Night Portrait Sessions

These are a the beginnings of a series of night portraits.
Thank you to James and Kate for sitting...very still.
I guess an "insomnia post" is appropriate for night portraits.

Buildings and Mountains

I was watching Grey's Anatomy, something I said I would never do again...but I was watching. Well, the last song on the last show is Buildings and Mountains by Republic Tiger, a song I've been obsessed with ever since it downloaded into my KCRW Top Tunes Podcast a month ago. I have always loved good music and, as I get older, I have become very particular...er, snobbish. This song came through my iPod and had me grinning like an idiot on my walk to the car.

I post it here because it's the latest song that invokes a slide show of images in my head. The songs have been serving as the inspiration of and soundtrack for my imaginary photos. Soon, I will be posting real images with the song.

Anyway, Buildings and Mountains is so nice, being both ethereal and grounded. It just makes me want to stomp around. I hope you like it too.

Thursday, I went to see This American Life in a movie theatre.
(It was the most fun I've had at the movies, and I hope they do it again. I think the best part was at the end, while everyone was filing out, I ran into people I had met through other friends. As we enthusiastically greeted one another, I thought "You listen to This American Life," and filed it into the part of my brain that notes people I should get to know better.)

Friday, I had a shoot in Jersey.
(It's been awhile since I've driven up the Turnpike. Man, does Jersey have a lot of factories. Plus, in that particular area, when telling people about where things are...it's in suburban, not city terms. So, 'down the street' means hop into your car and drive down this windy road, under the bridge, and through the woods.)

Saturday, I had a shoot in Horsham.
(This shoot was for a dance recital for a beautiful local Philly dance company. I stood up for about a total of 5 hours, shooting from the back with a long lens. I'm sore all over. The sad thing is, I did a similar shoot for them in December, and I was fine. Maybe I had to stretch out my back once. But, now that I'm 5 months older, I was touching my toes after every piece. My birthday is next month.)

Monday, I will go back to an office.
(The photo I'm posting is a rainy night scene in Puerto Rico, which is where I ran away to at the end of last summer. I don't necessarily want to go back there, but the idea of running away was a fine one.)

Uhhh...

Yeah...I don't know if this was okay or not. I just happened to have a camera in my purse...and so I took it out, turned off the flash, and quietly photographed my choice for the Democratic nominee for Presidente de los Estados Unidos (no el or la on that one). Why? I had finished voting and was just so amazed by this machine! Being from California, I had only voted on paper...so this was a fun first vote in PA. Everything about it has been exciting. I'm not going to repeat any obvious points as to why it's been so great to live in Philadelphia, PA during a heated Democratic Primary. I am excited about the choices, like most people. I should say that I am not a staunch supporter of either candidate, but I understand the historical implications of their presence on my ballot, and I wanted a record of it. I'm an emotional shooter...and this picture was taken with pure glee:-)

I haven't been able to really play with my Nikon digitals. I take them on shoots, yes, but they're the expensive fancy things I can't throw in my purse and grab when I see something on my way to the post office.


So, when I get my random ideas for shots I want, I think in Pentax, black & white, and film. Recently, however, I've been thinking fancy, random thoughts, and my imagination calls for fancy digital.

Here are two from a series called Mirror Marry

(the model is my friend Mary:-)

Un Chico en Puerto Rico

Home

Los Angeles has become an opportunity that rarely comes.
It's home, and I love it from a distance. The last time I got there, I was the most homesick I had been since I was neck deep in a freshwater marsh in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. But, in Philadelphia, I'm not screaming "What am I doing here?!?" There was a purpose in Guanacaste too, but a marsh is a marsh, especially when you have to be in the middle of it. But, anyway, Los Angeles. I had missed it, and so, while I was there, I pocketed my Pentax KM and photographed it.




These are my friends.

music: Rufus Wainwright - In a Graveyard

Just taking a moment to reflect on a Saturday in Philadelphia. The heat has finally loosened its grip on us, and people are walking around happily...in pants. Windows are down and the gas doesn't have to work so hard to maintain motion and body temperature. The stairs to our apartment no longer lead to pseudo hell-fire as the temperature no longer climbs 5 degrees with each step up. As the city often clings together under losing sports teams, losing olympic bids, and climbing murder rates, we once again agreed that 117 is just way too hot.