I've got some pictures from CONvergence 2008 up on my website. I've had more people ask me for pictures this year than any previous year, DANG! The gallery is located here. As always, if you want a file or if you want your picture removed - just let me know. I've emailed the CONvergence webmaster so hopefully a link will go up there too. It looks like they've completely overhauled the site though so I'm not sure if they'll be doing that anymore.

I just love this convention!

It's been a pretty hectic month but I've finally had an oportunity to upload some images from this wedding! The couple were so loving it was a real pleasure to be a part of their day. It seemed as though the weather could not make up its mind as to whether or not it was going to rain for most of the day which brought the mosquitoes out in full force! The bugs didn't put a damper on the day at all as everyone really enjoyed themselves. The families were simply lovely and it was a real joy to be a part of such a joyful event. Selected images are available in the weddings section of my gallery starting here




( 2008-06-07 )

Despite the threat of severe weather, K and D's wedding went off without a hitch! The storms rolled in as the dancing started but in the end they only served to supply us with some spectacular cloud formations to use as a backdrop to the event. Everyone had a fantastic sense of humor and everyone had us laughing from the priest who married them to the best man's speech. When the jokes weren't flowing, the bride's hockey team was there to help ensure everyone was having a great time. It was a honor to be there! Pictures of this event are located in the weddings section of my website beginning here. I hope you enjoy them!





( 2008-05-31 )

I volunteered to help shoot this wedding with a friend and I am glad I did! It was a very lovely wedding and the couple were a lot of fun. The groomsmen especially had a great sense of humor. Everyone seemed to have a really lovely time, I wish I would have been able to stay until the very end! These images are available on my website in the wedding gallery beginning here. I hope you all enjoy them!






( 2008-05-10 )

I had a fantastic time shooting a reception at the Wabasha Street Caves in St. Paul, MN this past weekend. The couple had already been married in Las Vegas in March so everyone was all set to party! The caves were a really fantastic back drop to the event and the tour of the caves were so much fun. I've uploaded some of the images to my website, the images to this wedding start here in the wedding gallery. I've put the images behind the cut as well!





( 2008 05 09 )

I had a fantastic time shooting D and L's wedding last weekend. Everyone was a lot of fun and I was running around taking pictures the entire day. I've uploaded a few of them to my website in the wedding gallery. It was hard narrowing it down to just a few! Here they are now for the link phobic.






( 05-03-2008 )

I threw in a few extras for the last order I sent out just because. I was experimenting with the beads before the last set of coptics so I figured I may as well send them to her! At any rate, now that she has the books, it won't spoil the surprise to post them here! Seems like I'm mostly using my flickr for book stuff lately but I don't have a book set! Oh well. I don't know that I use flickr enough to justify a pro account. We'll see.

I promise I'll make a real post some time soon.





( book details )

While I was working on the last order I had a few others in the works. I've got two finished now. Woo Hoo! I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I'm thinking about keeping the fish one, but the tree one is available. Don't worry, I've got a few other fish paintings ready for other books. I've got this huge yet tiny pile of paintings on my desk. Painting that small is pretty difficult! There are many that I don't like, but again I've been told I'm being entirely too critical. I know, I know, that doesn't sound like me at all!! Oh wait...

The books are both single needle coptic bound with hand made Japanese and Thai papers. The fish painting is done with guache on heavy fine art paper and the tree is made with cut and torn papers glued together. Each book is bound with heavy color shifting cotton thread that has been hand waxed for binding. The beaded embellishments are copper and glass and are incorporated directly into the binding. The tree book has ten signatures of five sheets each for a total of 200 pages while the fish book has nine signatures of five sheets each for a total of 180 pages. Internal pages measure 4.5" x 5.5" with the hard covers hanging just slightly over that. There are a couple more pictures on flickr.

I've been really sick all week. Both the boy and I have been pretty miserable. While I still feel horrible and can barely breathe, I'm also starting to get better. Expect an actual post later today or tomorrow.





( More and detail shots )

After much pain and drama I've finished the books XC asked for.

I think I need a bookbinding icon...

She liked the kitty book from my giant New Year's batch so I retrieved that one. Then I made a little horse book for her too. Yay! But all was NOT WELL. After a catastrophic small boy related incident, the book was destroyed. So it was back to the beginning. Unfortunately, I just could not get a horse painting that I didn't hate! It was totally silly but it was a major set back for me. Darn self doubt! I ended up doing over 30 of them but ended up using the third or fourth one I did.

All the pictures are up on my flickr

You'll recognize the kitty book from the previous set. It's made some huge changes in the addition of a safety pin and a name plate. (I painted over 14 versions of the name too!) It is a Japanese stab bound book with handmade Japanese papers. The painting is done in guache on heavy fine art paper. It's bound with a hand waxed linen thread and contains 60 pages of fine drawing paper. It measures 4.75" x 6.5"

The second is a hard cover coptic bound book. I had some problems with this book too! As I was attaching one of the covers, I actually ended up ripping one of the folios and I had to undo a lot of stitching and start over. I think I was able to pill it together though and get it to work. I don't know what I would have done if I had to give it a third try! It is made with handmade Japanese papers over book board. The painting is done in guache on heavy fine art paper. The book contains nine folios of five sheets each for a total of 180 pages. It's bound in the single needle coptic stitch with hand waxed linen thread. It measures 4.5" x 5.75"





( Book details )

The new website is all ready to go - thanks Drake! I'm just having some trouble getting it up due to problems with my ahem IT department. hehehe... Hopefully by the end of the week!

In the mean time I've finally put up some new images to my existing site. Whew! I've got two sets, an art portrait and some food. They don't go together in any way, I've just put them up recently.

The two portraits are here and here. I did a cross processing effect on them which I simply love. It seems to me like people are a bit too afraid of the more extreme artistic treatments.

The other set is some delicious Vietnamese food pictured here, here, and here. And yes, it was DELICIOUS.

As usual, the images are also under the cut so you don't have to click away from lj. Thanks for all of your support! Remember, I'm also available to shoot for you! Wedding availability is limited due to a heavy season.

( Art portrait and food )

After my last bookbinding post and the offer to have my books go to a convention, I spent the next 4 days doing nearly nothing but binding. It was unbelievably exhausting! Afterwards I had to take a pretty long break from the whole thing so as to not get really burnt out. But I'm climbing out of the hole now! I'm almost finished with the special orders I received after the last post as well so if you've already sent me money, your book should go out this week. On to the pictures!

Larger versions of all pictures are on my flickr as well as more detail shots of things like stitching.

There's also the last coptic I put together as a gift that I forgot to post here at the end.




( But really, how many could you make in 4 days? )

( The coptic if you want to skip the stab bindings )

A few months back I was asked to contribute a picture of a goldfish for Wet Ink. We all know how much I hate taking pictures of my fish so I shot a bunch for them to pick from. The final selection was a picture of Fuu. This is my first international publication! Go me! The image is on my site here and the post about it there is here. Thank you to my lovely friend for the fantastic oportunity! I really appreciate it.

The image is behind the cut along with a picture of me with the magazine.

( Fuu with fanned tail. )

I used to do a lot of book binding and then I just sort of drifted away from it. In my recent stress about finding a way to supplement my income, I've returned to it. I made a few books over the last couple of weeks. Most were to give as gifts but the rest I had intended to try to sell. As it turned out we were very short of gifts so they all ended up being gifts. No big deal. But I did remember to take a bunch of pictures before sending them off to their new homes.

I made a stack of traditional Japanese stab bound books and a coptic bound book. I've got another coptic on my desk to finish for a friend and I'll take pictures of that when I'm done as well. I went to try to find binding thread I like but it looks like I'll have to either order it online and try the MN Center for Book Arts. It's a hard call since I HATE driving around down town but I also prefer to be able to touch my supplies before purchasing. Oh dilemmas.

In any case, if I'm going to sell these I need to figure out a place to do so. I'm not sure what that is yet.

A few more pictures and bigger sizes are on flickr. Hope you enjoy!








( More pictures of the books )

It's been entirely too long since I put up any new work to my site. I have so many things to put up, it's rather sad. So, I've quickly put up a picture I shot of Sam. I had a friend ask me to shoot a goldfish picture for her publication and I was happy to oblige. I think we all know how hard it is to get me to play with my fish! This isn't the one that they picked, I'm keeping that one under wraps until the publication comes out. The image is here and of course, under the cut.

( Sam Sam )

New photography work has been posted to my website. This is the third installment of my Bodyscape series. There are just three new images in this set. For those who do not want to click away from lj, they are repeated beneath the cut. I hope you enjoy them!

( Bodyscape 3 NSFW )

It's true, I've finally uploaded some of my work to my site again. Here's a link to the image on the site. It was a lot of fun to work on this piece. It's been a long time coming. More model shots are coming soon. I hope you all like them!

( The Black Veil (WS) )

I've updated the site but forgot to mention it here. Most recently I've gotten around to putting up some real estate shots I did a few months ago. Those pictures start here. If you'd like to see the actual listing it's MLS# 3449207. I've also put up a new sample piece. This sample covers everything from basic color correction through retouching. And last but not least, a small portrait piece that nearly didn't happen. I also somehow forgot to let you all know that I uploaded a few pictures from the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. It was a pretty short trip for me this year so it's not a very big gallery and largely features the always entertaining Mud Show.

There's a lot more fun work coming including the third model for my bodyscape series. In anticipation of my business's transition, I've created a new ad image. I hope to boost my client base enough for next year so that I can hire a subcontractor! Hope you all like it!

( Photographic Post Production Services )

There are new portraits on my website in the people and portraits gallery. The new images start here and are also under the cut. Hope you like them!

I also used many of these images for more post production samples. My post production work is very popular and I'm always in need of more samples! My sample gallery is here, the samples from this set are as follows, the second image, the third image and the fouth image. I also added a sample from the Thul family shoot I posted about last week. That sample is here. Thanks for looking!

( Aileen portraits )

I've had a break from weddings and was able to get some of my own work done. This is a short series of four based on the practice of scrying. It's a subject I'd like to revisit but perhaps in a different interpretation. The series starts here on my website. The series of images are also under the cut. I hope you like them!

( The Oracle )

I've posted a new set of portraits to the website. The family pictures start here. Hope you like them, there are many more to come!

( A few samples. )