Monday, July 29, 2013

Rein it in...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope this Monday finds you well out there! Things have been so busy over here, I barely know what to do with myself and it's all good stuff! I'm very lucky. Let's get started, shall we? Of course we shall!

To start, I did two more shots in my big secret project this weekend. The first 5-7 shots in that series will be released in September and it's looking so good so far. I'm very happy with how it's coming along! Here is a teaser shot of one of the shoots from the weekend. It involved 7 models, 7 fittings and over 60 pieces of vintage WWII military uniform items courtesy of a local military museum. I worked with a ton of new faces, which is great because it keeps my work fresh. Thank you to all of the models, assistants and makeup/hair artists who helped with this big shoot! Take a look:


In addition to the secret project, I've begun a second series entitled Rein It In that's just a ton of fun. I like to do projects occasionally that are just fun, bright and crazy and this is one of them! The basic premise is as follows: Sure, you could own a dog or a cat and walk it on a leash. You could put a goldfish in a bowl and set it on your credenza. Parrot in a cage? Of course. But that's not going to cut the mustard with my Rein It In Series, folks. No. In my world, people have pet lobsters, cobras, rabbits, peacocks, even rocks and they like to take them for walks on the streets and in the neighborhoods of America. Why? Because normal is boring... The first two photographs in this series: Smoking Stanton & Rabbit Rita are available as fine art prints in the shop right now!



The female model from the shot above was a new face for me, so we also did some classic portraits for her portfolio and also to showcase my MUA's abilities. Here are a couple of those shots. So beautiful.


Have you heard of the French Paper Company, Lovelies? It's a paper/printing company out of Michigan that's been around for 6 generations. Despite the paper industry taking a real hit in recent years and many mills closing, French has managed to go strong due to their amazing marketing, their gift and designer/artist print offerings and their partnership with the CSA Image library. Their PopInk store is overflowing with good design, fun gifts and crazy... just the way I like it. Well, I decided to put in an order for their set of artist Old Maid game-style cards. What? That's right, they created a deck of faces using the CSA stock library and you have to match not two of the same cards together, that's boring, no. You have to match-maker match these cards; doctor with a nurse etc. The printing and the colors and thermography are breathtakingly bright and sharp. And then, icing on the cake, they sent along some paper samples... with metallic ink printed on them! (That's an expensive process that's usually reserved for actual money-making products... at least in the greeting card industry with which I'm familiar.) Take a look:



Until next time: unpleasant dreams!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Old Things & A Raccoon on a Leash...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope this week finds you all doing well out there! Things here have been so busy, I'm not blogging until Thursday! I have a ton to share as usual.

To start, I have a ton of photo shoots coming up that I can't wait to share with you. Client work, personal projects. It's turned into a very busy summer. Over the weekend, I was invited to a "Man Camp Carnival." What is that? Oh, it's a thing put on by an awesome friend of mine complete with a popcorn machine, cotton candy, fries and a ton of bouncy houses! He does it all just for fun and it was amazing. Here are some shots from that day. He even had temporary tattoos made!










I also recently went to the Brimfield Antique Show as I mentioned in my last post. I love going. The great finds, the people watching, the fair food, all add up to a very good time and this year was no exception. I saw a woman with a baby pet raccoon on a leash. That was an unexpected moment. And I found some things for STAG as well as myself, including some old board games (which I've never really collected, but now I might), great pieces of paper ephemera, suspenders, ties, coats, and even an old Boy Scout sleeping bag in fairly good condition. I've actually never seen one intact before, so I'll be offering that for sale to the BSA collectors out there. It has a great liner with Boy Scouts doing all sorts of camping things like building fires, pitching tents, tying knots... etc. Good stuff. Here are some pictures from the trip!



That shrunken head decal was pretty much amazing...



I found a complete 1949 game of CLUE for $1! Amazing.

Vintage wool men's bathing suit...
I found an amazing photo series recently that I wanted to share with you. Anthony Kurtz does some amazing work just in general, but his No Man's Job series is just stunning. The colors, the lighting the angles, all perfect. I really love it all. Take a look at a couple examples below and visit the link above to see more!




Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Monday, July 8, 2013

Cool Drinks, Warm Nights...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope this week finds you all doing well out there! I have been very well and so very busy with wonderful things I can't wait to share! To start, I have many things in the works, but I just finished a fun client project that I think you'll enjoy. These photos were for a Lyme's Disease Awareness website. The client wanted to convey a sense of strength and hope to her followers while also putting a fun twist on things. (Putting a fun twist on things is sort of my speciality, so of course, I was delighted to help!) This was also the first time I'd ever photographed 4 dogs at once. All that energy. But it was such fun. Take a look at the results. I think we did just fine, don't you?



I am getting ready to go to the Brimfield Antique Show this coming weekend and that means a ton of great new STAG things! So, despite the heat (it has been so warm up here, you guys), I listed some great new things to clean out the product queue a bit. Included in the latest product drop is: a novelty shrunken head(!!!), a great handmade lucite woodland decor piece with owls in it, a 1940's Bussman Brand lamp and a Mid-Century Modern trivet with some great fish on it. Take a look... and there's plenty more where that came from!





As I mentioned, it has been quite warm up here for Maine and I can't complain. We've had so much rain and that sun made for a beautiful 4th of July weekend! I spent it enjoying friends, walking on the beach, sipping cold beverages, putting my feet in the ocean, petting cute dogs, listening to some new records I've found and painting with glo sticks. Yeah, you heard me, painting with glo sticks. Once we found out they were non-toxic, my artsy friends and I decorated an entire driveway with glowing craziness and it was better than fireworks. Here was my weekend in pictures:









There is a great restaurant and independent movie house up here in Maine called the Frontier Room and it's my new favorite place. They have great food, but more appealing to me are the movies they show that you can't see anywhere else. Over the weekend I watched Blancanieves, a spin on Snow White involving bull fighting, silent film with text cards Charlie Chaplin styles and poison apples, dwarves, a wicked stepmother and more. I wasn't honestly expecting much, but I was blown away. So beautifully filmed and so noir. If you have a chance to see it, do. For me. Hahaha.

Plus, there's a gypsy wagon, and fireworks and also a cute dwarf...
Until next time: unpleasant dreams...