Through a Shiny Lens...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all well out there. So much to tell you, I may not fit it all in. Or, it will be a big post. Big post? Okay.

First off, business stuff. The 12 Sales of Christmas are going splendidly! We're 4 sales in and there are more to come, so 'like' the page and play along!

Also, for you local followers, I am having a Holiday Portrait Session this Sunday with music and egg nog and vintage decorations to use as props! The details are below, so email if you want to reserve a slot, or pass it along!

I went home to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family and it was amazing. A lot of great food, a ton of laughs and I even got a shoot in, which I'll share with you shortly. Here are some pics and you can see the rest on my Flickr page here.

While I was out and about, I did some shopping and I picked up some records for my collection, including some pretty hard to find Martin Denny exotica albums that I've been searching for for awhile now. I've already listened to them each several times!

And speaking of music, I just picked up the She & Him Christmas album and I am loving it so far. I usually pick up a couple of new albums a year, usually vintage stuff because new Christmas music (post 70's) is lame for the most part. But, not this album and the cover is amazing. The photo? The colors? The font? Perfection.

And you may remember my post that mentioned the piece I bought by artist Derek Yaniger recently? Well, it arrived over the weekend and it's bigger and more beautiful than I imagined! It even smelled like permanent marker, so I know it's original! Take a look (the photo doesn't do it justice.)

With some vacation time, comes time to curl up with a good book and enjoy that time off. What have I been reading lately? you ask? I have been reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and I love it so far. A ton of people recommended it before a friend finally lent it to me. I won't spoil anything in case you plan to read it yourself, suffice it to say, you will be sucked right in. Let me know what you think if you've read it or plan to!

Well, that about does it for me, Lovelies.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Squid & Octopi, Oh My!

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all well out there. I have been busy, busy over here as usual. To start, I just did a really different portrait shoot for a contest that I entered. The contest asked you to push the envelope of traditional portraiture. I think I did it with these, don't you? The rest are on my Flickr stream here. And thank you to my little model for braving the seagulls for me. You'll be seeing more of her in my Christmas imagery.

What else? Oh! Two exciting things over at my shop. First of all, I'm doing some house cleaning and I have moved some of my older work, and all of my cards to a Soon to be Discontinued section and I have discounted those prices 50%! Great prints and cards at lower prices for your holiday shopping.

Secondly, I am having a 12 SALES OF CHRISTMAS promo for my Facebook fans only. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next month, I will feature an item or items and give you a promo code for 20% off until the next sale day. I started today and all lockets are on sale until Wednesday! Go like the page and get the deals.

I have some amazing new work I'll be posting very soon, but until then, I thought I'd share this great little painting I found recently and hung up in my office. It was $5 because the frame was loose! Totally worth it. I love the Wuthering Heights feel of those cliffs and that tree. Great stuff.

And on the cephalopod theme, my Sweetie had a birthday yesterday and I decided to make it really special. So, I booked a tattoo session for her and let her pick out any image she wanted. She happened to pick out The Creature From the Black Lagoon which her amazing tattoo artist then combined with a squid in a fight to the death. This tattoo is amazing and she's delighted. Check it out:

And then, keeping with the theme, Bridget, a very good friend of ours, artist and owner of Inventing Trees, decided to part with one of her favorite pieces so I could give it to my Sweetheart for her birthday. This piece is huge and vibrant and so well done. We are delighted to have it in our home and it already has a special place. Her work is amazing.

I will leave you with this amazing photo to make your week a little brighter; a wee octopus. Adorable, isn't it?

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

New Spaces... Old Clown Dolls

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all well out there this fine Monday. I have so much to share. First of all (and most excitingly), I have just signed a lease on a big, beautiful photo studio space and it's all mine! (I have been sharing space with another photographer for almost a year and I am going out on my own.) I already have my first shoots lined up and I expect many great things to show you in the coming months!

In other news, I have two new consignment partners here in Portland who will be carrying some of my prints and cards and the 2012 Venomous Vixens calendar! The first, is The Merchant Company which is a boutique specializing in artwork and a ton of other great things you can't live without. The second, is Ferdinand, a store that specializes in home decor. Both are great, both deserve your business and both support my work. Doesn't get any better than that!

I have finally posted all of the shots from the laser tag shoot I talked about last week for Trigger Combat Sports on my Flickr page. The client was delighted with them and I think they came out just great, go take a peek! (I never know what a client will want next, but I have yet to disappoint. Haha.)

Oh! And I have gotten some pretty cute little things that I want to share with you Folks. I think you'll appreciate them. First up, I had this little chartreuse deer made by the wonderful owner of VioletPie just for me! I can't say enough good things about both Jennifer's (the owner) work and how cute this little girl looks in real life. If you need cute, wee gifts to stuff stockings this holiday season... go to her, Lovelies.

And speaking of holiday, I just finished shooting our holiday card (I make one every year, it's a tradition) and one of the 'models' in the shot was this little guy! Isn't he cute? The vintage face? His wee clown body? I love him so. He makes such a great addition to my menagerie of cute office toys. But, he doesn't have a name... can you give him one?

Whew, well that about wraps up this week's post.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Lasers & Dandies...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all well out there! I have a lot brewing over here, but not much to show from my quarter yet, I'm afraid. I was out all weekend shooting everything from shots for a laser tag business, to little girls with Christmas trees and toys, to artistic shots involving squid and gas masks. Busy, busy. So, needless to say, there is much to come for your eyes. You'll just have to be patient with me. (Okay, here's one shot to whet your appetite, but only because you begged...)

I have found an amazing firm recently out of Portland, Oregon called OMFG Co., that literally lives up to their moniker. (I call them a "firm" because they do so many different things, I couldn't figure out what else to call them; branding, package and logo design, apparel, installations, store window displays, hey, they built their own bar, People.) And it's all impeccably done. Peruse the site and be amazed. Here's a taste:

In the course of my photography work, I have styled men a lot. From vintage clothes to modern looks, I've done it all and I love it. (I may even add men's styling to my primary list of services.) So, when I came across the Mr. Porter site, I was blown away. The photography is impeccable, the clothing is beautiful, and here's the best part male readers: they have a style director, a dressing guidebook and a magazine, all tailored (no pun intended) to making you look your best! I'm taking a ton of great ideas from this site back to my studio for my male models and clients for sure.

And I don't want to leave out the ladies, because I've also found The Femme Dandy site that hi-lights masculine looks for women. This blog runs the gamut from vintage imagery to modern looks and even way out there cross-dressing, but the photos are beautiful and the looks are really unique. Take a look at these lovely ladies dressed in mens' looks:

Let me wrap up this somewhat fashion-centric post with this hilarious vintage photo I found recently.

I'm not sure if Miss Tapeworm was an actual title, but I don't want to know how she earned it, Folks...)

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Happy All Hallow's Eve!

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all doing well out there. If you celebrate Halloween, I hope your costumes are ready, your little ones are bundled tight and your treats are good (because no one likes raisins, folks). Things have certainly been in the Halloween mood here in the Mill. I just listed 3 limited edition, signed and numbered mini photo books from the Scream Limousine series in the shop and boy are they cute. Hardbound in linen with a magnetic closure, these books contain 10 shots from the series including all of the head shots. Give yourself a gift this Halloween and snag one before they're gone!

Over the weekend, we did our annual tradition of baking Halloween cupcakes. With all the sprinkles we found, they came out great! I call these little beauties Spider Bits Cupcakes.

We also went to see a showing of Nosferatu at a local arts center. I'd seen it before, but this showing was accompanied by an original score and there was popcorn and people were dressed up. So, needless to say, it was a lot of fun. I would definitely recommend seeing it to anyone who likes old horror movies. There are some tense moments.

(One of those moments is NOT when Nosferatu carries his own coffin all over town, including on a boat...)

What else? Oh! I have found some wonderful new work I wanted to show you, Creepies. Richard Barnes is a photographer who has been photographing installations and clean-ups at museums of natural history for years; the workers, the animals wrapped in plastic. As someone who loves taxidermy, I am fascinated by his work, it has an otherworldly quality to it as people vacuum out the spaces and place and remove once-living things from their environs. Great work.

I also found some great vintage circus eye-candy courtesy of Flavorwire the other day. These rare shots were taken from The Circus Book: 1870 - 1950, which of course, I am now coveting. The colors and those faces and of course the costumes, are all inspiring. I may have to shoot some things along this line. But where to find the costumes?

Happy Halloween to you all!

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Scream Limousine...

Hello Lovelies!

Well, Halloween is almost upon us and in honor of my favorite holiday, I have just dropped a new series of photographs entitled Scream Limousine for your viewing pleasure. I had the opportunity to photograph a rare, classic Packard Caribbean that came standard with Halloween colors believe it or not! So what did I do? I filled it with monsters, of course. Next week, I will release a limited edition of 4 hard bound, mini photo books to the shop of the Scream Limousine series. They're going to go very fast, so let me know if you're interested. First come, first serve. Take a look! (The rest, plus candids are here.)

More exciting news, I recently had my work featured on Who Killed Bambi? an art site out of the UK that I've admire for some time. A lot of great artists and photographers are on there, so I was very flattered to be featured.

Because Halloween is my favorite holiday, I like to get a present for myself every year; something that's unique and creepy or even cute that I can use to decorate or enjoy the holiday in the future. Well, this year's purchase was a handmade shot glass from Corneyware on Etsy. His work is amazing and my little skeleton glass is quirky and one-of-a kind. The back has a beautiful bird painted on it. His line work is amazing. I can't wait to get it! Take a look:

And speaking of creepy cute, I just happened across the beautiful, irreverent work of Frieke Janssen. More specifically, her Smoking Kids series. This series has caused quite a stir as you can imagine, but of course, the kids weren't actually smoking. My favorite part of this series is how she makes the children look like Mark Ryden paintings; bright, soft, and perfect. I love her work.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...