our thoughts are with chile

This morning, our minds are drawn back to the beautiful, amazing, awe-inspiring nation of Chile, which was rocked by an 8.8-mag. earthquake in the early hours of today. So far, it sounds as though the death toll is low, surprisingly -- probably in great part due to the modernization and solid building structures found in the busy, busy capital city of Santiago. Our hope and prayer is that it remains that way and that the more humble, coastal towns like Coronel, Puerto Montt and Vina del Mar remain safe from the tsunami threat...

A look back @ Chile, from our cruise there last year.




Our friends traveled there far more recently. You ought to take a look at the Schmutz's photos while you're browsing...

Blimbam's official ad rankings

We agree with the masses this year: the 2010 SuperBowl ads were, at best, a letdown. With only one ad scoring a Perfect 10 on our oh-so-precise ad effectiveness meter, here's how we ranked the $54.3 billion in ads, along with some recommendations ...

The Lone Soldier
Doritos “hands off my mama”: 10.0
(Top-Spot Analysis: Every ad needs a funny black kid willing to slap an adult for a good laugh.)

Seek 2011 Exclusivity for Ad Copywriters
Snickers football: 9.0

Book More Primo Ad Slots in 2010
Google “search on”: 8.5
Bud Light “island radio”: 8.0

Send Personal Thank-You’s to the Focus Groups
Dennys Grand Slam #3 (birthday cake): 7.8
Bud Light “book club”: 7.5
Doritos “funeral casket”: 7.3
Cars.com “Timothy Richman”: 7.2
Coca-Cola “Africa sleep walker”: 7

Stick to Olympics Advertising
Doritos “barking collar”: 6.7
Bud Light “house of cans”: 6.5
VW “das auto slug bug”: 6.4
Bud Light “scientists, end of the world”: 6.3
FloTV “history of America” featuring The Who: 6.1
Budweiser “human bridge”: 6.0

Stick to Late-Night Advertising
Audi Clean Diesel “green police”: 5.8
Intel “best invention ever”: 5.7
Hyundai “10 years/Favre”: 5.5
Homeaway.com with Chevy Chase: 5.4
Bud Light “auto tune”: 5.3
Denny’s Grand Slam #2 (Patriotic): 5.1
Hardee’s “crying over jalapenos”: 5.0

Beg the NFL for Your Money Back
Teleflora “flowers in a box”: 4.6
Coca-Cola “Simpsons”: 4.5
Dodge Charger “man’s last stand”: 4.2
Budweiser “friends and fences/Clydesdale”: 4.1
Boost Mobile “Shuffle”: 4.0
eTrade “milkaholic”: 4.0
KGB “sumo wrestlers”: 4.0

Stick to WNBA Advertising
Tru.tv “6 more weeks of football”: 3.8
Denny’s Grand Slam #1: 3.7
Motorola featuring Megan Fox: 3.5
Census Bureau: 3.2
Vizio featuring Beyonce: 3.1
Dove for Men: 3.0

Start Seeking Government Bailouts
Hyundai Sonata music: 2.9
Kia “sock monkey and toys”: 2.7
Dorito’s “Chinese star”: 2.5
Focus on the Family with Tim Tebow: 2.3
Universal Orlando “Harry Potter”: 2.3
Bridgestone “killer whale bachelor party”: 2.2
FloTV “Change out of that skirt”: 2.2
Michelob Ultra with Lance Armstrong: 2.1
Budweiser 55 Select: 2.1
Sketchers Shapeups: 2.0
eTrade “He’s eating lobster!”: 2.0
Dante’s Inferno: 2.0
Dr. Pepper “KISS, I’m a Dr.”: 2.0

Let’s Just Pretend That Never Happened…
Honda Crosstour: 1.8
Dockers “free pants”: 1.5
Career Builder “expose yourself”: 1.4
PopSecret “awesome+awesome = awesomer”: 1.1
Go Daddy “massage”: 1.1
Taco Bell featuring Charles Barkley: 1.0
Go Daddy “too hot for TV?”: 1.0

Special Disclaimer and Production Note: Crappy CBS house ads don't count. Ever. But if we did set the meter, the David Letterman/Oprah/Leno and "How I Met Your Mother" ads would have fallen somewhere between Taco Bell and Go Daddy...

Oh, and in case you missed 'em, you can see this year's ads on CBS's website.

recreate the magic of film...

Hey, all... If you're ever looking for ways to add more character to your photos, through an old friend we've discovered a great place to start: Check out CameraBag. It started out as a cool, inexpensive iPhone app, and now it's available for your PC and/or Mac as well.

Best of all: it's one-touch photo editing!

Note: All four photos were shot @ the Jarvis-Ocampo wedding reception and processed in CameraBag.

congrats, ben and britney

Best wishes to newlyweds Britney and Ben Ocampo, married Jan. 9 in the STL! Here's a preview of some of the images captured on their big day ... Photographing this young couple was a blast; every married couple deserves a reception as fun as theirs! (UPDATE! See a video/slide show of Ben and Britney's big day HERE.)





Special thanks go out to the Drury Plaza Hotel and the Marriott STL West: Your employees bent over backwards to accomodate our shoot and make us feel at home.

the next big thing

Talk about a funny little guy, this little man was a riot to watch and photograph. Mom and Dad said he'd been having a bad day up until this point, but you certainly would never have known it from his smiles!

[Mostly shot with Canon 70-200 f/4 with three Alien Bees lighting the room.]

delayed reaction

Title translation: it's been a little too long since the last post. And, you know, that seems to be a growing theme on the other blogs we follow. There have been lots of, "I promise to be better"s and "Sorry--no excuse"s ... Here we are saying the same. But we're back with a promise of at least three posts this week, starting with Baby G, born New Year's Day! Welcome to the world, little man; sorry it's so cold here in St. Louis -- Promise it's not always like this :)