One Love Photo

Happy Days!

love the joy spilling out of this happy holga frame from sarah and josh's wedding back in august. am super excited to share many more from this perfectly imperfect lively wedding day. we've been so busy the last eight weeks and have quite a bit of post production work ahead of us. but, it's really cool to slow down while we edit and really take in all the fun we had. now we get to relive all the happy days and enjoy the sweet details that we captured this nutty summer all over again.

we just had our first weekend off in a really long time (since the first weekend of june actually). we spent it down in portland taking an encaustic painting class. jon decided to join me for the first day of class which was so fun. we learned how to paint with the hot colored melted wax and giggled as the day progressed and our paintings grew uglier and uglier. the point of the class was not to leave with a masterpiece and i think it's good to be a fish out of water from time to time. i was on my own for day two since there wasn't enough space for jon (boo). day two was all about incorporating photography with encaustic painting. It was a busy, interesting and exciting day. i left with three pieces that i am pretty happy with and lots of new ideas.... am so excited to experiment more at home!

my desk for the weekend. no computer just lots of wax, tape, pottery tools and heat guns. and also my new favorite tool that i learned how to use this weekend, a propane torch! oh the fun to be had this winter....thanks linda for all the great info and help!

six string serenade

our yard may not look very good at the moment but it sounded pretty nice tonight.

when i was 19 i told my mom that i planned on marrying a man who played guitar. i told her that i wanted a house full of music. i did not come from a musical home but i always admired that talent in others. the next week my mom gave me my very own hummingbird guitar. she said i should learn to play myself and not wait for a man. this is the kind of mom i am so lucky to have.

at the time jon (my husband) was "just a friend". a friend who had recently began to strum the guitar. his natural talent was quite obvious from the very beginning. while visiting one evening he spotted my guitar with the hummingbirds on it in the corner. he immediately picked it up and began to play. i told him the story with my mom and he agreed with her completely. he quickly offered to help me learn. i asked if he could teach me ""five siring serenade" by mazzy star for my first number. he was a patient teacher and always believed that i could learn just as easily as he had. i did master the first three or four chords of the song, but not without a struggle. at the time i was falling deeply for my camera and i gave up much too quickly on my guitar. it ended up back in the corner only to be played when jon came to visit.

i did bring it out for a photo shoot once, the perfect prop. i asked jon to pose for me and play under one of my favorite tress. i told him that the photographs would be so much cooler if he took his shirt off (and they were). i added chunky rings to his fingers that i found at a pawn shop. i focused on the hummingbirds, old rings and his nimble hands. i enjoyed listening to him strum while i shot. i think this was the beginning of something between us. even though we didn't know it yet. couldn't believe my luck when i found a proof sheet from that day in one of the many photo boxes up in the attic tonight.

fifteen years later and i am still sneaking photos of jon with his guitar whenever i can. his talent is amazing and awe inspiring. his passion admirable and deep. he plays not for fame. attention or money. he plays for himself, because this is what makes his heart beat. he is a true artist in every sense of the word. our office walls are lined with his guitars. when i look up at the row while working or when i hear him strumming while i drift asleep..... i am reminded that i have just what i wished for when i was 19.

have a listen for yourself, and hear how spoiled i am to have this playing everyday and night. i especially love the track titled "outside my head". i think you will too....jon almeda-the one man band.

snapped this one on the "L"  yesterday on our way to the airport in chicago. that little travel guitar is so banged up because it goes everywhere we go. am surprised we don't have more nicks and scratches ourselves. what a busy and exciting summer it has been (and it's not over yet)!

Marshmallows

and buns!
(from my favorite little beach cabin in castine, maine.)

funny story....when i was eight or maybe nine we had our own little rustic beach cabin that my dad built on pirates cove in grapeview, washington. we spent the summers exploring the secret world of crabs and starfish at low tide and rowing past this really creepy house where a "witch" lived at high tide. when the sun would go down, we would have big bonfires with all the other cabin people. one time the neighbor boy dipped his marshmallow into the heart of the fire. he pulled it out quickly in a panic and started swinging the flaming sugar ball back and forth, around in circles, trying desperately to put the fire out and save it from a blackened death. suddenly, the burning ball launched off his stick, flew through the air and landed right on my dad's crotch! it stuck and my dad screamed like a girl. then he ran down the beach and leaped into the cold salty bay fully clothed in the moonlight. i have never seen him move that fast before or since. come to think of it, i've never really heard my mom laugh quite like that before or since either. my poor dad was one man in a house full of girls, and we would never understand the panic and terror he felt that night. we would just laugh and tell the story again and again.

(p.s.-this is the perfect story to tell pre-adolescent boys when they are flinging marshmallow and sticks around your face at a bonfire, it calms them right down.)

On the fourth of july

watching vinyl flags float
out the car window
behind piles of used tires
and an open sunday sign.

 

red, white and blue
like beach kites overhead
makes me miss the salty air
in the quiet twilight
before our sky explodes
in patriotic bliss.

top image - jon made a pinhole camera today out of a small matchbox. somehow we ended up at jeff's used tire shop taking test shots next to walgreens. got to love one hour photo even on the fourth. and running off to watch fireworks while you wait for your film to develop. you won't believe what he is up to in the pottery studio. i will not spill the beans. the time is not right. although i really want to...hint, it involves clay and cameras. shh, I didn't say anything.

Happy Birthday!

 
this week is my parent's birthday week. with our busy schedule and travel plans we are not able to celebrate with them on the actual day. instead, we decided to have a memorial day birthday picnic last weekend. am so happy that i tossed my plastic cameras in my purse as we headed out the door. in addition to my parents birthdays we also had jon's mom and brother turn a year wiser this past week. we always enjoy gathering our spring birthdays for a big celebration. jon's dad strummed his uke while we all sang off key in the sunshine. then we enjoyed mini cupcakes and watermelon. we feel very blessed that our parents mesh so well and that we have become one big happy family.

my mom is my most loyal blog reader. she will call me after she reads a new post to tell me her observations and to ask more questions. i don't think she knows how much i love this. she is also the first to call me out when i haven't posted regularly and tell me to stop being lazy. she didn't have a computer for the first year and half that i was writing the blog, so she has had plenty of catching up to do! sometimes she will call to compliment or question a post i wrote over a year ago. this makes me feel so loved. it shows me how invested she is in my happiness and creative journey. i love her very much!  happy birthday mom! 

and then there is my dad who is also a huge fan of our work and a man who keeps us guessing. he is very wise and full of knowledge from laying tile, gardening, brewing beer and fishing. in the last couple years he decided to learn to play guitar. he has a deep appreciation for jon's guitar skills and always wants a lesson when he comes to visit. i hope i never stop learning new things just like him. my parent's surprised us when they decided to get a dog after they retired a few years ago. our family had never actually decided to get a pet. animals would just wander into our lives, stray and pregnant. so to choose a breed and search for the perfect dog was something i had never experienced. they decided on a corgi and found abigail through the want ads. it was love at first sight.

 

have a great birthday on thursday dad! we will be thinking of you and abby out on your birthday walk.  play the guitar and make abby sing to you! i love you!

mi corazon

recently read about how one of my favorite photographers, keith carter never thinks of his images as singular. each image will one day be apart of a family of photographs with a theme and title. it all starts with a simple or complex idea. then he labels an empty print box with a title that describes that idea. as he prints in the darkroom he places his photographs in their appropriate box. he may have ten or twenty different boxes that he is working on at one time. some boxes contain his next gallery show or a unique art book. others will never leave his shelf, yet continue to inspire. am thinking of starting my own box.     am now on the hunt for hearts. love that jon is my muse for this (mi corazon).
numero uno

numero dos

numero tres

(am wishing that swine flu would give it a rest. so i can return to mexico and find more hearts).

Hi

been a busy week with lots of fun..... a talent show, a new haircut, a morning visit with laurie and her sleepy itty bitty kitties (check out this pink tongue), connecting with fellow t-town photographer friends, an inspirational family portrait session, a beachy birthday party and lots of baby bellies, celebrating our moms and an intense game of hide and seek! and there were a few not so fun things like cars and refrigerators not working quite right anymore. our jeep suddenly decided to stop going backwards a few days ago. finally decided it was time for us to move forward. oh the joys of car shopping. took care of that one tonight-check! another volkswagon joins the family. next on the list a trip to sears. in between it all, i've been editing this little cutie patootie!

what felt like the first day of summer

sometimes in spring there are these shockingly suddenly warm days that make me believe that summer has decided to surprise us and arrive a little early. they are usually fleeting and i always get fooled by spring and her manic behavior. i love these first false days of summer. everyone runs outside towards the water, daydreaming of picnics and camping trips to come.

on one of these days, with freshly painted electric blue toes and one roll of film loaded in my camera i headed to erika's beach house with ember, leo and finn. it was evening before we arrived and the weather shifted back to spring while we drove. it was still so nice to get away. we just layered on vests and sweatshirts and continued with our plan. i casually shot a few photos while i ran my fingers through tiny rocks and hoped for many more summer days just like that.

was quite excited when rex decided to stare me down as i focused on him with erika. love the curious, slightly intense, very intriguing, no messing around stare of a five year old. last week leo asked ember in a very seious tone "why does rex get to be five first?"                                                                                      

Guantanamera or One Jon Almeda

whenever i hear this song especially on the street in mexico by a mariachi band i get so excited! because the words blur for me and i hear "one jon almeda' as the chorus instead of the cuban inspired "guantanamera". i swear it really does sounds like "one jon almeda" in this wyclef version. i usually feel the need to loudly sing along with my own personal lyrical twist. smiling and thinking about my very special, ingenius, funny, creative, helpful, generous, sweet, extremely talented and super cute man.          my one jon almeda. 

first days back from vacation are rough. first days back with a snot nose, plugged ears and depressing rain outside are the worst. been moving slow today not ready to re-enter reality. dropped all my film off at the lab. am quite eager to see what i captured down south. to take my mind off my cold and the drizzle i enjoyed looking through all of jon's colorful mexico photos. most of these images were shot with his newest homemade lens. haven't named this one yet but it's a custom tilt/shift using one of my favorite lenses from my old enlarger. it's really quite perfectly soft and dreamy. it's just what we have been looking for. leave it to that clever one jon almeda........                                        we had such fun wandering the streets together cameras in hand. jon with his weird accordion lens wrapped in soft electrical tape and me with my square vintage box. trying to fight off feelings of self-consciousness and concealing our cameras however we could. me trying to hide mine in my much too small brown leather purse. trying not to look so obvious. hating the idea of being the nerdy over excited tourist. wishing we could be invisible and or fluent in spanish. but once something caught our eye, we forget all that. patiently waiting, taking turns, eager to see the rectangle or square that each other composed. each of us creating our own tiny theater inside the viewfinder. carefully deciding who or what our main character would be at that moment. some zoomed by us in a instant, others stopped us in our tracks and some created the perfect detour. these are jon's photographs from our last week together on the beautiful yet rather modest isla mujeres. enjoy, they are lovely!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and now we wait for the film.

Our Inaugural Ball

what better reason to get everyone together to wear fake eyelashes, jewels, silky gowns and bow ties?!?! To sip baraktails and toast each other and cheer "yes, we can" as we dream of the future!

thank you kate, for taking such a beautiful photo of my fancy lashes. 
 
two pretty stinking awesome bow ties.

lots to smile about!

who's that trying to get in on our pretty girl prom photo?

and a perfect napkin bow tie to go with his button. Thanks for hosting rory and erika!

being a fan of beautiful poetry, i had to post the inaugural poem by elizabeth alexander.

please read and savor. 

praise song for the day.

each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. all about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.

someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

 a woman and her son wait for the bus.

a farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."

we encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.

we cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "i need to see what's on the other side; i know there's something better down the road."

we need to find a place where we are safe; we walk into that which we cannot yet see.

say it plain, that many have died for this day. sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.

praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. praise song for every hand-lettered sign; the figuring it out at kitchen tables.

some live by "love thy neighbor as thy self."

others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.

what if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. love that casts a widening pool of light. love with no need to preempt grievance.

in today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.

on the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

-transcript of the inaugural poem recited by elizabeth alexander

Reece

while downloading photos from our very own inauguration ball, i stumbled upon this roll of film of my  nephew reece out at my parent's house a few years ago. oh, how i love this skinny, artistic and special boy. these photos stopped me in my tracks since he is so different now. can't believe how fast these children grow. thank goodness for cameras.

Painted- susan adam

what delight! to see my photos interpreted in oil by the sweet and super talented susan adam.

  

some things are just meant to be. susan and i becoming friends and fans of one another could have happened no other way. am so glad that her little gallery caught my attention my first day in castine, maine. am even more happy that i left a business card behind. am super excited that susan called me after looking at my work on my website. am completely thrilled that she asked me to shoot a few portraits for some commissioned paintings she was working on.

last week these paintings arrived in my email box. i was stunned, could not believe my eyes. i knew she was good, but my oh my, these are gorgeous! i prefer the paintings over the photographs. i've always adored colorful lively paintings. i'm a messy girl and am often a little jealous of the mess that painters get to make daily. wearing loose shirts covered in a rainbow of smudges, adding color where they think it should be, making straight lines just a little crooked. playing with reality. such fun!

 

 

am looking forward to next june, visiting in this lovely space again. seeing these new paintings right in front of me. smelling oil and varnish fumes. noticing textures and details, i could never see on a computer screen. chatting about our lives and our creative paths. we may use different mediums but we both appreciate the same sweet details of life. our hearts sing a similar song.

 

 

susan works on commission creating original paintings inspired from photographs. i haven't decided which photograph i will pick for my own painting. (after all i do have a lot to choose from). but i am so excited to have one on my wall. am thinking that everyone needs a painting by susan in their home of a child, grandparent or from their wedding day.

find out more on the process here.