Another Day at Milton School

“Have I told you what I was thinking about for my [bridal portraits] yet?”

“Just that you want to use a chicken.”

She tells me & I can feel myself lighting up with eagerness. Not just because it’s an awesome idea, but also because I can totally previsualize just what I want to do as soon as she says it. 

                                                              .   .   .

The day starts by wrangling said chickens. We get one little fuzzy looking chicken and one large colorful chicken. The small one was easy but the other made us chase her all around the courtyard for I don’t even know how long. Finally Meredith pulls some move crawling under a table and reaching back out to snatch it by the legs. If only there were someone to take pictures of us doing that.

While Meredith gets ready and I check light and locations one chicken waits in a cat carrier and the other in a dog kennel. The cats and dogs were very interested.

When it came down to it, I shot several versions on my DSLR finding what would work best and settling into my vision. When I found it I unloaded my view camera and made a couple shots on that.

It’s been said that success is when you can no longer tell the difference between the work you’re hired for and your art. This is the best example I’ve had of that so far. I couldn't be more thrilled. 



It's All Happening

I've neglected you, blog. I'm sorry.

There was a road trip. My heart lies in road trips.

There will be details of the adventure soon, as soon as I get something put together. There will also be posts on all the things I was doing just before and after the trip. I've been a busy bee.

Bad People Do Good Things 2

We're coming up on that time of year again. Walking through the stores you're bound to come across a fair amount of orange & black. Time to start thinking about your costume and which bags of candy you'll go with this year. Hopefully you'll find yourself with many things to do this season and I have one that's a must.

Saturday, October 22nd the Alton Undead will be hosting their second annual blood drive at the Jacoby Art Center, "Bad People Do Good Things." If this year proves to be anything like last year it's sure to be the most awesome blood drive you've ever been to. How on earth can a blood drive be awesome you might ask? Well, first of all, you'll get some real food. The Red Cross still brings their arsenal of crackers & cookies but the Alton Undead makes sure to have more than just that on hand. Last year there was more than enough brought in from sponsors Jimmy Johns and Papa Johns. Second, for donating you'll get a shirt that you actually want to wear out. Third, they'll have entertainment. While waiting to donate, or if you just want to hang out after you can catch a free concert right in the same room. And finally, there will be zombies! How can you beat that?

The drive runs from 1:00 until 6:00 pm. Unless you want to hang out it shouldn't take much of your day so even if you have something else going on that day odds are if you're in the area you can stop by for a bit & help a good cause. This is the link for the Facebook event. If you have a Facebook account and know you'll be going please click the attending button. This is the first time the Red Cross in the area will look to social networking to gauge their numbers to find out how much staff and supplies they'll bring. This may be due to the fact that last year we had more people show up to donate than were able to. Go Alton Undead!

(All these photos are from last year's blood drive.)

Sarah & Matt

Several months ago I contributed some things to a fund raising silent auction held by Crave café. They needed to replace windows and get air conditioning. I’m glad to say they were successful, especially with the way this summer has been. One of the things I donated was a gift certificate for a free session. Last month the winner got a hold of me. They only had a small window of time to have the photos done with their busy schedule or we would need to wait until next year. Luckily we were able to work things out and meet up.

The photo shoot was a nice little one-year anniversary gift to themselves. I thought it was a great idea. After engagement / wedding photos most people wait until they have kids before they get professional family portraits done. This was a really nice excuse to get out and enjoy each other’s company all while ending up with nice photos.

We started at Forest Park and ended up in the Central West End for ice cream. I really enjoyed hanging out with these two. They did a great job being comfortable and letting their personalities show through, even with a camera hovering over them. There’s obviously a lot of love there.

  

The Evolution of the Snapshot

There’s a cautionary story I’ve heard a few times over the last several years. Set many years in the future a family is rummaging through some old things in an attic. The children pick up a disc in a case and ask their mom what it is? She says oh, that’s your great grandparent’s wedding photos. When they ask to see them she tells them they can’t because it’s an old format we don’t use anymore.

It’s the sort of thing those of us who “grew up” on film have wondered about from time to time. Although anymore it really seems obvious that you just keep track of the photo files you care about and make sure they’re organized and updated, some people think the answer is to print hard copies of all your photos. I think that response comes simply from a nostalgic place where people miss seeing prints of all their shots.

At first glance, it had seemed like digital cameras were causing people to care less about their photos. You see people deleting photos off their camera because the card just got full. When they do upload them to a computer they forget where they put them. A hard drive crashes & everything’s gone. When I stop to think about it though, I realize that people don’t take worse care of their photos than they did before. I’m reminded of the sight of my aunt’s junk drawer full of undeveloped rolls of film. Years old. At a friend’s house finding photos stuck to each other because they’ve just been hanging out on a dresser amongst soda cans and other who knows what. Holes poked in them and the edges curled up on a bulletin board. Some people have never taken care of them. It just wasn’t so in my face.

That I think is the main evolution of the snapshot. Before, we took those pictures for ourselves. The main idea is to get a stack of prints and put them away in the photo album, which is put away on a bookshelf or in a closet. Sometimes you get it out and look at it & even less often is there an occasion to show someone else. Now we take pictures to post online for everyone to see. People seem much more interested than they ever were looking at your photo albums. We take more pictures and we share more pictures. That’s a good thing. It may be harder for me to make a living off it (which is a whole other topic) but I really do like how when I look at it from this other perspective it seems that people care more about their photos now, really.

That being said, I still print snapshots, write on the back and put them away in my photo albums. There’s just something about pulling a book off the shelf and flipping through the pages of your life.

I am the ice cream man.

So I came across an ad looking for ice cream vendors and thought why the hell not?

I've always loved the ice cream truck. Still, hearing the tune echo through my neighborhood gets my heart racing and I have to remind myself I don't actually want an ice cream bar right now. Also, truck or not, ice cream may be my very favorite food. It's at least my feel good food. When I told my husband I would be doing this he begged me not to eat all the profits with a genuinely concerned look on his face.

Some people have made the comment, as though it needed to be said, that I should be sure to take lots of photos and document my summer on the truck. I have every intention of attempting this, although there are a lot of things to consider. The main thing is that I'd look like a total creep taking pictures of anything out of an ice cream truck. Any photos of any kids would be totally out of the question. I won't even think of it. Not to mention, it's forbidden (because they know you wont sell ice cream looking like a creep). But even photos of anything else could make people suspicious. I'd probably wonder what that undercover person in the ice cream truck is really up to.

So if I can come up with something inconspicuous and preferably retaining some quality I'd love to properly document my summer. In the meantime I've snapped a few shots with my p.o.s. cell phone.

[My office]

[bees]

The mirrors on this thing give me every angle on and around the truck.

[Apartment complex]



The Milton Schoolhouse

Some days it's easy to let myself be in a grumpy mood. Stressed out, tired, what have you. It happens to all of us. But then other days I'm reminded of just how fortunate I am to do the things I love professionally. This is one of those examples.

I've you've followed this blog you have already met Meredith when we ran around taking pictures for Midnight Boudoir (If not, you can go back & find it). Her and her fiance Joel own a building up the street from me that used to be a school, and then an art glass factory. For quite some time the place has been sitting there mostly unused. Like anyone else I've talked to about it, I was thrilled to find out that someone was fixing the place up but even more so when I met them and learned all about what they're doing. Meredith can tell it much better than I can so I suggest you check out the Milton School's website where you can find out about events they have but also read the blog dating back to the start of the project. It's pretty entertaining.

 http://www.vivantproject.com/

They needed some photos for various promotional purposes and I'm honored and thrilled to be able to help them document their progress. A little while ago I was able to wander around the building to capture it. I couldn't help but tell myself man, I have a pretty great job.