vacation photography: photographing for myself

The mornings were so beautiful, so serene.

My family has outgrown our old vacationing spots the way a plant outgrows a pot.  So a family meeting was held, subcommittees were formed, and a new location was found.  We ended up renting out an entire retreat house in the southern part of the state.  The retreat house used to be a rich doctor's house, complete with lake, hiking paths, pool, indoor and outdoor game rooms, and at least 6 bathrooms. Heaven.

The only hitch was that within 5 minutes of my group's arrival, the power went out, and staid out for the rest of the long weekend.  It was part of that storm at the beginning of July that knocked out power in several states.  However, the stove was gas powered and so was the hot water heater.  So we staid on.
We turned the un-powered refrigerators into large coolers by adding bags of ice regularly.  We played games or talked by candle light in the evening.  To combat the heat, we took cold showers and went to the pool. A lot.
It was rather like luxury camping.

The only battery that didn't give out on me was my camera's battery.  I'm so glad it held through.  I took pictures of my family, mostly of my two Hutchinson neices because I rarely get to see them together for enough time to get a decent picture.  Also Catherine was frequently in a good mood, showing off her twinkly eyes and brand new smile.

However, I have a special love for the pictures I took for no one but myself.  These were the early morning pictures or early evening pictures, full of gently atmospheric greenery, and almost opaque early morning mist.

Critique Swap

My friend and I are doing an art-cooperative of sorts. 
We both love photography, and actually own the exact same camera body.  We also have been wanting both motivation and feedback about our photography.
So, we developed a Plan.

Over the course of each month, we create a collection of 5-10 photographs that are thematically linked in some way.  Then, at the end of the month, we email them to each other.  Then, we look at each other's pictures and send back a helpful, thoughtful critique email. 
Due to the power outages at the beginning of the month, we've already ran into some snags.  However, I have high hopes for this exchange.  I long for thoughtful, in-depth critique of photography.  Outside of art-school, it's kind of a foreign concept.
Eventually, we hope to turn our photo exchanges into a blog with picture and critique posts.

So here's my artist's statement for my June collection:
"I decided to explore a certain kind of still life that I've been setting up for some time.  They've always been interesting, but not quite interesting enough. I think of them as "isolations."

The "isolation" tends to be one or two objects against a textured background, usually a chunk of sidewalk. They also frequently involve something translucent, like a plastic bag or a glass. As I explored and examined the photos, both past ones, and new ones, I found that the background textured object is at least as important as the subject, if not more so.  I hadn't consciously realized this before. Also, the photos that most clearly fit (into the category and with each other) were all earth tones.

As I kept photographing, I found that there was a group of photos that almost fit the profile, but somehow defied it.  They had more color and more energy, while still isolating an object against a background and examining the textures of the objects.  Perhaps the shift from winter/spring to summer just makes the pictures naturally more juicy. I'm not sure. On the whole, these pictures were more interesting.  So I shifted my concentration, and shot for this series instead, to complete it most successfully."
So, that's what I set out to do.  I would love to know your thoughts about the collection.  Leave a comment or shoot me an email!

 

Life is sweet: John and Kristine

Sometimes life is more complicated than I would've dreamed possible, which is why I've been meaning to post these pictures for a month or more, and never have found the time.

However, it is also wonderfully sweet and rewarding.
Johnny and Kristine are like that, minus the complicated-ness.  I think it's because they are so unaffected, so very truly themselves.  They also really seem to see each other as they really are, and appreciate each other as-is.
Beautiful.

Capes and Gold Lame

The Midsummer's party is now in it's 9th year.  It would be it's 1oth anniversary, but my sister took a year off the year she was remodeling her kitchen (foolishness, I know.)

The party agenda is as follows:
1. show up
2. get dressed up in a selection of the craziest hat, pants, shawl, dress, scarf, and bling you can lay your hands on.
3. eat amazing, exotic food (I still don't know the name of the Puerto Rican fruit I tried)
4. compliment others on their eclectic outfits.
5. settle in on a section of persian carpet.
6. pick a role from "Midsummer Night's Dream" out of a hat
7. participate in a read-through of "Midsummer's Night Dream" by the light of japanese lanterns.
8. Help clean up a little. (this year it involved throwing pillows up through a second story window.)
9. Regretfully take off your finery (or not so regretfully if you decided on the 3-inch brocade heels or the wool tweed hunting jacket)
10. Head home, sated with good food, good company, and good humour.

*I intended to edit these photos for simple color corrections, and grouping them to better advantage.  However, this week has been insanely busy, and I thought it would be better to publish the pictures as is, rather than publish them a week later.  So some are too cool, some need a bit of cropping, and many of the night pictures need serious exposure and color adjustment.
Pardon Gentles, all.

 

strawberries and sun

 Are wild strawberries really wild?
Will they scratch an adult, will they snap at a child?
Should you pet them, or let them run free where they roam?
Could they ever relax in a steam-heated home?
Can they be trained to not growl at the guests?
Will a litterbox work or would they make a mess?
Can we make them a Cowberry, herding the cows,
or maybe a Muleberry pulling the plows,
or maybe a Huntberry chasing the grouse,
or maybe a Watchberry guarding the house,
and though they may curl up at your feet oh so sweetly
can you ever feel that you trust them completely?
Or should we make a pet out of something less scary,
like the Domestic Prune or the Imported Cherry,
Anyhow, you've been warned and I will not be blamed
if your Wild Strawberries cannot be tamed.

                   Shel Silverstien, "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

Some friends and family and I went strawberry picking the other week, during that hot spell when May tried to act like July.  We got up in time to catch the dawn, filled water bottles and gathered buckets, and set out.  We were out picking before the sun had time to burn the coolness off of the fields.

Hand picked strawberries are different from store-bought berries from California or Florida.  They tend to have more taste and character, because they are picked exactly when they are ripe rather than before.  They also are generally smaller, and come in more quirky shapes.  Store berries have been bread for size and shelf appeal.  These berries were bred for taste and the Ohio climate.
The local berries also directly reflect the kind of growing season that we have.  A wetter spring results in more strawberries that are generally larger and more juicy, but with less flavor. This year, the berries were reasonably flavorful, and very, very sweet with plenty of juice. The most delicious strawberries I have ever had came from a year when we had a spring drought.  It took forever to fill a bucket, but each strawberry was a flavorful bite of heaven. The tasted the way you always have known a strawberry should taste, but it never quite does.

We took our bountiful buckets home and processed them for cooking and freezing.  While I was washing them by the sinkful, there were a few berries that just... looked like a photograph waiting to happen.  So I took them out into the searingly clear sunlight, and photographed them.

The photographs have such a different character than than my previous pictures of strawberries.
Small wonder, as these are a wilder kind of strawberry.

  

of course, in the end, the strawberries were tamed, and turned into this:

La Belle Dame

Our hearts are drunk with a beauty our eyes could never see.

- George W. Russel

Last weekend, I did a photoshoot for Ann, my sister and best friend.  She needed photos for an online dating profile.  She has lots of photos that show her great personality, but few that show how cute she really is.  So, at the golden hour of the evening, we drove to Wegerzyn Gardens and had some fun.

Ann is one of the most beautiful people that I have ever met, especially on the inside.  She is a treasure trove of generosity and good character.
She is also one of the most humble people I know, especially physically.
She is not one of those people who knows what makes them look good in a photo, and then does it.  She has a voluptuous body, but never acts sexy. Instead she laughs, all the time.  When I raise my camera, she tends to either act silly, or closes up like a flower at dusk, or a dropped book.

Photographing her has been a journey of discovery.  At first, I tried to get her picture when she wasn't paying attention to me.   However, that was virtually impossible, as she reacts well when looking at me, but not when my face is hidden by a large camera.  We tried going on a photo journey. I had her walk through fields of gently flowing wildflowers. I thought the wildflowers would reflect her natural beauty and quirky delight.  Somehow it was completely wrong. Ann is not the type of girl to meander through wildflowers. Wildflowers are for girls who want to look sylph-like and romantic.  Ann's too busy staring at strange bugs, and making interesting comments and melodramatically hugging trees.

Finally, I got a great portrait of her almost by accident.  We were on the way back from San Antonio, and we had breakfast in our hotel's restaurant.  The booths had wooden backs that were hand carved and brightly painted in the Mexican style.  All through breakfast, Ann's face was framed by cheerful large sunflowers. She looked wonderful. and perfectly like herself.
So I ran back to our hotel room, grabbed my camera, and snapped her smiling, laughing, looking away.

I discovered something: Ann looks best in the colors and spaces she enjoys.  She has a lust for adventure and a love of bright colors that contrasts with her delicate coloring and her sweet personality.  The brighter and quirkier something is, the better.