Post Project Blues

Wanda is feeling kind of antsy this week. I told her it's because her paver project is complete and she doesn't have as much to work on right. I just hope that doesn't send her looking for another big project to do before we go to California near the end of the month. Still, I'm sure she'll find some smaller projects to work on between now and then.

The paver project actually turned out quite well. It was quite a lot of work for both us and the contractor. In the future, though, I think we'll contract for the entire job and forgo the pain and pleasure of doing the grunt work ourselves. We dug up and moved better than 10 yards of river rock and dirt in order to prep for this project. It supposed saved us some money, but I'm not sure it was worth it. We started with this:


We moved all the river rock to a tarp in the driveway and then put an ad on Craig's List offering free to anyone who was willing to haul it away. The first load looked like this:

The pile got much higher before the first person came to get their share, and we moved about 3 more piles even larger than what you see above. Fortunately, we had enough folks willing to take the river rock that we didn't have to haul any away ourselves. Eventually, with the liberal use of shovels and pickaxes, we got the river rock out and the ground looking like this:

Fortunately, it didn't rain that entire week, otherwise it would have been a huge, muddy mess. Unfortunately, the temperature soared into the 90's that week and the heat made a difficult task even harder. On July 3rd and 4th the materials arrived for the project and we took a day off to enjoy the holiday with our family.

Then the contractors started to work. First the gravel went in:


Then Wanda decided on the pattern and the initial blocks were laid. Of course, I had to go get more gravel, then more pavers, and then more sand.....

And then, at long last, it was all done:


The contractors finished up the job while I was out shooting one of my fairy shoots. I was so glad to return home to find the pavers in place. I still had to move everything back out of the garage as well as dig and lay new sod at either end of the house, but it's done and it looks good.

A Muse

I believe I need a Muse. I just don't think I'm creative enough when it comes to my photography or to my writing for that matter, and I need someone who can inspire me to stretch beyond the limits of my existing creative process and who can listen to my proposals, my ideas, and my conceptual theories without initial judgement, or negativity and then help me refine them into feasible shoots. That Muse would also help me execute those concepts, either as a model or as an assistant.

If would be great if such a person were also technically adept in photography, but not essential. It's the creativity that's important--the ability to help me sort the kernels of great ideas from the mundane chaff of mediocrity. More importantly, a Muse would propose her own ideas with a unique perspective and a feminine touch and allow me to mold them into derivative concepts to execute. This would help me to get out of this creative rut that I feel that I've been in for the last year or so, and would perhaps help me to find my own intrinsic vision while infusing me with new enthusiasm.

For many years, Wanda was my Muse. For the last 33 years, she has been my model and my inspiration for many ideas. She has borne my experiments with good grace and cheer, and has often put herself in precarious situations so I could achieve a particular shot. She has climbed trees and rocks, stood in ice-cold rushing water, stood nude in snow banks and blizzards, walked on ice, and generally has done whatever I've asked of her for my shoots.

Unfortunately, as my passion for photography, and my technical skills have grown, Wanda's interest in my work has waned. I can hardly fault her for that. Over the years, I've taken literally tens of thousands of photos of her, and today she is far more interested in her own hobbies and interests, and the extent of her interest in my photography is the images I make of our grandchildren and of family events so she can create her wonderful scrapbooks. She still supports my photographic projects, but she has no enthusiasm for them, and I can understand that.

It's unlikely I'll find a new Muse. While it's not difficult to find models, a Muse is a more personal relationship, and platonic though it may be, there does have to be some emotional and creative connection in place. There has to be friendship as well as a working relationship. It sure would be nice though.

I Lost My Arbor

Wanda has yet another project going on this year. Now that the living room is completely refurnished, she wants all the river rock dug out from the side of the house and pavers put in place and a walkway added to the deck. Okay, I want to get rid of the river rock myself. The previous owners had put it in because they used that side of the house as a run for their dog, but we don't have a dog and the rock is a real pain in the rear when I'm trying to get the lawn mower from the front yard to the back and vice versa. Besides that, any attempt to walk on that surface without sturdy shoes is a exercise in masochism resulting in bruised soles and stubbed toes.

Once again, Wanda has done weeks of research, picked out the paver colors and patterns, and has dragged me to several landscaping suppliers to look at the difference between Appian, Boston, Camino, Roca, Arena, Octo, Holland and many, many other styles of stone. I've also had to look at Basketweave, Herringbone, Linen, Muster K, Step Running Bond, and Running Bond patterns using the various types of stones. This is not a simple project.

We looked at doing the job ourselves, but we simply don't have the expertise (or the backs) for that kind of labor, so she's had 4 or 5 contractors come out to bid on the job, and on Saturday she chose the guy who spent the most time explaining to her what the job entailed and how the various patterns would look - in other words, he spent more than 20 minutes measuring the area and simply providing her with a quote.

As part of the contract, we agreed that we would take out the existing river rock and provide him with a clean dirt area to level and fill before setting the gravel, sand and pavers. We thought, "Hey, a little manual labor will be good for us." Five yards of loose gravel and strained muscles later we're thinking, "Hey, we aren't as young as we once were!" The loose gravel came out, if not easily, at least without heroic effort. There is, however, the matter of the gravel that has been packed down into the dirt for the last 18 years. It's kicking our ass!

So, given that we want the project to start Monday after the 4th of July weekend, as well as realizing that if we want to keep our bodies relatively whole and not sore during the holiday weekend, we've hired some young labor to help remove the remainder of the gravel. I think at $10/hr it's a relative bargain, though I suspect it will take most of two 8 hour days to get the job done. Sometime, near the end of next week though, the side yard will have had a very large face-lift and will be suitable for the grandkids as a play area.

Unfortunately, as part of the project, I lost my vine covered arbor that divided the side yard from the backyard and which provided me with a lovely photographic prop. I put the arbor in over 11 years ago and had been carefully training the ivy to grow up one side, across the top, then down the other side. It was really looking good too.

I had thought we could simply lift it out of the ground with the vine still attached and move it to the side and out of the way during the construction process, since the lead runner was so thick and long. Alas, the posts of the arbor had dry rotted and all four broke off when we attempted to move it. Also, during the process of attempting to untangle the vine from the lattice work, the main runner broke (Wanda did it - not me!).

Removing the arbor does make the area look more open, but darn I'm going to miss it. It make a great background for photos. Just take a look for yourself:

Christine as a schoolgirl:



Holly from behind:



I'm really, really going to miss that vine covered piece of painted wood.

Woodland Pixie

I finished another photo shoot in my Fae in All of Us project this past Friday. Once again, I shot the images in the wooded area at Dragonfly Landing, the property that belongs to my good friends, Mark and Gabi.

It was a wonderfully warm and sunny day for the shoot, which lasted about 2 hours. I had the model in makeup and costume by 4:15 and we wrapped up shooting by about 6 pm when the we lost the nice bright patches of sunlight that manage to pierce the thickly canopied wooded area. By the time we were finished shooting, though, the poor model was shivering, despite the warm wraps provided for her between poses.

Amy, the model, was genuinely sorry she was so cold, and kept expressing concern that her shivering would show up in the shots. She wanted to help me get some great images and she gamely pushed through the entire shoot without a single complaint. She was quite fun to work with and came up with some great ideas that contributed to the shoot.

A very slender and young model with golden brown dreadlocks and a natural look, Amy matched my mind's image of a Woodland Pixie, and when I saw her portfolio I felt she would be a great choice for this shoot. Based on a quick scan of the images from the shoot, I feel certain I was right in choosing her for this project.

Next up - Bambi as my Flower Fairy.

Thirty Years

I've been messing around with cameras and making photos for over thirty years now. I purchased my first "professional" camera thirty years ago this month (I just came across the receipt). In the intervening years, I've taken tens of thousands of photos (or more), and lately I've been going back through the older ones, scanning them, and putting them in an archive. I've also been sharing some of them on MySpace and Facebook for smiles and grins. The older images have garnered some responses from some of my old high school friends, as well as some of my relatives and new friends.

In 1981, I moved to Upstate New York on an assignment as an instructor at the Navy Nuclear Power Training Unit in Balston Spa, New York. While I was there, I took a course in photography from the New York Institute of Photography, and then I began working with models and shooting weddings. I was all of 21 years old at the time, and photography was simply a way for me to express myself outside of work.

I think I've become a much better photographer since then, but I did want to share a few images from those first years and that first camera. Remember, these were scanned from prints that were quite old, so don't laugh too hard. :)

Toni was one of my first models. She contacted me through an ad that I placed in a local newspaper. I think I might have paid her something like $5 an hour to pose for me. She was a very sweet girl, but had an abusive boyfriend. She enjoyed modeling and could produce some very sultry expressions. She and her boyfriend lived in and managed a hotel on Saratoga Lake, but by the time I left New York, they were living in a small travel trailer somewhere off the beaten path. When she got pregnant with her first child, she inherited a lot of our baby clothes and toys that we no longer needed. I still wonder what happened to her. I hope she did well in life and went on to have a happy and successful career and family. I'll probably never know though.

Here are a couple more images of Toni which were shot in my attic studio:



Susan was another model of mine, but I only worked with her a couple of times. Not long after we started working together, she moved away to college. She was pretty, funny and smart. I'm sure she's doing well.




As you can see, I was still very much in a learning phase with my photography. While I knew the basics of exposure and composition, I hadn't had a great deal of practice yet.

Sue Gleason was my 3rd model in New York. I worked with her serveral times. We did at least three or four field excursions to shoot, including one up to Lake George where she startled me by stripping down and jumping into a cascading (and freezing) stream.

Sue was a hippie. I don't think I ever saw her in a bra - she preferred body suits and skirts, always kept one strand of her hair braided, and was wont to take off hitchhiking on a whim. I think she was the first model that ever tried to seduce me. No, it didn't work, but it wasn't for lack of her trying. :)

Here is Sue at a place called Rock City Falls, which was one of my favorite places to shoot:


Here is Sue, upstream from the falls posing on the log that you see Susan walking along in teh above photos:


And finally, here's Sue standing in the same stream. I can tell you that this girl loved being in the water....well, except for that one time she got into a pool of water at the base of a cliff, waded out about 20 feet until the water was up to her waist then realized, after the silt settled, that she had gotten into a pond of huge tadpoles. I never believed in "walking on water" until I saw her leave that pond. :)

So, there are a few memories and photos from the past. I'm sure I'll be posting more in due time.

Father's Day Shoot

For Father's Day, instead of relaxing and watching movies, playing games, or just having some downtime, I spent the day prepping and shooting a set of portraits of my grandson (and his dad). First, I had to clean out the garage from all the yard items that were moved there the day before for my granddaughter's 3rd birthday party. Then I had to set up the backdrop, the fog machine and a set of gelled lights (one softbox with a flag, one gelled light on a boom with a 40 degree grid, another gelled light on a floor stand with a 30 degree grid, and the final gelled light on a floor stand with barndoors). Finally, I had to test and adjust the lighting.

The setup had to be right from the start, since I didn't want to unnecessarily subject my grandson to the fog, so I had my wife and daughter help me with the adjustments. Wanda was the stand in model, and my daughter operated the fog machine. I set the main exposure (the softbox) with a Sekonic L-508 light meter, then adjusted the gelled lights (height, direction and intensity) by monitoring the preview image on my digital camera (a Canon 1Ds Mark III with a 24-70 f/2.8L lens). The softbox strobe was an AB 800, the boom light was also and AB800, while the two floor lights wereWL 1600's. The softbox was triggered by a PW transceiver and the other lights triggered off optical slaves from the key light.

Here are the images with that setup:




For the remainder of the images, the gels and fog were removed, the black velvet backdrop was draped on a table, and the fire fighting gear was set up per Ryker's dad's specifications. I then added a large Photoflex reflector on the right side of the image to provide for more even lighting across the portrait. Ryker was getting a bit fussy by this point, but we cajoled him into some nice expressions:





For the final image, I pinned an American Flag to the background and lit it with a non-gelled AB800 with a 40 degree grid.


The lighting in the first two shots will be similar to what I will use for my Fire Fairy shoot.

The Fairy of Photos?

One of the concepts I forgot to mention in my last post was that of the Photo Fairy. The concept statement for this series of images goes something like this: "The photo fairy is one of the fae muses. She inspires creativity and new perspectives, and oddly enough, she likes to get into lots of contorted positions while using her cameras." Keeping that concept in mind, and knowing the long lives of the fae, I extended to concept to conclude that this fairy would have quite a variety of cameras with which she could shoot. Fortunately, I have quite a number of camera bodies and lenses, some of them quite old, which can be used a props to support that particular theory. Above, you can see a photo of one a Polaroid Land Camera 100 - one of the first cameras with an electronic shutter and the first Polaroid utilizes pack-film. It was produced and sold in the early 1960's.

The camera you see to the right is a folding Medium Format Camera from Kodak. Based on my research, I believe it's a Kodak Vigilant Six-20 made in the years 1939-49. The Vigilant Six-20 has a folding frame finder incorporated into its top housing, and another optical finder near the shutter.

I've had both these cameras for over twenty years, as they were a gift from my mother-in-law. They've been part of the decor in my office for as long as I had an area to call my own. It's nice to be able to put them to use in one of my photographic endeavors. I'll need to clean them up a bit before the shoot, but both of them are in pretty good shape for their age.

Of course, I'll be using some more modern cameras as props in the shoot, but on Tuesday I found a camera that was quite affordable and was perfect for the shoot. It's a Kodak SpeedGraphic 4x5 view camera and it's in working condition. There's a small chip broken off the ground glass focusing plate, but the bellows is tight and the controls work quite well. The shutter works and though it took me a minute to figure out how to set the shutter speed and aperture.I think it's the perfect prop for the shoot.

The model wants the final images to be B&W and infrared, which I think is an excellent idea, though I'm thinking of editing the images to make them appear consistent with the images that would have been taken with the type of camera she would be using for the shoot. So, if we start with the older cameras and move to the more modern ones, the images would be come cleaner, clearer, and the final images would be in color.

The model for this shoot? Well, I think I've talked my lovely wife into participating with this one. She used to be my primary model for all my shoots, but since she's become a grandmother, she's much less inclined to model for me. But, this image was taken just a couple of years ago, and I still think she's good model material. :)

Summer Shoots (NSFW)

I'm currently scheduling my summer photo shoots. The current of shoots include:

1. Woodland Pixie (tentatively scheduled for June 26th with Amy M. of Model Mayhem).
2. Dark Fae (tentatively scheduled for July 11th with Sarah T. of Model Mayhem)
3. The Reaper Fairy, tentatively scheduled for sometime in July with my good friend, Bridgett (note to self - get Bridge on the hook for a specific date - she gets too busy otherwise.)
4. Fire Fairy - I have to get this shot this summer. The model I want to use is currently not available but has told me she'll be able to shoot sometime in June. I have two models I want to use for this, but since it's a very complicated lighting setup, I'll need to schedule the two models on consecutive days.
5. The Forge Fairy (and his assistants) - which will get shot as soon as my friend, Mark, can spare the time.
6. Fashion Shoot - with Gabriell for her portfolio (to be determined).
7. Special Forces Fairy - with camo wings, a carbine, and an attitude!
8. Plus some barefoot glamour, fashion and other shoots as I can fit them in.

It's going to be a busy summer. Here's an image from my 1st shoot last summer.

Memories

I was chatting online the other day with my friend, Bridgett, who mentioned she was restoring an old Camaro she got from her mom. That reminded me of the Camaro that I owned when I was younger. It was a '77 model with a 4 on the floor, and I honestly can't remember the size of the engine except that it was quite powerful and got lousy gas mileage. Of course, gas was about 50 cents a gallon back then so it wasn't too bad.

It was my first new car and I bought it while I stationed in Nuclear Power School in Orlando, Florida. Wanda really liked the Camaro body style, so that was one of the reasons I decided to go with the model. Mine didn't have a lot of features, but as a young E-4 in the Navy, it was about as much as I could afford. It took me back and forth between Orlando and Atlanta almost every weekend for 6 months, and then took me from Orlando to Idaho Falls, Idaho for Nuclear Power Training Unit (NPTU) instruction. Wanda and I then drove the car from Idaho to Connecticut shortly after we got married and kept the car until our first child was born. I then sold it to one of my younger brothers who kept it for many years after that.

In the photo above, Wanda, all of 17 years old, is sitting on the car during a stop in the middle of Wyoming. She was a bit car sick and quite warm. We were traveling during the summer and the Camaro had no air conditioning - which didn't matter too much once we got to Connecticut.

One nice thing about being a prolific photographer is the images that you can pull out of your archives to help you remember so many different things. If Bridgett hadn't mentioned her Camaro, though, I probably wouldn't have remembered this image for quite a while. Thanks, Bridge.

Swirls of Change

So much has been changing recently that it's hard for me to keep up. Even the changes keep changing, or at least I don't know what the final change will be. My son and his family (and more specifically my granddaughter) may be moving back to Oregon. That will be wonderful for Wanda and me, and good for them in some ways since they will be closer to family and old friends, but not so great for them in other ways. For Wanda and I, it means a chance to spoil our granddaughter and do more with her with the her cousins.

There are other changes as well - with work, with life, with children and grandchildren. But life is all about change. It's never static and always challenging. Some things we have control over, but others are totally out of our control, if not out of our sphere of influence. So, changes are normal and we have to expect them, and learn to deal with them as best we can. But change is inevitable.

Wanda is on her way HOME!

The text came this morning - "on my way." That meant that Wanda as able to catch the 8 am direct flight out of Atlanta to Portland and she'll be home in a couple more hours. With any luck, she will have gotten some sleep, because two of the grandkids are here, and she's going to have her hands full with a little girl who has been missing her for the past three weeks.

When her mother took so ill three weeks ago, we weren't sure if Wanda was going to help her get better or to attend a funeral. Thankfully, it was the former rather than the latter, and Wanda was able to devote the time after her mother got out of the hospital to getting her mom on a good treatment regime, working with her to stay compliant on her medications, and helping both her parents to get their affairs in order so that should anything happen the preparations are in place.

It's good that she went to Georgia to take care of those things, but she certainly has been missed around here. This big house, and that big bed, seem so empty and quiet without her. Of course, Makayla can fill the house up with energy despite her small size, but Makayla isn't here all the time. I know the girls have missed their mom as well - otherwise they both wouldn't be here right now waiting for her return.

So, she was missed and we're damn glad she's coming home. Me especially.

Some Days!

Life sometimes just doesn't go as planned. Last night, I set up all my cameras, prepped my strobes, gathered all the costume materials, printed the model release and shoot sequence, and did a final run through in my head of how the House Fairy shoot would go. The idea was to have everything totally prepared to get through the shoot quickly as soon as my real job permitted. I think that's the way it would have worked too, except the model never showed up.

Once I realized the model was a no show, I posted a quick casting call on my local modeling site and got a fairly quick response from a different model who was very interested in shooting the concept, but who, after agreeing to the shoot, called back within 15 minutes to cancel on me. Hopes raised, then hopes dashed! That's the quickest cancellation I've ever received from a model.

The original model eventually contacted me, apologized profusely, and stated that she lost track of the day of the week and offered to do the shoot for me when she returned from a trip to back East. It may well be that we'll shoot another project together, but I'll have to use another model for for the House Fairy. Fortunately, I have one already scheduled for Friday and I've reconfirmed with her. So, with any luck, I'll actually get to shoot the theme.

Of course, if that were the only thing that happened today, it wouldn't be so bad, but this morning when I went to update my business financial records and found 2 years worth of data was missing. YIKES! So I went to my backup files, and the same thing. I still have no clue what happened. My computer has been running a file recovery program all day, and I suspect it will be running all night and most of tomorrow as well, and I can only hope I can find a slightly old file to recover. If not, I'll have to reconstruct the data from my paper records, which will be an extremely tedious effort at best.

Of course, my woes are very, very minor compared to those of so many other people in the world, and certainly minor to those I experienced even just a few years ago. So life goes on, and when it's all put into perspective, I really have nothing at all to complain about and much to be thankful for in my life.

And tomorrow is always a better day. Right?

Shoot Plans for the remainder of the week and month (NSFW)

Well, so far, due to my forced bachelorhood, I've managed to:

Rake the yards, trim the bushes, clean up and rearrange the garage, edge the lawn, mow the grass, fertilize the shrubs and plants, fertilize the lawn and apply Scott's feed and moss killer. I also made two trips to Good Will, vacuum and shampooed all the carpets, cleaned up the three bathrooms, repaired the lower dish washer sprayer, wash all the linens, as well as all the laundry, filed the taxes, reorganized our filing system, cleaned out the refrigerator, cleaned the oven, completed one landscape field trip down the coast to Florence, as well as a 1 1/2 day photo shoot with a remarkable young model.

I've also worked full time at my day job, taken care of my grand kids 8 out of the last 12 days, as well as taken my youngest daughter and her children out for lunch on her birthday, So, I'm ready to do just a little more stuff for myself. So, I have three shoots planned for the rest of the week.

Tomorrow, I'm shooting with Ashley with the theme of the House Fairy, that magical creature who, with the properly incentives, will come to your house and clean up all the mess from the big party. Every home wants one, but not every home can get one. It takes strong belief and a welcoming attitude (as well as an open bar since House Fairies are notoriously thirsty). Still, they'll do any task that needs to be done, so they're great to have around. Fairies like Ashley are very easy on the eyes as well.

On Thursday night, I'm shooting with Krisa. Our intent is to add a variety of shots to her portfolio. Krisa is so much fun to shoot with, it's hardly work at all. She's very photogenic and full of energy. I have a broad plan for the shoot, but we're going to keep it pretty flexible to accommodate shots she wants to add to her portfolio.

Finally, on Friday, I'm shooting with a differnt Ashley, the young lady who was the first model of my fairy series. My intent to is do see if I can get more enthusiastic poses and expression from her in an outdoor glamour setting.It's a challenge to me to see what I can do to work the model as to achieve her very best.

Then, at long last, Wanda will be home and I will pleading with her to start posing for me again. She's my best model and the one I love to shoot the most. It's fun to work with new models and capture new looks on film, but no one can ever replace her in front of my lens.

Shooting as Fun and Therapy

Wanda is away for a couple of weeks. Her mother took a severe turn for the worse and she made snap decision to make the trip back to Georgia. It was certainly the right decision, given the circumstances, as her mother almost died before the doctors got her stabilized. She's out of the hospital now, but Wanda needs to remain with her parents for a while longer to assist with setting up her mom's home therapy and to help get both her parent's affairs in order.

Her mothers sudden turn was precipitated by a fire that destroyed both their outbuildings, included her father's woodworking shop and resulted in the lost of several thousands dollars worth of equipment, as well as many precious family heirlooms. The stress of the event (which has been determined to be arson), was just too much for her mom who has been chronically ill for several years now.

I have, of course, had more time on my hands with Wanda gone. We talk every morning, and I'm doing a lot of on-line research and paperwork for her parents, but given the three hour time difference, my evenings are mostly free except when the grand kids are here (a couple of nights each week so far). To get my mind off things and to give me something to work on while she is gone, since I've cleaned the house, the yards and the garage already, I took a road trip on Sunday and then shot with a young model I'm helping to get into the business on Monday and Tuesday.

The road trip was quite relaxing. I took Hwy 26 and Hwy 6 to the coast and it was a gorgeous spring day for the trip. From Tillamook, I took the Three Capes Scenic Route and did some photography out at Cape Mears and the lighthouse, then drove down the coast to Florence to meet my model and spend some time with her parents.

The model, Gabriell, is a lovely and talkative young lady, had expressed an interest in modeling part-time to earn extra cash. She is quite photogenic. I've known her for several years and Wanda and I are great friends with her parents. I photographed her for her senior portraits last year, and she was the Sand Fairy for my ongoing project. I definitely wanted to have a discussion with her parents before the shoot to keep them in the loop and to explain what we would be shooting, especially since I expected that Gabriell would be interested in the more lucrative areas of modeling (glamour and artistic nudes), based on her previous history. Of course, it was just fun spending the time with two good friends and chatting about life and family as well.

On Monday we got an early start shooting per our shoot plan, and headed out to Collins Beach, on Sauvie Island. As you can see from the image to left, Collin's Beach is a Clothing Optional area. The look on Gabriell's face was something to see when she saw the people on the beach, but she was quite game to get started and we got some great shots. The day was beautiful with a clear sky and wonderfully, warm weather and we had great views of Mount St. Helens and other peaks in the background. We spent about 3 hours shooting there in various outfits, and I think we got a number of great images for Gabriell's portfolio.

Here are just a couple of shots from that session:



Over the remainder of the day and the following morning, we got quite a number of additional images, but I haven't had the opportunity to process any more of those (the grandchildren have been staying with me since Tuesday), but I certainly think that this young lady has potential and with some hard work, she could make some real money as a glamour model for local artists and photographers.

Shooting as Therapy

Wanda is away for a couple of weeks. Her mother took a severe turn for the worse and she made snap decision to make the trip back to Georgia. It was certainly the right decision, given the circumstances, as her mother almost died before the doctors got her stabilized. She's out of the hospital now, but Wanda needs to remain with her parents for a while longer to assist with setting up her mom's home therapy and to help get both her parent's affairs in order.

Her mothers sudden turn was precipitated by a fire that destroyed both their outbuildings, included her father's woodworking shop and resulted in the lost of several thousands dollars worth of equipment, as well as many precious family heirlooms. The stress of the event (which has been determined to be arson), was just too much for her mom who has been chronically ill for several years now.

I have, of course, had more time on my hands with Wanda gone. We talk every morning, and I'm doing a lot of on-line research and paperwork for her parents, but given the three hour time difference, my evenings are mostly free except when the grandkids are here (a couple of nights each week so far). To get my mind off things and to give me something to work on while she is gone, since I've cleaned the house, the yards and the garage already, I took a roadtrip on Sunday and then shot with a young model I'm helping to get into the business on Monday and Tuesday.

The roadtrip was quite relaxing. I took Hwy 26 and Hwy 6 to the coast and it was a gorgeous spring day for the trip. From Tillamook, I took the Three Capes Scenic Route and did some photography out at Cape Mears and the lighthouse, then drove down the coast to Florence to meet my model and spend some time with her parents.

The model, Gabriell, is a lovely and talkative young lady, has expressed an interest in modeling part-time to earn extra cash. She is quite photogenic. I've known her for several years and Wanda and I are great friends with her parents. I photographer her for her senior portraits last year, and she was the Sand Fairy for my ongoing project. I discussed the shoot we had planned with her parents so that they were aware of what we would be working on and what I was trying to help her do. Since I expected she would be mostly pursuing

On Monday we started shooting first thing in the

A Finished Project

The living sofa arrived this weekend, just in time for Nikki's birthday party. It certainly makes the room more cozy and useful than the previous decor. The only thing left is the drop leaf table that will go behind the piano which we'll pull out for games or other entertainment purposes.

The new TV and sound systems are working out quite well, though Makayla seems to think this entertainment system was installed specifically for her. Maybe she's right.

Looking in from the foyer.


Details from what was previously the dining room. This is the bar area and where we'll play board games with family and friends in the future.



Looking into the room from the entertainment area:

An overall view showing the entertainment center, piano, etc:


Wanda used rich browns and greens for her palette with cream accents colors. The wood tones and the whimsical touches she added to the room make it far more inviting than the previous decor which was very formal and made guests less likely to utilize the room. There's a sleeper hidden in the sectional which should make having the whole family here over the holidays easier to acomodate and most of us can fit on the sofa for movie nights or just to talk and listen to music.

My Most Recent Shoot

Just a couple of images from a recent shoot with Krisa:

Frustration

We're adding a new entertainment center to our living room. The intent is to have a large screen LCD HD TV and a Blue Ray/DVD player/amplifier with Surround Sound. When we were looking for the system, I decided on a Bravia XBR6 52" LCD and the Sony BDV-IS1000 BD/DVD Home Theatre System. I chose this particular home theater system due to the small size of the speakers, their good sound, and the fact that the rear speaker can connect wirelessly to the main unit of the system so that I wouldn't have to run speaker wire underneath the house.

So far this has been a fiasco. The orders were placed and the TV and theater system arrived promptly. But, before we could put everything together, we needed a new entertainment center to support the equipment. We wanted and Sanus three shelf unit like we have in our family room, but the unit we wanted was discontinued. So, we went to the local Best Buy, found a unit we liked in their Magnolia display room, and the sales clerk there told us it was only available online. He pulled it up on the in-store kiosk, selected it for us, and told us we could put in our information to order it. No problem, right? Wrong!

It arrived about a week later, and as I was putting it together it seemed quite different from the one in the store. In fact, it was very different and wasn't even made by the same manufacturer. So back we went to Best Buy to return it. I'll have to admit they took it back with no problem, but the unit we wanted wasn't even available from them. After a futile search online, we finally picked up a Bello center from Video Only. It looks great and fits perfectly in the corner, but it's only two shelves high, which is lower than we wanted, but we figured we could make it work with what we wanted to use in the room. In fact, when the TV was set on the center, we found the height was just fine. However, we noticed the TV had been damaged during shipment.

The right corner of the TV was damaged (the plastic corner had broken off and the speaker grid support had broken off) and this damage was hidden by the styrofoam packing material. So now, that had to be returned. Again, we were quite fortunate in that the company where we purchased the unit was very nice about the return and arranged for the delivery of a new set to coincide with the pickup of the damaged one. That straightened out and the new unit ordered, we turned our efforts to installing the Home Theater System. Since the damage to the TV was only cosmetic, we figured it would be pretty easy to set up the system and have everything prepared for the delivery of the remaining furniture and the replacement TV.

The system was very well packed and the speakers were much smaller than I expected. The wires were all color coded so everything was easy to assemble. The wireless rear amplifier meant I didn't need to crawl under the house and pull wires, and could simply route the speakers wires around the window frames hidden beneath the curtains. That would have been great, except that after two days of going back and forth with Sony tech support, I still couldn't get the rear amplifier unit paired with the main unit. Sony finally gave up after I tried everything they suggested (including turning off everything wireless in the house), and told me to send it back. Once again, the company we ordered it from was very nice about the return and fedex picked it up yesterday.

So, after over a week of work, right now I have a mostly empty living room, a beautiful TV stand and a damaged TV, and no home entertainment system. I'm going to re-order a system on Monday, but I'm going to get a discreet setup (separate receiver and Blue Ray Player) with wired speakers. It's going to cost me about double the other system, but I just don't think wireless technology is quite where it needs to be yet.

Fortunately, I had a great birthday today with two of my grandkids and my two daughters, a relaxing 90 minute massage purchased for me by my loving wife, and a great lunch at one of my favorite restaurants. And tomorrow, I have a shoot with a fun model. Life could be much, much worse.

Redesign

Our living room and dining room are the least used spaces in our home. Together they encompass about 1/3 of the living space in our home and yet they hardly get used at all. They are decorated in a formal style which looks very nice, but they're hardly inviting for conversation or entertainment since there is very little seating space. So we are redesigning.

The goal is to make the entire long, narrow room with it's vaulted ceiling, warmer and more inviting. We're going to replace our settee and coffee table with a sectional sofa and ottoman. Our rolltop desk will be replaced with a corner entertainment center which will include a 52" LCD TV, integrated Blue Ray/amplifier and speaker system, and an Apple TV for music. In the dining room, the china cabinet will be replaced with a lighted presentation case to show off some of our collectible artwork, and our hand carved oak dining room set will be replaced with a drop leaf table which will be used for a game table when we entertain. Much of our older furniture will be given to our children or sold.

The drapes will be replaced by warmer earth tones that will match the sectional sofa, and 5.1 wireless surround sound speakers will be mounted to the walls. We'll also be replacing most of the artwork in the room to match the new feel of the space.

Redecorating is, of course, Wanda's forté, so she is in her glory. She is happy, so I guess I am too.

2009 Planning (NSFW)

Detailed planning contributes to great shoots. I learned that lesson in 2008 and I hope to build on it in 2009.

I'm planning all my 2009 photo shoots. 2008 was a most productive year for me photographically, both in my personal projects as well as my family projects. By my rough count I worked with 16 models for about 20 separate shoots over the course of the year. This isn't including all the family photo shoots I conducted. Indeed, one of my projects which I hope will lead to a book publication within the next 1 - 2 years, is going quite well. I have been working with some very nice, lovely and stable models lately. Some of my other models are a little less stable and seem unwilling to take directions well, but I love the images just as much from them as I do from my more mature and professional models.

You can read about my 2008 year in photography here in the post below.

The two little problem models are Jocelyn and Ryker who are cousins and born just a little more than a month apart. They're my latest granddaughter and my first grandson. So 2009 will keep my camera busy, no matter what other projects I'm able to start and finish. And they can always provide a bit of stress relief. If some of my other shoots go poorly, I can at least count on these two to give me a big old slobberly smile which can immediately light up my heart, just like hugs from their bigger sibling and cousin.

Anyway, I'm working on my 2009 project plans. I have several shoots I intend to complete this year. There are at least three or four to be done in January and February, two that I'm planning toward the middle to end of March, and another 6 over the course of the summer, and an additional 4 in the fall. This is, of course, if all goes well and I get enough models willing to work within my budget.

So, what are these projects? Well you can read about them all here:

Mark's Current Projects

If there are any of you that want to help with the project - photo assistant, 2nd camera, Makeup Artist or Stylist, model or csotume designer, let me know and make me a pitch. Any of these could be a fun project and I'm looking for some creative minds to work with during the year. Let's all create some art together.