Tonight we caught Retribution Gospel Choir at the Triple Rock. I was a little hesitant to see this show because the band is fronted by Alan Sparhawk from Low. And I've only seen Low play once. And I fell asleep. Not joking.

But this was a great show! Sparhawk had so much fantastic energy! As you can see by him playing the guitar with his teeth in the photo above. It was a fun set, and not too long (which I appreciated). Lots of great emotion and fun on stage -- which you can see more of right here. As a side note, the Triple Rock put in new LED lights this week, and they are *even worse* than the lights they had before -- hard to believe, I realize. In color, these are the darkest, most purple photos you would ever see. Hence all the black and white. I hope they fix those or get a better hang of them soon. Although I'm not holdin' my breath.

So, are you ready to start razzing me? Because I'm about to hand over some serious ammunition. See Memphis? See that black collar? That's a Dap Collar. Do you know what it does? (Or rather, what it's *supposed* to do?) It is supposed to emit the pheromones of a mother dog breastfeeding. Essentially, it's supposed to get Memphis to chill the f*ck out.

The vet believes that a big reason our little golden is vomiting so much (and eating things like prized artwork) is that she's extremely nervous and anxious when we're gone. She has severe separation anxiety. And let me tell you, after this little destroyer ate my original vita.mn artwork for our Monsters of Folk cover that was *autographed by the band,* I am willing to give this magic collar a shot.

Today I'm kinda phoning it in. Sorry, folks. It was a super busy day, and I didn't get a chance to even get my camera out of the bag until 9:40 pm or so. But anyway, look at these lovely flowers. This bouquet was from Merlin last Saturday, and they are still in great shape. If you live in Minneapolis, I cannot recommend Pazzobello highly enough -- fantastic florists. As for Merlin, what a pup, eh? Those collies are just so lovable.

This morning after leaving Sarah's, I headed up the Scenic Highway to Stony Point to take a few shots of Lake Superior in the winter. This is one of Memphis' favorite places, as you can see here. But in the winter, it has a whole new feel. I love the crusty ice, the smooth rocks and the rough water. On a separate note, on my way back south I saw 8 deer in the 18 miles between Two Harbors and Duluth. Crazy.

Look at those lashes, baby. Today I drove up to Duluth to shoot some portraits of Sarah Lawrence, who is a singer/soprano/performer as well as an amazing cook (I know this because she kept feeding me all day). We shot about a gazillion frames, but this shot was taken back stage before her performance tonight in The Secret Garden. She was an amazing sport, and I can't wait to process the rest of her shots. And man, does this woman have some pipes. Amazing stuff, I tell you.

So some of you who follow me on Twitter may have seen the tweet that said my camera broke. Right before I'm heading up to Duluth for a Very Important shoot. Awesome luck, I know.I was able to MacGyver my camera back into use, but my dear friend Stacy insisted that I borrow her beautiful D300 to take as backup should anything go wrong. And man, is this a lovely camera. What a friend.I owe her big time.And fingers crossed on the Tuesday shoot, btw. It should be tons of fun.

Happy Valentine's Day! As part of my gift, Jamie agreed to sit still for a few frames while I practiced some lighting techniques. He hates having his photo taken, which is why it was such a gift. And see what happens when you make goofy faces at the photographer when she's asking you to hold still? You end up on the interwebs for all to see.We spent the day at home catching up on Tivo and relaxing before heading to Tosca for a delicious dinner and a lot of Chianti. I loooooove me some Chianti.It was a really nice day overall.

This morning I got up early to head to Margaret's for omelet lessons. She has this fantastic apartment that just fills up with light, creating a great environment for food photos. I loooove shooting food. If my kitchen had an ounce of natural light in it, you guys would be getting so tired of seeing what I eat each day ;)Anyway, we both took a gazillion shots during the lesson, and Margaret made a killer omelet in the end. Should you want to see more photos from the session look here. Oh, and the last shot has nothing to do with breakfast. That's a cue to my mother for a gift idea. I'm subtle like that.