Pinhole Press

I saw the Pinhole Press booth at WPPI in February. Even though the trade show was HUGE, Pinhole Press stopped me in my tracks and I registered for an account after checking out their products. The site offers products like books, framed prints, and notepads for consumers to make using photographs.

How does this apply to the photographer? If we're lazy (ahem), we can just refer our clients to the site and they can make amazing products with the (equally amazing) photos. :)

Anyway, check it out!

3-on-3 #6: Wanderlust

I try to avoid watching travel shows because inevitably wanderlust creeps in. What's wanderlust for me? It's that nagging tug at the corner of my heart that tells me I should be out, well, wandering aimlessly. The funny thing is, whenever I'm out wandering aimlessly, I'm constantly thinking about other things I'd rather be doing, like creating art and working at home.

The grass is always greener, and I have to remind myself of that truth before my mind runs away with my heart!

What's this week's 3-on-3? Three random memories from my travels:

First of all, I miss the warm waters of Vietnam. I took a boat cruise/tour out to Ha Long Bay and as one of our activities, we all got to jump off the boat and into the warm water for a swim. It was easily 10- to 15-feet high but I wasn't scared. Up until people were yelling at me and the guy who jumped right after me to swim away from the jelly fish, anyway. I swam up to the boat like a champ! (Unfortunately, someone did get stung. No, no one peed on it to make it better. Not that I know of, anyway.) That night, a few of us laid out under the stars talking about anything and everything. One of the kids (read: he was 20, ha!) mentioned that he had never seen a shooting star before. We saw about a dozen within the span of two hours. It was magical.

Secondly, while in Siem Reap, I commissioned a tuktuk to take me around the temples. After getting to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise (beautiful!) and walking around, I went out to the taxi-parking area to look for my driver. Nowhere to be found. After about 15 minutes, I met a Finnish who had the same problem. We ended up sharing a tuktuk on the rest of our temple-visiting adventure. Luckily, we both had equally short attention spans, and didn't mind cutting the trip short. How people can spend days on end exploring the temples is beyond me. I guess I don't have a deep love for old architecture.

Finally, SCUBA diving was intense. Correction: SCUBA lessons were intense. The actual diving and swimming around with the fishes? AWESOME! So I took a course in Nha Trang, Vietnam. It was run by a Russian dude (he's pretty cool) and I was taught by a Frenchman (also very cool). At one point, my teacher whipped out his waterproofed PADI certification instructions and started translating it from French to English for me. He says, with a heavy French accent, "Oh, I forgot to tell you, don't forget to [something kinda important]." (I don't remember now.) But DUUUUUUUUDE. REALLY??? I'm already scared about possibly BLOWING UP MY LUNGS, do we really need to be playing games here? Sure, I panicked a few times but it was all in good fun. :) Fun times, fun times.

At the end of the day, yeah, it's cool to see all the sites. I think a part of me always felt restless because I felt like there was this thing in me that needed to explore, to see, to experience, and to know that I could do it all. I can. I can stand dirty bathrooms, high likelihood of food poisoning (never happened!), sleeping outdoors, taking cold showers, living out of a backpack, and meeting strangers who become fast-friends. At the same time, I had a really weird moment a month ago when I was walking my dog, Fi. I thought, "If I did this everyday, and this was my everyday, could I do it indefinitely?" And the answer was a reassuring and comforting, "Yes." Hello, Maturity.

A corner of my heart will never stop wandering, though. I'm just stupidly happy that I now have someone to wander with.

Ha Long Bay. Wish you were there. For real!

I've got a crush on you, Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay)

I recently finished reading Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh. On top of it being a book about business, it touched on how to find meaning in life and promoted the idea of thinking, acting, and being beyond yourself. He shared the three types of happiness that people experience:

Pleasure lasts the shortest (e.g., the thrill of drugs) whereas living and working toward a "higher purpose" provides for a long period of joy and happiness. Makes sense, right?

I just love any opportunity to share Maslow's Hierarchy. I always thought it was one of the few things from psych and philosophy classes that I could actually agree with. (BTW, these images were in the book and also available to distribute online at the Delivering Happiness website.)

What's the point to this post? (1) I loved the book and would recommend that you read it. It's a very quick and interesting read that's not just about business, but also about life, happiness, and living a fulfilling and challenging life. Plus, it's a very cool story that Tony shares! (2) I learned a lot about Zappos' core values. From their site:

As we grow as a company, it has become more and more important to explicitly define the core values from which we develop our culture, our brand, and our business strategies. These are the ten core values that we live by:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service

2. Embrace and Drive Change

3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness

4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded

5. Pursue Growth and Learning

6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication

7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit

8. Do More With Less

9. Be Passionate and Determined

10. Be Humble

I love all of these, and especially reading how the employees have applied these values to their personal lives. I was really inspired to come up with my own set of core values "in life as in business." I'll be sure to share them as soon as I get them done! If you were to create of core values (e.g., life philosophies), what would be on your list? Feel free to comment and share (and let me know if you read this book - I highly recommend it!).

3-on-3 #5: Random Round of Random

First of all, I've been thinking about how out of shape I am lately (pointed out to me by someone, ahem). It's not that fun to get winded after running just a mile and while I know there are plenty of people who can't even run a mile, I've been very athletic for most of my life, so why would I not continue it now? After doing some Googling and Yelping, I discovered that University of San Francisco (USF) has a gym near my house with a very reasonable use rate ($78 for 15 visits = $5.20/visit). I was sold on the fact that they have a swimming pool, but they also have the other pool that I LOVE available. Yep, billiards! Sold and sold! Hopefully working out at least once a week will improve my stamina. At least the walk there should - it's a bit of an uphill battle!

Second of all, in evaluating my life, I sometimes think about the things (i.e., actual material possessions) that I have. I put things like my laptop and cameras and lenses in the category of "I need them for work, but there's no emotional attachment outside of our working relationship." I care for them because I need to. But outside of those things, the only thing I have any remote emotional attachment to is - brace yourselves - my Netflix mug. No, it's not special and I'm sure I can replace it easily. Or not, even, since I have plenty of mugs and beverage containers in general. But I guess because it's been with me for years and has always been by my side through my corporate heydays at the office and it's nostalgia that makes it seem remotely more important than anything else I own. I noticed, however, that there's a crack that's formed on the mug. The end is nigh and, just as well.

And third of all, here are some movies I've seen recently on/through Netflix that I enjoyed:

And yep, my Netflix viewing is in direct proportion to the amount of editing I do. And of course I didn't watch The Adjustment Bureau on/through Netflix (it's still in theatre). The movie poster itself was too beautifully done to not include it in this line-up.

Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

3-on-3 #4: Lightheartedly Videotastic!

(1) The Up house in real life? Yes. Have a safe flight!

(2) The first sight you see upon emerging from the subway in NYC. In slow-motion. Set to soothing music. Enjoy.

Sub City New York from sarah klein on Vimeo.

(3) Norman, the dog, rides a scooter. Color me impressed!

Take a Minute: Reflecting on Japan

Maybe it's because I've actually visited the country before, or maybe it's because something like that can easily happen here in the San Francisco Bay Area without a warning, or maybe it's because you can't turn on the TV without them declaring "DISASTER IN JAPAN" in big bold letters.... but truly, what's happened in Japan is still so surreal.

I'm truly humbled by all that's going in Japan right now, and my heart goes out to all those personally affected by this terrible tragedy.

With that in mind, I would like to propose that we take a minute. Take a minute to appreciate all that we have in our lives - electricity, running water, plenty of food, friends and loved ones alive and well. And extend that minute on to maybe a day free of complaints. Because losing your phone is terrible but it is not the end of the world. Because missing your train will delay your plans and inconvenience you a little, but it is not the end of the world. Because, well, we've gotten too complacent and annoyingly so, and maybe let's take this moment to appreciate all the beauty around us instead of noting and status-updating all the things that are wrong.

Just take a minute.

3-on-3 #3: Punctuated Randomness

(1) Fishy!

I read on Dooce that canned tuna makes a nice, high-protein food/snack. So I decide to jump on the bandwagon. Guess what? It's totally delicious! But in the back of my mind, I was still pretty nervous about how sustainable the Bumble Bee / Chicken of the Sea / Starkist brands were. And then I read this, and everything was confirmed for me. (Summary: "dolphin safe" is an eco-marketing gimmick to make consumers feel better; the ocean is not any safer for it.)

Oh, and you should read this, too, which claims, "Globally most shrimp is harvested... with up to 33 pounds of unwanted fish going to waste for every pound of shrimp brought in." Guess who'll be avoiding shrimp? Oh man, that makes me sad to type because I love shrimp.

I guess I'll be giving the Wild Planet brand a try, since it's supposedly available at Whole Foods.

(2) Unwed?

I read the Why You're Not Married article on The Huffington Post and its CNN rebuttal, Why I'm not married (and it's not because I'm an angry slut). Pretty interesting ideas. And regarding it all, I simply recommend this book:

(3) Lazy.

I loved this series, which you can watch on Netflix. Watch it!

Minted - Wedding Invitations

I think the card designs on Minted are awesome and they offer everything from save-the-date to baby announcements. Today, I'm going to show you a few lovely wedding invitations:

Brides and grooms: if you're thinking about wedding invitations right now, you can receive three free invitation samples from Minted by using the code 3FREE.

Clothes Calls: Casual Wear for Grown-Ups

I was inspired to do this based on Kristin's awesome post. A lot of times clients ask what they should wear on a portrait session and the number one thing to remember is to always dress to express your personal style. Me? I'm super casual but I also love layers, textures, colors, and patterns, so I would push for those elements. And when you're being photographed with other people, it's much better for people to wear complementary colors and tones (and not necessary the exact same color).

I'll create recommendations - hopefully seasonally - for families, kids, and babies. I took photos from Old Navy since they specialize in clothing staples and basics. Here's the first batch of recommendations: casual outfits for grown-ups. Great picks for the casual portion of your headshots session or for engagement sessions. For guys, I love to see patterned and light colored button-down shirts. Blues and browns look good on most guys. For gals, I love a neutral look with unexpected color, texture, pattern, and details. While I would advise against a big, bright magenta sweater, I don't think you should shy away from a hint of color or pattern here or there.

Please let me know what you think!

3-on-3 #2: My Scrubs!

In honor of all the Scrubs I've been (re-)watching lately on Netflix via instant streaming, I've named my 3-on-3 with the same episode title schema:

(1) My Guy

On Saturday, Dima showed up at my apartment with the frames I asked him to buy from Aaron Brothers, a bunch of the cutest red tulips, and a package of pastries from one of our favorite places. Plus, he listened to me rant and rave like a maniac like a champ. (Not just the weekend; it's a lifestyle.) I know I'm in no place to make any official announcements or anything but, oh, whatever, Dima: Best Boyfriend Ever.

(2) My Week of Eating

This past week, mostly due to my friend's Cat's birthday, has been filled with a lot of eats:

• Papalote - hello, delicious nachos....
• Shabu House - the perfect meal for a cold day
• Huge party spread at Cat's. A Whole Foods just opened nearby so, seriously, she bought half the store. Plus I brought the biggest cheese platter with a fondue brie on the side of it. Yum!
• And Parada 22, which is on Haight, which most people would just overlook because right next door is Cha Cha Cha, which supposedly has good food (but really doesn't even compare) so Parada 22 ended up being one of my favorite meals. It was so delicious!

(3) My Analogy

So I took that long road trip to Las Vegas and back via car and I came up with this analogy for a relationship this past day or two: being in a relationship is a lot like taking a long road trip in a car. You need to learn to share responsibilities and have trust that the other person won't pass out at the wheel, for example.

I have a lot of girlfriends who are equally take-charge like I am, but somehow we're all subtly conditioned to want guys who are equally take-charge. And what I've learned thus far? Two alphas don't make a right. Someone's always gotta give. You have to love and respect your mate for knowing how to give in every now and then and, likewise, you need to learn to give in every now and then. And I'm not talking about the big things (like having or not having children), but about the small things like who gets to pick where to eat, or toilet seat resting places.

A photo from a rest stop in Arizona.