My 40th Birthday

Hey everyone!

So on Friday, 11/6/09, I celebrated my 40th birthday. I wanted to do something fun, and 3 weeks ago, I found the perfect way to spend a birthday for a photo geek like me. I got an email from Scott Kelby (well, not exactly a personal email, but a mass generated email from NAPP) telling me that Joe McNally would be in LA doing his Lighting on Location tour at the convention center on my birthday!


I immediately bought my ticket, and then told a few close friends, and then we notified the Faded and Blurred troups and students at Tri-Community. Both groups were well represented at the event, and even got to interact with Joe. To say it was an amazing event wouldn't do it any justice at all. Joe is extremely knowledgeable, humble, and funny. A true pleasure to attend his events. We got there early (6:15), had breakfast at the Pantry, (I had never eaten there) and then photo walked our way over to the Convention Center.

Registration was supposed to begin at 9, but we were there by 7:30, so as we were waiting, Jeffery happened to notice Joe McNally sitting in the conference room writing up some notes. We had a t-shirt made for him (I did mention we were geeks, right?) so we snuck in and headed over to meet a photo hero. He was gracious and kind, shook our hands, accepted the t-shirt, and to be honest, my birthday could have ended right then.

Since we were early, we were able to sit right up front, and I thoroughly enjoyed the seminar. Joe does 5 specific sections in his seminar, and builds his lighting with small flash with each new hour. The great part of the show is that Joe get's himself in trouble with his lighting, and we get to see him work through it until he get's his shot. Again, a great message to all photographers that it happens to everyone, and you just need to keep working it out. Except we don't do it in front of 800 people.

At lunch time a big group of us headed over to ESPN Sports Zone, where I got to tweet my first beer as a 40 year old.
If you don't follow me on twitter, I'm known to take a picture of a beer wherever I am. You can find me here: FrankWisePhoto

After lunch, we settled in for the rest of the seminar. At some point in the show, John Pacala slipped Joe's assistant Drew a note asking Joe to announce my birthday. So in front of 800 people, Joe wished me a happy birthday. Awesome. But they weren't done yet. For Joe's final set-up of the day, he needed audience members, and I was choosen. So up I went. I had my picture taken by Joe McNally. He even gave me an 8gb memory card for my birthday! What a way to end the day. Except it still wasn't over. The seminar ended at 5, and of course on a Friday in Los Angeles, you can't actually leave LA, so we headed over to Philippe's for a sandwich and beer, (Sense a theme?) The plan was to grab some food, and then shoot some city lights after dark. Well, plans being what they are, they changed. My friend Maria Carmel (VH1's The Shot photographer reality show winner)was following our days events on Twitter, and knew we were near her home, so she met us at Phillipe's, sat and chatted with us a while.
She happened to mention that her LA loft has a rooftop deck with amazing views in the heart of LA, so away we went, tripods in hand. Again, a great photography experience, with another great photographer.

I would like to thank everyone who made this day so special, and I'm glad I got to spend it with so many friends that also share my passions for photography, and understand just how great a day like this was. Jeffery, a huge thank you for being the the same little giddy school kid I am when we get to meet these people we so look up to.
Nikki, thank you for allowing Jeffery and I just enough rope to climb out on the ledge, and knowing just the right time to grab it and pull us back before we hang ourselves. Paul, thank you for wanting to take this crazy journey we're on with us. Joe, thank you for driving us around, and wanting to spend the day hanging out with us. Some amazing driving skills in the Odyssey my friend. John, thank you for slipping the note to McNally. Jason, thank you for the beer, the beer, the beer, that other beer, and the t-shirt. And thank you for the constant words of encouragement. To the Marias', thank you for hassling Joe McNally, It was fun to watch.
Dave, a big thank you for letting me watch your progression as a photog. It is fun to watch and know that maybe a few of the things I am teaching are being utilized and appreciated. Al, thank the wife for letting you out to come play with us. Todd, I'm glad your aboard, your creativity and willingness to just go with us is a blast. Berto and Lisa, thank you for jumping on board with us from the beginning and always promoting us. Dan, I'm glad I've got a fellow photog always wanting to know when we can break for a beer. To everyone else (and there are a lot of you) just a huge THANK YOU for your constant support and for helping put Faded and Blurred on the map.
To Maria Carmel and Joe McNally, thank you for giving a bunch of photo geeks a day they will never forget.

To my wife Laurie, and my kids, a huge thank you for always being supportive of what I am trying to do, and understanding that I need to do it. You mean the world to me, and none of this really matters without you. I love you more than you'll ever know.

All the images you see here were shot on 11/6/09. what an amazing day. Thank you everyone!


You can see more images here: Frank's Flickr





Joe McNally doing his thing












Getting my picture taken by Joe McNally












Taking direction from Joe












The view from Maria's roof top



















The view from Maria's rooftop

Coming up this week in class:

Monday night, Noir shoot. If you have a trench coat, or a fedora, please bring them with you.

Wednesday night: NO CLASS, closed for Veterans Day

Thursday night: Workflow

See you all soon,

Frank