We found out today our friends’ newborn is really, really sick.
But with lots of love and some good doctors, she is going to be ok.
(to see the digital version of this photo click here.)
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It’s not a Rolleiflex photo, but it’s pretty fun anyway. Click the photo twice to get a better look.
Veronica and Mike, October 2009.
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My mom, my grandmother and my grandfather, back when they were babies. I love this photo.
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These photos were overlapping in the negative sleeves, so I scanned them that way. I may have a new fun experiment.
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Minneapolis, Minnesota. June 2009.
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…Jennifer and Ramsey got married.
Their love-filled event took place at the Banta Residence, in Lucas Valley, with the help of the fantastic planning duo, Green Girl Events. Their wedding was significant to me, not just because it took place on a long summer day, with a ridiculous amount of fresh heirloom tomatoes, and in a gorgeous setting, but because their love story deals with a subject that is close to my heart.
Jennifer and Ramsey have both experienced recent hardships, which have taught them the value of life and the importance of living life as much as possible before it is gone, which includes marrying the person you love most… but then came politics.
Jennifer has a sister who is a lesbian. And one day after Ramsey asked Jennifer to marry him, Jennifer’s sister lost her basic human right to marry to the person she loves because of Proposition 8, in the 2008 election.
Heartbroken for her sister, Jennifer did not feel it was fair for her to be able to get married when her sister did not have the same right. But her sister, who is also responsible for setting Jennifer up with Ramsey, gave Jennifer her blessing. And at their wedding, Jennifer’s sister delivered the most incredible toast that brought everyone to tears… including me, which made it very difficult for me to focus my camera.
But hopefully their story will help focus the attention that is needed to change this ridiculous law that prevents people from obtaining basic human rights. And hopefully someday soon everyone will have the right to experience the overwhelming love and support that you feel when you marry the one person you love most in the world… just like Jennifer and Ramsey got to feel on this warm, long day, when the tomatoes were at their very best.
One last reason why I loved photographing this wedding, was because I had the help of another awesome photographer, Jessamyn Harris, who was second-shooting for me. Because I knew I had such a great back-up photographer, who was covering the day with her digital camera, I was able to play more with film, which always makes me happy.
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Nature created amazing plants.
Rebecca Burgess dyed wool into cool colors… with the amazing plants that nature created.
Heidi Iverson designed patterns and knit fun gloves and a blanket… with the wool that Rebecca Burgess dyed into cool colors… from the amazing plants that nature created.
Beautiful ladies and cute children modeled the fun gloves and blanket that Heidi Iverson designed and knit… with the wool that Rebecca Burgess dyed into cool colors… from the amazing plants that nature created.
I took photos of the beautiful ladies and cute children… who modeled the fun gloves and blanket that Heidi Iverson designed and knit… with the wool that Rebecca Burgess dyed into cool colors… from the amazing plants that nature created.
All of this teamwork is for Rebecca Burgess’s book about creating dyes with native plants from the different regions in the United States. Her ultimate goal is to help people become more aware about their fiber-shed, which means thinking about wearing clothes that are made locally, just like the food we eat. Through her book, Rebecca hopes to show people how easy it is to create vibrant colors and cool clothes from the plants that are in our own environment.
It has been a fantastic project to work on and I can’t wait to see how all this teamwork comes out in the end.
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This is Michael Garlington, a fellow Petaluman and photographer, who is known for his creatively dark and imaginative 4×5 portraits.
I needed to photograph him for the Artist and Farmer project that we are doing in Petaluma. But how do you photograph someone who has photographed and been photographed countless different ways?
First I did some research. I looked at all the photos I could find of Michael, and from what I found it seemed that he was always posing… hiding behind faces, fictional characters and props. So I wanted to try and photograph him without the props or the characters. Just Michael and a white background.
But how do you photograph someone who is so used to acting for the camera?
After some brainstorming, I decided photographing him nude would be the best way to go, because there is no way to hide when you are naked.
But that idea made me nervous. I love the human figure and I am excited every time someone asks me to photograph them nude, but I have never asked anyone to pose nude for me, because I would most likely never pose naked for anyone, so how could I ask that of someone else. But because Michael often photographs nude females, I thought it would only be fair if he posed nude for once. So, I asked him.
And his response, “I will. I have to say yes, because I ask other people to do it for me. So I will do it… but not today.”
Phew.
I was off the hook. And we got to work… talking, setting up cameras and backgrounds, getting to know each other, and taking photos… with our clothes on.
somewhere between a handshake and two kisses 
