It is National Doughnut Day: Meat on a Doughnut is Where It’s At!

I love the State Fair for many reasons. Here is one of them: The junk food. Anything can be fried and/ or served on a stick. Anything. And it is only in the spirit of the fair that you suspend … Continue reading 

Why it hurts us all

When I heard the Chicago Sun-Times had laid off their entire staff of photojournalists, I felt like I had been sacked in the gut. I felt insulted. I felt worried. It began with thoughts about my own livelihood and my ability to support my family in a field where I was just starting to try and establish myself.

It grew into a greater fear that the entire profession was being dealt a blow. We had all been sacked. We had all been given a message about our value.

It didn’t hurt my pride. It went deeper than that. From as far back as I can remember, photography was an art that suited me. It is this troublesome compulsion to freeze forever all the moments I fancy.

My memories of the moments I miss stay with me for so long, like the occasion my husband and I visited Mission Dolores.

We were touring the Basilica before Mass and people were entering for the service. I was so excited to be shooting all the gorgeous light and architecture inside the historic church and I was inside my own creative imagination, as we artists get.

I turned to see a woman holding a rosary in both her hands. Her eyes were clenched closed. She rapidly whispered a prayer while pulling the chain through her hands.

It clicked.

Just like that.

The shutter button in my mind froze an image of a woman communing with such a ferocity that it gave purpose to the beautiful building I had been photographing for an hour. She made everything perfect.

Out of respect for her privacy and adherence to a code of ethics that I am very proud of, I did not take the picture. It took hours before I stopped being mad at myself for being so virtuous.

You see, photojournalism is so much more than taking pictures. There are traditions, rules, ethics, and laws that create a framework from which we judge ourselves as professionals.

Dedication guides us into places many people would fear to go…,to seek out something special or something truthful or something beautiful. The industry is competitive, often unfair, sometimes cruel. We are driven by something within ourselves to play with time, light, and exposure to capture the Decisive Moment!

There is nothing more satisfying than the feeling you get when something special materializes.

I feel so proud to belong to the photographic community. Those of us hurt by the news of what happened at the Chicago Sun-Times aren’t just hurting for those individuals who lost their jobs and we aren’t just hurting for ourselves. This hurts everyone who loves and understands the power of pictures.

I feel that every time we devalue an aspect of the arts, we threaten all the arts. Who goes next?

If you don’t understand or share my belief, I urge your to discover Henri Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus, Sally Mann, William Eggleston, Dorothea Lange, Alfred Stieglitz, Annie Leibovitz, Lewis Hine, Walker Evans, Robert Capa and any of the other brilliant photojournalists who have made their impact on a long journalistic tradition.

Let’s not neglect one of the cornerstones of our society too long. We might find that all we have left are rags filled with bong-throwing celebrities and trash-talking “real” women and they might not be so entertaining then.

Stacey and Jenny

I was flattered to be asked to document the sweet friendship between two bohemian Americans who met in India while studying Ayurveda. Not many people can cause me to feel boring. This reunited duo had my inner goddess all revved up … Continue reading 

My Year in Pictures: 2012-2013

I have been going through my work from the past year in preparation for the SCNPA (South Carolina News Photographers Association) Pictures of the Year Contest and enjoying the exercise. Self-critique is important and it is always a good practice to have … Continue reading 

Mission San Francisco de Asis

Mission San Francisco de Asis

I am going to be posting a series of photos taken in California in December. I am starting with images from a morning spent touring Mission San Francisco de Asis, popularly called Mission Dolores. We toured it on our first morning in … Continue reading 

Photobooth

We walked in to Photobooth from Valencia Street. It was a simple gallery-type setting. The clean white walls and podiums were covered in photo art and retail. On display were plastic fish-eye cameras, cameras on keychains, refurbished Polaroid Land cameras. It was a candy store and I was the proverbial kid. I wanted to supermarket sweep the whole place.

I came to see the process and I was not disappointed. To our left, there was a live portrait session going. Straight ahead, a woman was finishing some plates. “We need music,” someone said. Cue music.

Michael Schindler is keeping alive a photographic process that dates somewhere from the 1850′s. He creates wet-collodian tintypes. The photo is created from his camera right onto an aluminum plate.

But, it is more than that.

Antiquated, dead, obsolete? You only have to walk inside the shop or, better yet, take a look at one of the tintypes to see why we still value this. You are looking at a singular moment, crystallized. One unique expression of yourself. Never to be duplicated. Living like a breath. Bathed in silver. Corporeal. Spectral.

“I realized right away, ‘Ah, this is what I’ve been looking for,’ ” Shindler, 40, says. “With a tintype, there is no negative, and you can’t reproduce the image. The plate gets changed by the light coming off the person. It’s direct physical evidence that the plate and the person were in the room together, like a thumbprint.”

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/article/Photobooth-shop-offers-tintype-Polaroid-shots-2439116.php#ixzz2HPJRRJ00

The tintype marked a time in history when photography was accessible to the working class. The previous Daguerreotype being affordable only to the wealthy. From the method to the storefront, Photobooth gives equitable access. Well done.

You Better Watch Out, You Better Not Cry: Pictures with Santa

Having your picture taken with Santa is a rite of passage.

You are never too young for Santa's lap but I think there might be a cut-off at some point...probably about fifteen-years before this was taken.

You are never too young for Santa’s lap but I think there might be a cut-off at some point…probably about fifteen-years before this was taken.

Not everyone has the same traditions, sure…

…and we don’t all celebrate the same holidays…

…and I’m not saying everyone should have to promote ideas of charity and unconditional love coming from a jolly old man with fur-trimmed boots…

…but I sure do!

Keeping this household as magical as possible is one of my maternal obligations. It goes sciatica, labor pain, Santa. In that order. And if you don’t believe that I get up every morning to walk the unicorn before I have tea with the gnomes in the garden, well then, I think you are boring. I still totally support your uniqueness so don’t be mad at me. Call me later.

Photos with Santa don’t always go well. They often end in tears. It is an idea ranking somewhere in the realm of birthday-party-clowns. A classic reminder of the distance between childhood and adulthood.

I have no hard data but I am giving us all a fifty-fifty chance that the event will go down like a mug of toasty hot chocolate, with all the warm fuzzies of a towheaded toddler in a sweater vest with a penguin on it.

The rest of you will just have to take comfort in the fact that your child has misgiving about sitting on a strange person’s lap and find a way to laugh about it. There are plenty of online galleries. There is even a book on the topic. Google it!

If you are a gambler, there are some fine local Santas in Columbia, SC!

Check out:

I know firsthand that Cynthia and Grookett are quite capable of creating a beautiful, tearless shot!

This is not a definitive list. Feel free to comment with your favorite.