St. Louis Wedding Photographers | St. Louis Children's Photographers | Benton Park Photography Co.

new addresses

our temporary home is bentonparkphoto.typepad.com .   new (old) permanent home will be http://www.bentonparkphotoco.com with the blog at http://www.bentonparkphotoco.com/blog .

new blog and site coming soon

in the meantime, you may experience downtime.  the way things are set up now is super complex, so i'm not sure exactly how this is going to work.  if you come back and visit and don't find us, know that we will soon be new and improved.

peace out home fries. (ode to adam)

blues in benton park

for more info, click here.

not out of commission, contrary to popular belief

our next wedding is june 20- meryl and scott's rockin' celebration at the grand basin and zodiac room.  it will be stellar, i'm sure.  my coffee consult with them was one of the most laughter-filled cuppas ever.  i'm looking forward to it!

in the meantime, i've been a bit blogunder (blagunder, does that help? as in under the blog weather?  it's a stretch.)  and just out of blog juice lately as we've focused on um, life.  adam and i have decided to put our house up for sale next month.  the city has been oh so good to us and has defined so much of who i am as a person, so it's a little odd to think about being somewhere else.  we're leaning toward webster or kirkwood at the moment.

this has been prompted by the thought we never thought we'd have.  we want a family.  part of me wants to stick it out and raise kids in the city.  the other part of me wants peace.  as much as we absolutely adore benton park, our slice of the city is not as peaceful as we'd like.  not a good time to sell, clearly, but a fabulous time to buy, so we'll more than make up for it on the other end.  this house will be a steal and it's in infinitely better shape than when we bought it, so if you're considering a move to the city, stay tuned until next month.  within walking distance is the venice cafe, frazer's, benton park cafe, the map room, blues city deli, mclozzi's, yemanja, niche, sidney street cafe, the stable, the park, and not to mention all of soulard.  i can say with confidence that all are totally fabulous.  that's quite a lengthy list for walkable date options.

i think we will probably stay benton park photography co. even though we'll no longer live here.  it seems a little silly to rebrand, but what do you think?  should we still be benton park photo co without being in benton park?  sound off.

first harvest of the season!

i've grown things in years past, but never from seed.  this year has been a first actually starting seedlings indoors.

i harvested my first vegetable the other day.  it was unbelievably exciting.  i say this partially tongue in cheek, but even though it was just a lonely radish, i was pretty excited.  yep, i've turned into a garden dork.  i like to watch plants grow.

and on one of my famously unrelated side notes, last night we said goodbye to our good friends, jennifer and adrian (+ super smart and adorable baby caleb).  adrian is going to be a rockstar ranger in the australian outback, so they are relocating back to his homeland.  we're going to miss you guys!

these photos are from a couple of weeks ago, not actually last night.  you wouldn't want to see us after our ridiculously fun, monsoon-drenched walk back from lemongrass.  wet rats anyone?  it started gushing right before we left to go back to their house.  it poured the whole walk home and then stopped two minutes after we got inside.  it was the most fun i've had in a long, long time.  who knew?

twitter

no promises on frequent tweets, but i am going to give twitter a shot.

http://twitter.com/BentonParkPhoto

let's see how electronically, cyber-spacily i can intertwine myself.

wedding day reality show

just passing along information here...may 15 deadline super soon!

From Mark Burnett Productions:
Do you know of a couple who are planning on getting married or would like to marry Summer or Fall of 2009 who really DESERVE an amazing wedding but cannot afford it in these tough economic times?

"Wedding Day", a new prime-time series premiering June 16th on TNT, is seeking to cast inspirational couples for our next amazing season!

You can view a promo of "Wedding Day" here:
http://www.tnt.tv/dramavision/?oid=47477

Teachers, real-life heroes, survivors, volunteers, social workers, charity workers, etc., we want to hear from you!

If you had to downgrade or delay your wedding plans due to job loss, injury, illness or deployment, we want to hear from you!

If you know of a couple who is so busy helping others they deserve someone to help them out, we want to hear from you. Nominate someone today!

Send a brief paragraph about your situation, or another couple's situation, the current wedding budget, a recent photo of the couple (in .jpg format), and your contact information to:

Charisse Simonian
Casting Director, "Wedding Day"
Mark Burnett Productions
csimonian@markburnettprod.com
310.903.5573

extra plants

i went a little crazy planting seeds for this garden.  as a result, i have some extras that we just don't have room for-- beefsteak tomatoes, broccoli and bell peppers.  these were started from organic seeds and are currently in little jiffy pots that get planted right into the ground.  if you'd like to adopt them, shoot me an email.  :-)  i have probably around 40-50 tomato plants, 25 broccoli plants and 20 pepper plants.

i love you sidney street cafe

adam and i have been walking by sidney street cafe for four years now.  every time we did we said, we need to go eat there.  last night, we finally did.  and it won't be another four years before we go back, that's for sure.

every single bite i put into my mouth was pure deliciousness.  every one.  i think it is seriously my favorite meal ever. 

we started with a sample appetizer with oyster poorboys, honey mustard shrimp and crabcakes--- one bite-sized piece of each.  i had the beet salad.  don't know what my love affair with beets is lately, but so goes it.  adam had the wild mushroom soup.  for entrees we had the halibut and marlin.  and dessert, the smores cupcake and a spring strawberry something or other. 

needless to say, we went a little over board.

we're considering a nice little walk to the tower grove farmers' market today to walk off the calories ingested last night.  it was so worth it, though.  if you see us on arsenal, honk and wave.

tower grove farmers' market starts tomorrow! yippee!!

tower grove farmers' market kickoff celebration!
tomorrow,  8:30am - 2:30pm

yeah!  i look forward to making market visits a weekly occurrence, especially while our garden is still growing.

see you there!

happy anniversary!

to adam and i.  two years ago, we tied the knot.  six years ago today we had our first "date."  adam didn't know it was a date.  we were friends and went to get drinks one night.  i asked him out.  he didn't know that i had a thing for him.  :-)

it's been a great ride so far.  we have grown together as people in so many ways.

i love you, boo!

it's cinco de mayo | become a fan!

happy cinco de mayo officially!  cinco de mayo is not a celebration of mexican independence, contrary to popular belief.  it celebrates the mexican victory over the french at the battle of puebla in 1862.  there, now you've learned something today.

since it's cinco de mayo, if you're feeling celebratory, you should show the facebook love here.  we're hungry for facebook fans.  no, the two things have absolutely nothing to do with each other except that they are currently sharing typepad post title real estate.  :-)

cheers and peace out.  for now.

cinco de mayo st. louis photos

yesterday was rad.  we went to cherokee street's cinco de mayo celebration.

seeing such a diverse group in one place in st. louis happily interacting gave me hope for our city.  st. louis is racially divided, no question.  if you haven't seen or experienced it, you just haven't spent enough time here.  tension is often palpable, and that's sadly unfortunate.  not yesterday.

yesterday attracted a good cross section of st. louis city society and it was awesome.

the people's joy parade was the coolest, nuttiest parade i have ever witnessed.

cherokee is one of my favorite streets in the entire city.  

i spent a year freelancing for the post-dispatch, but since then, i've not often gone out to shoot for myself in a documentary setting.  it felt super duper.  hehe.

click the floating arrow at the bottom to play the slideshow.

who's this guy?  he looks familiar.

living in the present

adam and i are working on it.  we are always looking to the next whatever in our lives.  i have been that way for as long as i can remember.  when i was in high school, it was i can't wait until i'm in college because...
in college, i can't wait until i transfer schools because...
i can't wait until i move to colorado...
i can't wait until the peace corps...

you get the picture.  it is a psychological reaction that i have to work hard to ignore.  we have a pretty great life right now and there's no reason for us to always look to greener pastures.  ambitions and goals, absolutely.  but the idea of only being happy if _____________ happens is a waste of a thought.

adam has started a blog about how to be happy in the present.  his latest post had some especially insightful advice (adam is the most insightful person i've ever known.  EVER.)

"Every minute I spend looking backward at moments past, is a lost now." 

introducing ihappy.me. 

are you good at living in the present?    how do you do it?

carrie + brent | get hitched the slideshow

i've got yummy details now!  and here's the official gushy write up.  carrie and brent (and friends and family), it was such a pleasure to be a part of your big day.  everybody knows i'm a big fan of handmade,  indy goodness and there was just so much of it.  i'm still basking in its glory. 

i had a giant smile on my face as i edited this wedding because there were just so many smiles in so many of the images.  it was clear that everyone loves to be around you both.  your happiness was clearly contagious.

i love love love that carrie and brent both wore killer hats.  carrie's was from batcakes! couture on etsy.  carrie's friend, jenny boggio, made her necklace.

brent's cufflinks were also from etsy- quercus silver, to be exact.

carrie and brent searched local antiques shops for salt and pepper shakers that suited each of their guests.  this was one of my favorite details.  how thoughtful!

the cake was by carondelet bakery.  other yummies by hollyberry catering.  flowers by elegant celebrations.  lovely music by farshid etniko.

this amazing place is the magic chef mansion, sans website for now.  it's on russell between grand and jefferson.  chances are you've seen and wondered who lives there.  it's gorgeous.  kudos to leslie of destination st. louis for helping things to run smoothly.

do you twitter?

i feel guilty every time i get an email saying so-and-so is now following you on twitter because i don't do anything with it.  i signed up long ago and tried it for a day.  i love technology, but i also despise being connected 24-7, so i have mixed feelings about twitter.  should i suck it up and send out tweets?  part of me feels ridiculous even typing the word tweet.

on a completely unrelated note, carrie and brent's celebration last night was so beautifully them.  so many amazing details i can't wait to share, so come back later.

happy earth day!

are you doing your part?  a great place to gain insight about little things you can do is at the st. louis earth day festival on sunday in forest park near the muny.  and it looks like we will have a fabulous weekend for it!

stay tuned for carrie and brent's fabulous day! 

has anyone been to nicaragua? | nicaragua travel advice

my mom and i have decided to scrap mexico in july and head to nicaragua instead.  having a background in journalism i know how sensational the media are, however, we've heard a ton of recent reports about violence there (npr is my source and they tend not to be sensational).  i know tourists aren't targeted in drug cartel vs. cop shootouts, but we've had this bad feeling we haven't been able to shake, so we're scrapping it.

so, if you have any nicaragua travel tips, do tell.  we've just started researching, but i am stoked about totoco eco lodge on ometepe island, and la gran francia in granada.

sin nombre at the tivoli

i went to a movie alone today.  just because.  and i quite enjoyed it.  the last time i can remember doing that was in glenwood springs, co.  i lived in winter park in my early 20s and kind of sort of did the ski bum thing, though i worked two jobs (one full time and one part time) and lived in a pretty nice house, so i didn't bum it too much.  but i digress.  anyway, i decided to take a little weekend trip to glenwood to soak in the hot springs.  they had a nice little old school movie theater in town.  i ate nepalese food.  good times.

sunday afternoon is the perfect time to see a movie alone.  you won't be alone in being alone.  hehe.  sin nombre is awesome.  very violent (not awesome), well filmed and directed.  it's moving and disturbing and sad, but well worth seeing.  it's a similar, though fictional, story to that of enrique's journey.  enrique's journey is non-fiction and is one of the most amazing books i have ever read.  i couldn't put it down and finished the whole thing in 24 hours.

mo-ar trek | girls on the run

we just got back from seeing off jason eads who is running this week from kirkwood to bentonville, arkansas to raise money for girls on the run.  adam ran the first five miles with jason.

from the girls on the run website, "Girls on the Run® is a non-profit prevention program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running. Our curricula address all aspects of girls' development - their physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual well-being."

 to support jason and his cause, show him some blog love.  you can donate here.  what an awesome thing he is doing!

and here's a little background info from jason describing how this came to be...

"The idea started on a run I was on with ultra running legend Dean Karnazes. It was late 2006, and Dean had just completed 50 marathons, in all 50 states, in 50 consecutive days. His 50th marathon was in NYC. After the race, he decided he would run home from NYC to SAN FRANCISO (not a typo!). Dean was inviting people to run with him for any portion of the journey home to get people out and active.

What I realized during a day of running with Dean (through a portion in Ohio) was that taking the initiative to set the example, and inviting people to participate in being active is a great way to help change some of the difficult problems we face in the U.S. Of particular concern is the situation with our children. Nearly 1 of 3 U.S. children are overweight or obese. By the time our kids become adults, about 2 out of 3 are overweight. I believe teaching our kids good habits while their young is the best way to ensure they take care of their selves when they are older, not to mention they are then much more likely to pass along their quality habits to their own offspring, thus perpetuating the cycle that can help get our health back on track as a nation.

I too want to set a good example and get people involved on a “local” level. I’ve decided to use my long time dream of a multi-day 300+ mile run from Kirkwood, MO to Bentonville, AR as an awareness tool. I want to show people that an average person like me can do extraordinary things if they are willing to put forth the effort. I want to get people involved and invite them to participate in a portion of the run. Getting people active and burning calories is the only way our situation gets better than it is today. I also want to show people that being active is fun, adventurous and, in itself, worthwhile."