http://justinmarantz.com/ Justin & Mary's Blog en-us http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=495 http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=495 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:43:00 GMT
Today was the kind of day you just want to live over and over again so that you always remember how it felt in that moment. To all of you who came and packed out our room and filled it with more love than we could ever imagine, from the bottom of our hearts thank you for that. Thank you for being there to share this day with us and thank you for being the best part of this dream come true.

To all of you amazing folks who came and stood in line but didn't make it in to the room, we are SO sorry about that! But we are very happy to announce that we will be doing a repeat performance tomorrow from 11-1 in one of the third floor ballrooms (exact room # tbd!) and would LOVE to see and meet all of you there. So that we can hug you in person for waiting so long!

Please help spread the word!!





]]> http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=494 http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=494 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:57:00 GMT
Eyes wide open, I stare up at a beige-y sky and I breathe. Shallow, quick desperate breaths. And it strikes me how very much I feel like a gold fish right now, gulping toward the hand that feeds me. Beside me Justin rests. Not so much sleeps, as rests his eyes. And I'm going to be honest with you, he's snoring. And in the deepest part of my heart, I ache for that because... he never snores.

Only when he is most exhausted.

And exhausted is a pretty good word to describe it. For the past week and a half we've been working around the clock on this talk. And there is of course still work to be done. Today, in about 12 hours, we will stand up on a stage that I have been dreaming about for the last three and a half years. Since I first picked up a camera. And I can't help feeling that I just need a little more time.

Three and a half years... and one day. Yea, that would work.

Tonight on the way back to the room, I stopped to pick up a penny. I figured we could use all the luck we could get. And hey if any of you out there today happen to find a penny, maybe you'll pick it up and hold on to it for us too. And send us those good luck vibes. Because honestly we can use all of them we can get.

Today when we walk into that room and step on that stage, I wish for only one thing. That my eyes will be as wide open as they are right now. That I will take a second to look all around me and soak it all in. And that no matter what happens today or which lines I forget or whether or not I trip and fall off the stage altogether...that I will keep my eyes open to what's happening right in front of me. Because this is a moment that was three and a half years in the making.

And I don't want to miss a thing.

For those of you who will be there today, first of all thank you. From the bottom of my heart thank you. And here's a little preview of what's in store.

]]> http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=493 http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=493 Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:18:00 GMT
First up, we were just interviewed for WPPI radio with the incredible Scott Sheppard and you can check that out (and sign up for the podcasts!) by going HERE!

Next, we just launched our first ever shooting workshop!! We pre-released it to our newsletter peeps first over the weekend and it completely sold out. That workshop will be on April 8th, and because it filled up so quickly we're thinking about opening up another one the following day on April 9th. Shoot us an email at justin@justinmarantz.com if you want to get on the waitlist so you can be the first to know if we do open up a second date. We'll go on a first come, first serve basis from who emails us, so send it fast!

Speaking of workshops, if you're looking for a KILLER workshop all about lighting and nailing your exposure you HAVE to check out Zach ... Jody Gray!! They are bringing their "IN-Camera Workshop" to Connecticut on April 18th ... 19th and they only have a few seats left, so hit them up HERE if you want to go! And trust me, you wanna go! :)

And finally, thank you SO much for all the re-tweeting love for our Platform talk on Tuesday, March 9th at 3:30! We have picked one of you to be the very lucky winner of the TRA Lightroom Presets, and that lucky person is.......drumroll please......Erin Cady!!! Hit us up with an email Erin ... we'll get you the goods!

Viva Las Vegas-ly yours,
J...M

]]> http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=492 http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=492 Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:29:00 GMT
I can't. believe. it's. over.

These past two months were just a blink....a blur...a blip on the great tortilla burrito that is the time-space continuum. And yet somehow, an entire lifetime was lived in them. All of us that were along for the ride came out of it slightly different people. Hopefully slightly better people. Better for the ride. Better for the reality. Better for getting out of our own little bubbles and out into the great expanse of the horizon beyond. I cannot say thank you enough to those of you who joined us on this great adventure. I know this is a story that I will be telling my great-great grandchildren for years to come (because I fully intend on living that long) and all of you will be the characters. Thank you for sharing your hearts with us. Thank you for being so raw, so honest. For never being afraid to look weak, for never caring if you were vulnerable. You are the real heroes of this story.

And I just want to say thank you for letting us read along.
So much love,
J...M

From hanging out with Harrison ... Calista over Valentine's Day....we cruised on down to Vail in search of some famous hot chocolate we'd been hearing about from Sarah ... Shyla for over a year.

Rrrrrrrimini!!!

Let me just tell you this. It was worth every last mile without wireless signal to get there and every last minute on the treadmill after. In my heaven, the clouds will be made from this hot cocoa.

Play it cool. Play it cool.

We didn't get any pictures from our time in Denver because our personal photographer (Miss Julia G, who did a ROCKIN job documenting the whole trip, was back home that week). But we did have an amazing time with a group of amazing people AND we got to sample the world's best margaritas and fish tacos ever courtesy of Miss Rene Tate and her BFF Jessie. Good times were had by all!

From Denver there is a whole lotta NOTHIN until you get to Kansas City. See this shot below? This was the highlight of the drive! Add to that fact that I only had about 1/8th of a bar the whole 10 hours and I came very close to losing my mind. Where are we now? Oh yea, we're at that place that has fields on both sides. Shoot me!

Kansas City just stole my heart. We had people there all the way from Arkansas (wat up Beaty's?!) and with their sweet southern/midwestern accents I just wanted to gobble each and every one of them up. But I didn't.....that would be weird.

HUGE thanks to Digital Labrador for hosting us!!

And finally from Kansas City we made our way up to Chicago, where Bob ... Dawn Davis hooked us up with this awesome space at Calumet. If Chicago were going to win a "Lovey" it would be for best group to go out with a bang with!! We still have one more stop to go in Maine later this month, but Chicago wrapped up this crazy road trip for us and they did it in style!

I think Justin is demonstrating his mad marionette skills here. :)

And that's it. Two of the most life changing months of our lives are over. But like I said, I know I'll be talking about them for years and YEARS to come!

ETA: Here's a fun shot Rene sent us of our fish taco dinner!

]]> http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=491 http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=491 Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:44:00 GMT
Like the first time I found Lux Soft. Oh dear, sweet, soft and buttery Lux Soft. I was born to love you. I would hold hands with you and skip through a field of yellow wildflowers if I could. And then I would sit on a blanket with you ... take a picture of us....and run you on it to make it look perfect. But sometimes this love I feel for you is too much, too overwhelming. It's too much for my little heart to bear all at once. Which is why I have to keep you at arms lenght in small doses...like at 18% opacity.

:) :)

I will never forget the first time I used the action set from Totally Rad Actions. Rusty Cage, Grunge Rock, Clarify, Ohhh Snap! I was *in* love. They changed everything for me. And now they are back with a brand new set with their Lightroom Presets. And my world is changed all over again. These things RRRRRRock!! Rock AND Roll! Dang! I'm getting flushed just thinking about it. And here's the really cool part.... Ready?

Our friends at Totally Rad Actions have given us a set to give away to one of YOU guys! How "Bout" that? (see what I did there?)

So we thought long and hard about how to give these bad boys away. And then we remembered. We are exactly one week away from another one of those big life moments that we know we will always remember....our very first time ever speaking at WPPI!! Eeeeee!! hmmm....or is it AHHHHHH!!! I'm not sure yet.

To say that we've been nervous for this would be the understatement of the MILLENIUM. Give or take. I'm not gonna lie....I have fully had the nightmares about me standing up in front of a completely empty room and I'm in my underwear. And they're not even cute underwear either. We're talking grrrrranny PANTIES here! (ugh. I hate the word panties and I seriously can't believe I just used it on this blog. Don't you think it sounds like a long lost tribe of Aborigines or something? "The Panties are a peaceful people.") Anyway, so yea....it's just us in there in an empty room. There are crickets. They are six feet tall. That mom from the movie Carrie comes in the back and shouts "They're all gonna laugh at you." Then she laughs at my granny panties and runs away. It's basically the worst. dream. EVER.

And being the crazy superstitious person that I am, I 'm now totally afraid that because I've said it out loud for the whole world to hear, I've probably just jinxed us and now the whole thing is going to actually come true. Six foot crickets and all.

Sooooo....we're going to ask for your help to spread the word about our Platform talk. AND in the process, you get to enter yourself to win a sweet set of TRA Lightroom Presets. Not a bad deal, eh?

To enter, all you gotta do is tweet the date ... time of our Platform and ask people to check it out. Then be sure to leave us a comment to let us know you did it!

Here's an example: "@justinmarantz and @marymarantz are giving away "STUFF WE LOVE" at their WPPI Platform one week from today. Tuesday, March 9th 3:30pm Pls RT"

All right, get to tweetin! "Cause y'know.... it would be Tottaly Rad if you did! :) We will announce the winner tomorrow!

]]> http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=490 http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=490 Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:52:00 GMT
Brown at the cross bar with yellow and orange swirls down the side. It had a swing, of course. Because, well...what kind of swing set would it be without one? A swing, a monkey bar, a faded orange teeter-totter, and a show horse pony that I would ride while pretending I was She-Ra... Princess of Power. Mistress of the Universe. PS: is it just me....or did anyone else think it was a *total* waste that She-Ra ... He-man were related? I'm just sayin.

So I would ride my trusty steed and do battle with Catra or Skeletor or whoever else happened to be threatening Castle Gray Skull that day. And then I would go and swing as high as I could until the chains rubbed blisters on both my hands. When I got bored I might sit on the teeter-totter or climb on the monkey bar, but by far my absolute favorite thing to do on that swing set was to climb to the very top cross bar, that brown rusty cross bar, and hang by my knees upside down.

And this perplexed my father...my big, burly scared of nothing father... to no end.

"Kid," he would say. He always called me kid. "Kid, you better get down from there or you're gonna mess around and break your fool neck. Honestly... I have never seen the beat." And he would walk away shaking his head and muttering to himself about neck braces and broken bones.

But the second he wasn't looking, I was right back up there. Legs thrown over the top, arms dangling toward the ground. Barely hanging on by my knees and carefully balancing my weight to keep from....well y'know, messing around and breaking my fool neck.

But it was quiet up there. I could think up there. And somehow flipped upside down, the world just seem to make a lot more sense up there.

If I'm being really honest, there are some days...days just like today...when I would give anything to back be up there hanging upside down on that brown rusty swing set. To be quiet up there. To sit and think up there. And to somehow have the world make a lot more sense up there. Looking at it flipped upside down.

See I think I was on to something back then, and that is this. Balance is absolutely crucial. And somehow you have to find a way to hold on to it. To both reach and stretch and look at the world completely differently, but to also never lose your grip on the people and things that support you. That hold you up. Or else y'know...you might just mess around and break your neck. And prove parents everywhere right.

And everyone knows parents are absolutely insufferable when they've been proven right. :)

I am so completely honored that I have been asked to sit on the Women's panel for Pictage at WPPI on Wednesday March 10th at 2pm, along with two of the most amazing ladies in the industry Jules BIanchi ... Tasra Dawson. We will each be leading a different section on the panel, and given my mad swing-settin' skills I have been asked to lead the part on Balance. For each of our topics, we wanted to take it to the streets, so to speak, and hear from you guys what are the things that you most struggle with in that area and what has worked for you for getting right with it.

I am so thankful to Pictage for putting this together and for always putting community first. They are such an inspiring company to be around! I also totally fell in love with their sleek, sexy new website ... brand that the marketing team just launched this week. And then just color me happy when we went there and saw one of our pictures on the front page! Booyah!

So, I want to know.....what do you struggle with most in finding a good Work/Life Balance? And what has really helped you find a way to juggle it all? We will be taking the best answers and talking about them on the panel!


]]> http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=488 http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=488 Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:56:00 GMT
The tour is over. The tour is over and we are home. But not just any home, our brand new (circa 1880... but new to us) home. Our brand new not quite finished, but totally getting there home.

And life feels really surreal at the moment. Surreal, but nice. :) There is a lot to process before I can put either of those things- the tour being over and us being home- into words. So for now, I'm going to go a little out of order and wish you a very Happy Friday with something that was totally easy for us to process....the engagement shoot we did with the absolutely beautiful Sonia ... Pankit right before we left Chicago.

These guys are getting married in just a few weeks at the incredible Eden Roc Hotel in Miami, and we will be flying right from WPPI in Vegas to be there with them. Sonia ... Pankit, you guys are amazing and we had the best time hanging out with you! We can't wait to randomly stumble upon Starbucks with you in Miami! :)

So much love,
J...M

Yea....these guys make it WAY too easy!

So it was right around here that S...P tried to convince us that they are super un-photogenic. Ummmmm I don't THINK so!!

Our first stop was the Planetarium in Chicago, which was a super cool location!

With lots of reflections!

And a really cool dome!

Uh yea.

Raaaar!!

These two are super fashionable! LOVE the shoes!

Chicago!!

S...P thank you for EVERYTHING!! We'll see you in Miami. Bienviedo a Miami!!

]]> http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=487 http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=487 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:17:00 GMT
I think about what I'll be like when I'm 97 years old and I paint a story of a life well-lived. Will I use broad strokes of color or will I save some of that just for me? Will I pen it black ... white, these snapshots that make up a lifetime, and then simply smile through my crinkles and say...

Well if you think that's good, you should have seen it in color.

]]> http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=486 http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=486 Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:47:00 GMT WPPI Photoshoot seat!!

First up, big bear hug thanks go to our good friend Davina for offering up a discount code for all of the attendees of Spread the Love, as well as to give away one of her GTKY kits at each of the stops! We will email soon with details on that!

We are also super thankful to our San Diego hosts, Jared ... Garrett, for getting on board with their company Shoot Dot Edit to offer discounts on editing, as well as to giveaway one full editing job!! Again, if you were at a Spread the Love check your email soon (tomorrowish!) for details on that!

And finally, we are so proud to announce the winner of our "What inspires you?" contest and a free seat to the WPPI Photoshoot put on by Laura Marchbanks to benefit Portrait House..........Brent Pilgrim!!!! This contest was WAYYY too hard for us to choose, so we selfishly enlisted the help of a panel of friends ... family to help us choose the winner. We were all blown away by the selflessness of this couple. The way that they push each other ... sacrifice for one another inspired all of us. Patti ... Brent, we can't wait to meet BOTH of you in Vegas!!!

Here we go! Last stop....don't get scared now!
Windy City-ly yours,
J...M



]]> http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=485 http://justinmarantz.com/index.cfm?postID=485 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:33:00 GMT

Tears can be hilarious! :) I am such a mush.

HUGE HUGE hugs ... thanks go to my girl Jules Bianchi for hosting us at her studio and in general being such an awesome friend!! We love you Jules!!

Tears can just be tears sometimes too...

The hugs at the end of the night are my FAVORITE!! Love love love all of you guys!

From San Fran we headed northbound to Shyla's haunts in Portland, OR ... Vancouver, WA. Sights like this make me smile.

After a good night's rest at Shyla's family's place, we hugged Shy goodbye and headed on our way to Seattle. But not before stopping off to see the absolutely breathtaking Multnomah Falls first. These were some of the smaller falls leading up to Multnomah.

And the BIG show. Clearly, I was in awe.

I snapped out of it just in time to realize we could have some fun with this.

LOL! Julia is by far one of the funniest people I've ever met. We were crying we were laughing so hard!

I want to live here. Right in this moment.

And then it was time for our little caravan to move onward...

To SEATTLE!! Where we had dinner at the top of the Space Needle, which is one of the coolest things I've ever done. Good thing I brought my dramamine though cause the rotating thing is pretty trippy.

Then it was time to Spread a lil' Love to Seattle. If Seattle were to win a "Lovey" award it would HAVE to be for our most caffeinated group! Clearly!

I heart you Seattle. You brought me Starbucks and therefore my heart is yours forever. We can hold hands if you want.

HUGE thanks go to Laura Marchbanks and her friends Olivia ... TJ for hooking us up with this killer space! Just look at those windows! Bah!

Love you boo.

The next morning....it was ON!!! First thing on the agenda: the original Starbucks, of course! To say that I was a little excited would be the understatement of the millenium. Eeeeeee!!!

We're here, we're here, we're here!

My name on a cup....from the original starbucks!!

The super cute Miss Laura Marchbanks met us there (bearing souvenir mugs ... all!) and showed us all around the city.

Next stop on the tour.....the crazy fish market where they throw the fish all around.

Ok....see how funny I am. Look at me. I'm kneeling down beside the scary monkfish and making a stupid face. I am such a comedian. A ham. Center of attention. Ooh take a picture of me and how clearly hilarious I am.

Yea. Little did *I* know that I was TOTALLY being Punk'd by sweet lil' Miss Marchbanks. That monkfish that she told me to go check out has a string tied to its tail that the guys behind the counter pull on to make stupid out of town tourists like me nearly jump out of their skin ... almost pee their pants. Which I *almost* did! It was HI-LARIOUS. Terrifying and hilarious. And I nearly fell over laughing about it. I am such a sucker! Move over Ashton, Laura is gunning for your job! Bah, I still get scared thinking about it. :)

Ah, good times! Stay tuned for more from the road. Denver was yesterday and KC is tomorrow. And then it's just Chicago and we're home. I seriously can't believe how fast it's going by! Slow down life, slow down.

Monkfishly yours,
J...M




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