For those unfamiliar withThe Black Eyed Susan, it is a paddle boat that operates out of Baltimore’s Fells Point. It was the perfect setting for a New Orleans style Mardi Gras Party.

Well here is a question for you. How do you top a 11 foot tall stilt walker

Well, you have him juggle fire of course, DUH!

The service was held on the upper deck of the paddle boat

After the service, the crew at the Black Eyed Susan, swabbed the deck (sorry couldn’t help myself) and got the party to a smashing start as it rose anchor and paddled it’s way out into the Chesapeake Bay 

Ok for those planning a Bar-Mitrzvah here is a successful formula.
Take a couple of great kids

OK make that a lot of great kids (say hi to videographer Dave in the back)

add some girls (sorry Danny your busted)

Throw in some breakdancers

Put your son behind the DJ stand, mixing it up on the ones and twos

And you have instant party. (rinse and repeat if necessary)

The ending shot

The mad dash through Fells Point to the limo

Guys I had a blast. Thanks again
-Mike

This was the situation last week when I was speaking to a mother of a Bar-Mitzvah boy whom I am going to shoot this weekend. We were talking about party themes (his is going to be Marti Gras) when I mentioned that my sons birthday is Nov. 15th and we were going to have a Carnival theme. For anyone that knows me and my wife, we love Birthdays and usually make elaborate games and decorations and bake a novelty cake. I had spent the last month making Carnival Games out of wooden boards and painted them in garish reds and yellows (I was very proud of myself)

Kelly, the mother of the Bar-Mitzvah boy shares the same view on birthdays and mentioned a Carnival themed one where they did a take off on “ye ole” pie eating contest. The twist is bubblegum. You drop a gum ball in a pan fill it with whipped cream. With no hands the child has to burrow their face through the whipped cream, get the gum, chew like mad. The first one to blow a bubble is the winner.

I loved the idea and had to do it. Guess what? it was the hit of the party. Despite hours of hard labor building those games, they were out shined by a very simple yet clever idea. Thanks Kelly I can’t wait to see what you have in store for this weekend.

Heres a link to more pictures MORE PICTURES

For many of those that are slowly forgetting what film is, may be drawing up blank at the mention of the Daguerreotype. But photography would not be what it is today with out this Artist and Chemist. The Daguerreotype is an image exposed directly onto a mirror-polished surface of silver bearing a coating of silver halide particles deposited by iodine vapor. The daguerreotype is a negative image, but the mirrored surface of the metal plate reflects the image and makes it appear positive in the proper light. Thus, daguerreotype is a direct photographic process without the capacity for duplication.

While the daguerreotype was not the first photographic process to be invented, earlier processes required hours for successful exposure, which made daguerreotype the first commercially viable photographic process and the first to permanently record and fix an image with exposure time compatible with portrait photography.

I always new that my daughter had secret super powers, but I am pleased to find out that selflessness is one of them. Her birthday is September 21st which happens to be the same day as the 5th annual Walk for Hope by the Angel 34 Foundation. IT benifits local children in Eastern PA battling Pediatric Cancer and thier families. And Nationally with the ICEE Program.