy in a loop.

I just wish that at some point we could decide if we even want children. Because at this point, I haven't a freakin clue. I really thought that after being married for some time I would just KNOW what I wanted. But I don't.

My problem is I can only see the downside of having children. I can't see the upside, because I think you need to have your own in order to experience said upside. My Dad says, "children bring you so much joy." Yeah, and I remember him yelling at us for hours while we stood there sobbing. Not so much joy in that, for either party. And I have my Dad's temper. Oh dear.

Last night at rehearsal some of the backstage crew had to leave early because they had an exam to write the next day. I turned to one of my cast members and said, "This is why I'm never studying anything ever again. I can't stomach exams, tests, speeches, projects..."

Her answer? "Don't have children, then. You'll be doing homework and projects for the next twenty years."

GLEEP.

Not to mention I feel like I'm way too selfish. Sorry, I kind of enjoy sleeping for 10 hours uninterrupted, thanks. So if you wouldn't mind shutting up, tiny baby, and letting me sleep, I'd be forever grateful. If only that would work!

Anyway, we're nowhere near having enough money for a child, so our problem is temporarily solved for us.

I feel like there's a ton more I could write about this, but I need to go make dinner. Which is mission enough just for two of us. Did I ever mention I'm lazy about housework? Um, yeah.

I ♥ Faces Fix-it Friday

I missed last week but I did it anyway, at the same time I did this week's! Here they are:

 

and

 

Drakensberg

 I had such a great anniversary. I'll tell you all about that tomorrow (hopefully), but in the meantime here are some shots from the Drakensberg. You can see the rest on my photography blog.

 

They look better big, so head on over!

That Guy Thursday #4

Now I know you know This Guy's face. I did too, when I spotted him having a birthday mention on the imdb. But unlike the That Guys I've featured so far, I couldn't put a name to this one! Or think of anything he's been in. Well, like most good That Guys, he's been in tons of stuff.

Meet Dylan Baker.

He was in Spiderman 2 and 3 (and apparently 4 as well), Revolutionary Road, Across the Universe,  Kinsey, Road to Perdition and Requiem for a Dream. He also had a recurring role in Murder One in the nineties (I didn't watch it, though, so I don't know how "lead" he was), and he seems to have a penchant for appearing as attorneys and law enforcement officials in shows like Oz, The Practice, and Law & Order. Half his film credits seem to be senators, FBI agents, lawyers or doctors, so chances are you've seen him playing some of those. Or all of those. Now all you (and I) have to do is remember his name...

That Guy Thursday #3

If you don't recognise today's That Guy, you can't have watched any television for the past twenty years. Even I was amazed at how much stuff this guy has been in.

His name is Stephen Tobolowsky.  If you're a Glee fan, you'll probably recognise him as Sandy, the teacher who was fired for inappropriate behaviour at the beginning. If you managed to get into season 2 of Heroes (I didn't, but I watched it anyway) he was Elle's evil father. In movies, you will have seen him in: The Time Traveller's Wife, Wild Hogs, Failure to Launch, Miss Congeniality 2, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, Freaky Friday, Memento, The Insider, Groundhog Day, Basic Instinct, Single White Female - and that's just the tip of the iceberg. This guy has been making a living out of being a That Guy since the early eighties! He's also guest-starred in tons of tv series', including Will & Grace, The Practice, The Closer, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Deadwood, Desperate Housewives, CSI Miami, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The West Wing.

Ste-phen  To-bow-low-sky. Say it with me now. :-)

Last year this time...

...I was freaking out. It was T minus 5 days, and I was completely overwhelmed and stressed and just generally being a weepy, snappish mess. I don't think I'd ever want to go back there, but I wouldn't trade the actual five days later for anything.

I'm so glad I have this blog, because I've forgotten so much of that time. This excerpt from this post on the 29th of October last year made me laugh:

I have Bride Brain (def: a sieve). I left today to go print the menus and table listings. Halfway there I realised I'd forgotten the cardboard I was to print on. I turned around, went home and got it. (Actually I went upstairs, patted my cat, Gollum, grabbed some water, went outside, locked the door, realised I still didn't have the cardboard, unlocked and went back inside). Got to the print shop and discovered I hadn't embedded the fonts in the documents, so they were all Arial. Yuck. Back I went home again. Returned finally, printed the stupid things, had the lady there slice them up so I wouldn't have to, got into my car, realised I had no food for supper, hurried back to the supermarket and then came home.

Attempted to breathe.

I can still feel my panic. But in the end, it was worth it, because I have this:

and this:

and this:

Mr Ruby Slippers and I are going on a mini anniversary holiday to the Drakensberg on Thursday. Our actual anniversary is on Saturday, and we'll return home on Sunday (in time for my rehearsal, boo). I can't believe it's been a year. They say the first year is the hardest, and we have had a few bumps along the way, but on the whole I'd say being engaged was a lot more stressful on our relationship. That was when we were snappy and short-tempered and weepy (me) and frustrated (him). Planning a wedding isn't easy on a relationship. If you can do that, the first year should be a breeze!

Happy almost one year, Mr Slippers! I love you.

That Guy Thursday #2

Hey look, it's that guy!

His name is Larry Miller,  and he's in everything you've ever seen. He was the father in 10 Things I Hate About You, crazy lawyer Edwin Poole in the early episodes of Boston Legal,  the smarmy shop manager who sucks up to Richard Gere in Pretty Woman, and the haidresser who has to transform Mia into a Princess in both of The Princess Diaries movies. He's also appeared in lots of Christopher Guest films, including For Your Consideration and A Mighty Wind, and had roles in Get Smart, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nutty Professor 1 and 2, Runaway Bride and LA Story. Finally, he's guest-starred on a ton of sitcoms, including Seinfeld, Mad About You, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Monk, Desperate Housewives, 8 Simple Rules, My Wife & Kids, and Just Shoot Me.

Yes, THAT guy.

I ♥ Faces Fix-it Friday

I have to admit, I really struggled with this one. The lighting in the original was so bad that I practically had to paint half of her skin back on, and I can never make that look 100% natural. See what I mean:

The left side of the picture is completely blown out, and the right side completely underexposed. I immediately knew that the only way this photo could work would be to make it monochrome, so that the colours of the lightened shadows on the little girl's arms and back couldn't be seen. I also had to soften this area a lot.

This is what I came up with:

I have to admit, I'm not blown away by it, but it's better. I hate oversoftening that results in images looking like they were taken through gauze, so I tried not to go that far! 

And I can't list what I did, because in the end I think I used about thirty different actions on this one, not to mention all the cloning for the skin! The major thing is that I made it B&W, warmed it up with a little cinnamon toast from TRA, and softened using Super Fun Happy and something else, painting back the bits I didn't want soft, and then added contrast, painting back the bits I needed to keep soft! Oy.

A house, take 1

Yesterday I found a house. The house I want to buy. I love it, and I've only seen pictures. It has all my prerequisistes:

1) It has a high wall and electric gate.
2) It has a little garden of its own so Gollum can do his kitty business.
3) It's part of a little set of five houses built on one property, but all separate, but therefore small enough not to have to maintain a big area.
4) It's bright and airy with big windows
5) It looks fresh and new and makes me feel happy.
6) It's in the same suburb that we live in now, and I like living here.
7) This wasn't a prerequisite, but we know the people who are going to be selling it, so they won't try to stiff us or mess us around.


We can't afford it. Unless I get some fantastic kickass fulltime job and make my new photography biz pay in big time simultaneously, we can't afford it.

I feel sad.

Hey, it's That Guy!

It's no secret that as well as being a blogstalker, I'm a movie nut. And along with being a movie nut comes an obsession with:
1)owning everything I might ever want to see again,
2) a desire to know lines off by heart, and
3) the need to know who every actor or actress is in every movie I see.

Most people (except my brother-in-law, who is appallingly bad at recognising actors) will know who the main actors are when they go to see a film. But it drives me crazy if I recognise someone in a film and I know I've seen them in something else, but I don't know what their name is. Call it one of my quirks. I have to know, so the next time I see that guy, I know who he is. You've probably come across some of these yourself. And so, in the interests of helping my fellows (assuming you care), I introduce:

THAT GUY THURSDAY.

(This, hopefully, will help me blog more often as well.)

You probably do it all the time. You're watching Grey's Anatomy/CSI/House/whatever, and a recognisable  guest star appears. "Hey, it's that guy!" you say. "What guy?" says your spouse, partner or significant other. "That guy! He's from...I don't know...he's in stuff! I saw him in something just the other day!" you reply. And you get a funny look in return. Unless, of course, your spouse, partner or significant other also recognises That Guy, and you spend the next hour not enjoying the show, because you're trying to figure out who the heck he is, and where you've seen him.

Or maybe it's just me, and you guys don't let this stuff bother you. :-)

Anyway, my first That Guy is one of my favourites, because he's been around for absolute ages, and he still hasn't graduated to a known name for most people. Some of you might know him, but I had to explain to THREE PEOPLE tonight who Stephen Fry is (I nearly fell over), so I'm not assuming anything.

So today's That Guy is DAVID MORSE.

Who? This guy:

You might recognise him from movies like Twelve Monkeys, The Green Mile, The Long Kiss Goodnight (is it just me who totally loves that movie?), The Rock, Contact, The Negotiator and Disturbia. Recently, he was the cop who hated House on season 3 of House. He was also apparently in 40 episodes of Hack, which I've never seen. Maybe you all know who he is after all! And if you were old enough in the eighties, he was on St Elsewhere as well.

Hmm, I just read up on St Elsewhere, and now I totally want to watch it. We never got it here.

Today, I...

...tidied out my closet (well, my part of the shelf section, anyway), and actually found stuff to give away! I have this terrible habit of hanging onto clothes for sentimental reasons. Actually, I don't know why that's terrible, but I get the impression it is.

Look how neat and tidy!

Maybe having clothes in neat, folded piles is normal for some of you, but my usual approach to putting clothes away is throwing them on the shelf and hoping they stick.

And here's what I'm donating, when I get around to it!

Notice how pretty much all my clothes are black, white and blue. It just happens that way! And yes, that white bag you can see on the cupboard door in the background is my wedding dress. I don't know where else to put it. :-)

Tomorrow...well, I'd like to say tomorrow would be tidying my chest of drawers and that I'd start painting those boxes we bought, but I have to go grocery shopping, get photos printed, stand in line to hand in a repeat prescription at the pharamacy (LOVE doing that) and then go to my Mom's for her birthday. So maybe Wednesday.

It kind of feels like that's all I did today. Oh, I went to rehearsal and sat watching everyone else for most of the time, and got freaked out because I cannot remember the moves to "You can drive a person crazy". Words, I can learn without even trying. Movements are something I have to concentrate really hard on, because they will never, ever come naturally. If I lose concentration I can finish singing a whole song without knowing how I got there. But the moves won't happen. :-/

Five Photographers I want to be

As you all know, it's no secret that I'm a huge blogstalker. Especially wedding photographer blogs. Don't freak out, but I have 129 blogs in my "favourites" folder alone. And that's the small folder! I tried to count the rest but I got tired when I hit 180-something and I wasn't nearly finished, but take it from me, it's a lot. Most of the time I don't even get to look at some most of them, but I can't bring myself to delete them. I'm a frickin hoarder, people. Didn't you know you can hoard online? Oh yes, you can.

So when people ask me who my favourite photographers are, I don't know how to answer that question. I can't have 129, obviously. And I do know that I like some of those more than others, but that I can't keep dividing the folders into more and more subdivisions: "Perfect Photography", "Near Perfect Photography", "Usually Awesome Photography", "Really Great Photography", "Pretty Good Photography" - yeah, those are the types of categories I would need to start having. So, for now I just have favourites, 2nd tier, and The Rest. But to pick the favourite favourites out of the Favourites? How do you do that?

Well, when I started thinking about it, I realised I could look at it in another way: Which photographers do I want to BE? Whose style and use of colour, lighting, settings and imagination do I want to emulate? Whose portfolio gives me the same feeling that I want my clients to have when they see their photos for the first time? Hmm. This was slightly easier. You see, while there are numerous photographers I admire and love, their style just isn't mine. I'm excited to look at their work, but I can't picture myself producing work like that. It isn't "me". So that immediately cut the list down...a bit. The rest was just a long hard look and an even harder cull. But here is my list, in no particular order. Getting them to five was difficult enough. Ordering them would be impossible.

1. VUE PHOTOGRAPHY

Oh, the bliss. The HAPPINESS that I get from pretty much every single one of their pictures is indescribable. The colours are saturated while still being light and fresh. I don't believe that every one of their weddings can possibly be so beautiful and perfect in real life. But somehow they make them look like it! Feast your eyes on some more:

2. CAMERON INGALLS

Magical is the word I associate with Cameron Ingalls. His photos feel like stepping into a beautiful wedding-fantasy land. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a lens filter called "fairytale magic" that he uses, because, whoa, are his pictures gorgeous. Take a look and see what I mean:

A rainbow? Are you freaking kidding me with the magicalness? Or is that "magicality"? :-)

3. CHRISTINE MEINTJES

Fresh, clean and simple. That's what Christime Meintjes' photos always say to me. I love her use of light and how bright and happy her photos are. And yes, it was her workshop I attended some weeks ago. I really want to steal emulate be inspired by her style! :-)

Here are some more:

 

 

 

 

 

4.  SUSAN STRIPLING

The magic light photographer. That's what I call Susan Stripling in my head. Because somehow she seems to take any light she has, and turn it into a magical glow. I don't think I really appreciated this until I started photographing myself. Now I have deep admiration and huge respect (and a lot of envy) for how her pictures turn out!

 

 

Delicious light, can I marry you?

5.CHELSEA NICOLE

I chose Chelsea Nicole for this last spot because her work really stands out for me. There's something "fashion shoot"-ish about it, but it never looks overposed or overflashed. It still has a natural look for me, and I'm sure it takes a lot of hard work to achieve that behind the scenes! I want to learn how to do that!

 

PS - If you want to see the cutest dog ever, go see this engagement shoot Chelsea did! ADORABLE.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Dear:

Trista Lerit, DrewB, Andrea Carlyle, Shooting Gallery, Bobbi & Mike, Ed Pingol, Ksenija Savic, Lauren Clark, Mario Sales, Leigh Taylor, Tinywater, Natasha Du Preez, Lizelle Lotter, Sarah K Chen, Clayton Austin and Marie Labbancz, you totally rock my world as well. Some of you are beautiful, some of you are funky, some of you are fashiony, but you're all brilliant.