Well, it’s been waaay too long since I updated my blog. You may wonder what I’ve been doing since my last post – or maybe not! In any event, the next few posts will provide a few highlights of what’s been happening at Karen Leonard Photography in recent months — some pretty fun stuff if I do say so myself!
ITEM ONE: MSNBC’s Correspondents’ Dinner After Party
From time to time, in addition to my work as a portrait photographer, I work with a colleague of mine, Tony Brown, who is an amazing event photographer. (Check him out at www.imijphoto.com). Not only is he a great friend and colleague, but he works some pretty cool gigs. Hence my opportunity to shoot the MSNBC After Party following this year’s Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington DC.
The Italian Embassy in DC decked out for party.
Okay, maybe events like this are only cool to dorks like me – former lawyers who live inside the Beltway – but last year it was a seriously star-studded event: Alec Baldwin, Jon Bon Jovi (i might actually have passed out had I been there), and all kinds of MSNBC folks. A little less star “wattage” this year, but still not too bad…and a flat-out good party to boot.
(Do you like this photo of the vodka bottles? it’s one of my favorites from the night, purely from a photography standpoint!)
Held at the Italian Embassy – a cool modern building decorated with sleek italian leather furniture mixed with 4th century marble sculpture and massive oil paintings – Rachel Maddow reprised her role as bartender for the night but with some added flair – her own bar complete with neon sign.
Rachel Maddow offering up a cocktail she concocted.
Rachel tended bar all night long (like 5 hours), and was amazing! I don’t know her background, but she must have spent a fair amount of time behind (or in!) a bar at some point because she clearly knew what she was doing.
The Correspondents’ Dinner was headlined by Seth Meyers from Saturday Night Live. Several of his castmates showed up at the party as well. Here are Bill Hader (at left; also seen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Fred Armisen.
They also had photo booths at the party that guests could go in and get those set-of-four prints of themselves. Can you guess who this is, peeking out? I didn’t know who it was when I took the photo, to be honest. Turns out, it’s Bristol Palin – fresh off the set of Dancing with the Stars stint!
The real excitement started when Bristol’s MOTHER showed up! I still find it fairly bizarre that Sarah Palin would actually show up at MSNBC’s party, but she did. And it was like Justin Bieber just walked into a roomfull of tweens — except with more screaming (okay not really). The instant she came in she was surrounded by a huge throng of people. Whenever she moved it was like an amoeba of sequins and tafetta and tuxedoes rolling through the crowd. I took this photo of her with MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts (on right) and his partner, and afterwards she leaned over to me and said “what is your name?” and I told her and she said “Karen, it’s … an … HONOR.” I was like “really?????” an honor???? I snapped your picture at a party. I appreciate that you acknowledged my existence, but really….
Let’s see, who else was there: Sean Penn (actually really nice), Jane Lynch from Glee, Terrell Owens, John Legend (I love-love-love him), and lots of young stars and starlettes who I’m too old to identify but vaguely recognize.
Andy Samberg of SNL
Terrell Owens
gorgeous starlette??
John Legend
22222222222222Then, of course, a whole bunch of MSNBC and NBC reporters and pundits were there: Andrea Mitchell, Chris Matthews, Lawrence O’Donnell, Elliott Spitzer. And some politicians, including one of my favorites, Ed Rendell, former mayor of Philadelphia, governor of Pennsylvania and head of the Democratic National Committee.
Ed Rendell
Having lived in Philly when he was mayor, I love that guy. So, I went up to him and said “I just want to thank you. I lived in Philly during your tenure as mayor and you made it a great place to live.” He was talking to some women from Pennsylvania at the moment so we said hello, and he said (in that typical self-effacing politician way) “At least she didn’t say ‘I heard you speak at my 6th grade graduation! I get that a lot these days!’.”
And – one of the best parts – CEE LO GREEN was the entertainment for the night. So fun, I almost forgot to take pictures!!!
Although it’s not entirely clear how or why it began, the exchange of love letters on the feast of St. Valentine seems to be a tradition that is traced back to 14th century England – and possibly has links to pagan traditions of Ancient Rome. My cursory googling yielded, among other things, a convoluted discussion of the history of the day on wikipedia. 
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