The Craft Begins

Yeah, this is what I was aiming for when I went out taking pictures last week, but I didn’t quite get there…

Did anyone get a chance to see the meteor shower last night?

I stayed up way late and drove up into the mountains to watch it.  It was so cold!  Summer is quickly ending.  I got scared away though by some people walking around in the woods next to my car who wouldn’t respond when I called.  I’ll admit it, sometimes being alone in the woods in the dark makes you a little paranoid.  The meteors were amazing though.

Words cannot describe how amazing these photographs from Lori Nix are.  She creates these intricate little miniature scenes that are somehow a tiny bit sinister, and photographs them so beautifully you’d swear that it was a real place.

She’s got other collections that are interesting as well, but there’s something so sad about these that draws me in.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with my new garden, and all sorts of mysterious things that keep popping up.  Now only if it would stop snowing we’d be in business!  I’ve also been having fun bringing the new macro lens out to capture some of the interesting views.

Don’t worry, there’s plenty of non-pretty things going on as well behind the scenes, like singlehandedly tearing down an evergreen bush with a hacksaw.

I am totally enamored with this series of images from Oliver Schwarzwald – color found in the most unlikely of places.  Somewhat unassuming at first sight but then sneaks up on you and hits you over the head.

I was gone this weekend at a funeral for my step grandma.  He and my grandma had only been married a few years so I didn’t know him all that well.  However, I was tasked with creating photo boards of his life to display at the ceremony.  He lived a long, eventful life and there were tons of amazing pictures.  One really caught my attention, however, and continues to every day.

I paired it with a picture I took of him at last year’s holiday celebrations.  I was really struck by the juxtaposition, of how things change so much but really just stay the same.

What’s a family photo that sticks out in your mind?

I just wanted to share with you guys some pictures that I did of an engagement shoot I styled last weekend.  I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures – the photographer that I was working with will surely have better ones, some of which I will post here very soon!

We had a ton of fun doing this shoot.  Wanted to do something kind of vintagey and fun.  There’s lots of elements in this shoot that are important to me personally – he’s wearing my grandpa’s old suspenders, and the blanket that they’re lying on belonged to my great-grandmother.  I love pulling in elements like that, and making use of something that is otherwise just lying around gathering dust.

So, without further ado, the pictures!

I just got a new lens, and I’m super excited about it!  Check out this depth of field:

So I’m curious – what kind of photo equipment do you all use?  I figure you’re all in the creative mindset so maybe your needs are different than the rest of the typical camera users.

Also, I’ve started a little tumblr blog to share some of my film photos that I’ve taken over the years. You can find it here if you’re interested.

I found a great series of photos on flickr that really represent life in the 1970′s.

flickr is a great resource for these kinds of photos, especially from the US National Archives.  There are literally thousands of photographs representing many different eras and interests.

You can find some of the archive’s favorite photos from the set here, and the full set here.

Don’t you just love the color in these photos?!

When I saw the pictures from the awesome photoshoot that the lovely Summer from Grey Likes Weddings styled, I was hooked.  Looks like so much fun!

See all of the photos from Courtney Dellafiora here.

Well we all know how much I love animal photography, and how much I love patterns and campy, vintage-y decor.  Thus, these animal photographs from Catherine Ledner are pretty much the best thing in the entire world.

I’d love to hang one on my wall, but the problem is, which one would I choose?  There’s too many good ones to pick just one.  See them all at her website.

I cannot even communicate how beautiful I find these well-composed and lit still lifes from Kari Herer.

Something about them is so magical and transcendent.  Simply gorgeous.  You can purchase a print for yourself at her etsy shop.

My friend Laurent just came back with a new series of gorgeous photos.  I cannot get over these – the lighting, the ability to capture a bit of the person’s personality and soul in the photograph.  You have to pop over to his site and check them all out.

In case you missed them, here’s an earlier post I did about his work, as well as an interesting interview.

I aspire to take pictures like this.

I’m trying to photograph 100 people this year in my “studio”.  Usually ends up being my friends, as they are the easiest to wrangle into the house.  I’ve only got 6 so far so I think I’m really going to have to step up my game here!

I got to thinking about the greater implications of this project, and I realized that it would be an interesting way of visualizing my social network.  I’ll have to think of a creative way to display that.

What kind of projects do you have in the works right now?