Going Places

Seeking out destinations different from my own has become a way to "juice up" my creative energies and allow my eye to see a different palette of light, culture, faces and customs. It challenges my structured existence of everyday life in my familiar territory. So like a wolf, I like to stretch my legs and seek out new ground to explore. This time it was tiny corners in England and Wales.

My eyes soaked in the way the mountains looked in both rain and bright sunlight that rises from a more southern angle this time of year. Wales has green hills, as many sheep as rocks and people who enjoy the outdoors regardless of weather! When I hit the paths of Snowdonia National Park, I knew I was going places! Three-sixty degree views! When's the last time you've been able to see that!

Carrying my camera and lenses to 3000 ft was all worth the while to let my eyes drink in the views of mountains, lakes and of course, the trail that I just dragged my butt up and over. Enjoy this "bit of Wales!"

An Honest Day's Work

My father once said, "There's two ways to make a living - with your brains or your brawn." It was his attempt to talk to me about college and what college could do for me. Been there, done that!

I've had an opportunity to photograph and work around people that make their living with their hands. Technical, skilled tradesmen and women and thank God they are here! This summer they've given me a new roof, new front porch, fixed my plumbing and put in new doors. These are smart, friendly, skilled people that go to work without wearing a beeper and rarely have to take work home with them. They love seeing the accomplishments of their work and take pride in it.

So here's to the skilled trades, vocational schools, apprenticeships and one of my roofers. Thank you for an honest day's work!

Summer Days

August days of summer are here! While things are crazy busy around here with senior photos, families and kids, I've had some time to have fun in my home town in western NY. I was back home for a class reunion and made some time to photograph some young friends who reminded me what being a kid was all about.

Growing up in a rural area, we'd race around town on our bikes, play in the woods, make pick-up baseball games, build forts and do it all without adult supervision. FREEdom with a capital "F." But some of my best memories have to do with water. Going to the lake to swim, slalom ski and just hang out with friends in the sun. It seemed like summer was forever then.

So when I saw this image I had made of my two young friends, I was taken back in time. A time of no responsibilities, a little sun and lots of water! Remember how you'd stay in the water so long that your skin would start to pucker? Summer. . .

Willie's Brother

Alaska! I got my "soul" tank filled again in Wrangell-St. Elias Nat. Park last month. Never heard of it, you say? Many folks haven't. It's a supersized park at 13.2 million acres, filled with the world's largest staircasing glacier and mountains that aren't even named yet. I love it there! Not a bad view in the place and there's lot of nice folks like Larry to visit with.

I've got an older B&W image of Larry that hangs framed in my studio gallery. Everyone asks, "Is that Willie Nelson?" "No," I answer, "but he sure sings like him!" I recently told that joke to Larry when I saw him and he laughed with his eyes all squinted up real tight. Larry's been a buddy of mine since 1999 and every year I try to make a portrait of him. He doesn't like it one bit. An old horse bronc cowboy in Montana and a pipefitter up in Prudhoe Bay during the heydays of Alaskan oil, Larry doesn't have much time for picture makers. He's busy running trap lines in the winter and tending to his home and equipment in the summer.

But get Larry laughing and the camera can come out. I hope you can see his gentleness and a taker of whatever life rolls his way. See you next winter Larry!

Shooting from the Hip

This past week found me riding my bicycle across Wisconsin and loving every minute of it! Well, maybe not some of the ominous hills we climbed, including Grand Dad's Bluff in LaCrosse! Three hundred and sixty of us completed the Northwoods Tour which took us through Neceedah Nat. Wildlife Refuge, the Crane Foundation, past Aldo Leopold's shack and through the North Kettle Moraine Unit.

We visited a book store made out of a silo, feed grass to horses and bought lemonade from Amish children. Of course the camera was slung around my upper torso and was always ready to capture a moment. As most pros will tell you, it's important to know how to operate your camera with your eyes closed so that you can quickly change settings and recompose without having to think about or look at your camera. This proved to be true on this trip many times but I add in riding a bike at the same time!

While cruising (or huffing and puffing up the hills) past the Amish farms in Central WI, I saw a young girl mowing her lawn up ahead. I readied the camera settings while riding my bike (don't try this at home!) so that I could photograph her while riding and she'd never see the little camera. As I was getting closer, I spotted 3 little girls sitting on the front porch - barefoot. I quickly changed the zoom, held the camera level and made the image as I rode by.

Now photographing this way doesn't always produce the best or sharp images. However, when I saw this one, I considered my "shooting from the hip" style successful! It's better to try and fail than not try at all!

Clothing CAN make the girl!

When she arrived for her portrait session, my Brazilian "neighbor, " Priscilla, had a top on that showed her bare arms. For an outdoor session, maybe you could get away with it but for an indoor session, it just didn't work. I tried different angles - low, high - tried positioning her differently, but whatever I did I couldn't keep my eye from finding the lighter colored skin of her arms.

Valerie, from France, where people just KNOW how to dress stylishly, loaned her the black top she had been wearing. What a difference a top can make! The neckline extended to the shoulders and suddenly there was a balance to the face before me. Dark hair, eyes and top with just enough neck and shoulder line to highlight the eyes. For my style, It's always about the eyes!

So with a little help from the "haute culture" French woman, a portrait was made. Thanks Valerie!

The World Comes Knocking

It was somewhere in the middle of our conversation that it dawned on me that I should ask to photograph them. Two young women from other continents had come to make my neighborhood theirs for a while. While we spoke, I could see their countries of origin in their features. With almond eyes, dark hair, and olive skin, Priscilla bore a smile that said all was right with the world. Visiting from Brazil, she had met Valerie, another traveler of the world at Alliance France'. Valerie's freckles, reddish hair and eyes that were as gentle as a breeze, spoke of the fresh, clean look of Europe. She absolutely bubbled when we talked. So when I asked to make portraits of them, they agreed. I was energized!

How lucky to have the world come knocking on my studio door that day! While shooting, we laughed, shared travel stories and I listened to them speak of home and their families that they would soon be reunited with. Young, traveling the world, learning the ways of Americans - how lucky they were to experience us, and we them! This is one of my favorite images of Valerie. Tomorrow, Priscilla.

Photoshop Magic

Wow - time's been flying away! Work is happening on the front porch (you'll have to wait until it's all done to see pictures!) and I've just returned from a brain-frying 4 days of learning more photoshop skills. It seems like the more I learn, the more there is to learn! There's just so much that one needs to know to produce great images so it's off to WI PPA school I went. I was lucky to learn from Jim Buivid (Jim Buivid PhotoDesign - Grafton) who's a wizard at Photoshop! He's been doing this for a long time and it shows in his work. Gotta tell you, it'll take me a while to master all that he showed us.

So why Photoshop, you might ask? What ever happend to a great old fashion photograph - kind like Ansel Adams. What some people don't know about Ansel's work is that he manipulated his image in the darkroom for hours until he achieved the print that he envisioned when he made the original image. Today, we don't have to breathe in chemicals to do it. We just spend time on the computer. (Some of us spend a whole lot more time than others!)

So I took one of the images that I "thought" I was "done" with and applied some digital art techniques that Jim taught us. Here's the result. It's true, you can teach an old dog new tricks as long as you can get results like this!

A Peek Towards the Future

When a photographic portrait is done right, it can reveal a tremendous amount of information about the person. Our faces tend to read like road maps; some ridden hard and put up wet and others radiating an acceptance of the path well taken. We love those images of people with deep cavernous wrinkles (as long as they're not our own) or the photographs where the eyes are an opening to the mysteries within - the seat of the soul. Steve McCurry's image of the young woman on the National Geographic magazine comes to mind.

I LOVE to photograph faces and yes, it's what lie in the eyes that gets my energy going! I'm always in awe of how much someone can let me in when I'm standing behind a camera and a lens! But I'm starting to notice that there's a new "style" that's creeping into my work. Forget the eyes, look at that Body Language! I'm reminded of a saying that hangs in my office: Remember the difference between looking and seeing." I'm seeing more in the language of the body and am having fun with it.

So with that I offer you this recent photo of an 18 month old girl. As she strode confidently over the bridge with her parents car keys held firmly in her hand, I had a peek into her future. Her body language spoke volumes to me about the time to come in her life. Soon, much sooner than her parents expect, she'll be heading out with the keys in her hand to confidently drive away with friends. Only this time she'll turn her head over her shoulder, smile broadly, wave those keys and say, "See you later!"

STRETCHing Oneself

You know those "I could be rich if I had a nickel for everytime someone said" stories that people tell. Count me in. Well, maybe not rich, but at least able to buy a tank of gas these days! When people heard I was switching careers and leaving the steady paycheck and benefits for a chance to start all over and see the world through a camera lens, they would tell me I was courageous, brave, doing an admirable thing, etc. Maybe so.

It's not EASY to start over. The hours are longer, less predictable and it's just me performing the myriad of duties that need to be done on a day to day basis. This change has stretched me! It's made me see and think differently. It's put me in contact with people and new friends that I may never have known before and it's been the catalyst to re-create my purpose in life. Not a bad thing to do in one's mid-years.

Maybe that's what they were talking about with that "courageous" talk. Life throws us those challenges every once in a while where we can stretch ourselves and grow or recoil into a ball of negativity and fear. I didn't just wake up one morning and change my life. No. It was more like living through the long winter-spring seasons of the change process. Not pretty but at least 2 steps forward and 1 back- enough to stay on the path of change.

So I was looking at some images I made a few years ago and found myself measuring my change process by what I found interesting to photograph. Before, I never would have photographed in the subway station of DC! Nothing green or growing down there. But after my metamorphosis I found new emotions, new instincts, new friends, new scenes that influenced and STRETCHed me. Courageous? Brave? Take just one step down a different path and feel the freedom!

Reflections

Wow! I was working on some images today of a cute toddler I photographed last week. He's been in the studio every 3 months of his first year and given me quite a few great images. Big blues eyes, great smiles and last week, a new little look that I hadn't seen before. Kids are great and I get to see them change over time and EVolve!

As the session went on, I heard that intuitive voice that said "try the mirror" and see what happens. The "What if" part of my brain was in high gear! I did as I was told and did he give me some looks to record! He had a blast with his reflection and he and his mom loved the show. Wait till she sees all of them!

Moral of this story: ALWAYS obey the "what if" voice that whispers in your ear.

Time in a Bottle

Summer's coming and I'm heading back to McCarthy, Alaska! It's an old, historic town tucked into the heart of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. McCarthy supported the copper ore mining town of Kennecott and was known for it's social life for the miners and their families. A visit to McCarthy reveals a town with one and half feet deeply stuck in the glacier silt from the earlier days of the previous century. Old horseshoes, trucks that quit and were "buried" in the same spot, weathered moose antlers hanging on buildings and bottles.

My eye caught these bottles one day when the sky was talking rain. Gotta love those days, as they bring out the colors of most everything you lay your eyes on. These bottles have taken up residence alongside one of the first cabins in McCarthy. It's owner started the town.

But what caught my eye was the tea kettle! It had that feeling that if I just picked it up and rubbed it a bit with my gloved hand that perhaps a McCarthy genie would appear and I'd get three wishes. "What would I wish for," I thought. More days in McCarthy! Keep wishing.

RECREATion

I don't know about you but I sure need some down time to open up my brain to the creative thoughts that spontaneously erupt. They knock on my inner cranium when I'm in the shower, walking the dogs or driving to and fro, but it's not a convenient time to write them down. But when I'm on vacation photographing out in nature, catching some melonoma-producing rays on the beach, or exercising without two leashes attached to my left, upper limb, I find the ideas flowing like traffic in SW Florida! It also gives me time to have fun with my family! Of course, the camera comes out to capture these quickly, growing lives and the moments that present themselves. Without this re-creating time to open up to spontaneity, my life might take on the dull end of a well used pencil.

Good things in Small packages

Has anybody else been fighting the colds that are making the rounds this time of year? I thought I'd make it trough this winter unscathed but no, it struck this past weekend. Sore throat, stuffy nose. . .

So after a day of reaching for the tissue box and feeling dragged out, I opened my mail tonight and found a wonderful surprise! A recent client sent me a nice note about how comfortable she felt and how much fun she had during her creative photo session. She and her cat, Murray, were awesome! Lots of laughs and great interaction. Time just breezed by.

Well, tucked in the card she sent me was a packet of Clean & Clear sheets that "instantly removes excess oil and won't smudge makeup." Wow - what any photographer would love to have during a session! What a great client! Thanks!

Murray the cat

Just completed a GREAT creative session with a woman and her cat Murray. She was nothing short of wonderful to work with - lots of spunk, totally herself in front of the camera and easy to direct. But Murray, he was a cool cat! He struted his stuff around the studio, checking it out while talking to us. He really stole the show with his green eyes! A little ham, he was. Not bothered by the strobes going off, he too gave me his best. I just loaded up the images and I can't wait to get to the editing - soooo many good ones!

A Hole

Once and a while something happens that leaves you feeling sad. Today that was saying goodbye to a 99 year old neighbor that's going to live with his daughter. Yes, the move is necessary, as he's been failing over the last few years, but I will miss him! As a survivor of the days of Hitler, Erwin was a grand storyteller of life in Germany in the last 1930's. He is a man that laces every visit with a compliment and a wink. When my intuition called about 5 years ago, I made some lasting portraits of him. The wrinkles, the smile, the twinkle in his eye - all on film. Thanks for your presence Erwin, I'll miss you and pray for a marvelous journey!

Inspirational Tune-up

After hitting the National PPA conference in late Jan. it was off to the Wisconsin PPA conference this weekend for another cup of insipration! Besides the speakers, who always fill you with ideas, there was the chance to kick back and have some fun with some friends. Wow - how photography has changed!

One speaker said that he felt that 2 things have changed our world over time; modern medicine and photography. I absolutely agree! We are a visual society. Where stories used to be handed down verbally through storytelling, photography has become the modern storytelling language. You can't turn around without seeing an image or 2 or 3. . .

From photojournalistic weddings, to fashion, to travel, to nature, to sports, and portrait photography - photographers are the storytellers of the world. I'm sooo glad I do this as my job! Interact with people, see them smile (sometimes cry) and love what you do for them. It doesn't get any better than being a visual storyteller!

New Tricks

Had to go find some snow and Vermont fit the bill! Cross-country, downhill and some snowshoeing to boot. When's the last time you've tried something new? Walked the edges of life a little? Taken a dare? I was a diehard X-country kind of gal but after a couple of lesson on the "bunnyhill", I was cutting turns with zero face plants! Feeling like I was 10 again and nothing could touch me! Learning new tricks and taking risks does wonders for getting my creatvity flowing! Now I'm applying those "new trick" lessons to creating some amazing new distinctive products for my clients. Learning new software - I don't have to worry about falling when sitting in the chair!). Letting those creative juices flow. Stay tuned - but in the meantime, get out there and take some creative risks. Try something new, and oh, watch out for those face plants.