From The Studio...

Leave the Comfort Zone...NOW!

2010-12-03T09:50:00.000-05:00

It's THAT time of year again. Shopping is starting to get REAL fun as is the traffic around here (Washington, DC at the moment). So, obligatory greetings to everyone reading my blog!

I have wanted to write this note for a while now. Some of you already know this little story about my recent trip to South Africa. That's okay. I get better at telling this tale each time and, of course, the point it makes.

I travelled to South Africa last Summer with (many) members of my family for a tour. Towards the end, we stayed at a lodge against Kruger National Park which was located on a very large animal reserve. None of the animals were tame in any way, and it functioned as a safe area for the animals that just happened to not know where the borders of the national park were located. It seems that wild leopards and elephants just wander out of Kruger into local villages and cause a lot of problems. I tried putting this into perspective with my deer I have in my yard, but that just didn't seem to work!

Anyway, each day we went out for a "safari" in a jeep that seated about 10. It was completely open and a little higher off the ground than an army jeep. We drove through areas of the reserve in the morning and then again in the afternoon until after dark to spot different animals. This seemed reasonably tame for me.

On the second day, I noticed that we were starting to get much closer to the animals than I ever expected. We would drive up to an area, follow "spottings" from previous days, follow relays on the walkie-talkies from other jeeps around the park and try to find the more interesting animals they had. This is a good idea in practice. It involves stopping the jeep when you get within a certain distance from the animal (such as a herd of elephants) and then watching. Someone should tell these ground rules to the animals! We would frequently stop and the jeep would soon be surrounded by animals (of a much larger size and danger level) than our jeep, such as rhino and elephants, who did not know not to come closer to us!

As a photographer, I have to say, I was delighted in this. As a person, I felt, however, that I found I was increasingly leaving my comfort zone for what I usually photograph and the conditions under which I normally shoot. The danger faction DEFINITELY weighed in.

One evening, we went out for a drive (some of my family members and my kids and I ) in the jeep to a far point on the reserve. It was a truly uneventful evening right up until the part when we crossed the three lionesses out for their hunt and decided to follow them. For everyone who does not know at this point, I have to make clear that most (mature) animals on reserves see jeeps as a large blob rather than live humans sitting in a vehicle. They do not seem to equate the creatures inside the "blob" as animals or prey (normally). That is why we were driving around in an OPEN jeep. Our driver had a "watcher" with him, a local normally with a rifle just in case of any problems. This particular evening, the rifle was in another car that was supposed to be nearby.

Back to the story.... We started to follow these three (quite large) sister lionesses. Most nights they hunt for practice and do not catch anything, so we were told. We followed them into dark brush, stopped the jeep and watched. They found some warthogs out with their mother, chased them a little, and then things quietened down again. After turning the jeep around into the dirt road, we noticed that suddenly one of the lionesses was running behind us. The jeep stopped as usual and we waited for her to pass for photographs not thinking that she would approach us. A squeelling sound came from behind the bushes we had been watching before and then the other lionesses emerged.

I don't know if we passengers or the guides were more surprised at what happened next. A young, fast-moving warthog decided that a GREAT hiding place to get away from the lionesses would be under our jeep. We tried to pull away from the area, realizing that we were in the center of a hunt and in a lot more danger than should be dealt with. The jeep edged forward until there was a sudden thump, followed by very loud animal screaming under the jeep. The warthog had been hit by the movement of the jeep (slightly) and was now located UNDER THE MIDDLE OF THE JEEP WITH US INSIDE!

I did point out that the wild animals do not "normally" notice people in the jeep. It seems this has one exception... when you are in the way of their next meal!!! Suddenly, three lionesses surrounded our jeep and decided to watch the humans instead, surveying if it was easier to deal with us in a slightly different way in order to extract their warthog. I have NEVER heard people become so quiet nor still so fast. We sat within two feet or so of angry, hungry lionesses faces... three of them around the jeep, strategically placed so that we could not move. Watching them sniff at us was, and still is, as close as I EVER want to get to a lioness. Tense minutes passed with the very loud screaming warthog under our seats. Everyone became aware that the tranquilizer gun was in the other (out of range) jeep.

As the lionesses started to close in on the jeep (and us) deciding what to do, the warthog leapt out and fled towards some other brush and trees. Three bodies streaked after it and we watched them catch their meal right in front of us. They dragged it a short way down the road and had dinner, while we still watched. We had been forgotten, thankfully, in place of the pig.

Now the whole point of this great story is not just to tell it to you, but to explain about leaving the comfort zone.

After I returned home and reviewed my photographs I noticed that the ones taken after the night with the lionesses were significantly improved over my previous shots on the trip. It was no longer like a trip to the zoo, seeing the animals, but a keen awareness of the danger involved. My photos were taken faster with better prediction, more variety of camera angles, more range of light, and believe it or not, far less fear in shooting animals other than lionesses! I had left my comfort zone. (Some of the hunt shots are one my Facebook page... Forgive my rapid, darkened shots... I was frightened at the time!)

I have this theory about photography. Writers are always told to "write what you know", just as photographers are told to shoot what they see around them everyday. This is our familiarity zone. We get used to seeing things in certain genre and after a while find our shots (just like writing) becomes mediocre. We get into bad habits of looking at things the same way again and again. I find that this comfort zone in photography is best left AFTER traveling. You go to somewhere, see other things, take photos in different conditions, different light, different angles.... and then when you return "home" THAT is were you notice all the details about your area that were not visible before. Everyone knows the feeling of missing home, no matter how much you may wish to still be traveling. That heightened sense of longing for familiarity lets us appreciate the details, just as the travel changes our perspective and technique. We learn about ourselves. Perhaps shooting what we know is best served by stepping outside our comfort zone and shooting the unusual for a while. We return with a slightly "different" comfort zone and ideas on how to approach our photography.

I do not suggest to anyone to go chasing wild lionesses to expand your zone. I have known people to take up mountain climbing to get better landscape shots. Some people decide to try photography from helicopters, some from lying on the ground. Just mix it up. Step outside your zone and see the world in a different way.

Three hungry large wild cats taught me a lesson. Well, a few lessons that night. One: I don't like being around hungry lionesses. Two: My instincts with shots are sometimes better than my planning. And Three: Heightened awareness of your surroundings does lend to a better photo.

So, in this Holiday Season, go forth, and shoot in different ways to capture your memories of family and friends. When you travel, remember the techniques you use and try them at home. Notice your light. Notice the details. And above all.... have some (safe) FUN!

And by the way... avoid cats hunting at night.

Androids in the Theater

2010-10-03T23:56:00.000-04:00

This year has been the busiest year of my life.

Before I begin to explain, I have to say that I deeply sympathize for those adults who actually chose to have a large number of offspring. I only completed the set (of one of each). Truly, my heart goes out to those large families...

This year is the year my eldest child is in his senior classes in High School. For all you non-parents reading this, you may not understand the fear that this inspires in parents. It can make grown adults into cowering, crazy people at the thought that this implies university or college or "other options" in the near future. For me, the idea of college visits and the Great College Search amongst all the USA, was a foreign notion. I had attended university in Australia where I grew up. Entrance was at the whim of test scores and writing your choice colleges on a card. Simple, huh?

I was unprepared for the American way. I thought I was prepared... until the first college visit. And the applications. And the huge number of schools. And the application essay.

But I did find humor in some of the essay topics given to students. Most, however, seemed to revolve around one issue colleges appear to have "planted" in these essays... a general "Tell me about yourself and what influences you so that we can get to understand you better than your test scores".

That scared me. Not for my son, but for myself...

I have been asked by many people over time about influences on my work. I have had other peoples' artistic influences explained to me in detail. And honestly... I had to think about it for a long while. What is it that drives a person to spend their life either writing, painting, photographing... what hidden anecdotes from our pasts lead us towards these choices?

I was born in 1970. Growing up in the 70's and 80's in Australia was culturally "interesting". (I write this smiling to myself.) It was time coming and going of the age of Disco. It was Boy George, Spielberg, Cold War, and Reaganomics. I watched Michael Jackson's career go solo. It was the range of time from "The Partridge Family" to teen idols Michael J. Fox and Johnny Depp. Australia fed off the culture television and movies of America. We also pulled from the music of America and Britain. But it also was a time of vast cultural expansion in Australia in music, art, film, literature and much, much more.

I do not know where it started really. Maybe it was the small artsy community I experienced around Hunter's Hill and Woolrich. Maybe it was the poetry readings, artists' parties and other events I was drag to as a child. Perhaps it was the exposure to a large multicultural community and seeing the complexity of the world through different festivals.

But three things in my youth stand out more than the rest. One is my Mother's interest with Art and my family history. Another was the influence of my Great-Aunt and her travels. The third one was the movie, "Blade Runner".

I am aware that at least two of these things seem connected. My Mother wanted to be an full-time artist and encouraged me with a camera from an early age. An artistic family is always helpful. I have talked about her influence before.

My Great-Aunt Marj was also my Godmother. She was glamorous and outgoing.. two things I was not. She traveled the World, bringing me back each country's doll, and sending me postcards. That started my collection of postcards. They seemed little windows of the perfection of places. I was fascinated with postcards as a child (Okay, I still collect them even today!). It was like a way I could share journeys with her and see different things. I would imagine what it looked like just a little left or right of the picture as I stared at them. My Aunt's stories of her travels never seemed to match the perfect postcards she sent. They were always more gritty, more exotic and more personal. It made me thirst for pictures like that.. the not-so-posed, interesting photos that give you a sense of a place.

I was one of those poking, asking, annoying kids. I liked the muddy, sweaty, quirky places. I loved the city and found it "beautiful" especially in the imperfections of change. Even then, I found the more interesting country spots to explore and wonder at as well. I also loved nature and science.

When you put these ideas together with the whole development of special effects that came into movies during that period, it is no surprise that "Blade Runner" made a huge impression on me. It was not the usual sci-fi movie of clean corridors and cheerful endings. It didn't have aliens that made you run or made you cry. It was very "human" (yes, I know it is a movie about androids!) and set in shadowy, culturally-mixed cities of the future that showed the dirt, pollution and crime that cities deal with today. But that wasn't the reason it made such an impact.

For all those readers who have seen "Blade Runner", I suggest if it has been a few years, watch it again. For those of you who have not, I have a couple of words to give you an idea of the movie (besides the great acting). It was well ahead of it's time in cinematography with wonderful visuals and scenery with such attention to gritty detail. The light and shadows of the city are marvelously contrasted. But the best contrast was between the wealthy, organized, crystal-clean areas and the much poorer, working areas with their polluted rain, bounty hunters and busy streets. Not that I am for pollution or messed-up cities, but it was a fascinating film. The beauty was all in the details.

I think that was when I came to appreciate the details. I know it seems strange to find a film as an influence for a photographer's work. I can cite many artists in photography , painting, sculpture, etc, that influence me in some fashion or another.... but I still come back time and time again to "Blade Runner" and it's cinematography.

I must admit to a dabble in landscapes and portraits, but my first love will always be the more strange and humorous, real world the majority of this planet deals with daily.

Street Art is a more candid and personal look at the human experience, I find. I still love to wander cities and country areas alike and just shoot at the things going on around me that characterize and differentiate places. There is such beauty in the human experience, such stories, and such expressions beyond portraiture and studio photography. Well, each form of photography has it's strengths and things to recommend it, but I love Street Photography. Th e beauty of the everyday experience.

And I still recommend checking out a copy of "Blade Runner"...even if you watch it just to see a younger Harrison Ford and sit back in your chair and remember the days when Molly Ringwald was still in "The Breakfast Club" instead of playing Mother roles!

Floating adrift.

2010-04-26T01:19:00.000-04:00

Remember when you were a kid and you would spend some time in a pool or the beach and just lie on your back and float? And drift? And all the world would pass you by... and somehow everything would seem okay.

Well, I have been floating adrift for a while now. My shoulder has been going through rehab for rotator problems and multiple dislocations (I have muscles that are JUST a little too loose that needed to be worked on to keep my joints in place!) As an adult, of course, and a photographer with a life with teens, this made my life ANYTHING but okay. Chaos would be a closer description.

But, somehow, things have a way of working themselves out in life. And taking a step back can give you a new perspective and a chance to look at everything else around you that you love (and don't) and a chance to watch all my friends' work develop this year.

Now I am just starting to get back to photography. Slowly.

So I started with another animal adrift. It seemed somehow... as weird as this sounds... like a symbiotic relationship. I was drawn to the jellyfish. They seemed to like me photographing them and I was getting back on my feet by them behaving for the "camera".

All of my shots of the Jellyfish are taken by iPhone with special apps. I keep those secrets close! I didn't have my other cameras with me when the opportunity came along to finally begin photography again. I only had an iPhone.

And they don't look TOO bad!

And the Jellyfish were VERY patient... even the ones that kept changing colors for the camera. Slow-moving, they are not exactly (for anyone who has tried to photograph them well!). They are deceiving fast. But they are beautiful.

And they remind me of when I was a kid and I could just lay back and drift... and have the world pass me by... and somehow everything would be okay.

Because...It will be if we only work at it.

All Lit up And Nowhere to go....

2009-12-19T22:34:00.001-05:00

A couple of days ago I made a joke to a friend of mine in England who had some snow falling and posted a fb comment. (Sorry, Erin!)

Today, I have about two and half feet outside (and still rising).

Not that I usually object to snow, but I was due to fly home to Australia today (the airports are closed - and the highways). And I have my daughter's best friend stranded in our home because her parents went to a party and the weather report was SLIGHTLY off in timing! I have several neurotic animals and family members inside my house. And the white stuff keeps on falling.

But I do have an interesting group of shots to share this season with you.

And I would like to invite people to add their own photographs this season to this album.

It is an album (or collection) of photographs of houses decorated with Xmas lights in more interesting ways.

I have only a few rules. No street signs. No addresses. No car license plates. No offensive material. AND stick to JUST the subject.

And lets have a little fun. No promotional links or ads or yuck. Just your shots. You can add your copyrights if you want. Make sure to take credit for your own photos. And don't be offensive about other people's creative decorating skills. It takes A LONG TIME to set up lights, I am told by friends.

So join me. I am snowed in. I need the entertainment.

Sara Friedman

This is the link to my site. http://www.facebook.com/album.php aid=133549&id=49759662765&ref=mf

Postcards From Home???

2009-11-28T23:47:00.000-05:00

When I was a child in Australia, there was a popular ad campaign that ran on TV for a camera/film (35 mm) company. They had a really catchy song that had lyrics along the lines of,"...the colours of Australia, they have a different hue...No other country has them, they belong to me and you". Now this like other ads of the time seemed rather corny and probably the only reason I remembered it was because it was about a new type of 35mm film this company was producing that was supposed to make the colours look wonderful.

Just before my 21st birthday, I left Australia and moved to the United States. I was not intending to go permanently. I was only visiting a boyfriend there, but as we grew increasingly in love during my trip... and I came down with pnemonia (Boston in Winter), I was delayed a while. One thing led to another, and now years later, and two teenagers later, I am a dual citizen, an Australian-American. And I have lived in several parts of the USA.

And the colours here really are different. Or should I say colors? The browns are a darker brown. The greens are a more brighter green. Every color is just completely different hues!

When I travel back to Australia, I use a different filter, I take photos at different angles and have to pay FAR more attention to the light. And night photography is not nearly as easy as I find with a digital camera in the US.

This past week on my FB pages, I shared several of my favorite shots from Australia taken over the years. Some of the more surprising responses were from some of the Australians I knew. Queries from where the shots were taken to how on earth I managed to get that shot of that place. To be honest, this collection of shots have been the hardest I have ever taken.

I think the saying that you can never go home is not quite stated correctly. It is more that you can never quite see it in the same way ever again. Ask any person who has ever immigrated from any nation to another and they will tell you that it was one of the hardest things they ever did in their lives and no, they will never stop loving their home.

Home. That word has such a loaded meaning in many different languages. For writers, the advice given to them, is to write what you know best. For photographers, however, capturing "home" is one of the hardest things we ever try to bring to people. I know. I have agonized over it for years. Should I photograph the Opera House? (too "done"!) The Row Houses? (too generic and English colonial... could be anywhere!) For me, Australia, and especially Sydney where I grew up around the Harbour area is deeply personal and I want my photos to bring my favourite beach, my ferry rides, my mossy Harbour rocks along the Pittwater.... all of this to you.

You see, as a Photographer, my greatest fulfillment is to bring my visions, feelings and experiences to you. I want to share my home as best as I can with you.

My case is, of course, complicated by the fact that I now have TWO homes. And TWO difficult familiar places to photograph. I know what the tourists see in each and I know what the people who live here do day-to-day (in both homes). I think the day-to-day is the more "honest" expression of the cities. Oh, and there IS an everyday side to the suburban of Washington DC. Trust me. Not very exciting. But there is one.

So the next time a friend brings you some pictures from their home to share with you... make sure that you pay attention. Those are REALLY hard to capture. If you don't believe me, try it yourself. Try to get the essence of your home. I don't mean the physical buildings and such, but the sense of what it is like to live there and what it was like growing up in such a place.

Next month, I travel back to Australia to be with my Mum and Step-Dad. They now live up in the Blue Mountains, one of the most beautiful parts of bushland outside of the city - a huge tourist destination. It is a smaller town built on a mountain plateau (I believe) overlooking a wonderful green valley. It has gorgeous rock formations ... but the best is the bird life. Parrots of many different colors come from all over to visit the area in warmer months.

Maybe I'll take some more photos while I am there. And let you share a little more of my home with me.

Smile... Shoot... It's Your Memories!!!

2009-11-20T21:36:00.000-05:00

Albert Einstein once remarked that, "A photograph never grows old. You and I change... but a photograph always remains the same." He was talking about wonderful old photographs taken of his mother that he still had and how they captured a single moment in time, a single memory, forever. She would always stay forever young in those photos, he would say, and smile.

We all have those old photos in our homes. I have many on my walls and even more in boxes to still sort. They are all my memories and some memories of ancestors that have left scratches of notes on the back to the "future" generations such as my own. Some of these messages still have meaning like the Uncles and Aunts and Grandparents we can trace, while other messages like (my favorite) "Bess's dairy cow", may have been just a little more obscured by the passing of time.

I often forget about how important photographs are to people as a frozen reference in time, until I meet or hear of someone who has lost their collection. People who have survived house fires. People who have been through terrible floods. People who have had to flee their homes from political and/or religious persecution. They have lost those memories to gaze back upon.

It is no wonder that when people go through traumatic events at home, the first thing they do when they recover themselves, is that they go looking for what they have left of their lives, usually starting with the family albums. It is quoted as one of the most commonly sort after items in debris after fires and earthquakes and tornadoes.

Sometimes I forget that as an Art Photographer, when I capture moments, they can pass very quickly by. It's kind of like the way you feel a different age than you biologically are in reality. That is the closest analogy I can come up with. I still have photos of "Freedom Fries" stands from Atlantic City and other odd now "aging" items from History like that. Precious moments all captured on raw pixelage, filed away in boxes.

I guess everyone forgets every now and then that time can pass you by. My kids that were arguing youngsters "just the other day", are now both looking at colleges and in 10th and 11th grade. I joined a group online with my old High School classmates and found a heap of old photos, and am thinking of putting those up for friends. That was a funny reminder of how much time had passed and how much wiser (hopefully) we all are now than at eighteen.

I sent a package off to a friend recently without a thought to contact her first. I hadn't spoken to her in a while and she is elderly. It was a lovely portrait I took of her last year and I wanted her to have a copy. When I got the package back from UPS, I panicked. Time had passed. It had been over a year since I had last spoken to her. Maybe she had fallen ill or moved in with family? Maybe the economy had forced her to move? Lots of thoughts filled my head with worry. I had taken a picture of her frozen in time, a moment captured forever... that she may never get to see.

Luckily, packages are just badly directed (well, I'm not sure if this one was good luck!). But it had made me think for a while that I had done a really bad thing by letting too much time pass. This time I had not.

Looking over my portfolio I realize that often I have been mostly timely with my photography. I took pictures of Coney Island when they were threatening to dismantle the older sections (and will still). I have photographed the Mid-West USA during the recession. I photographed NYC during the Bush era. I photographed the temporary 4th July war memorial on Santa Monica Beach for Iraq and Afghanistan. I was in recession Boston after the Red Sox won the World Series. Go to my website and have a look. They are all there. (www.sarafriedmanartphotography.com)

My Great-Grandmother used to have a lot of rules for her house. One of the most important was, "Never let the sun go down on an argument". No one was allowed to go to sleep until all arguments were settled. That way, if anything went wrong, at least you had made your peace with each other. Even as a little child this made sense to me. When I was little I thought most people died in their sleep... so this was REALLY important. Now that I am older, I realize just how wise she really was. It was all about not letting time pass by.

I have been lucky to be with the people I love at some key times in my life. I have lucky to have been at some key places at times in my life for my photography too. We, as humans, are not captured in time, like a photograph. We have to take our moments as they happen or make them happen.

The great philosopher Marcus Aurelius said that, "Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current... no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away."

So, take your photographs of family and events as they happen. They will never come back again to photograph the same way. Especially your children, parents and pets. Actually... whatever you want to remember just the way they are right now.

Get our your camera right now and shoot. Don't wait for it to be perfect. Just take the shot and smile. It's your memory.

The Walk of Life

2009-10-30T22:28:00.000-04:00

To sum up my Life...

Halloween is creeping up. I have flu. I also have a house full of teenage girls sleeping over for the holiday, compliments of my fifteen-year-old daughter who thought this would be the BEST time to have a Halloween Party. The CharityWorks GreenHouse ended today where my work has been on display in the lovely Virtual golf room. Deer are taking over my yard. My friend, Lynni Megginson, who has been working in the Virtual golf Room for the past 3 weeks (almost every day tirelessly), now has a sick child, probably from me. (See www.facebook.com/pages/Virtual-Golf-Girl) And I have learnt the Art of the ReTweet.

Now I know this sounds a little sad. But I have been stuck in bed.... constantly taking my temperature, and *coughing* everywhere. And, "yes", I did miss my flu shots this year -- surprise, surprise!! But I have had very little to amuse me but an iPhone and a Computer. So, I am NOT getting much photography done at all!!! And I am very frustrated with this part of my life, but I am getting to check out everyone else's photography online and to Twitter.

For instance. I have a friend on Facebook, Kate Benjamin, who took a fabulous photo to start off my Halloween celebration. See http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2901300&id=693003799 to get a glimpse of it. It reminded me of #legstuesday on Twitter where all the Twitter people take photos with their phones of legs and upload them to Twitter for a wonderful worthy cause to raise awareness of RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) or otherwise known as CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome). This often difficult to understand syndrome can lead to limbs that just don't move. Just ask my friend @Carus925 on Twitter who deals with having to educate people on this each day of her life because she personally suffers from RSD.

So as I look around me this Halloween, and I think about all the (loud) sound coming from my basement, I can't really complain. I see lots of funny legs. And I really want to photograph them. Maybe I will this year. Maybe I will start an album of just legs for #legstuesday on Twitter.

Many professionals have much to say on the subject of being "role models". Many have more to say on how they should be "responsible" to society. But if we aren't, who is? I mean, who is supposed to be the ones to watch out for the next generation? I read the news (or watch it) most days and I don't like a lot of what I see. But then I keep on doing what I do and never change my path. I don't get out of my seat and write a letter to my Congressman which I KNOW will make a huge difference in that one vote. I don't volunteer in that particular charity I KNOW needs extra help this time of year. I don't give as much money as I should to charities in my area. I don't even keep my house as "green" as I would like.

But I am an Art Photographer. And I can take (great) photos.

So.... for this time around, I am going to try and help my friend on Twitter.

I know many of you don't have Twitter, so I will post my photos up on Facebook for you to see and try to give updates as much as I can.

I will take photographs of legs. All types of legs. And I welcome suggestions from everyone. And if you are on Twitter, join me @fototwit , and on #legstuesday, upload a shot of your legs and mark it with #legstuesday on the post and #RSD and #CRPS . That way the awareness will spread and you can help me spread the word. If you aren't on Twitter, just talk to people about RSD and read about it. Carus Culver (@Carus925) needs everyones help. I want to help her, and if your limbs move and you can see or hear the people around you moving this season, remember we all have a responsibility to each other in some small way.

Even if it is to just upload a cellphone photo to Twitter.

My name is Sara Friedman. I believe that I can make a difference in this world. You can too.

How to handle the Monet.

2009-10-16T12:04:00.000-04:00

I just spent the weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia with my husband. One of the highlights of our trip was, of course, visiting the beautiful Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's house that he designed and decorated himself. Jefferson, as a man of the period of the Enlightenment kept himself unusually busy and had diverse interests and was well educated. Everything he found that he had trouble understanding, he tried to educate himself in, or spend the time to have someone around him educated in that particular field.

One thing that really caught my notice was his notebooks. They had these preserved at the museum rooms just down from the (magnificent) house. This was a man who had a large slave population to carry out his commands at Monticello, but he took a huge amount of time with all the details. He chose ever piece of furniture, every bit of wallpaper, designed the house, sent back measurements for every beam, delivered detailed floorplans and outer sketches of the house, and had NO ARCHITECTURAL TRAINING. And, by the way, he did this while he was largely the Ambassador to France and was abroad.

The notebooks and all their scribbled notes, sketches, measurements and details... are just incredible.

This set me to thinking.

Since I am in the middle of reorganization of my Studio (again) and have just finished my business paperwork this week for my art photography.... When did Jefferson sleep? I know he had all those slaves. Not that I condone slavery in any way ! But he chose to do a lot of it himself. How? When?

And then I thought about artists from years ago. How would a Michaelangelo do today in business as an artist, or Monet, or any of the more famous artists? Would they be able to keep up with government papers, Studio space, taxes, websites, blogging, Facebook, Twitter, social networking, keeping in touch with fans... while still producing their work? Would they get their filing done each night? Would they agonize over their business card stock? Or would some of the better-off ones just keep efficient personal assistants to track their UPS and FEDEX accounts and keep things straight in accounting on the computer?

You just have to wonder.

The first "image" artist I can think of was Andy Warhol. He was a great. He would do well today, I'm sure. But the more hermit-like artists... wow... how the world has changed! Marketing used to be a dirty word when I was a kid. Now it is the everyday. Not that I really have an "image" (lol)! THAT would be WAY too much work!!! I am no Andy Warhol!!! But still, everywhere I go, I not only carry cameras, but my iPhone. The cellphone takes so many pictures (as many of my Twitter fans know) when I travel, and at other times too. And everything goes up to Twitter ever day. Not the best way to take photos, but instant... and sometimes with maps! (yes, I have that app too).

I apologize to fans now. For all those times that I have not had this blog up in a timely fashion. For not having recent photos on my Facebook fan site (until a few days ago). For not working out how to link Twitter to Facebook until this week. And for not personally answering all the Twitter and Facebook and Website messages straight away.

But you should really try this job.

Not that I am complaining. Well... everyone envisions the life of an Art Photographer as exotic and fun. No one sees the paperwork and the site maintenance time. No one sees your family chasing you off the Twitter at the Dinner table. Or all the rest....

But then, all the wonder and beauty you have the chance to capture. All the things you see at home and when traveling. All the people you meet.

But "They" are right.

This is a FABULOUS job. And I wouldn't do anything in place of it in the world! I have trouble thinking of this as a job. I love it.

Well... maybe... a few additional things I would take on.... lol.

So... It's only 40,000 People.

2009-09-26T22:50:00.000-04:00

I have spent the past week pondering the twists and turns of fate or choices in life that have led me to this particular point in my life. Don't we all sometimes?

I mean... as a teenager, I originally set out to be a veterinarian. I wanted to go to University to study to be one and suddenly in my last two years of high school there was a HUGE graduation of vets from colleges and universities from around the country (I am from Australia). So I changed my mind. To biochemical engineering. Like this made any sense at all. But I was 17, and when you are 17 and people tell you that you are really good at something and praise you and tell you that you can make good money in a certain job it definitely influences your decisions.

Yeah, okay. That wasn't my greatest decision I ever made with a sane mind. But at Sydney University I met some of my best friends, and met my American boyfriend who was a (shock) History Major. He ended up becoming my husband. Two kids later, an great and useful associates degree in Marketing, a lot of self-discovery, and (hopefully) a bit more wisdom... here I am.

And in Professional Art Photography.

Which somehow I feel like I always knew I was meant to be in. I came from a very artistic family (on my Mother's side). She is presently writing a novel and sketches and does oils. Everyone did something. They painted (oil, watercolor, and acrylics), carved, clayworked, worked on porcelain, crocheted fine lace, sketched... and much more. It was just assumed that if you were family, you were creative.

But I was into science. So, my Mother gave me a Brownie Box and began to teach me about balance and light and stuff. It was an old camera that had been around the house for a while and one that a small child could "play with". And I began to photograph. I started with my geranium pot plants. I loved my plants when I was little and over-watered them every day. Perhaps that is why they didn't do so well.

And after I started school there was a new camera. That one went everywhere in my pocket on trips with me. I took photos of everyone and everything I found interesting.

And then another camera... always bigger or more convenient ones.

And so the love story continues.

So the day I told my Mother that I was going to be a Professional Art Photographer, after years of her critiquing my work, it came as no surprise to her. It was only one to me. It was a long journey to find the artist I had always been (and kept hidden), within me.

Really, it started with my Doorways photos. The one I marked as my favorite was taken in SoHo years ago. I love that photo. That photo was the first picture I took that made me think that I could become more than just a casual photographer. And I still photograph interesting doorways to this day.

Now, I have a huge opportunity ahead of me. I have my photos on display in the CharityWorks GreenHouse which opens October 10th to the public. They are expecting about 40,000 people to pass through their doors. It is just a LITTLE scary! I have my golf shots and the woodland shot framed beautifully in the virtual golf room. You really have to see this room to believe it. It is just like playing a REAL round of golf! I kid you not!!!

And I must admit... I am scared, but so excited. The sale of my photos I'm donating back to the charity, anyway. Its a great charity to work with. And the publicity (hopefully) will be good for my work.

John Lennon wrote "Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans". (I think I have it right). But he was right.

And Life and Art, presently, couldn't be better.

My new Blogspot... and Looking at golf balls.

2009-09-11T23:19:00.000-04:00

Summer is quickly passing in this part of the world. My two kids are back in school. I am eternally behind in updating the lovely webpage I have. My Mother has flown back home to Australia after spending some time with us in the USA. My husband is educating undergrads at the University of Maryland in the ways of sociology.

And I am looking at golf balls.

And you are probably wondering by now... after a Summer of great travel through Midwest visiting landmark cities and finding scenic old drive-in theaters, and then going half way around the world with 25 members of my family on a tour to photograph fabulous wildlife in South Africa.... Why golf balls?

And it all comes back to old friends. I met Lynni Megginson for the first time, three houses ago when I was looking for a sofa. I didn't know one sofa from another (and still don't) and couldn't fit furniture into any room I ever had. I had moved into a great house and wanted to redecorate and got stuck with one room, my living room, and how to decorate the troublesome spot. And I didn't much care for other colors in the house either. A neighbor of mine sent me to her shop (at the time) and I met Lynni, a very energetic and upbeat woman (and Ellen too), whom I immediately took a liking to. She took care of me like a sister and found my sofa (which I still have) and decorated my living room the way I wanted it, but better. And we found colors for the drab house.... and so it began.

Several, several years later (and two more houses which she has decorated for me), we are still friends. Her company, L&M Design, has grown to be a reknowned company not just in this area, but nationally. And now Lynni is working on a project of a lifetime... the Charity Works Green House. (www.charityworksgreenhouse.com).

All my readers MUST look up this project. It is a basic idea of building a "green" house in McLean, Virginia, using several noted decorators and designers that is a serious touch of luxury. I mean... If you can prove that a bigger house than the usual-sized green houses can work and look great and be (Did they say 80% more efficient than the average house per sq footage?), then this would draw some BIG attention.

And golf balls?

Oh? Lynni decided to ask me to provide some photos for the fun "virtual golf" room (you have to read about this!). These will be four small themed shots and a larger shot to go in the room.

And me... my friend, Lynni, I am having a ball!