the fair

in

i had the opportunity to photograph at a county fair in upstate new york a few weeks ago and the experience is one that remains in my heart. the warmth, the openness, the trust, the gentle reciprocation. photography is not a one way street - particularly with portraits.

Boy with Spiderman Inflatable | 2014 Columbia County Fair

a portrait takes a certain kind of exchange - sometimes it's a lingering exchange, at other times like the one above, it occurs in a flash. i liked the connection here and the clean simple background of the tent fabric along with the little ruffle bits off to the right. here are three others i felt were successful.

in one breath ...

In writing my newsletter this month i see how in a blink of an eye we've shifted seasons and a realization that it's been some time since i've shared anything here (my blog) or there (newsletter) or anywhere (pick your social media poison); in lieu of repeating my words in the newsletter, it's been a time to step back and take a breath. to withdraw and immerse. to reassess and shift; but, as time marches onward, here we are, one month later.

Girl with Sheep, 2014 | Columbia County Fair, NY

While stepping away for an extended time can be nourishing, for me, it can also prove a little tricky on reentry with so many rich experiences, where does one begin. How do I restart the momentum. With what?

I've chosen to begin where i left off ... the end of the beginning in every way which is how this photograph makes me feel - a beautiful longing, a deep sigh, a reverent love, a need to make photographs so filled with emotion, they linger on.

lifestyle photographs in color

in

last year at this time i spent a week in Albuquerque photographing lifestyle images for a client's website with a shot list that spanned sports (tennis/golf), entertaining, cooking, food shopping, manicures, restaurants, church, four doggies, writing, home vignettes and portraits. it was an experience that brought me into the world of another and i feel helped me create a strong portfolio of photographs that reflect her personality and spirit.

inspire by michelle collage concept for homepage

inspire by michelle collage concept for homepage

the website is inspirebymichelle.com and was created by fladdap, inc. the company i'm part of with my husband.

as photographs can tell the story in ways no words or graphic illustrations can, custom photography for professionals, lifestyle writers, fitness and healthy living coaches, hair stylists, makeup artists and others who's service can be told with a story of photographs has become a growing part of our web design business.

the chase

in

an evening at that time when a warm sun is starting to fall with a neighbor spending time with her daughter and grandson in the backyard. a mama who soaks up each moment as if it were stolen from the future - here, chasing the boy around the yard. something that appears mundane on the surface, yet one that's filled with divine magnificence.

ethan | august, 2014

it is pictures like these - the ones that are so much a part of our day to day -  that fill me with reverence. while i admire photographs where the lighting, the clothing and the environment are pulled together in some near form of perfection to convey a mood and/or a lifestyle, i'd take one of these over those any day of the week for they are ones i feel. and they're the ones over time imprinted on our memory.

a day of life - m&d

in

in response to questions i often am asked about "day of life" sessions, i thought i'd share my notes and selected photographs from a recent session.

a day of life documentary is a story of photographs that speak to a particular time and place of one's life. while tailored to the distinct elements of each client, day of life sessions are generally set up in a way to include the activities and going's on of the day-to-day at home and in a nearby location - a park, a path, a playground - with the session lasting from a few hours at one time, to a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the early evening. and while my role is to discreetly  photograph moments and emotions as they naturally occur, i interact here and there, particularly to weave in portraits in ways that feel effortless and natural.

morgan | august, 2014

morgan | august, 2014

day of life - m&d

i prefer to meet before the session - particularly for families with little ones and pets - so they know who i am and i have the chance to observe their mannerisms and expressions. so for this session, i came by in the late morning before nap time to meet little girl and talk with mom. i was warmly welcomed by jake - a part st bernard part great dane gentle lamb that was most definitely the largest dog i've ever laid eyes on!

as we were talking, i learned that this is the last month these two will be together all day long as mom took two years off to be at home and will be returning to college in the fall and to work after graduation while little girl will be in daycare. as we were talking, she mentioned:

"it's kind of bittersweet...while i'm excited and ready for what's next, it's hard to process that two years have gone by and we only have a month left together."

it was this quote which framed it all and inspired the story i wanted to photograph - the longing to be at home among toys and tot mixed with the pull to return to the world of learning and working ... the illusion of an endless childhood and the need to linger on in each moment left.

this translated to photographing in two locations. at home - outside on the deck which overlooked a lovely pond - with little girl playing with toys, then running down to the dock to be on the boat - then a short ride to the woods nearby for a walk on the path through the trees in golden ethereal light, throwing stones in the water and climbing on rocks, and ending with lovely little portraits.

while i photographed a little during our pre-session chat to get a feeling of things, it was high noon and mid-summer which was too harsh of a light. by early evening though, it was sparkling and golden.

while i'm showing the images sequentially, most day of life sessions are finished in a book.

day of life sessions offer an experience of art and creativity and a time to just be with those you love and enjoy. it is a little printed memory of time that will be enjoyed for years to come.

interested? i hope so as these are my favorite sessions to create and  i think you'll find them surprisingly obtainable. contact me for details.

at the seashore

in

how is it that three months can pass in what feels like one breath....i always shake my head and sigh at this time of year. realizing how easily i shrug off each day early on in june and into the high season of july - days that seem to linger on into the next that forge an attitude of "i'll get to the beach next week" until mid-august arrives and i find myself in a near panic of holy shit - it's almost over. maybe this is the year i'll finally awaken to the wisdom of taking in each day. and maybe next year i'll be a bit more assertive in marketing the love i have for beach documentary portraits.

quinn | august, 2013

quinn | august, 2013

be happy

in

i've been spending a lot of time going through my portfolio...and came across this little lineup of tiny dancers taken last year at the beginning of summer. all the little girls lined up for a bit of light makeup. i'd always liked the arrangement - the rhythm of all those little faces in various poses, the mom on the right anchoring things by looking across to the other side, the dancer on the far left gazing back over the scene of girls.

dancers | june, 2013

yes, all the little legs, and feet and hands and faces and stories going on here and only one looking right at me. but what i didn't see until the other day was the irony of that t shirt - be happy - within a row of slightly bored, anxiously patient faces.

wishing you all a "be happy" second to last week of summer.

lemonade

in

of late, life's felt like one big punch in the face - another in the gut - then a whallop over the head for good measure. what most people might experience over a longer stretch of time has landed all at once: a reduced income, a home situation nearing the finality of clarification, and a car totaled by a driver who was on their phone and of course, it was the five year old car with less than 20,000 miles on it, not the car that's in the shop again with 90,000 miles on it. all this in the middle of summer - the time of year i long for. a time when i'm usually out and about -  not inside hiding my eyes and crying finally opening them for a few days of blessed ocean peace only to crash into the next wave.

morgan | 2014

morgan | 2014

about a month ago, the day of the freakish tornado, one of the larger branches on a tree next to our house sort of cascaded off and remained nestled/stuck inside the other wild branches. this was a tree that was full and bushy and filled with little birds. it offered a sense of privacy and enclosure and felt enchanted - like a little part of the woods in our back yard. that was until the branch was stuck and the city came out to cut the branches out. 

what i was not prepared for, was the hack job that ensued  - one that left a beauty of a tree looking ravaged and scarred and dangerously lopsided. so when it rained heavily a few days ago and the leaves got wet, the tree had not choice but to let go of the other half of it's branches ....which also took out the entire fence line on our yard. no more privacy or shelter or woods in back yard. the hold left behind in the tree now only means more than likely the city will now cut it down.

at first i laughed. actually had a rather good laugh - and then that familiar feeling of despair descended; particularly when i looked at the tree realizing i felt how it looked - torn apart, opened up, severed. it hasn't helped that all the little birds that used to live inside the tree have been gathering on the tilted fence looking up - like wtf happened here? where's our little place to play. more than anything else, i feel really exposed; an emotion that can quickly descend to shame if permitted access.

this time around though, instead of hiding, i'm seeing there's a different route one can take which is the point:

life isn't so much what happens to me, to you or to any of us. it's what we do with it.

right now, at this moment, i'm considering options and alternatives - a different head space that feels a little more peaceful. while i believe that tears are there for a reason (and sometimes i need to cry them all out), while i may not always like the lemons life throws my way, i do have a choice with what to do with them. and today, i can add a little sugar to sweeten and a little water to lighten.

c+m wedding | herb lyceum in groton, ma

An architect with a creative soul (the bride) + a professor of English specializing in Irish Theater (the groom); a couple who chose the words "playful, magical, intimate moments and spaces" to describe how they wanted their day to feel and provided the inspiration for the photographs. This is the story of their wedding held at the Herb Lyceum at Gilson's - a day that began with hazy sunshine & turned into one of warm summer rain. While no couple wishes for rain at their wedding let alone one being held outdoors, this couple chose to go with it. While day of wedding coverage spanned getting ready through the reception with one hundred photographs custom designed and printed in a book, here are those which tell their story.

lifestyle session in boston

in

I recently spent a day with a client and good friend who'd brought me to her home in Albuquerque last summer for a week long lifestyle/documentary session, as she was in Boston with her new man - the very one she was introduced to right after I'd left last summer.

We planned a day that took us from the waterfront near the Aquarium, the North End, the water feature at Rose Kennedy Greenway, the Esplanade, Boston Common & Quincy Market,

michelle & greg | july, 2014

I mention this as lifestyle because it was documenting her time here (as if she lived here) with a specific set of images in mind as the photographs will be used in two new websites we are creating for her, and as you'll see, most of them are in color. Though our time and path was more than i'd normally suggest for most sessions, we made the most of each area we were in. and the pictures tell the story - actually they tell a few stories....and that's all i'm saying.


ignite ~ july

in

on a day at an arcade with my nieces, i noticed these two kids with a rather large pile of tickets. considering each game turns out like maybe four of them, seeing a pile of them en mass all connected together was odd. even stranger was their casual contained excitement - like no big deal here. so, i moved a little closer and looked for the right angle to photograph them and the pile of tickets when they picked them up, placed them on their heads and posed for their father and grandfather (who were off to the right) taking an iphone picture for their mom. i was going to pass until the one kid turned to me and smiled.

arcade in louisville, ky | july, 2014

arcade in louisville, ky | july, 2014

while i'm mindful that the image quality is lacking (this is when film would have delivered a more exacting result), i like the story going on here, particularly as they left a strand of tickets coming out of the machine.

and so next in our little group which always leaves me inspired is January Skye, Melbourne photographer.

twelve portraits ~ july

in

so this was the day my camera literally crapped out after five years. the focus was shot (no pun intended). the timing wasn't so great as i was in boston with a client/friend who was visiting and we'd planned to spend the morning together photographing in various areas of the city. i mention this as my only means of focusing was manual, which doesn't present as much of an issue with a single adult or couple but for me, i've become a bit reliant on it for street work.

anyway - during our time together, we'd walked over to the Esplanade and as we were setting up for one image, i see saw a man lift up his dog and gently place him on top of a column over looking the water. it seemed funny and loving and strange and as i was there somewhat in place, with my camera, i was ready when he turned around and they both unknowingly posed. while i walked in closer to introduce myself and get another, he put his head down, quickly removed the dog and left.

man & dog, boston | 07/2014

while this was taken later in the morning, the heat and brightness of the early july sun is apparent for its starkly blinding and has in ways muddied the tones. i also think a different angle may have helped but i like the indicators here - the water, the steps, the text in behind the man. i like his casual stance and that both are looking right at me while the leash connects them together. so - it'll do for this month.

now it's onto the rest starting with Stacie Ann Smith, Denver, CO.

set of threes

three weeks ago i took this picture filled with the gifts of summer - the heat in the air tinged with the scent of the sea. the stretch of days laid out before. a time that clears the system in ways that's as simple and uncomplicated as the wonderment and joy children find in water sprinklers. but then it all shifted into a series of annoying pokes that gurgled and sputtered before erupting into a wild and unconstrained blow.

boston common | july, 2014

as i'm prone to a mercurial persuasion, i can fall into a hole of shadow mirrors ... that of sadness and futility, of complaints (all i don't have & don't get to do), of a longing to be like others who's lives are illuminated into a blissfully artful arrangement with ample opportunities to create and be inspired with beautiful soulful children.

it's a dangerous place to slide for complaints and comparisons are like a rip tide holding me hostage while tearing my being into shreds.

yet it is precisely at times like these that i discover what i'm made of.

it's easy to be inspired and create and go further when life is uncomplicated, when i'm surrounded by beautiful people, when my needs of health, income, and stability are met. but when life cracks at the seams and begins to fall apart, times when ideas are evasive and opportunities dry up that my mind can get tangled.

in talking to a close friend who's in a similar paradigm, i was asked to consider the micro mirroring the macro. that the world has gone mad and in ways, my connection to it is showing up the way it is.

i was also asked what i'm not noticing ... what opportunity this presents.

so i'll leave it at that for now, three weeks later.

we are the point

in

a narrative of a community

It's been said that the "Point is Salem's most diverse neighborhood, home to places and people that you won't find anywhere else. To outsiders, it's also one of the most mischaracterized and misunderstood."

When I moved to Salem in 2006, I heard bits and pieces of the Point neighborhood and in honesty, none of them were positive. Yet the times I walked through the area, I noticed children who played outside, people who talked to one another, and parents who seemed to engage with their children.

A few years ago, I met Claudia Parashniv who reached out to me to photograph her wedding. We quickly became friends and talked long and hard about our interests as artists. As she was just getting started with Salem Public Space Project, I've had the opportunity to document her work including (re)Framing Lafayette Park, Share a Chair and reImage a Lot. In between, I've spent my own time meeting residents and photographing, and what I've experienced is warmth and openness.

While the photographs below are sketches for a larger project Claudia and I are developing, they represent a greater narrative - the people's stories and experiences. While neighborhoods like the Point are vulnerable to gentrification, our real hope is to help preserve the richness and community that exists there today.

ignite - june

in

i've been keeping track of the photographs selected and shown within this group so far, and at midway, i think perhaps i've begun to get a little understanding of what i'm showing month to month. i've kind of lost my steam for the group shares and find the only way i can maintain enthusiasm and inspiration is to understand what i'm doing at the onset. that way, each month seems to add to a collection of the whole. so with this group, i started out rather flat and directionless. the first picture of the year in january of two views in a cafe sort of set the tone; but as i wasn't clear on that direction, february's now looks kind of odd. i think maybe in march i started to get clearer and since then, april and may begin to make sense. which brings me to june and this.

US District Court | Boston, 2014

this photograph was taken as a test shot during a client session in boston at the courthouse. (client is an attorney and i was commissioned to photograph portraits, headshots and documentary images for a website we're developing for her). the idea here was to photograph her coming out of the courthouse - thus, my test.

what i didn't plan on were the three men (presumably attorneys) who were beginning to exit at the moment i set my test shot. being that i was already there and in place, i photographed them as they exited.

while i love everything about the story here - the three poses, the expression of the man on the left along with the connection of those in the middle and right - the exposure was incorrect. in fact it was seriously over exposed. a hard image to photograph (high noon, clear, cloudless bright early summer day). so while i almost didn't show it for those reasons, it fits with the series i seem to have going.

with that & my long winded outline....i will send you onto one who's creativity and imagination is as beautiful as her name:  January Skye, Melbourne Photographer.

american summer

there is something about what is still the early parts of summer that fills me up with a hopeful inspiration - it is a looking forward to days at the beach to linger, to wander, to meander, to reflect. i think in part it has a lot to do with my upbringing. we were rather blessed to be able to spend a few weeks every summer at the jersey shore, and to this day, it is something i simply need to do. when i lived in seattle, i actually saved my pennies all year to be able to travel to nj in the summer - that's how deep the pull is. and while this year finds me a little busier and not as free to spend endless hours in the place i love, i have pictures to take me there. and this is one of those.

surfers, long beach island 2013

i fall into this photograph every time i see it. the pointed toe of the girl on the left, the string of the board that leads me to the next who leans into the third in profile - his board tilting to the last who stands in a pose that is moving forward. this photograph for me is at once moving and motionless. it's a frozen stolen quiet still of the film that plays in my mind - reels of memories and emotions. it takes me there every single time.

while i've yet to get this printed, matted and framed on the wall, it is one of my most favorite photographs from American Summer - a series I began a few years ago that i've pulled together into a book which is currently in production and will be available in the coming weeks through the Peabody Essex Museum and a few galleries.

 

faceless

in

And then there comes a time when some girls at around age 10 see themselves in comparison to others. As I was one of those girls who despised what I saw in the mirror, it's a hard photograph to take....knowing I've caught a moment in ways of self rejection. Here, this one didn't want her photograph taken at all and with a heavy heart, I did anyway - because for me, it told the story of that summer.

AMW | 2011

AMW | 2011

Why this works? Though it's taken fairly close in the camera frame, her position is an arc, a half circle - the remainder filled in by the position of the chairs in the background. I see soft figures in the background and know this is some kind of street event. i see her fingers pressed heavily onto her face, the bits of nail polish that remain on her fingers and the conviction of hiding.

a pivotal photograph

in

this is one that pointed the way forward. i remember the day - what i was seeing and what i wanted to photograph. what i felt. the moment i wanted to remember. the story i wanted to tell. i didn't understand how or even what i was after at the time, as up to this point (and into the next year), i'd fallen into "following" rather than creating from my own insides - mirroring what i saw others liked rather than what i liked. i was twisted in conflict - one part trying earnestly to be "successful" - to photograph in a way that landed clients, attention, acknowledgement, comments, likes; the other struggling to surface - to show another way, to create art.

i couldn't for the life of me feel things that i saw others creating and was fairly miserable in my attempts. i remember that feeling of dread and disappointment and confusion.

and then i photographed this.

a&k | 2009

a&k | 2009

...a complex composition formed by inverted parenthesis; in a way, it's two pictures in one connected by hands: the girl on the left sliding out of a dark tunnel draws my eye to her face, then her hand to her leg. but then i catch a hint of a person exiting on the right - part of an arm, a bit of leg. it's a tension of entering and exiting. of colliding shapes and yet, the emotion on the girls face tells the story of being a kid, of a playground. it is a first understanding of a decisive moment.

at the time, i had no idea really what all this meant...i just knew i liked it. and so did others. it was the beginning of a new path that i walked. guided by work that was great work; maybe not popular or trendy or commercial, but work i could feel in my heart admire.

so i revere this photograph. i understand its significance. and i honor its gift in gently pointing the way forward.

twelve portraits ~ june

in

sometimes i just see a face and i know there's a story and i was right with this portrait of one who's spiritual wanderlust has taken her across the globe and back again. as one of the most stylishly elegant and poised women i've ever met, i chose to take her portrait on the sofa with a teddy bear that she had fashioned out of her mother's mink coat. as she reveres animals, she could think of no finer way of paying tribute to the spirit that gave its life and the person who wore it in warmth. for this month, i give you cassandra.

cassandra | salem, 2014

cassandra | salem, 2014

next is the color filled lightness of Linsey Stuckey, Houston, TX.

Creating Community

Creating Community is a project created through a collaboration between Salem Academy Charter School and Cohen Hillel Academy and guided by Facing History and Ourselves which brings together eighth grade students from each school who embark on a journey together towards building community with each other and within their larger communities.

Class Excercise

For the 2013-2014 school year students investigated issues of identity and belonging as they pertain to themselves personally and to those who carried their stories on their journeys to America throughout history.  By studying three key moments in American history, students reflected on the tension between assimilation and acculturation and what different cultures and specifically new immigrants have personally struggled with on their journey towards becoming American.

Students  monthly at alternating schools to engage in a variety of learning through the use of film, literature, guided activities, presentations and discussion to gain a more nuanced understanding of the experiences of newcomers to America.

One of the key project goals was for students to interview an “immigrant” in the community and during an extended session in April, nine immigrants were invited to Salem Academy Charter School to share their stories on becoming an American with students. Participants were asked to bring an object of importance to them - one that told a story about their their immigrating experience or a keepsake that reminded them of their country or origin.

Utilizing the object as a starting point, students talked with participants and listened to their stories and experiences on becoming an American citizen. The interviews were recorded, and in the final two sessions, students composed an essay about each story.

Each participant was photographed with his or her object, and their portraits were presented alongside the essay written by the students.

North Shore Immigrants

North Shore Immigrants

The partnership between Salem Academy Charter School and Cohen Hillel Academy provided opportunities for students to begin to see that they are part of a shared enterprise and that learning about each other through story telling is a powerful tool towards creating community.

An exhibition of student essays pared with a portrait of each person interviewed will be on display at the Salem Visitors & Exhibition center June 12-30.