kauai here i come... and my new project

i'm about to jet set off into the sunset (or sunrise really, early morning flight) to spend a delicious week in kauai. we're staying at a lovely place in poipu and i plan to soak up a ton of sun and eat and drink my fair share of fresh ahi and mai-tais. while i'm there i also will try some "real" shooting (i.e. photos in addition to the standard vacation pictures of cute dolphins and palm trees). my step brother and his girlfriend will hopefully be my generous models for some lovely portraits i have in mind.

and now to transition...

this kauai shooting is part of a new body or work: i am merging the styles of my "fashiony" work with my "polaroid" work. this means shooting portraits with the sensibility that i use to shoot my "something like home" project. i'm very excited about the concept and am scheduling a bunch of shooting when i get home. i'll even be shooting in la for a few days in early february!

i'm hoping to learn two things:
1. how to create beautiful elegant backgrounds out of any environment
2. how to make all of my portraiture feel slightly more real/personal without compromising my style

i plan to try to learn these things by:
1. shooting in uncomfortable locations, in places i've never seen, homes, motels, wherever
2. working without a crew (hair/makeup/styling) to maximize the character of whoever i'm photographing

i have some other ideas but i'll start with these. i have my fingers crossed for a great shoot in hawaii!

AD club #3: follow up

so alas, our AD club is falling by the wayside. i'm very sad (seriously). i did however make some beautiful photos this week for my past assignment and i'm hoping that i can find some other like-minded individuals who enjoy getting/giving assignments to create AD club version 2.0.

what i shot this week was a combo of b/w polaroid 600 and digital of very random things. i tried to play with texture, light and spacing which led me to shoot foliage, the tiptop of my house with the rest of the frame completely blank, walls, light fixtures and even my damn cocktail umbrella. the images aren't stellar by any means (hence i'm not posting them) however i do think i may have one that could make the website cut... we'll see.

the whole excitement for me was to shoot things i'd never consider "worthy" of shooting and, surprise surprise, i got lovely images out of the sheer experience of just holding the camera and clicking the shutter. that's what this was all about, shooting anything instead of not shooting a thing.

photographer of the day: lina scheynius

today i'm highlighting lina scheynius. i don't know anything about lina (unfortunately her bio on fred & associates's website is down) but i completely love her work. her images are luminous and ethereal and beautifuly sexually open. i find a wonderful dynamic between complete ease and some unspoken underlying tension in her images - i have a strong emotional response to her work which makes me want to keep looking.

images copyright lina scheynius

i'm top ten!

check out this blog post from laura miner who is/was (depending on whether or not they survive their financial troubles) the editor of jpg magazine.

laura ran an original blog post on her top ten new photographers to watch in which my friend christina was listed (go christina!) and this blog is a list of christina's top ten. i'm on christina's list as is henry. i love that my friends are so talented!

photographer of the day: adam jeppesen

be still my shooting-at-night little heart. i love adam's work. it is haunting and amazingly careful. his lines are crisp and his lighting reminds me of velvety vermeer. here are two images that i love:

both images copyright adam jeppesen

photographer of the day: al thompson

i found al thompson because we both shot for the same issue of IN*TANDEM. i love his work! he is a wonderful mix of the precision of david sims with the sensibility of paolo roversi. here's one set of polaroids that i love:

copyright al thompson

IN*TANDEM story published!

my story "in her sleep" was published today by IN*TANDEM magazine! check it out here. i'm really excited to be working with the IN*TANDEM team. the virtual presentation of the issue on their website is very smooth and the content is excellent. i love working with creative people and it's very fun being part of a multimedia collaborative endeavor. i hope to continue shooting with IN*TANDEM!

art director's club #3

our third art director's club is approaching quickly. to recap, here were my asignments from the past ADCs:

ADC #1: the skull
ADC #2: tiny cocktail umbrella
ADC #3: this photo:


for ADC #1 i shot hassleblad polaroids using double exposures of the skull and sarah palin in the VP debate. they were completely not what i expected doing but i loved stepping outside the box

for ADC #2 i came up with nothing. i know, awful. at least i was shooting a ton of other personal work

for ADC #3 i'm brainstorming about things i can take away from my inspration photo. here's what i have so far:

- use of space
- patterns and foliage
- a small figure in a big frame (which i love to work with, check gallery 3 on my site)
- working in black and white instead of color
- lonliness and beauty

here are ideas i have for executing an image:
- shoot my single pack of polaroid 600 black/white
- work on a night image in which a small item appears in the frame
- keeping a camera with me more often so that i can shoot lonely items
- shoot abandoned items
- shoot a still life of a found item

i'll keep you posted!

new year's meme

thanks to my lovely friend jen at miss attitude i've decided to celebrate the changing of the guard by participate in a new year's meme:

1. what did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
i got my first big editorial job with marie claire and then also got to shoot for wired. i was offered my first major advertising bid. i moved in with josh (long-term boyfriend) and learned how to share toothpaste. i assigned myself work regularly instead of sporadically and kept my portfolio fresh. i learned how to make mozzarella from scratch. i fed a 2-day-old baby cow.

2. did you keep your new year’s resolutions and will you make more for next year?
i have never made specific resolutions however i did make progress on my personal improvement goals.

3. did anyone close to you give birth?
yes, lovely baby deja was born to my friends claire and garret only a few weeks ago.

4. did anyone close to you die?
thankfully no.

5. what countries did you visit?
turks and caicos in the caribbean. it was positively yummy!

6. what would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
regular work... hello, gods of the failing economy, are you listening?

7. what dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
november 4, obama.

8. what was your biggest achievement of the year?
really hitting the pavement hard with my work and getting great results. also, reminding myself how much i love shooting and doing lots of it despite any challenges.

9. what was your biggest failure?
there are ups and downs but no big ones come to mind.

10. did you suffer illness or injury?
thankfully no.

11. what was the best thing you bought?
hmm that's tough. i bought a beautiful custom handmade portfolio to replace the one that was stolen in dec. 07 and an epson 3800 to match. i also finally got dining chairs and a functional all-in-one printer (you have no idea how difficult it was to find one that works on a network AND with a mac!) i also acquired some amazing photography books for my collection.

12. whose behavior merited celebration?
a number of my fellow colleagues had big years and they all deserve congratulations.

13. whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
i take the fifth.

14. where did most of your money go?
rent and food.

15. what did you get really excited about?
i love this question since i get excited about a lot of things! off the top of my head: traveling across the country for the marie claire shoot, having amazing feedback on my book from a ton of heavy hitters in nyc and la, being in san francisco which means no more commuting, my own office, and living with josh, seeing helmut newton's sumo in person, working with super-talented deb dapolito and cheryl dailey in addition to a host of wonderful models, starting my new fine art projects and hopefully having some shows in 2009.

16. what song will always remind you of 2008?
yes we can by will.i.am

17. compared to this time last year, are you:a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
happier, the same, more financially conservative

18. what do you wish you’d done more of?
i'm fairly happy with this year but i can always do more shooting and spend more time with my family.

19. what do you wish you’d done less of?
worried about where the next job was coming from.

20. how will you be spending the holidays?
with my family at home.

21. what was your favorite TV program?
it's a toss up between house m.d., entourage, gray's anatomy and top chef.

22. do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
i don't generally hate people.

23. what was the best book you read?
the omnivore's dilemma by michael pollan.

24. what was your greatest musical discovery?
pandora. (yes i know pandora isn't new, i'm just slow on the uptake)

25. what did you want and get?
a big editorial job.

26. what did you want and not get?
the new canon 5d mark II.

27. what was your favorite film of this year?
i'm not a big movie watcher.

28. what did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
i turned mid-twenties and spent it at the farmer's market with josh and had a few lovely celebratory meals with my family.

29. what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
not worrying about work... i guess that means either having more of it or learning not to sweat the economic cycles. clearly the latter is the smarter long-term goal.

30. how would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
classic long-term pieces in solids mixed with fun feminine trendy pieces.

31. what kept you sane?
shooting. josh. (but to be clear, not actually shooting josh)

32. which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
obama!

33. what political issue stirred you the most?
the election.

34. who did you miss?
my nearest and dearest friends who live mostly in NYC or LA. (if you're reading this, move home!)

35. who was the coolest new person you met?
i got lucky this year! here are a few of the many: chloe aftel, jen straw, elizabeth grivas, jim balwdin

36. what is a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
i am what i practice - the more i think about positive things the less room there is for negativity.

37. a quote that fits the year:
"i believe in maniacs. i believe in type As. i believe that you've got to love your work so much that it is all you want to do. i believe you must betray your mistress for your work, you betray your wife for your work; i believe that she must betray you for her work. i believe that work is the one thing in the world that never betrays you, that lasts. if i were going to be a politician, if i were going to be a scientist, i would do it every day. i wouldn't wait for monday. i don't believe in weekends." -avedon

happy new year!