My Trip to San Francisco

Not really sure how or where to start this… Here it goes…

Recently, I launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a book I want to do on men in ballet. The funds would allow me to travel to certain locations to create content for this endeavor. One of the locations I intended to hit was San Francisco. For the last year or so, I was in contact with Tiit Helimets, principal with San Francisco Ballet. We had been talking about working together, so I knew that if I worked with no one else in SF, I HAD to work with him.

Well, finally, the project was funded and I could begin making my plans. I began to look at SFB’s calendar to determine what would be the ideal time to come out. I knew it had to be in between programs if I wanted access to the dancers, but I also knew my best chance was during the season. The break post season presents a multitude of potential scheduling hardships with people vacationing, guesting, etc. I was eager to book it and get it done and the spring/summer months are crazy for me anyway, so the earlier the better…

With that in mind, I determine that between programs 1 & 2 were best for me, so I reached to some of the dancers to see if they would be around, especially Tiit. He said he would be, so I booked my flight. What I did not anticipate then, was the uncertainty to come regarding their availability. Yes, they would be in town, but the question then was would they have time for me? Not my favorite question to raise especially after dropping $400 non refundable or exchangable on this trip.

As the trip neared, even down to the days leading up, the uncertainty still loomed; the “fog” had not lifted from the city by the bay (Like how I did that there??). At some point before I departed, I began to have a dialogue with Teri who pens Odette’s Ordeal, a blog all about San Francisco Ballet. She asked if I was coming to see a show, to which I indicated, “sadly no.” She had suggested I try to work with some of the dancers to which I replied, “yup, already on it.” At this point, I was not worried. I thought I had this trip and the dancers in the bag. Unbeknownst to me, I would come to rely on Teri tremendously, to make my trip a success.

I had a few people working feverishly, campaigning for my trip, trying to line up dancers; trying to establish contact. When dancers are in the midst of production or a harsh rehearsal period, social media (my main means of communication with them) is an afterthought, if a thought at all. A friend of mine asked if I was considering canceling the trip. There was no way I could. Financially, it would not work. All I could do is throw hope up in the air and pray this didnt turn into one helluva vaca! So here I am, the night before I left, and I still had NO contact with the main person I was going to see. I really had little shoots scheduled. When I say little, I really mean none. There were was some interest, plenty of messages out there, but with the dancers not knowing their schedules a few days out, great curious and wonder was abound. Ok, I am not sure if that made sense. I was just trying to really bolster up the verbiage with some dramatic flair.

Thursday is here. Damned. Travel day. No shoots scheduled. No turning back. BOOOOOO!!!! Here goes nothing… I departed for the airport, experiencing some anxiety (in my chest – really). Was a bit home sick. I had only been a week removed from my last trip and being a family man, travel does wear on me. When I arrived in SF, I established contact with Teri and my good friend, Austin and began to figure out what the hell I was going to do. I knew I was going to meet Teri later that night at a club where I was scheduled to shoot Matt Stewart, dancer with San Fran Ballet, whose band was playing.

Until around 5, I was comfortably nestled in Starbucks sucking up coffee, comfort and free wifi. 5:00 finally arrives and by this time, I was feeling sullied. Not sure if that is the proper word, but I was not a happy camper. Here I am on the other side of the country and my only shoot scheduled was a band. WTF? Ugh, this must change! So, I met Teri at the club and we chatted some. She then asked me, “What time are you shooting Tiit?” My response… “I DONT KNOW!” Aye Carumba! I still hadn’t establish contact with him. So she asks, “Do you want me to call him? I have his number.” Well, this was clearly a no brainer. During this call, we established that he had a large chunk of time the following day to work with me AND he invited us to come to the theater and sit in on a company rehearsal on the stage. Teri and I were making plans to grab a bite to eat when she made that call. This was obviously a game changer. Dinner? To hell with food, I am going to the opera house and seeing ballet! AMAZING!!!!!!!! So incredible to be in that opera house watching the company rehearse. Also incredible was to watch Maria Kochetkova rehearse Chroma! This offered a clear take away… I need to get over to Russia. SERIOUSLY!

Also, here was a change in fate for me. Victoria, a soloist with the company (also known from hereon as Vika), had time and came over and chatted with us. Teri had arranged a shoot between her and I the following day. YAY TERI (AGAIN)!!!! So we went back to the club and I shot Matt’s show which was great. BTW, his band is Waking Saints. You should check them out!

The next day, I met Teri and Vika at the studios and we were to drive over to the Palace of Fine Arts. While in the lobby waiting for Vika to come back down, Teri bumped into another dancer from the company she knew, Jordan Hammond. Insert serendipitous moment here… Teri introduced us and informed Jordan I was here and still trying to line up dancers and asked if she was available. She happily said she was! BOOOYAAAAAAAAAAAA! So we quickly established the meeting time and location and said our, “see ya tomorrows!” She was so nice!

Off to the palace we now went for my first dance shoot! Along the drive there, Teri gave me Jordan’s cell # – I wanted to text her and have her invite her friend that she was in the lobby with. This was very much a “pardon the creepy fact that I am texting you and you did not give me your number thing, but hey I gotta question anyway…” Sadly, Patty was leaving the area and would not be back til Sunday night which was too late for me to shoot since I had a Monday am flight. Next time, perhaps…

So, we get to the palace finally and… GAAAAAAAAAAAAA! GORGEOUS!!! We created some amazing images here and we were having fun. This also marked my first trip AWAY from Polk St. YAY!!! Solid start to the day. Vika was very happy with the images too! HAPPY DANCER=HAPPY PHOTOG! We made a quick dash over to the marina and got some shots of her with the Golden Gate in the background. She happened to be wearing a sea foam greenish leo and white tutu. YES WERKK!!!! What an amazing first shoot of my trip, well dance shoot that is. What a sweet and gorgeous person Vika was. When the shoot was finished, we headed back to the SFB studios. That was my home base for meeting dancers. Teri and I were starving as we hadn’t had a real meal in a day. So, we stopped at Peets coffee for some beverages and a nibble. Unfortunately, this put be back a few minutes for a shoot with Tiit Helimets, who met us there. I just had to get something into my system.

Teri, once again, played tour guide and whisked us away to our shoot which took place at Grace Cathedral in Nob Hill area of SF. Tiit has a very manly demeanor and I knew that this cathedral with its architecture would compliment it just perfectly. Yup. I was right! It did. Tiit was great and was very happy with the images. I was so happy to finally have had the chance to meet and work with him! This concluded my day of shooting! Tired and weary from having to shlep my broken wheeled rolling (not really) camera bag all through out the hills of SF, I made my way back home for some rest as well as dump my cards and get the proofs ready! The time zone thing was def playing in…

Saturday arrived and I took the ferry into the city for my first shoot which was with Jordan, who I had met the day before in the lobby. I had decided to have her meeting me at the ferry building for the shoot. Plenty of spots there for scenic images! This also allowed me to sit down for a proper meal at Sinbads. My kind waitress sat me at a table with a waterfront view of the bridge and well, the water! I was also right next to an outlet so I was able to charge my phone! YAY!!!

Jordan was amazing and was very much into the shoot! We clicked right away, shared laughs, we talked about Boston – just had fun! We talked about her and her training, her trip to Boston, Boston IBC. I had to share my London based “mission impossible” story with her. We were somehow on topic… She got a kick out of it. We shot mostly on a pier with the bridge in the background. We did go over to another pier for a slightly different look. On this location, my ship came in! No really, a ship came into the photo! Could not have planned it better!

DOH! I am already at 1700 words and only into my 3rd dance shoot. After the shoot, Jordan and I made our way to the studios. That’s where I was meeting my next dancer, Courtney. We had a nice chat along the way. Once we were off the train, she suggested I shoot at Lyon St steps. She said it was really beautiful and not bogged down with tourists. When I pitched this to Courtney, her eyes lit up and said it was perfect!

Courtney is a soloist with San Francisco Ballet and also the loving wife of Matt Stewart, also a dancer with the company and as I mentioned earlier, front man for Waking Saints. Courtney is a very sweet and beautiful young lady (duh!). She has a very classic look, so we spent a lot time in a romantic tutu skirt in this flowery area. The surroundings had a very Romeo and Juliet gardeny feel and she nailed it. We had fun and got some beautiful elegant images that had a certain fierceness to it. She definitely gave it! After the shoot, we again headed back to the studios and I made my way back home to decompress and prep images. Sadly, tomorrow would be my final day of shooting but likely my most full day!

After a trip to the farmers market, Austin and I drove to our shoot at St Vincents. Austin and I were Facebook friends and I would see her in the studios, etc, when I went to Boston and we would just smile and wave hi. I officially met her when I was in Boston last May for the IBC. We started chatting some on Facebook and were talking about shooting together. We finally were able to make it happen while I was up there in May. We had an amazing shoot then and went for coffee where I bored the hell out of her with my life story lol. JK. We had a great conversation and have been good friends since. So, I was excited to see her and do a new shoot with her. Only this time, it would be more of a fashion shoot and no dance. EEEKKKK! How do I do this? Oofa. Well, we gave it a go and we got some decent shots. I had fun hanging with working with her. Its always relaxed and enjoyable.

When our shoot was over, I made my way to the studios again for my first dance shoot of the day. First up was with Myles Thatcher. He had asked me to shoot him for his moms line of mens ballet tights, Saut de Basque. Myles was great. Turns out he is a local boy. Well local to Philly. Well kinda. He is from Easton. But, if you are on the other side of the country, and you meet someone from the same state, they are local. We are both happy with the images! Next up was Diego. I met and shot Diego at the IBC in Boston last May. This was a short shoot as I was running behind but we had some great images! After Diego, was my final shoot of the trip, Ellen Rose. What a wonderful person and drop dead gorgeous! We shot in the courtyard next to the opera house, against the opera house and well, that’s about it. We are both very happy with the images, but there were a few that were epic! Again, we went with the romantic tutu skirt and since she is from Carolina, it seemed to fit – she also had that classic elegant look.

Back home I went to do my normal routine, eat, dump cards, prep proofs and pass out. I really did have an amazing time in San Francisco! I want to thank Austin and her family for their hospitality, Teri for making all these connections, all of the dancers I worked with, all of the dancers I did not work with but met and made me feel welcomed in SF, the Starbucks on Polk and Market for hours and hours of free wifi and electricity on 2 cups of java and anyone else I may have forgotten!

***there were a few moments in there that I could not recount in this post. You will have to wait for my memoirs to be published!

2011 Year in Review

Well, this was quite a daunting task… recapping all that happened in the last year. Hope I don’t leave anything out. To say the least, this was a banner year for me. I took on many new clients, both locally and out of state, many of whom have become friends. I launched a few new projects which is always exciting! We launched 2 successful Kickstarter campaigns, one of which took me to London, where I created wonderful imagery and made wonderful new friendships! I also became internationally published this year – 3 different countries outside of the US, actually! I did extensive traveling within the states, which is always exciting and fun. I am going to do a month by month recap. I had several guest postings on the Ballet Bag. I will do my best to be inclusive but I am going off the top of my head and some light tracking on FB, since this is a last minute idea.

January
January brought me some new clients and new work. I shot Jeanette who is now a trainee with San Francisco Ballet, for Tutu.Com. I also had a shoot with Pamela H who is a tap friend of mine. That same day, I shot the Harnett sisters, Genna and Alex. Genna is finishing up school and Alex is now an apprentice with Ballet Arizona. They were in for audition shots. January also took me down to Tampa to shoot Gaspar, the pirate ballet. This month also marked the birth and launch of Hope Dances, my dance outreach program for special needs kids. Last but not least, I worked with a new company. Well it was new to me, Delaware Contemporary Dance Theatre.

February
This month brought me back to South Jersey to work for Dance Factory. I have shot for them for the last few years. Always a fun day and I love Stacey, the director. She is the best! Hope Dances was involved in the first ever Tap Teaser on Tour, which was really exciting. I photographed, Tapas, for Ballet Fleming, of which I am now a steering committee member and their company photographer. In a very ironic twist of fate, I became the back up or plan b to Lois Greenfield who was supposed to do shots for Dance4Life dance school. Things fell through and Ms Chauntee called me and asked if I was available. Fortunately I was. What a fun night that was! That group is just plain ole CRAY CRAY!

March
This was a neat month. I had a few in studio for fun, personal things. I also shot Belfast Connection for their promo content. This was a blast. They are always a hoot and brought in a wee taste of whiskey to help jump start the shoot. I also had in, Isabelle Seiler, who is currently training at JKO school in NYC. I shot a bunch of live Irish bands including Blackthorn and Drop Kick Murphys. DKM was really fun as I went backstage and interviewed Tim Brennan who plays accordian and banjo for the band! I also went up to Boston to shoot Boston Ballet’s rehearsal for ELO Experience. Also, I worked on some personal projects with some of the dancers. I always love going up there!!

April
April brought me to Baltimore to photograph the rehearsals for Rasta Thomas’ Tap Stars as well as headshots for the cast. I also begun shooting for the Inspirational Irish Women nominees. This is a yearly event where a committee votes on and nominates xx number of women who they feel are exceptionally inspirational in the Irish community. Last year they had a painter create the portraits which were done in an abstract method. This year, I was fortunate enough to have been commissioned to create them! On Easter, I had the fun opportunity to travel to NYC to photograph Avi Scher and Dancers, which included Carla Korbes and Seth Orza of Pacfic Northwest Ballet. Barre Boys had their event, Happy Hour which featured an exhibit as well as an hour long performance of men in dance!

May
May is always busy for me. I work with 3 different local dance studios for photo day in May. In addition to that, I did a promo shoot for Too Darn Hot – an all female tap revue. Inspirational Irish Women had their event including the exhibit of my portraits. I photographed a performance on top of the Intrepid battleship. One of the biggest things for me this month was to shoot the first edition of the Boston IBC. What a wonderful opportunity this was! My images from this got some serious action in the press. One of them was in the May or June issue of Auditorium magazine from South Korea.

June
Ah June… mark of summer! This was a pretty active month for me. I had the opportunity to work with a young dancer from the Rock School, Alston MacGill. We had our first ever Dance for Dreams Gala for Hope Dances. Barre Boys celebrated its 1st birthday. I did a shoot with Allie Parsons who was wearing Margot Fonteyn’s original tutu from the birthday offering! I also had shoots with Holly Curran from Ballet Fleming, Kat Richter and Abi Kurdin. I traveled to DC to shoot with Sona from The Washington Ballet, her husband and father as well as with Septime Webre, Artist Director for TWB. I also flew to Tampa for the better part of a week to shoot a ballroom competition. Well, I was the personal photographer for one of the competitors. While there, I met with and shot a dancer from Orlando Ballet as well as Peter Stark.

July
Well, I must be honest. By now, I am deathly tired of planes and airports. I mean seriously. lol. July doesn’t seem to have been as busy. At least according to my calendars as I am going back. In July, I spent probably about 4-5 days in Savannah, George to shoot for DTI, dance competition. My first day down there, I drove to Hilton Head Island where I met and had the chance to work with Angie and Mollie Sansone. Angie dances with Kansas City Ballet and Mollie for Nashville. We did a shoot on a plantation down there. That was really really fun!! The day after I returned home, I had the chance to shoot a dear friend’s wedding. Lisa and I have been friends for a few years – I found her on craigslist. I love her to death. So, it was an emotional day for me. Also this month, I was published in UK’s Dancing Times and Philippines’ Town and Country magazine! I also had the pleasure of working with a set of ballerina twins who happened to have the same disorder my son was diagnosed with. The family and I are dear friends.

August
Now we are talking!! August, aside from being my birthday month, was epic!!! In August, I flew to London for a week. Wow oh wow was this an amazing trip!! I flew out of Philly Intl and into Heathrow. It was an overnight flight going in. I will include my blog which has a daily log for the trip. But, to summarize it, I spent a week in London that was fully funded by my generous supporters. While there, I met with the girls from the Ballet Bag, shot dancers from Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and Hamburg Ballet, saw Mariinsky do Don Q, SHOT Mariinsky’s dress of Robbins/Balanchine Triple Bill, shot Mariinsky principal dancer Igor Kolb on the rooftop of the ROH. Doesn’t get more epic than that!

That was the very beginning of the month. At the very end of it, I traveled to Salt Lake City to lend my services for a fundraiser to benefit a young lady with stage 4 terminal cancer. This trip left me a changed man as well as making some new life long friends! This trip also inspired my new series, empoweredME. What a great way to spend my birthday.

I think one of the headshots I did for the new director of the dance department at Boston Conservatory was in Dance Teacher this month.

September
September was unfortunately quiet for me. We had a Hope Dances-9/11 event which was wonderful. I also had an image from RHPM in the NYTimes Sunday calendar section as well as a 6 page spread in Dance Studio Life with my BIBC images AND a 2 page spread as an ad for DTI. That same RHPM image appeared in Connecticut Magazine either this month or October. I had the pleasure this month of photographing Allenda Witzel, a young ballerina who was studying at Kirov in DC. We had mutual friends at CPYB. Since then, I have remained in touch and friends with her mother.

October
I finally got my mojo back and the phone was ringing like crazy. One of my images was featured on the cover of SI Focus magazine, which is a magazine for those dealing with Sensory Processing Disorder. I had wrote an article for the magazine for this month. One of my images from the ASH Workshop was in Dance Teacher Magazine. I celebrated my second year at the studio (or was it 3?). I picked up a new client, United Dance Merchants of America and shot their Jersey show! We also launched the Portraits of a Disorder exhibit, featuring images of children diagnosed with SPD. At the beginning of the month we had a Barre Boys exhibit at the Performance Garage. I did work for a new client, Jovo Dance, which was great. I love them! Also did some family portraits for the Kurdins. In October, we did a SLEW of shoots for empoweredME! I also was in NY shooting for that and for Tutu.Com including a few shots at the Occupy Wall Street scene. In October I also did the new promo shots for Ballet Fleming. This is always fun as is the theme – FUN. No, that is the theme they go for… fun!

November
This was a great month!!! I started the month by shooting BalletX rehearsal for a piece for the Ballet Bag. I had a small exhibit at the Dance for Dimes event at Widener. I interviewed Pennsylvania Ballet’s Artistic Director, Roy Kaiser for Barre Boys and photographed him at their new property on the Avenue of the Arts. I did a promo shoot for Renaissance Academy’s Nutcracker. Some more empoweredME shoots. I did Chesco’s dance team shots again as well as a new client from the Rock School, Isabel Montague. Ursinus College and PDP brought me back to shoot shows then flew up to Boston to shoot for Boston Conservatory. Some of the dancers needed shots, so the director brought me up. While there, I made some new friends. I had a mini shoot with Amanda who is in Boston Ballet’s school. She wanted images for a Christmas card. I also did a shoot for Alex Heier who is also a student at Boston Ballet and her mom is on their board. What a wonderful family!!! My dear friends, the Ramsay family played host to me as well as chauffeur! This was one of the few times where I was actually sad to be leaving. What an amazing weekend!!!

In my studio, I had a male ballet dancer who is studying at Butler. This was a nice treat. Most of my commissioned work for audition shots are from ballerinas. He was a lot of fun and very open to things!

I also had two of the dancers from the NY Knicks in for headshots. I had shot one of the girls’ sisters a year ago for dance shots. This was a fun session. They were a blast to work with!

Black Friday, I made an impromptu trip to NYC to shoot THE Misty Copeland for empoweredME. What an AMAZING experience that was!!! She was a delight to work with (duh) and seemed to be really happy with the images. They were simple yet powerful! Although I had told my wife that I was free that day to do family things, I simply could not pass on this opportunity. We still got to go to the movies when I got back.

3 days later, I found myself back up in the big apple for a shoot with Jon & Abi Stafford of NYCB for a piece I was doing on brothers and sisters who dance in the same company, for the Ballet Bag. Before my shoot with them, I had lined up a mini shoot and interview with Oliver Swan-Jackson who dances for Suzanne Farrell Ballet, for Barre Boys. He was a lot of fun and a nice guy!

December
This December was much easier then last. I only shot 3 Nutcrackers and they were all within 30 mins of my house which is nice. I launched my very fist coffee table book which was for empoweredME. Artistically, I knocked off one of the things on my bucket list – maternity shoot en pointe! I actually did two! One was with Fang from Koresh Dance and her hubby Tommy Gant who is also a ballet dancer. The second was with Pennsylvania Ballet Soloist, Gabriella Yudenich. Some of my images from CPYB’s Nutcracker last year saw some life this month. One of my snow scenes were part of a 2 page spread in the local paper in Carlisle plus the cover of 717 mag.

DCDT company stopped by the studio for an off the wall shoot. They are always a hoot, esp Ms Chauntee! Project Moshen was in the studio for some new promo shots. That was a lot of fun! I have been friends with Kelli Moshen on FB for a few years now, so it was also nice to meet her!

The last few shoots I had, yielded some of the best images I have created all year. One of my favorites was with Sara Rodriguez from University of Utah. We grabbed 3 different looks in one shoot. So so so awesome! I love her!!! I also had a visit from Lisa Fitzgerald from Exit 12. She was a blast! I ended my work year with a shoot with Simon Hoke, a young budding cavalier who is studying at CPYB.

So, this is 2011 in a nutshell. There are a lot of shoots that took place that did not get mentioned and I enjoyed every one of them! This was a banner year to say the very least! The good thing about doing this is it gives me clear picture of what I did so I can set new goals for 2012! THAT is exciting!

I am taking holiday from Dec 23-Jan 3 to spend time with my family and decompress. When I come back, we will have a new website within days and exciting new content to release!!!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all! Thank you so much for your support, I love you!!!

Free Print Give Away!!!!

Ok folks, so I am giving away a print of the image below. But… before I do that and discuss the details of the contest, let me first give some history of this image and its creation…

Story:
I had become friends with Jeff & Lia Cirio from Boston Ballet through Facebook. I actually wound up talking with their mother, Mimi, more then them. At that time, I was just finishing a photo series, Spirit of the Fallen, which paid tribute to the fallen officers of the Philadelphia Police Department. I had the idea of taking that same concept but on the road. So we eventually set up the shoot for me to come up to Boston and work with several of the dancers from Boston Ballet for the spin off project.

The shoots took place September 10-12. I recall watching some of the 9/11 tributes while in the lobby of the BB studios. So, during this weekend, I was to be working with Jeff & Lia Cirio, James Whiteside, Whitney Jensen, Kathleen Breen-Combes, all from Boston Ballet and Dylan G-Bowley who at the time was with Trey McIntyre.

Friday night, I did shoots with Jeff, James and Dylan for Barre Boys and Lia, just because. This is where I captured the infamous picture of James, below.

Saturday, I was set to work with all of the dancers, except Kathleen, for my winged series. She had other obligations for that day so we would work together on Sunday. We got some great shots. Here is a link to some behind the scenes footage. There are 4 videos posted on my Youtube account. Also below is a shot of me and the dancers.

Video:

Me, Jeff & Lia Cirio, Whitney Jensen and James Whiteside. Photo Credit: Dylan G-Bowley

So now, finishing the story and getting to the contest… I had a really great shoot with Kathleen. We did the Angels shoot on the rooftop of Boston Ballet, which made me nervous as hell. I do NOT do heights. We also shot on the street, just some fun artsy stuff but we first shot in one of the studios using just available light. With that setting, in a large open studio with all windows, her talent and grace plus a white skirt, we were bound to create amazing images and we did!

Here is a shot of her and I on the rooftop at the end of the shoot. I look barrel chested cause I was sucking in the gut lol. Wow, looking at it, I realize how OBVIOUS it is that I am sucking it in. Dear god.

THE CONTEST…

The contest is easy. Simply subscribe to my blog by entering your email address when you go to http://brianmengini.wordpress.com/. You will see the option on the right side up towards the top. That is it. Just subscribe to my blog and you are automatically entered to win!

One winner will be chosen at random, to win an 11×14 black and white print of that image featuring Boston Ballet principal dancer, Kathleen Breen Combes.

You MUST subscribe via email by NEXT FRIDAY, September 23rd to be eligible!!!

****YOU MUST CONFIRM SUBSCRIPTION IN ORDER TO QUALIFY!!!!****

Dancers Against Cancer

It was about a year ago, I think, when I first became aware of DAC. I quite honestly, can not tell you how I learned of them. However it did happen, I am glad for it. I whole heartedly believe in what Mare and company are doing. What are they doing exactly, you ask?

Marilyn Hess founded Dancers Against Cancer along with her daughter and niece, to help raise funds for those battling cancer. They accomplish this through sales of their tshirts and a variety of other community events.

For their full story, please visit here:

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/article_22cf0d07-a9db-542a-9681-db88708abce5.html

I was eager to do my little part in the beginning, buying a shirt and pushing the events on my page. In time, we discussed the possibility of having me come out to Utah to be part of a fundraiser. Eventually, those talks picked up and I traveled there to help raise funds for a young lady named Sarah Hays Shurtz.

Here is the page for Sarah:

http://www.facebook.com/sweatinforsarah

I arrived in Salt Lake City on Friday the 26th, my birthday. Sadly, as I landed in Denver to change planes, I learned that one of my childhood friends lost his battle with colon cancer. He had been battling it off and on for years. Such a tragic loss!

Marilyn picked me up from the airport and we traveled some doing site visits. During this adventure, I had the pleasure of meeting the owner of the Dance Club dance studio. We drove around some more then headed to Bridal Veil Falls for my first shoot!

Here is a shot from there!

From here, we traveled to Sundance and shot at the resort there. I loved it here! so beautiful! Here is a shot from there…

Here is a shot of me at work:

This ended my session with Bree and it was time to head up to Squaw Peak for a session with Kenzie, Mare’s daughter. OMG, the ride UP the mountain was soooo white knuckle for me. I don’t do well with heights. Once I was up there, I was fine, but it was the lack of road on my side of the car, on the way that was the issue. lol

Immediately, Kenzie and I connected and were very comfortable and joking around. She has a great, warm and fun personality and I took to it from the start. We did two wardrobe changes and they wanted sunset shots.

Here is a sample from the first one:

Here is one from the second, and my favorite outfit, with the sunset behind us.

This is one of me and Kenzie. She was so cool. I think I have a new little sister!

I had so much fun up there. Such great images too! After the session, we went out for a bite to eat. I really enjoyed the meal and our conversation! It was getting late and we had an early morning ahead of us at the Sweatin for Sarah 5k, so Mare dropped me off at where I was staying (with Kenzie’s dad) in Orem.

Saturday morning, we headed over to Highland High School for the Sweatin for Sarah 5k. Here, I finally met Gev, from Season 4 of SYTYCD. He was a blast. I took some candids of the runners, then awaited Sarah’s entrance on a motorcycle.

Everyone received a purple balloon to be released when Sarah arrived.

She was so overwhelmed by the show of support and love!

After the festivities were done, I finally got a chance to meet Sarah and had my picture taken with her. I was moved to tears and could hardly make eye contact with her. Just an amazing spirit!

To help raise money, people had their pictures taken with Gev for $5.00.

Before we knew it, the parking lot had cleared and it was now time for my shoot with Gev. He was a blast to work with and we got some great images!

Dinner time was fastly approaching and having not eaten much since breakfast, we headed over to Park City for some grub. We landed at Red Rock, I think. I ordered nothing but fried food and beer. Let me tell you how well that went over that night. EEEEEK. The SIZE of these onion rings.

After the meal, back to Orem, I went. Just chilled for a while, then Jeff’s roommate, Mark, wanted to watch the movie, 300, so he and I headed down to the man cave with drinks and snacks and some theater action, on this bad boy…

Great night of manly bonding! I really loved those guys!

Sunday was a very chill day. I had one shoot, locally. In fact, it was right out front of the house. Here is why:

Well, that and I didnt have a car. But with amazing scenery right out front, we didnt need to travel.

Here is Zach. Zach is a young boy with SPD and is part of a project I am doing for SPD.

We had fun!!! This also marked the rest of my “work” in Utah. I did some editing and putzed around mostly on Sunday, helped the boys with some things around the house, then we had dinner and watched the VMAs. They were fun to watch it with!!! Did I tell you I loved my roomies! Sooo much fun! Wish I had more time to hang with them!!!

The next morning, I was back at the airport and on my way home. I had so much fun in Utah. Met a lot of amazing people. What a life changing trip!

Here are some behind the scenes of me shooting:

http://www.youtube.com/user/bmengini?feature=mhee#p/a/u/2/N5FPUTvoKp0

Here are some behind the scenes of Sweatin for Sarah:

http://www.youtube.com/user/marehesstv?feature=chclk

DTI Nationals

I am down here in Savannah, Georgia, to offer sessions to the many wonderful dancers who are participating in the DTI (Dance Troupe Inc) Nationals at the Savannah Civic Center. Currently, they are offering workshops and rehearsals with the competition being at the end of the week.

I was approached a while ago by Cindy Hollingsworth about offering sessions down here. I “met” Cindy through Allie Parsons dance teacher, Pam Wurdeman. Cindy mentioned to Pam that she wanted to use some of my images of Allie for her ads in Dance Studio Life magazine. So, from time to time, Cindy will use my images in her ads. She then approached me about setting up shop down here and doing sessions. I was excited and immediately agreed to it! Cindy has now been a long time supporter of my work and I like to help those who help me.

It is ridiculously hot down here. I broke my first sweat by 8:30 while walking to the venue. I am enjoying my time here though. I had my first session this am with Katie & Kevin Watson, a young brother and sister. Katie is more interested in contemporary dance with Kevin being into hip hop. We shot for about 30 minutes and got some great shots. I am very happy with them! Below are some teasers! 2 and a half days here shooting!!

Poke Buddies….

Sometimes ya just need a good poke! When you do, ya gotta have a good poke buddy on stand by… Someone you can call when the urge hits you! My poke buddy is in Florida!

When I got to Tampa, I did my usual check-in on Facebook at the airport. Cheryl Ogle and I have been friends on Facebook for a while and when I “checked in” I saw she had done the same at some point previously. I had forgotten she was down there! Within the next day or two, I posted on my status about Tampa and she commented. Well, we quickly made plans to hook up on my last day. By that time I was in need of some R&R and a good poke! Get your mind out of the gutter. We poke on Facebook.

So, Cheryl and her daughter Skylar showed me around Tarpon Springs and we did mini shoots of each other. It was a lot of fun!

We wound up back at her house then went out for lunch as the local place wasn’t open yet.

From lunch we went to Clearwater for a little bit.

After, we went back to her house for coffee, met her son and hubby, who had been out all day looking for a boat. Then, it was off to the airport for my return trip home.

Here are some images from our shoot!

I had so much fun hanging with Cheryl for the day! Looking forward to doing it again in January!