One Love Photo

Today

sweet and breezy capitola.
 

Yesterday, a bohemian farmer's market with drum circle and sunset waves in santa cruz.

 

 

Missing Maine

but looking forward to california this weekend and a lovely farm wedding. did a quick stop at home to wash clothes, drop off film, pick up more gear and say hello to friends. am eager to return home to all the film i handed over to the lab yesterday. one very over stuffed ziploc sandwich bag full of undeveloped smiles, messy hair and big beautiful eyes. can't remember exactly what all i shot, but i am hoping for a little maine magic. as i wait, i'm reminded of one of my favorite photo quotes.

"I never have taken a picture I've intended. They're always better or worse."

- Diane Arbus

here's to hoping for better.

The Cutest Library, ever.

this one is for you mom. and for anyone else who loves libraries, an amazing view and a bald eagle fishing right outside the window. the library in somesville is only open ten hours a week. how lucky were we to drive by five minutes before it closed today? very!

 

 

 

 

 

phyllis the local substitute librarian loved to chat and was a complete sweetheart. she is a retired first grade teacher and now volunteers at the library. when i heard this, i replied with a smile "you are just like my mom!"

Lilacs and Laundry Lines

enjoyed a country drive to bar harbor, looking out the window with tired red eyes. it's interesting leaving home on an adventure while most people are settling in for the night. to levitate above our beautiful glowing city, looking down like peter pan and tinker bell. flying straight into a premature sunrise as we fight the urge to sleep in an impossible position. greeting the new day in a completely new place. feeling guilt about having to waste daylight taking a nap. on our way from bangor to here we saw: lots of quaint hand painted signs and countless red wooden lobsters, a different artist's vision behind each one. at least a half dozen roadside lobster shacks with large cauldrons steaming like a witches brew. even more cute ice cream stands with sweet names like "the blueberry hut". actually spotted a large lobster sculpture holding a huge 3-D ice cream cone. am starting to see a theme here. watched tiny cemeteries with stories left untold and ancient farmhouses where you wish the walls could talk, pass by us in a blur.
 

apple and isabell, castine maine 2008

 my favorite things out my window today, floral print laundry lines and purple lilacs blowing in the wind.

am excited to visit apple and isabell at their farmhouse this week and see how much they have grown.

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).

Mexico Squared

 

Noellen & Jackson

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.

Isla Mujeres

  

still here and falling deeply for this sweet little island. yesterday was such a blessing. am so excited to share much more but for now we are off to explore.......

Missing in Action - new york

spotted a window painted just for us in brooklyn today.

we've been away, wandering around our favorite city. it's been so very chilly. luckily today things started to warm up, so we could actually explore outside a bit. the first two days we stayed inside as much as possible. visiting museums and galleries and jumping into cabs when we couldn't bear the icy wind any longer. met the cutest couple over coffee yesterday. am thrilled to be shooting their wedding here in september!!! how lovely it will be to return in the fall! took their advice and reenacted their sweet engagement date under the brooklyn bridge. love visiting someplace when you know you'll return again soon. there's no pressure. you miss a turn down a favorite street or the museum you've been dying to visit is closed on tuesdays (?) or you are just way too tired to go to a show....
well, you just shrug and smile and say next time.

 favorites this trip...this amazing blue whale, laughing until our cheeks ached, thanks to will ferrell on broadway. and finally walking all the way across the brooklyn bridge in the sunshine. last year we only made it half way across with my sister. she has never been a fan of heights, so we quickly turned around and as we backtracked i thought, we'll just do it next year (and so we did).

Oahu Wedding - amanda & anthony

thought we could all use a tropical vacation. the last few days have been filled with beautiful big brown eyes, palm trees, sand, sunshine, cute toes, gorgeous orchids, and never ending happy smiling faces. the best part is that i am home in tacoma. my computer is my travel/time machine. and i like that.  welcome to the sweet island wedding of amanda and anthony.

in true island girl fashion, amanda slipped into her wedding dress on the side of the road next to a very special and beautiful beach in lanikai. this was the spot of the big question that changed everything.       so they returned here for their first sight. 

we love these two. they are warm, sweet, kind and a total joy to work with! their families are just as wonderful. we were showered with love and appreciation our entire stay. amanda and anthony live in seattle but amanda is from oahu and her family lives on the island. it just made the most sense to come home and use her network of friends and family to pull off such a special event. i remember one of the first times i was talking with amanda about her wedding and she said, "i want the ceremony in a pretty church and i just want a big lawn next to the beach with tents for the reception, oh and enough pavement so I can wear heels."  i had to giggle. i guess the romantic notion of a hawaiian barefoot beach wedding isn't quite the same if you are raised in the islands passing your days barefoot. the church part fell into place but that perfect lawn was a much harder find. that's where the local connections came into play. more on the reception later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we've still got the party to come, until then you can see more photos of these cuties here and here.

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.