My First Music Video is Finished!

I am very excited to tell you that the music video I've been working on for quite a while is finally LIVE on youtube, vimeo and the Crash Test Dummies website. While the beginning may be familiar to some of you who viewed the stop motion video I did for Hatch last April, it was this beginning that interested CTD's Brad Roberts enough to think that my reworking it as a music video for the band could be a good idea. So I photographed Brad and his lovely wife, Michell Varian, on two different NYC trips last summer, and then added many local friends from Asheville as participants.  "Now You See Her" is a nouveau big band/swing tune featuring an old "toy" optigan, one of many instruments that Brad used, in collaboration with producer Stewart Lerman, for their latest record "Oooh La La". Roberts has come a long way from 2004's dark "Songs of the Unforgiven", as a listener will pretty easily hear in "Now You See Her", a song that Roberts proudly calls "Light and Cheeky".

I had a blast working on this and hope you enjoy watching it!

Wisdom - Get It

I ran across a beautiful and inspiring book today - "Wisdom"  by photographer Andrew Zuckerman. When I was in New York last summer, I literally stumbled upon his exhibit in the World Financial Center as I was cutting through the building from the riverfront to the street. An hour and half later, I made it out of the exhibit. You can see the website here and I highly recommend that you check it out, and even consider purchasing the book. I bought 5 copies - one for myself and four to give as gifts - that's how great I think it is!

The photographer interviewed many prominent people of all different types of fame - actors, politicians, world leaders, writers, etc, and asked them to talk about their lives and what the source of their "wisdom" was. Maybe it goes without saying that the subjects were advanced in age, to actually have had the years and experiences to gain that wisdom. The prints were quite large and were sharp as a tack, in their face, headshots shot against a stark white background. What I really appreciated about them visually was that you could see every pore and wrinkle, which of course accentuated the aging faces, but they were given so much dignity. It's hard to describe the effect, so you will have to see for yourself. The video, which was being shown on a screen in the middle of the exhibit, shows many of the interviews, and a copy of it is included in the book. I told my daughter, Jess, "here is much of what you need to know in life", but being only 19, she didn't bite. Maybe one day.

Introduction to Digital Photography with Lynne Harty in Lonesome Valley - Cashiers, NC via #constantcontact

Introduction to Digital Photography with Lynne Harty in Lonesome Valley - Cashiers, NC via #constantcontact

Please click the link above for information about my one of a kind experience - a weekend photography workshop in a beautiful private setting in Lonesome Valley - Cashiers, NC October 22-24th, 2010. We will be learning about the basics of digital photography while enjoying autumn in the mountains, and shooting in places that cannot usually be accessed unless you live in the community of Lonesome Valley.

Flying Cats and Dogs

This week I've been working on a campaign for the Asheville Humane Society, photographing cats and dogs in a studio setting with strobes so that I can catch the action. You can imagine some of the obvious challenges - these are just regular ole doggies and kitties - not necessarily trained (though some were) and each with their own agenda, whether it is to please,  to entertain, to escape, to mark their territory, or to confound. Together with art director Martha Dugger, we have cajoled, manipulated, pleaded, and squeeked to get our subjects to 1)  - just stand in the lights and 2) give me a second to focus the camera. Martha and I are doing this in conjunction with the Asheville Advertising Club, which is donating it's creative services this year to the Humane Society, creating an entire ad campaign, banners, notecards, etc for the wonderful new center that is about to open mid September. I am hoping to create, with Martha's collaboration, some fun B&W collages of the animals in all different positions, showcasing the multitude of their personalities in wall hangings and large banners. Here are a few of the shots.