the family that makes me want to move to california

blogging late at night is a bad idea for several reasons. a, your clients are waiting to see their blog post up and who wants to stay up until 3am to view their photographs, no matter how lovely and. b. your clients happened to have also housed you when you photographed them in and around their redondo beach, california home, and you want to say something about them that properly illustrates how they made you want to dissolve into their sunkissed beach life forever.....but its sooo late, and you're so tired.

and you labored over this blog post until it was just right.

but in the end, no matter the hour, you decide you  can't give up until you say the right words  to accompany the just right blog post.

so....

. the mom you see in the images below is about as bright and warm as the california sun. of course i am aware of how cheesy that sounds --but if you met tory for even a second, you would know immediately its true. she is the easiest person to be around, the funnest person to work side by side with late at night on a couch with our matching laptops ('cept hers is bigger). tory is incredible at so many things which include but are not limited to:

being a freaking rad mom

being a freaking rad photographer

and being one of the freaking rad  co head hanchos over at the best new (kinda old now, i guess) blog on the block, let the kids.

on my photo extravaganza in california, i stayed with tory for 2, or was it 3 nights? and let me tell you when i left,  i cried a little, and would like to blame my crying on the fact that her precious little leighton and pierce fussed first. gah, i miss them.

also, just so he doesn't feel neglected you should know that tory's husband  sean spoiled us with ice cream (rocky road!), on not one, but two evenings, served to us on the afore mentioned couch where we worked and laughed together.

sigh. in short, the o'leary's made being so far away from my own little ones way way way more bearable. let me take you through their photos...

we started early by sneaking in to wake up sean...there was many a morning snuggle to be hadquick change of clothes into that dress i regret not sneaking into my suit case...and we lounge on the bed in the pretty light for some more lovin. i'm sorry did i say we? i meant them, i was a mere observer and clicker of their awesomeness. pit stop at the sink for a drink of water before we head out to the back yard---and the moment was so real, i just couldn't help myself...

and then bam, this blue guy. which is actually theirs! and it actually runs!!! and it was a photo dream come true...

after a brief intermission, we head to the beach, which you can literally see from the o'leary's home and although a red dress isn't  necessarily beach wear, tory and i agreed that it was just too stinking cute on leighton to leave out of the photos. 

i finished the shoot with my feet in the ocean and the happiest feeling in my heart. thank you so so so much tory for letting me come and do this. you know i love you and all of your crazies.

i miss you guys so much already.

that feeling when you expect to get your scans back and they never come...

i can't concentrate....on anything. this

is

extreme.

broken promises! this is me shaking my mean old angry man fist! i know i will probably get them tomorrow, but tonight my heart is broken!

but it happens, life goes on, and so does the blog. without or without my new scans of the amazingness i was lucky enough to shoot in california.

which brings us to another instagram post. yes yes, that's right. here we go.

this week i discovered a new iphone app. frametastic thanks to some way savvier than me instagrammers who were all over it like butter on toast.

and p.s.

who are you following on instagram? who is your favorite? are you on? i'm yanpalmer, though you probably know that already from me spamming facebook and twitter left and right. i am obsessed with this new medium. i am fixated on  shooting my everyday. almost as fixated as i am on checking my email for the notification that my scans are in....

the past week on instagram (all images taken on my iphone):

The problem of blogging from your iPhone at an airport

when I would rather be reading my book... I think the best I'll be able to come up with is a whole lotta random. Possibly even a list of paradoxes that will be eerily reminiscent of an alanis morisette song. The number of typos will be even higher than usual (is that even possible at this point?) and if in the unlikely event I figure out how to get a picture in this thing. I will demand a round of applause from anyone reading this. Right where you are. At home in front of a computer or in public on your phone like me.......

Which brings me back just about full circle.

Oh right, a list: -my heart feels simultaneously unburdened but heavy -I am sooo excited for my shoot tomorrow, and soooo excited to go home after that -I shriek with joy at the sight of a baby. Followed by tears that I have been away from mine for so long -I have had more meaningful meals with more inspiring people on this trip than I had collectively between the years 2010-2011. -I am losing myself in a sea of gratitude while finding myself in a blanket of new friendships -I am trying to think of something funny to improve this list but I can't. -I want to live in a wes anderson movie, but keep their cooler than coolness all to myself -I had cadbury mini eggs and diet coke for breakfast while making an ambitious plan to get back in shape. -I dislike alanis morisette, but clearly can't get her influence out Of my head. -I suddenly wish this list had been not about me but about all the amazing else.

Tomorrows post will be better friends, promise! And when I get my film back on Tuesday, lookout! Aw yeah.

a few things that i know

my heart is full.

i have taken some of the most amazing shots of my career in the last week.

i have photographed some of the best photographers i know --and had one of my mentor's, someone pretty big and famous not only in film world, but the whole photography world at large...

hire me to photograph his family

the honor is huge. so huge it leaves me emotional.

but something i'm not sure of:

whether this slew of clients, many of whom are my photographer friends, have rallied around to hire me for my skill, or to simply lend me a hand--

bottom line?

it totally doesn't matter. either one is 100% touching to me and i'll take it.

and i'll do a freaking yantastic good job (yes i use my name as part of a made up adjective which is incredibly jerky, but its who i am).

the thing i know very very very most of all ------ is that nothing that happens in my career or the rest of my life would mean a darn thing without this:

i love them i love them i love them. and i'm ready to be done with this amazing trip and head home. just a few more days marty pants--just a few more days.

xoxo, yan