follow your sun

what goes well with sunflowers?????

why, the lensBABY of course.....

had fun exploring them over the weekend

of course i couldn't ignore the gerbera - just loved how this one silky puff from inside a drying stamen caught on this petal

hope you enjoyed it too

out n about

can't quite recall what i did mid-week, so it couldn't have been visually memorable, but friday was a little better - seemed to have been all about kids and water - first had the YMCA camp kids' annual "river raft race" - i forgot what that actually translates to until i got there - saw the kids all lined up with their painted wooden blocks with a paper sail attached to a peg and their straws - basically they put these little boats in the pool and blow on the sails through a straw, racing from one side of the pool to the other - it definitely has potential, but i never seem to get any great reaction/moment...which was the case again this time round...

after that went to a trailer park - the management has been putting out a big slip n slide every friday in august for the kids to play on - pretty cool - think i liked this slide image best (some of the kids just walked through it jumping up and down - lame! but this girl got pretty into it

the image i really liked best was this one - pretty simple - just the kids lined up waiting their turn - but there's something about it - just has that kind of timeless/americana feel to it for me

weekend started with a free health screening fair for the uninsured - these things are tricky, cos most people really don't want to be identified in these scenarios - and visually, it's them filling out paperwork or talking to a doctor or having their finger pricked...so, a bit of a challenge...

made something semi-momentish of a woman at one of the stations, but it was pretty run-of-the-mill, so i was trying for something better

kind of liked this doctor as she peaked out to summon her next patient

but still, looking for something more...saw this father and his kids, his little boy leaning on him as they waited to see their next doc, so i approached him, introduced myself, asked if i could hang with them and make some pics - he says okay, so i try to get a nice moment between them..and when i go to get their id's he says - oh, i don't want my name in the paper - i'm seriously asking for id's before i shoot - i mean, why let me waste my time trying for something when you've now rendered it completely useless! not that it's any stellar frame, but i think it would have been a little better than what i had....i just don't understand - you're okay with having your faces in the paper but not your name? whatever

then, i headed down for a pre-season volleyball invitational - volleyball, what a challenge to shoot - can't believe it's already here again!

later that night it was off to the miss monroe county pageant - kind of like tuesday night, but with bigger people and more expensive outfits

the girl who won was a big shocker - we had a little bet going back at the office - and none of the girls we thought would be a sure thing won - i think the girl herself was pretty surprised - it really took her a second or two to react

as you can see, she was pretty happy

and once again, the pix i liked best of the night were of the offstage people - the same 2 little girls from tuesday night, ironically enough!

so, that was the rest of the week in my little world..thanx for lookin!

so, ahem, on to bigger and better (well, i hope at least) things

the fair being over, it's now on to the musical portion of our little summer story in Monroe County....

there is the annual bluegrass festival in Milan

these guys rocked!

like to try for something backstage, too - didn't make quite the "feel" of a photo that i'd hoped, but this is close...

i was a little restricted on how to shoot by the fact that they were pretty much standing right in front of a port-a-potty, and there's all sorts of campers and cars and other distractions around, but i did my best (and thank god they put some pretty heavy duty air freshener in those port-a-potties, cos i was basically crammed right up against it to get this shot!)

next day, went to look for a feature and stopped in at a working art space where i knew a couple women at least would be in there doing something - this woman is doing a reverse glass painting for an upcoming art show at the Labor History Museum - not sure how i feel about this, ethically, since i had to do some photoshop work to bring her out in that reflection without having blown out the painting to get her in there in the original exposure...i like it, but i know her exposure looks weird

on a different feature hunt, i came upon these kids sitting in the window of a building they were helping to gut and rehab - had been driving for a while - Monroe seems like a ghost town for features the last couple weeks for some reason - i'd turned a corner and just happened to see them in my rear view mirror and pulled straight over

then, on to jazz fest - wish i could have spent more time there, but i had an afternoon portrait and then an evening football game, so i could only really stay for one full set

this guy was an NFL player who started and ended his career with the Detroit Lions...now he's a funk and jazz bassist...played a lot of oldies/80's funk - he was cajoled into doing "the bird" for the crowd

who were very into them - lotsa dancin and hootin and hollerin

then football - more timberwolves

(no pix to post as of now)

back into work for the start of a calmer week - not much going on - but this is pageant week, beginnning with the Tiny, Little and Junior Miss Monroe County contests - so that was my night last night....

love to just stick backstage for these things, which i can get away with more in this than i will with the big Miss Monroe County pageant this Saturday

this was my favorite - almost looks like a dyptich, but it's all one frame - the break in the center is the curtain the 2 girls on the left were standing next to

this one, not sure if it works, but i like it - makes me think of a theme, like enter girl, exit woman - may try to make this one into a still life

old

just to catch up - realized i had all these pix to post from the fair (non-bunny&hortense related, that is), so i'll just get that out of the way right here and now

the end of the fair baseball tournament

concert

demolition derby

always like the spectators best in these scenarios

tractor pull

and the thick black cloud of exhaust that wafted our way after each passing truck.....mmmm....exhaust fumes!!!!

and one from even before that - portrait for a story about a new kind of therapy to adress ADD

her room is blue...don't think it was having quite the intended calming effect, not yet at least, but still, kinda liked how this turned out, though it's very simple

bunny and hortense went to the fair

they did indeed - they went to the midway and the country music concert, the demolition derby, the animal barns, and they even got the corn dog and lemon shake-up! people here just might think we've lost it! but i had a great time and some good stories came of it too....in short, a good time was had by all, and bunny lost nary a bean in the process!

first, i took them out to the big concert monday night....i got up front and started making some features for the daily - this guy jumped in front of the camera and he's all "hey do you remember who i am?" i recognized him, but couldn't recall his name...i was like, "high school sports?" turns out he was a big sports guy - all region in a couple sports from one of our schools - so he says, "hey, if you need an assistant, i'll help" and i was like, well, hey, i just might need an assistant with bunny and hortense...so i said, "okay, but are you sure, cos you really don't know what you might be signing up for" and he says - no, whatever, i'll do anything.....all rightey then!

so, i shoot what i need for the daily of the event, then i turn around and say, okay, ready to help out? here, you take this and have your sister hold this and just, ya know, forget me and enjoy the show - so here's this big athlete guy and his (very cool i might add) sister, totally getting into it...at one point, his friend offers hortense a drink out of his cup (which i suspect was probably about 10% pepsi, and 90% something a little less soft), while he pretends to make hortense drink and they all started cracking up......very very cool

after that we went to the midway, cos i wanted to put them in the scene of the fair rides now with all the colors and evening lights on - waited for a crowd of people to walk by - i think they may have thought i was a bit of a screwball

bryan and i had talked about meeting to team up on some shots - like them in the animal barns, eating, etc, cos it would help to have 2 people on that - otherwise every foto would look the same - them on the ground or sitting somewhere...so i held off on those the next day

but i did take them to the demolition derby - again, i shot a few heats worth of action for the daily, then i started thinking about how to get them into the event - i could take them behind the pit area, where all the cars are sitting there inbetween heats, but i kind of wanted them more in the scene, without getting into that visual rut of them looking at something - so, before the next heat, as the cars lined up to go into the arena, i asked the guy in the first car lined up if i could take a kind of weird picture on his car - he was like, sure why not, so i whip out bunny & hortense, position them on his car, try to keep them from falling over and make some frames...til i hear the flag guy saying - hey, we gotta start! - so, off they come and i thank him, and he says - maybe they'll be his good luck charms - and off he goes, and i shoot the heat, and holy crap - he WINS! (okay, just that heat, not the whole event of the night - i was kinda hoping he would at that point, but still!) so i caught up with him later as he and his crew were sledge hammering his even more beat up car into shape for the final heat, and he clapped me on the back and said how they really were good lucky after all!

how frickin funny is THAT?!!!!?!

next day, i met up with bryan....we went to the small animal barn and had bunny & hortense meet up with a rabbit FAR bigger than bunny - a flemish giant

we were sitting outside the barn, contemplating our next move when i noticed that there was an older man and his wife inside a vendor's tent that was filled with.....wait for it, wait for it......PUPPETS!

no way! we HAVE to go there!

so we did, and this guy got REALLY into making hortense talk!

after that, it was time for fair food - bryan had the great idea that we could just impale a corn dog into the ground for them to be appearing to eat......we did get a couple stares while shooting this one...i felt like i just wanted to carry around a sign - it'll all make sense after you see sunday's paper....really, we're not completely insane! but, ya know, who cares...it was fun...i think this may be my favorite shot- i just love the color - bryan says the derby is his favorite

so, that is that...wish i had the pdf to post up of the page - maybe i can add that in later, but all in all, it worked out, and i wrote a little story to go along as text.....and we did get a nice note from one woman saying how much she enjoyed it and suggesting that we do a children's book of the pair in famous monroe sites.....ha ha, funny she should mention that, i say, because..........

bunny & hortense make their debut

well, i've either stumbled upon something really cool or i have completely lost my mind!

for this year's fair foto page, bryan and i came up with the idea of taking some object - a stuffed animal maybe? - and photographing it at different spots in the fair...immediately i got so excited - my two old stuffed animals - one a bean filled bunny, the other a lamb hand-puppet - i have taken them everywhere through the years, and i've always wanted to make a kid's kind of picture book of their adventures, and they would be just PERFECT!!!!!

but Bunny is pretty much threadbare - her beans falling through several small holes - i barely move her anymore....so, if this was gonna work, the first thing i had to do was Bunny cpr...several hours later, i came up with fabric tape to patch her holes and a hand-sewn pleated apron to hide her see-through body....

now, Bunny and Hortense are ready for the fair!

so today i took them out to the big parade through town which kicks off the week-long fair....

i was pretty sure that people were going to think i was a complete nut for setting up these 2 old stuffed toys on the street and photographing them...i was all ready with some kind of explanation...but no one even gave me a look (that i noticed)

or maybe people here are just really polite...

i just found myself giggling as i shot Bunny and Hortense watching the parade (which had its own logistical issues - cos Hortense being a puppet, i had to find some means of making him upright - an empty paper towel roll did the trick - and Bunny just wanted to flop over, but Hortense's big arm helped her stay upright)...

so here is their first day in the spotlight...i think they did pretty well