Happy Halloween!

Scari Cari doll, originally uploaded by Rachel McCauley.

Hope everyone has more treats than tricks tonight.

Please to enjoy photos from my sister Stephanie's 30th birthday Halloween bash.

Avocado Festival

Treading lightly, originally uploaded by Rachel McCauley.

Attended the Avocado Festival in Carpinteria a few weeks back with some friends and family.

We reveled in all things green such as guacamole, deep fried avocado, avocado ice cream and avocado beer. After we stuffed ourselves we walked to the beach and enjoyed the sun, sand and surf while we digested the memories (and avocado) of a day well spent.

Slideshow of the rest of the day

Headshots

, originally uploaded by Rachel McCauley.

Jennifer Damon, a lovely voice over actress here in LA, asked me to shoot some headshots for her. I had never done them before so I was nervous yet excited.

With my Canon 40D, 50mm f/1.8 and lovely assistants in tow we headed over to the North Hollywood park. I shot a few there, but the lighting was a bit difficult and the backgrounds were a bit too busy for me even though I was shooting her with an aperture of f/2.8 to f/4.

So, we headed across the street to a church and a school. There I was able to find not so busy backgrounds in the different types of brick walls. Plus, the lighting was better since we were getting some from the sun bouncing off the concrete sidewalk.

All in all, I think our biggest issue was the wind. The day wasn't too windy but it was windy enough to blow her hair astray here and there. I noticed afterwards on my computer that many of the shots had just one stray hair in front of her eyes and not knowing Photoshop it pretty much rendered it unusable.  Thank goodness I took many that day.

Also, there was a bum who tried to buy her clothes but that's another story. ;D

I thank Jenn for giving me this opportunity. I had so much fun during the shoot and in the editing process as well. Not that I had to do much editing. She is so photogenic and knew exactly how to pose and what she wanted out of the shoot that she made my job easy. She also taught me a lot about what photographers should know when taking headshots. Who knows? Maybe this could become a regular gig.

Let's hope so!

Here is a slideshow of more from that day.

Marauder's Map Tee

Marauder's Map Tee, originally uploaded by Rachel McCauley.

Love this shirt.

This is my friend Shan.

I believe she got it at the WB store when we were at the studios.

Haunt

Leg up, originally uploaded by Rachel McCauley.

Dude, it's October. You know what that means. Time to celebrate All Hallows' Eve, Hallowe'en, Hallow's Evening, Samhain, Halloween or whatever you call it. Tis one of the best times of the year!

I know most of you will be heading to Knott's Scary Farm's Haunt for a little bit of spookedy fun. For those going I have a job for you. Go to the Lockdown: The Asylum maze, spot the above picture in one of the cells, point and go, "Hey! I know the person that took that!". 

Yes, the photo above from a photo shoot I did, of the lovely Missy Spencer, is there to keep the monster residing in that cell happy. 

Be there and be scared. Muahaha!

Here is a slideshow if you want to see the rest of the photos from the shoot. NSFW

The Ellen Show

In line for the Ellen Degeneres show!, originally uploaded by Rachel McCauley.

I was lucky enough to attend the taping of Ellen Degeneres' 1st Breast Cancer Awareness show for the month of October which will be airing today October 1 at 4PM on NBC.

If you want to see my goofy face on TV along with Steph and Cari's you can catch us in the background of the game segment with Kate Walsh.

I took the photo above with my iPhone since cameras aren't allowed. My mother, who is pictured in the red, is a very most recent survivor of breast cancer so this was an extra poignant taping of a show I have ever been to. Many of the attendees themselves were survivors or currently fighting. It was a bit daunting to see just how many people have been affected by this disease but despite what they have or are going through everyone was in great spirits.

Ellen's own mother is a survivor of breast cancer as well. She really puts her heart in to the fight against breast cancer. Ellen is an amazing human being as are the many other survivors that were there.

Yesterday, I truly witnessed Ellen's mantra of:

LAUGH. DANCE. CURE