Kelly McCord Photography Blog: Celebs, Suites, The Good Life and More

That's a commercial shot of my sister as model, for my friend Kiersten's company, which I'll explain more below.

Also, I shot my couple-that-I-can't-tell-you-about last week for their engagement shoot. It was so fun and amazing, and I wish I could show you the photos, and tell you all about it. And I may be able to at some point, but not now.

I will say, shooting someone who is absolutely sure of herself in front of a camera, and used to doing it, is an incredible thing for a photographer, and I think the pictures reflect that.

In other news, our family flew down to L.A. this weekend, to support my friend Kiersten, with a pre-Oscar event her company was invited to participate in. Have you heard of gifting suites? If not, here's a quick run-down. Celebrities are invited to come 'shop' (which isn't really shopping, because they're giving products away for free) at a gifting event. So Kiersten was invited to show at this event (which means, give her products away for free). And because I'm a photographer and because it was also her 30th birthday that weekend (and I wanted to be with her for that anyway), we decided to go down and support her.

So last Tuesdsay Kiersten overnighted me her latest products for Milkdudz, and my sis and I got to work. If you want to see all the shots from the photo shoot for Milkdudz, you can do so by clicking here. Those are all Kiersten's prouducts, featuring my sister, my daughter Sofia and my nephew Maddox. If you want to hear about my trip to L.A., (or see some celeb shots) continue after the jump...

So I stayed up all night to edit the shots, get approval, and then send them to be printed. After I did that, I started edited a band CD shoot, and my celebrity engagement shoot.

We left on Thursday for Los Angeles. We pulled into the Beverly Hilton late on Thursday, and when I got to the counter learned that we'd not only been upgraded, but had been upgraded to the Presidential Suite! Where, as our bellman told us, Anthony Hopkins had stayed the previous month, during the Golden Globes (which are held at that hotel). Apparently what had happened was the hotel was totally sold out, because the Academy Awards were that weekend, so they had to upgrade us. It was incredibly plush and so much fun. We were thrilled, to say the least. Photos of the suite, below.

The next morning, I met Kiersten and her partner, Stephanie, downstairs to help set up their gifting suite. After we set up, the crowds started arriving. I was sweaty and beat down, by the time we'd set up, (as you'll see in some of the photos), but it was great fun getting to meet and talk to people you'd only seen on the big (and small) screen. Some highlights; talking to Dave Foley about my camera, I've loved him since Kids In The Hall, NewsRadio and of course, now that I'm addicted, to Celebrity Poker. Also talked to Danica McKellar (Wonder Years), Melissa Joan Hart (who is incredible normal and sweet), Hal Sparks (who I already thought was hilarious, but talking to him cemented it), plus he actually really paid attention to you while he was talking, not looking around or seeming distracted, which made it really fun for Kiersten, Stephanie and I to talk to him, and he kept us in stitches the entire time. Carlos Ramiez, from Napoleon Dynamite, also saw Holly Robinson Peete, Kimberly Elise, Michael Copon, Rex Lee, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Shonderella Avery (also in Napoleon Dynamite), Vivica A. Fox, Perez Hilton, and Toni Ferrari and Beth Stolarczyk of reality television fame. There were also a bunch of soap actresses, who I didn't know, but looked glam (Kier, Steph and I were 'who's that'ing a lot of the day). A strange mix, but fun nonetheless. I've got more celeb pics, which I may post later, but for now...

Me with people, who may or may not impress you (keep in mind, I didn't take these, so they may be blurry and/or badly lit):
Stephanie, Beth (from Real World Fame) and I
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