Corporate Head Shots

Last week I got the opportunity to do something a little different than the average wedding... corporate head shots! It was neat - the owner of Apple Signs needed a quick portrait for a magazine article and I was happy to accommodate. He wanted something against a white background (and I did that too) but I wanted to try a few things to give the portrait a little bit more personality. I'm always amazed by the results off-camera flash can produce. I used a Canon Speedlight shot into an umbrella off-camera right in both photos. Here are my favorite shots from the session.

Top Favorite Songs of 2009

As I did last year, I'm publishing my top ten favorite songs of the year. And like I also said last year, these songs did not necessarily come out in 2009 - I just listened to them. A lot. A favorite song is like a favorite book - sometimes it's good because of the content, and then sometimes it's only good because of where you are in life when you experience it.

1. "Angels On The Moon" - Thriving Ivory
2. "Something Beautiful" - Needtobreathe
3. "Read My Mind" - The Killers
4. "Run" - Snow Patrol
5. "Comfortable" - John Mayer
6. "The Cure for Pain" - Jon Foreman
7. "I Wish The Best For You" - Emerson Hart
8. "Stolen" - Dashboard Confessional
9. "Sometime Around Midnight" - The Airborne Toxic Event
10. "Jai Ho" - A. R. Rahman (thanks Slumdog Millionaire)

Starting the year off right

I'm pretty happy with the way 2010 is shaping up! I've got enough weddings booked to keep me pretty well weekend-less for the summer, and I hope to add a few portrait sessions to that list too.

And some extra good news... I am a recipient of the Wedding Wire Bride's Choice Awards for 2010!!



I also joined PPA (Professional Photographers of America), so I look forward to using their resources and forums to further expand my business.

Coming up in 2010... expect to see me (finally) get on board with a Twitter account, and also an Emily Chastain Photography Facebook page!!

Fortunately Speaking...

I actually got this in a fortune cookie at P.F. Chang's. My favorite fortune to date. Awesome.

2010 Books I've Read

Welcome, 2010! I read 36 books in 2009, 8 shy of my goal. We'll see how I do this year! And the annual list begins...

32. Kabul Beauty School - Deborah Rodriguez 9/10

31. The Mango Season - Amulya Malladi 6.5/10

30. The Harmony Silk Factory - Tash Aw 7.5/10 

29. Man of my Dreams - Curtis Sittenfield 8/10

28. Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 - Garrison Keillor 7.5/10

27. My Name is Asher Lev - Chaim Potok 10/10

26. Big Stone Gap - Adriana Trigliani 6.5/10

25. Prep - Curtis Sittenfeld 9/10

24. Lost in Translation - Nicole Mones 9/10

23. Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough - Lori Gottlieb 8.5/10

22. Like Dandelion Dust - Karen Kingsbury - Again, can't rate it due to my inability to finish it. Got through probably about a quarter of it, then decided my time was more precious than that. The characters are not believable, and the storyline is predictable - the whole thing reads like a bad Lifetime movie.

21. Case Histories - Kate Atkinson 8/10

20. The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson 9.5/10

19. Lost and Found -Carolyn Parkhurst 8/10

18. Starting out in the Evening -  Brian Morton 4/10

17. Half-Broke Horses - Jeannette Walls 8/10

16. Return of the Lone Iguana - Bill Amend 9/10

15. Matilda - Roald Dahl 9.5/10

14. The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri 8.5/10

13. Here on Earth - Alice Hoffman 8/10

12. In the Presence of My Enemies - Gracia Burnham 8/10

11. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak 7.5/10

10. The Bird Man and the Lap Dancer: Close Encounters with Strangers - Eric Hansen 7/10

9. The Help - Kathryn Stockett 9/10

8. The Funny Thing Is... - Ellen DeGeneres uhhhh I don't know how to rate a book that I can't finish (or if I should even include it on this list.) I'm an Ellen fan, but I just couldn't get through more than about a third of this book. It's like reading someone's stand-up comedy notes - blahhh.

7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson 9/10

6. The Last Days - Joel Rosenberg 8/10

5. The Last Chinese Chef - Nicole Mones 8/10

4. The Real McCoy - Darin Strauss 5/10

3. The Associate - John Grisham 8/10

2. Gardens of Water - Alan Drew 9/10

1. Blue Shoe - Anne Lamott 7/10