Mother Earth for Earth Day

Vi is a retired school teacher who loves to dress up in costumes and crash events around town.  I first photographed Vi last month at Madison's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade where she was the self-appointed Ms.Ireland.  I caught up with her at the annual Isthmus Green Day celebration where she was Mother Earth.   She told me that after she retired she didn't want to just sit at home, so she's been dressing up and hitting the town ever since.  

Her outfits are quite elaborate and she has amazing accessories.  Her hat was springing with flowers and feathers and even a bird. Still an educator in retirement, she'll ask you what type of bird is in that hat.  I was a little thrown off by the bluish color on the wings and guessed wrong.   It's a Robin of course.  

If you ever see Vi out at an event (you can't miss her) be sure to stop and say hi.  She loves to have her picture taken and quite enjoys chatting with folks.   I think it's a great way to spend one's retirement.

Soulard Farmer's Market - St. Louis, MO

While spending time in St. Louis over the Easter weekend, I visited the historic Soulard Farmer's Market just south of downtown. There's been a continuous market at this location since 1779, one of the oldest in the United States.   It has an indoor main hall with 4 open air wings filled with produce, meats, live animals, spices and various crafts.  The best way to browse the market is to drop by Julia's Market Cafe and pick up her Bloody Mary, voted the Best Bloody Mary in the 2012 River Front Times poll.  If you don't like a spicy, ask the happy drink mixers to hold the spicy sprinkle finisher. 

While hanging out in the main hall I was drawn to the bedazzeled hat of this gentleman on the left. His name is Professor Mitch Wadley and his friend is Keith Carroll both musicians who play outside the market. Professor Wadley told me that he played bass for George Clinton back in the day. They were more than happy to let me photograph them and then proceeded to ask me for some monetary help.  I didn't give them any money, but I did send them some prints.

One Light Portraits

I'm a fan of traveling light and seeing what I can create with what I have. It's easy as a photographer to accumulate more and more equipment. I'm not saying their aren't things on my equipment bucket list, but I take the minimum when I travel. These images of cousins Alison and Abby were made with a speed light and a hand held mini-softbox. It can be a little specular, but I put a diffuser on the speedlight inside the soft box to tone it down a bit. I'm also a fan of using the sky just after sunset as a backdrop. That cobalt blue is gorgeous in my opinion. It's also easier to control the light on the subject.

 

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Every St. Patrick's Day (or the closest Sunday to it), Madison hold their annual parade around the Capitol Square.  It's a rather short jaunt around the capitol, but Madison likes to show it's green and get their Irish on.  It's also a good excuse to dress up and do some drinking of course.  And, it's not Madison without a little protest to boot.  Since winter has held it's grip a little longer this year, the clear sunny day was a good excuse to get out and celebrate the day. Spring must be just around the corner right?  

 

 Forward! Marching Band

 Forward! Marching Band

Yoga Anywhere

My friend Jill asked me to make some portraits of her for her new Alignment Yoga practice in Madison called Yoga Anywhere.  She teaches classes that are open to all levels of experience.  She states, "Alignment Yoga will meet you exactly where you are today".  

I made the photos in the second floor studio above State Street across from the Overture Center.   There was a lot of natural light streaming in through the windows behind.  I used a couple speedlights (camera flashes) with umbrellas to balance out the light coming through the windows behind her.  It was just enough to prevent the window light blowing out completely allowing some detail of the Overture Center to come through.

OTR Trucker Project: A Potenial Participant

*** UPDATE: ***
Went out on a ride with Lane in March.View my post and photos here.

Photographers they say, should always have a personal project in the works or at least thinking about it. My slow moving project is documenting over the road truck drivers. I traveled with a couple drivers a few years back, but for extenuating circumstances they were unable to continue with the project.  After a couple of years of putting the project idea out there with no prospects, I was feeling like the project had reached a dead end. Given the transient nature of the trucking life, it's a challenge to find a willing subject.

I was happy to see that Lane, a Facebook "friend" I had never met in person, was on his way south from Minneapolis. I sent him a message saying I'd meet him at the TA Truck Stop just north of Madison if he had time to stop. The timing to Madison from his location was just right for an overnight stop, so we arranged to finally meet.

Lane is an interesting person with a no-nonsense, get'er done attitude with a good dose of humor. He was a police officer, owned a number of successful businesses and then decided to take up trucking after his last company fell victim to the economy and changing marketplace.  He tells me he loves it.

We quickly developed an easy rapport, and he expressed an interested in participating in the project. By the time the evening was done, we had gone through several bowls of soup and a tentative agreement to work together. I'm thinking sometime in March might be a good time, something to look forward too when the long winter starts to give way to spring.

While we were sitting in the trucks stop restaurant, I pulled out my camera to get a few shots. It's interesting how the person's demeanor changes as soon as the camera is up and pointing at them. The challenge is to get them to relax and let ago a bit of all those insecurities that we have about how we look. After a few test shots, Lane started to relax, and  I was able to get a some nice candids of him.

Fingers crossed 'til March then!  

Red Dragon TV - Ishmus

A photo session with Ari John (A.J.) White Wolf the creator of Red Dragon TV, a one man web television production company in Madison. As you walk into the old converted storefront, you see red. The interior of the production studio is painted red, which gives it a warm almost theatrical feeling.  His studio and control room is quite sophisticated giving him the ability to broadcast live over the Internet.  It's a very impressive setup and even more impressive that he's spending mostly his own money to make this available to the Madison community.

Lighting was a bit of a challenge given the darkness of the studio, but it gave me the opportunity to use my newly purchased second hand Manfrotto monopod which did the trick to steady the camera in the low light. In many casese, the incandescent studio lighting for the performance space worked just fine. I used a single speedlite and umbrella for the formal portrait on the stool and outside in front of the building.

Read the full Isthmus article here.

 

While I was at the studio Stephen Lee Rich, a "local singer/songwriter, yodeler, comedian, harmless crazy person", showed up with a few folks to tape segments for a comedy show he's producing.  It's was silly fun with a lot of banter and bad puns flying around the room.   Who knew all this was going on in Madison?