Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Film: 500 Days of Summer
Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Clark Gregg, Minka Kelly
Director: Marc Webb
Genre: Romantic Comedy

This was one of my favorite movies of the summer!  I take that back...it's probably the best film I've seen all year!!  With a year filled with GI Joe's, X-Men Origins, Transformers & Harry Potter, 500 Days was very refreshing to watch.

I love smart, witty comedies.  I'm also a sucker for a good love story.  This one has both.  This is a great piece of storytelling from Marc Webb, guiding us through his unique take on the classic story of boy meets girl in a fun, modern fashion.  I also thought the visuals and artwork in the film were amazing!  The cinematography was excellent and complemented the story very well.

The two leads, Zooey & Joseph, do a very convincing job of portraying their characters in 500 Days.  I think the average guy can relate to Joseph throughout the film and he was very entertaining to watch.  I've been a fan of Zooey's for a while now, ever since I saw her in "Yes Man" and she didn't disappoint me in this one either.  I think she's going to be one of the big stars in Hollywood to look out for.

Definitely go check this out if you haven't seen it.  Everyone I've told to go see it so far has come back to tell me I didn't steer them the wrong way.  Oh, and I almost forgot...the soundtrack to this movie is awesome!  I downloaded it on iTunes after seeing the movie and the song selections are great.  Makes me want to go and see it again ;)

five_hundred_days_of_summer.jpg

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Thursday, August 20, 2009
I met Amanda & Ben at a wedding I shot earlier this year.  Amanda was one of the bridesmaids at her cousins wedding and they were such a fun group.  She saw the slideshow that I displayed at the wedding and asked for a card, letting me know that she was getting married also!  

Well it happened, Amanda & Ben were married this month at Hotel Zaza!  It was amazing, I can't wait to start selecting photos to blog from her wedding.  In the meantime, here are a few from their engagement session.  I love it when my clients collaborate with me for ideas for their engagement shoots to make them more personal!  We started off at Amy's Ice Cream and then finished up near River Oaks.  Check these two out!


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Blake says:

That looked like a really fun shoot. Great job bro. I like the one of them kissing and her foot on the ball. Nice integration!

(08.21.09 @ 10:10 AM)
clint says:

akil.. I'm lov'n this sesh.. you rock'd it as always :)

(09.16.09 @ 07:25 PM)
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: River Oaks Engagement Photos . TrackBack URL for this entry: http://akilbennett.net/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/35
I got the opportunity to meet Lara Casey, the editor from Southern Weddings this year while I was in vegas for WPPI.  She is such an amazing person and is doing great things with Southern Weddings!  It's an impressive resource for brides to find tons of ideas and details for their wedding, definitely check it out.  Anyway, I emailed her a few weeks ago about Jahnavi and Jonathan's wedding because I thought it was very unique.  Well apparently they thought so too because they featured the wedding on their blog!  You can see the feature here.  Special thanks to Lara and all the ladies at SW!









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Shannon says:

Wow Akil! Congratulations! I follow the SW Blog all of the time.

(07.12.09 @ 11:54 PM)
Aaron Willcox says:

Congrats bud! Good job gettin' your work out there. Sweet shots, love all the details.

(07.14.09 @ 12:13 AM)
Anna Laura says:

Congrats! This was a very unique wedding indeed!

(07.19.09 @ 11:02 PM)
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Wedding Featured on Southern Weddings Blog! . TrackBack URL for this entry: http://akilbennett.net/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/34
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
It's finally here!  I bought a new online shopping cart a few weeks ago from Pick Pic for my clients and it's awesome!  I'm still in the transition of uploading all of my old galleries to this new cart but it should be done soon.  Because of this I'll be taking a break from blogging this week ;(

Seriously, Pick Pic is going to make my life just a little easier for me and my clients.  It's very simple to navigate through and has a lot of cool features.  I love everything that I've seen so far...my only complaint is that I didn't switch over to it sooner!  Everything should be up and running by this weekend...can't wait!

Oh yeah, and I'm close to closing a lease on a studio this week.  Very exciting time right now.  Here's a sneak peak from my wedding last weekend.  Blog post to come next week.


6/25/09 Edited to add*** The new client proofing software is now live on my website.  Click here to view your proofs.  I'm still slowly uploading my past weddings and portrait galleries to the site so if you don't see your and need to order pictures soon just send me an email.  Thanks!

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wei says:

that's an awesome investment. you won't regret it.

(06.23.09 @ 11:23 PM)
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Making Life Easier . TrackBack URL for this entry: http://akilbennett.net/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/33
I love Austin weddings!  They are always fun and the scenery there is amazing.  So you can imagine how happy I was when Lisa called me last year and told me that she and Andrew would be having their wedding at University Camp in San Marcos.  

I didn't get a chance to meet either of them before the wedding so when it started raining as I was pulling up to the wedding I didn't know what to expect!  They were both as relaxed as can be though and are two of the most laid-back people I've ever met.  Special thanks to my good friend Collins Metu for helping me out on this one.  Now to the images!  





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Austin Weddings says:

Oh how beautiful! The bride and groom look wonderfully happy and the hanging lanterns in the tent add a nice vibe. Awesome.

(06.18.09 @ 05:37 PM)
Reggie says:

Nice work dude, they are all very crisp and clean.

(06.20.09 @ 09:05 PM)
Collins says:

You are a beast.

That is all.

(06.21.09 @ 12:06 PM)
Danny Klimetz says:

Great job. I love all the detailed shots.

(06.21.09 @ 10:12 PM)
yolanda diaz says:

Love your work!

(06.24.09 @ 09:18 PM)
Lisa Carter says:

You captured everything so perfectly...I'm in awe!

(07.08.09 @ 06:19 PM)
Christina says:

Love these! Was catching up on my blog reader, got to this entry and thought, the groom and best man look really familiar -- then it hit me! I graduated high school with them!

(07.15.09 @ 08:09 AM)
Gisele says:

Beautiful images... Love the details shots! Awesome style!

(08.03.09 @ 11:15 AM)
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Austin Wedding Photographer : Lisa & Andrew . TrackBack URL for this entry: http://akilbennett.net/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/32