Tulips, a Turtle, and Two Thrifties

I am a little ashamed to say that it's after 2 on a Saturday afternoon and I'm still in my pajamas, but for good reason. I have had the busiest month of my life, and today was the first Saturday in a very long time that I've had nowhere to go, and nowhere to be, except home. I scanned the rest of my 35mm film from Moab last weekend, rearranged my desk to fit my cool thrift store find, and did a little research on the Epson V500. The time is near for a new scanner. My five-year old 4870 is knock knock knockin' on heaven's door, and very urgently I might add. I also scanned a few new Polaroids, including these above.

Whenever I shoot a new Polaroid, it usually becomes my favorite, and these three are no exception. The first I made at Saans on Thursday. The lovely orange tulips were such a welcome spring sight, and behind them hangs my work in the For the Love of Polaroid show. The opening was last Friday and it was awesome, and not just because I sold two pieces. The second Polaroid is of my turtle friend made by the talented and oh-so-sweet Claire of My Favourite Dress on Etsy. I saw one on Flickr that she made for a friend, so I bought/traded her for one, and tomorrow it's headed to its new home, the home of a friend who's having her first baby. I hope she likes it. The third Polaroid is a reminder of last weekend's goodness. Elizabeth was here and surprised me with a Rachel Ann Austin original, which I absolutely adore. Last Friday, we went thrifting and found the cool green file box and the robin's egg blue bowl that I just couldn't live without. I threw in the potted tulip for good measure, and also because in two weeks, it's gone from a half-inch sprout to all that tall, fresh green. Mmm.

I also just wanted to tell Elizabeth, Heather, and Teri thank you so much for such a great last weekend. I haven't laughed that hard in weeks, nor have I shot that much in months. What fun! When and where are we going next?

The Big 4!

Today is my blog's 4th birthday! I can't believe I've kept this thing going all this time. Thank you to all of my readers and visitors and to all of you whose photos and words inspire me to keep going. Here's to another four years!

PS: If you're in SLC tonight, come to our opening at Finch Lane! See post below for more info.

Finch Lane

After waiting over a year for this, our opening is tomorrow at Finch Lane. Amanda Moore will be showing her original Chocolate Holgaroids, Brett Johnson will be showing his massive 16x16 flipped-lens Brownie Hawkeye works, and I'll be showing new work from my Local Color series. The opening is from 6-8 tomorrow night (February 27) and the show runs through April 10. If you're around, please come. We'd love to see you.

Take a picture, it'll last longer.

I spent this past weekend on cloud nine. Thursday night, Elizabeth arrived and after I escaped from airport parking garage hell, I picked her up and our weekend began. Friday morning we went to the most divine little eatery in Salt Lake City, Tulie Bakery for coffee cake and a morning bun, then went thrifting at Emilie Jayne and Home Again. We walked around Sugar House in the prettiest afternoon sunshine yet this year, and that night, we hung out at Saans at our opening of For the Love of Polaroid. Big crowd, family and friends, and even some sales!
We hit the road bright and early Saturday morning with Teri and Heather and headed to Moab for what we called Photo Geeks/Girls Rule Extravaganza: Take a picture, it'll last longer. We hiked, we photographed, we bowled, we slept very little, we had a lot of fun, and we made promises to do it again sometime in another place. Many more photos to come...
Elizabeth and I headed back to Tulie on Monday, only to find it closed for the day, so we had breakfast pastries at Les Madeleines instead, then wandered out to Saltair for some photos. Our fun photo-filled weekend came to an end when I dropped Elizabeth off at the airport that afternoon. I still haven't caught up on my sleep!

Theater

Steph | Elizabeth

Now Showing! Week 4 is on our blog, Common Places Different Spaces, and lots more on Flickr too.

For the Love of Polaroid

As mentioned in my previous post, my work for this show is probably the biggest thing I've ever done in my photographic "career". It involved learning to see my work in a new way, a lot of time and effort and stress, and you know what? Every bit of it has already been so worth it. Just seeing the finished product gave me joy beyond belief. I hope you'll come if you're in the SLC area. It's going to be the coolest show ever. (If you click the image, it'll get bigger so you can read it. It's worth it.)

Polaroids and Potted Tulips

Probably the largest photography endeavor I've ever embarked on came to an end yesterday. I always have had Solstice Framing on 33rd in Salt Lake mat and frame my work, but this time, because I had so many to do, I had Solstice cut the mats and I framed them all myself, and I did it all yesterday. 27 of my Polaroids are headed to Saans tomorrow for their "For the Love of Polaroid" show that starts Friday the 20th. There are actually only nine frames, but 27 Polaroids in all. I'm so pleased with how the framed pieces look, and I must give thanks to Shalee at Saans for her advice and direction. It took me a couple of hours to print the images, then another hour to cut them all to size, then another hour to fix them all to the mats, and another four long hours to get them all framed. I left them out all day today to admire my handiwork and of course, I had to shoot my favorite one with my Polaroid SX-70. If you're around on the 20th, or anytime between then and March 16, please stop by Saans. It's going to be an amazing show.

The Red Helmet

We saw this at a screening of the Banff Film Festival last night. Great video, great music. Just watch.

Parking Garage

Week three of our project, Common Places Different Spaces is up. Check out our blog and Flickr photostream to see several more. I have to thank my sweet niece Maggie for coming with me on one shoot. She was a trooper, and was so full of questions. I was shooting with my Holga and she wanted to see the pictures but I had to explain that they were on film and had to be developed. Try explaining that to an almost five year old! She seemed to understand though, and asked, "Well, can I see them when they are div-el-ipped?" It was adorable. She makes my heart happy. I also have to thank my Backcountry pal Heather for going to the Gateway parking garage with me after work one night. It was nice shooting with a buddy!

Elizabeth | Steph
Elizabeth | Steph
Elizabeth | Steph
Elizabeth | Steph

A few of my Polaroids...

Poodle

Wait. What's this? Can it be? A Holga shot and not a Polaroid?! Yes it's true! A Holga shot and not a Polaroid! I've forgotten how much I love my Holga(s). It's crunch time, and I had to drive a half hour north to my hometown yesterday and shoot some things for my upcoming show at Finch Lane in SLC at the end of the month. I'll have 8-10 pieces from my Local Color project in the show, along with photos from my fellow Salt Lake Toy Camera pals Amanda Moore and Brett Johnson. We applied for the show over a year ago and out of the 100+ entries, we were among the 20 selected. Pretty snazzy. I'm so excited about it. The reception is on February 27th from 6-8.

And don't forget about "For the Love of Polaroid" at Saans downtown. It's going to be rad. The opening is February 20 from 6-10. Tomorrow I'm framing my 27 Polaroids that'll be hanging among works by Elizabeth Soule, Amanda Moore, Joshua Caldwell, and Sean Tubridy. I'm stoked. Come check it out if you're in the neighborhood.

I Always Loved Winter

I don't think I've ever been more ready for winter to be over. Up until three or four years ago, I always loved winter, wished it would be longer and snowier and colder, but now, not so much. I still love big snowstorms and I will always love eating freshly fallen snow (but not "pee snow" of "dirt snow" as my niece Maggie says), and of course I love shooting images like these with my Lubitel on snowy days, but for the most part, I crave sunshine and clean air and bare feet. I said hello to the kayaks yesterday as I pulled my car in the garage. I miss them terribly.

But Instead

I've got so much to say that I'll just say nothing. But instead, I'll share a couple of my train station photos from week 2 of our project, Common Places Different Spaces. These are among my favorites from the week. Hope you're enjoying the project as much as I am.

Union Station

Elizabeth just posted week two of our project, Common Places Different Spaces. We photographed the train stations in our respective cities, and coincidentally, they both share the same name. Elizabeth hit up the Portland Union Station, and I shot the Ogden Union Station. Here are a few of our images, but please visit our blog and Flickr photostream to see more, including an all-Polaroid collage I made. Three of those images will also be in the Saans Polaroid Show beginning February 20th.