This photo is from my trip to Switzerland in 2007. It was not taken with a Rollei, but a Bronica instead, so still medium format film, and therefore still can be in my Rollei Advent Calender.
-
-
I know I said I would just post one a day, for my Rollei Advent Calender, but I can’t do it. It is a struggle to only put up two. And really, I had to put two, because Andy is upset that he isn’t in more of the photos from my previous Montana blog posts… so Andy, this one’s for you.
-
Someone asked me how I managed all the roles of film that I take with my Rolleiflex, and the answer for this summer was… I didn’t.
I was so busy running around taking more photos that I didn’t have time to deal with the negatives. So I had towers of envelopes, with negatives inside, building a little city in our spare bedroom. It was so intimidating that my solution was to keep the spare bedroom door shut, so I wouldn’t have to see all the work waiting for me.
Finally, this week was the week. Sunday night I got everything set up on our kitchen table, still no office, and Monday morning I got to work. And I worked and worked and worked… filing, scanning, filing, scanning. And now that everything is filed and scanned, the dust retouching begins.
Film is a lot of work.
But it is so worth it. I found so many treasures that I didn’t even know I had.
Digital photography is incredibly useful and I am grateful to have it. It is a great learning tool and essential for photo shoots with quick turn around times. But film inspires and excites me in a way that digital just can’t.
I wish I could post all of my new loves tonight, to prove my point that film is amazing once and for all, and because I am still not good at saving, anything. Not presents, not money, definitely not chocolate, I eat all the chocolate in my Advent calenders during the first week, and not photos that I love.
But I am going to try and be patient and create my own Rollei Advent Calender… one Rollei photo post a day… until?
Well, at least until all of this batch has been introduced to the world, and then we’ll see.
(Models: Arann Harris, my skateboarding muse of a husband, and Mia the wonder dog.)
-
(This post contains photos of a skinned elk and may not be enjoyable for everyone.)
Life is entirely too short…
Death means life…
Life means death…
Because others die, we get to live.
When we are young we can’t wait to be old…
When we are old we wish we were young…
Rarely are we content in the moment.
Every moment is part of the story…
Relationships are the most important part of the story.
If we make time for the relationships we love… in the end we will have a better story.
-
Saturday was Margot’s first trick-or-treating Halloween, and her mother Nici, who I fell in love with in the dorms during my freshman year of college, thinks it is the last one that Margot will allow her mother to choose her costume.
I just loved spending the whole day following around this little creature, who came from two incredible people who I love dearly, and watching a new American learn the strange traditions for our wonderfully bizarre holiday.
The strange new behaviors Margot had to learn include… dressing in a costume that she was not allowed to pull off or touch, learning how to hold a bag and say, “trick-or-treat,” when she wanted something instead of “please,” and taking candy from strangers who were often wearing strange masks or hats.
Margot was not so sure about the taking candy from strangers part, and since she can’t really eat the candy either, I am not sure she got as much from the experience as we did. But we had lots of fun, and visiting five houses was just enough for us to get the candy we wanted.
And the day was complete with a bath for Margot and candy and wine for us.
-
Veronica and Mike’s wedding was nothing short of incredible. Veronica wanted to have a memorable party and I believe she got it, but not without a lot of work and a lot of luck.
Work because the wedding was held on top of a hill in a cow pasture, accessible only by four-wheel drive vehicles, in order to have a 360º view without any buildings. So everything had to be brought up to the top of the hill and created in the cow pasture, including… electricity, tent, floor, stage, tables, chairs, kitchen, food, bar, alcohol, photo booth. And Molli Milner and Denise Rocco-Zilber, from Green Girl Events, deserve a standing ovation because they made it all happen so smoothly, as if that hill is always so magical.
Luck because the wedding was held in October, just three days after the biggest rain storm we have had in over six months. On the Wednesday before the wedding, as the rain was still coming down, I was a little doubtful that the event was going to happen at all.
But sure enough, the sun came out on Friday and dried the muddy roads and fields so the show could still go on. And by Saturday, everything was perfect. The fog did make an appearance, as is expected when you are on a hill overlooking Tomales Bay, and it rolled in with a strong windy force, but that just pushed the festivities inside the cozy tent, with see-through walls, which made it better for the string quartet and the opera that preceded the ceremony.
Veronica and Mike love the opera, so they asked some students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, one of the most acclaimed schools of opera in the nation, who they saw perform at The Dance Palace in Point Reyes Station, to perform a few of their favorite songs.
They also asked David Lomeli, who is an Adler Fellow and who has received a first prize of Placido Domingo’s Operalia award, to sing as well. They were absolutely thrilled and shocked when he happily agreed.
I haven’t been to an opera in over 10 years, so I am not an expert on the topic, but they were amazing.
Everything was amazing.
It was a small and beautifully intimate black tie affair. Black tie was required, because Veronica liked the idea of black ties and cow patties. And I like the idea too.
So loved ones, let this be a warning… if Arann and I do get married again, like we hope to do, because getting married is so much fun and we think couples should do it again every year… you too may be asked to wear black tie in a cow pasture on top of a hill… ’cause it sure makes for a pretty wedding and pretty photos to go with it.
One last very important detail about this love story… Veronica and Mike met on match.com. They are two more reasons why I am a believer in Online dating. Veronica and Mike’s fairy tale is definitely a fairy tale that tops anything Cinderella or Snow White can bring home from the bar.
So congratulations to Veronica and Mike. Keep dreaming big… what you create from your dreams is worth all the hard work, and luck is on your side.
-
Melissa and Kevin got married at Windrush Farm, a place very close to my heart.
It is the farm where… I fell in love with my husband, where I lived for a year and a half in a barn and learned how to milk a cow, collect eggs, and help sheep have their lambs, and where I photographed my very first wedding five years ago.
So it was really fun to photograph another wedding there, and to think about all that I have done and learned in the last five years. But one reason why I like photographing at Windrush Farm so much is because the light is amazing… both inside the house and outside of the house. And the secret to getting good wedding photographs is choosing a place with good light.
It helped that Melissa and Kevin had their ceremony at sunset. They made that decision to honor their Jewish traditions, but I like to think they made the decision to help out their photographer. Regardless of the reason, it was so much fun to photograph because the light was beautiful every direction I turned.
It also helped that the ceremony was in the middle of a pasture and that it was timed perfectly with the rising of a full moon. So the light, the moon, the people, the red tail hawk crying over our heads… they all were incredible…. and unfortunately so was the wind.
The wind was very, very cold. But everyone huddled together as best as they could, and afterward we all had a greater appreciation for the big ball of fire in the sky and for the tall silver poles of fire that were on the patio and in the tent during the reception.
Congratulations, Melissa and Kevin. Good job picking such a great place and time of day to get married, and thanks for letting me document your beautiful big step forward.
-
A year ago, I photographed Sadie while she was in her mom’s belly, and I posted the photos here America’s Next Top Pregnant Model and here America’s Next Top Pregnant Model (Part 2: film.)
This weekend, I went back to Santa Cruz and photographed Sadie, outside of her mom’s belly, in the same house where we photographed last year. It is also the same house where she was born, the same house where she is learning to take her first steps, and the same house that she will be moving from next week… so it was a very significant and timely photo shoot.
Here is little Sadie, right before life really gets moving.
somewhere between a handshake and two kisses 
