A couple of months ago I had the honor of photographing life at a small arts high school in Austin called The Griffin School. After several hours there I wanted to be a member of their student body. Here are some of the shots that I took from my time there. I can only hope that I did it justice.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
We don't celebrate Easter as a religious holiday so I was at a bit of a loss as to how to handle yesterday with the boys. Josh is out of town so it fell on me. I decided to treat it as a chocolate holiday. So between the chocolate matzoh they had at the seder they went to with Josh the other day and yesterday, they now associate Passover and Easter with chocolate. And with having their photo taken together. That's some impressive parenting there.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
One day at Camille and Jason's place in Berkeley, I noticed Sam was outside on the deck. I had no idea how he could have gotten there. And then it dawned on me when I saw this scene.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
Geni and Kell and the gang recently added a new member to their family and I finally got to meet her today. Little Rosie is a Black Lab/Border Collie mix and she is a DOLL. And I took a couple of pics of the kids too. Just so they would not feel left out.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
Here are some more film shots I took at Central Market a few weeks ago.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
I am home after 14 days on the road, 8 photoshoots, 2 states visited and about 6000 exposures taken. It is good to be home. To say I have barely begun to catch up is an understatement. But I needed to share something today. These two shots of Amy's daughter Avi and Sam seem like just the right thing. They were taken the day after we arrived in California at Amy's beautiful studio.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
I am in Northern California right now doing family sessions, so I apologize for the blogging absence. I am taking a ridiculously huge number of photos and I will have so much to blog when I return next week. I am enjoying being back in my hometown, but am struggling with traveling with a toddler. I have no idea what I was thinking when I came up with THAT bright idea. But it is nice to see old friends and photograph somewhere so very beautiful. I will have much to share when I return. And I owe a HUGE thanks you to my dear friends Camille, Amy J, and Amy P for putting me up and providing babysitting services. Community is truly a blessing.
My film skills are very rusty, but I have been trying to shoot more film this month. These are nothing special, but there is just something I love about film. They were all taken with my Hasselblad 500C, except the last one which was taken with a Pentax k1000.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
I am sitting here on a cloudy Sunday morning with my cup of coffee and 10 million things to do before I leave for the better part of two weeks to travel around taking photos. So what am I doing? Yep. I am procrastinating with a blog entry. I have seen so few movies in the last few years post children. In the last couple of weeks I have seen more than usual, which is a real treat. In the last couple of days I saw two that both fill diffferent parts of my personality--the light and the heavy. They were Twilight and Revolutionary Road (which has the amazing photo above on its poster).
Starting with the light--I watched Twilight on the computer from an Amazon download. I must admit that I am OBSESSED with this series and I have no idea why. I have read all of the books several times over and finally watched the movie, which was much better than I was thought it would be, mostly because my expectations were so low after the mediocre reviews it got from people I know. Many people complained about the special effects, which frankly I could care less about. I think Catherine Hardwick is an amazing director and the screenwriting and adaptation of the novel by Melissa Rosenberg was really very good. And it you looked past the silly flying stuff, the artistry in scenes like the one where they are playing baseball is resplendent. The movie took me back to the teen dramas of John Hughes, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Valley Girl. Movies that I watched over and over and can still see and be instantly transported back to a time in my life that is long past. Perhaps that is why I love Twilight so much. It brings me back to being a teenage girl and I no longer remember the angst and the insecurity, but rather the butterflies I felt when a boy I liked walked in the room or the phone finally rang after I hovered over it for the better part of an hour. And I do not see the parents as overly controlling anymore, but now as gatekeepers for their children's safety, as carriers of all of the worry. The worry that I now have to carry. Just being able to leave the responsibilities of adulthood behind for a couple of hours is such a gift.
On the other side of the spectrum was Revolutionary Road, I have put off seeing this film. I knew it would be a tough one to watch. I read the Yates novel a few years ago. I knew that I would see too much of myself in it. So even though my beloved Kate Winslet was starring, I kept putting it off. But I wanted to see it before it left the theater, so the other night I went on my own. And it was exactly what I thought it would be--expertly acted, beautiful direction and cinematography and so very, very sad. One big surprise came out of it for me and that was Leonardo DiCaprio. I have never been a big fan of his and so much has been made of Winslet's performance, but this was DiCaprio's movie. He owned it and he was amazing. The part of Frank Wheeler is not for the meek and he not only stood his ground, but took it to a new place. If you have not seen it, you should. It is hard to watch, but it is beautiful and most importantly it is real. Its honesty is what was hard for me to sit in a dark theater with. I feel stuck like the Wheelers. I too thought I would be something special, something grander than I am. And I am not. I am ordinary. And like many of the women in the fifties, I do not find child rearing to be enough. It often feels like a trap or a prison to me. I might sound cruel for saying so, but that is what is real for me.The best line in the film is when April says, "Tell me the truth Frank remember that? We used to live by it. And you know what's so good about the truth? Everyone knows what it is however long they've lived without it. No one forgets the truth Frank they just get better at lying". Amen.
The amazing team over at lmnop is giving away some of Frances England's cds so run over there and enter. You never know, you just may win and they are GREAT cds. Photo below of Frances and her son Rowan by yours truly.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
These images are technically terrible and taken from underneath our dirty and scratched coffee table, but I think they are pretty funny.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
Last week Catherine and I headed out to Lakeway to check out a new cafe called Java Dive, which is run by a lovely couple. We had a lovely morning eating and drinking while Lucy sat quietly and Sam went through every cd in the place. Read all about this wonderful cafe at livemom. Catherine has a way with words. I am better with the camera.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
After posting those shots of Lilia I started to wonder what the first photos I took of her looked like, so I spent the last hour procrastinating and here they are. These were taken last April when she was about 6 months old. I love photographing the kids at CDC, so I can watch them grow right in front of my eyes.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
I am still trying to get caught up with the photo processing and posting, but I though I would stir things up a bit by posting something on the newer side. Last week little Miss Lilia and her mom Amy visited. We had a great time. I thought Ben would be totally uninterested in Lilia since she is Sam's age, but he was so cute taking care of her and refilling her snack bowl. As you can see he had her eating out of his hand.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
Just a typical couple of mornings for us, lounging in the toy room. In this first shot Sam is trying to put the lens cap back ON the camera. It is his way of saying that he is DONE.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
The wonderful Becky Brock posted me on the NEAWP blog as this month's featured vendor. And that girl has me down cold. She is definitely someone I need to have a few stiff drinks and a couple of laughs with. I first met Becky when I second shot for the fabulous Shannon at Josh and Erica's wedding at Star Hill Ranch last November and I loved her sense of humor and her irreverence. I just love me someone with some good old fashioned irreverence.
I just joined the NEAWP and so far it seems like a great group. I had to let go of my general rule which is that "I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member" (Groucho Marx). If you are a wedding vendor, they are offering half off their memberhip now, so jump on board soon. If nothing else, it is a great excuse to get out of the house and away from your computer for a few hours and chat it up with some great people. Next time I promise to get better directions and to put some lipstick on so they don't kick me out of the club. These people know how to dress, which simply means that THEY do not walk around with tee shirts with spit up on them. Imagine that.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
These two words came crashing down on my reality late last week when I realized that Ben's preschool (PRESCHOOL for goodness sakes) was taking this week off. What in the world do four year olds need a break from I ask you? So as I am still struggling to accept life at home with one child I am suddenly home with two and going completely bonkers.I am sorry people, but women are being screwed. We are supposed to work at home, work in corporate America AND take care of children. And then the structures we have put in place to help us with the burden of childcare (so we can go WORK) decide they want to take a week off every once in awhile. Meanwhile our clients do not have the week off. Our work does not stop coming. The world does not come to a halt in order for us to drop everything this week. And for all of you out there who are going to say that teachers need a break I say hogwash. I think teaching is the hardest job on the planet so I say treat it like any other profession with much better wages and fair vacation pay. And let's face it, most teachers I know are women with their own children so it is not like they are sitting home eating bon bons this week. This "let's close the world down once a week in the Spring, two weeks in December and all summer long" is ludicrous. Even before I had children I saw my female co-workers go through this hell every year--what to do with the kids over the summer, how to get off work in the Spring. And do 8 year olds REALLY NEED 12 weeks off in the summer from the pressures of third grade? When I speak with my women friends about the pressures of life with work and children and home responsibilities we all roll our eyes as if to say "We are so screwed and we know it". But none of us (and I am definitely including myself in this group) ever does anything to change it. We have so little female representation in our government and what we do have does nothing for us in these areas. As I am typing this I am fending off a toddler who is trying to climb on my laptop. Something tells me this is not a problem that Barbara Boxer faces daily. Sarah Palin, who claims she is "just like us", has a record in Alaska that shows that she has done nothing legislatively for working mothers. These women are so busy trying to show the men that they are just as tough as they are, are playing THEIR game, not ours. We aren't even on the playing field. We are on the sidelines making sandwiches and pacifying children. If we have to give a chunk of time off, I say we do it like the French, where the entire country simply shuts down for one month per year and everyone is on vacation. And while I am on a rant, let's continue to be like the French and make better bread. Is it too much to ask for a decent baguette in Central Texas?
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
Freya and Lula at the Simons later that day:
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.
Today started off looking like it was going to pretty miserable. I screamed that I did not want to take care of children anymore and then buried my head under the covers. Luckily Amy and Lilia came over this morning to save us. Amy and I drank coffee and then moved on to bloody marys while the kids played very nicely in the toy room. After nap time Geni and Jennifer and I continued our Friday afternoon ritual of drinking while the children entertain each other and we pretend they do not exist. Geni says that in Birmingham they called it "Kids and Cocktails". I like that name. These were taken on one of our Fridays a couple of months ago. I didn't take any photos today because it was raining and yucky and I was too busy enjoying my scrumptious Mexican Coffee that Jennifer made. I did shoot some this morning of little Miss Lilia that I promise to post before 2010. Well maybe 2011.
Bonnie Berry is an Austin, Texas child, family and wedding photographer.