Blue Hair and Dreams

I've always wanted blue hair.  When my age was still in the single digits and I loved cartoons and super heroes and thought about changing my name to something exotic like Evangeline, I also wanted tattoos and blue hair.  My parents, possessing a combination of great wisdom and a desire to never stifle a dream, always told me that when I became an adult I could do whatever I wanted.  I could stay up all night, eat cake and ice cream for breakfast, I could watch cartoons all day long and get tattoos all over my body.  I would go to bed dreaming of the day I would become an adult.  I would tell my young self not to forget about all the amazing things I wanted to do as a grownup.  I began making lists of my dreams.  The lists have evolved over time.  I traded dreams of castles for dreams of tiny houses, instead of wanting horses I wanted movies.  But some dreams I have not grown out of.  Blue hair was one of them. 

If you have a long standing dream, one that time has not eroded, take hold of it and go for it.  Make a whole list of them, big and small, revisit the list, add to it, cross things off, change your mind, and live your dreams.  You have the power to change your whole life at any given moment.  Never forget that.

Before and after.

Ring Flash Photography

Ring flashes are generally used for macro photography, so you can get light on a subject shooting with the lens very close.  But many fashion and portrait photographers use them because of the awesome look you get, especially the reflection in the eyes.  When it was time to update my head shots with my awesome blue hair, I made myself a ring flash out of LED Christmas lights.  The lights were wrapped around each other in a ring and suspended on a stand around the lens of my camera.  Then I grabbed my roommates who happened to be passing by and shot them as well.  I gotta say, I'm really happy with the results.

I was Taking Selfies Before They Were a Thing

I was having my picture taken by some local press and I told myself that if I managed to get some dreaded contact lenses in my eyeballs that I would update my portraits.  So I did these.  

I used window light, a tripod, cable release, 50mm film lens open to f1.4, a stand with a sheet of paper next to me so I could see where I needed to put my face to keep it in focus and a yoga mat for a backdrop.

Katie

4 Emmy Nominations!

Last night I was nominated for writing, directing, and photography!  I was also nominated for a News Promotion Campaign with David Saich.  I watched with David Ostergaard (who also got a nomination for a commercial he worked on,) Tina and Erin at the Battery Park Book Exchange.  When the people around us heard our cheering and found out what it was about, they stared cheering with us and someone bought us a bottle of champagne to celebrate.  It was a great night!

The Awards are in June and both David and I are going.  So stay tuned for lots of red carpet action.

Katie

Ringflash photo shoot

I got a ring flash for a couple of days to see if I liked it and the answer is yes!  I don't know if I'm ready to make the investment to own it just yet, but maybe down the road.  It's so fun to shoot with.  Thanks to Satori Kursh and David Ostergaard who were my guinea pig models for the evening.

Katie

Underwater Videography

I just had my first adventure in underwater videography. I wrote a script for our 10pm news where people are falling asleep in front of the TV and then drifting off...literally. So to do the floating, drifting off shots I put my actors and my camera underwater in a pool. I used the blue of the pool as a giant blue screen and keyed them over background plates of the living rooms.

I have a still camera that shoots HD video in 5 minute bursts. So I had dad cut me some windows in an army ammo can and glue Plexiglas to the front and back. Then I would set my camera to roll, wedge it in the ammo can and seal it up before sinking it underwater. It worked out really well and my makeshift underwater rig didn't leak a drop. That video will be coming soon. In the mean time here are some photos of the underwater housing I used.

Katie

Jason's Head Shots

Anyone need a good actor? I just did some head shots for Jason Garcia. He has a great voice too!

Katie

Paul Visits...and installs my door knocker!

Well the door knocker wasn't the only thing Paul did for my house. He also put up my medicine cabinet and helped me move furniture. Be careful when you come to visit me, I might put you to work :)

The knocker is an antique and a special housewarming present from my family. It's a good match for the photo at the bottom that I took in Spain. I love my new, old door knocker!

Katie

Rebecca is Getting Married!

For those that haven’t heard, my sister Rebecca is getting married. She met another professor while teaching abroad in China and they have decided to get married and live there together. They will spend this Christmas with his family and next Christmas with ours where they will have a second ceremony here in the United States. His name is Chun Xiao, but I call him Mr. Yang because I can pronounce that. He teaches art history and calligraphy and they met when he was taking a class that Rebecca was teaching.

I know you’re wondering what pictures of dew drops on leaves have to do with Rebecca getting married. The answer is- nothing. This was just a tomato bush that I planted and thought looked cool. If you want to see what Mr. Yang looks like, send me an email.

Katie

Photography Show at Green Sage in Asheville

My travel photography has found its way into Green Sage coffee shop in downtown Asheville. So if you’re in the area stop by and have a look. It will be up until July where it will be moved again into the Lobster Trap restaurant.

Katie

Merry Christmas

In the film and photo world there are two notoriously difficult subjects to work with: children and animals. I chose the latter. When deciding on a subject for a holiday greeting, our dogs just seemed like the natural choice. They’re fairly well behaved animals, they know how to sit and stay, they even rollover sometimes when pressed. I was sure with a little bit of cheese for bribery I could easily get my Christmas shots.

Well, after a few failed attempts to get them together, I decided to shoot each dog separately and photoshop them together later. Huney (the hound) didn’t care to have anything on her head which she made it abundantly clear with her expression. Mae West (with the tongue) was the consummate professional and was fairly sedate and easy to pose. Her only problem was that whenever a “treat” came out, she would immediately rollover three times to prove how worthy she was to receive said treat. Silvia (the young pug) is persistently hyper and the mere fact that we could get her to sit still for a few seconds at a time was miraculous in itself. So here it is my deceptively simple Christmas greeting. Enjoy!

Katie

Cover Shoot

The cover shoot for the catalog I was working on, didn’t go as well as I would have liked. I haven’t seen the finished product yet, but I did get to see the cover attached here. There were a number of different factors that wreaked havoc on the day. If I could do it again, I would not agree to do so many different looks and set ups in such a limited time frame. Susan Rienhart, a writer for the Citizen-Times and our model for the day, was a real trooper and Sam did a great job as my assistant. She even shot the behind the scenes photo of me.

Parade of Homes

I’ve been shooting the most amazing homes in Asheville for our local Parade of Homes in the Citizen-Times. I got to go out, peruse, admire, and photograph a hand full of some really unique houses in the area. If I had a few million kicking around, I might be tempted to snatch one of these up.  This one was my favorite. It was an old barn that was completely taken apart and reused in the house along with both new and recycled materials.

Katie

New Catalog Shoot Coming Up

When it rains, it pours and I have been in a deluge of work over the past couple of weeks. I’ve been prepping for a catalog shoot that I just became the primary photographer for. I’ll be shooting clothing, food, and artwork, among other things. I’ve attached the spec sheet of clothing that I shot. I also attached some of the pieces that I sent as samples of my product photography. On top of that, I’ve been shooting gorgeous houses for the parade of homes for the newspaper’s website, and I’ll be sending highlights from that soon. For now, I need to catch up on some sleep. More news to come.

Katie