I just ordered a few of these accordion book samples from the AMAZING ProDPI! They are honestly, the most amazing company ever. And as I mentioned before, they always send candy!!!

These accordion books are absolutely beautiful and a perfect gift for parents of the bride and groom, grandparents of the new baby…or just for yourself! They fit easily in a purse and are a beautiful way to show off your kid.

This is a client of mine from back in November…sweet little Isabelle. Or Isa-smell as her parents call her. Awwww, I LOVE my clients and their senses of humor! The parents had a lot of fun playing around with props and since Isabelle’s dad is a comic book artist, we played around with Batman figures and even toy guns. Yes, guns…it’s a little odd, I realize and I’m sure some parents reading this may be appalled. But to each his own! And if that’s what my client wants…that’s what they’ll get!!

My friend Eliza is a (relatively) newly single woman. Before Christmas, she and I went out to the Roosevelt Fields mall to do some holiday shopping and we inevitably ended up in Anthropologie. Otherwise known as the MOST AMAZING STORE EVER. The sheer sight of that store window can bring tears of joy to my eyes.

We walked in with the intentions of finding Liza some pretty, but sexy date outfits with a gift card she had. But we walked out with nothing but kitchen decor. Which is what ALWAYS happens. I am obsessed with coffee mugs and teapots.

I actually managed to refrain even though I fell in love with a couple of owl mugs. But my budget was tight and I just couldn’t justify it. Liza however managed to buy a few new water glasses and an iced tea pitcher–Which I told her, she would be very popular with her date if she opened the door wearing nothing but a couple of strategically placed water glasses. She, however, did not find this funny. I forget what little sense of humor people have when they’re stressing over a first date.

I kept obsessing over my owl mugs and after 3 weeks of pining, I realized I should have bought them. I went to 3 different stores in the city–none of which had them. I wanted to cry. Eventually, I admitted defeat and promised myself next time I saw something that was only $4, I would just spring for it. Then if I change my mind, I can always return them.

I had completely given up hope that I’d ever see the mugs again. And then Liza and I exchanged Christmas gifts…and an owl mug never looked so glorious and beautiful. BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER. Who cares about the expensive espresso machine my sister gave me. That Tiffany’s necklace from Sean? Phhhh, please. But this coffee mug will go down in history as THEGREATESTGIFTEVER.

Now if only I had answered the door with only a couple of water glasses in hand, we could have come full circle.

Last weekend I photographed a boudoir session where the subject really wanted to focus in on her tattoos to document them. The photographs turned out SO gorgeous and I’m so happy that she had no reservations about me posting images where her face was shown.

Here’s a handful of my favorites, but there were so many, I could barely narrow them down!

…they start photographing their dogs on really classy backdrops from Drop It Modern.

Bebop had absolutely no idea WHAT was going on. Eventually she calmed down, but those first few minutes involved me catching her mid-leap off of the box.

Red on the other hand was a natural. He just plopped down and I couldn’t get him to stand up even after the shoot was over.

For Valentine’s Day, I made chocolate covered strawberries. Initially I was attempting to decorate “tuxedo” strawberries, but as you can see in the surrounding berries, they quickly turned into squiggles. I did manage to decorate one HEART strawberry for a special someone….so WHAT if it’s a wonky heart? IF HE CAN’T APPRECIATE MY ATTEMPT, THEN HE IS UNDESERVING OF MY WONKY HEART.

Luckily, he enjoyed the strawberries…the heart was saved for last.

Bebop has this really bad habit. She likes to wake up early. I know what you’re thinking–maybe it’s not a “habit” as much as it is mother nature calling. But even if I take her out REALLY late. Like 2am or later, she still wakes up at 7am…buzzing with the volume and energy of my loud ass alarm.

She’s so friggin cute when she wakes up, too. She’s afraid to jump off the bed so she’ll walk to the edge…dance around it, consider jumping off. Then she’ll come to me and touch her nose to my cheek. Usually I can ignore this and in a sleepy fog pull her into a laying position. A few minutes later, she gets up again and like superman takes a flying leap off the bed. It’s the thud of her hitting the floor that makes me realize that I have .5 seconds to wake up, get my coat and shoes on and get out the door with her before she pees everywhere.

But the most annoying thing about Bebop’s morning ritual is she wakes up long enough to pee, eat and play for about 30 minutes. And after 30 minutes, she conks out again. Lucky for me, it creates picture perfect moments like the photo above with Red. If only I could find a way to push her routine back by a couple of hours…

These were two mini-sessions from this past weekend! If you’re interested in a cheaper option for portraits, contact me about these mini-session deals.

First, we have Raj who bought a mini-session for his girlfriend over Valentine’s Day. She lives in Switzerland, he lives in New York and he really wanted some beautiful photographs of her and also him and her together. They’re such an attractive couple–it’s impossible to take a bad photograph of them!

Also this weekend, I photographed Jorge–an emerging hip hop artist in the city. He had a cool, funky style which was fun to photograph. And even though I soooo obviously knew NOTHING about hiphop, he was still so sweet to me. The loser photographer who had no idea what hip hop sounded like!

There is a new and exciting development for Katana Photography–I’m creating a division of my business dedicated solely to school photography for Preschools and Daycare. It’s a project I’m really excited about! I hated my photographs from when I was a kid…I had one shot to look good in front of a tacky blue backdrop. And it didn’t matter if your smile was forced or awkward. It didn’t matter if you preferred to angle your head a certain way (this was more a problem in high school and middle school). You just sat how they wanted you to and took one shot. And that was the photo you were stuck with for the rest of your life to document that year.

With my program, I’ll be putting together simple but classy sets with solid white or black backdrops and simple, attractive stools with a couple of props for the kids to play with. Maybe a stack of old books. An apple. A chalkboard…you get the idea. And parents will get a chance to choose from about 9-10 proofs and pick the image(s) they want to order. Furthermore, parents have the option to order the digital images and use the photos for Holiday cards, etc.

It’s going to be so much fun! I just booked my first school in Hoboken and I can’t wait for March to get here! If you/your school is interested in booking a new type of school photography, contact me! I also have a “mommy advocacy” program where if you arrange it so your child’s daycare/preschool books me because of your help, I’ll offer you discounts and free prints! Email me if you’re interested…

Here is a small example of the sort of photos I plan on taking (Granted, these are sans the fun “school” props, but you get the idea).

It was our third evening in Mexico. We spent the day in Tulum looking at the Mayan ruins and once we got back, all I wanted was a margarita. Fruity, alcoholic goodness to cool off after a long day walking in the heat. We were getting pretty sick of the touristy areas of Playa del Carmen and in trying to find a place to eat, ended up walking a little outside the tourist trap area. It was still 100% safe–well, I take that back. It was probably slightly less safe than the tourist-area of Playa, but safer even than Brooklyn probably.

After walking for a good 20 minutes, we found a place called “Kool Fish” with pitchers of margaritas for $4. I don’t think it gets any better than that, right? Except that this “Kool Fish” had the most amazing fish tacos I’ve ever had in my life. And as the ice cold margarita slid down my throat, I thought it couldn’t get any better than THAT. Except then our waiter started chatting with us. And Eduardo was the COOLEST GUY EVER. So friendly. So chatty. He even added 2 extra shots of tequila to our (already strong) margaritas. Then he offered us pot…because apparently in Mexico, that’s how you make friends. You offer them pot. We politely declined–but it was nice to be accepted.

The following night, we went back to Kool Fish. Mostly because we wanted to see Eduardo again before we left. HE WAS THAT COOL. And he gave us more strong margaritas and great conversation. He even taught me a few phrases in Spanish, the most important one being: Dónde está el baño?

To be fair, Sean also taught me that. But Eduardo helped with the pronunciation. And thank god for learning that…it was used A WHOLE LOT THROUGHOUT THE TRIP. Because my bladder is the size of a pea. Not even. More like the size of a pinhole. And much of the trip was spent with me crossing my legs or sprinting from the beach to find some sort of public restroom.

Another side note–what is with the lack of toilet seats in Mexico?!?! I did more squatting that weekend, than I did in the gym preparing my body for bathing suit weather.

Wow–that was quite the rambling. So, to sum up: Mexico is beautiful; Eduardo is awesome; Playa del Carmen needs to invest in some toilet seats across the board.

Below are some images from Tulum –