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    I am trying to do a better job of slowing down and really looking when I take portraits: looking at lines, framing and as always… light.

    It is really convenient that I have a built-in model who can really benefit from having fun photos. Arann is always eager to have more photos for his band, The Green String Farm Band. And so when he had a video shoot at the Green String Farm, for the Press Democrat’s Butter and Egg Day promotion, I decided to come along with my Rolleiflex, just in case.

    And well, just-in-case, turned into a ‘just-can’t-stop’ obsession. As we were waiting for the film crew to arrive, I just started taking photos… and then I couldn’t stop. Everyone who was in the vicinity became my model, like it or not. Some people multiple times… and some people weren’t people at all.

    I was out of color film, and it had been awhile since I concentrated on black and white. For some reason I have been in love with color lately. And so when the fog started to roll in and the diffused the sun combined with the polka-dot and stripe sister duo below, I was really bummed not to have color film.

    But after seeing the negatives, I am happy I had to return to the simplicity of black and white film… no distractions, and no relying on color to make the photo… it has to be about the basics and then you can add color… so it’s a good thing I am practicing… lines, framing, light… repeat.

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    Happy Birthday Chicken Man… I hope your next decade is full of lots of golden egg laying feathered friends and no bobcats.

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    The honeymoon is over…  and it is back to work for Arann and the Green String Farm Band.

    They are getting serious about music and that means… more songs about chickens, a blog, a website, hot sauce, business cards, t-shirts, sweatshirts and very exciting secret musical instruments.

    Want to know what the secret musical instrument will be?

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    Well, I can’t give the secret musical instrument away here… but it is going to be awesome!

    Stay tuned to find out the secret very soon.

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    (Digital photos versus Rolleiflex photos once again. My conclusion between the two: for musical gigs, they both have their benefits.)

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    I always pictured I would be swimming in warm water… with a snorkle mask if I ever went on a honeymoon. But when we compared the costs of flying somewhere warm with driving to a free cabin in Tahoe… I traded the snorkle for my very own snowboarding boots… and it was heaven.

    No computers, no cell phones, no one we knew… only snow, a cabin, a fireplace, rummikube and the two of us. It was all we needed to recharge our batteries before jumping back into life as a married couple… oh and don’t forget the putt-putt…

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    It took me awhile… but I am back and so is the Rollei.

    I have been completely swamped for the past three months… my brain has been divided in so many directions and I haven’t had time for anything other than work and planning for the wedding celebration Arann and I had with some of our closest friends and family over the weekend. The official/legal marriage is yet to come, but we wanted to at least celebrate with some of our dearest loved ones. We are going to legally get married in a state where everyone is allowed to marry, and now we are excited to add two more states to the list of options… Vermont and Iowa…. yay for the little states.

    And now back to the celebrating with the people we love….

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    The weekend was so wonderful… and I did not take a single photo…. until Sunday. Then I dusted off the Rollei that has been neglected for months and started documenting the after party of the after party. And nothing says “party” like dental floss and tecate.

    I was in love with the colors and the sunshine and my friends so I couldn’t help but take their photos…. again and again and again.

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    These beautiful people are my Montana friends. The baby, Margot, and the mom, Nici, were here just over a year ago and their portrait on the beach was one of the first portraits I did with my Rollei. It was love at first sight (of the Rollei negatives) then, and after picking up the scans from the lab this time, one year later, it is clear that the Rollei has stolen my heart yet again.

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    I am not complaining that I am busy… because I feel super lucky that I am busy, but I have been photographing so much that every time I sit at the computer, I have 10 different programs processing files that I haven’t even been able to update my blog… which is frustrating because I have lots to share.

    I am working on a new project for a company called InsideTrack. They provide free coaching to university students, as they transition between high school and college. InsideTrack is putting together a new website because they don’t want to use stock photographs anymore, so they hired me… yay yay yay.

    First they sent me to Portland, Oregon to photograph the coaches, then to Monterey to photograph students, and I am going to SF tomorrow to photograph more coaches and staff, and then to Flagstaff, Arizona next week for more students…. so…. combine that with my other job documenting offices, and planning a wedding that is happening in 17 days… and I repeat… I am very very busy.

    So unfortunately, I don’t have much time tonight to catch up, but I wanted to at least post something.

    Here are the coaches in Portland. I guess it isn’t surprising that people, who coach college students for a living, are all very easy to talk to and fun to hang out with, but it is a nice bonus for me because it makes my job so much easier and more enjoyable.

    Portland looked nice, from the very small glimpse I had of it. But my biggest regret is that I didn’t take a photo of the best doughnut I have ever had in my life. If you ever have a chance to go to Portland… go to Voodoo Doughnuts… so so so good. I brought Arann home a maple bacon doughnut with two long strips of bacon on top… he is in love.

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    And below are the students I followed around in Monterey at California State University Monterey Bay. Of course they were all super fun and easy to photograph too. But you can’t really be a grumpy student when your campus is on one of the most gorgeous coastlines, and when surfing is one of the classes you can take… and when your mascot is the otter, which happens to be one of my favorite animals on the planet. I definitely would have rather been an energetic and playful otter than a wrinkled old bulldog (sorry, Lindsay, that is blasphemy I know.)

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    So that’s it for now… more to come soon.


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    For the past month, I have been driving back and forth, and back and forth, from the country to the city for this office project I am working on.

    And because I often work with MALT (the Marin Agricultural Land Trust,) and they love to have photos of green hills for their annual reports… I have been trying to take the back-roads home, which has been nice because not only do I get to avoid the traffic, but I also get to build my 2009 library of green hill photos.

    Here is my next installation of parallels between the two worlds that are not so far apart.

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    The Phoenix held their long awaited Guitar Gala last night. The primary focus of the night was the auction of approximately 20 guitars (donated by the Gibson Foundation), each designed and customized by local and nationally recognized visual artists.

    100% of the proceeds from the Guitar Gala will be dedicated to supporting the free-of-charge after-school music, theater and arts programs for at-risk youth of the North Bay – as well as to help preserve the historic Phoenix Theater, which has served as an important performing arts venue for over 100 years – hosting a diverse group of artists ranging from Enrico Caruso to Louis Armstrong, from Carlos Santana, Sublime, and Metallica to Green Day and Hilary Duff.

    To read more about the Phoenix click here: http://www.thephoenixtheater.com/

    For my contribution to the event, I volunteered the Photo Booth that Arann and I created, which has appeared on the blog several times before. But little did I know I was actually setting up a kissing booth.

    Every time I have set up the booth in the past, I find at least one or two photos of love birds kissing for the camera… but last night was a record. I don’t know if just being in the youthful Phoenix building was the secret love potion, but people were definitely happy and in love at The Phoenix Guitar Gala.

    And hopefully all that love helped The Phoenix reached their monetary goal, so they can continue to pass the love on to our North Bay youth.

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    If you took your photo in the Photo Booth… click the link below to find your photographs:

    http://paigegreenphotography.smugmug.com/Events

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