Gisele Photographer » Gisele Photographer – Weddings, Boudoir and Lifestyle Photography

My good friend Adriana was hosting an awesome party last saturday called Festa Junina. In Brazil, the Festa Junina is the festival to celebrate Saint John the Baptist, and is held in June, which is the start of the Brazilian winter. Since June is so warm here, Adriana decided to have the party in January and it was lots of fun!

The boys dress in suspenders to mimic farm hands and girls dress up like gap-toothed, pig-tailed farm girls. Everything combined with a mix of brazilian country music and  the festival is also a celebration of harvesting corn, so many dishes feature corn. Traditional dishes include canjica, which tastes a bit like sweet popcorn, and pamonha, which is similar to a tamale. Since we can’t find in Phoenix all the ingredients to make the traditional dishes we improvised with what we have… and everything was delicious! ;)

Check out how much fun we had! Everyone dressed so funny! I laughed so much! Well, we are all here to enjoy life as much we can and be happy! ;)

Mike and Adriana, Thank you so much for organizing this party. Everyone had a great time!

Since every Festa Junina needs to have a Bride, ours could not be different! Alessandra was hilarious dressing like a hillbilly bride. I loved her makeup, hair and the dress was gorgeous! ;) Ha! Her sandals with socks rocks!  Girl.. you crack me up!

Maya was adorable! Myriam and Matt were so funny! 

Flavinha and David are too cute!

Look her shoes!

I LOVE my friends! They make life so much fun and I am so grateful to have them in my life… 

I happily answered the door for the Fedex guy this morning! He brought me the new wedding album that I ordered and I am so excited to share it! I decided to design a new album using beautiful photographs of weddings that I shot last year. The cover displayed in this one is made of black leather, but there are a variety of beautiful cover and options that my clients can choose. Also I liked the round-corners and how nice the album itself looks!

Junior is not a High School Senior, he is in College since last year studying political science, and soon he will be going to law school. However, he didn’t have a chance to take cool Portraits before and he always wanted, and I am glad that I had the opportunity to do a photo session of him. Junior is like my little brother, and I love him and his whole family. He is my best friend’s brother and I know him since we all still living in Brazil. I remember my friend Melca and I in Brazil dropping off Junior at the mall when he was around 13 years old, and make me so proud now to see he became a handsome and intelligent guy.

Emanuel Junior, You Rock!! I had lots of fun doing your session! 

The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

Why 1001 Days? Many people have created lists in the past — frequently simple goals such as new year’s resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

I first became familiar with the 101 in 1001 days seeing it in many of other photographers blog and I thought it was a great idea to write down my goals to remind me to achieve them. While I was working on my goals I kept getting excited how great would be when I complete them, and I pictured in my mind enjoying each goal while I was writing it down, and it made me feel good already!

Day 01: 01/08/2009
Day 1001: 10/07/2011

1. Print my own Wedding Album with my own design
2. Interior paint my house (completed in July, 09)
3. Organize files on my office
4. Put frames with photos of all the places I have been in a wall in my house
5. Convince my older brother to come visit me in US
6. Win a photo competition
7. Shoot a celebrity Wedding in Brazil
8. Have my house backyard done (completed in Aug, 09) Looks awesome!
9. Improve my Spanish by taking all the Rosetta Stone CD lessons
10. Plant nice flowers in my front yard
11. Paint an abstract picture and hang on my bedroom wall
12. Learn how to play at least one song on the guitar
13. Decorate my office/studio
14. Buy an Iphone  (completed in 06.18.09) Love it!
15. Take a romantic trip to Italy – (completed in May/Jun 2009!)
16. Visit my friend Fran in Canada (completed in 06.27.09)
17. Go snowboard for the first time
18. Finish the coffee tree decoration for my living room
19. Attend WPPI convention in Vegas - (completed on 02.16.09)
20. Buy a 5D Mark II camera – (completed on 02.22.09) It was my birthday gift! :)
21. Do my own Trash the Dress session with Mark
22. Have my dream closet from Ikea
23. Surprise my mom with something really special
24. Have my own Boudoir photos taken
25. Do something really adventure
26. Order canvas prints and hang on my office wall
27. Go in a cruise
28. Go boat fishing in a lake
29. Buy a new car – (completed on 04.20.09)
30. Workout for a month straight
31. Go to the Church more often
32. Get pregnant
33. Shoot another wedding on the beach
34. Book a night for Mark perform as a DJ in a fun place
35. Have a fun trip with friends (completed on Aug/Sept, 09) Aruba rocks! ;)
36. Be a scuba diving certified
37. Throw a surprise party for one of my friends
38. Help Mark with Portuguese lessons
39. Read 4 good books
40. Have my own family portraits done
41. Go on a vineyard and smash the grapes with my feet
42. Learn how to make a really cool Flash header for my Blog
43. Go to the Phoenix Zoo with Mark
44. Go to a original sushi restaurant where you sit on the floor to eat
45. Learn how to make hummus with Adriana
46. Be a volunteer for a special cause
47. Shoot an Indian Wedding
48. Go to a Yoga class
49. Go to see the Jesus Christ statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
50. take some nice portraits of my hubby
51. Have more customized products to offer to my clients
52. Visit my family and friends in Brazil – (completed in March 2009)
53. Buy my favorite movie when I was a kid and watch it again
54. Visit the Antelope Canyon
55. Go to a nice wine tasting bar
56. Straight my hair permanently
57. Go to a Sun’s Game
58. Buy a karaoke and invite friends over
59. Make a trip to the Island of Fernando de Noronha in Brazil
60. Get another tattoo
61. Go camping
62. Eat some pastries at Gisele’s bakery in Jerome, AZ.
63. Go ice-skating in a frozen lake
64. Buy a GPS for my car – (my new car came with it!) :)
65. Go scuba diving, again!
66. Throw theme party in my house
67. Give away clothes/stuff that I don’t use anymore
68. Taking some nice portraits of my grandma in Brazil
69. Make a new Logo that I really like for my business
70. Take photos of a friend’s newborn at the hospital – (completed in 05.22.09)
71. Buy a really nice colorful shoes
72. Shoot my first Boudoir Session – (completed in July, 09)
73. Learn how to make my favorite cocktail with a bartender
74. Shoot a session on the snow
75. Go to NYC – (completed in 07.02.09)
76. Play golf for the first time
77. Get a bicycle
78. Make a linguine a la carbonara from scratch (including the pasta)
79. Have a hammock on my backyard
80. Take the dogs in some of our vacations
81. Try an exotic ice cream flavor
82. Go to a boxing class
83. Have a really cool showit website – (completed in Sept, 09) Love it!
84. Don’t eat sweets for a month
85. Go to a nice beach in Mexico
86. Donate blood
87. Do a Photo session of my brother and his family
88. Buy a Flat screen TV for my Office
89. Make a banana split (my mom’s style) and enjoy eating it!
90. Send my grandma my wedding photos in a DVD format, so she can watch it in her TV
91. Make a really cool business card for my business
92. Shoot at the Boneyard Neon Museum in Las Vegas – (completed in 09.21.09)
93. Improve how to better apply texture on my photos
94. Have a fire pit in my backyard
95. Make brazilian style pizzas flavors and invite friends over
96. Do one thing everyday for a month to improve my business
97. Visit a flower field
98. Order a new mouse pad with my favorite photo on it
99. Take a trip to San Francisco
100. Go up in a hot-air balloon – always wanted to do it!
101. I will save this goal for something special later.

Every time I complete a goal I will be posting about it and taking it out of my list. Can’t wait to make each one of them happen! :)

Seems to me a long time I haven’t post anything on my Blog. It was a busy end of year! I had such a great Christmas, for so many reasons. It was our first Christmas in our new home, my mother-in-law came from Las Vegas to spend Christmas with us.. It was for sure the best Christmas I had in a long time. The house was packed with friends that I love and yummy food! ;-) Mark is a Christmas baby, he was born on the 25th, so we did have lots of reasons to enjoy our Christmas!

Last year was a terrific for me, I accomplished so many things… I met so many cool people, made wonderful friends… and I feel extremely happy with the results of my hard work in 2008.

Wishing a successful and wonderful year for everyone!