I was exited and couldn’t wait to meet her and see the dresses she was working on. Upon meeting her and looking at the dresses she had made, it look less than 5 minutes to realize we were EXACTLY on the same wavelength as far as how we each visualized these images. Vintage, long gloves, martini glasses…..Mad Men!

And so I assembled my team, some of whom I’ve worked with before, and some with whom I was itching to work with – finally, after being in New York for two years, I feel I have found a great group of people I can work with on commercial shoots and personal projects. Angela, who did Dariana’s hair and makeup in a shoot late last year was on set, as was stylist extraordinnaire Colby Milano, and the beautiful Kelsey Lear Lafferty who came in from Philadelphia for the photo shoot, and my friend Darcy Rogers assisted me.

I had been dreaming about this shoot for days on end and knew, in my gut, that this shoot was going to be a success……and indeed, I couldn’t have been happier.

Everyone was at the top of their game, Adrina’s dresses were simply beautiful, classic and elegant and I was able to shoot in my studio space on my very own 9′ white seamless with a new medium softbox as my source of light. It was amazing.

I wanted to shoot clean and simple and use a few props here and there. This is the kind of shoot that I would love to take on location, maybe find a cool hotel lobby or a place with some vintage furniture or a bar with character.

It was really great to have an energetic crew and create images this way. Feedback and suggestions were made, we tried different things – some worked and some didn’t – and I took away many lessons from this experience – some that one will read and say “duh!” while others that are not that obvious.

1 – Working with a stylist enriches your vision, which translates into images that might otherwise be just OK.

2 – Having an open mind and listening to suggestions from others on set who are also in this together is important. It’s important to listen, to try, to shoot it in a different way and see the outcomes on screen (I shot these tethered so we could all see and make adjustments as we went).

3 – Expect the unexpected – doing #2 led to a variety of images, many of which worked well.

4 – Pintrest ROCKS! It is serving as my mood boards and inspiration boards for work that I want to create – on set and on location. Sharing this board with everyone before the shoot and asking my team to share their ideas was important – this way we were all on the same page well before the shoot.

5 – Treating everyone with respect is kind of a big deal. I speak from personal experience from many many photo and video shoots. I’ve been yelled at, humiliated and treated badly on set by other people in the past (unrightfully so) and I don’t EVER want to make anyone feel that way…..feeling like you want to crawl into a hole or just run out of the room because someone  yelled at you just to show off…that’s not right…. SO,  I treat everyone the way that I want to be treated. Simple as that.

Posted here are some of my favorite images and thanks again to my wonderful team. You rocked!

The most amazing part of my shoot?
Seeing two of my closest friends, Sam and Jon, become parents.

Words can’t describe the happiness I felt when I learned about Sam’s pregnancy, let alone this moment, when I finally meet their little bundle of joy.

Edwin, I can’t wait to watch you grow and become a wonderful, amazing and talented human being!

Congratulations Sam and Jon!

He says the most amazing things and has the most incredible, awesome, hard -working, superstar mother, Erika.

To celebrate his 3rd birthday while I was in Charlotte, NC, we went to a park and took some photos.

If I can sum up our session with just one image, it’s the one below.

It’s love. It’s a beautiful mamma and her beautiful son.

Erika and Jamison.

I soon thereafter approached their mothers and took some shots of them too. Hardworking people, some of these mothers are lawyers, nurses, house cleaners and small business owners. In addition to the help we got at the train station when we rented our bikes, these ladies gave us even more insight and suggestions whilst in Sevilla.

Before arriving in Cadiz (read here about it), Juan and I spent a day in Sevilla, where we met some of the friendliest folks in the Andalusia region.

We got off the train and found a bike rental place, where the manager told us the ins and outs of the city, where we should go and where we could stay, and how to get to the heart of Sevilla.

Have I mentioned I suck at directions?…..So off we headed to the center of Sevilla and you guessed it, we got a bit lost…however, magical things happen when you get lost, stop to eat and ask for directions.

This was the case as the hot noon sun was beating down on us, lost tourists, so we decided to stop at the next bar to grab a cold beer and some tapas.

The bar was teeming with children and their parents……a perfect photo opp.

Once we hydrated and ate, I grabbed my camera and asked the children if I could take their pictures – they were not shy – as you can see from these portraits!

Getting lost is sometimes the best thing that can happen to you; these turned out to be some of my favorite portraits of the trip!

]]> http://www.catalinaphotography.com/blog/children-of-sevilla/feed/ 2 http://www.catalinaphotography.com/blog/lucas/ http://www.catalinaphotography.com/blog/lucas/#comments Tue, 10 May 2011 13:46:30 +0000 catalina http://www.catalinaphotography.com/?p=3124 Juan and I recently traveled to Ecuador for work, and had a chance to spend a few days with friends and family.

We stayed with my cousin Daniela, who recently gave birth to Lucas – how could we not have a photo session?!

Congrats, Dani + Eric on the birth of Lucas. Many, many blessings to you.

Love,
Catalina

My husband Juan and I met Alexa and Chris about 7 years ago back in Charlotte, NC. At the time, she and Chris were dating, and it’s been truly special to watch their relationship blossom – we celebrated their engagement, attended their wedding, and now we celebrate the birth of their beautiful baby girl – Sloane.

I was recently in Charlotte for the opening of Bring The Family, a show where some of my Let Love Reign images are being shown and by that time, Sloane was 2 weeks old and we had only seen photos of her through Facebook.

While in town, I just HAD to meet Sloane and let me just say, what a delight it was to finally meet her!

Sloane – I look forward to watching you grow and hope to have many more opportunities to capture you, beautiful you!

Chris. Alexa. We couldn’t be happier for you two. We love you!

This year we celebrated NYE with our friends LeeAnn and Brian and unbeknowst to them, they were about to learn and partake in these traditions.

First, let me back up. We met LeeAnn and Brian for dinner (and actor Mike Myers was sitting at the table behind us, WHOA!) around 10:30 and by the time we wrapped up, it was around 11:30. PLENTY of time, we thought, to get to their friends party at 190 ___ street.

We walked quickly and as we did, I told them about the 12 grapes we eat at midnight and that I brought plenty for us all to have, if they wanted to partake. YES, they would love to partake.

Walk walk walk, we get to the address listed on the invite, EXCEPT that the invite failed to mention that said party was in Brooklyn, not Manhattan…..and it’s midnight, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So there we were, the 4 of us eating grapes in Little Italy, making wishes with each grape, laughing our heads off and celebrating 2011.

Quickly after the grapes, we took a walk around the block. Typically you do this with a piece of luggage – the idea is that the new year will bring you travels – lots of travels! And so we did with what we had, my messenger bag, LeeAnn’s purse and a bag that Brian brought for a) the libations for the party and b) for the walk around the block.

Here we are, after the walk around the block.

Last but not least, minutes before midnight we put cash in our right shoe – this is so the new year brings you money.

For prosperity sakes and for this blog post I thought it would be fun to document us standing in front of what we thought was the correct address for the NYE party. OOOPS!

Alas, we hopped in a cab, and a few minutes later we arrived at the CORRECT address and had a blast!

I leave you with photo number 1,275,937 of yours truly with my husband Juan.

May 2011 be a beautiful year for you, filled with love, health and happiness.

I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela and moved to the US (just before I hit my teens) with my Hungarian mother and Italian step-father. My upbringing was filled with Venezuelan, Hungarian and Italian traditions, some of which we celebrate during Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and I look forward to them each and every year.

The first tradition – Venezuelan – is Pan de Jamon. It’s a bread filled with ham, olives, raisins and typically made during Christmas time. My mom makes it every year, and this time (gasp!) I helped her put together 2 loaves of Pan de Jamon.

Mom is cutting the Pan de Jamon up above, and down below is what the lovely insides look. YUM!

My dad grew up in Italy and his family always made Vitel Tone for Christmas – as long as I can remember, Alberto has been making this dish for our Christmas Eve meal. I also helped with this dish – I didn’t quite realize how much work went into making the sauce, but it entails a lot of tuna, a good blender and plenty of patience, as the sauce is thick and the blender can easily bust if you push the speed.

Here Alberto is putting the sauce over the veal. Again, YUM!!!

Ah, champagne. Love it. Mom’s birthday is a few days before Christmas, so we drink the bubbly on her birthday (but of course!) and during our Christmas Eve meal.

You’ve seen their hands, now here are their beautiful faces. Mom and Dad.

I treasure the time we get to spend together over the holidays and this year was no exception.

Juan and I visited them whilst in Charlotte over Thanksgiving week and after a yummy dinner, it was picture time!

If ever there was a musically included baby, Lucas is *the one* – instead of shying away from the noise of his dad’s band practicing, Lucas is the first to grab his musical instruments, walk into Tony’s practice room and join the band with his marimba. I am totally serious. Plus, the minute a music plays in the background, Lucas will dance. And I don’t mean no “bouncey bouncey” kind of dancing, but a “dance-to-the-beat-and-bob-your-entire-body-up-and-down-with-a-perfect-rhythm” kind of dancing. I have never seen a more musically tuned baby in my life.

Lucas is going to be a rockstar. Just sayin’