In The Tub

I've had a vision for a long time of my friend (and artist) Jamie in my bath tub and I was thrilled when she agreed to help me realize my vision of her.  I enjoy taking photographs in places that can be the most intimate and vulnerable place to be such as a bedroom or the bathroom.  Lately, I have been obsessed with the bathroom.

I didn't want bubbles, but a bath that was still, while leaving something to the imagination.  The trick to accomplish this was to fill the tub with a mixture of vitamin D milk and warm water.  Jamie was a sport to do a photo shoot in the tub and was open to just about everything I suggested.

A week later I was able to photograph artist and friend, Traci in her bath.  This time, I took a photo of her reflection from the bathroom mirror while I was standing on the toilet angling the camera down towards the cabinet mirror.  I chose to have it empty with her in her white robe.

After this, my friend Carrie was also open for a shoot.  I wanted it to be a little different this time.  Once I asked her to submerge in her head in the water, I noticed that her makeup easily washed away in the water and smudged on her face.  To make it a more dramatic effect, I had her apply more eye liner and slowly submerge in the water with her mouth closed and then again with it open.

These photographs are the results from these shoots.

A big thank you to my friends for trusting me and being open to play around with this idea.

Bringing Ideas To Life

A bulk of my daily thoughts are of photographs.  I imagine ideal situations and what would work for an individual based on their spirit and personality.  Sometimes when I get these ideas, I jot them down on a piece of paper to remember for later.  I have a few pages of them for people I know.

I was challenged to make one of these ideas a reality.  I took the challenge and I am glad that my friend Kristy Jo was up to help me realize the vision I had of her.

Most of my portraits include the surroundings to give you a sense of place of where I took it.  I don't tend to get close to the face until now.  I am starting to move in closer to get a more intimate look at each subject.

K. J. writes her own music and plays the guitar so I wanted to incorporate both in the shot and keep it up close. I saw she had a small wall painted in chalkboard paint so I thought it would be perfect if she hand wrote some lyrics on it and stand in front of it with her guitar on one side of her face, her face in the middle and the lyrics on both sides of the frame.  As you can see with my scratchy sketch, I was able to get close to my vision.

When I take a portrait of someone, I am open to let things happen naturally.  She turned the guitar around and hugged it and it turned out to be my favorite of the bunch.  Although I wanted the image I drew out to be serious, the one that seemed to bring out her personality is the one with the smile in it and by chance, her "smile" lyric happened to be in the background.

I look forward to get more images out of my brain...

At The Beach With Ariana

My friend Ariana has the best hair and the most brilliant blue eyes. I always knew I wanted to photograph her.  We finally were able to take a day trip to the beach for a photo shoot.  She was a great sport this day to roll around in the sand and plants for me.  Thank you Ariana!

Dog Fancy Magazine June Issue Article About Camping With Your Dog

Max and I are excited to be a part of the June issue of Dog Fancy magazine!  In an article written by Becky Blanton, it's all about traveling with your dog.  For the past three years, I've traveled the country with my dog and can't see a road trip without my best friend.  The first year was with my dog, Maggie and the past two years have been with my little man, Max.

The article also features all photographs taken by me, including a self portrait of Max and I camping in Yosemite last summer.

When I am not camping alone with Max, I enjoy meeting other women on the road who also enjoy camping. The other photos are of Martha and her dogs, taken when I camped with the "silver sisters" (women who camp together with their Airstreams) and Zola and her little baby on my trip with the "Sisters on the Fly".

I am looking forward to more camping adventures in the future!  The June issue of Dog Fancy is on newstands now.

Morning Coffee With Kristy Jo and Valentina

When I spent most of my days on the road, I took photographs every day.  Even on days when I didn't feel like shooting anything, I did.  I did it because I never knew what I was going to come across and the amount of time I had in one spot was limited.  That was the motivator to keep going.  Now that I am home, it's been a challenge.

I am taking photography classes and this is an added push to get me to get out and take photographs.  Most of my photography has been done by chance.  Meaning, I like to take pictures of what is going on at the time and capturing a moment with no interruption with direction.  Now, I am in complete control of a situation.  Actually, I am never in control but I can get an idea and run with it to see what happens.

I have been thinking of certain situations for my friends to try to capture their personality and essence.  This is not an easy task but it's been fun the first week trying.

My friends Kristy Jo (K.J.) and her girlfriend Valentina (Val) said yes for me to come over and photograph them around their house.  We mingled for a while while we sipped coffee.  I looked around the house and decided to take a few shots in different rooms, hanging out on the porch and my favorite, sitting in a planter tub outside in the backyard.  Once I saw the tub, I immediately got excited.  Good news for me is that they were up for anything.  Even their dog, Clayton Wembley was up for anything and he made himself at home.

It was a fun morning of shooting and chatting a bit before we all carried on with the day.  I look forward to sharing more shooting adventures with you here soon.

Los Angeles Brewery Art Walk

Even though I won't be traveling and living out of my car for a while, I always enjoy exploring things nearby that are fun and interesting...especially when it comes to art.  There is a community in the heart of Los Angeles that used to be a brewery and now it's a city in itself of artists.  These artists live and work in the spaces of the Brewery Art complex.

Lucky for us, they open their studios to the public a few times a year for us to be able tour their home/work space.  It's a wonderful tour of amazing artists of all mediums.  I did this last year and blogged about it and I plan to go back.  A photograph I took of the experience was licensed by Palladium Boots to use on their website under their explorations video.  You can see that video HERE.  Along with the art walk, the video mentiones other jems in the Los Angeles area to explore. To find out more about the brewery walk, click HERE.

Even if a vacation seems out of the question for you right now, I bet there are places nearby that you can visit to give you the feeling of being in another world.

Long Beach Transit Photographs

I am thrilled to be a part of the reopening of the Long Beach transit Mall in downtown Long Beach.  In the next few weeks, work will be completed on the project including eight canopy shelters, serving an average of 20,000 commuters daily.

Eight selected photographs that I took of Long Beach will be on display in and around the new mall to coordinate with the "nautical" theme expansion.  I spent about four months walking on the beach each night and a few mornings with my point and click camera capturing everything I came across on the beach. Images from these moments will be blown up and installed around the mall so people can experience the beach without actually being at the beach.  I look forward to the completion and encourage you to use public transportation.  You never know what you might come across.

The photos from this blog are some I took during those months, but you will have to see the chosen ones once they are installed in a few weeks.

The press Telegram writes, "After months of work, improvements to the Long Beach Transit Mall downtown are nearing completion.
Eight canopy shelters and public art should be completely installed in the coming weeks and transit operations will move back from Ocean Boulevard to First Street on Sunday, said spokeswoman Marcelle Epley on Monday.
Last August, Long Beach Transit announced that it would begin a $7 million modernization of the regional transit hub on First Street between Long Beach Boulevard and Pacific Avenue.
The Transit Mall, which serves an average of 20,000 commuters daily, has grown since opening in 1982 and now accommodates passengers taking Long Beach Transit buses, Metro Blue Line trains and buses and Torrance Transit.
Funded with federal stimulus money, the project will feature improved night lighting, upgraded landscaping and newly designed bus shelters with public art.
Done in partnership with the Arts Council of Long Beach, the public art will feature photographs by Long Beach photographer Alison Turner and nautical-theme poems by Long Beach poets, as well as poets from Long Beach literary magazine, Pearl."

For the full article, click HERE

The Start Of A New Decade

Today is the beginning of a new decade for me.  I put out a list of 39 things I wanted to accomplish on my 39th year on this earth and I am proud to say that I completed most of them over the year.  Now on to a new decade of my life and more adventures to come.

Thank you to everyone who followed me on my crazy "driving around the USA in my tent adventures" for the past year, and the year before that.  It was an incredible few years and I hope to experience many more things to come.  As I did before, I will compile a list and share that with you.

As I mentioned, the past three years I have been wandering around the country with my dog, camera and tent.  I made the decision to go back to school for a year to see where that takes me.  I am always up for learning and it will keep me in the same place for a while.  This doesn't mean that I won't take a break for adventures here and there.  I plan to continue this roller coaster ride called life.

I look forward to more and sharing it here with you.

Roller Derby Girls And Cake Pops

It's been a while since I've blogged and for those of you who are stopping by and wondering what's going on, I apoligize.  I've been doing this and that and haven't found the time to stop by here.  Well, here I am again!  Yesterday I was asked to shoot a photograph for an ad for blueberry bakery celebrating the one year anniversary of Moxi roller skate shop in Long Beach.  I love cake and derby girls so of course I was happy to be a part of it!

The vision was to get a couple of derby girls fighting over a cake pop in typical derby style.  Looking oh so tough but so cute at the same time.  I don't know how these women do it.  I used to roller skate around my neighborhood as a kid in my quads and thinking about it now makes me a little nervous.  It's not that I don't want to do something fun, it's just a long way down if a small pebble gets in the way of a long stride.

I am six foot tall so it would make me about six five in skates. A long way down...and oh yeah, I am about to turn 40 with minimal health insurance, so there's that too.

It doesn't keep me from admiring these woman who participate in the sport.  I've been to a few bouts in Long Beach and my photographs are on the Long Beach Roller Derby's website as well as many more on my photograph website.

For today, it was about cake pops and roller skates.  I met these ladies early in the morning and once we got to the shop, it was time to strip down to their skating attire.  As this was happening, a man happened to be standing in the right place at the right time to get a glimpse of two women stripping in the middle of the street.  I'm sure as he stood there, he had no idea about what was about to happen.  From the look on his face, I think it might have been his lucky day.

Thank you ladies for being such great models!  I look forward to the next bout!

Palm Springs Modernism Week Vintage Trailer Show

Last week I was lucky enough to tour some amazing vintage trailers and meet their owners during the modernism week in Palms Springs.  I arrived a few days early to spend some time with my friend, Kristiana Spaulding who is a jewelry designer, stylist, and proud owner of several trailers, one of them she showed during the event.  Max came along for the ride and we all stayed at an RV park in the area for a few days before the trailer was moved to the Rivera to be on display for the public to tour.

I met up with people I met at Alumapalooza including John Long who is a proud owner of a bowlus and author of a book on the history of this trailer.  John, Kristiana and I woke up at the crack of dawn to photograph this wonderful trailer at the home of designer, Trina Turk before the event.


During the event, I met the Funky Junk Farm's owner trio of John, Ed and Steven.  They all were very patient with me as I took their portrait a few times.  They had a few trailers on display that were all unique and different.  Their personalities matched well with their home on wheels they had on display.  Thank you to all of the owners who allowed me to take their photograph and for Airstream Life for hosting the event.  I look forward to an even bigger showing in 2012! 


For More Photographs from the event, click HERE.