GOYA - Holga Work from NYC

Over the holiday weekend, I spent a good deal of time in the darkroom printing my Washington DC Holga work in the hopes of getting a show to display it, and I also had a chance to develop the rolls of film I shot while in New York City at the One Light Workshop and over the rest of that weekend. Some of the photos that resulted from those rolls are here.

Jason Groupp's studio where we held the One Light Workshop:



Zack Arias teaching us his magic during the workshop:


A random fence that I thought looked cool:


And yes, the pocket wizard does indeed work with the Holga!

Thanksgiving With the Turkeys

On Saturday I attended Thanksgiving with the Turkeys at Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary for the second year in a row. This is an incredible potluck dinner with hundreds of people participating, but the best part is that it is all vegan... meaning no animal products whatsoever are used to make any of the dishes served. Andy and I have been vegetarian for about 10 years now, and look forward to this dinner ever since our friends Kate and Chris introduced it to us last year (we missed you this year guys... hope you're having a good time in Portland!).

First off, before the humans eat, the turkeys and chickens get their dinner in a ceremony dedicated to them. You can see some of the rescued turkeys in these photos. Turkeys are such cool looking animals... it's fun to watch them get just as excited over their dinner as we did for ours.



One of the larger turkeys runs to the dinner table set out for the birds:


This was what the human dinner looked like. There was too much food to even have a spoonful of everything. I maybe got to taste about a third of what was brought, and it was all delicious.


There were a lot of neat looking trees near the field where we ate, and I took a few photos of them. This is one of those:


After dinner, Andy and I wandered around the sanctuary to visit the various rescued farm animals that make Poplar Spring their home. There were goats, pigs, horses, sheep, ducks, and peacocks all just wandering around.

Andy pets one of the horses:


Some of the various animals we saw:




We came upon this sight in the makeshift parking lot: A peacock had perched on top of an SUV and was having fun checking out the herds of humans passing through his turf. It was really funny and created quite a stir. I'm not certain the owners of the vehicle ever found out that the peacock was up there though...


Then we went home and walked the Sasquatch and laid around - we didn't even eat dinner, we were still so full from the big mid-day meal! Thanksgiving with the Turkeys is always a good time, and we're already looking forward to next year...

Matt's Poem

I was digging through some of my files today and came across this image that I made back in 1999. Back then, it was exhibited in a local Savannah gallery and published in SCAD's yearly photo review and show for "Silverworks." I had used photoshop before, but hadn't really done any projects beyond my basic PS class there, and when working for the news, we didn't alter photos at all! So this was a departure from what I was used to, and I haven't really made any other images like it since. I use photoshop all the time now, and am quite good at the program if I do say so myself, but I generally prefer for my images to have a natural look (even though they may be a far cry from how the scene actually looked in real life!).

This photo was actually shot using film, and then blurred, with the poem scanned in and dropped on top in three layers. Even though I don't usually make work like this, I really like this particular piece. It's the only one of the whole series that I like at all. Sometimes you have to take a chance and try something new because you never know what you might accomplish in the end.

Anyway, I promise I will post some new photos soon. I've been shooting some Holga film, and I won't get to develop and print it for almost two weeks... argh! And I have some other ideas that I want to try if I have a few minutes of free time. Free time... HA!

One Light Workshop / New York City!

I'm back from New York, and it was just an incredible trip. First of all, I have to say that the train ride was amazing. I had never taken the train before, but it beats flying hands down. Seats are bigger, more leg room, no waiting in lines to board the plane, and when all is said and done, it takes about the same amount of time to get from DC to NYC. Plus, you end up in the middle of the city as opposed to out in the middle of nowhere at the airport.

Day one was the Photo Plus Expo. There was really just too much to take in and it was a bit overwhelming, but I did pick up a few samples from my lab and from some other vendors that I plan to check out this week. I also got to meet some photographers who I have known in the world of cyberspace but had never met in person. That's always fun, and so it was a good day :)

Day two was the One Light Workshop given by Zack Arias. I really don't do workshops much because I got two degrees in photography and already have a strong foundation, but this one was really good for all levels. We had a very long day of learning and shooting, and I would highly recommend it. Zack even let me hook up my Holga to the strobe system to see if it would work (I'll post results once they are developed!). You can see a few of the images I took of our model Madison with my more "high tech" camera here:



And Zack taking some sample images to show us:


Day three was just me hanging out with my friends Matt and John, who were wonderful enough to let me crash at their place and then take me all over town to sightsee and hang out. We went to a flea market where we found some interesting things and I got to take some fun photos that you can see here:





Then we walked around Manhattan and went shopping and I got to touch the $5,000 coats and $3,000 sweaters that Matt designed. Normally I would be scared to even set foot in stores like that let alone touch everything, but it's ok if the designer is with you! Then I was more in my element when we stopped into a few pet shops to look at the puppies. I'm all for adopting rescue dogs myself, but I never pass up a chance to pet a puppy!


Then we headed back to the apartment where I was accosted by the cats who are all competing for my attention. It was pretty funny... animals have such personalities. And I thought my dog was bad about needing so much attention!




So that sums up my trip! I had a lot of fun, and hope to visit again soon!

Out of the Office and into NYC!

This is just a quick post to inform current or future clients that I will not be in the office until Monday because I am going to be attending the One Light Workshop in New York City! I'm really looking forward to it, and will definitely be posting some photos from the trip when I am through.

What does this mean for you? I will not be around to answer e-mails or voicemails until next week. Andy and the Sasquatch will be here to hold down the fort, but if Maurice were to respond to your e-mails, it would probably look something like this:
alfjwpohfglsnjglsgtlsjgohwodlsghlsdhglsjglsdhglskhjglgs woof.

So I think I'll just stick to taking care of that myself when I return.
:)