Red Coats, Green Trees...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope this week finds you all doing well out there! So much to share as usual over here. To start, I moved into my brand new photography studio over the weekend and after much cleaning, organizing, hanging and decorating, it's ready for business! I will take pictures this week and post them for your viewing pleasure. It's going to be such a great place for creativity and commerce, I can tell!

In other business, I have finally finished the first shot in my Red Army mini-series. This series is a personal project that subtly shows the true power behind the man (or in this particular case, boy since his Mom kissed his cheek). More fun uniforms and striking men to follow!

I am doing a holiday portrait shoot this weekend for a couple and I decided to make custom boutonnieres to dress up their suits and give them some extra flair (because I'm all about the personal touches). And in the course of gathering materials, I found this amazing listing on Etsy for a huge lot of beautiful vintage corsages from VelvetFinch! Look at them all, you guys! So shiny and beautiful. I am all about accessorizing men in my photography with vintage and/or fresh flower boutonnieres and these are just great. (Too bad they are way out of my budget...)

And speaking of great photography (hehe), I have discovered yet more great vintage circus photography in color via The New Yorker that I just have to share. This work is by Sverre Braathen (an attorney by trade), who traveled with the circus in the 40's and 50's in his spare time, chronicling circus life. I think the colors and the people and his composition (especially that man flipping in mid-air without any blur), are on par with the greats. And of course, the subject matter is also intriguing. Follow the link for more images.

We're going to wrap up this week with some strange and disturbing art that I just have to share. As you know, I like taxidermy, I even own some. But I find the work of Les Deux Garçon completely disturbing and in many ways, wrong. Why? Because they put animal pieces together like they're toys and they put a dog head on a teddy bear body. That's why. However, I guess from an execution standpoint, it's beautiful. I could see it both ways. Here are some examples, what do you think, Faithful Readers?

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...

Lollipops and Clowns...

Hello Lovelies!

I hope you are doing well out there. I have a lot to share as usual. To start, I finally got my new business cards in for my photography business and I think they came out really well. I used a full bleed image on the front and very spare information on the back. I'm trying to keep it simple. What do you think?

And, I had more adventures in the studio this past weekend. I photographed two toddlers and while they were a handful and a half, I got some good shots and some really good experience. With most of the folks who model for me, I have an agreement where I will discount the sitting fee if they help me create pieces for my portfolio in addition to their shots. In this case, I shot these little guys in their normal clothes and then I put them in my costumes and shot a series of 4 photos you can see on my Flickr page. So much fun... Here's a teaser:

And speaking of babies, I went to a baby shower over the weekend and I put one of my clown cupcake toppers to good use as a present topper! I think it made the present... take a peek:

Also this past weekend, I got a chance to see the Shanghai Circus at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH. First of all, the venue itself is really fun and historic with old wooden floors and velvet curtains, it's beautiful. And the acrobats/performers?! Wow. I've never seen anything like it. I was blown away, literally. If you ever get a chance to see them perform, go.

And speaking of bright, colorful and inspiring things, have you seen the photo styling of Rebecca Thuss? First of all, her site is beautiful of course and apparently, there's nothing she can't do. She's a crafter, a photo stylist for Martha Stewart Living and Wedding among others, and she's a designer. Her photos are so bright and cheery, just go to the site and take a look, or take a gander at these:

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

The Circus has left town...

Hello Lovelies!

A lot to share as usual over here. First, as promised, I have listed the complete set of Cigar, Creeper & Dark pieces for one low price. Now you too can own all of the darkness at once...

I am getting ready to start a brand new photography project that I'm sure you will all enjoy thoroughly. I don't want to spoil it, but I'll give you some hints.

THIS:

PLUS THIS:

PLUS MAYBE THIS:

Yes. It's going to be epic.

I have found an artist who really sets the bar for diversified talent, and extreme talent at that. Igor-Alban Chevalier aka Black Frog can paint, draw, sculpt, he does character design, he blogs. All of his work is beautiful and really top-knotch. Look at these paintings and stuff, he's amazing.

I recently stumbled upon a site that's just chock-full of talented photographers from Holland. Most of the work is fashion and advertising related, but the portrait section is truly amazing. Some beautiful people beautifully photographed. The pieces below are photographed by Patrick Martens (the man) and Lone van Roosendaal (the woman). Lovely faces.

And let's wrap up with crazy news, because you all love it, and it's been awhile since we did it. Did you read about the 4 year old girl who was helping her mom bake? Well, everything was going swimmingly, a real mother-daughter bonding moment... until a piece of her hair got caught up in the mixer and was yanked out. But not before her face was slammed into the mixing bowl and her fingers were all tangled up in the mixer as well... She is thankfully okay. Who knew baking could be so dangerous? All along I thought the oven was the most dangerous part for kids...

But at least it makes her Halloween costume choice easier...

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Dark Lakes and Hot Winds...

Hello Lovelies!

A lot to share with you as always from the hot and steamy mill. First, here are some pics from the lake that I promised. I forgot my camera (Yikes!), so I borrowed a friend's and I just got these photos back yesterday.

That photo of the rusted car was the most interesting part of the weekend; we all went to an old dump full of glass bottles and metal parts and things. I found a full Pyrex juicer that was unbroken, and that metal can that I plan to paint something on eventually. I also found neat old brown bottles so I cleaned them up and I'm using them as candlesticks. It's amazing what people throw away Lovelies!

I have listed a ton of new photography in the shop for summer. Muscle cars, carnival rides and neon, perfect gifts for Dad or for yourself! Take a look at a couple below.

To wrap up business, I have completed the Cigar, Creeper & Dark Circus and Sideshow series finally and in the next week, I will put up a listing for the whole set as promised. One price, you own all 10!

I don't know about you Kiddies, but I love unique houses (I mean, I live in a mill), so when I found this Flickr set called Rich People Rooftops NYC, I fell in love. Sure, some would argue it's invasive to shoot a rooftop, but I disagree. Plus, these places are so beautiful, they need to be shared. It goes well with the Rooftop Houses article from Apartment Therapy. Love all of these.

Have you ever seen the work of Rimel Neffati? She does different things, but her self portraits are amazing. The makeup, the different photographic treatments, the selective focus, her face? I just truly love it all. Here are just a few examples.

I'm going to wrap it up with a TV show recommendation. I know, I've never done that before, but I felt this would be a fitting recommendation for you readers. If you haven't seen True Blood yet, you need to check it out. I was resistant at first because I thought it would be corny and the same old vampire thing. But the characters, the plots, the dialogue, are all fascinating. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Plus, this is the least annoying roll Anna Paquin has ever played.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...