Unzipped

Commercial Photography for a local marketing firm for an in-store promotions campaign for Wrangler Jeans.

The wild, wild Mid-West

On our recent trip to the Mid-West, I brought both my Powershot point-n-shoot and my Nikon and all the lenses. I wanted to and did take a bunch of photos. Ones to share that will be hung in one's home for years. The kind you give in a nice frame.  I digress...
While out and in this crazy wilderness known as the mid-west, we drove upon and through one corner of this crazy storm. [Cue: Crazy by Patsy Cline]

You can see why people are so fascinated by Storm Chasing. Case in point, my brother-in-law who gets to see this stuff all the time and loves chasing storms. And Laurie Excell. Check out her fabulous blog and images.

This being the 2nd time up there and the 5th trip across the mid-west, you really need some Patsy Cline. Johnny Cash, too. Good ol' horse back riding music to take this part of the country nice and easy.

Easing on towards Bloomington, the storm got intense. 

My mind went towards those tornadoes that my hubby is used to from growing up there. We get a few here back east. Small ones, except that unique one from just about 2 months ago. Tore up High Point good. Then the ones in PA, too. Took out my Kinzua Viaduct bridge on its way.

I tell you what, if it weren't for my Nikon and that glorious 50mm f/1.4 mf that I have, these would have never emerged from what I actually saw happening. I could shoot straight through those windows in the rental car. Barely appearing.

But when I wanted to show it, and nab that crazy storm we went through, slow the shutter down enough and mess with the apeture. And look what it gives. The full feel of driving the interstate during a crazy storm.

We turned left at Bloomington and came out on the eastern side of the storm. And all was good. Just like that.

Yet another adventure for this crew.

My chi-quong

Music creates this soundtrack for my life. It can literally set the tone, alter the tone at my choosing. Getting one's chi straight becomes this lovely game. Well, maybe "hunt" would be better there.

With music comes visuals that also adjusts one's mojo, if it is indeed out of balance. Wonky, as they say here in NC. Sometimes it can come in a pull towards one vision. Such as creating a vision of the tone that makes chi run like a well machined yin-yang.

Here are three samples of how a tune and a visual alter whatever you are doing right now.

 flyingeva

Song:                                       Lonesome Whistle Train

bomobob 

Song:                                           Flight of the Bumble Bee

ara133photography 

Song:                                                      Boogie Chillin'

Lose your chi? Try creating it. Someone mess up your mojo? Think on it. Have a full on conversation with yourself.

It's amazing to me.

Welcome to a new era

This is the era of shit or get off the pot.

I celebrated my birthday on Wednesday; well, I had been celebrating all weekend. My birthday is truly one of my favorite holidays, second only to Christmas. I turned 36, but still don't feel very old. Scott & I have really come a long way with brandMOJO Interiors in 2009: he's doing it full time, we even hired a CPA. That's big stuff in my book.

But it has occurred to me that this year is the year for brandMOJO Images to now take off. I have a few obstacles to deal with first before I can start offering my images for sale. I have to figure out why my Epson 1900 doesn't print centered on the sheet. But that just means getting the time to play with it; stocking up on inks and more paper in various sizes. It would take me an afternoon I think. The perk is that I would invariably have images to then put into frames and hang in the house. The biggest hurdle is my images that are negs or slides; 35mm or medium format. I have gone through book after book of the prints and dog eared the ones I want to get scanned. Now, to the locating of the negatives for those prints. Again, just some time.

So this is the era of shit or get off the pot. Put up or shut up, kind of thing. If I really want to make it a go, I need to just dive in. Now that things are steadily moving along for brandMOJO Interiors, I can focus on the other realm of our brand's mojo. We always say, "My pieces would never sell if you didn't shoot them the way you do." And, "I could never shoot them if you didn't finish them like that." We're such a good team.

But now, it is about my love. Shooting those things I love. I feel as though I have honed my eye over the years. And I am so curious to see if anyone would buy a print. And which ones would be the chosen ones. Thank god for Etsy and their site. It really is a perfect starting point for me. So wish me luck, cause here I go.

Ew, wash your hands.

So, I'm thinking that I need to extend this to whomever is listening to the tap tap tap of my fingers. Please go touch our website. Why do you think they call it Viral Marketing, anyway? :) So go ahead. Here, take my hand.

This ought to be interesting

It's up. Our website is live. Phew. Now, marketing. Isn't that what you are for, dear blog? www.brandmojointeriors.com

Images

Images. So why use that term. When I worked out west at ProPhoto Supply, the photographers always called their photographs images or shots. Occasionally photos, but not commonly. Over the years it has occurred to me why.

When my hubby talks to me about shooting a new table or piece of furniture, I see in my mind what I want it to look like. I see an image. An image is like a poem. Everyone interprets it differently. Normally I never stage his pieces. This past weekend, he had a Cooper's table for me to shoot.

This table repurposed as a coffee table that has this curved top. Scott thinks maybe it was used by a barrel maker. So we had to prove to people that this piece could really be used as a coffee table. We took our glasses of wine and beer respectively and placed them on top. Perfect. Took out that same EA Poe book and placed it on the shelf below the curved top. Perfect. Now someone can imagine using this as a coffee table. It actually serves a purpose. 

We didn't stage the table in a room. We never do that, unless the room is totally NOT where you would ever use the piece (see the Monolith table shot in an abandoned boiler room). I like to let people "see" the piece within their own space whether it be an office or a home. I want them to create their own image of that piece. So we shoot the piece in a way that is old if the piece is contemporary; new if the piece is old. So the piece jumps out at you.

When it comes to my fine art shots, I still hold that they are images. They are not staged either; I never move objects, I move myself. God I love to shoot. 

Now that brandMOJO Interiors website is up  (still going through the 48 hour testing period), I can work on getting my own Etsy page up to sell my pieces, my shots, my images. brandMOJO Images. Just like this blog. I will take my snippets from a time, a place, a moment, that I have frozen in time and let people decorate their lives and spaces with those. Now it is time to create the image of me selling my own photographs.