A new blog oriented to helping visual artists has just been launched and looks to be promising. It will be offering coaching, home study programs, on-line learning all focused on helping visual artists, especially those who rely on the ever dwindling art fair circuit, find and optimize alternative income streams.
Check it out at http://www.theartistscenter.com.
This past year I donated some shooting sessons to Circus Juventas as part of their annual fund raising gala. One of the lucky winners asked me to photograph her 5 year old during the spring "little Kids" performance.
I really get a kick out these kids and how they so willing embrace the obvious alternative nature of circus performance. They get far more out participating in this program than they would most other programs. Kids in Circus Juventas programs get a wide range of training from athletic to dance to performance any one of which would greatly help a child's development but when combined the result is amazing.
A few more from the performance...
I did a recent PR shoot for Circus Juventas to use in the advertising for their up coming show. Katie the model was suspended from the ceiling of the big top to look like she was flying. I love working with these guys it is always fun!
She will be cut out and placed into a larger graphic image so capturing the feeling of a ghost bride searching for her lost love was important. I opted to use my SB-800s with 2 small Chimera soft boxes and California Sunbounce reflector placed as a gobo in front of part of the light to the left of the image. I set a 2 stop difference between the two lights with brightest on the right of the photo. This created nice shadows to enhance the spookiness.
Sunday we had the pleasure to photograph the newborn (8wk) son of Andy and Kim in their home. We photographed their wedding almost 2 years ago and they are the first of our recent clients to begin a family.
We enjoy photographing babies and kids so we had a great time with this guy and Mom and Dad. We used a different technique for the session. I mounted 2 of camera strobes (Nikon SB-800s) on light stands one with a soft box and another with a Flip-it flash diffuser. We also used a California Sun Bounce reflector mounted to a stand as a partial gobo to turn the softbox into both a hair light and a kicker light. The technique worked great...no need for heavy studio lights!! We also used a black background and the sheepskin seen in the photo above.
Here are some more photos of the Babe. Oh almost forgot....I processed the images as duo tones using different toning techniques to to increase and/or decrease contrast.
One of my all time favorite feeds is Daily Candy a spunky and edgy site chock full of trends.The best part is...it is illustrated with watercolor that brings and extra fun element.
Anyway they recently had a section on earth friendly weddings it is worth a look.
Enjoy!!
As we come to the end of Earth Week it seems appropriate to provide you with a list of sites oriented around wedding planning from an eco perspective. Like everything else in our culture the wedding industry has hyped consumption to levels that we feel border on irresponsible. So this list of links is just to give those who are interested in reducing consumption and having a more simple and green wedding some resources.
I have checked each site for content and only the ones I felt sincere in their offerings are listed, so here goes:
I will be adding to this list as I find more stuff and I'll also add reviews.
For some reason the exhibit at the Experience Music Project featuring Jimi Hendrix has been haunting me, maybe it's because the music of that era especially from the legends instantly takes me back in time. I think every generation has its' musical anchor, the style that permantly marks our memories and our stories to the point that we have our own time machine. Music, can be key to our personal development and movement through life and besides serving as a generational marker can also identify waypoints on our journey.
So I dug around and found some video clips remembering him as well some of his performances. The first 2 clips are from a documentary about him.
This is an old clip of I think his first performance in London as he does "Purple Haze".
This next one is faily long.. an informal jam with the Rolling Stones back stage..check out Kieth Richards sitting next to Hendrix!
"All Along the Watchtower" recorded atthe Isle of Wright concert.
One of the primary songs he is remembered for besides "purple Haze" he sings " Hey Joe" live at Woodstock.
A rare recording of his last concert...
An even more rare news clip from ABC announcing his death....
I failed to mention in my last post that one of the featured exhibits at the Experience Music Project was abut Jimi Hendrix. We spent way to much time riding our memories back to the Woodstock era especially when we heard "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze" and of course "Touch the Sky". In case you want to flash back to the summer of love here are some choice downloads I found on Amazon.
The first batch are mp3 downloads, while the second are cds & dvds.
Another amazing creation by architect Frank Gehry...Paul Allen's monument to American music, his Experience Music Project. Unlike many of Gehry's buildings this one is multi-colored and because of the materials used changing color as the metal develops it's own patina. The metal panels pick upthe color of adjacent colors and surrounding structures to produce an ever changing rainbow of unexpected color.
The mono-rail tracks from the World's Fair in the '60s not only penetrates the building but also offers a stark juxtaposition of eras.
Back in the '60s visionary Landscape Architect Richard Haag was one of the early pioneers of land reclamation. In Seattle he helped reclaim a natural gas refinery , turning it into not only a park on Lake Union opposite the downtown but also a new kind of playground. His design called for keeping the refinery equipment, making it safe and turning it into a playground. Unfortunately our litigious culture cased the playgound part to fenced off....boo!
It is still a great place to fly kites and catch the mountain when it is out hovering over downtown Seattle.
My hasty post and cob webby brain got the best of me...Brice (see comment below) points out that it was not Halprin who designed Gas Works Park. I remember now listening to a lecture by Richard Haag about the park while I was in grad school at the University of Oregon.
Anyway thanks Brice...
I didn't get a chance to post these until now, we spent a little time in Pike Place Market. I had my first intro
to gourmet coffee ( at the time anything other than Folgers) at the original Starbucks back int the mid '70s. I was hooked ever since and even mail ordered my coffee when I left the Northwest for Houston, way before Starbucks out multiplied rabbits!! The market was the same funky place but I could notice its' gradual deterioration to gentrification. The waterfront no longer had the working feel...replaced by "upscale" condos.
Non the less it still had character and still provided everyday what most of us get to experience at best once a week.
The legendary flying fish market is always great entertainment!
Here is a video that better shows how the fish market can be a full day's entertainment!!
Yes I did!! A cold front came through today dropping the snow level to sea level...so there you have it Snow in Seattle in the Middle of April!!!
We are spending time in Seattle with our youngest daughter and her husband and gathering photos for our annual holiday calendar. Day before last we spent the afternoon in the Skagit Valley photographing the tulip blooms...what welcome splash of color after a long and cold winter!!
As usual for me I wanted to get different take on subject so I used my favorite lens....10.5 mm fisheye. Everybody gets to see flowers from above what about from ant level??!!
Here are a couple more that show the volume and variety of the color...
The one above was taken by Marsha using the 60mm macro lens.
Also by Marsha notice the reflection..
Here is some more info about the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival and the Skagit Valley itself:
I also found some YouTube videos and the first 2 are a complete crack up..you gotta watch them!!!
While many people seem to dislike the return of wildlife to our urban environments I actually enjoy it. We live in the middle of the city and regularly have visits from coyote, fox, hawks and even bald eagles.We also get almost daily visits by the neighborhood's resident deer herd. They have taken to munching on the crab apples from our three trees.
Of course our faithful protector Loki can tell far in advance that the herd is approaching....but their almost complete domestication gives them a "who cares" attitude which infuriates Loki even more!! Anyway here are a few from the most recent visit, the night of the snow storm I posted about in the last post. The photos were shot hand held since I didn't have time to get my tripod. They were also shot at a very high ISO which severly reduces the image sharpness. A couple were shot with flash to capture the eye reflections....not my best work! Funny thing was the deer just looked at me like "what do you think you are doing?"
Only in Minnesota...8" of the white stuff fell March 31 to give us what will hopefully be the last time we will see see snow for this year!!!
So April 1st I woke to a relative cloudless day and decided to get some different kins of winter shots..I went over to the beach at Lake Nokomis and captured the contrast of hot summer beach with cold winter. For some reason these kinds of contrasts fascinate me. Several decades ago when I swam in the US Swimming Master's Nationals at Spokane I returned during winter to capture cold ice filled pool.
Anyway, here are some others...
Yesterday Al was at the Minnesota State Capital to announce his latest batch of endorsements, not the least of which was by both Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman. To read more about the event go to his site, his speech was nothing less than outstanding! Here is the video:
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman introducing Al.
But first a couple of our constant travel companion Loki the golden retriever...he loves to travel with us and especially loves the cold.
These last few were taken at the base of Split Rock Light House high aboe Superior..a nationalhistoric landmark the lighthouse was the first navigation aid on the North Shore of Superior.
Early morning sun on lake shore ice ...kinda looks like kryptonite!!
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