Photography Class

Tonight, Steve and I went to a lecture at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City.  The speaker, Jodi Cobb, was an amazing staff photographer for the National Geographic.  Her stories of documenting war-torn countries, the sex-trafficking industry, unique twins, and a wide variety of interesting cities was both enthralling to listen to as well as educational.  Gotta love the free events living in a big city!!

Steve is an amazing photographer…which means that Baby Vo should be prepared to be a patient model.  There’s no doubt that Baby Vo will have a very well-documented childhood.

Our First Movie Credit

Well, not really.  Last night, we went to a screening of our friends’ documentary, First Generation.  Since we helped to support the film financially, the “thank you” credits included us.  To be honest, it was pretty cool to see our names on the big screen!  Beyond it being fun to watch a movie made by our friends, last night was also a bit worrisome for us with a baby on the way. 

The film focused on college admissions and let’s just say that it is a LOT more difficult to get into a good college than when Kate and I went through the process.  Among other things, the film exposed how unknowledgable some high school staff and parents are on the admissions process. Hopefully, with the ever changing landscape of college admissions and prep courses, Kate and I can stay informed when it is our turn to send our kid(s) to college.

Wow, that was a “I’m getting old” moment. With my 32nd birthday around the corner, it’s time to plant those seeds for the future. Get out and check out this film if you have a chance!

Only in LA

This following is the kind of last minute random stuff that we love doing.

SETUP: Last Friday night, I received an email from one or our favorite artists looking for people to be in his music video. This would be a music video for an upcoming album. The shoot would be the following day and down at crowded Venice Beach. The artist, Tyrone Wells, is someone that we have both loved for quite a few years now. We’ve been to a ton of his shows and really love his sound and depth of his songs.

THE ACTUAL SHOOT: When we arrived, we had to fill out a few legal forms and then we went straight onto “location,” i.e., a sidewalk near the beach.  The director lined us all up (there were about 30 of us) and we began filming the video for Freedom. It was really fun to see the behind-the-scenes making of a music video!! I had always wondered how they timed the music so that Tyrone could move his lips appropriately to the final cut after post production. Well, it is as simple as an iPod hooked up to small speakers. Tyrone would simply start the song right before each take and he would sing and we would clap along with him. We kept up the routine until everyone’s claps were perfect, everyone’s faces were visible, and the beat of our walk matched the music. We were there for a total of about 2 hours to shoot what I think will be about 10 seconds of the video! All in all, it was a great time and we met some very cool people along the way. Yes, the picture above is what it looks like in February in Venice Beach!

I’ll update this post with the music video once it is released.

Week 16 – Avocado

This week Baby Vo is the size of an avocado.