Dropping In
Hi! I know I don’t drop in here often, but here I am to say: HAPPY belated NEW YEAR!
and to let you know I’ll drop in again tomorrow to DROP something BIG. (:
Eeeeek! Squeeee!
This snuck up on me super fast, but voting for the Dallas Observer Music Awards ends tomorrow!!!!
As in Friday, December 2nd, @ 11:59 PM. Please vote the Tuesday Morning Blend for best Radio Show!
I really love these girls. <3
In case you haven’t heard what we’re up to, tune in Tuesday mornings to 89.3 FM KNON the voice of the people, from 7 – 9 a.m. to check it out! Most mornings, Nil conducts a long-form interview with amazing local bands, and they play us a few songs live in studio, while I broadcast the whole thing live from our Facebook page. And the bands. Oh my god, we have so. much. talent. come through our show I can’t even keep track.
See you guys Saturday night at the Dallas Observer Music Awards showcase all over Deep Ellum, and Tuesday night at the awards ceremony at the Bomb Factory! The ceremony is free and open to the public. Can’t wait to see everyone!
To blogging, pretty pictures, and living life on your own terms.
I’ve been thinking lately, and investing time into research: So what is this blogging thing anyway? I started this blog in 2009 and have posted inconsistently. The internet tells me blogging is outdated anyway—but wait! I should blog! I just shouldn’t call it blogging. (Because that word is so 2009.) The internet tells me my posts must be at least 250 words, but not more than 600 words. The internet changed its mind and now tells me my posts should be more like 1,500-2,500 words.
Never mind I’m a photographer, not a writer. Never mind I started this (not a) blog for posting pretty pictures, not talking at you.
The internet tells me I must post at least twice a week or the internet will think I’m not busy and don’t have anything to post. Never mind sometimes I’m too busy to post. (Or even remember I have this thing the internet expects me to update constantly.)
Never mind this (not a) blog isn’t my life, but merely a reflection of some of the stuff going on in it.
The internet tells me my (not a) blog should have a narrow focus. I should only post about one subject in order to reach a maximum target audience. Never mind my life—nor my art—could never be boiled down to just one subject. (Could anyone’s?)
Never mind this site is mine and I can do with it what I want and call it what I want. Pshaw, Internet.
Of course I’m not busy; I’m ridiculously busy. I’m a working artist, for Pete’s sake! (Don’t ask me who Pete is, or why he cares, but my mom always said it, so I figure he’s important.) I’m busy shooting people—busy photographing headshots and promotional imagery for artists and musicians and actors and comedians and ballerinas and brides and grooms. (And there’s all the keywords the internet tells me I must iterate and reiterate and reiterate again.) I’m busy making art. I’m busy volunteering for the Deep Ellum Community Association and the Deep Ellum Outdoor Market. I’m busy advocating for the burgeoning underground cultural scene in the city of Dallas. I’m busy curating art shows and booking music for the Deep Ellum Arts Festival. I’m busy working with Nil Ferrin and Hungover with V at the Tuesday Morning Blend (which has just been nominated for Best Radio Show for the Dallas Observer Music Awards! Vote here! #shamelessplug)
I’m busy enthusiastically living life with three incredibly talented, bright, and challenging children.
When I began an online journal years ago, I intended this space to be a portal of connection, to share snippets of the beauty in my life with those around me. I plan to keep this portal open, if sporadic, for the long foreseeable future. Sometimes I blog according to Internet standards. Sometimes I don’t. Here’s to pretty pictures and living life on one’s own terms.
Cheers :)
Dallas Music Discussion at Sons of Hermann Hall 11.6.16
The first Sunday of every month (well, almost every month,) we do this thing in Deep Ellum called the First Sunday at Sons, at–you guessed it!–the historic Sons of Hermann Hall located at 3414 Elm Street.
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Tomorrow night, the topic is the Dallas Music Scene, featuring panelists Pete Freedman, the co-founder/president/editor of Dallas’ online alternative publication, Central Track; Scott Begs, owner of Three Links, and longtime promoter/booker in Deep Ellum; and Chris Mueller, otherwise known as The Ghost of Blind Lemon around these here parts (and arguably the most knowledgeable person on Deep Ellum music history I know). This event will be moderated by ::ahem:: yours truly. Somehow these things keep happening. :)
Come hang out with us, meet new friends, chat about the Dallas music scene, and enjoy FREE dinner served by one of Deep Ellum’s newest additions, Stirr, (occupying the old Club Clearview space at Main and Crowdus.)
Open to all the Deep Ellum community, the Dallas community, and any persons with an interest in Deep Ellum. A project of the Deep Ellum Community Association.
Dallas Observer Music Awards — Say What?!
So… THIS just happened.
About a year ago, I teamed up with Nil Ferrin and Hungover with V to kick the ass out of the Tuesday Morning Blend on KNON 89.3 FM. I mostly stream the live video feed of our Local Artist Spotlight, featuring some of the greatest talent the Dallas/Fort Worth/Denton metroplex has to offer. Anyway, somebody’s paying attention, because
WE JUST GOT NOMINATED FOR BEST RADIO SHOW/PODCAST
for the
2016 DALLAS OBSERVER MUSIC AWARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tune in Tuesday mornings from 7-9 a.m. and see what all the fuss is about. :)
Oh yeah! And please vote for us here! Because YAY!
That one time. Sneaking around the DMA. (forever ago).
I just stumbled across these photographs from that one time I went sneaking around the Dallas Museum of Art, with a camera in hand, in the spring of 2015. I’d completely forgotten about this!
(And maybe I shouldn’t be ::cough:: posting these images… Hopefully they forgive me. I, obviously, did not capture the artwork for reproduction. I captured the people as they relate to the art museum environment. And really, they’re just so much fun!)
I found these guys, who were way into it.
Then these guys, who didn’t even know I was there.
(If you know the folks in these images, please let me know so I can forward them over. Thanks so much!)
First EVER Tuesday Morning Blend Local Artist Showcase
For those of you who’ve missed it, last autumn, my dear (and ridiculously talented) friend, Nil Ferrin, pulled me and Hungover with V into her Tuesday Morning Blend 7-9 a.m. slot on KNON. I mostly help out by managing the live video feed of the Local Artist Spotlight at 8:20 a.m. every Tuesday morning. It’s super fun and rewarding, and more about it later.
In the meantime, building on the Local Artist Spotlight, we are hosting the FIRST EVER LOCAL ARTIST SHOWCASE for the TUESDAY MORNING BLEND. Squeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
(This is, incidentally, also the first ever Benefit for the Tuesday Morning Blend on KNON. Period.)
This show is THIS SATURDAY at the historic Sons of Hermann Hall! All ages! Doors @ 8 p.m. Show @ 9 p.m. Featuring this badass local deliciousness:
22nd Annual Deep Ellum Arts Festival
Ya know, besides all this photography and art and curating, I also book music for the Deep Ellum Arts Festival. (THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!)
This year, I am programming and managing the Texas Lone Star Stage, hosted by our very own Hungover With V!! You can find the whole lineup here, and also create your own custom schedule and share it with your friends! And here’s the official Facebook event page, to RSVP and keep up with some of the shenanigans.
Love is Art
After much deliberation and much request, I have officially relaunched the wedding portion of my photography practice.
This January marked exactly 15 years since I started my formal journey as a photographer. (Informally, I’d been the unofficial group picture taker since age 13 or 14, and my keen interest in photography reaches at least least as far back as my first HC-110 camera I received for Christmas at age 11.)
I was drawn to weddings right away, a young woman looking for a way to make a passion into a viable career, and shot my first at age 19. I shot a lot of weddings. I shot too many weddings. I burned myself out on weddings, shooting virtually nothing but for an entire 6 years. In 2009, after the recession was in full swing, I put them down and dove headfirst into exploring what drew me into photography in the first place: art and music. I began making art and shooting live music and concentrating my commercial portrait work on headshots and promotional material for actors, musicians, comedians, artists, entrepreneurs, and other creative professionals.
Over the past few years, I’ve shot only a handful of weddings: family and friends, and a few referrals from past brides. I’ve had many people ask if I shoot weddings. I’ve had many ask for my portfolio to refer to their friends and clients. I’ve not had anything to give them. I’ve not had any desire to sit down and pore through years of archives to rebuild a portfolio. And then, quite by accident, a few months ago, I realized I have inadvertently built a new portfolio of beautiful images I adore.
A number of little moments have aligned in the Universe to let me know it is time to do this. (Synchronicity.)
I’ve remained loosely connected to the online wedding photography community over the years. I noticed when the organization Fearless Photographers came on the scene. I’ve noticed the beautiful, inspiring images of the Fearless Awards flowing generously through my Newsfeed. I can’t help but like them. I can’t help but love them. I can’t help but feel a yearning to shoot beautiful images of happy people in love myself again, too.
As I launched a new wedding portfolio this month, it seemed only natural to apply to Fearless Photographers at the same time. Maybe it’s because I want to be a part of a community that inspires me. Maybe it’s because its founder, Huy, has been an inspiration to me for almost as long as I’ve been shooting. Maybe it’s because I want to see my images flowing through the Newsfeed with a Fearless Award stamped on them.
Whatever the reason, I am very pleased to announce, in synchronicity, my new online wedding portfolio to share with all your brides-to-be, and my acceptance into the prestigious Fearless Photographers directory.
Happy New Year.
I lost track of blogging at the end of 2015, with the holidays and my sister’s wedding in Indiana and so. many. things. And I had been doing pretty well!!! Arguably better than any other year. Which makes my goal for 2016 to blog more than last year. ;-)
This is my official Happy New Year post. Yes, I know January is basically over. For which I am grateful. This was a difficult January for me, as Januaries are wont to be. I am looking forward to the good things coming in 2016.
Also, this beautiful image of sunrise in west Texas at the Davis Ranch. Because I can. Here’s to 2016.
