TRANSFORMERS... more than meets the eye?

I just signed a release with DreamWorks Productions to have this image used on the set of the up and coming Transformers movie. I made 10 Sparrows Gate posters and sent them priority overnight so that they could be ready for Production to begin shooting today. The plan is for the posters to be hanging in the little girl's room where the Transformers story begins to unravel.

It turns out that Micah from Sparrows Gate has a friend who is the set director for the movie. She loves helping out indie bands get known as much as possible and asked if they had any posters to spare. They didn't, so we went ahead and made up a mock tour poster and had them printed on really nice paper at DPI. The image really looks great on the 11x17 matte paper we decided to use.

Usually these things are of the stuff that never work out. However, it appears that unless the director changes his mind at the last minute (which can happen) Sparrows Gate should be making its first ever movie cameo. I am really excited for the guys and hope that it is only the first of many opportunities to increase their exposure. They are really great dudes and Zeb & Anthony have been like little brothers to me ever since they moved here from Florida like 8 years ago. We met in Cayucos when they used to skateboard downtown everyday and break into my apartment to steal cookies. Zeb was the 13 year-old drummer and lead screamer of their hard core band 'Rusted Nails' and Anthony, a short 11 year-old guitar rocker with a tall bright blue Mohawk.

It's been fun to watch them grow up (literally) and evolve musically. Years ago Zeb picked up the guitar and began writing more progressive melodies, leading him to the formation of Sparrows Gate. I really love their music and their hearts. These are some talented young men who deserve to do what they love and love what they do.

Be sure to check out Transformers next year to see if you can catch a glimpse of Sparrows Gate in the background. Until then here is the teaser.

Mike & Meghan

Have I mentioned that I love my job?! I guess not many people can say that...

Today I had the privilege of shooting at one of my favoritist venues around the Central Coast, Swallow Creek Ranch. Mike and Meghan were just awesome! When we met up months ago to do their engagement shoot, Mike assured me that he was not photogenic. After a little pep talk and a beer we cruised the beach of Cayucos and then to a shore cliff overlooking the ocean where he proposed, practicing for the wedding. I encouraged him to make Meghan feel loved and adored and that the pictures would turn out perfect! I think the engagement session was good practice because today the two of them were just straight rockin' it. Here are a few from the top of the mountain.


What really stood out to me today was the way that Mike simply adores Meghan. He commented on feeling like the luckiest guy in the universe and Meghan really soaked in that love. I think that really makes all the difference. It makes my job a joy when people are spilling over with their love for one another. By the end of the night Meghan said to me, "I'm married! That's my husband. I'm a wife now! This day was perfect! I really love this day!" I was more than pleased that Mike and Meghan thoroughly enjoyed all of today.




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P.S. Funny thing about Meghan is... She was my girlfriend's bestfriend in Jr. High. It really is a small world! Anna and I recently watched footage from her sister's wedding which was 10 years ago and there was this awesome moment when Meghan was singing along to 'Hotel California' or something and Anna was playing the air guitar. Would it be completely unprofessional to share a video clip taken from my camera phone? Hope you don't mind Meghan!



(My girlfriend is the blonde beauty on the left handling the invisible axe)

Being sued for $250,000!?

It appears there is another Cameron Ingalls. It also appears that he lives here, in the 'Great Republic of Lafayette, Indiana".



I think everyone hopes that if they have a double wandering the earth somewhere that their double would be friendly. That someday you would happen upon each other and could sit down for a nice cup of tea and discuss religion, politics, music and crazy coincidences like the one I am about to share.

An email appeared in my inbox yesterday morning that I almost deleted thinking it was junk mail. It was from administrator@cameroningallsphotography. Upon first glance I figured it to be spam but as i read it appeared more personal. It is from another 'Cameron Ingalls', my double! However this double didn't want to discuss politics or the weather, my double wants to sue me for $250,000 for using his business name because he has been a wedding photographer since 1990.

Here is how the email reads....


Jeansonne & Remondet Attorneys
Client: Cameron Ingalls Photography, Lafayette IN
200 W Congress St # 1100
Lafayette, LA 70501

08/15/2006

Dear Cameron Ingalls:
It has come to my attention that you have made an unauthorized use of my copyrighted business name entitled „Cameron Ingalls Photography‰ (the "Name") in the preparation of work derived therefrom. I have reserved all rights in the Name, first used in 1990, and have registered trademark therein. Your business name entitled Cameron Ingalls and Ingalls Photography is essentially identical to the Name and clearly used the Name as its basis. Our website is recent, but our business has existed profitably in the United States of America and the Great Republic of Indiana for over 15 years. You perform wedding photography and have insisted to utilize this name despite the previous existence of our business.

As you neither asked for nor received permission to use the Name as the basis for a photography business nor to make or distribute copies, including electronic copies, of same, I believe you have willfully infringed my rights under 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq. and could be liable for statutory damages as high as $250,000 as set forth in Section 504(c)(2) therein.

I demand that you immediately cease the use and distribution of all infringing work derived from the Name, and all copies, including electronic copies and digital media, of same, and that you deliver to me, if applicable, all unused, undistributed copies of same, or destroy such works immediately and that you desist from this or any other infringement of my rights and Name in the future.

If I have not received an affirmative response from you by August 22nd, 2006 indicating that you have fully complied with these requirements, I shall take further action against you.

Sincerely,
Jeansonne & Remondet Attorneys

200 W Congress St # 1100
Lafayette, LA 70501
On Behalf of Cameron Ingalls

So check out his website:
Yesterday was a hard day. I spent the majority of it on the phone with lawyers and other photographers trying to figure out what to do. I thought I would need to trademark my name but it appears that this is impossible because you can't trade mark just your name.

It's just so sad that there are people out there, with really cool names, who are trying to ruin their double's business and life. I am appaled that we live in such a sue-happy society. Our politics, while meant to be fair, are not very loving. It is a sad sad world we live in. If you could, as my friends and family who have supported me over the years as I have pursued this dream of owning a successfull photography business, please pray. That's all that I can ask right now. Thanks so much for your love and support. It means so much to me.

All About The Bride!

Today I was thinking... that it really is all about the bride! She is the princess. She is the one who has been dreaming about {this day} since playing house with her Barbie dolls. The groom? Its not really about him. Sorry guys! While the little girls are picking out their future brides maids and color schemes we were much more happy catching bullfrogs and tadpoles. Not much changes when little girls and little boys grow up into a bride and groom, except by this time... the girl has caught the boys eye and suddenly he finds something far more interesting to catch. Her beauty has won the little boys heart in a way that none else could compare.

And I was thinking, what is it about a brides grand entrance that makes us gasp for breath as she steps onto the aisle? Why do our eyes become wet with tears and our heart full of music? Its her beauty. It speaks of something more. something greater than bullfrogs and tadpoles.

This week I want to just focus a bit on the Bride. I got great shots of Chad and the groomsman with a beautiful ceremony set in the San Luis Mission, but Ive got to mix it up a bit and besides, Lindsey was such a stunning bride! She was at ease and playful in front of the camera because she confidently shared her beauty. She wasnt ashamed or reserved because she didnt withhold any of who she was, she was simply beautiful!



As I began to go through todays pictures I remembered a book I read to help me understand women a bit more (I will forever be trying). {Captivating} by John and Staci Eldredge really shines a light on the innate character and nature of women. From it I learned that women were made to be beautiful, that they were made to be a reflection of a facet of the very character of God. Hope you enjoy this excerpt and I hope you are able to appreciate just how beautiful Lindsey looked today and I hope that that appreciation can point you to something greater.

{Beauty is transcendent. It is our most immediate experience of the eternal. Think of what its like to behold a gorgeous sunset or the ocean at dawn. Remember the ending of a great story. We yearn to linger, to experience it all our days. Sometimes the beauty is so deep it pierces us with longing. For what? For life as it was meant to be. Beauty reminds us of an Eden we have never known, but somehow know our hearts were created for. Beauty speaks of heaven to come, when all shall be beautiful. It haunts us with eternity. Beauty says, There is a glory calling you. And if there is a glory, there is a source of glory. What great goodness could have possibly created this? Beauty draws us to God.

All these things are true for any experience of Beauty. But they are especially true when we experience the beauty of a woman ;her eyes, her form, her voice, her heart, her spirit, her life. She speaks all of this far more profoundly than anything else in all creation, because she is incarnate; she is personal. It flows to us from an immortal being. She is Beauty through and through.

Beauty is, without question, the most essential and most misunderstood of all Gods qualities; of all feminine qualities, too. We know it has caused untold pain in the lives of women. But even there something is speaking. Why so much heartache over beauty? Women dont ache over being geniuses, or fabulous hockey players. Women ache over the issue of beauty; they ache to be beautiful, to believe they are beautiful, and they worry over keeping it if ever they can find it.

A woman knows, down in her soul, that she longs to bring beauty to the world. She might be mistaken on how (something every woman struggles with), but she longs for a beauty to unveil. This is not just culture, or the need to {get a man}. This is in her heart, part of her design.}

I love Engagement Pictures!

Garrett & Ashlee are an awesome couple that I photographed in May. Their wedding is not until December and will be at the Groom's parents house in San Luis somewhere around Edna Valley. It should be a beautiful winter wedding. I really can't wait! Well, I am working on some engagement picture party favors for them right now and have the chance to reflect on these awesome images. This is something I automatically include in every wedding and engament package now. We print 8-10 different images from an enagement session at 3.5x5 inches, with a nice little white border, their names, and wedding date. It is a really fun surprise gift that the guests discover when they sit down to eat their meal and find a random image on their bread plate.

I really love engagement pictures! It is such a magical season that will never happen in a couples life again. It is a great chance for me to get to know the couple. Garrett and Ashlee are my friends now. All it took was a couple hours of hanging out, playing together, talking and me getting them to do silly things in front of the camera. I end up taking a large variety of images during every engagement session. I find that there are many dimensions to each relationship and by capturing varied emotions and expressions I end up being able to tell a larger story of just who a couple really is. Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do!

How Amaaaaaazing is this?!

It's funny what arrives in the mail on random Saturday afternoons. I am photographing Katie Maki's wedding next summer. I ran into her and her mother at the CCWP bridal faire in January. They were surprised to find me photographing weddings because I went to school (K-12) with Katie's older sister Sarah and lived only a couple of blocks down the street. I thought Sarah Maki was the cutest girl in the whole 1st grade and had a little secret crush on her at the time. Check her out, she is 2 girls down on the left in the front row of chairs. Pretty cute, huh?

Well, Sarah and Katie's mother, Rhonda, is really awesome and keeps sending me notes and pictures about how Katie is doing in her new home of Kentucky. I guess her fiance Michael moved out there to manage a restaurant while Katie is finishing up school. She had her first tornado warning recently and didn't know what to do so she hid in the bathtub. It's really cool to learn about Katie's life a bit more through Rhonda's letters. When I opened her last letter with this picture enclosed I laughed out loud and exclaimed 'Ohhhh my gosh!'

Green tank top and big ears. Yes, that is me! Grade school was rough with those huge wind catchers attached to my head. Kids used to make fun of me in the weirdest ways... I remember kids calling me 'Camera!' and they would follow with, 'Take a picture of me!' Funny how things work out sometimes. ;)

Matt & Pam in Nevada

I’ve shot a lot of weddings in the past few weeks and therefore haven’t had much time to share. Since I’m in a hotel room in Carson Valley watching The Breakup I figured I could share about today. I just had the pleasure of shooting a wedding in Genoa, somewhere between Lake Tahoe and Reno. Genoa’s great boast is having the Oldest Thirst Parlor in Nevada (since 1833). It’s a pretty sweet ol’ town with tons of history and plenty of Harleys.

Matthew and Pam were amazing! Their love for one another was evident from my first phone call with Pam over a year ago even before she was engaged. Pam had found me through a mutual friend who was visiting in Reno and was determined to have me photograph her wedding. A great friendship and genuine love make for beautiful and romantic wedding pictures throughout the entire day. Here are just a few of my favorites from Simon and I.









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Paparazzi Birthday Party... #27!

So my wonderful girlfriend threw me a surprise paparazzi birthday party last Friday night! I was blindfolded and she led me into her backyard only to find myself being photographed by all of my friends. I was really confused especially since Jeff Newsom was dressed as me with a 'Cameron Ingalls mask' he had made out of an enlarged photo, matt board and shoe string. My friend Ben Brown was laying on the ground hiding behind a plant with an exaggerated camera made from stuff he found around the warehouse where he works. Once I realized that not everybody was dressed as me and that I stood at the end of a red carpet someone explained that I was the celebrity and they... the paparazzi! We had a great evening hanging out, eating dinner and a bit of strobe-light dancing which brought the cops knocking at the door. Anna's mother politely apologized and saved me from incarceration. Thank goodness, I had 2 weddings to shoot that weekend! ;) Here are a few more point-and-shoot pictures from the party. Enjoy!


Here's me giving me a lesson on the big camera! Man I'm a good teacher...and learner!




Jeremy Davenport made a cake that said, "Fall in love with THIS moment!" Funny........ Real funny.



Did I mention my wonderful girlfriend?! She is simply wonderful. However, that isn't me... or is it? I'm still confused.