Justice and Jello Shots

A few days ago I decided to strap all my expensive gear to my body and take my camera to an ultra-dive. It was a messy risk, but I'm glad i took it. Belvederes was hosting a benefit for our friends Quentin and Uriah. These gentlemen are facing 5-20 years in prison for a crime they did not commit. They're presently seeking justice, which is costly, and the community has been doing what they can to help.

When I heard the list of bands planned to perform that night, and found out about the man auction, I knew a camera was necessary.



Just because I had my camera doesn't mean I didn't drink; it was for a cause! If one is to view the flickr photos in order, perhaps you can see the effect that PBR and orange jell-o shots has on my ability to frame and focus a shot. The first person to correctly guess how many I had gets a free print of their choice!



Despite the beers, I think I got some great shots. Here's a couple that are family friendly. For the rest, and I do think you should check out the rest, please go to my flickr page.

How things grow, how they get grown over.

I've been working so much, and very little has anything to do with what I think is important to me. So I don't have much to show for my work besides being healthy, well fed, and luxuriously sheltered. I took a vacation that is a crucial escape for me, which I was unable to do last year during my lapse of opulent not-caring. I spent a beautiful week at the familiar Lewis Lake in the Pocono mountain region of Pennsylvania. It relaxes me; gives me a chance to wander the woods with my camera, float on the water, and catch up on my reading. I won't bore you with the details so first here are some pictures from years past at the cabin, and similar photos I shot this year.

Here is a crayfish in 2005.


And here it is in 2010.




Here is a dog house in 2005.

And here it is in 2010.



And here, a rotting birch in 2008.

And again in 2010, only two years later.



I like how things change and grow there, but never feel any different. It's such a place of peace and escape for me, even though it's really not disconnected from anything. I'm able to completely put aside any useless worries and put into perspective what matters and what is good. Also, I can clearly see how my perspective has changed and how my priorities in editing have progressed from the subject to the light and texture.

I'm not the only one to change, either. The company I keep, the people I choose to share this time with, they change too. Even if the same people join me at the cabin, I can see how they grow when I place them in an environment like this that never feels different. I really like this aspect of the cabin trips.

Here is Tammy, in 2008.

And here is Elliot, in 2010.




I understand that nobody enjoys vacation photos more than the person that shot them, but here are the links to 2005 and 2008; the only two years I still have surviving on my computer. Please, if you would, compare them with the way I saw 2010. Or rather, the way I saw these years when I saw myself fit to hold my camera safely.

I'm looking in to making prints soon. That's the kind of thing photographers do, I reckon. I hope to make some of the long exposures from this year into big prints. Maybe make 45 seconds into forever. We'll see.



Cheers.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am pleased to announce yet another new photoset on flickr. My friend convinced me to bring along my camera to the drag show that we frequent, and I've spent today editing these glittering gems. The theme was Revenge of the 90's. The crowd was lively. The queens were fierce. It was crowded just about to maximum capacity at the Blue Moon that evening, so I wasn't able to move around for any perfect angles, but we got a seat right by the stage. Here are a few of my very favorites, but be sure to check out the whole set! You will not be dissapointed.

Welcome to the Family

The little magpie has been up to stuff, that's for sure. A lot of projects are slowly coming to fruition, and most of them involve photography. But first, a list of things that get in the way of my shooting (oh excuses, excuses);

-training for a two-day, 150 mile bike ride for the MS Society
-gardening
-work
-commissioned to paint a great big wall at a local music venue
-reading E.O. Wilson's collective works
-sleep

Now that I've got that off my chest, here's what I have been doing with my darling Nikon. Had another quick shoot with Jason Angst. This time it was a quick round of impromptu environmental photography. Most of it looks a little something like this.

I was taken on a day trip to Kittaning, which is a beautiful part of PA that's mostly forests and farms. There wasn't much time for shooting but I did catch a few of the sunset and a handful of photos of other people shooting. Guns.




I've got to say that I prefer the gentle click of my shutter to the ear-shattering thunder of a hunting rifle. The image at the beginning of this post was shot from the passenger seat of a speeding ford f150. The photographer was seated on the edge of the window, angling her lens around the radio antenna, the wind whipping her cheeks open like fleshy sails. So it might not be the best composed photo, or the crispest image, but it was fun take!

Now on to my favorite announcement; the SB600 has finally arrived! I have much to learn, but while I do, here is a precious moment captured with the new flash on it's maiden voyage for you to gaze in delight at. Now just keep gazing for the next few weeks while I get the hang of the new flash.

Portrait Season

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and people need new portraits! My friend and favorite local tattoo genius, Jason Angst finally commissioned me to photograph him for magazine publicity. I'm fairly certain he is going to make it big time famous in the world of art fans and inked-up weirdos, so I'm super jazzed he chose me to make his portraits. We shot our first batch of images a few days ago and next week I'll be shooting him at work at Tattoo Noir. I've shot lots of tattoo artists before and I already how much fun it is. Machines, blood, people sitting still; what's not to love?

But that's next week. This is now!




Yeah, that's right! I get to photograph ALL the awesome looking ones! I'm quite lucky that way. Here's another one.




Now go see the rest at flickr. I spent many a hunched-over-at-the-computer hour editing versions of each one. So enjoy them, verily, and with gusto.

Spring Cleaning Part Three

Going back through all my deviantart photos is mad-boring work, but now and then I find some pretty funny stuff that sixteen year old me said mixed in with the shoddy images. Here's some now!

"you can tell by the mortified look on the fireflie's face, it wasn't putting up much of a fight after a while. that's terror in those eyes there."

"i would kill an endangered velvet chirping yak for a digital SLR. i give you a big sack of envy!"

"i saw a caterpillar lost in outer space. "

"in a crowded place, we all get to know each other just enough"

"in times of crisis, i feel like i can count on toast. "

"otherwordly kittens make my sundays fuzzy "

"the most important thing
is to respect the things that develop naturally around you "

"when men lack a sense of awe, there will be disaster "- excerpt 72 of the tao de ching

"how can a person feel homesick for a place that isn't their home? it's a question we should all feel compelled to ask ourselves at some point."




The arduous process of file-backup continues.

Spring Cleaning Part Two

I'll be spending the next few millennium sorting through my deviantart account. I haven't posted anything on there in months, maybe over a year, and it's no longer a good representation of my work. So I'll be saving all the files to an external hard drive and deleting that account. Then I'm going to find the images I still like and putting them in a special blast from the past set on flickr. In the meantime, while all of this is slowly executed, Little Magpie Photography of facebook will be showcasing one photo a day from "the vault". It makes me a little sad to go back through these, reminding me of my first hard drive crash and, two years later, my first external hard drive crash. Thousands of photos were lost and all I have left are the few small files posted on deviantart. I learned a lot about organization and file backup, though.

Here, as a special little treat, is my first attempt at double exposure in a darkroom from 2004. It's poorly scanned and really not so grand, but it was a first and I'm still proud of it.

Cheers!

Spring Cleaning

When I learned from the New York Times that T-Pain is only 24, I realized that I haven't been trying very hard to get myself anywhere with my art. I've spent today replenishing my craigslist posts for freelance photography, working on my web presence as much as I can without spending mad money, manually fixing all my business cards with a sharpie, and planning new projects.

I forgot a few weeks ago to mention the new photos on flickr of what most people have grown to call snowmageddon. I realize that everyone has shared their snow photos with the internet, but it's important to have these images when it's 80 degrees out and we're hating the heat. So here's a few nibbles of that photoset! Check out the rest at flickr at your leisure.








There's plenty more sparkly shiny shots of the snow before it stopped being fun and pretty where that came from!

So the daily grind continues with breif moments of photo joy, and life goes on as peachy as usual. Keep an eye out for new photos, and keep the other eye out for deals on a new or used Nikon SB-600, Rodrigo y Gabriela LP's, and cute dresses to celebrate the return of good weather.

Hellavator

Took some new photos in the Terminal Building of Jayke. I've edited up to six versions of each photo, and you can have a look at them on flickr.

Here's some now!