Janie's Photography Blog

a good night

It is exactly one month until Christina's wedding.  

A little less than one month ago, several of her closest friends took a little trip to Orlando to celebrate the end of her bachelorette days.  We had a blast!!  Although hundreds of photos were taken, these are some of my favorites because, as Kenzo pointed out, they looked like SNL photos.  As we entered our various destination points, I introduced myself as their "photographer" and was able to go in ahead of the group to snap their entry photos. Enjoy!

 
 

One Wet Pirate Invasion

Josette wins for helping to create my favorite shot of the entire, wet, Gasparilla day.  

The Sunset Salsa Tent . . . packed and protecting people from the rain.

The annual pirate invasion of Tampa, Gasparilla, is a day Tampa-natives look forward to all year long.  It is basically our Mardi Gras.  There are thousands of people who flood the waters and streets, awaiting the invasion of hundreds of pirates who willingly share their booty by throwing beads out to all on-lookers (on land and sea).  For the past two years, Kenzo and I have been on boats as a part of the invasion (shots from the better weathered event last year).  However, this past weekend for Gasparilla, we made plans to stay on land and attend the popular Sunset Salsa Tent Party.  We were really thankful for this decision when we woke up and heard of the 3 to 6 foot swells and "advisory warnings for small crafts".  I do not know how the invasion actually took place.  The tent was definitely the place to be this year and the parade went on, even in the worst weather in Gasparilla history (at least the history I can remember).    We had a blast with my friends and family.  Here are some fun shots from the day . . . 

Jeff . . .

. . . Jocelyn . . .

. . . Jeff & Jocelyn.

My baby brother, Joseph.  I like his look here, and the rain falling around him.
 

My husband, post-parade, taking in the madness that is Gasparilla.

Joe and Josette.

Dad with "his youngest set of high school friends".

Kenzo and Jocelyn owning the side-line.

There was definitely a huge rain drop on my lens, right over my mom's face.  Still a great shot of pirates and friends!

Pre-party at Ship's house.  It was a great way to start the day -- with some of my favorite people and cuban sandwich casserole . . . and mimosas . . . and pirate punch, okay, it was awesome.  (Photo taken by Kenzo).

Kenzo and me, staying dry, pre-parade.  (Photo taken by mom).

The aftermath.

Post Script: we heard that even though attendance was 50% of the norm, there were still 400 arrests.  Wow.  Take it easy popo.

Rockin' Halloween Party

I had the opportunity to photograph a rockin' eighth grade halloween party last weekend.  Look at these cool kids and their awesome costumes.  They had a blast: they danced; screamed when "Jason" showed up mask and all; belted out the lyrics to every song, especially Taylor Swift; told secrets; laughed; took pictures and just enjoyed being young and cute.  These are just a few of my favorites from the night.  

I really like this picture . . . it kind of reminds me of Saved by the Bell, or something based in the days gone by.  So, I edited it to look like an aged photograph from an 80s party.

Mario and Luigi won an award for best costumes.

I like the Batman in Gotham City effect in this photo.

Love as Music

Click play to listen the song to which Will and Emily exited the church as husband and wife.

Have you ever witnessed love as music?  I experienced this, first hand, two weeks ago at Will and Emily's wedding.  They both have a love for music, family, friends and especially each other that could not help but touch every little corner of their wedding weekend in Asheville, NC.  These are just a few of the photos from their beautiful rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  I did not take very many at their wedding since I was on the dance floor with my adorable husband.  Enjoy.

on to the rehearsal dinner . . .

Will surprised Emily at the end of the dinner with a serenade, sung to the violin alongside her two brothers.  It was really special!

and on to the post-dinner, music jam and hang out . . .

dear happy couple, we wish you a happy new life together!

Music

Music.

Play it. Live it.

Make it.

Listen and dance to it.

Sing it out loud or inside your head.

Enjoy it.

Music is one of life's everyday gifts.

Life's Everyday Gifts

"Enjoy life's everyday gifts."

That was the DOVE Promise I just unwrapped in an indulgent piece of dark chocolate.  Mmmmmmmm, my favorite.  I think a moment of three siblings doing just that, "enjoying everyday gifts," was captured above.  They were looking at photos we had just taken and as you can see, found them pretty funny.  These are the Holbrooks and they are gifts to each other.  Just from being around them, you can tell that this family loves each other so much and thoroughly enjoys one another's company.  Last weekend their older sister Emily, got married to the love of her life, Will.  I had the privilege of being a guest and a photographer at their rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  From the words that people said during rehearsal dinner toasts, Will and Emily both are good at "enjoying life's everyday gifts."  They have entered a new phase, where one of life's everyday gifts is being married to your best friend.  I enjoy that everyday gift too.  Right now, as I sit in the library studying for a mid-term, my husband is sitting across from me.  Every once in awhile, he looks up and smiles (and I think is trying to see if I am still studying...which I am, I just take a 10 minute break every 1.25 hours).  

I cannot wait to share the rest of the photos of this beautiful celebration.  Until then, I have a challenge for you: Identify at least one of life's everyday gifts that you can enjoy today.  (And, share it with someone you know OR leave it as a comment below).  Happy weekend!

Race for Red Cross

EMPOWERED, the young professionals group of the American Red Cross, took on the challenge of planning an inaugural 5K race, the Race for Red Cross, with our younger counter parts the USF Red Cross Club.  We've been working hard on it since last fall and tomorrow it is finally here!  We have 211 pre-registered runners and are expecting several to sign up tomorrow morning.  Ah, after all of the planning, sponsorship seeking, website fixing, t-shirt ordering, etc, etc, it has arrived.  As soon as it is over I am heading to the beach for my family's annual beach vacation.  This is no ordinary trip to the beach.  We go with life-long family friends (I think 5 other families, but our numbers go up and down every year) and rent out several apartments at our favorite hotel on Long Boat Key.  We tube, fish, body surf, have "meetings", play poker, eat amazing food, and have such a blast.  I think it will be just what I need, I wish I could stay the whole week!!  So, since I will be gone until Monday, I wanted to give you a new post to enjoy.  I know it's nothing amazing, but above is a photo of our cupcake display from EMPOWERED's Birthday Bash in May and below is a photo I forgot to post on the last one of the beautiful ladies.  I liked the way it looked in black and white.  Anyway, have a great weekend!

Connected by 25

I was honored to be the photographer at Connected By 25's donor recognition and award ceremony last Thursday evening.  Connected By 25 is a program in Hillsborough County that helps foster kids transition into adulthood.  It was really exciting to see these kids honored for their many different accomplishments.  It was also exciting for me that TBO.com decided to do a brief article about the event and they used several of my photos.

On another note, we had an awesome weekend!  We watched my youngest brother graduate from high school on Friday and then logged about 20 hours in the car driving from Tampa to Davidson, NC and back.  We got to visit Jess and Todd and meet their adorable baby, Sam.  We also visited with Adria (Kenzo's sister) before enjoying a great wedding.  Lot's of our friends came back to Davidson from all over the country and it was a wonderful evening of reminiscing as well as catching up on one another's lives.  I am exhausted and off to bed...it's going to be a busy week at work!  

Isaac's Bar Mitzvah

Step 1: Click Play

Step 2: Let a few seconds go by to get you into the mood and then scroll down . . .

Meet the Gonzalez Family's best friend: The Wagner Family.  This past weekend we celebrated Isaac's (the last of the mohicans) Bar Mitzvah.  He did an AWESOME job in his ceremony, reading and singing his Hebrew text and then at night, it was time to celebrate!  The photos above were at the end of the party, after everyone else had left.  For us, it was the point that the party was just getting started...I think we stayed and danced for another 1.5 hours or so.  You'll notice my brothers, mom and dad, Chelsea, Greg and Josie gettin' low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low . . . and don't worry, I was gettin' low too, with the camera in hand.  

Below are photos from the party, when the other guests were there.

I LOVE the photo above.  Rachel and Joe (on the left & below) are getting married in January.  What an adorable couple!

Chelsea, you look beautiful here!

Isaac, the man of the evening.

Josie, me, Jeff, Chelsea and Greg

My brother (Matt) and me

Gasparilla 2009

As expected, Gasparilla was a blast!  We set sail in the morning and headed out to meet thousands of other boats for the invasion.  I happened to be the captain of our ship (as we were borrowing my dad's boat), so while on the water I wasn't able to take any photos (imagine trying to maneuver a 19 foot ski boat through a crowd of 2,000 other boats AND take pictures...I tried and it was pretty impossible).  I captured the shots above when we parked our boat at Rome Ave and joined my parents for part of the parade.  While at sea Kenzo was the photographer and he got some amazing shots, which I have posted below.

the photo above is my favorite of all of kenzo's shots. he took it while our boat passed their dock with our "crew" tossing beads to the little pirates.

Tampa Prepares for a Pirate Invasion

Jose Gaspar was a mythical pirate, which legend tells, invaded the city of Tampa.

In two short days, the city of Tampa will host our annual Gasparilla Celebration.  The debaucherous reenactment of Gaspar's attack on Tampa will be complete with pirates demanding the key to the city from the mayor, the mayor refusing, and thus inciting an invasion upon the city of Tampa, followed by a parade of pirates into downtown.  I took this shot last year as a part of the boat invasion.  It's in black to give the feel of Gaspar's attack but I couldn't resist having the color version here too to show the spectacle that this ship, full of "high-standing" Tampa citizens, truly is on Gasparilla Day

I will definitely be taking my camera this year and will look forward to posting some fun shots.  We are really excited about having Dave and Jess (a real pirate) in town for the festivities!

Superbowl's in Tampa . . . and so is Snoop Dogg

notice the steelers' and cardinals' colors on the top of the suntrust building.  i love how the camera captured the light beams.

 

Tampa is the place to be this weekend!  The whole city is buzzing with celebrities and thousands of people who've either flocked here or come out of their daily routines to "be a part of the action".  I joined this crowd last night when my family and I headed down to the Bud Bowl at Channelside.  Snoop Dogg was the performer of the night and made the crowd wait for hours for him to appear.  Was he worth the wait?  I know my brother would say YES!  I would say that these photos were at least worth the wait, although my camera almost got "confiscated" at the front gate. 

Bikes, Hula-Hoops, & Soccer

Let it Fly ~ Tampa Event Photographer

I got to watch my brother, three cousins and two good friends play in this year's Let It Fly tournament last weekend.  It was a great opportunity for me to practice some action shots.  

Click here for a slideshow of images from the game.

meet Riley . . . Jeff's #1 fan

Sarah & Michael ~ Tampa Event Photographer

One of my best friends in the world got married last week and her big weekend was an amazing celebration of joy, love, family and friends.  It was important to Sarah and Michael, that their wedding be personal, intimate, & familiar.  They accomplished this by allowing their family and friends to participate in major ways.  Michael's groomsmen were his father, uncles and Sarah's brother...Sarah asked Kathy Connor, our high school young life leader to be a part of the ceremony...Arthur Lastra, a long time family friend served as the reception DJ...Zoe Gallina, a high school friend was the wedding coordinator...Stacey and I had the opportunity to create her beautiful centerpieces and I was also honored to be asked to take photos during the bridesmaids luncheon and rehearsal dinner.  (It was my first time using my new flash and I realize I have a lot to learn!)  Thank you Sarah and Michael for sharing your special day with so many people who love you! 

Here are just a few of my favorites from the weekend:

the beautiful bride at her bridesmaid's luncheon

I visited Sarah and her girls in the salon & at the church during the wedding day and got some fun shots . . .