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So I’ve been out for another round of soybean photos…
I had the chance to ride along one morning and capture some planting in progress. It was a great excuse to get outside on a beautiful morning. And tractors are fun. Thanks, Pete!
The third shot is actually from my first round of photos. I’m no expert, but as a part of the conditioning process, beans are vibrated around on big noisy tables. Somehow–magically, if you ask me–the good beans drop from the high corner and the broken ones drop from the low corner.
I’m not sure why the good ones travel uphill.
Maybe they’re just fighters.
So it all started last fall when I removed my head from my ass and realized that I had to get a real job before we became the next foreclosure statistic.
And I went and got myself hired at an egg farm and that was okay, even if I came home smelling like, well, an egg farm. The people were cool and the work kept me busy.
Then a neighbor told me about a job at a seed company. I pretty much blew off the idea at first, but decided that I didn’t have anything to lose by submitting a resume.
And now for fun at my new job I’m flexing some photographic muscle and making soybean art to decorate the office walls. Watch for more to come as we follow soybeans through their many phases throughout the year…
I’m not sure what possessed me to start altering this picture, adding a sepia tone and fiddling with the gamma and contrast. I like this sort of pop art version of it, too:
I love that her eyelashes are such a prominent feature of her profile.
Today it actually seems possible that I could get a photo business going.
The rhythm of daily life has been injected with a dose of school routine. By 7:35 AM, my middle-school-aged kids were hauled away on the bus. The amount of times I hear ”Can I play the computer?” or “Can I watch TV?” each day will officially decline by 95%.
I’ve also spent the past few weeks getting back on my own version of the Flylady bandwagon. I’m out to conquer CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) because I accepted a long time ago that it’s easier to be spontaneous and creative when the dishes are clean and the table is wiped and we have food to eat and clean clothes to wear. I’m sorry if this sounds a little too Donna Reed, but this morning I cleaned the kitchen, planned dinner, started the laundry, and took the little ones outside to play while I knitted on the deck.
A day’s worth of homemaking accomplished before noon. And now we get to the exciting part!
While the little ones were down for quiet time I sat down and pulled out the business materials I began creating in 2001.
I could barely wait for my slow internet connection to get me here fast enough to share the excitement I plan to build on.
I forgot how much I liked my logo:
I forgot that I had built a skeleton of a web site using FrontPage. Which sprouted from a tri-fold brochure complete with price lists and an artistic philosophy statement. The original fonts I used did not transfer, so I’ll have to do some tweaking on that and also look at prices and packages, now that I’m shooting in digital and won’t be offering custom black and white prints since my darkroom currently only exists in the form of dusty equipment sitting on a shelf.
I have letterhead and business card designs. I even have two silent auction certificates I had donated to my old high school which I can use as a starting point for coupons and ads and postcards.
Speaking of which, I am donating my time and graphic design skills for the PTA coupon book this fall, which means an opportunity to place a free coupon ad in the book coming out in November. Last time around, I put in an ad for Cady Home Inspection, but perhaps this time I’ll put one in for Sarah Cady Photographic Art instead.
This can’t even be described as a starting point. It’s more like a diving board!
The best part is feeling like this is all actually possible.
Possible for me to run a well-organized household.
Possible for me to make money making pictures.
Possible for me to write a blog post even when quiet time is over and everyone wants a snack.
Possible.
My close and wonderful friends M. and K. are about six weeks away from becoming a family of three. Last week, they let me document their beautiful baby belly, and these are a few of my favorites from a session that took about two hours. I had a fabulous time. It helped that they were patient and willing subjects.
It’s funny that I find it difficult to be verbal when I get into shooting. I don’t know how photographers can be chatty or even just communicate clearly while directing a photo session. My ability to speak coherently more or less evaporates when I’m in the photography zone. Must be a right brain/left brain thing.
The next day, M. called me with an idea and some encouragement. He thought that other couples, such as the ones they know through a birthing class, might be interested in the same type of photo shoot. He was willing to bring their photos along to their next class and give me a plug, but they do live 50+ miles away, so he encouraged me to think about advertising to couples going through classes at my local hospitals. It was a welcome vote of confidence.
I’ve spent the last few days browsing the web for photographers that offer similar services, to get an idea of what they are providing, and for how much.
I am looking at photographers who offer “on location” services. Most do the typical babies, children, and family, senior portraits. A few I’ve looked at: Kari Layland Photography, Kristi Eckrich, As Seen By Eileen. Interesting that I found Kari Layland because she volunteers her services for families with seriously ill children, and she did a photo session with a family I know who is battling leukemia. What a wonderful way to give a gift (and build a portfolio!).
I’ve toed this line before. I attempted to start a business in what I called “candid portraiture” about six years ago, when I was working for Herff Jones and had access to their lighting equipment and backdrops and a medium format camera. The idea was to make pictures that are similar to the ones I make of my kids all the time. Everyday moments, rather than formal posing. Simply follow around kids and capture what they’re up to while they enjoy the comfort and nuances of their daily environment.
The same things that held me back then hold me back now: laziness and self-doubt mixed ironically with an overinflated sense of artistic superiority.
I also found that I deplore the follow up process of getting photos touched up and ordered and printed. What if I offered a flat fee session and then handed over a disk and let them worry about altering their zits and getting prints made? I suppose there’s more money to made on the altering and mark up of prints. And that way, they will be high quality prints instead of Target prints. I guess it would be the excuse to finally master Photoshop.
I’m ready to abandon the artistic superiority. I can hardly keep that up when what I really need is to be making money to help support my family. What’s really in question here is my commitment to overcome laziness and self-doubt.
I think I need a cheering section to get me going. Lots of people telling me that it’s a worthwhile effort, that I can make beautiful pictures that people will want. I’ve always thrived on positive feedback and encouragement.
Anyone want to volunteer?
June 11, 2007
My parents’ dog, Elly, stayed with us for about six weeks this spring.
I need to make this one the wallpaper on my computer, to remind myself how sweet he can be.
May 12, 2007
May 10, 2007
May 9, 2007
J: This is the part where we blow up!
Me: Not today!
J: (sound effects of exploding and soaring through the air) Buzz, you’re flying!
Me: This isn’t flying; it’s falling with style.
J: Ha ha! To infinity and beyond! Uh, Buzz, we missed the truck.
Me: We’re not aiming for the truck…
“Quick, Mom! Take the picture before it dries!”
As we gravitate to the yard for the summer, the camera has been joining us. My favorite spot on our whole property is the corner seat on the deck, where the view includes the patch of woods behind our house and of course, the kids. Here are the first few of many more to come in a new project: Kids in the Yard.
May 8, 2007
May 8, 2007
May 7, 2007
May 6, 2007
May 5, 2007
May 2, 2007
May 1, 2007
April 31, 2007
April 30, 2007
April 28, 2007
April 27, 2007
April 26, 2007
April 25, 2007
April 24, 2007
April 23, 2007
April 22, 2007
April 21, 2007
April 20, 2007
I’m not so twisted that I would purposely set up a shot like this. I’m just twisted enough to capture it when it happens on accident.
I didn’t like this one until about 5 minutes ago, when I realized how much I felt like I was leaning I into the middle as I looked at it enlarged on my screen.
The funny part about taking photos in Vegas was my awareness that I was taking pictures of things that are photographed hundreds, maybe thousands of times a day.
Birth of a new category (or two)! I intend to remind myself regularly that I already have many wonderfully talented people in my network.
I’ve been living a bit vicariously through Laurie McGinley for some time now.
I respect her work and love her dearly. I own two Laurie McGinley photographs, purchased at her silent-auction-going-away-party thrown before she left to work in the Peace Corps in El Salvador a bunch of years ago. At that time, she shed nearly every one of her earthly possesions. I wonder if she can sense my awe and admiration.
Do I really have something against rural landscapes?
I’ve heard people argue that photography as a medium rides the line between fine art and crap-that-anyone-could-do. So to have me sitting here on my fine art high horse sighing at the local taste in photography just really makes me one of those judgmental folk I can’t stand.
Crap-that-anyone-could-do.
But they DON’T. They don’t get out there and DO IT.
”I don’t do landscapes.”
There was a beautiful hayfield two years ago last fall that I passed a couple times a week for a month. It just about tempted even me to pull over to snap a few shots of it. It was gorgeous. Giant cylinders of green hay. Stripes of green and yellow carved into the rolling hillside. I composed several shots in my mind. But I never took a photo.
I keep waiting for them to plant hay there again, but they haven’t for the past two years. I didn’t take a picture when I had the chance. And why the hell not? Am I “too good” to make a picture of a hayfield?
The element of being in the right place at the right time that applies to candid portraiture applies to landscape photography as well. I guess I’ve got to have a little more respect.
There’s beauty in creation all around us, and whether I think it’s a challenging subject or not, it has undeniable universal appeal. Pretty landscapes make us feel good.
They make us feel grateful for our beautiful world.
They won’t offend guests if they’re hanging in your living room.
That’s why people buy them.
Bob Wilde has been kind enough to put my artist reception at the height of cabin season out here. All the lake people will drive out here in droves armed with their fat wallets.
If I make them, they will sell.
————-
Dear Rural Landscape Photograph:
I’ve been a bitch to you. If you will give me another chance, I promise to be nicer to you. In fact, I very recently made a picture of a straw bale in my garden. I hope you will accept it as a peace offering.
I will try to get to know you a little better. I will look at some of the great landscape photography in history and gain some respect for you. I will try my hand at making you and find out for myself if you can be challenging and provocative.
Love,
Sarah
After about three and half years of procrastinating, I finally contacted Bob Wilde of Robert Wilde Studios a couple of weeks ago. I participated in Dassel’s Red Rooster Days Art Show there in 2003, and my photo ”Lauren, Two Years Old” earned second place.
“Lauren, Two Years Old”
(Sorry, this is a really dusty scan of it…)
At that time, we had talked about the possibility of exhibiting some of my work in his gallery on a regular basis, but I didn’t follow through with that until now. I had the mistaken (and now discarded) notion that I would have to produce all new work to even think about bringing photos in for him to look at.
I loaded up a whole bunch of my student work and a few random things I’ve done over the past couple of years and brought it to the studio to spread out and examine.
He didn’t say much, although he did say that the work that actually sells around here is mostly rural landscapes (sigh). I guess my breast drawings combined with litho prints of my kids’ faces don’t have a chance at getting sold. (I would post one here, but they are too huge to scan, and I don’t know anything about getting a good scan of a slide)
But we discussed some framing options for my series The Artistic Process of Parenting and he suggested a display of about 7-15 pieces and an artist reception, set tentatively for July 6, 2007. I’ll be sure to send everyone I know a postcard!
The goal is to gain some exposure, connect with some other galleries, and put a line on my resume. I can already feel the momentum starting.
This was taken more than a year ago. It’s one of my favorite ‘classic’ shots of the four kids. There’s really no reason to post this other than that I’m figuring out how resize and upload photo files… and of course, I want to show off my beautiful children.
