Simple delights.

At breakfast this morning, a few friends and I discussed our delight in rainy weather. I found it appropriate to post a photograph that I took in a small town along the Menomonee River earlier this fall. There is nothing more serene than the gentle sound of light rain on a quiet river.

Shot with my Mamiya 645E, Provia 100F Film

Duarte Amaral Netto

Filipa. 2007 | 46 x 60 cm

I stumbled upon Duarte Amaral Netto's work through Many, a collective blog project exhibiting fine photography found by fine photographers. His body of work titled, Do que nos lembramos quando nos lembramos de nos, speaks of lost and fading memories. Pieces of the photograph transfers are missing, symbolizing the way pieces of memories get lost in translation over time.

Na relva depois do almoço | 110 x 142 cm 

 

Anything but traditional...

Last night Laura Gorzek and I had the honor of running a photo booth at Heroes in the Night : Inside the Real Life Superhero book publishing benefit. It was our trial run at doing a nontraditional photo booth, and we succeeded! We raised money for the book publishing and had a great time doing so.

 Check out the rest of our photographs on Laura's flickr.

and so the fun begins...

Today was a long day, but it was one of those that flies by and helps you sleep through the night. The best part by far was starting a six week grant writing course at Alverno College. Grants have always intrigued and intimidated me, but I think it is time I learn how to tackle them, not only for my sake, but for the sake of Guildess.

Although this photograph was taken during the summer, 

it reminds me of how the sun felt on my face today.

North Star Camp, Summer 2009

Antique treasures

Over the summer I visited a rather large antique store in Duluth, Minnesota. I explored their collection for about an hour before finding the camera/photography section, which was full of beautiful, old expensive cameras including a few brownies. After drooling over these for quite some time, I decided to stop torturing myself and just walk away. To my surprise, I walked right into a table filled with boxes of old photographs. For those who know me, you can imagine my initial delight, and then contemplative sadness towards these photographs of memories and people who no longer exist. I tried imaging the stories behind each photograph and how the individuals in the photographs felt at the time they were taken. Before splurging to purchase all the photographs, I moved on to the next table where I found something even more lovely... a box full of stereographs! Oh how I have loved these treasures ever since I learned about them in a History of Photography class. Now, I could not pass up the opportunity to own a few of these since I have never seen them sold in any capacity other than on the internet. After a while of indecisiveness, I settled on the following three:

 

I feel connected to each of these for a different reason and love the fact that they are from 1897, 1902, and 1899.

 For more information on stereographs, visit: 

American Antiguarian Society

A Brief History of Stereographs and Stereoscopes

Riverwest ArtWalk 2010

Spent the better part of my day at the Riverwest ArtWalk! This annual art walk is organized by the Riverwest Artists Association as a way to introduce the public to the way artists live and work within a local community. My first stop was at the Jazz Gallery to pick up my ticket and a map. Then onto the Feed Shop space located next door where a friend of mine, Laci Coppins, was showing a small collection of her photographic works created while in residence at RedLine Milwaukee.

My favorite part of the day was touring a few artist's studio spaces. Gallery shows are lovely, as always, but there is something more exciting about being able to peak into the life of another artist and see in progress work strewn about their space. Of particular note was the Studio 731 gallery space. Here, there was a diverse collection of work from MFA grads of the UW-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts. Kristin Haas's studio was open to the public and I was quite impressed by the variety of work she is able to create within the context of her technique. An example of her work:

 You can check out more at her website.

In addition, Leah Schreiber was in the midst of a minimalist performance piece that gained the attention of a little girl who insisted on participating herself:

The Riverwest ArtWalk will be going on Sunday, as well, from 12-5pm. (I apologize for the quality of the photographs, they were taken with my cell phone).

nostalgic for spring

AmeriCorps 2010