Witness to Happiness

This is what content looks like, in case you haven't seen it in awhile. The highlight of his whole trip, hands down, making all the work to get there totally worth it.

A chance to see San Francisco is worth it anyway, and now I get to be one of those people who walks around saying "San Francisco is such a great city!" since I have finally seen it. Pieces of it, at least. This photo will remain one of my favorite moments, and a reminder of what I love about photography: that chance to witness people's happiness over and over.

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Rules to Live By

A window in San Francisco promotes one of my life mottoes.


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Make it Happen, Maine!

I believe in Love.

I believe in Marriage.

I believe in Equal Rights.

I make my living as a photographer, which includes photographing weddings. I would love the opportunity to photograph a same sex marriage, and I'm hoping that after today I will be able to do that in Maine. I also hope to photograph a biker wedding and an Indian wedding, but those aren't items we as a people need to vote on.

If we all want to greatly impact the lives of our friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and more, then we need to get out and vote TODAY. TUESDAY NOV 3. It could prove to be life changing for all of us. Especially if it opens the doors to acceptance of those different than you.

Well said.

Places to vote in York and Cumberland County go here .

Support No on 1.

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Another Pretty Place

Pretty.

Maine is a pretty place to live. But I love finding new places with nice views, and luckily as a photographer I get chances to do that. I spent the past weekend in Pawley's Island, South Carolina. Unplugged from technology, my weekend consisted of my camera, a wedding, watching the shoreline, and talking for hours with good friends and strangers.


Not only was there no internet, but no keys for the doors. Many of the showers were outdoors. A hammock on one of the decks took turns calling out our names. The crazy rush I went through in the airports to make all my connections was erased by sitting in a rocking chair on the porch and listening to the surf with a cup of coffee in my hand. More than once I thought how similar this coast looked to Maine, and yet I felt like I was a world away. And with my camera I often feel like everywhere I photograph is just an extension of my own back yard. Another place to find pretty stuff.

Another gem to add to the 'Go Back There Someday' list.

South Carolina or Southern Maine?

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Time to Walk Away

Life as a photographer is not always glamorous, though it's ok if many of you out there want to think it is. But behind closed doors and after big shooting days, many of us photographers sit agonizing over how to get the next job and how to edit these images into things of beauty. Hours spent in front of computer monitors wrestling with the occasional lighting mishap, the technical glitch that halts all production, the endless stabs at our psyche when things don't go our way.


At times, these are the moments I get up and maybe flip laundry, take my vegie scraps out to the compost pile, or even get out of my pj's and into some real people clothes. Sometimes I turn to the internet for a distraction (not always the best choice). Other times, my camera and I head out to find pretty stuff (a very good choice). And lately I have added a new method of dealing. I simply walk away.



I walk away and grab a hula hoop. I walk away and get on the elliptical. I walk away and stretch, then go for a run. This breaks up my day and often helps my mind get out of the fog of frustration it has fallen into. Then I can either return fresh and keep going, or find a way to fix what wasn't working before the much needed break. I spend the rest of day feeling good and like I accomplished something.





This new method of coping has happened almost accidentally. It is my hope to participate in the TRI for a Cure in the summer of 2010 with some of my gal pals. Too many years of sitting in front of computer, combined with not being active enough have taken their toll. Meaning, I'm kind of out of shape. And honestly, this work requires a certain level of strength and endurance. A 10 hour wedding or a day in the desert on a film set is exhausting, but would be easier to handle with a little more muscle on the body. The TRI is the perfect motivator to make me find time to exercise, and a great way to manage some of the not so glamorous bumps in the land of photography.






Film Stills from a recent shoot I was on. More info coming soon....

Visit this guy's site for more info on his work
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The California I Saw

The blog has been sitting silent for a little while. This seems to be a common theme on many photo blogs, followed by apologies and often promises to do a better job updating. I'm not sure any apologies are needed. Sometimes life just happens and things get busy. I had hoped to update roughly once a week, but that doesn't always happen. And for the most part, that's ok.







What I have been doing is lots of photographing and some travel and general life busyness, all in the name of photo goodness. Not to mention it's FALL! The best time to be living in Northern New England. But I decided to leave my favorite place during my favorite time of year and spend a few days out west. Los Angeles, to be exact. While I was there I took a few photos...








I love that feeling of being in a new place. Seeing things for the first time makes my creative energies come alive and my photographic eye go into overdrive. I had been down some of these streets earlier this year, but still had that excitement of being in a new place. Several of these were taken on my morning walk to find coffee. Sitting and watching, while consuming the necessary caffeine doses, gave me a chance to take in what was going on around me and make some images of the California I saw.

I'm starting to believe that 4 days away is the answer to any lack of inspiration or motivation. We all hit those points, no matter what we do for work or with our lives. Disappearing for even a small amount of time is often just what we needed to get back on track /recharged / ready to start anew.

What happens to you when you go to new places?


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Pieces

of Janice and her personality....






She's fierce. And so much fun to photograph! There are many more where these came from and they will be gracing the blog soon, so keep your eyes peeled and your computer on. She is the beginning part of an ongoing project to photograph women. REAL women. Not glossed over glamazons, but the people we see and know and love everyday. All shapes, ages, beliefs, backgrounds, and personalities.

Beauty is everywhere, and we don't need to find it places where it's being force fed to us. We can all find it in our immediate lives, in our communities, at our favorite local hang outs, in our backyards. Photographing people lets me do that on a daily basis. I'm a lucky duck.

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Ever Changing Art

Somewhere out there is a sweet and tender hooligan...



who is making some great art work on Portland's walls.


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Summer Fish

Summer Love.

That's all. Nothing deep and meaningful to say. Just love this moment of my nephew's in his first summer of finally falling in love with the water. Do you remember feeling the same way?


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Avoid the Void

The Kane Family vacationing in Oqunquit, Maine turns into a photo shoot for me as well as a chance to see an old college friend.

I have some decisions to make. I have some editing to get done. There are some people I need to call and more marketing of myself to kick into gear.

I also have this fabulous pile of books around me to read. Produce to buy and chop and juice and eat. Fun to be had with friends and family both near and far. Not to mention all the photos I want to take!

Then there's the stuff to do on the house!

Summer seems to be slipping away.

Timmy busy at the beach.

As a Mainer, I (along with so many others) have always had this feeling that summer is our opportunity for a blast of fun and sun before the temperature drops, the leaves fall, and the snow flies. It's as if in my mind I know December will hit and I will hunker down. First, because I'm crazy and try to make many of my Christmas gifts, while creating some sort of color coded wrapping scheme that will include pieces of art as name tags. The cold doesn't phase me, because I have inside activities to entertain me. The image in my mind of the calendar year shows December on as a sort of gray void. This is not only because of the weather, but because in the past of working for someone else while maintaining a small photography business things in my photo world would be wrapped up by then. As in, weddings and family portraits done and everyone had their images and the phone rings less as we all move into the gray hibernation months. This is not always how it goes, but it seems to be how I think it will go. So, my mind sees a gray void coming my way as I start to think about the coming months.

Yesterday I went to a networking lunch meeting and realized (finally!) that I need to rid myself and my mind of that mentality. I am self-employed now and I need to make sure the work is steady as ever come January. This was not a scary realization, oddly enough. The groundwork is being set, and things are rolling along. And I thought to myself "I can't wait to be working in January!"

Though I have been working in photography for years, January 2009 marked my first month of my freelance career. I'm suddenly looking forward to January 2010 so I can see what a difference a year does make! This does not mean that I am ready for summer to end. In fact, just the opposite. There is still so much work to get done and just as much fun to be had. Lucky for me, there are times when those two things share the same camp. Working and photographing and having fun go hand in hand.

Now to get back to making some of those decisions...

Love this.

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