Steph Lloyd Bloggie Blog

Buy a Donkey

Christine Meintjes, my favorite wedding photographer, came to the States for a few weeks and I got to meet her last night! I’ve been following her blog for months and months and have never seen a picture I didn’t like. I love her style, personality, framing, processing… everything! She’s given me lots of good advice in the past and is so encouraging. It doesn’t hurt that she’s from beautiful South Africa!

Her and her boyfriend, Iaan, had been hanging out with Henry Chen and his girlfriend, Nancy, and Edmund Prietos. Matt and I met up with them at Henry’s studio in Long Beach (hoping to “borrow” the pic from Christine!) and drove down to Las Brisas in Laguna Beach for dinner.

It feels like the market is saturated with photographers and, honestly, not all photographers seem unique to me. There are days that I’m gung ho on working towards being professional but there are other days where I feel like I’ll be lucky to ever book anything! I was saying last night that I’d like to go pro and ended with a shrug of my shoulders. One of them said, “A lot can happen in a year. You look back and can’t believe all that’s happened.” They are doing it and were encouraging me to press on. It was wonderful! I’m grateful for them and can’t wait to continue learning more about the biz!

Regarding the title of this post… we had a long conversation about languages and were told that ‘thank you very much’ in Afrikaans sounds like an American saying ‘buy a donkey’. Hah!

A Beachless Weekend

We didn’t make it out of the house this weekend because I got sick. I knew something was coming on on Thursday night but I went to the Staples Center on on Friday anyway because I had a bunch of people I needed to talk to. I paid for not resting by being knocked out in bed all weekend. It was awful!

In lieu of a beach trip this weekend, I went through some beach pictures from Seal Beach.

I can’t get enough of the ocean.

Love my shoes. Haha.

I always take pictures of fences. It’s just what I do.

My love looking all cute under the pier.

Hoping for some time at the beach next weekend!

Black and White

Isn’t this grandpa cute? I love how perfectly content he was, sitting there reading his paper. I love it when people are in their own little world and don’t notice the camera.

This guy, though, he noticed. At first I thought he was radioing for help to remove me and my camera… but nothing ever happened. After I snapped this, I walked past and realized he wasn’t talking to anyone… I think he was posing. Haha! Love it. :)

Both pictures taken at Union Station in Los Angeles, CA.

Learning to Shoot

The other day I noticed that Christine Meintjes (my favorite wedding photographer) had re-tweeted Henry Chen’s request for an assistant at an engagement session in LA. I totally freaked out because not two months ago I told Matt that I really wanted to start shadowing/assisting some professional photographers but I really didn’t know how to go about doing it. Rather than just reading about the photography biz, I wanted to experience it and learn from someone. I quickly sent a reply and was pumped when I heard back. We were to meet at Union Station in LA and then come back out to Pasadena (where I live). Sa-weet!

I took the afternoon off work (if you know me, you’ll understand how badly I wanted to do this!) and met Henry downtown. He is such a cool guy… very laid back and encouraging! My task for the afternoon was simple, carry his bag ‘o lenses and help swap them out when he needed a different one. He said I could take as many pictures as I wanted as long as I stayed in the background. I’m so glad I grabbed my camera at the last second!

Here’s Henry working his magic. I’ve got to say, the couple was a good looking couple! They are getting married in a couple of months and it was fun watching them giggle with each other in front of the camera.

I love this shot… sexy, sexy!

This shot was off to the side but it works for me. I never think to get silhouette’s (that’s Matt’s department) but thought it fun trying it out.

The couple teased each other a lot…

This one was taken on Suicide Bridge in Pasadena… I’m enamored with sunsets. I can’t get enough of them… it’s kind of ridiculous really.

Another favorite of mine… I love couples who love each other. It makes me all warm and fuzzy!

Working with Henry was great. It gave me a lot to think about and also highlighted areas where I’m lacking (um, hello, I still don’t shoot manually). I can’t wait to work on a few things, assist again, work on a few more things and keep on assisting.

Let me know which photographs you like… and why… and, please, I welcome constructive criticism!

Mast Brothers Chocolate

Chocolate makes me happy. Learning how things are made makes me happy. Seeing the process of making chocolate from bean to bar at Mast Brothers Chocolate in Brooklyn made me ecstatic! Aren’t they the cutest? And their shop the coolest? I can’t wait to try their chocolate sometime!

[via: unruly things, via: the selby]