Justine Ungaro

2007-06-15T09:54:00.001-07:00

NEW WEBSITE/ NEW BLOG

I just wanted to tell everyone that after months of hard work by Tea Brennan my new website has launched and I must say it is pretty fabulous. Please come for a visit, justineungaro.com. Also, please come visit the new blog. Be sure to bookmark the new page as I will be posting my blogs there from now on. Thanks for the support everyone!

xo,
Justine

2007-06-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

BABY DAY

I have been insanely busy during the past week I've been in D.C. so I've got tons to catch up on. I thought the first should be what I'm referring to as "Baby Day"...that was today where I spent some time with the latest additions to my life. I went to visit my beautiful "nieces" (the daughters of two of my oldest and closest friends), Payton and Ryane. First I went over to Mary and Andy's house to see Ryane who is about 12 weeks old. I think she looks exactly like both of her parents and has the hugest most beautiful blue eyes...you just can't fight those strong Powderly genes. :) They like to call her an orangutan/ dolphin because she makes squeaky noises and holds onto you like a little monkey.
We put Ryane in her daddy's firefighter helmet which was unbelievably adorable, although it didn't last too long. We may try again in a few weeks.

And here she is very happy on her mommy's shoulder.

Directly from there I headed over to Kelly and Erich's house. They were kind enough to loan me a car over the weekend so that I wouldn't have to rent one. Thanks again guys! :) So, I got to spend some quality time with Payton Marie Hoffman who is the newest edition to our big happy family. She's such a little peanut, still tiny but a fiesty little one. We stuck her in a basket wrapped in a beautiful blanket (knitted by her grandmother Marylou) to take some pictures, she didn't seem to mind too much. Eventually she got tired of being nude and her mommy rescued her. She does have HUGE feet by the way, in case you read my previous speculation. Here are a couple of images...

2007-06-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

NIKKI & PETER'S ENGAGEMENT SESSION

Yesterday evening I headed over to the Marine Corps Memorial, more popularly known as "Iwo Jima" to shoot Nikki & Peter's engagement portraits. They are a fabulous couple who are getting married on this year's most popular date, 7/7/07. This particular date has created something of a phenomenon in the wedding industry...literally everyone is booked, it's like there aren't enough vendors around to take care of all of the brides who want to get married on this date. Luckily though Nikki and I managed to find eachother and I'm really looking forward to their wedding. Here are a few images from our session.

This turned out to be a terrific "D.C." location since you can see all of the monuments from up on the hill as well as Arlington Cemetary...all from the same location. Can you spot the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial in the background? These were lit by the sun like fireballs at this point so I shot in RAW (as usual) and used layers in order to get the right exposure for the couple as well as the background. I just love the magic of photoshop! :)

2007-06-07T12:24:00.001-07:00

SHUT UP STELLA WEBISODE #5

2007-06-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

SHE'S HERE!

Payton Marie Hoffman (as impatient as she is adorable) arrived 4 weeks early at 5:05pm on May 31st, weighing in at an impressive 5 lbs. 11 oz. and almost 19 inches long. I think the feet have yet to be measured but I imagine they are probably of a formidable size. Everyone is home and doing great! Here are Payton's first pictures. She and baby Ryane Ashley Devlin a.k.a. "RAD" will both be getting their first official portrait sessions (by me of course) on my visit to D.C. this week. :)

2007-06-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

Michael just sent this to me which he pulled off of the message board on Kay's website, www.kayhanley.com. One of the Cleo fans used my picture and created some "apple art". I changed the font a little to make it more accurate. :)

2007-06-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

REDCAR SHOW

Wednesday night Gary and I headed over to Spaceland in Silverlake to see Michael play with a band called Redcar. They were so incredible. Michael played bass which I have never seen him play before. Such a really great band, can't wait to see them play again. Brought my camera and grabbed a few pictures.

USA Mike on the bass

They even had a string section for some songs...

2007-05-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

FUN WITH REMOTES

I'm sure this video is hilarious for any photographers out there who have been to a trade show before. Here are David Jay, Kevin Swan & Nathan Holritz spicing things up with an apple remote control during the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) trade show. So funny! Is it funny to non-photographers? Please tell me, or are we all just big geeks? :)

2007-05-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

OLIVER & I TO BE FEATURED IN MAGAZINE AD

Check this out, Oliver and I will be appearing with other wedding photographers in an ad for Gary Fong's "We love our Fong Dongs" ad campaign. Pretty cool, huh?

2007-05-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

SHUT UP STELLA WEBISODE #4

2007-05-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

NEW WEDDING SLIDESHOW

I just finished posting a new slideshow of wedding images so take a look. Thank you to the beautiful and talented Nina Gordon for the music. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

2007-05-27T01:11:00.000-07:00

A SATURDAY NIGHT IN HOLLYWOOD

Okay, so I think tonight my very well have been one of the most completely random evenings I've had in L.A. so far. First Gary and I met up with David Rich (Janet's husband) and Lisa at the Arclight to see "Once". It was so amazing, unlike anything I've ever seen before. I don't really want to say anything specific about it but please go see it!

As we were leaving the theatre, Lisa asked if everyone was going home or did we want to go to Bobcat Goldthwait's birthday party? That seemed like the most random thing we could possibly do so we all got in our cars and drove to this funky little gallery called FAKE. www.fakedotcom.com. (please excuse these photos, they were shot with my phone)

It was full of all sorts of crazy art. This was my favorite piece, it's called Crazy Person Magazine.

In case you can't read them, some of the headlines are:
"What the voice in your head isn't telling you"
"New! Tin foil hats just in time for spring"
"Paranoid? Look behind you."
"Double Issue, over 100 pages of gibberish"
"Price: 1 handful of dirt"

So anyway, we walked in and there were only about 25 people there and everyone was watching this bizarre little jam band playing weird songs that sounded like they were making them up as they went along. Then Gary noticed that the singer was Tom Kenny, the voice of Sponge Bob Squarepants. Okay, so I got to watch Sponge Bob serenade Bobcat Goldthwait for his birthday...talk about random.

After the "show", we stuck around for a while to eat some donut muffin things from Big Sugar and to tell Bobcat happy birthday. Such a nice nice guy. What a fun night!

2007-05-25T13:27:00.000-07:00

WEBSITE COMING SOON!

I just paid a visit to my fabulous web designer's home page and I see that my in-progress design is up on her site as the current project. Tea is such an incredible designer as you can see and I'm so excited for my site to go live soon. If anyone out there needs a new website you definitely should stop by to visit her site and look through her portfolio, www.linkartist.com.au. You can see what the main page will look like in the lower right corner of the screen...

2007-05-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

SHUT UP STELLA WEBISODE #3

Just wait til the real tv show...you all are going to love it and you can say you knew the girls when... :)

2007-05-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

I CRASHED THE BMI MUSIC AWARDS

Well sort of. Last week Gary and I tagged along with Kara DioGuardi to the BMI Music Awards with our cameras...just for the hell of it really.

We rode along in the limo with all of the girls from Art House Entertainment...they were having such a good time playing jokes on Stephen, Kara's business partner. At one point they called him to say that Kara had too much to drink and that the limo had to pull over for her to throw up. He totally didn't buy it but it got some good laughs.

The awards were held at the Regent Beverly Wilshire a.k.a. the "Pretty Woman" hotel. Recognize the lobby? :)

I saw my girl Lisa Loeb in the press line.

Here she is doing one of the poses I taught her...arms away from the body!

Here is Kara being interviewed for E!

And running into the beautiful Kat McPhee

Gary and I both agreed that she should just give up music and be a movie star instead, just so stunning.

I'm not sure why but Jesse Metcalf from Desperate Housewives was there...and super cute!

Jesse w/ the president of BMI and some other guys...I obviously didn't belong there since I didn't know who anyone was :)

Me & Gary, photo by Lisa Loeb...notice anything new?

At this point, everyone started moving into the ballroom for the awards themselves. Gary and I were about to leave but then Kara caught us and dragged us in and sat us down at a table with everyone from Art House. We sat there and drank wine and ate filet as if we had actually been invited. No one seemed to care so we stayed for the whole thing. I was not allowed to have my camera in there but no kicked me out.
The Foo Fighters winning an award

Kara receiving an award for a Bo Bice song

She received 3 awards that night. Yay Kara!

2007-05-23T18:52:00.000-07:00

BIRTHDAY/ ENGAGEMENT PICTURES @ PINZ

I know that a lot of you have been waiting to see some pictures from the big night! So here they are courtesy of Jessie. I was too much of a dope that night to remember to bring my camera.

The first picture of the ring

Kay gave a beautiful toast

Gary showing off his excellent work and me grinning like an idiot (which I did all night)

Jessie & me

Kara & me

Hillary & Dave came out to celebrate, they are getting married this weekend!

Big brother Michael & me

Gary, Cheri & Burke

Kay, me & Jessie after a little too much champagne :)

Vanilla on vanilla from Big Sugar...I love Vanilla!

The always gorgeous Jackie Brubaker

2007-05-23T10:55:00.001-07:00

KAY HANLEY LIVE AT THE KEY CLUB

Last night we went to see Kay and Michael play a gig at the Key Club in West Hollywood. It was so much fun, the Shut Up Stella girls were there and Fan even went up to perform a song with Kay. It's so amazing to see them play live since it's a pretty rare occurrence these days but it does take me back to the early/mid-nineties when I used to go with all of my friends to see Letters to Cleo play at the 9:30 club and other D.C. venues. Of course I was underage then and it was always on a school night. The Fairfax girls remember those times, don't you ladies? Who remembers Erin almost killing us on the way home by entering the beltway via the exit ramp? Yeah, that is burned into my memory forever...I think that's my only real memory of Erin screaming at anyone.
The one and only Kay Hanley

USA Mike, Guitar God

2007-05-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

SHUT UP STELLA WEBISODE #2

Here is the 2nd webisode, enjoy!

2007-05-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

A BBQ WITH THE BLOODS AND THE CRIPS

Last weekend I sent my mother a text message that mentioned that I had just come from a bbq with the Bloods and the Crips. She didn't really have anything to say about that except that it was the oddest text message she had ever received. It's true though, last Saturday I spent the afternoon in east L.A. with former members of L.A.'s most notorious gangs. The point of the whole thing was to shoot footage for a potential reality show in the works about this guy Lorenzo who back in the 80's was partially responsible for bringing crack into the ghettos of L.A. He spent time in prison and upon returning to his neighborhood, experienced first-hand the devastation that he had helped to create. So, now he has dedicated his life to helping to mentor children out of gang life and arranged this historical "round table" meeting of former members of the Bloods and the Crips in order to discuss how they can address this issue one kid at a time. It was really an incredible experience and we were welcomed with open arms into a neighborhood and a community that I knew absolutely nothing about. I look forward to the next encounter. I was happy to have my camera with me...

2007-05-20T00:21:00.001-07:00

DINOSAUR JR.

Boy to I have some blogging up to do so here I go. Last Sunday night Gary and I went to the Troubadour to see Dinosaur Jr. play. Now that is a LOUD show if I ever heard one. Even with earplugs in all night I still thought I might go deaf. They sounded fantastic though and I don't think I've suffered from any permanent hearing loss so far so that's good. I was lucky enough to be allowed to bring my camera in to grab some pictures...but it was hard! I'll tell you what, I don't envy photographers who actually try to make a living doing this sort of thing. The light on stage is constantly changing. Some moments it's black, other times multiple colors, some highlights blow out...like long, platinum hair :) and everyone is moving a lot so it's almost impossible to focus when you're shooting at f 1.2. Also, there was no way I was going to make my way up to the stage among the fans so I found a little tiny nook up on the balcony. I think I even made some enemies up there. Anyway, I did manage to grab a few shots and here they are.

2007-05-18T10:12:00.000-07:00

BABY BOY GOES TO THE SPA

I just have to take a minute to give a plug to the best dog groomers in the whole world! Yesterday I took Oliver for a much needed trip to the groomer. We decided to try out Tailwashers http://www.twaggers.com since it's just down the street.

The staff there couldn't possibly have been more wonderful or loving to Oliver. In additional to a great-looking summer cut, he also got an oatmeal skin treatment, a blueberry facial and an adorable brown and turquoise bow tied to his harness. They said that those colors just seemed like him. (funny because those are colors of my living room and bedroom in my house in Fairfax where Oliver lived for 2.5 years) Although he usually emerges a little freaked out from trips to the groomer, they were so gentle and sweet with him that he is totally himself this time, just less fuzzy and dirty. :)

So cheers to everyone at Tailwashers, we will be back very soon!

2007-05-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

THE BIG NEWS

Okay okay for those of you in the know, I just wanted to be sure that I called everyone who would be mad at me if they first heard about this on my blog. But I guess I can't delay this post any longer so here it is...I got engaged on Friday! Yes, that's right, I am now going to be on the other side of the whole wedding thing. Now here's the story of the proposal.

Gary was sick all last week. I thought he was just under the weather. In fact, he was nervous and anxious and upset about all of the lies and deception over trips to the jewelry store and making all sorts of schemes behind my back. He had this big plan to take me down to Laguna Beach to this beautiful old Inn where we stayed a couple of years ago. One night we spent hanging out in the hotel bar for hours and were entertained by a very ecclectic and charming bartender named Jerry. He was one of those characters that you can't ever forget. Especially after he gave us some of those toy paratroopers and told us to throw them off the roof and to make a wish. If the wind was right, they were supposed to be carried to the ocean and your wish would come true. We threw ours off the roof and they just plummetted to the parking lot below. But you get the point. So anyway, Gary tracked down Jerry and made reservations at the same hotel for my birthday. He even had his art department working on some sort of puzzle that Jerry was supposed to have me work on which would lead up to the big moment. The plan was all in motion and then I stepped in with "I want to have a bowling party for my birthday." Of course I thought we were just celebrating my 29th birthday, I didn't know about the rest of it. So poor Gary had to cancel all of the plans he had made.

Instead, here's what happened. The bowling party was arranged as planned at PINZ in Studio City to begin at 8pm. Gary and I left our house around 5 to go grab an early dinner. I had suggested Niko Niko, our usual sushi restaurant. But then I figured that Gary had a plan for my bday and I should just shut up and go along with it. So I did. I didn't know where we were going but once we hit the Magic Castle I had a pretty good idea...we were going to Yamashiro, a Japanese restaurant up in the hills with the most amazing views of all of L.A. This was also the site of our first kiss...aww. I still had no clue what was about to happen though. Gary said that we were early for our reservation so we should take a walk through the garden and check out the view. So we did. And then the conversation got serious. A lot of the specifics are a blur but it ended with Gary down on one knee and asking me to marry him. I had to sit down on his knee and then proceeded to cry and rub snot all over his shirt. Sometime during all of this, he pulled out the most beautiful ring I have ever seen and slipped it right onto my finger. This just led to more blubbering and more snot. Obviously I said yes and we went inside and ate dinner and stared at the ring. And here it is...

More to come soon...

2007-05-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

MOTHER'S DAY CARD

He's at it again. My father really had fun making photo collage cards this weekend. Here is the one he did for my mom for mother's day. So cute!!! Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there. :)

2007-05-11T12:20:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME... :)

Well today is my 29th bday and I actually do feel a little older, not in a bad way though. I think it's just one of those days where you have to stop and think "wow, where did my 20's go?" I guess I should have seen it coming because I do remember turning another year older every year of my twenties...some years are more blurry than others. Anyway, my dad just sent me the most adorable home-made birthday card of old pictures. Definitely some awkward phases in there... :) Have a good laugh at my expense today.

2007-05-10T23:42:00.000-07:00

LAX FENDER BENDER

Yesterday I hopped in my car around mid-day, it was 90-something degrees out, partly because we were experiencing a heat wave...partly because of the heat from the fire that was still burning a short ways away. Anyway, I headed over to the west side to meet Tina Brogi for some lunch. When I got out of my car I realized that it was freezing over there and totally foggy.

Tina and I talked about the nature of the wedding business here in L.A. and talked about how we should teach a seminar about how to start over and rebuild your business in a totally new place. She moved from St. Louis, I came from D.C., but here we are in L.A. and having to start from scrach all over again.

After lunch we picked up her son Anthony from school and then jetted over to LAX to pick up her husband Scott. Just as we were about to pull over to the curve, we were sideswiped by a bus. That meant talking to the police and giving them a statement and blah blah blah. An hour later we were on our way again.

Here are a few pictures for your entertainment...
the damage

Anthony was very happy playing video games in the car

Tina in front of the culprit bus

The police officers were so incredibly friendly and wonderful

And back at the house, this is Tina and Scott's darling baby girl. She has the fuzziest hair you've ever seen, it sticks straight up. So cute!