grey

As a photo stylist, I work in a field that is incredibly detail oriented and really quite visually stimulating. Sometimes I just crave simplicity: an absence of color and detail. I occasionally find it after the set is cleared and the shoot is over, and it's just me packing up after everyone is done.

I looked at this shot I took with my phone the other day, and it made me just exhale deeply all over again.

Every week, Carmi over at the blog Written Inc., hosts an exercise called Thematic Photographic and invites everyone to join in. This week's theme ( No. 208) is called "Grey". Click on the links to find Carmi's and other photographers' shots on the theme.

where do you think best?

For the last two weeks in December I avoided as many responsibilities as possible. I guess I needed a break from all the details and the multi-tasking and the planning and the money worries that filled my brain last year. Freelance work was on hiatus, so I put my brain on hold and tried to relax, and by the last day of my mental holiday, I thoroughly relished the rare experience of spending an entire day in my pajamas.

Now it's mid January already, and instantaneously the g-forces of all that deferred responsibility have slammed me back into my seat as 2011 shifts into high gear. All at once I have a million things to do, projects to complete and deadlines to meet, and thankfully, my freelance work has picked up (be careful what you wish for!). With all this energy flying around, I need solitude to organize my thoughts and make plans, and this is where I do it best:

At 5:45 am, the best place to think and ruminate on the day ahead is in the shower. Hot water running over my sleepy noggin and down my back washes all the sleep dust from my head, and for a few wonderful minutes my brain can wander aimlessly from one crazy idea to the next.

And while I'm on the subject of crazy ideas, you may have noticed I've started a few new projects. 

I've designed a new header and reorganized this blog by adding a new feature:

the daily photo, my a one year commitment to shoot a photo a day will now be located on its own page, which can be viewed by clicking on the photo in the sidebar. 

There are more things coming in the next day or so, including a new etsy shop and blog, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, where do you do your best thinking?

wordless wednesday no. 24

knee deep in fairy shoes!

This Saturday, I'll be sharing a booth with Gretchen Boylan at the Alberta Art Hop, a fun street fair in the Alberta Arts District in NE Portland.

They'll be closing down Alberta street to traffic from 11 am to 6 pm, and filling it with all manner of artists and crafters and entertainment, from NE 11th to 30th Avenue.

I'll have lots of fairy couture, including little shoes like these, and new one of a kind fairy dresses.

And here's a little example of what Gretchen will be bringing:

So look for the fairy tent on the south side of Alberta Street, between 19th and 20th Avenues.

You won't miss us...we'll be the tent covered in pixie dust!

it's not as easy at it seems

The past few weeks, I wonder if I've died and gone to accessory hell.

I work as a photo stylist, and even though the average person would never know it, the recession has hit the advertising industry pretty hard. Advertisers have been reusing old photos, running fewer ads and scaling back costs, which means less work for the supporting industries like photographers, stylists and graphic designers. After a very long dry spell for freelance work, things seem to be finally picking up a little.

I've been hoping for work of any kind, not just the glamorous and fun stuff like this:

or this:

or even this:

Sometimes, this is the reality:

Socks. Hundreds of them. Days and days of them, punctuated by piles of hats and gloves, and then - then when I thought I would surely go out of my mind, I get to style SHOES!

So the next time you look at shoes or socks or hats or gloves in a catalog or on a website, think of me and those other anonymous stylists out there slaving away,

lacing all those shoes perfectly.

And just in case you're wondering what kind of shoes I prefer:

it's all just smoke and mirrors...

This morning I was planting some geraniums left over from a photo shoot a few days ago, and I came across this:

a lovely plant, but something wasn't quite right...

Oh, right...real plant not lush enough? No problem! Just add some flowers!

the real thing

Ever wonder why everything looks so much better in catalog photographs than in real life? What planet do these lush flowers and fluffy, soft beds and gorgeous fashions that fit perfectly on flawless models come from, anyway? And why the hell doesn't it look like that on me/in my house/in my yard???!
The answer is, it could. That is, it could if you're not disinclined to wear your clothes clamped in the back with pins and clothespins, gaffer's tape and wire...or if you don't mind sleeping in a bed with 3 or 4 layers of down, packing tape and foam blocks, or if you don't mind planting silk flowers in place of real ones in your garden.

My job as a photo stylist is pretty hard to describe to most people without a rather lengthy explanation. It's not very complicated, really, (and it's definitely not brain surgery) but it's one of those invisible professions designed to be behind the scenes...it's all about creating illusion with smoke and mirrors, so to speak.
Advertisers would probably sooner poke their eyes out with a sharp stick rather than let the general public know just how much adjusting, tweaking, fluffing, buffing, polishing, etc. it takes to make their products look appealing in a photograph.
Many art directors like to say they're not selling a product, they're selling a lifestyle.
Photo stylists sometimes specialize in specific areas. Some work strictly with models on fashion shoots, some do nothing but food. Others choose to work only on room sets or with soft goods. Some, like me, like to work on a little of everything. I mostly work on soft goods: apparel, bedding, towels, etc. Live models really aren't my thing, although I've been known to pinch hit when necessary. Personally, I prefer working with mannequins and inanimate objects, mostly because they don't complain if I accidentally stick them with a pin.

~ lifestyle ~

~ reality ~

Even a photo of a stack of neatly folded t-shirts is not entirely what it seems...

I could tell you more, but then I'd have to kill you...So next time you look at a Macy's, Mervyn's or Target ad, or a Pottery Barn catalog, or even a fashion spread in Vogue, remember to view it with a healthy dose of skepticism...and never say I didn't warn you.