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Thanks for stopping by. I'm Michael Corsentino, a lifestyle photographer based in beautiful Sonoma County California. Stylish, fun, creative and relaxed images are what my work is all about. Check out the drop down menus above for links to my weddings, engagements, portraits, album designs, resources, photography tips & web sites.
Blogs are all about community so please join in and let me know what you’re thinking!
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This is number two in my bad blogger catch up series. Bad blogger, bad blogger ;-)
Kate and Patrick tied the knot at a beautiful ceremony and reception held at Garré Winery in Livermore, CA. They're two of my favs. Both really playful, artistic souls always up for anything. A total joy to photograph. Thanks for inviting me to be part of your special day.
Be sure and check out Patrick's company DualStar Digital when you need some killer design services. Congratulations guys!! Much love and happiness to you both.
Thanks to Dennis Urbiziondo for helping me out as second shooter!! Be sure and stop by Dennis's blog to see more of his great work. Look for the DU link above his contributions to this post. |
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Each of the images above have benefited from the following awesome tools. Click the banners below and go get 'em!!!
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The sun was just starting to burn off the clouds when I left the house yesterday morning on the way to the gym. I thought with anticipation about the exercises I was going do when I got there. I was looking forward to a good cleansing sweat. Exercising is so addictive.
I pulled up to the stop sign at the intersection and watched cars whizz by one after the other. The morning's news radio headlines mixed with the sounds from the street. That's when it happened ;-) The cutest little dog ever, this white puff ball of dog, came out of nowhere and darted right in front of the car ahead of me almost getting itself run down!!
The car in front of me pulled into the intersection and the dog just stood there not knowing what to do. I shifted the transmission to park, put on my hazard lights and jumped out of the car. "Hey little Scruf" I called to the dog, "come here buddy". The dog didn't hesitate for a second and came right over, laid down in the middle of the street and rolled onto it's back showing me what I now knew to be "his" belly as if to say "scratch me, please!!"
I grabbed this super cute little bundle up off the street and into my arms checking for a collar and tags. "Who do you belong to buddy?" I asked as I searched for clues. No luck, no collar and no tags. Hmm, the dog was well feed and looked well cared for, not the signs of an abandoned dog.
What now? I put the little guy into the front seat of my car and looked around for a searching owner, an open gate, some signal as to where this dog came from. Nothing! No owner, no gate, no nothing. Just lots of unanswered questions. Looks like my workout's going to have to wait I thought. I did quick loop around the neighborhood and still had no luck finding out where this dog came from. |
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I knew I just couldn't just put this little guy back on the street so I decided to take him home and figure out a way to get him back to his rightful owner. My girl dog "Louisiana" was thrilled to have a new play friend, I put them both out back and let them get acquainted. I knew the dogs owners would probably be freaking out wondering where their dog was the same as I would be if my dog went missing, especially with no tags. I figured the best thing to do first would be to create a flyer and get copies posted around the neighborhood.
I grabbed my Canon 5D along with Canon's 50mm 1.2 (best lens ever) and shot a quick portrait of Mr. Pooch, who by this time had several nick names - Scruff, Mr. Pooch, and Snarfles The Boy Dog. The little guy was a totally cooperative model and I shot a perfect portrait for my flyer. Then it was off to the computer for a little image processing and desktop publishing at it's finest ;-) To create the award winning flyer pictured here I used Totally Rad Action's Bitchin B&W for a sweet b&w conversion, applied an artsy Kevin Kubota film border (why not) using OnOne's Photoframe 4 Professional and brought it all together in Adobe's Indesign CS4. |
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I printed up 100 copies and set out to canvas the neighborhood leaving the dogs to enjoy each others company. Dennis, my best bud and neighbor, agreed to help me out by driving me around so I could quickly jump in and out of the car posting lots of flyers. In about 45 minutes I had posted all the flyers. Now all I could do was wait, wait and hope that my phone would soon ring with an overjoyed owner on the other end looking for their dog.
I headed home feeling good about getting all the flyers posted and looking forward to reuniting the cute little dog with it's owner. Feeling content that that task was completed my head filled with the next things to be done in a day that was shaping up to be a full one. I was about to head to Sacramento to help move Dennis's son Chris back home to Petaluma from his college housing. First I'd head back to the house, get washed up and make sure the dog(s) had plenty of food and water before I left.
Dennis grabbed this shot of me posting flyers with my iphone, thanks buddy!!
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When I got back home I walked in and found only one dog inside!! My dog, Lousiana. How is this possible I thought, when I left there were two dogs in here, my dog and the dog I just posted all those flyers about!! I searched high and low several time in complete disbelief and still the cute little dog was nowhere to found!!! That's when I saw my living room window screen. This little guy said "I'm outta here!!" He made his way over the couch, pushed open a partially opened window and scratched and clawed his way through the window screen to freedom ;-) So funny! The dog now had a fourth nick name - Houdini dog.
Out I went again, this time to look for the dog. I looked and looked but he was nowhere in sight and I was now running late for Sacramento. I kept my fingers crossed as I headed down the freeway hoping for a happy ending to this story. I know it sounds crazy but in the very short time I spent with this dog I felt attached and was concerned about him getting home.
I kept looking at my mobile phone, checking to see if the ringer was on and wishing it would ring already. About an hour into my trip it finally did!! It was a friend of the owner, he wanted to know if I had the dog. I explained that I did have the dog at one point!! But that he busted out and was now MIA again. He set out to look for the dog and told me he'd get back to me. The excitement was mounting. The phone rang again in about ten minutes and it was good news! They found the dog!! He was now back home with his very happy and relived owner.
Dennis shot this image of me checking out the dog's escape route.
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| A little while later, the owner Lesile called and thanked me for my efforts and even offered to replace my window screen. She explained that they had just brought him home form a shelter two days before and were waiting for his tags. Leslie told me his name is "Fonzie". I like my names better. Later that evening I stopped by to meet Leslie and see her happily reunited with Fonzie. I love a happy ending ;-) Next up - a Louisiana and Fonzie play date! |
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Each of the images above have benefited from the following awesome tools. Click the banners below and go get 'em!!!
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This past Saturday my buddy Dennis's son Chris graduated from Sacramento State University with a degree in Criminal Justice. Chris is a great guy, very genuine and super motivated. We'll be lucky to have him in the law enforcement community. Dennis invited me to join his family at the Arco Arena to celebrate this milestone in Chris's life. I wouldn't have missed it for anything. After four years of hard work and a ton of dedication the big day was finally here for Chris. You did it buddy and I'm so proud of you.
Chris arrives for his graduation day!! |
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| Proud papa and the graduate to be. |
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| Chris and his mom outside the arena. |
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| Chris's proud family in the stands waiting for the ceremony to begin. |
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| Arco Arena is filling up fast and you can feel the excitement in the air. |
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| I love the creative ways the students decorated their caps with personalized designs. Very cool ;-) |
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| Chris, somebody stole your cap!! |
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| Dennis grabbed this shot of me up there on the Arco Arena's Jumbotron!! I'm sporting my serious Ninja face as I wait to nail the killer shot of Chris getting his diploma. |
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| Ba-bang!! Chris gets his diploma. |
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| You did it buddy!!! Way to go ;-) |
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| Chris gives me his first post graduation fist bump!!!! Right on dude. |
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| I love this shot of Chris. |
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| Chris chillin' with his buddies. |
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| The grads let the crowd know how much they appreciate the help and sacrifices their parents have made to make this day possible. |
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| It's official!! Now it's time to celebrate with Tequila shots at Center Court in Sacramento. |
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| Celebrating at Center Court in Sacramento. |
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| I love this moment in time as Dennis and Chris watch Eric make a point. |
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| Congratulations Chris!! You deserve it for all your hard work and dedication. I wish you every success in the future. |
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Each of the images above have benefited from the following awesome tools. Click the banners below and go get 'em!!!
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| There are 9 comments so far. Click here to join the conversation! |
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