Photographer, Andy Anderson

As an art director on Royal Caribbean, I always hoped to hire Andy Anderson. As a photographer now, I am both envious and inspired. I follow his work and admire every step he takes. His images completely transport me into that space, that place, that mood he captured. Immediately, without hesitation. It's truly amazing when an artist does this. And it's truly amazing when an artist continually does this. This is one of my favorite photographs:

Andy Anderson's website

2¢

So if a picture's worth a thousand words, why are so many photographers' blogs filled with words and not pictures? At least for me (the art director side of me), when I stop on a photographer's blog, it's to see photos. My two cents, stop writing and start shooting. Stay focused (pardon the pun).
 
(with the exception of rodney smith. he can write as much as he wants. if you're as great a photographer as he is, then you can write as much as you want too.)

Winter Walks

Everything's different on a walk in winter. I'm forced, in a positive way, to see the little things. With every other season my walks are overflowing but with winter, I notice plants and wildlife I probably wouldn't have even seen or heard in summer. (posted via iphone)

HApPy HoliDaYs

Wishing you peace, love and tickley toes.

Charity

I recycle. I compost. I'm a vegetarian. My three pets are all adopted. I hold the door open for the next person. And I write checks to my favorite charities regularly. But I'm a total fraud. At least that's how I feel. I talk a lot about "doing," about making a difference. I get plenty of things done in my own world at 100mph everyday but when it comes to volunteering, I talk about it then put it off. Life happens. Until now...


Now I'm going to pull a fundraiser together next year and I'll track it here. Might be interesting to one of you or both of you (only two people read my blog). I know what it's going to be but I need to get it organized in my head first, get a few people on board, then I'll start posting about it. It'll be interesting to see if I can pull this off. I'm starting with a lot of enthusiasm and no experience. Should be fun!


Where to start? I need to find someone who can give me some advice on where to start.

Frog Pond at the Boston Common

I love this time of year! (client: Boston Museum)

SHOOT: Playin'

Some work from the past couple weeks. (client: B. toys)

Loving Your Compost (too much?)

My compost pile loves Autumn! It's the pile's last solid meal of the year. 
 
So I'm a little crazy when it comes to my garden. I know this. And I know that it's strange to consider your compost pile to be your third child. But I have a few tips to offer up if you're serious about composting. (I'm laughing that I'm doing this post.)
  
1) First off, steal your neighbors leaves in the fall. Make sure they're bagged already. Less work for you. 
2) Don't take the first or last bags that you see. Wait for leaves to fall, but don't wait too long or you'll get wet leaves, mud, garbage, and just plain gunk.
3) Stalk trees in the neighborhood. I scout out the best trees in my neighborhood (yes, really, I do). If a yard has a big beautiful tree full of wonderful leaves then go back to that yard and take those bags. If there's a house without trees in the yard and they have 20 bags out front on collection day, be hesitant! What could possibly be in those bags? 
4) Don't take heavy bags. Big red flag. People might hide trash or rocks in the bag. Good, dry leaves are light, light, light.
5) Watch the weather forecast! You want dry leaves so grab bags before it rains or a few days after it rains. 
6) Store the bags in your shed or garage thru the winter so you can use them in spring and summer when "browns" are hard to come by.
7) Before adding them to your pile, dump a bag on your lawn and mow over them. They'll break down much quicker.
  
This year I think I stashed about 17 bags in my garage. Some women hoard shoes, I hoard dead leaves. 


(our japanese red maple)

BEST purchase... Satsuma Mandarin Oranges

Another best purchase: Satsuma mandarin oranges are ripe only once a year. By the end of December they're gone. They're so much more flavorful and juicy than clementines. It's disturbing how many of these I can eat in less than a month.

Dahlias

Dahlia tubers won't last the winter in the cold New England ground so I dig them up every fall and store them in my root cellar. These are my favorite flower. Belle of Barmera and Otto's Thrill dinnerplate dahlias to be more specific. I grow them every year. And I grew them a few years ago for my wedding. I carried one as my "bouquet" and it was huge, at least the size of a traditional bouquet. The layers in a dahlia matched nicely to the layers in my dress. And the guys wore smaller dahlias. (I know all you guys are finding this post fascinating. But actually I think the only guy that visits my blog is my husband anyway so we're all good.) 

2¢

One of my photography teachers told me that if you get one good shot out of a roll of film, then it was a good day shooting. This has stuck with me over the years. So for every 30 digital captures, not all will be good, maybe not even one will be good. And not all should be good. (If you think you have 20 great shots on one roll, definitely look again.) So, my point I guess, take more than one shot, especially when shooting kids. Kids move alot, they move quickly, they blink, they grimace, they talk, they talk, they talk. It's impossible to get that one special photograph if you only give yourself one try.

(2¢ post series is me offering up my mostly useless, sometimes helpful photo tips. enjoy!)

Thanksgiving

As a new mom, I wanted to create a couple holiday traditions for my family, my own family, unique to us. We love popovers, fell in love with them years ago on a trip to Acadia National Park at Jordan Pond. So now popovers, smothered in butter and raspberry jam, on Thanksgiving morning are a must. My two year old calls them cupcakes. He ate four cupcakes. And the other new tradition is picking vegetables and herbs from the garden for Thanksgiving dinner. We used our own herbs and ate our own butternut squash and carrots. My son wanted more cupcakes, fewer carrots, but at least he helped pull them from the garden. Made me smile! The first food my son ever ate was butternut squash I grew especially for him. 

SHOOT: Park (outtakes)

Outtakes from a recent shoot. I was obsessed with the activity under this one tree.

OLD (personal) WORK: Cinque Terre, Italy

Caught myself remembering the first of many trips to Italy today. 1994 I graduated from college then went on a 4 month trip all over Europe. This trip changed the direction of my life.

OLD [personal] WORK: infrared and holga

I was thinking about my trips over the years to Utah, Arizona and California today too.

  

The first shot was taken on the Lost Coast in Northern California. Best trip ever! We hiked up and down the coast. Elk were scattered all around our tent every morning, their munching two feet from our tent waking us. This one large bull was off to the side one morning, scraping his antlers on a eucalyptus tree with the fog hovering behind him. I used kodak infrared film and an old beat-up pentax. The bottom two shots were taken with Ilford SFX film — holga on the left and pentax on the right.

SHOOT: Trampoline (my favorite shot)

SHOOT: Trampoline

Okay, so no bruises, no concussions, no casualties... huge success! Absolutely loved the kids! (and that's me shooting in the bottom photo, I'm the oldest kid in the group)

Gourmet Gone!

Well another one bites the dust. Gourmet Magazine is no more. I never produced any work for this magazine but I certainly drooled over their food pics and followed plenty of their recipes (not well) and tore out countless pages. So many beautiful photographs were created by killer shooters. It was a great magazine and I'm shocked that it's gone. Another great one, Cookie Magazine, closed last month. Total loss to the industry! While even Newsweek is in danger. Their ad revenue plunged 48 percent in less than a year.  

CASTING for... (this is a tough one) A Playful Child

I'm searching for a child that likes to play. I know, I know, you're thinking this will be impossible to find. And I need two of them between the ages of four to seven. Brother and sister would be ideal, but not necessary, and should be available for an hour shoot between Nov 15-Dec 6th and live in the Boston area. If interested please email me asap at kim@flippygirl.com.   

(In return, I'll get some portrait shots of your child along with some nice prints.)

SHOOT: Pink Umbrella

SHOOT: Ponytail

The weather was perfect last friday and there were still a few leaves on one of the trees. As you can see, I got the ponytail in motion. (Be sure to click on the first image to view it larger. At this small size the details are easy to miss.)

   

BEST purchase... Hammock

One of the best purchases of my life (definitely the smartest) is a hammock. In this small space we swing, play, watch planes, listen to birds, dream, tell stories, hug, plan wild adventures, laugh and mostly, relax, in good weather or bad, alone or as a family. Best purchase ever!   

Don't be afraid to be a girl.

I have no intention of making my blog political, but this is a great article for both men and women to read. Follow this link (yes, you, the one person following my blog): 

Joanne Lipman's NY Times article: The Mismeasure of Woman

BEST purchase... $100 lens

One of the best purchases of my life is this cheap $100 lens. All the lenses in my camera bag add up to thousands of dollars — all great lenses, all serve a purpose, but my most-used is my basic Canon EF 50mm f1.8 AF. It's a nice addition to your bag if you're a portrait or childrens shooter because it's compact, it's light and it's fast. I used this lens for a recent shoot ("Lola" below). Did I mention that it's only 100 bucks?!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

CASTING for... A Ponytail

In search of a ponytail with a 5-8 year old girl attached. 

The ponytail has to be long, probably 10" or longer. Both the ponytail and the girl need to be available for an hour between 4-5:30pm the week of Oct 26th, 2009. If you're interested in this photoshoot please email me at kim@flippygirl.com with photos of the ponytail (and of the girl too) by Oct 26th.  

The photo above is a test, but ideally, I'm hoping to get 1-2 girls skipping between the trees with big fluffy ponytails bouncing behind, similar to the 3 people walking here. I'll make sure you get some nice portrait shots of your daughter in return. Thanks!p.s. if you have two girls between 5-8, even better.

2¢ (my photo tips)

(2¢ post series is me offering up my mostly useless, sometimes helpful photo tips. enjoy!)

Never leave home without your camera bag if you're serious about shooting. Never, never, never. You will always miss the shot of your life if you leave home without your camera. Also, it comes in handy for snapping shots of places you may want to remember for future shoots. If I see a specific place, with special light, at a certain time of day, season, etc. I grab a quick shot so I'll know when and where to return to for a real shoot. And I keep a "scouting" folder on my computer to reference these places later. (Yeah, I'm a little crazy. Drive my husband nuts.) 

SHOOT: B. Toys

Two things were important to me for this shoot: getting my almost-two month old to sleep so I could focus on shooting this amazing little girl and to become best friends with Lola in about a minute. Both were accomplished. After the shoot, Lola asked me if I could come babysit her.

   
[ client: B. Toys ] The client asked me to capture playfulness without any toys. Funny for a toy company to ask that right. These ran in their 2012 toy catalogs.
   

The Nursery (final touches)

The idea behind the nursery is this: my son's room is on the top floor and our house is on the highest point on our street. When I was pregnant with him, I'd look out his window and see blue sky all around. I then pictured his crib floating outside amid trees arching, hovering, protecting; with birds singing, fluttering, celebrating. So I painted the entire room, top to bottom, in blue to match the sky, pulled specific birds from illustrations by Melissa Sweet, and painted in trees and grass for the birds and other critters to call home. All the birds and their friends have become my son's friends. He says good night and good morning to them every day.

Sign on the door reads "Trees, bugs and little boys growing behind this door. Enter at your own risk."

Potato-stamped leaves; birds cut out and pasted up; trees and grass painted.

A real branch crosses over the window frame. I still need to find or make the curtain that will hang from the branch.

Other details: Smart-alicky Mrs. Robinson stands watch over the changing table, she's always got something snippy to say; grass and birds cover the built-in drawers; a spiderweb is being crafted by a clever spider in the reading corner, etc. (more pics to come later)

This smaller tree is the growth chart and will have bugs, frogs, snakes (anything really) at different heights on the tree when I can find time to paint them in. Then the room will be ready for a photoshoot. I need to finish the reading corner and the growth chart and then find the perfect little boy as my model (think I have that covered though).

To view more photos of the nursery follow this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/septnoon/sets/72157615804435282/