Prior to this year, I had never seen any version of The Nutcracker. In December 2010, I was at the show 21 times and saw The Washington Ballet perform more than half of that. Basically, I donated my time to operate their photobooth, where people paid $10 for one photo. It was a pretty assignment as I'd walk over to the Warner Theater every night in December after work and then hangout and photograph customers for 10 to 15 minutes. The problem though was that we had to print the photos so that they could walk away with their photograph. The printer, needless to say, was like that printer on Office Space.

But, the photobooth did raise over $7,000 for The Washington Ballet and I got to see the show 21 times. Septime Webre's production is pretty amazing.

The Washingtonian magazine chose "The Panda on the Metro" as one of their favorite photos.  They liked it so much that they also printed it out on their December issue.  I ended up buying thirteen copies.

The Shoot for Change + BoConcept events at Tysons Galleria and Georgetown generated over $2000, which went directly to SOS Children's Villages and Courage for Kids.

Congratulations to the BoConcept team for hosting a fabulous event. In addition, I want to thank Kenyetta Greene Makeup Artist and the Ted Gibson & Hela Spa team for their support in making the photo shoot experience that much more memorable. Each one of them took several hours out of their extremely busy schedule to volunteer their time, creativity, and energy to help raise money for two children charities.

TED GIBSON SALON & HELA SPA
Neven Radovic
Ulysses Powell
Ian Mccabe
Isabel Azocar
Jessica Dunaway
Consuella Lopez

KENYETTA GREENE MAKEUP ARTIST
www.kenyettagreene.com
Kemy Greene

Personally, I would like to thank my family for flying out from Dallas and Seattle and also my friends, Jen, Angie, Tia, Anastasia, Merissa, and Rebecca for their help and support. =)

VIDEO FOOTAGE: http://vimeo.com/15698903

Looks like I'll be having a photo exhibit in DC around June and maybe a second one sometime after that! So crazy. Basically, there are two ladies who really like my work and tonight was the first time I met them in person.I shot their photos at a Pink Jams fashion event in February and they really liked the photos I took of them. One lady, Jennifer, is a breast cancer survivor and she told me that the photo I took of her during that fashion event was just her absolute favorite. She said that she never would have imagined having that kind of picture when she was going through her cancer and it sorta hit her when she saw the photo. One photo I took of her caught her really laughing as she's walking down the runway.The other lady, Angela, is also a big fan of my photos. When I met both of them tonight for the first time at an art exhibit, Angela was telling me all her favorite pictures - and it was so funny because some of them dated back from the beginning - like the "I Miss You" or even a shot of Paris or Budapest that I barely remember.So both of them want to organize and host an event for me. =) They already have the venue, talked to the owners, and now it's just a matter of picking a date.I actually had never met two people who were that excited about my work (maybe Jill or MJ). They kept on and on and telling everyone about my work - even introducing me to the artist who had the show tonight. It was kinda overwhelming. And it was definitely exciting.

Last weekend, I was involved in a fashion photoshoot for a nonprofit organization called "Fashion Fights Poverty". And today, I just saw the electronic version of the magazine they publish to help raise money for their programs.

I still cannot believe it! This has multiple layers of goodness for me in that, first, I was involved in a shoot that was designed to be in a magazine. And secondly, it was for an official nonprofit organization that leverages fashion. Knowing all of this and working with the team involved during the shoot, I was actually very nervous. It got to a point where I couldn't even figure out how to do a simple thing like change lenses! Luckily for me, the creative director and founder of Fashion Fights Poverty was very reassuring and made sure I knew that he liked how the photos were turning out.

Anyway, just wanted to share that with you. You can see the electronic version by visiting the link below this email. I also pointed out the pages of where I saw my work and/or name (I never thought I would be this giddy about this stuff).

And you can buy one for $20 and help raise money for the programs that Fashion Fights Poverty support. Considering that this is mine (and Shoot for Change's) first published work, it might be worth more when you try to sell it on ebay later. Just a thought. =)

Great times.

--

Pages 4-5
The photo in the middle in between the Editor's and President's letter! I also took the photo of the founder, Michael Dumlao (small picture on page 5).

Page 7
There's a little info about Shoot for Change and of "Walter Grio" with a small black/white picture.

Pages 28 - 33
These photos were taken in Michael's basement - ridiculous. It even had this old school bicycle! My favorite picture is the one with the bike. The first draft of the layout had this as a small photo, but I'm so happy they turned it into a full page layout and the cover for the section.

Page 41
Credits page for the "Mix and Match" photoshoot and more text about Shoot for Change.

Cover Page (icing on the cake)
Credit says "Fashion spreads by Jodi King and Walter Grio" To even be in the same sentence with Jodi King is just crazy. As you can see in the photos she took, she is just on a whole different level.

Link to the magazine:
http://magcloud.com/browse/Issue/78981

Link to Fashion Fights Poverty:
http://www.fashionfightspoverty.org

Here are some photos from the "Fashion for Paws" event that took place at the Embassy of Italy last night. It was a pretty fun event with TONS of people. I think there were some VIPs there but the only one I recognized was Clinton Portis. haha.

This event benefited the Washington Humane Society and basically the "models" each raised a certain amount of money to get to walk the runway. I was slightly disappointed that not all the dogs on the runway came from the shelter, but I guess the bottom line is that they were able to raise over $300k.

Here is the link to the photos:
http://modelforchange.com/section/160931_Fashion_for_Paws.html

one night, i woke up and thought about masks. i wanted models wearing a mask. the next morning, i went to eastern market and bought a zebra mask. i had already shot with a lamb mask and now i had this dream of shooting a model wearing a zebra mask and a white dress. dream come true.

In a span of one week, I went from having zero experience in shooting fashion runway shows to now being somewhat of an expert. I learned a lot which included sometimes having to beat down other people from the press so that they wouldn't take my spot. I also learned to show up AT LEAST an hour early if you want to have a decent chance of having a good spot. And as the show starts, you still have to muscle your way as the photographers and the audience act like they're about to board a Southwest Airlines flight. At one point before the show, I even put my bag in front of me to serve as a "barrier" between me and other people. I thought it was an awesome idea until someone decided to sit on it. Lesson learned.