get mortified, sf - doomed valentine's day show


commentator: ed

aaaah, i can't believe it. i'm actually at a stage of my life where i can honestly say that "i love mondays". wow!!! why you ask? well, other than just sitting back, relaxing in front of a computer working on some photography projects and listening to pandora (which by the way EVERYONE should experience), monica and i headed over to the makeout room in san francisco to watch/shoot one of the funniest shows i've ever seen: "mortified live".

what is it???

"Hailed a "cultural phenomenon" by Newsweek and celebrated for years by the likes of This American Life, The Today Show, Esquire, The Onion AV Club, Daily Candy, Entertainment Weekly, and E!, Mortified is a comic excavation of the strange and extraordinary things we created as kids. Witness adults sharing their own adolescent journals, letters, poems, lyrics, home movies, stories and more.

After all, where else can you hear grown men and women confront their past with firsthand tales of their... first kiss, first puff, worst prom, fights with mom, life at bible camp, worst hand job, best mall job, and reasons they deserved to marry Jon Bon Jovi.

The largest and longest-running project of its kind, Mortified produces comedic content for the stage, the page, and the web. Its latest book, Mortified: Love Is a Battlefield, is in stores everywhere.

The project began in the late 1990s when founder Dave Nadelberg unearthed a notably awkward love letter and began sharing with friends. Formalizing as Mortified in 2002 with co-producer Neil Katcher, the project has since sifted through thousands of volumes of otherwise forgotten notebooks, photos, and envelopes in an effort crack the lid off our cultural shoebox and expose our inner geek. Participants include a wide range of people, from professional performers (comics, celebrities, singers) to total amateurs (architects, ad execs, salesmen) all in the noble pursuit of self-degradation. Personal redemption through public humiliation. There are a million stories buried in the pages of people's lives. Mortified's mission is to simply help people find them."

//ed pingol
707.334.1468
info@edpingolphotography.com
edpingolphotography.com

baby evan and sunsets


commentator: ed

sunsets are beautiful... take time to slow down and appreciate the beauty that surrounds us naturally.

//ed pingol
707.334.1468
info@edpingolphotography.com
edpingolphotography.com

lately, monica and i have been going home to sunsets like this. this one isn't as nice as what we've been seeing lately, but i have made it a personal mission to collect these natural beauty from our backyard.

on another note, check out baby evan and his many different hairstyles.

this is what happens after the braids

a weekend in la la land!


commentator: monica

one thing about being the spouse of a photographer is that it takes foreeeeeeeeeeverrrrrr to get personal photos processed. okay, maybe i'm exaggerating but sometimes i swear that in order for me to see blog teasers of photos he's taken of me and family/friends within a week, i'll need to be in a white dress at the altar! like this trip, for example...

during our weekend at the salton sea group aftershoot (aka "ttd" or "trash the dress") session last month, we also took advantage of the weekend by spending it with my good friends from college in la ciudad de los angeles. on friday night, we were hosted for dinner by the lovely vanessa at her & david's pad. can't beat delicious homecookin' and wii bowling & guitar hero! after our photo shoot on saturday, we joined mikkie ("mikey") at his brand spankin' new home in downtown l.a. where we enjoyed yet another night of guitar hero III. but before that, we headed out for dinner in japantown, where we found ways to entertain ourselves while we waited for our yummy food. (see photos below) sunday was a nice lounge-y day, spent walking around little tokyo, taking a tour of mike's beautiful condo complex, before heading for yet another dinner with friends in westwood. and of course, we couldn't leave socal without having some natural frozen yogurt a la pinkberry, this time at my new fave place, ce fiore. yum-O!

//ed pingol
707.334.1468
info@edpingolphotography.com
edpingolphotography.com

mom always told us kids not to stick q-tips in our ears like this. look, ma, i've graduated to bigger sticks! don't worry, mikkie used the other ends of the chopsticks on his food... we think. =)

hot sake on a cold evening. our attempt at the "jowler" pic, introduced to us by our photo heroes, "the image is found." (also known as our 7-0-7 "shake them dreads!" photos.)

mike's crib. photos can be deceiving. know which image i'm talkin' about? eddie, you're so naughty! tj's gonna kill ya!!!! =)

learn how to shoot... the REAL way


commentator: ed

hello folks!!! this post is mainly for those who want to learn about photography. we get a TON of questions regarding photography from people who want to learn how to shoot. so here's your chance to learn from one of the best (i'm not talking about myself as i still have a lot to learn myself). if you are serious about wanting to learn how to get some kick-@$$ images, what a better way than to learn in one of the most beautiful places on earth... HAWAII!

my good friend and national/utah-based photographer extraordinaire, jonathan canlas, will be teaching a workshop. what makes jonathan so cool? along with being a really great guy and a blast to hang out with, he shoots 100% film. 12 lucky photographers will get the opportunity to attend "film is not dead: a workshop on portrait & wedding photography in film" on march 2nd-march 5th, 2008, on the beautiful north shore of oahu. but hurry, there's only ONE SPOPT LEFT!

as a digital photographer, why am i attending??? hawaii is a good enough reason on it's own, but i'm definitely interested in j. canlas' unique way of posing and composition and how he creates magazine-worthy images. plus, i'm definitely up for the challenge of shooting without "chimping." and of course, reading the menu for the workshop makes my mouth water...mmm... macademia pancakes with coconut syrup... for more details, check out the workshop blog!


image by: jonathan canlas

//ed pingol
707.334.1468
info@edpingolphotography.com
edpingolphotography.com

"lovely details" wedding showcase


commentator: monica

we had a blast at last sunday's lovely details wedding showcase at the fort mason firehouse in sf! a huge thanks goes out to karen of huckleberry karen designs and lisa of belissimma vita for their awesome job in coordinating the event, as well as providing the gorgeous tablescapes and escort card displays. and big props to all the brides and grooms-to-be for coming out, despite the erratic weather and superbowl sunday! if you're in the middle of planning a wedding, you should definitely check out these participating vendors:

thanks, as well, to ms. penguin of the wonderful wedding blog site, the wedding bee, for her very informative gocco demonstration. i seriously want a gocco machine now!

if you'd like to view more individual images from this event, please feel free to view them here. to our fellow vendors, you are more than welcome to use them on your sites, if you wish.

//ed pingol
707.334.1468
info@edpingolphotography.com
edpingolphotography.com

top to bottom, left to right: andrea and her husband of studio ayt; sarah of stinkerpants designs; precious memories; lisa & james of photography by lisa + james; big fun disc jockeys

lots of lovely details!!!

and more lovely details!!!

salton sea "trash the dress" trash bash photo session (a.k.a. group "aftershoot session")


commentator: monica

it is so much fun networking with other photographers. this past weekend, eddie and i headed down to socal for a group "trash the dress" session or "trash bash," organized by the awesome chris austin. not really knowing what to expect, we ended up using this trip as an excuse to visit some old friends from college and left friday afternoon. on saturday, we headed bright and early to the salton sea, which was a 2.5 hour drive from los angeles.

some history behind the salton sea, from the ucsd website:

"The Salton Sea, located about 130 miles east of San Diego (in Imperial County), is a saline lake that was formed in a large basin (called the Salton Trough ) created by a releasing bend of the San Andreas fault. In modern times, the Salton Trough, a desert basin whose center is 278 feet below sea level, became a lake in 1891, but dried up within a year. It began to form again in 1893. In 1905, the Colorado River flooded and was accidentally diverted into the Salton Trough, thus creating the Salton Sea. The Salton Sea was originally a fresh water lake. Because it is a closed system, with no outlet, water is lost only through evaporation. The salts from the surrounding environment have been concentrated in the sea for many years, and now it is more saline than the ocean. The sun evaporates 18% of the sea's volume every year, but the salt is left behind. Evaporation also concentrates pesticides and other pollutants."

we ended up meeting at ofelia's azteca mexican restaurant, which wasn't open yet at 9 a.m. it was right next to a small gift shop, which was open for business. thankfully, the owner obliged to our request of parking our cars in their parking lot, as the meeting spot. we drew plenty of stares from the residents of the small and quiet town of mecca, what with 35 photographers, 8 models, and several make-up artists/hair stylists who had set up shop to beautify our models.

once the models were prepared, we headed over to the north shore beach and yacht club. it's said to have been the largest marina in southern california, at one time. now all that stands are remnants of an old motel and bait stand. what's left is a beautiful beach made of shells (really, the beach is made of tiny shells and bones) and a gorgeous backdrop of mountians, meeting sky and sea. it's a pretty stunning site and we were all very excited to begin shooting. we were all very careful, though to stay out of the water, since we had heard about how toxic the contents of the lake is, especially after seeing numerous dead fish laying out on the beach.

some photographers brought props, which they were very kind to lend out to the rest of us prop-less photographers. we had so much fun bouncing from model/couple to model/couple, utilizing the sea and the building ruins as our backdrops. as much as we wanted to stay for the rest of the late afternoon shoot at bombay beach, we ended up leaving since we were so pooped from all the driving we had done the night before and early that morning. (well, for eddie, at least. i always end up being the sleeping passenger. =)

this "trash bash" is something we would definitely do again. we actually will be seeing some of the same faces at osp west 2 in napa next month. yay!

and there are plenty more images to come, folks! so please stay tuned! =)

//ed pingol
707.334.1468
info@edpingolphotography.com
edpingolphotography.com

the awesome jessie! this beautiful ivory dress was a thrift store find at $10!

andrea & her hubby. she can still fit into her dress after 1.5 years. you go, girl!

shellane ("like elaine" with a "sh") & ron. don't forget her name, eddie!

natalie & adam. she was the only bride that ended up really trashing her dress, cutting off the bottom to show off her kick-@ss boots!