Meet Longinus Fernandes, Choreographer for Slumdog Millionaire

Posted by Liana at 9:19 AM

Last night I had the awesome experience of learning Bollywood dance from Award-Winning Choreographer Longinus Fernandes at Dance 101 here in Atlanta.

While I've studied or tried about every type of dance under the sun, I've concluded that Bollywood has to be one of the most FUN styles, and WOW it gives you a good workout!

We learned the same closing credits dance sequence from Slumdog Millionaire - featuring Academy Award Winner for Best Original Song, Jai Ho.

Here's a clip from one of the local news stations yesterday:


Of course, after learning most of the dance, my photographer-urge kicked in and I pulled out my camera for a few pics and videos. Aris, the founder of Fernandes' agency Xcel Talent, and Ofelia, the owner of Dance101, were awesome to get me right up front for some great shots.



Dancers of all ages and backgrounds came to learn from Longi








Afterwards he took the time to answer questions and snap some pics with the group.


Since my camera settings are not normal to the average user, I attempted a snapshot of us in the mirror - me all yucky from dancing and apparently making funny faces while trying to focus in a mirror. LOL


Last, here is a pic of the people that made this happen.

From left to right: Aris Golemi of Xcel Talent, Ofelia de La Valette founder and owner of Dance101, Longinus Fernandes Award Winning Choreographer, and Bubba Carr Artistic Director of Dance 101 and known for many things including work with So You Think You Can Dance and Fame the TV show.

Slumdog Millionaire Dance Routine taught by Award Winning Choreographer at Dance101 from Liana Hall on Vimeo.

What Changing Names and the death of my MacBook Pro have in common...

Posted by Liana at 11:49 AM

What does Changing Names and the death of my MacBook Pro have in common??

(Part of) the cause of my silence on Liana's Bananas lately!!

I have LOTS of stuff to blog including:

- Three Awesome Weddings
- Adventure Portrait Session
- Portraits of one of my favorite wedding client's TWIN girls!
- StudioWed happenings
- How I added 5 lbs to our waistlines since we got married and spoiled my hubby rotten with hearty meals
- How to create a emergency back up plan for when your computer burns your hand, then dies!
- Why it's good to pick a business name that you don't have to change when you get married and change your name.
- How to make a jalapeno plant and herb garden grow 3-feet in three weeks
- Recipe for my new "secret sauce" that me and Mikey put on everything now!
- Pics from Jessica and John's wedding that we'll be capturing in a few hours here on St.Simons Island

While my name change is still in limbo, l and I do not have a computer to use (and must beg Mikey for use of his).... business goes on and blogging shall too!

Happening This Week

Posted by Liana at 4:18 PM

Ahhhh... when do I ever stop being behind in blogging!?? LOL. June was supposed to be my month for catching up on big projects like the new website and figuring out when the next Boot Camps will be... but alas LOTS of last-minute things always come up. It's SOO good to be booked up, I'm just in desperate need of help!!

This week:

- Dana has come to my rescue and is diving in head-first getting trained and helping me with the day-to-day operations.

- two amazing weddings and a few fun engagement sessions to blog.

- dad is in town so we may have a belated Father's Day cookout on the back deck

- I'm super excited to meet and photograph the baby twin girls of a wedding client from over two years ago!

- another meeting with my savvy accountant/bookkeeper to get the new system set up finished

- doing a private consultation/class for a super talented portrait photographer who's flying into Atlanta later this week

- hosting a dinner party here for my Spain Mission Trip group

Since posts are more fun with pictures, here's some from around the house lately...

Two little bundles of love, cuddling together on the back deck.


A quick 5D Mark II lesson and lens-testing session with my friend Leigh. She's smart and is trying out different lenses before purchasing.


Grace got Mikey a perfect gift... an electric fly swatter for when she lets bugs get in the house from the back deck and can't reach high enough to get them herself. Don't worry - no batteries in it yet - she's just sniffing and rubbing up against it.


Mikey's Birthday Breakfast on the back deck last Friday. We had waffles and bacon. Fake-bacon for me, really crispy bacon for Mike!

Cupcakes for my Sweetie's Birthday

Posted by Liana at 10:10 PM

Friday was Mikey's 30-something Birthday and we celebrated his getting-older-day with LOTS of food, goofy gifts, and an evening out with a group of 20+ friends.

At about 3PM my Martha Stewart cupcake baking gene kicked in and I went on a cupcake-experimenting spree.



It was pretty funny walking into the restaurant with 100+ mini cupcakes in 5 different varieties. While signature ugly carrot cake is the standard favorite for birthdays, this went over pretty well. It's so easy to share mini-cupcakes and it was fun because we got to try a bunch of different kinds. We will need to be going on a diet after this weekend!

Here is what I managed to mix up:

Oreo Cupcakes had cookie crumbles in both the cake AND the Icing


White Chocolate cupcakes were one of my favorites. I melted Ghiradelli white chocolate to use in the frosting which surprisingly also had cream cheese in it to mellow out the sweetness.



The Key Lime Cupcakes I made on accident. I thought for sure Mikey loved Key Lime, but I was wrong! LOL. I don't particularly care for it either so I made some just-coconut and I actually enjoyed it. Fluffy and light. The meringue on top is made with egg whites and I had to make it twice because the first time I forgot to shake the egg-white carton and got mostly water. Opps!!


The next batch I call French Hazelnut Chocolate Cupcakes. They are injected with Nutella. MMMMMMmmmmm. I made a Ganache for the first time too and it was actually pretty easy. We had it in our wedding cake and now I'm addicted! Once the ganache cools a bit you simply dip the cupcakes in it - you don't need much because it's really rich!


Last but not least, Butterfinger Cupcakes! These were Mikey's favorite since it's his favorite candy and like the Oreo ones they have candy infused into the cake and icing. VERY sweet. Mmmm. We're out of these or I'd be eating one right now.


I used box mix as the base for ALL of these recipes so it was actually very easy and fun experimenting with adding in puddings, candies, and spices. Splitting the batter in half and using one mix for two different types also allowed me to make a variety without having 500 little mini cupcakes tempting us for weeks!

Rohn and Elisa got Engaged this Morning!!

Posted by Liana at 5:07 PM

After the wedding we photographed last night, Mike and I both noticed we had urgent text messages from our mutual friend Rohn. He didn't say what he wanted, but Mike and I BOTH had a hunch it had something to do with him popping the BIG question to his girlfriend, Elisa. We decided to take our cameras to church with us this morning... and sure enough Rohn proposed on the balcony of Buckhead Church (where they met for the first time) and she said "of course"!!

On our way to go celebrate with the happy couple. Here's a few pics I snapped.











Congrats Rohn and Elisa!!!

Bubbles and Summer Chores

Posted by Liana at 7:55 AM

Summer is here! Okay, so not officially yet, but it sure does feel like it!

This weekend was one of the first where I didn't have a wedding or session. We had extra time to get a bunch of stuff done around the house so we scrubbed, painted, stained, washed, weeded, and shopped. Mike had a grand old time attacking the old birds and bees nests on our front porch with the power washer. I got dizzy on paint and stain fumes and my skin looks like I have rare-stain-disease. Our house numbers on the mailbox post needs HELP now. Who would have thought you'd get repeated nasty-grams from you Home Owner's Association for not painting your mailbox/post often enough? Who knew using a makeup brush for painting numbers isn't the best tool? LOL.

Anyways, no post would be complete without a picture... so here's one I found from Robin and Keith's wedding last weekend at Seaside (more pics coming soon). Nothing better than a magical summer night...

Wedding Vendor Reviews: Cake and Dress Shop

Posted by Liana at 11:08 AM

In continuation of my last post, here are my reviews/experiences regarding my cake and dress shop vendors. I actually worked with THREE different bridal shops, but this is the one I purchased my dress from.

The Dress: Victoria's Bridal Couture
Fort Lauderdale, FL
www.victoriasbridalcouture.com
4.5 out of 5.0


After going to over TEN different bridal stores in Atlanta, I found the dress I wanted, at a price tag out of my budget. My mother clued me into the online sales some stores were doing in other states, so I started calling around and emailing to see if I could get my dress at price within my budget.

Sure enough, Victoria's Bridal came through for me at the BEST price of any other store. You can order online but the service is minimum - I guess that's how they can give you the best deal possible. It took a while to get the order through because I had a special request to extend the train longer, but it finally went through and then it was time to wait.

I heard little to nothing in the 6 months of waiting, and when it came time for my dress to arrive, I called the store, and they told me it would be another month longer. This was highly disappointing but they surprised me and it came a few weeks later. Good thing I still had time for alterations and finding accessories!

The dress came via UPS and was perfect. I'd highly recommend any bride on a budget to go through this process, but put in a bit of extra time in case it takes longer.

(Images by Jessica Claire)
Dress by Demetrios










The Cake: Cake Studio
Los Angles, CA
Sonia's Listing on Wedding Wire
5.0 out of 5.0

Sonia was wonderful to work with, our wedding cake she made - just as wonderful! Everyone raved about how good it was and how gorgeous the design (it was just my style!)

My mom found her on wedding wire and made the initial contact. We were planning our wedding from out of town and met with a handful of cake designers in one day. Sonia's cakes are fluffy and dreamy and unique compared to the over-sugared-weighed-down ones most everyone else had. The fondant she makes is actually made of marshmallow so it doesn't taste nasty like most fondants. She took a lot of time during our initial consultation then again just days before the wedding to go over exactly what we wanted, and helped us come up with the design in the first place. I think we spent hours in her office during the first consultation. We ended up with a gorgeous Tiffany's-blue fondant-covered four-layer cake with ganache and Bavarian cream with hazelnut crunch between layers of white cake.

We had a VERY small wedding (40 people) but I'm a wedding photographer and I didn't want my cake to look itty-bitty. She was able to find cost-cutting solutions to be able to give us a bigger cake that was beautiful but that cost less. We simplified the design and added a fake (foam) layer to the bottom to help do this. She also helped us know what jewels and ribbon to get to her and the measurements we would need. We rented the cake stand from her as well and she delivered the cake the day of the wedding herself.

I get to try wedding cakes a LOT since I photograph weddings and ours was I think the best I've ever had. It was fresh and unique - yet beautiful too! Plus, Sonia was a doll to work with and gave us just what we asked for.

(Images by Sara D Harper)
Toasting Flutes from Tiffany's and Cake Knife and Server by Vera Wang

Wedding Vendor Reviews

Posted by Liana at 12:23 PM

As a professional photographer, I know how important it is to get feedback from clients so that we can continually improve. I know I'm never perfect, and we all make mistakes, but over all my goal as a photographer is to capture my client's day as THEY wish, and that the Bride, Groom and their families are treated like Queens and Kings!

When it came time for the tables to be turned, reading reviews and having referrals really helped in the planning process. Since our wedding was in LA, I didn't know the area as well and had to hire mostly people I'd never met until we were engaged. I looked for vendors that most of all would be a pleasure to work with that ALSO provided great products and services.

I'm happy to say that a majority of our vendors did (for our own destination wedding last month). I just spent some time reviewing our wedding vendors (with the exception of photo and video since those experiences aren't complete yet) and I'd like to share my reviews here too.

We used Wedding Wire for our database and seating charts and overall organization, and also wrote our reviews here.

I'm also going to hunt for some pictures to go along with this, so it's not so much text!

HAIR AND MAKEUP by Nicole DeAnne
www.nicoledeanne.com
5.0 out of 5.0



Nicole DeAnne was AMAZING! She did my hair and makeup for the big day and I wouldn't have had anyone else!

We had a destination wedding and only had one week in LA to plan the wedding and meet with vendors. The last day I was in town, I was speaking at a convention, and figured what better time to do my test? She came to my hotel bright and early and tried different styles until we landed on what was perfect. The makeup stayed on ALL day plus a red-eye flight home to Atlanta! My hair was all in place too so I knew it would last a whole wedding day.

The day of the wedding she was a calming force in the room of all chaos and I was finally at ease as I sat in the chair and let her do her magic. At the last minute I changed my mind about the hair style and asked if it was too late to change. She loved the idea and we tried it out - and it was even better than I imagined!

I'm a wedding photographer and I've worked with TONS of vendors and I can honestly say Nicole was top-notch and one of the best I've worked with! She's completely professional, sweet, and accommodating.

(Images by Sara D Harper)
















Edit: I can see now that this post would be ridiculously long if I tried to do them all at once, so I'm going to post them up individually, or a few at a time over the next few days...

Behind the Scenes from Our Wedding: Getting Ready

Posted by Liana at 11:56 AM

I've got SOOO much to post about our own wedding. Pictures, reviews, stories, videos... but since I'm waiting to gather everything to do a more complete review... I figured I'd share some snippets in the meantime.

I love this behind-the-scenes pic because
a) it's hilarious how much photo/video coverage we had for our VERY small wedding and shows some of our awesome vendors in action
b) I'm caught wearing my Uggs... classic... so ugly, but so me! Haha

Sara was a guest at our wedding but couldn't help herself and shot as many pictures as she would shooting a wedding with me! Haha. We've had some fun going through her images this past week.

She took this picture of me getting ready - with our photographer Jessica Claire (love how it looks like she's hiding in the bushes - haha!), and videographer Joshua Smith of Cinematic Bride, and hair/makeup artist Nicole DeAnne fixing me up right.



Eddie and his amazing wife were with Mikey at the Maison 140 while the guys were getting ready then everyone came together for our first look. Jessica and Josh both also brought another shooter with them so there were 5 photographers and 2 videographers total in action! Stay tuned for more pics...

Counting Sheep

Posted by Liana at 12:13 PM

What's wrong with me!? Does the jet-lag really have me this out-of-whack? I'm usually fighting for every last second of sleep in the morning, a bear to get out of bed. But since we arrived home from Australia and New Zealand I can't sleep more than 4-5 hours at a time.

This morning I was wide awake by 4AM. Finished work by the time Mikey woke, and I had pancakes and eggs ready for him. He's going to be spoiled I tell you!

Well, here's a picture of some odd sheep-shaped building we passed in New Zealand on the north island. I have no idea what's inside.




New Zealand was the LAND of sheep - everywhere! Mikey is probably going to kill me for posting this here but I can't help it - he's just too cute in this little lamb hat!

Home, Sweet Home

Posted by Liana at 4:11 PM

This weekend, Mike and I returned from a MONTH of being away from home for our wedding, honeymoon, and work abroad. We left Atlanta March 31st and didn't return home until May! Today is actually our 1-month anniversary!

Our trip was amazing, but being away that long certainly makes you appreciate not living out of a suitcase. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be home - especially after a long 30-hours of non-stop travel! The great part is that we got to ride in one of the largest passenger airplanes in the world on my new favorite Airline, Qantas. The A380 Airbus was SOOO spacious, high-tech, and QUIET. And by a stroke of luck, the lady's seatbelt next to me broke and she had to move, so we had the whole aisle to ourselves on the 14 hour flight.



They had a HUGE array of entertainment options, and since we left at 1PM from Sydney I really wasn't tired and ended up watching FIVE movies and a bunch of House episodes! LOL. So much for sleep and reading my Australian book!




We had a grueling layover in Los Angles. Between running to the restroom 100 times to wash hands so we didn't contract the Swine Flu, we dozed sitting up amid the screaming loud speaker. Ick. The ride to Atlanta was turbulent the entire way. Double ick.

But alas we arrived home late, but safe.. and were greeted with all kinds of nice surprises. The first think I noticed was our front landscaping. It had MOM written all over it... she'd come from NC while we were gone and completely redone our front beds! It looks SOOO much better than what we left which must have been an embarrassment to the neighbors. haha. Thanks Mom!



Then I walked into the kitchen to a gorgeous spread complete with an advice book they'd put together from our shower and instructions on what to do our first night home.




I found out later my awesome bridesmaids Kimberly and Susan came while we were away cleaned, got groceries, and left us all kinds of nice surprises around the house. I wish I liked strawberries - they look so yummy! My mom had even left some home cooking in the freezer for us. Sara even stayed here 4 hours waiting for the cleaners to come so our house got cleaned twice and is super-clean now... awesome!




Got to love all the Tiffany's. That is one of the wedding gifts Mikey got me. So sweet!



This one on the left cracked us up the most. They'd found our left-over table signs from the wedding and found creative use for it. Haha. And that's my tattered, Santa-Monica-Pier-Dirtied wedding dress on the right.




My kittens ran away at first but then resumed their normal behavior. Such as Grace here pretending to be laundry!



So cute!! She turned a little more brown while we were away.


Being the good wife that I am, I made - errr, went and obtained - breakfast in bed for us the next morning. We'd been craving good ol American food such as Chic fil A for a while. Mmmmm.


The past few days have been filled with the house being torn apart, us unpacking Mikey's stuff, running errands, and the 101 things to do after being gone for a month. I somehow have not managed to sleep longer than 4-5 consecutive hours since we've returned, so I'm a bit of a zombie still with jet-lag. Maybe by next week I'll be cooking real meals and back to sleeping in past 5AM.

Gosh it's good to be Home, Sweet Home!

Chloe the Kangaroo

Posted by Liana at 6:13 PM

Meet Chloe the Kangaroo.



Yesterday, as I finished taking a video as Chloe hopped away, I turned to my new husband and said "now my trip to Australia is complete...I've met a Kangaroo and seen her hop!"

We've had almost two weeks here in Australia and the time has flown by SOOOO fast! We spent one week in Melbourne, and this week have been in the Sydney area including Newcastle and Hunter Valley. We only have 24 hours left to explore Sydney before we head for the airport and two VERY long flights home.

I've taught two amazing Photo Biz Boot Camps since we arrived in Australia and was somewhat surprised how crazy-similar business is here. In our in-between time we've explored some of the countryside, thus my lack of internet lately.

As much as we don't want to leave, we're excited to get home and see what it's like being married in "real life" and see our friends, fam, and of course my kitties who have probably forgotten who we are by now!

Oh yes... and that pic of Chloe... she was waiting for us where we stayed in Hunter Valley yesterday. Greeting us for breakfast!