More ego boost! / Thank You

Got a really nice email from my #1 fan Gabe today. (or maybe #2, DannyHong are you still out there??? Canadiasian fanboys?!?!?)

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from Gabe G [gabeg@gmail.com]
to DK [DK@gmail.com]
date Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 8:35 PM
subject Headshot advice and your blog

Hey Dennis,

A couple hundred of my 3 billion cousins are seniors this year and have asked me for some portraits/headshots.

I don't actually have that much experience with headshots, as I do mostly photojournalism and concept stuff, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask a master. I was hoping to see if you had any tips. Like lighting, or lens preference....or how you get the background so blurry. Anything would do.

Also, I wanted to mention on why I was so eager to meet you and why I love your blog so much (other than the fact that it is hilarious). Its mostly because I came across your blog when I was at a major crossroads in my life. I had finally decided that law school was not the right choice for me and was questioning whether or not to pursue something involving photography, which I love. Which is why I am such a loyal reader of your blog.

Something happened to you that made you dive right into photography and your success on everything since then has been really inspirational. So I left my nice job, took a trip around the world and have decided to pursue photography. I am looking to move from Seattle (maybe), and am considering going to LA or SF, taking a couple of classes and go from there. Not really sure if it will work for me or not, but your blog really did help me a lot in making this decision.
So thanks for that ;)

I wanted to take the opportunity, if we had met, to ask you questions revolving around what kind of obstacles you faced. The advice you had on getting a job with a professional photographer and any advice you had on starting your own business and getting the word out there. Sadly, my time in New York was spent in family chaos or being hungover so sorry I never got the chance to meet.

I am going to LA in May to check it out. Maybe Ill get another chance then.

I am not good at writing emails, but overall, I just really wanted to say what a great read your blog has been :)

Gabe

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Wasn't that nice?

I mean. I am all about funemployment, but please don't all go quitting your jobs because of me.

But Gabe, you're doing well with it. Keep it up!

I am so thankful to all of you out there who have inspired and supported me as well over the past several years. As I begin a new phase of my epic life journey, I guess now is as good a time as any to send out some thank yous to the people who have had the greatest impact on me. Like Bjoern, without whom my sick nasty life would not be possible. Or Dad, (and a little bit of my retarded Nigerian-scam-artist-loving Mom) also whom without my sick nasty life would not be possible. Kristy Euge DrDan and (I think) MrsDrDan who have sat down to dinner with me and set me in the right direction whenever I've been quarterlife crisis-ing and have been supersupportive ever since. MAO whose fun and beauty and gift-giving abilities transcend time and space. And Felly Steph Ashwin Shiri and TL who allowed me to keep the bicoastal dream alive.

There are so many people to thank and obviously I can't fit you all in here. Well actually that is a lie because it is my blog and it is the internets and not that Academy Awards so I can ramble for as long as I want. So fine. Thank you to all my beautiful clients for keeping a roof over my head and a plane ticket in my pocket. And thank you Smershy Goony Heidi KG Narni Kaystyles Teebags Danny Matty Yeebee Annie (who is totally MIA)... as off-and-on BFFs you all have been a great source of support and photographic fun over the years and I look forward to so many more!

P.S. I'm drunk.

Why we do the crackrock...

If you're on this site solely to see pictures of the pretty people, don't worry, we'll get back to that so soon. Come back in about three days and your head will explode from all the hotness.

For now I have to just write about how I'm feeling because I know so many people are dying to know what is the method behind the complete madness that they've seen and read.

So this week, for anyone who is on my email lists or been in my presence, I have been TOTALLY CRACKED OUT CRAZY.

Yes I have been drunk but it has been more than just that.

Diana cornered me yesterday and said, "Dennis. I care about you. I have to ask you a question. Please answer me honestly. Are you on some kind of methamphetamine?"

To that my official press release answer was, "Hahahahaha. No... I'm a 6'7" Asian. Clearly there has and has always been some crazy hormonal weirdness at play. I am high on life. And I will never touch the crackrock unless Whitney Houston herself offers it to me.

That's funny and all, but I really have been reflecting on why my actions and emails have been so crazy and effusive (see previous posting).

What I have to say is this:

There are no adjectives to appropriately describe how fucking (I think I have been swearing a lot because I think it helps to accentuate all my adjectives this week) inspired I am by Katie's courage and honesty in going on this epic journey of self-discovery that is currently experiencing. She's throwing herself wayyyy outside her comfort zone. (Rio, from what I hear, is fucking awesome but scary and should not be near ANYONE's comfort zone.) She's doing it alone. And she's willing to acknowledge all the preconceived notions she has developed coming from the crazy privileged background that she and so many of us share and yet is still able to compare them (the preconceived notions) to her pure and basic human emotional responses. That is incredible.

I told her...this is your journey of self-discovery...but what if this is your calling?

What if you were meant to travel the world and report back on the human condition and the beauty of all the cultures of the world coming from your objective pure and flawlessly articulate point of view????

I don't know. I'm sure she will find her way no matter what thanks to her incredibly supportive parents. Nick and Lori, if you're on here. I think you guys are amazing.

Mom and Dad...you are too. I know you haven't always been supportive of what I do...but I know that you are now. And for that I am eternally grateful.

MY LIFE IS PERFECT AND I KNOW IT.

I am surrounded by beautiful wonderful people. I have an amazing job that allows me to meet even more beautiful wonderful people. I travel wherever I want, whenever I want. And I can work wherever I go. AND I LIKE MY WORK.

Katie's blog and overall journey being so inspirational (coupled with Brendon's simple little myspace quote) has inspired me to transform my blog from superficial hottie-fest to a collection of entries that hopefully inspire so many of my peers who are in the process of half-life-crisising to just do whatever the fuck they want to do and to do what makes them happy. Mom and Dad, I guess this goes for you too.

I know I have lucked out genetically. And I thank god (who I may or may not believe in) for that.

Live. Laugh. Love.

I'm not sure if I heard that somewhere or if I came up with it in a moment of delirious happy drunkness.

But I think it's a decent mantra.

There may be more annoyingly cheesy entries like this in the future, but I'll forewarn you and tell you when we are about to return to hottie-fest.

Katie I love and miss you so much. Mom and Dad and Kristy, thank you for your constant support without which my perfect life would be impossible.

Read Katie's blog: http://k-d-g.blogspot.com and shoot her some love via blog comment or email (kdelguercio@mac.com) because I'm sure she misses us as much as we miss her.

Over the next few days I will tell you all about my crazy hottie-filled weekend, my first pseudo-date, the crazy girl drama, and the fact that I'm working on a new reality show and will probably finally meet the Yao.

Love always.

Live. Laugh. Love.

The Fury of the Egg: Phase Two

I've changed my personal mission statement. Or maybe not changed. But have now I think articulated it more correctly.

I started this blog a few years ago with the intention of showing off my beautiful friends.

Or at least I thought I did.

I am superficial to an extent. I don't deny it.

But what I maybe failed to mention is that each of these impossibly gorgeous friends and family members is also an incredible person both inside and out.

No one better embodies the absolute purity of spirit, love, generosity, and a bunch of other really nice descriptors, than Katie Muthaf*ckin Del Guercio.



Read her awesomely inspiring blog and see if you can argue otherwise.

We all can be bitchy. And judgmental. And snobby. And superficial. And flawed. But if you are a good person at the core, the beauty shines through and trumps everything.

Of course not everyone understands my little Katie. (She is after all just another crazy PMS-ing girl. :-))

But she wants to expand her mind and be the best that she can be. Because that is what it is to be human. That is the reason God (who I may or may not believe in) put us on this silly little rock and made us the smartest (not all of us) (deeeeeeeeeefinitely not all of us) living creatures.

Beauty will only get you so far...but by becoming more aware, of yourself and the people and things and beauty all around you (and beauty IS all around you. You just need to know where to look. Or know Photoshop.) ...you can achieve perfection.

Live. Laugh. Love.

I might be rambling. But maybe not.

I am a crackhead.

lol/lmao/rofl/hahaha/xoxo/rip/etc/etc

The End.