Hooray for Nature

Isaiah loves playing outside. I told someone that and they said, "He's all boy".

Well, yeah, of course he's all boy. What does that even mean?

This Is Key

This is a new addition to the B-Room here at Bright City Studios in Fort Mill, SC.

I used to take piano lessons in school, but I was never disciplined enough to really focus on reading music. I could play tunes and memorize finger positions really well, and I had a desire to play, but when I hit a wall, I never really pushed through it. I'm actually grateful to my parents for encouraging me, but not forcing me to practice and study. No doubt, they made me finish my commitment, but when the time came for me to make a decision whether I was going to give up or continue, my parents let me make that decision.

I still have a desire to play music, and I still do, whether it be a solo guitar on the back porch, or an electronic, multi-layered synth sequence on the computer, I love creating tunes. However, even though it's a passion of mine, it's not a priority. I can't take credit for this, but I read somewhere that "Priorities are like arms. If you say you have more than a couple, you're lying or you're crazy". My priority is to provide and care for my family. The fact that I'm able to do that by pushing buttons, aiming cameras and typing on a keyboard, is outstanding to me.

I'm not going to give up my love for music, rather I'm going to take my love for music, art, movies and writing, and I'm going to invest that in my family. I can't give it up, but I can save it for a better time.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this piece of history. It would also make a great prop or set piece for a portrait. In fact, I'm going to go shoot some right now. I'll see if I can find a willing subject.

My Beautiful Heather

My wife is a really good sport. It's hard to be married to a photographer.

Heather is so creative and artistic, I would want to shoot her photos anyway, but the fact that she lives with me and is always willing to stand in front of the camera when I want to try something new, is very helpful.

I know I post a lot of photos of my family on this blog, and I'm not apologizing. They are beautiful and lovely to look at, so you should be grateful, but I could also use some more willing/not-so-willing models. If you're interested, and able to be close-by, drop me a comment, I'll hook you up.

Check out Heather's blog at heatherbethune.com

Andrew and Sara

I wanted to share a 'treated' photo.

Although this was shot with the Nikon d80, this photo was a mistake. Like an amateur, I wasn't properly focussed, so I chose to put some 'action' on it in an attempt to save the moment.

I wanted to replicate the feel of a photo from the sixties, shot with a bad polaroid or diana camera, which has the tendency to be a little soft.

Dear Nerds: Done in Pixelmator after cropping and initial color correction and RAW processing was done in Aperture. Paper texture applied with screen overlay with brush strokes of multiplied color. I de-focussed the distant background(the part that I had in focus) and adjusted the curves to crush the blacks and give it a lot of contrast. Meh... it's art.

Me, Myself and Levi

This is an unintentional self-portrait that I didn't delete from the camera as I was getting ready for a friend's headshot.

I am a hairy guy.

Doing color-correction and post-production on photos of yourself is pretty humbling. I never noticed how crooked my nose was.

As far as I see it, there is a certain level of self-examination that needs to happen every once in a while. I'm not the kind of guy that will stand in front of the mirror all day and fuss about how I look, and I'm also rarely afraid to jump in front of a camera. That said, I still care too much about how I look. It's almost a crutch for me. As if what I look like determines who I am, or how I act. And, I guess, to a certain extent, that's the way things are.

I often wish people would wait to pass judgement on me until they get to know me, but I rarely give other people that courtesy. I think it's time for me to turn the camera around and focus on myself for a little bit, get to figure out what I'm all about before I go around trying to profile other people.

Yeah, you can never judge a book by it's cover, but a book cover usually is a fair representation of the experience you'll have when you're reading.

Boy With A Flash Gun 3

Isaiah loves being my photo assistant. And I love using him as one of my models. So this works out pretty good for both of us.

Despite the fun we have in the bedroom before bedtime with the flash, he still needs to get ready for sleep. Mommy makes sure of that.

Learning To Wait

This has been a lot of photos of my boy lately, but right now, he's pretty much the most interesting and spontaneous model I know.

Isaiah was waiting for his ice cream from mommy when I snapped this photo. I've been working on my off-camera strobe photography, and let me tell you, it's so hard when you're working with line-of-sight infrared and a little boy. For this photo, the flash was triggered remotely while laying on the table.

Isaiah's posture in this photo is very similar to how I feel right now. I am waiting. Or, at least, trying to learn how to start the beginning of a process that results in me waiting. That's what it feels like to me. When I'm forced to wait, I tend to sulk and feel sorry for myself. I start to whine and my bottom lip juts out like I'm about to complain. It's a hard place to live because all I can really think about is myself and what I want. I shut down, and stop listening to encouragement and all I hear is negative. But, I know, and still learning, that if I'm patient (and ask nicely), then the bowl of ice cream is closer than I think.

Dance It Up

This photo was taken at the Dugg Dugg opening afterparty.

I like taking photos of other photographers as they take photos of people posing for their photo.

Boy With A Flash Gun 2

Second photo in the "Boy With A Flash Gun" series.

Speaking of series, I'm putting together a few collections, and I'll soon be offering some photography, printed, framed and signed for sale. Stay tuned.

Boy With A Flash Gun 1

I recently got a new flash for my camera, and Isaiah loves it, so I thought I would let him practice being a photographer's assistant.

This is one of two photos I'll upload today.

The Boy's First Hunt

This is Isaiah's first easter that he can actively participate in. Last year was a little tricky because of Amy's death, and the year before that he wasn't even crawling yet. Not that it would have stopped him, we just thought it best to let him wait.

We spend the morning hanging out in our bedroom, being lazy, then being rowdy, eating breakfast, then being rowdy again. After Isaiah "cleaned up", we painted some eggs, but Isaiah thought it best to eat his instead. I hid a bunch of plastic eggs in the lawn of Bright City Studios across the street, and Isaiah went to town.

Zoyenka will have to wait until next year to join in all the reindeer games, but she's certainly interested in what we were doing. We think she may have eaten a jellybean. Heather underestimated Zoey's prowess, and the little girl successfully opened a plastic egg at her highchair, and promptly "spazzed out", flailing her arms and squealing for joy. Most everything ended up on the floor, but that doesn't mean she didn't sneak one in her mouth during the diversion.

Empty Chair, Empty Room

I've been working on a couple new projects lately, but this photo basically describes how my head feels right now. And I'm glad.

Knowing that the lulls in creativity make the peaks so much more exciting, I'm happy to wait out the calm, if only to anticipate the storm ahead. Right now, at this moment, I don't feel creative, I feel empty. But I realize that something soon will move me, and when it does, I'll have so much room.

Sarah Stephens and Her Cello

Sarah Stephens came into Bright City Studios today to track a few of her songs. She is an amazing cellist and very artsy person, who always looks like she belongs in a fairy tale or an Art Forum magazine. Today was no exception, so Joel thought it would be a good idea to snap some photos. I grabbed a light, found a brick wall, and you can see the whole set here, on Flickr.

Focussed.

This photo was taken at the opening show of Dugg Dugg on April 3rd.

A Boy on a Bus

Heather and I took our little ones out on an adventure via public transit. Isaiah loved the train (light rail) and the bus that we rode on.

This photo was taken as we were pulling onto North Davidson Street on our way to 36th street. We eventually ate lunch at Salvador Deli, and had dessert at Smelly Cat coffee shop after visiting our friends at Dugg Dugg.

See the whole set of photos on Flickr.

Window Gazing

This is a photo of Darren, one of the artists whose work is on display at Dugg Dugg in NoDa.

The day after the HUGE grand opening event, the team who worked so hard to transform an old cotton mill from the 1800's into a modern art gallery, rested and reflected.

Sunlight on the Shoes

This is a photo of my friend Stephan's shoes. He was standing in the middle of the beam of sunlight that the skylight above was casting down. This photo was taken in the same building as Dugg Dugg as he was showing the space to the guys from CLT Blog.

Ambient Art At Dugg Dugg

Another shot from Dugg Dugg last night. This was one of my favorite pieces. Four TVs playing image sequences set to an ambient drone. It was hypnotizing, and I loved it.

Dugg Dugg on 36th St

Success! Dugg Dugg last night was awesome.

If you're in Charlotte, and you weren't at Dugg Dugg last night, you missed out. Dugg Dugg is NoDa's newest, quite possibly biggest, and definitely friendliest art gallery.

I was asked to set up lights for the event, and of course ended up taking some photographs as well. This one is a long exposure from the middle of the street. The location of Dugg Dugg is on the block of 36th street where hardly anyone walks unless they are parking in front of it, but last night, it was nearly impossible to miss.

Follow what Dugg Dugg is doing on the web and on twitter

20 Seconds of North Davidson

I took this 20-second-long exposure photo last night on the corner of 36th Street and North Davidson Street in Charlotte. This is less than one block from Dugg Dugg, the brand-spankin' new art gallery set up in an old abandoned cotton mill. Festivities start TONIGHT at 7pm. Music, Art, Creatives. Win, Win, Win.

Break Time for the Night Shift

This photo was taken at the oft-neglected downtown Charlotte. I don't take as many photos as I should when I'm in Charlotte, and I don't take as many photos as I should when I'm in Charlotte at Night.

I could probably start a collection of photos entitled "People standing around talking on their cellphones", but the time it takes for me to type the title is deterrent enough.