these things I take with me

These Things I Take with Me. Assemblage with single channel video, instant film photographs, and vintage train case.

bangkok

Just back from Bangkok— hot, crazy, wonderful, frenetic, and did I mention hot? Bangkok was quite the experience— an amazing mix of old and new, friendly people, Chinatown, midnight flower markets, floating markets, temples and monks, street food vendors everywhere. Multiple exposure seems fitting for Bangkok and its beautiful chaos.

heavy weather

From the studio this last weekend. iPhone capture and edit. Have I mentioned lately how much I love iphone’s long exposure feature? Blur makes my heart beat.

first place winner!

I am very excited that my work, Drive, won first place at the Visual Art Exchange's For the Love of Art auction.

impossible things

For the love of all things instant and impossible, I bought myself the Impossible Project's newest camera.

For the not-yet-polaroid-nerds, the Impossible Project is the group that purchased Polaroid's last remaining instant film factory in Poland when Polaroid went out of the instant film business in 2008. The Impossible Project makes and sells film for old Polaroid cameras.

Now they've made a camera too. The I-1.

Fred and I spent last weekend on the Haw River just outside of Pittsboro, North Carolina. Photo above from last weekend on the Haw shows one of the photographs from the I-1, the I-1 camera, and a tease of the Haw in the background. One of the gifts of this process is the speed. Or lack thereof. After each shot, I put the photo in my camera bag to develop, and I take a seat on the rocks or the roots and listen to the river rushing by.

polaroid + eno river + stickwork

Out with my vintage polaroid camera and expired impossible film last weekend, I found magic. Exploring along the Eno River (Hillsborough, NC), we discovered this fairy castle made of sticks. I never tire of Patrick Dougherty's stickwork structures. I love this image! Soft. Irregular. Dreamy. Imperfect. Beautiful. The little white anemone-looking film spasm on the bottom right is the cherry on top.

Polaroid One 600 camera (one of their later models) and expired Impossible Project Instant B&W 600 film. If you're interested in shooting polaroids, Dan Finnen has some excellent info on his site.

predictable cabbage

things as they are

They said, "You have a blue guitar, 

You do not play things as they are." 

The man replied, "Things as they are

Are changed upon the blue guitar." 

   - Wallace Stevens

heavy

Heavy fog. Heavy thoughts. 

foggy mornings

We have had the loveliest foggy mornings around here (Raleigh, North Carolina) lately. My husband and I have been lucky and were able to catch a bit of the foggy bliss before work yesterday and today. This photo is from a field just down from our house. What a wonderful start to the day. 

patience

Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. - Rilke

eno river

Eno River in Hillsborough, NC. January 2015. iPhone capture and edit. 

still life with polaroid

Loveliness of impossible instant film and vintage Polaroid sx-70 camera. Imperfect. Perfect. 

I'm so excited that this work has been accepted into the juried Visual Art Exchange's 26th Annual N.E.W. Show! Exhibition dates: September 4-24, 2015. First Friday reception: September 4, 6-10pm. Location: Visual Art Exchange, 309 W. Martin Street, Raleigh, North Carolina.

More info: http://visualartexchange.org/2015/07/26th-annual-n-e-w-show/

Fog + Street + Slow Shutter

Busy with life and taking care of an aging parent, but found an hour in the morning fog yesterday with my iPhone. 

This shot is blurry. On purpose. I have a slow shutter app on my iPhone and it gives me the most delicious blur. To my eye, blur is mystery. A reminder of of our lives in constant flux. Blurred images look like pieces of a dream. Fragments of thought. Things I'm not quite sure about. Blur draws me in. 

Photography Exhibition at Litmus Gallery

I am thrilled to be invited to participate in Crossroads, a photography exhibition at Litmus Gallery in January 2015. 

Crossroads:  Organic intersections of stumbled upon wonder

Teresa Stephens & Tricia McKellar are two photographers who ran seemingly parallel lives until recently when they were lucky enough to be at the same place at the same time and started chatting.  Women, mothers, spouses, daughters,  friends, artists;  viewing the world through ever changing lenses, knowing that each step brings something new.  Not all crossroads are monumental and heralded, but every one impacts who we are and where we are headed. 

Exhibition opening Friday, January 2, 6-9pm, Litmus Gallery, 312 West Cabarrus Street, Raleigh, NC 27601, tel (919) 571-3605. Exhibition hangs through January. Gallery open by appointment.