It's Raining Pom-Poms...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all doing well out there! So much to share this week, as usual. To start, I shot an amazing engagement session last weekend and I wanted to share some of the finished shots with you. We shot out at an abandoned boys camp and braved bats, ticks and spiders to get these amazing shots. More can be seen on my Flickr page. Thank you to all the amazing people who helped and to Erik and Sarah for letting me play! If you're local to Maine and want a beautiful (and fun) session of your own, contact me!

I also just wrapped a shot for another client that I'll give you a hint about. Yeah, that's an apple with black glitter on it. What do you think we were shooting? Any idea? I should be posting those final images next week!

And, I have an amazing shoot coming up this weekend that's the biggest one I've ever done! We are shooting a Clue-inspired shoot in a great old building in the area, complete with butler, victim and of course, all the usual suspects. In fact, I am posting an image clue a day for the next week on my Twitter page. Gather all 7 clues and be the first person to name them all in order on my Facebook wall and you win the Clue print of your choice once I post them for sale in my shop. Make sense? 7 clues via Twitter, post them first in order on my Facebook wall next Monday, get a print. And for my blog followers, here is the first one I posted today! (That's the Colonel Mustard shirt getting dyed by yours truly... I have the orange thumbs to prove it!)

All these shoots have me trolling the Goodwill stores for pieces and I found a couple of items I had to buy for future shoots, or I may sell them. A vintage Pendleton men's shirt with a nice, bright plaid on it and I bright red wool men's vest. You never know what you'll find!

Have you heard of Christina Ung? She's an illustrator with a sort of James Jean style who makes slightly unsettling but always beautiful and delicate work. She ran a promo recently where she'd send you an art postcard signed if you sent her $1 shipping. Well, I did it because I loved the image and sure enough, I got it the other day! Take a look at her portfolio... good stuff.

Until next time... unpleasant dreams.

Last Kiddie Party...

Hello Lovelies~

How are you all doing this fine Monday? I have so much to share as usual. To start, I am finally done with the clown shot I told you about last week. A little back story, I found an amazing vintage clown suit for $7 at a junk shop and I immediately had the image below flash into my mind. The piece is entitled Last Kiddie Party and it depicts a clown who has tied his last balloon animal (also, I am almost positive clowns have glitter and confetti instead of brains). The response has been really good. Most people think it's both beautiful and unsettling, which is what I do best! You can see more shots HERE.

And on a more traditional note, I have posted another engagement shoot to my engagement album. Meet Tristan and Eleanor. This great couple was completely open to letting me style their entire shoot using some of their clothes and some vintage pieces to really take their look to a new level (this is what I love doing for people). We shot on location at Tristan's family lake house and the couple said these photos really captured who they are, but also made everything look stunningly beautiful. Mission accomplished! Email me if you'd like to book a shoot. More couples to follow...

I went junking last weekend with a couple of friends (that's looking for vintage things, to those not familiar with the term 'junking'), and we had so many laughs looking at peoples' old (and sometimes creepy) stuff. This Punch puppet took the prize for Most Creepy Item of the Day for sure. Whoa, boy. I wouldn't want that in my house. I think it would get up at night and bite me. It reminds me of Dead Silence and it's almost beckoning you to it... like, "Come here, and give me your soul." Ugh.

And speaking of junk, I found a great new site for you vintage/antique lovers out there: Bureau of Trade. Have you heard of it? Well, the site basically finds primo vintage items by category (and most of it is decidedly masculine since it's curated by a man) and then gives you the link so you can purchase or bid if you'd like. He scours Ebay, Craig's List, you name it and puts all the best on one page. I'm in heaven personally. Check out some of the goods up right now!

And let's wrap up with a music recommendation, shall we? I use Grooveshark regularly to compile playlists for work and the like and I recently followed a suggestion and fell in love: Uncle Skeleton's Sophisticuffs. Heard of them? Well, the Sophisticuffs album hasn't been released yet, but tracks have been released, including my favorite: Burgers RMX. Great stuff. I can't wait for the album. And that cover image? Amazingly vintage.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Red Invasion...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all doing well out there. Things are very busy here! So much to share. To start, as promised, I have uploaded all the edited shots from the recent engagement shoot I did for a fun couple (and their dog) who were really up for anything. (And yes, there was glitter all over the studio when we were done, but I think you'll agree, it was worth it!) There are a few of those shots below, and the rest are in my Flickr stream here.

And some of you may remember that I decided to do a Fun-A-Day Project the entire month of January. Fun-A-Day is a way to incorporate more art time in your life by doing a piece a day for an entire month. For my project, I decided to shoot one red thing per day using the Instagram app on my iPhone. I now have 30 shots done and printed I will be showing them this Friday for First Friday here in Portland at the SKG Gallery. Here are some of those, and the rest are here.

And speaking of red, I have just completed the third (out of four) shot in my Red Army Series. I love how these are coming out. And if you're new to this conversation, this series subtly depicts the true power behind the man, as well as showing some of the very young faces that could have fought in wars past when even teenagers were made to serve.

And speaking of a sort of classic, timeless look, I am loving illustrator Jonathan Bartlett's work lately. He has an almost surreal style that also features timeless fashion and character choices that elevate the strange themes to beautiful art. Take a look at some examples, great work. I especially love those rabbits in the venus fly traps.

Let's wrap up with a blog recommendation, shall we? Have you heard of Black and WTF? I've put some examples below, but you could get lost for hours in the pages of unusual, old black and white photos on this blog. Great stuff. Check it out.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Glittery Garland and Shimmery Ampersands...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all doing well out there in the world. I am doing very well over here! To start, I am diversifying into engagement photography and I shot an amazing couple over the weekend. I offer styling services with my engagement shoots so people can pick unique clothes that really compliment their look. Well, this couple was all for it! They looked adorable. I will post some shots from that next week, but here are some pictures of the things I made for their shoot.

Mini corsages are all the rage for boys this year. I made this one out of felt and put it on the girl!

I made this glittery ampersand to use as a prop and it looked really good under the lights.

I see cool garland everywhere and it's always astronomically expensive, so I made my own! Looks like a 1950's prom. I love it.

If you're local and want to book a shoot, give me a hollar on my Facebook wall. It's a ton of fun.

And, I found the most amazing thing in a recent junking escapade, Kiddies! I have been looking for bull horns for above our mantel for years but they're always too expensive or damaged or have an ugly mount etc... Well, imagine my delight when I came across the huge pair below, complete with hair and an inscription that says: "Tijuana, Mexico 1969" for $40! I love them and they're hanging above our couch now (the boar I mentioned months back is above the mantel). What do you think?

Speaking of vintage goodness, a friend recommended I check out Jena Ardell's vintage-inspired Polaroid work and I'm glad I did. The faded colors and fun angles look like many of the Polaroids you see from the 60's and 70's (back when they were throw-aways, not objets d'art). I especially enjoyed her Wanderlust series, some of which is below.

I found a great shop on Etsy recently that makes handmade pillows that look retro and like the type that my Grandma had on her couch. MillsDesignCo also carries vintage items, but it's really the pillows that reeled me in. My favorites are below, but she makes a ton of different styles. I would like about 14 for my couch.

And I'd like to wrap up with a movie recommendation. I'm not sure if you've heard of Roller Boogie, but if you haven't, you're going to want to check it out ASAP. It's from the 70's, it stars Linda Blair and Jim Bray (some random dude who roller skated a lot back in the day), there is a ton of ridiculousness, oh, and there's Linda, playing a flute and rocking a side ponytail (as shown below). It's hilarious and it's on Netflix instant play right now. Go watch!

In this scene, Linda is thinking "Wow, and I thought I'd stooped as low as I could doing The Exorcist."

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...