I was talking with fellow Columbia artist, Pack Mathews, this morning about the new show hanging in the Orr Street Studios gallery. It was a great chance to really talk about art, our perception of it and about how the messages in our heads can affect our art-in both good ways and bad. Just a few short moments before this conversation I was talking to two other friends of mine at the gym about how we’ve reached a certain age where we don’t really care what others think so much about us (or we’re trying to get there!) and we just want to do the things that make us happy and experience new things without worrying what others are saying while we are out there living out loud. And just a few days before this conversation, I wrote a comment on my facebook page about how happy I was and how I was feeling really good about my work lately. I think when I feel good about my work, that breeds better work. And when I’m not tearing myself down about what I may have not done well, my work is better. I certainly think there is a place for constructive criticism and definitely I make a big point to always learn from my mistakes–but it sure is nice to feel good about what I’m doing right now.

Last night, just before going to bed, I checked my email one last time. My inbox had two wonderful messages from clients. Both of which I had fully intended to blog about last week but didn’t get the time to do so. The first was from Carolyn Linton of Green Meadow Barn Company. If you are looking for beautiful furniture hand crafted from vintage 100 year old wood from barns and houses… well, you simply must give Carolyn a call! I drove out to her beautiful showroom roughly 10 miles outside of Columbia last week working on a feature for Columbia Home and Lifestyles magazine. It was snowy and cold and Carolyn had warned me that the heat had just gone out in the showroom so dress warmly. I was excited to meet Carolyn and see her work — the thought of owning one of these beautiful pieces sure did entice me. She was such fun to talk to and photograph and to top it off, she had just finished baking a batch of cookies to share with me over a cup of hot tea. As we wrapped up the photo taking, we sat down to warm cookies and hot tea and talked about so many things. It was truly a joy to work with her. I’ll share a piece of her email with you and one of the photos:

“It was so nice to have to come for a visit, ——and take pictures. Some photographers just take pictures, but you add an extra personal touch of class !” I’ve re-read this sentence a few times now and it never fails to make me smile. When I left my session with Carolyn, those were the same thoughts I had about her. It was so much more than just a photo session.

The second email was from my friend and now client, Jordan. I don’t think the fact that he was my friend first diminishes from his message. I am always honored when people take the time (especially parents of newborns!) to say thank you in such a personal way.

Here is an excerpt from his message: “Stacie, you have a gift and a talent for capturing MOMENTS with your camera and your eye. We are so impressed, now that it’s our child in the shot! These photos all capture a unique aspect of Brooklyn and our lives together. So thank you so much for recording these moments for us to savor and share.”

And here are a few of my favorites from their session:

Lots of sessions and lots of editing. When I wasn’t doing that, it seems I was playing Wii with the boys or drilling holes and /or glueing stuff to 3 images I’ve entered into the Missouri Contemporary Ballet show at Sven’s Kafe. I’ll show the ballet images next week after the show goes up. Without further adieu, some of the rest of the week’s photos:

Last night was the opening reception for Columbia Art League’s new show, ‘A sense of Self’. From the postcard about the show, “Sense of Self invites artists to explore their own sense of identity. Who are they as artists, and how do they portray that sense of identity and self through their chosen medium?” I thought it was a perfect fit for me to enter one of my pieces of Lucy, my 101 year old model. The experiences that led me to be able to work with Lucy and the experience of the session itself and editing the work afterward have all become defining moments in my personal journey as a photographer.

This fall I set the intention that I would be more connected with my subjects during our time together. I think that at times, photographers can let the camera come between or keep me separated from my subjects. I realized this when I worked with a woman preparing to go through a double mastectomy. As I photographed her body in a way it was soon to change forever-I commanded myself to be present. To not let my discomfort interfere with the session. I began to see that I have the ability to alter how people are seen by how I use my lens. If I’m uncomfortable, I think it shows. I do think there are times when that discomfort can be useful in an image but the challenge is to find those times and use it accordingly.

So, the internal struggle began with how can I continue to earn a living as a portrait photographer and also pursue my fine art dreams? I think this blog has shown some of that struggle. I debate whether to use this space to show great family photo sessions or expose some of the projects I’m working on.

Okay, back to the CAL exhibit. I entered one of my pieces of Lucy and I’m extremely proud to announce I was awarded third place. I’m sure by now you are chanting, ‘let’s see the piece already! Enough talk!’ Without further adieu, ‘What Time Creates’ followed by two more in the series. Please feel free to leave comments by clicking on the talk bubble on the right side of the page

As a visual artist, I am constantly looking at other artists’ work for inspiration. Another portrait photography I like to check in on often is Zack Arias. He shares lots of technical tips on his site, he travels the world giving workshops and he seems to be an all around great guy. One of these days, I hope to attend one of his workshops. Recently, he posted his recent family photos. This one on his blog cracked me up and intrigued me and I think I’ve gone back to look at it every day or two since it showed up on the blog. I didn’t notice at first that the child at the head top left of the photo is actually throwing green beans into the air. Lovely! It’s perfect! To see the rest of the images, go to David E. Jackson’s blog

Last weekend I went over to my good friend’s house to document their new family status. We had a very relaxed, fun time with images from the bedroom but when we moved to the kitchen, we got creative.

Afterward, we donned jackets and went outside. I wanted to do something in homage to Annie Liebovitz’s portrait of Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and new baby Suri, which some say is taken from the image of Paul McCartney with his daughter on the back cover of his first solo album. This photograph was taken by Linda Eastman in 1970. Here’s mine:

So, I recently just stopped blogging (again). I know exactly what happened, and so today I’m hoping that by just putting this little ditty together for you, I will get over that hump and get back into blogging regularly (again). Recently I had the opportunity to do a session in my studio with a woman who is 101 years old. She was willing to sit nude for me for an hour and tell me stories while I photographed her. The experience had such an impact on me, I haven’t been able to really talk about it here or show any of the work here on my blog… yet.

Soon. I hope.

I think for me, blogging is such a practice of self expression and the willingness to put everything out there for the world to read just hasn’t been there for me since my session with the 101 year old. I know some of the pieces are strong, and I plan to exhibit more of them. (You can see one of them on display in the members’ show up right now at Orr Street Studios)

On Monday I met again with my mentor, Gloria Baker Feinstein) in Kansas City. This time I wasn’t nearly as scared and we got straight to work looking at images. I learned a lot and I’d like to just share three of the best pieces from the day.

And then there are the days that maybe don’t go so great. (If you’re confused by this sentence, you’ll need to read my last post) Sometimes babies (and young children) can be unpredictable.  We do our best to schedule sessions at the child’s very best time of day… and then they go and change their schedule on us!  I have found that 3 months might be the hardest age to predict.  One very cool thing about being a fairly small operation is, if something goes awry I am always happy to try again until we get it right!  I think it’s only happened a handful of times that I have been unsatisfied enough with a session that we schedule a do-over.

It just happens that Forrest’s 3 month shoot was one of those times. Truly my only directive (I just finished watching WALL.E with my kids) was to get a shot of him smiling. “He’s such a smiley guy” mom kept telling me over the phone.

Well mom, I think we got it! I hope you’ll agree it was worth the wait!

Can’t get enough of those rolls.

Sometimes everything just works out. A session will just fall together in a way that I couldn’t have planned. I still surprise myself by how much FUN we can have in the studio. I don’t think any of us was expecting to have such a great time… I don’t know why we expected it to be such a chore, but all of us keep saying what an amazingly FUN time we had - so it makes me wonder what exactly were we expecting? I’ve had the pleasure of photographing the Muno boys a few times before; but always out on their farm. Their parents own and operate Goatsbeard Farm. If you haven’t had the pleasure of eating their amazing goat’s milk cheeses you are missing out. (They can ship cheese to those of you who are outside of the mid-missouri area) Anyway, I digress. (easy to do when I’m thinking about their cheese!)

The boys and mom came over last Friday afternoon. Peter (eight) had been told he could go to the comic book store around the corner when we were finished. Perhaps that’s why everything went so well! This is a great example of my short studio session and how effective it can be. I had a hard time narrowing it down to a few choices, but here they are:

My family has a special journal we keep. It’s a beautiful little book hand crafted and stitched paper with a piece of leather that wraps around it to keep it shut. It’s our, “I’ve never seen anything like that before in all my life” journal. Linda and I are constantly amazed at the cool things we see when we’re paying attention. We often comment, “wow, I’m x number of years old and I’ve never seen anything like that. Boys! you are only x number of years old and you get to see it today!” It kept happening and we began to wonder if maybe we had seen some of this stuff but just didn’t remember. So we started to write about it. One thing I remember vividly hurrying to write down was when we saw a cardinal get hit by a car. (I know, it’s really terrible) But, it’s not something you see everyday. I think they must be smarter or faster than other birds. Or something. Anyway, it must have been hit by the car that was about 50 ft in front of us. Just before our eyes, there was this amazing explosion of red feathers. As I’m writing this, I know I’m not doing the moment justice. It was beautiful. It was really something to see. It was like a firework of red feathers. Truly, never was the death of something living quite so beautiful.

So this morning, I was feeling a little down. I’d recently lost a long term client to someone charging a ridiculously low sum. I was sad on many levels. When I work with a family from pregnancy through the birthdays every year… it is just plain a bummer knowing I won’t see them again. Anyway, on with the story! I looked out our front door and into our garden and was stopped in my tracks. There was the most beautiful complete orb spider web attached to our crabapple tree. The morning was heavy with dew and it was cool outside creating the breathtaking affect of steam coming off of everything that was alive. The tree appeared to be breathing. I don’t know if I’ve done the scene justice, but I’ve given it my best shot. Enjoy!

I have never been more proud to be a photographer as I was last Sunday.  I was honored to be a part of Hold That Hug a drop in family photo/play-date at the park in honor of Sarah E.M. Becking Six local photographers (and about a dozen other supporters!) donated time and energy to create this amazing event.  To see All of the AMAZING photos (and photos by Sarah that are for sale) go to www.becking.zenfolio.com  A slideshow of the event should be up soon at the Hold that Hug blog.

I think this photo of Ashley Turner and Kim Wade is a great example of what the day was like. (Thanks to Abbie Brown for taking pictures of the whole event for us!)

As I’m re-reading this…I’m just seeing that this doesn’t really express what I want it to. The day was so big, the event so big and so important. I met some amazing people who told me their personal stories and reasons for being there. It was so much bigger than me. It was so much bigger than what I can say here. Isaac (my 4 year old) called it a miracle…and in a way, it really was. I photographed a family with a teenage son who had never had a family picture made, I photographed a family who had lost their dad just 2 months ago, I photographed two little boys with their sticks that “gave them power”. Kim Wade took my family picture (look under hold that hug, silverbox photographers: kim wade–we’re the first one in her folder) and we LOVE it…you know, photographers are pretty hard to photograph.

I know, I know…it almost seems cliche to have a family portrait session at Shelter Gardens…but there’s a reason all those photographers are there jockeying for position nearly every evening.  Sometimes everything just falls into place - perfect light, perfect white dresses, plenty of bug spray, and Voila!  A really fun and magical photo session.  I’ve known these girls since the youngest was 5 weeks old.  One great thing about being a children’s photographer is getting to see the children grow up!     After we finished up at Shelter Garden, we hopped in our cars and drove to the small sprayground at FlatBranch park.  WOW!  The light was fantastic and the girls had a BLAST playing in the water.  I now want to end all photo sessions this way!  (Thanks to silverbox photographers for the great idea!)     

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