Halloween Rain...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all doing well out there this week! As usual, a whole bunch to share over here. To start, I was recently hired to do a new baby/family shoot for a lovely group of people. We took a quilt out to a beautiful local park and started snapping away. I think we got some really good shots and what a fun time we all had! (Goodness, I think photographing babies is my new favorite thing to do.) Take a look:

And, this month is The Stapelia Company's 5th anniversary! Can you believe it?! I scarcely can, myself. So many wonderful projects and opportunities during that time and I'm busier than ever, which is so good. To celebrate Stapelia's birthday every year, I shoot, design and print Halloween cards for clients, friends & family. (I'm way too busy at the holidays to send out Christmas cards, and I like Halloween much more, so it's my way of connecting with the people in my life through my work in a personal way.) Well, this year's card went out last week and I believe most people have gotten it, so here it is! (Also now available as a fine art print on Society6.)

I went to a wedding this past weekend way up north for some very dear friends of mine. What a beautiful day we had! And all of the guests stayed overnight in these beautiful, modern cabins right on a lake. Perfect autumn experience all around. I don't take my camera along to events like these, even just to get candids, especially if they've hired a wedding photographer. I find I have more fun if people don't know I'm a photographer. Point is, I didn't get any pictures of the day, except this shot of the wedding bouquets I took with my phone. Now, imagine all of those beautiful colors and textures multiplied a hundredfold into a full-blown wedding and you'll have some idea of how wonderful it all was! I wish them both nothing but happy years ahead...

The rest of my weekend consisted of doing fun Fall things like listening to ghost stories at Portland's Victoria Mansion (an historic mansion in the area that's beautifully ornate and was gas-lit for this particular event, which made for a creepy good time) and carving pumpkins! This year, I wanted to try a new idea out which involved inserting a gourd inside a pumpkin like a skull and then making it look like the pumpkin was blowing open to reveal the skull inside! It was a lot of work, but a friend and I managed to do it after several false starts. (Tip: definitely get doubles of everything for mistakes... Hahaha.) Take a look! Whew. I love Fall so very much.

And this car was just parked in Portland right by those beautiful fall trees, so needless to say, I had to take a picture!

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Meteors, Beaches & Summer's Last Month...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope this Monday finds you all happy and well out there! Things here have been so busy and so good, I hardly know where to begin.

To start, I have been working away at my secret project and I shot piece #5 in that series this past weekend. It went so well and the shots look so good. I am very excited about how this project is moving along and I can't wait to unveil the first 5-7 pieces this Fall. I am truly grateful to have so many people who are just as excited to make great work as I am, it really shows. Here are some candids from last weekend's shoot! (Yes, I was juggling dogs, kids and a vintage car, but we made it work.) Take a look:

I am in love with this Edsel station wagon. Truly.

As I always say: The beauty is in the details with my work. These pennants added a vintage vacation vibe to my latest shot.

The boys in costume and ready to go! So fun...

I just did a huge clothing drop over at STAG as well. Some nice, summery shirts as well as some long-sleeved early Fall flannels and even some bow ties. It really ran the gamut this week! I even dropped a jacket from a South Carolina State Hospital. (What does that even mean? I don't know...) Stop by the shop for all of your vintage needs, Gentlemen! More to come very soon...

In an effort to enjoy summer here in Maine, I have limited my work days a bit so I can spend time with friends, outdoors or even at the beach. This weekend was the first beach day I've ever done! I've walked by the beach, I've rolled my pants up and waded in, I've sat in the sand, of course. But to swim in the ocean or lay out? Never. It was such fun. Just relaxing and enjoying the sun on my face. And then I visited my good friends and picked some vegetables from their garden, laughed and ended the night watching for the Perseids meteor shower with a cigar and a glass of scotch (I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm a 55 year old man trapped in a woman's body... hahaha). It was such a perfect weekend, you guys. The last month of summer is shaping up to be a very good one.

Then there was this mossy mandible in the woods. That sounds like a Nancy Drew novel...

Orb Spider.

Then we smoked cigars like old men...

Kitten in a sweatshirt (she kind of liked it)...

It's been awhile since I've featured another photographer on here, and a friend just introduced me to the work of Iain McKell and I was blown away. In particular, the work in his book The New Gypsies caught my eye and held it. Much of this series looks like a National Geographic spread from the 70's: editorial, kodachromatic with that soft, warm focus. Normally, work like this doesn't interest me. I like work that does more than capture a moment, I like when it creates one. But here, as you flip through, a moment has been created. A wild, ancient, egalitarian, nomadic, fringe culture moment has been created and it's beautiful. Take a look:

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Beach Blanket Brain-eating...

Hello Lovelies!

I hope this week finds you all doing well out there! My have I been busy lately. A ton of new work has been shot and is waiting for the editing part. But, I have finished the beauty queen project! I've decided to call it Beauty is the Beast on account of the cat-fighting. I did some normal shots too, but the fight ones really still make me laugh a lot. You can see all 8 final images here.

What else? Oh! I had a friend visiting over the weekend and I did a shoot for her that I am really, really excited about. She came up with a really original idea and I was able to pull it off, which is always nice. Here are some behind the scene candids of her getting into makeup and a sneak peek of her undead counterpart also getting into makeup (I don't want to spoil that AAAAAH! moment, so no face shots yet). I should be posting those shots next week!

And while my friend was visiting we all got together for a BBQ one night out in the garden. Our friends have a beautiful house and garden in the country and it was truly a great night. Here are some shots from that. I wanted to steal her Alice in Wonderland shoes... so cute.

One of my favorite blogs She Walks Softly (which is a constant source of great photos, artwork and miscellany to ogle), recently had a little post about the Milton Bradley Monster Old Maid card game. It's basically Old Maid featuring all of the Universal Monsters. And we're not talking some generic knock-off of Dracula spelled Drakula or anything, these cards have actual photos of the actors who played them, like Bela Lugosi. Yep, it's amazing alright. I immediately fell in love and decided to get a set which was I lucky enough to find on Ebay. I'll take some pics when I get them, the deck is in rough shape, but considering I got the entire game for $30 and replacement cards can cost that much apiece, I think I scored.

And speaking of vintage playing cards (I can't get enough of them, the art is just amazing), the online store Present & Correct is selling sets of Mixies Cards for framing and display. These are obviously repros of the 1956 cards, but who cares? As you can see below, that's 50's cartooning at its best, you guys. Unfortunately, it appears most of them have sold out as only the Cheerleader and Cop appear to be for sale. But, I bet you could find a deck on Ebay. I'm looking...

Let's wrap up with a movie recommendation, shall we? Of course we shall. So, I love the idea of the 1960's era beach movies and having recently done a beach blanket bingo-inspired shoot, I decided to check out one of those flicks and see what all the fuss was about. I watched Bikini Beach starring Anette Funicello, Frankie Avalon and a chick named Candy Johnson, whose dancing is ridiculous but apparently she had a whole side thing going on with records and whatnot. I was not disappointed, what a feast for the eyes if you love bright color and vintage! The plot and music really sucked, but the outfits and the cars were great. Oh, and there was a cameo by Lon Chaney who looked ancient and a cameo by a very young Stevie Wonder. Mind blowing, you guys. Check it out on a summery night and get into the beach zone!

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...