Together On The Land Tour 2011

This summer a friend of mine asked if I'd volunteer to take photos for an alternative housing tour that he was going to be involved with through the Valley Community Land Trust. First of all, I was flattered that he thought of me, and second of all, I was excited to combine my interest in alternative housing and architecture with my love for photography. It also seemed like a great way to expand my horizons in terms of being a freelance photographer (that sounds strange, is that what I am?). So, obviously, I agreed.

Photographing this tour presented a couple of challenges that I've looked at as ways for me to grow as a photographer. Something I've always struggled with is photographing people candidly enough so that they don't feel awkward. I've found that it's important to get everyone used to your presence (the sound of your shutter and your lens in their faces) early on in the event, but this is something I certainly haven't mastered. Another challenge was taking dynamic photos of sometimes static situations- oftentimes the group would be standing in a circle listening to one person talk, and it's hard to get more than a couple of dynamic shots out of that sort of situation. Also important is your positioning in relation to the subjects you're photographing, and I've learned that it's important to feel comfortable enough to move around to get shots from different angles. Again, something I haven't mastered...

I came out of the event feeling really excited to have been able to participate in it, but ultimately a little disappointed with my results. I got a few good shots, but I couldn't shy away from the feeling that I'd probably disappointed VCLT. The photos have been posted on their website here. It's been a few weeks since I've thought about them, but I finally checked the site to see if they were up, and they were. Glancing back through them now, I think I may have been too hard on myself initially. The photos got the job done, and there seems to be a decent variety in terms of the type of shots I captured.

If I could do it again, I'd convince myself to get more comfortable earlier on and to ignore the feeling that people are annoyed that I'm taking their photos. That's always been a huge issue with me, and I know it won't go away overnight, so all I can do is continue to work on it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

When I'm less sleepy, I'll come back to this entry and update it with what lenses I used. I'll also talk about a dinner I photographed for the Valley Alliance for Worker Cooperatives that my incredible roommate Rebekah put on, which was a much more challenging thing to photograph dynamically, and I'm still pretty disappointed in myself for the results I got. Sometimes I miss autofocus... but I still wouldn't change out my lenses for anything. More on that later. Also to come: ideas for series of photographs.

Remotivation

Well, it's been a while. So long that Blogger has totally changed the look of the site, and I'm not sure what I'm doing. This makes me feel old. I could also just be tired.

I need to motivate myself to start updating this, and to take my photography more seriously. I did a photoshoot for a friend a few weeks back, and it had me questioning how to value my own work and what to charge. This is something I'm still grappling with, but at a work party last night I talked to some fellow artists about how important it is to take yourself seriously. If you don't, no one else will. If you hesitate when asked how you'd like to be reimbursed for your work, that's not good. I'm thinking about this, and I have no idea how much to charge when asked to take photos for someone. I tend to devalue my own work, which is a problem. So, this is something I'm struggling with, and will continue to make attempts at figuring out. If you've got any ideas, please comment!

A few weeks ago I moved to Northampton, and I feel a lot more inspired here than I did in the woods of Sunderland. Granted, there are some beautiful fields and barns in Sunderland, which I do miss- but something about this little city gets my creative energy flowing. I've got a few ideas for photo series that I want to do, and I'm meeting more artists that are also helping to inspire me.

Here are a few pictures that I've taken recently.


This is Lyz, as are the next couple of shots.









My cat, wishing she could be out on the porch with. I like working with reflections lately, and I've been thinking a lot about them. To be continued, possibly...

I haven't updated this in so long, I have so many pictures I want to post.






Amelia and Simone- sisters. I'll never get sick of the way my lens adapter ring warps the background and edges of some of my photos.


Jess and Axel




The sky after the tornado warning-inducing storms we had in The Pioneer Valley the afternoon I moved into my apartment in Northampton turned everything yellow. I think I'll bake cookies today to fill this display case, it's looking lonely.

I suppose that's it for now. I have a strong desire to give this blog more direction, and possibly to make it into more of a website. I'm finally passing in my thesis today, so aside from working full-time in retail and trying to start a worker's cooperative grocery store, I've got a lot more time on my hands. I don't think I'll miss being a student very much.

Snow

I haven't had a lot of time to blog since the semester started up in January, but I have had time to document the huge amounts of snow we've been getting. Already we've had something like 75 inches of snow, and February is usually the snowiest month. We're on our way to challenging the record of 107 inches for this area, but we'll just have to wait and see what February brings.

The first snow storm we got down here blew me away, as I hadn't seen that much snow fall at once since I was a kid up in NH. Mark and I ventured out down the street in our boots to check it out.

Our housemate Sarah's truck was buried, as was my little civic

The poor BBQs on our back deck were on their way to being buried

...as was this hanging basket

It was pretty deep (these are my legs)

This is what the BBQs look like now

Our backyard

Basically I'm sick of it, although it is very pretty. Spring can't come soon enough. I dreamt about crocuses and tulips the other night, and I'm just now (sadly) realizing that it was just a dream.

Soon...






And of course, adventures around the garden with Ivy

I may channel my inner bear and crawl into a cave (also known as my bed) and hibernate until Spring comes. See you then.

Whoah.

A while back my sister, Jess Cullinan, had asked if she could use a few pictures I'd taken for her husband John's book Your Life Is A Gospel, which is a collection of his sermons. He's a Unitarian Universalist minister in Los Alamos, NM (and a damn good one at that). Of course I agreed, and I was pretty excited about it (not to mention flattered).

Then school continued to happen, as did work, and the millions of other things that circle through my head every day. I forgot about it, until this very second. I just found his book on Amazon, and here it is:

How cool is that?? I believe it's an edited version of this picture:



Look, I've even got a photo credit inside:

Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about this.