New Katrinka Site--Tis Live!

The Amazing Shanda, of Pixel Soup Creative, just launched the new Katrinka site she designed. I love it.

Please check it out!

http://www.katrinkas-secret.com/

A Generation, past.

My Grandmother, Helen, my mom's mom, died yesterday.
I rarely saw her, was never close to her and therefore didn't know her well so to say I'm mourning would be dishonest. I do however feel sad for my mom, my Aunt Sheila and my Uncle Jess.
They lost their mom and that, regardless of your age, has got to be so hard.
Sometimes I think about my own death. Leaving this world will is something I fear becuase it means I'll be leaving my Xander alone in this world. Regardless of how old he'll be, a grown man I hope, it makes my heart hurt.


Helen, my Grandmother.


My Mom, Sheryl, and my Grandmother.

01/15/2010

Xander's school does an annual MLK march but this year it was canceled because some whackjob called the middle school next door threatening to kill kids.
Recipe for canceled march = SWAT everywhere + buildings on lockdown +o ne stupid psycho with either a love of prank phone calls or a serious mental disorder, potentially both.
So the march was inside the school, which was a bummer.
I had planned to be the MWAC (mother with a camera) with the mad professional flare and skills but alas, I only made the 5'o'clock news.


Love, it's good!


This boy is apparently haunted by vampires. Peace is all he wants you blood suckers!

01/14/2010

Today was grey. You get that. Today was also a helicopter day.
We often have these in our neighborhood.
I have to figure out whether how I'm going to pick up Xander given SWAT is surrounding the school, which is right next to his.

01/13/2010

My client Kate at my studio.
Canon 5d

YesToDay. A Delayed Project Start.

I'm pretty confident the readership on this here blog is non-existent and that's okay because I'm writing and posting images here for myself--if someone decides to watch, swell and consider this a big old welcome shrug.

So after many years of looking for a project I have one, a very simple project.
A photo a day.

I've titled my project YesToDay--tis a combo of Yesterday and Today (posting a 'yesterday' image is my slacker safety net) additionally, this title serves as motivation, a JustDoIt of sorts, Yes (I have to do this) ToDay.
Disclaimer: I'm a quality over quantity sort, but for 2010 producing quantity, no matter how crappy, is the goal, and just so you know, there will be crap.

Because we are now 13 days into 2010 I'm going to post what I have of 2010 here in this post.


01/01/2010.  Sleeping off last year.
iPhone


01/02/2010. Ice cream as a we broach the topic of what's to come. "Xander, I think today is Saturday and the day after tomorrow is Monday. Do you know what happens on Monday? Vaca is over." It was really Sunday.
iPhone.


01/03/2010. The ManChild is a huge fan of puddles. He wears his helmut in case he falls into the puddle. iPhone.


01/03/2010. Plain and simple. The sun, a welcome sight.
iPhone.


01/04/2010.  What's the deal with street shoes? I decided I should at least aknowledge it, after passing it by for over 2 months. Turns out this shoe is currently occupied.
iPhone.


01/11/2010. This is a view from a playground around N. Lake Union (aka Vultan Land). The spire in the background holds a special place in my heart.
When I was in Jr. High, this place, I think it was then called The Temple, was a club of urban legends. The sort of legends that would make anyone put down Judy Blume's book Forever. Yes, they were scandelously juicy tales.
iPhone.

Hot Santa in the Village! December 12th

Monsoon Shoot

I had the chance to met Karla & Adam, parents to the ever so cute Colson and Annabel, a couple of weeks ago on a very rainy day in the Arboretum. They were serious sports--you can see that the day wasn't the driest or sunniest but I think that's okay because well..., folks we live in Seattle and if photo shoots were relegated to dry sunny days, I'd be in the poor house and a lot of people would suffer from Christina-photo-less-ness Syndrome, a serious condition that robs its victims of spontaneous and true-to-life documentation of their groovy selves and family.
By the end of this session we were in full blown monsoon mode--I in my XL men's fishing rain gear was even soaked to the bone.
Colson and Annabel were model kidlets--fully gleeful and sweet and free of that 'cheese' smile that a lot of little people in the 3-6 age bracket possess.
And Adam and Karla, well...., they make good people and it's not hard to see why.
And with this ladies and gents, I present Karla, Adam, Colson and Annabel with fall splendor as their backdrop.

Halloweenish Out Takes

Lauren and I were working at the Fairmont the other day, not just goofing off, but working, but here we are goofing off. :)

Gretchen & Todd's Wedding

Just a few days after I returned from Ghana, I had the chance to photograph Gretchen and Todd's wedding. My good photog pal Sandy helped me out--thanks S!
I have never photographed a church wedding and what a church it was. Architecturally it had a sort of mid-century Scandinavian vibe with tons of windows--that said, the light was amazing! And with that Ladies and Gentlemen, I present the Mr. & Mrs.!

The Back Story, Gretchen & Todd

Summer... seemed so long ago.
And Summer is when I did Gretchen and Todd's engagment photos. Their session was really unique, it was on their sailboat! Holding on while focusing and composing required a lot of very careful shifting. Thanks to Todd for showing me the ropes. Pun totally intended :)
I also shot their wedding, which you can here.

Kevin, Seattle Senior Portraits by Christina Mallet

A couple of weeks ago Kevin came to my studio to do his Senior Portraits. It is always super fun to work with High School students. The Seniors that come to me are all about doing something very different from the 'standard' Senior Portrait, which means I get be super creative. Yeah Me!
I also love that I can be my flip-goofball-sarcastic self and they get it. :)
Thanks to Kevin's mom for ferrying Kevin, from Sammamish, into the city, no small feet on a weekday.
And with that Ladies and Gents, I present Kevin!

Ghana Gallery

I've finally done something with my photos from Ghana, take a look.

Mazel Tov Jonathan!

Back in August I had the opportunity to photograph Jonathan Sievert's Bar Mitzvah. It was a fab event and I really enjoyed capturing the guests dancing it up at his Museum of Flight celebration. After leaving the party, I couldn't help but wish there could be some sort of official 'rite of passage' celebration for Xander. Mind you, I have years and years to think of something that would be fitting but given we're Goyum, a Bar Mitzvah is sort of out of the question.
Okay, back to the topic and hand--The Sievert's amazing Party. Thanks to Sievert's for choosing me to document the day and a big shout of to The Almeleh's for referring them my way.
Lastly, Mazel Tov!

Sarah

Sarah and I are friends, have been since Jr. High, where we did lots of questionable things.

She's all grown up now, which I guess means I am too. I digress...

Her new bambina, Alexa, was born at the end of August. So let's give a warm welcome to Alexa! Yeah Alexa!

Interview with a Vampire, A La Katrinka

http://katrinkas-secret.blogspot.com/2009/09/interview-with-vampire-la-katrinka.html

Copy Cat in The Hood

New blog post byway of Katrinka! Check it :)

http://katrinkas-secret.blogspot.com/2009/09/copy-cat-in-hood.html

Vote for Me!? Pretty Please...

Now that I'm all big time... ha ha... I've been nominated for King 5's Best in the NW.

If you vote for me you will earn many good karma points :) http://best.king5.com/christina-mallet/biz/492917

Back In The US

Pre RIP Mooshi

I'm a cat lady and Mooshi has been my cat for 10 years, ever since he was a very unattractive kitten--he had to grow into his eyes if you know what I mean.

Turns out Mooshi (aka Mooper, Super Mooper, MoBerto, Wicker F*cker Upper, MooMoo, MoMan) has cancer. We're leaving for Ghana, for 2 weeks, on Tuesday, and this complicates things. See, his prognosis is not good.

Me to the Vet ,"Like six months, right?"

Vet to Me, "I'd call that a long shot".

So I'm now preparing for our trip, getting ready for Xander's 3rd birthday, finishing up all of my work, and now trying to spend some quality time with Mooshi, which isn't really very easy since he can't walk very well and he appears to be in pain.

We had to put Mooshi's brother, Sushi, to sleep in Boston, before Xander was born. We took him to the vet for what we thought was a slight illness and walked out with an empty cat carrier. That was traumatic, for everyone. I hated the fact that his last hour was one of stress as they poked and prodded him to find out why he couldn't breathe. I wish we had taken him home and had the vet come to us but we were in shock and put him down then. I know we did the right thing but I can't help kicking myself for not making his last few minutes calm and peaceful. I feel like I never really had a chance to say goodbye to him because the process was so sudden.

So, with Mooshi, I've decided to call in a vet who specializes in home visits. I want MoMan to be peaceful and calm with me by his side.

I took these photos of Mooshi on Tuesday, before I got the call from the vet regarding his biopsy.

Oh dear, I'm puddling up.

Nicole & Graig's Wedding

I've done a good job of keeping my photog calendar filled with a variety of photographic genres and gigs so I never get pigeon holed or typecast as a photographer shooting only in one genre. This keeps me fresh and having fun, always. Case in point: I had the opportunity to photograph Nicole and Graig on Thursday, August 6th. Molly, my friend, assistant, and former bride asked me to capture their day and it was quite the unique experience.

First, I had never met either Nicole or Graig and when I did, they looked smashing. Being in black tie and a wedding dress makes a great first impression. ;)

Second, I didn't actually photograph their ceremony. Only Mormons are allowed inside The Temple, so I had to wait outside. I thought this might pose a challenge because the ceremony sets the mood for the event and gets everyone on the same page. Thankfully everything worked out, no doubt in part because Nicole and Graig were so chillax that it made doing a quick read on how to best photograph them a breeze.

Lastly, the temple is an amazing location! The fountains and gardens are spectacular--capturing love birds being love birds in a fab setting is always a pleasure!

And with that very long winded preamble, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present Nicole and Graig!

The Other Side of the Tracks--Seattle Child Photography

I'm a big fan of shooting in SoDo and specifically around the train tracks. This usually works out well, so well in fact that a couple of times I've been invited on the trains--Thanks super cool train engineers!

Well a couple of weeks back, prior to the Drew and Xander at the beach post below, I asked Sarah and Drew to come down to the tracks with me and Xander. The goddess of railroad peace was not watching over me that day. Within two-minutes of playing pretend Hobo, a office kill-joy called me out for trespassing. He told me he didn't care if I got hit but that the kids shouldn't die. Uhm... okay. I guess he thought we were irresponsible nannies or Mothers looking to tie our kidlets to the tracks.

Hey Mr. BNSF Office Man--you'll never be as cool as a train conductor! Nuh nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuhhhhhhh....

Playdate + Photo Documentation

I'm getting older while my child is getting stronger, faster, and sassier. Having Xander home with me on Thursday and Friday means I must cultivate my inner super mom and venture out into the world. This becomes challenging when the sass, scream and tantrum factor is high which is precisely why the I've finally embraced (come to terms?) with the thing mothers all over the world do to keep themselves from drinking at breakfast, The Playdate.

For me, Playdates were the gateway to cul-de-sacs and minivans. An endless series of questions and talk about Jane's poop schedule and the consistency of Johnnies naps and my desire to talk about nothing of the sort, keep me out of the 'dating' scene. This is where my old pal from the 7th grade comes in. Enter, Sarah and her daughter Drew.

Here are some snaps from the day.

What Would Superman Do?

Times are suckity economically, and when you combine said suckity-ness with the 'slow' time in the photog business, it spells only one thing. Serious-meltdown-OMG! What am I doing wrong--I need to reinvent myself! I need a look, a vibe, a persona, the ridiculousness is ridiculous. In times like this, I hover over my laptop hitting 'send/receive' in a very OCD fashion (Me: The cable must be out again, otherwise I'd be downloading copious amounts of client inquiries, right ?!) and check my google analytics graphs, pie charts and bounce rate like I actually understand them. So when times get tough, the tough start investigating all the gobs of benjamins they could drop to make more money. It takes money to make money, right?

Well here I am, at this very free, blogspot blog, wishing I had a super snazzy and expensive 'couture' blog designed by fabulous people, much younger than myself, and able to pull off fashions I refer to as 'Forest Gump in his running across America phase' or 'Pat Benatar and Napoleon Dynamite are BFFs'.

I go through this crisis around this time every year and I'm hoping this year will be like years past, as in, 'this will be over soon, once the sun hits, biz will pick up' but there are two potential problems with my 'The Sun Will Come out Tomorrow' hopes. 1. The economy 2. The economy.

Meanwhile, I work on a few clients' files as well as my own personal work and I just wait... oh and get ready for a shoot tomorrow at the studio.

Spring has Sprung!

Gams with and without Jams

If The Shoe Fits

Rosa, Carla and Adam

This past Saturday, I got a chance to photograph the Saultwards (C. Saulter
+ A. Edwards=Saultwards) at a part in West Seattle. Everytime I do a family session I wish I did more of them (shameless pandering for business).
Anyway, they are quite the lovely family so with that... I present The Saultwards.

The Fords

I never thought I'd get a chance to meet the Fords for a photo shoot--lucky for me they were willing to give me a second shot. This past summer, a local photographer asked me to fill in for her--I felt honored and humbled to be the one chosen. I marked the day on my calendar and the rest is history, not the kind you want to repeat I might add.
Sitting in front of my computer one Saturday (this is were the ominous music starts) enjoying the peace and quiet on an empty house, I notice I have voicemail. Checking the message, I feel my stomach do a triple luxe--the message, left 20 mins. earlier, by a very sweet Heather, who doesn't ask "where the H E double matchsticks are you?!!!!" but who instead is checking in to make sure I'm okay. Bottom line, I was severely late for the Ford's family reunion.

Photographers, you feel me when I say felt my insides dropped through the chair--this is the stuff photographer horror movies are made of. The reunion wasn't far away, but far enough to make it a moot point--important guests, Grandmothers from out of town, were due at the airport.
Heather was gracious and forgiving --she accepted my offer to do her family photographs in the Arboretum to repent for my error. I couldn't be more thankful for a second chance to work her and her family. They are a beautiful family and I hope some of their good karma rubbed off on me.

Kyle + Molly

Molly and Kyle were married not to long ago and the location of the wedding gave us the opportunity to shoot at a number or places, which made the day a lot of fun and action packed. If you check out their engagement shots from a few posts back you'll see their engagement shots which are steamy and therefore rated PG13. :)

Congrats to the Newlyweds!

The Russo's in the Arboreteum

Back not to long ago, when the trees weren't naked and night didn't arrive at 4:30, I had the chance to meet the Russo family. They were lovely and their kidlets were cute beyond words. Below I've posted some of my favorite images. Interesting that most of my favorites are black and white--it goes back to my belief that the amazing colors of autumn can be really distracting when you're trying to tell a story about people, not leaves. :)

Kate and Steve

A couple of weekends ago I got the chance to do an engagement session at Golden Gardens for my wedding clients Kate and Steve. Aren't they lovely!?!

Little Theo

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to photograph the Hunter's, in celebration of little Theo's arrival. Welcome to the world Theo! You're a mighty-fine-looking little lad!

Katrinka's Secret, Seattle Boudoir Photography

Check out the write up about my alter ego at Photographik.org

Photographik is the source of all things fab in the photog world.

Not only because they have a catalog of amazing and high caliber photogs but also because Photographik brings me so much work!

Check me out here

Big ups to my big sis, Rhonda the Writer for being my writer.

Sweet Emiline

My great friends Geoffrey and Annmarie created little Emiline and she's pretty dang cute.

Is there a song about a girl named Emiline? A nice girl, I'll add. If there is, I bet it's French song about a girl who looks like Audrey Tautou.

If there isn't such a song, there needs to be, about this little Emiline.

P.S. Aren't you secretly bummed that you didn't think of the name Emiline? Don't blame yourself that you didn't, it takes the melange of French and Dutch to pull of sort of fabulousness.

B'not Mitzvah Natalie and Alex!

A couple of weeks ago I photographed the double B'not Mitzvah for sisters Natalie and Alex. It was a truly festive and colorful event and it was very cool to have a chance to photograph part of the ceremony in addition to the evening party. From what my photographer friends tell me, it is rare to be allowed to photograph during the ceremony.

Being it was my first B'not or Bat Mitzvah I learned a lot about this Rite of Passage. Prior to the ceremony Rabbi Daniel Septimus informed Natalie and Alex of their responsibilities as fully indoctrinated Jewish women and they signed on the dotted lines.

Later that evening, there was a fabulously festive party held at the UW Botanical Gardens. It was the first summer day of 2008, the mountain was out and it was all around a festive and memorable occasion. Mazal Tov!

Spring has Sprung

Meet Lindsay, Wayden and little Shea, who I photographed at the arboretum. The weather was fab and I made sure to take advantage of the high noon sunlight and little grass daisies. The only things we were missing, little frolicking baby lambs, and Lindsay's husband who was tied up at work. :(

Katrinka's Latest

I recently did a shoot with Cathy and I love the results for a couple of different reasons but mostly because Cathy is the perfect person to illustrate that at 50 years old and beauty go hand in hand. Happy 50th Birthday Cathy!

Spring has Sprung!

Meet Lindsay, Wayden and little Shea, who I photographed at the arboretum. The weather was fab and I made sure to take advantage of the high noon sunlight and little grass daisies. The only things we were missing, little frolicking baby lambs, and Lindsay's husband who was tied up at work. :(

Welcome to the World Haywood!

Briana and John, who I first met as pregnancy photo clients, had me over this week to photograph their new little boy Haywood. Isn't he a babe (pun intended) ?




Teeny Tiny Baby tootsies, what's not to love?


The proud father.


The adoring mother.


Haywood using not so subtle cues to let me know he's bored of me and my camera thing.

Chloe

Christina Mallet & Red Tricycle

Red Tricycle, The pint-sized news for savvy grownups has the latest write up on Christina Mallet Photography, which I absolutely love. I think they did a great job of capturing the sort of work I like to do.

Go check it out Here

Katrinka's Secret, Seattle Boudoir Photography Write Up

Check out the write up about my alter ego at Photographik.org

Photographik is the source of all things fab in the photog world.

Not only because they have a catalog of amazing and high caliber photogs but also because Photographik brings me so much work!

Check me out here

Big ups to my big sis, Rhonda the Writer for being my writer.

The Latest Xander

Photo Blog

As a photographer it's expected that I have a blog where I post images from shoots, prior to showing my clients their proofs. I've avoided this because I feel like I'm all over the web map and it's just one more space to maintain. But, I've finally given in and started a Christina Mallet Photography Blog.

Check it out HERE

Chloe, My Faithful Model

My Niece Chloe is a great model. She patiently sits, even when I mess up her hair.



She's also willing stand on my balcony dressed like an old lady.

Bald is Beautiful

My Mom, rocking her baldness.

Sherylonicle, Part I

My Mom, Chez Moi
My Mom, aka Sheryl, on round two of breast cancer, has enlisted me to photo document her treatment.
We had our first 'shoot' this weekend, during a wig shop outing that turned into a hair shaving outing.


The nice stylist wigs at Hair Options in Greenwood, wigs my Mom.


My Mom is pretty, and I like this shot so it's a keeper.


After narrowing down the wig selection, Mom goes outside to check the color in natural light.


It was my idea--I couldn't help it. It's so Cat in The Hat.


We've found a wig, now off with her head, of hair.
Don't try this at home, it will hurt.

Pile o' Hair.


Off with it.


The Last Stand, for a while anyway.

Katrinka's Secret Show at Salon Aria

I'm having a showing of 11 pieces of my Katrinka's Secret, Intimate Photography work at Salon Aria on Capital Hill. If you want a fab hairdoo in a groovy locale or just want to see my work, check it out.

This Epic? It's long.

Which is why I am going to list it.

First though, Happy New Year!

1. Alex's Mom was diagnosed with cancer in early December
2. Alex had knee surgery in early December
3. I had to call 911 night after his surgery because his eyes rolled up into his head and he looked dead. Oxycontin is not his drug of choice.
4. Two weeks after his surgery, we went to Germany to spend Xmas with his mother. There, Alex's knee become so infected that he had to be hospitalized and had 4 German surgeries (that might be a cool band name).
6. Our house sitter had an 'accident' with the house alarm and the cats are now deaf and familiar with the cops in the hood.
7. I kind of crunched a family friend's car in Germany.
8. I flew home solo, with a 16 month old who screamed bloody murder for 11 hours straight.
9. I came home to learn that my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, again.

All of this, combined with thoughts like "recycling the cat food cans is a moot point given the world will come to an end in my lifetime" and you have one crappidy dappity year ahead.

The good stuff:
Alex comes home tomorrow, finally.

Studious

The New Katrinka

Katrinka's Secret has a new look, courtesy of the amazing graphic designer Erik Fadiman.

Check us out!

Something Else I've Been Doing

An African-American Museum is opening just down the street from our place and a large, one block mural by the artist Eddie Walker is going up. I'm documenting some of the local residents who the artist wants to include on the page. Check out Ms. Frankie, my neighbor. She's in her 80s and has been in the hood for at least 60 years.

http://communitymuralprojects.blogspot.com/

Christina Mallet Photography

Christina Mallet Photography is trying to get the web page reindexed to show recent updates. Dear webbot, please go to www.christinamallet.com

Not Sea Level