All You Need

Beer A bigger paycheck An unbroken house A new car More lenses Cats that don’t shed Less stress A portrait studio More time A smaller to-do list A house cleaner Less laundry A personal trainer More Christmas lights on the house Self-cleaning litter boxes A stress-free job More closet space Bigger bathrooms A lower percentage of body fat Tiffany jewelry Enough frequent flyer miles to see all your out-of-state friends at least once a year Unlimited Amtrak passes A closer national park A bigger camera bag That also functions as a purse Colleagues who act as though they’ve actually graduated high school Good hair days More happy hours Fewer reasons for happy hours Studio lights And giant soft boxes to use them Printers that never require nozzle cleaning More photography magazines A longer torso And smaller boobs/hips A free yoga studio Less junk around the house Doors that actually shut Real people who answer phones instead of voice prompt hell Chocolate Simplicity not chaos…

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I heart Julius

I went tonight to see a film, Visual Acoustics, at Webster University. It’s about Julius Shulman, the father of modern architecture photography. It’s showing again at 7:30 tomorrow night (details here), and you should go see it if you can. It’s well worth more than the $6 it costs to get in. It’s as much about modern architecture as it is about photography, and it showcases some of the most visually stimulating (and stunning) homes in the world. Of course, I’m already a huge fan of modernism, so this film was eye candy to me. But I think you’ll be a fan, too, once you see it!

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Fog

Wahoooo! I shot today, AND I’m in the darkroom doing some editing. And it’s already 9:12. Which apparently as of late is rather late for me.

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Christmas Outtakes

I didn’t make it into the darkroom last night. I didn’t even come close. I fell asleep in the library with a photography magazine in my hands. Out by 9:30. This is getting really pathetic.
I wonder if I’m catching up on all the sleep I missed in two years of school. Or maybe it’s the weather and the fact that it’s dark by 2 p.m.
But I promised some images, so here are the outtakes from our Christmas card photo shoot. Keep in mind that for most of these, my “assistant” was dozing in an armchair behind me. I’m going to have to cut his salary or dock his pay or something. Because while he snoozed, this is what I was dealing with:
Everything ground to a halt here when Zoe decided that she wanted to get her camera and make her own pictures. Given her vantage point, her shots are mainly of M conked out in the chair behind me. Come to think of it, one of those might have been good on the Christmas card, too.
I was trying to adjust lighting here, and instructed Zo to close her eyes so she wouldn’t get flashed over and over again. Poor Hoot, though, has no eyelids and took it direct. Nice catchlights in Hoot’s eyes, though.

This last one isn’t so much an outtake as Zoe turning into the art director and demanding that Hoot have his own Christmas shot. I suppose Hoot with Rudolph is the equivalent of Zoe sitting on Santa’s lap.

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