We are Live.

yes, it's true.  i finally have a website.

come.  explore.  leave happy.  www.katyabramson.com

favorites of late

Ryan Bingham at the Levitt Pavilion last Thursday.  mmmmm, he was good.

LaurieBStyle in a shoot we did for The Fashion Fronline contest.

A stunner from a shoot for the lovely & talented musician Sonnet.

Ciaran’s Heroes

For the past year, I have been following a blog documenting the struggles and recovery of a very brave little girl.  CiaranNeiman.wordpress.com.

On July 17, 2010 The Neiman's are hosting a wine tasting / silent auction to fundraise for Ciaran's recovery and I jumped at the chance to help.  I have donated these two, 5x7 prints to the silent auction.

Ciaran Quinn Neiman

“The Warrior Princess”

Ciaran is a beautiful and happy little girl who celebrated her 3rd birthday on June 20, 2010. She loves to smile and laugh, just like her parents Doug and Shannon Neiman.

Last July, Ciaran contracted a very serious E. Coli infection from an unknown source. Unfortunately, the infection lead to life threatening complications – a disease called Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome (HUS).

In Ciaran’s case, while fighting HUS, she suffered a series of micro strokes. As a result, she has lost normal function of her limbs, as  well as the ability to speak clearly and eat normally. Fortunately, her cognitive abilities remain intact. 

After 5 months in three different hospitals, Ciaran is on the road to recovery. Her rehabilitation includes intensive physical, occupational, speech, and eating therapies on a daily basis. She has been nicknamed “The Warrior Princess” as she tackles these therapies with amazing determination. The process is not easy and takes a great deal of time, but Ciaran has the potential to retrain other portions of her brain and restore her loss of function. 

Intensive therapy over the next year is critical to her recovery. 

Most recently, Ciaran went through a 3 week concentrated physical therapy program at The Napa Center. This rehabilitation program goes well beyond traditional therapies and has been able to produce results far above the standard therapy. Doug and Shannon hope to continue with these types of specialized treatment programs to help Ciaran achieve a full recovery.

If you would like to make a donation or submit an item to the silent auction, send to: Monica Kennedy, 745 Toyopa Drive, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272.  Make check payable to Ciaran Neiman.  All proceeds & donations will go directly to Ciaran’s Rehabilitation.

Sonnet Photoshoot

even though i hold a degree in commercial digital photography i don't consider myself a photographer.  well that might have changed on saturday when i spent the day shooting the lovely & talented singer / songwriter Sonnet.  the images above are from the "studio" portion of the shoot.  see more pics from the shoot on flickr.

model / musician: Sonnet
styled by: Laurie B Style

see Sonnet live Tuesday, June 1st 2010 at the Hotel Cafe - 10pm.  i am so there.

'Date Night' Photo Shoot

at it again with Laurie B Style.  last night we took over the Grove and finished up at The Village Idiot.  fun with photoshop (also one of my favorite pics of the evening) below.

favorite pics of 2010... so far

my favorite meal from the big LA - Seattle road trip in February.   a waffle with pepper bacon, brie, fresh basil and house-made peach jam from The Waffle Window, Portland, OR.  oooohh yeah.

my favorite shot from a photo shoot for my fabulous friend, Laurie Brucker.

i take a lot of pictures of this guy.  he's a fantastic subject.  this one is my favorites of late.

Favorites of 2009

December 31st, 2009.  wow.  what a great year.  here are a few highlights.  enjoy!

Favorite New Blog: JewelryWhore

Creator of JewelryWhore, Jade has been artfully running the site since January 2008.  I stumbled upon this treasure during a normal afternoon of blog-hopping and I have been mesmerized ever since.  Her blog is packed full of goodies like DIY projects, weekly sample sales, the latest jewelry trends, styling advice and so much more.  The variety of styles and price points showcased is refreshing.  I'm hooked.

Favorite New Burger Joint: Umami Burger

 

My apologies, Father's Office.  You make a hell of a burger, but it's time to move on.  I recently had the most delicious burger of my life at Umami Burger Hollywood.  With the recent explosion of high end burger joints serving craft beer to match, Umami Burger has risen to the top.  They boast 10(ish) yummy burgers, DELICOUS sides and an acceptable beer/wine list based on an interesting concept that I will leave to Jonathan Gold to describe.

The restaurant is dedicated to the concept of umami, the savory, meaty "fifth taste" that may be technically defined as the carboxylate anion of glutamic acid, which is to say the dash of soy sauce in your stir-fry or the catsup you like with your fries. - Jonathan Gold.  full article here.

Does that make sense?  All you need to know is the food is delicious.  JUST GO!

Favorite New Weekend Activity: Hiking

My handsome and talented boyfriend recently turned me on to the wonderful world of hiking.  A couple months ago I found myself on top of the highest peak in the Santa Monica Mountains.  This profound experience has led to many subsequent hikes all over southern California.  For me, hiking has been a challenging, exciting, emotional, rewarding experience.  California is such a beautiful state that I am finally beginning to explore.  And now I look forward to my first backpacking trip in a couple of days.  I'm so excited!!

My New Hobby: Photography

This magical art form has interested me since I was a child.  My sisters and I would create elaborate sets for our fashion shoots that consisted of "clothes" made out of old sheets.  I continued to document my life through photography and in 2006, I earned a degree in Commercial Digital Photography. After a 3-year hiatus in which I discovered my current career, graphic design, I have recently drifted back.  It's no mystery, I got an SLR for my 30th birthday (October) and since then I rarely go anywhere without it.  I continue to explore new techniques, such as using Photoshop to create panoramas and fake tilt-shift miniatures. Photoshop is a powerful tool that I am glad to have on my side.  Documenting our hikes has been quite a thrill as well.  I enjoy exploring this world through a lens, and I will continue to do so.

Thank you for reading.  Don't forget to visit my friends!

Matt On a Car Phone

Catt Scott

Laurie B Style

Rachel Malovany

my holiday card

happy holidays!

Dos Equis Logo

Last week I spent a couple of hours creating this logo for a video spoof on the Dos Equis, Most Interesting Man in the World commercials.  I redrew the Dos Equis logo from scratch and made some adjustments to better accommodate the updated subject matter.

With the help of some friends, Rikki Glassman created this hilarious video.  Difficult to explain, this is a must see.

that's me!!!!

It's that time of year again!

GAG gift giving time!  Around this time every year, my department gets bombarded with ridiculous graphics requests for gag gifts.  It has always mildly infuriated me that for two weeks in December my time and talent (I'm using the word loosely) is spent creating the silliest, most ridiculous items you can imagine.  The purpose of these items is to entertain and humiliate co-workers, a sport that interests me little.  I worked (and continue to work) on my share of stupid, waste-of-time gag gifts, however THIS year I got a real gem.
The Boarding Pass.

I designed a fake boarding pass and accompanying sleeve to inform Mrs. Managing Director's Wife that Mr. Managing Director is taking her to France in 2010.  This was less of a gag gift and more of a Christmas present.  This project fell right into my creative wheelhouse and boy was it fun.

Following some light internet research the design fell into place quickly.  I ran into a few question marks while creating the sleeve, considering airlines don’t issues these anymore I didn’t have a good sample to look at.  Are they shorter or longer than the boarding pass? Are they open or closed at the bottom? After some consideration, I went with a size and design that made sense to me. Printing had the usual snags but nothing I couldn’t handle. At the end of the day Mr. Managing Director is happy and I have another piece for my portfolio.  Everybody wins.