24 hours uplugged

My boyfriend and I have been threatening to go camping for over a year and a half - as that is how long ago it was that we purchased our tent. Pitiful. How hard can it be to get away for one night? Apparently difficult enough to always claim more pressing things - yard work, house work, real work, social engagements, children, etc. But not last weekend - we finally committed to it and went with our new tent and tons of sort of necessary items to create a home worthy of this mythical getaway: tent, pads, and sleeping bags of course, but then there was the cooler, bottle of wine, food for four meals (and we weren't talking about freeze dried food of course, foodies that we are) and even firewood. Neither of us had the nerve to drag the "cheater's " starter log up the trail - that was one step too far, so it remained in the car. We set up camp about 1/4 mile from the car in a gorgeous bald just under Sam  Knob near Black Balsam on the Blue Ridge Parkway in plenty of time to hike the beautiful trails on top of Black Balsam, photograph the sunset, and get back in time to build a fire and cook our glorious dinner - yellow squash we'd marinated in olive oil and herbs, potatoes wrapped in foil with olive oil and herbs that we threw in the bottom of the fire, and hamburgers. And a lovely bottle of red wine - perfection.

The lack of computers, phones and TV was almost, oddly, deafening. Amazing how quiet it can be removed from it all. Here are a few shots from our trip - I hope to go camping again very soon.

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.

Crash Test Dummies

Last spring when I was working on Hatchfest Photography, I decided to create a stop motion video, even though I had no idea how to make one, nor what sort of subject I would focus on. As some of you saw, I ended up getting various people in my life to come "sit" for me in my studio against the same background (actually my duvet cover hung on a rod) and I asked them various questions while photographing them in succession, basically watching how they would respond to the camera and the questions. The project started out very moody and serious, but ended up evolving into something humorous. At the very end of the editing process, I decided that I wanted to add music to the video, and it needed to be quirky, interesting, and not something people would hum along to. Crash Test Dummies was about to release their new CD "Ooh La La" and had the perfect song for my video, called  "Now You See Her", and when I asked Brad Roberts of Crash Test Dummies if I could use it, he was kind enough to say yes.

I had so much fun creating the video, even though I ran out of time to really finish it for the Hatchfest slide show I was organizing, that I sent it to Brad to see, thinking that the band might be interested in having me recreate the video by adding footage of Brad, Brad's wife Michelle, and a few others to make the images fit the song, vs. having the song added to the video. Brad liked the idea, so a few weeks ago when I was in NYC he "sat" for me on the very record breaking heat day that gave us 103 degrees. I tend to get more than a wee bit pushy when I have the camera in my hand, and I coaxed Brad to keep going and going for an hour and a half, after which he politely informed me "I think I am about to expire". I was a little embarrassed that I had pushed so hard, but very grateful that he'd been such a gracious, accomdating subject. The kicker, however, was that I was also supposed to get some footage of Brad outside on the street for a video that designer Juni Moon was creating for the song "And Its Beautiful" - she had some wonderful stop motion footage but none that included Brad, so that was really my official "job" that day. I subtly (I think) pleaded with Brad to go out in the stifling New York concrete emanating heat and he kindly acquiesced, so I was able to get some shots of him that I submitted to Juni for her video. You can see that video now on their website. Look for my video of "Now You See Her" in August hopefully!

Freeze! But Look Natural...

I am often guilty of asking the impossible of my subjects - "Be REALLY still as we have barely any light right now. But look natural. Pull your chin out like you're telling me a secret. Relax. Be really still. Relax! Please unclench that jaw and your fingers!" Natural? Right. So imagine trying to create the perfect family picnic, with about 30 models, band playing, wine being poured and....
 "Get that magic light on your subjects as it peaks from behind the clouds - it's going to happen in about 3 minutes just before the sun sets, okay? And we need two different angles for the two art directors that you're working with right now." No problem!!

I had this opportunity recently while shooting various lifestyle photos for the Biltmore Estate for ads featuring their new Antler Hill Village. The assignment was to capture some lifestyle photos of people shopping, looking at art, and picnicking on the lawn while watching a band and enjoying a glass of wine. The catch was that in some situations I had to shoot the same scenes that filmmaker Paul Bonesteel was filming for a commercial - at the same time. Thankfully, Paul was gracious about having this photographer literally breathing down his neck trying to get the angle that "fit" within the scrims, etc that were set up. I had to be the silent photographer in these instances, as you can't have two people directing the same scene at the same time, obviously. One shot involved photographing three cute little kids devouring ice cream cones (now there is a dream shoot for a child: "Is your ice cream cone melting a little? Let me give you another, immediately").  It was an exercise in restraint to just shoot what was there vs. being able to interact with the children - it was a relief when Paul got what he needed and released them to me so I could let my bossy side out!

The "money shot", however, as art director Russ Shuler called it, was capturing a scene that involved about 30 models roaming around, while focusing in on one particular family "relaxing". Who can relax while a man with a video camera and megaphone is dangling above them in a cherry picker shouting out directions, while a female photographer is running on the sidelines trying to set up her own shot? My goal was to capture the feeling of a family enjoying themselves - relaxing on the picnic blanket, taking in the music of the band playing in the background, enjoying the wine being poured, and feeling free enough to let the kids run around joyfully. So, while asking the woman model to relax and snuggle with her husband, I bent down to talk to the two children, asking them to run in big circles around their parents so that I could create some motion in the photo. Did I mention that I was supposed to catch that brief "magic light" that happens as the sun is setting, peaking through the parting clouds, in the midst of all this chaos? Yes, I think I did.

Actually, I loved it! Shooting with a great team and decisive clients in a beautiful setting is nothing to complain about - I'll be lucky if I am hired to do it again in the future.