new website and blog in the works

In January, I attended a mind blowing artist professional development workshop through a very special non-profit, Creative Capital: http://creative-capital.org/pdp/about. This workshop was life changing in so many ways. I got to know some wonderful artists and have some very exciting collaborations planned with several of these artists.

It was also an opportunity to take a look at where I want to go as an artist, and what it takes to get there. One of the realizations I made was how important documentary projects are for me. I've never put the full force of my planning, imagination and dreaming towards that work, and yet, it is the heart of everything else I do.

As a result, I've been planning strategically towards that work. A big part of that effort at the moment is revising my website. I'm working with some amazing people to create a custom, integrated website and blog that will be easier to navigate, and that will allow me to show more fully some of the projects close to my heart.

I can't wait to launch it!

Traci and Shaun {wedding commission}

Traci and Shaun were married last November at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens. LOTS of fun and love at this wedding...it was such a joy for me to document this day for them! Traci's twin brother was her man of honor, and I must say he did a fine job of making sure her train was straight. Traci and Shaun know how to enjoy life--whenever I spend time with them, I walk away with a great big smile on my face. Traci, I am so glad you stumbled across my photos in Jacksonville Magazine and came to meet me. I am glad you are in my life!

Srujani's Grandparents Visiting from India

Several years ago, I photographed Neha and Rahul's wedding. I loved photographing their wedding, and I especially enjoyed photographing all of the family that came in from India. Rahul's sister, Srujani, recently called and asked if I would come photograph her cooking with her grandmother and playing games with her grandfather while they were in town again. In addition to enjoying this wonderful family being together, I also enjoyed eating the delicious meal they prepared for Tim and me.

Musings, a few photographs and a poem

I have been shooting A LOT the past two weeks. Normally my work has a rhythmic quality: photographing clients, meeting with potential clients, accounting, answering emails and calls, editing, designing books, photographing clients again, and so forth. But lately, my time has been completely absorbed in shooting. I very much appreciate all of you who have patiently waited for me to return calls and emails.

Here's a brief summary of the past seven days: I photographed Elizabeth and Alex's beachside wedding and adored being surrounded by their amazing loving family. The next day I photographed beautiful Allison and David from New York City on Fort George Island during their visit to finalize wedding plans for next October. I photographed three interesting and resilient teenagers for the One in Three project and I traveled to beautiful Ocala to photograph Srujani's grandparents, who were about to return to India after a month long visit. After photographing Srujani cooking delicious sweets with her grandmother, and her grandfather playing an Indian board game with his great grandchildren, they fed me the most delicious lunch. On Friday morning, I photographed artist and Next Gallery owner Sharla Valeski in a very cool fashion oriented shoot downtown and on Friday afternoon, I photographed Rachel, Ryan and their two year old daughter as they await the arrival of their second baby. Yesterday morning I photographed Bruce (on the eve of his 70th birthday) and his lively family, and yesterday afternoon, walked on the beach with Connor and Jamie and photographed them as they told the story of how they met and fell in love on the very same beach.

Today, as I pack to photograph Julie and Brian in St. Augustine, and I prepare to photograph a brand new baby tomorrow, I am struck by the astonishing beauty of human love. It is a powerful experience to be asked by families to come into their world and photograph what is most meaningful to them--it is sacred to me.

I am memorizing "Messenger", by Mary Oliver right now (she has captivated my attention lately), and it feels like it expresses so much better my feelings than I am able to.

Messenger, by Mary Oliver

My work is loving the world.

Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird

equal seekers of sweetness.

Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.

Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy

to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

~ Mary Oliver

One in Three photography wins local ADDY Gold award

For the past few months, I have been working in conjunction with the Jacksonville Public Education Fund on an incredible documentary portrait project called One in Three. I am photographing about twenty high school students who have succeeded despite staggering odds against them. These portraits will be 4 feet by 5 feet in size (BIG!) and exhibited at the Cummer Museum in the fall along with their stories printed on vinyl on the walls. The goal is to raise awareness of the staggering dropout rate in Duval County.

I am so proud of this project! I love the students I am meeting and so incredibly inspired by their stories and and also by the amazing adults in Jacksonville--ministers, teachers, volunteers who are making such a huge difference in the lives of students.

I just found out yesterday that my photography, which is used in the Sponsorship Kits that Brunet Garcia Advertising Agency designed was submitted for an ADDY and won GOLD! Woohoo! It now moves on to the state level. The photographs below show the brochure. I am so excited to share this project with you as it comes to fruition over the next few months.

Alligator Poem by Mary Oliver

I knelt down

at the edge of the water

and if the white birds standing

in the tops of the trees whistled any warning

I didn't understand,

I drank up to the very moment it came

crashing toward me,

its tail flailing

like a bundle of swords,

slashing the grass,

and the inside of its cradle-shaped mouth

gaping,

and rimmed with teeth--

and that's how I almost died

of foolishness

in beautiful Florida.

But I didn't.

I leaped aside, and fell,

and it streamed past me, crushing everything in its path

as it swept down to the water

and threw itself in,

and, in the end,

this isn't a poem about foolishness

but about how I rose from the ground and saw the world as if for the second time,

the way it really is.

The water, that circle of shattered glass,

healed itself with a slow whisper

and lay back

with the back-lit light of polished steel,

and the birds, in the endless waterfalls of the trees,

shook open the snowy pleats of their wings, and drifted away,

while, for a keepsake, and to steady myself,

I reached out,

I picked the wild flowers from the grass around me--

blue stars

and blood-red trumpets

on long green stems--

for hours in my trembling hands they glittered

like fire.

Britt and Adam

Here are a few of my favorites from Britt and Adam's beautiful June wedding. Britt loves Adam, and she loves pink.