Category : Tribe
As promised, Celina and I are bringing you a second polatych for April. Our theme this month was double exposures using the Polaroid Spectra camera. I must confess, I LOVE double (and multiple) exposures. I began getting addicted to them during the summer of 2011. You can see some of my favorites here and here and here. Since I LOVE double exposures so much, I couldn’t resist injecting some love into my image. So, you might be able to guess that my photo is on the right with Celina’s on the left.
Can’t wait to see what May brings us in our collaboration!
If you live in the Northern hemisphere, I hope Spring is making its way to you. Here in the Midwest, she is coming in fits and starts. As I type this, Mother Nature is sleeting and raining and giving us a dose of wintry mix. But just a few days ago, I took my shoes off and stood in the grass for the first time in 2013. Luckily, I caught that moment on film. Here is that brief moment (on the left) as part of the first “polatych” for April in my collaboration with Celina (hers on the right). We are doing double exposures for our theme this month.
We promise to share one more polatych of double exposures before the May flowers appear and we have a new monthly theme!
As I mentioned before, Tony and I took a quick trip to Nashville a few weeks ago to meet up with our dear friends, Melissa and Tom. We met M&T a few years ago when they were working on a documentary about marriage, and they came here to Lincoln to interview us! We immediately hit it off and totally believe the Universe brought us together. Tony and I agree with Melissa and Tom when they say we are like each other’s couple clone. We chose Nashville to meet up as it was a city that none of the four of us had ever visited and a place we all had an interest in checking out. We explored the main strip in the downtown area and lots of little neighborhoods throughout the city. Of course, I packed a number of cameras, looking forward to shooting photographs of a new place. Here are some highlights from our trip that I shot on two of my Polaroid cameras with instant film from the Impossible Project.
First up, the Loveless Cafe and Motel, a Nashville staple serving up some of the most amazing biscuits (plus, I can’t resist a vintage, neon sign)…
A little wheatpaste art in the 12South neighborhood…
The famous letterpress, Hatch Show Print, who have been in business since 1879 making posters and press for country music starts, political campaigns, and more…
The facade of Barista Parlor, one of the coolest and yummiest places to grab coffee (and biscuits and jam tartlets) in East Nashville…
Of course, when in Nashville, wear your boots! Melissa and I showcasing ours…
And last but not least, a lovely portrait of my Tribe sister and kindred spirit, Melissa, on our last morning…
These photos can’t possibly capture the fun the four of us had together, nor all the sights and delectables we enjoyed in NashVegas (I am not making that up!), but I hope it gives you a little glimpse into our escapades down South. Where will M&T2 venture to next? Rumor has it that Paris and London could be on the books!
Over the past two years or so, many people have asked me about the Tribe. They want to know what is the Tribe, who is in it, and most of all, how did the Tribe come to be. The Tribe is my group of soul sisters. They are the core of my creative community. The Tribe are some of my most kindred spirits on this journey of carving out a creative life and focusing on what matters. But it wasn’t an accident or pure happenstance that brought us all together. It took effort and risk and trusting the Universe for me to even dream about putting together this group of inspiring and wholehearted women.
In the spirit of collaboration — and I am all about collaborating and putting our creative efforts together — two of my Tribe sisters, Elizabeth and Emily, and I collectively wrote a piece about the Tribe. We tried to answer those questions of how it came to fruition, what it felt like to be asked to join this group of then-strangers, and what the reverberations have been from taking the leap and going all in. We also wanted to share many of the photographs that we have taken of our time together, celebrating the sisterhood that we have cultivated among ourselves. So 7 of us selected photos from our two retreats and threw them into the collaborative mix. We wanted to share our story to inspire other women to create their own Tribe. We all need connection. We all need to be seen. We all need to find our soul sisters.
I’m thrilled to share with you that our collaborative piece, writing and photographs, are hitting newsstands this week in Mingle magazine. I really hope you check out, especially if you are searching for your kindred spirits. They are out there and you deserve to find them. We all need a Tribe. xoxo
As you might remember, my dear friend and Tribe sister, Celina and I launched a new collaboration last month. We are combining our love of instant photography into diptychs, or what I’ve re-named “polatychs.” This month, we kept our eyes open for signs of spring, and here’s our result (Celina’s branches are on the left and my purple flowers are on the right).
I’ve had to really hold on to these small indicators that spring is in fact on its way, as it snowed a day or two after I shot my photo. I’m so over winter at this point, as I know many of us are. I hope you stay tuned and see what Celina and I have in store for April.
I’m so excited to share with you that my dear friend and Tribe sister, Celina Wyss, and I are launching a new collaboration. Being two photographers and two devotees of all things Polaroid, Impossible Project, and instant film, you can likely guess that was our starting place. Here’s a hint…
I’m revealing our collaboration over at Mortal Muses today, so I hope you click HERE to get the full scoop!
Last summer during the Tribe retreat, we spent an afternoon making vision boards. We had tons of magazines, posterboard, and gluesticks at the ready. While we talked about our dreams for the upcoming year, we poured over the magazines, looking for images and words that spoke to us and captured some of what we were visioning for our futures. In addition to the typical glossies that you pick up at the grocery (Oprah, Whole Living, Real Simple), I brought along some of my favorite magazines that are more like journals, catalogs of art and creativity — UPPERCASE, Mingle, and Kinfolk to name a few. As I found images of cameras (even an SX-70!) and hearts and bikes that I wanted to put on my vision board, I knew for certain I wanted to cut out the masthead of UPPERCASE and use it for my vision of the future. I was clear that one of my big goals and dreams for the coming year was to have my photography and writing published in UPPERCASE, a magazine I adore that features amazing work by all types of artists.
Not long after returning home from the coast of Oregon, I began working on a submission to UPPERCASE. Like I tell my students about publishing academic research, the surest way not to get published somewhere is to not submit your work. Thus, I took my own advice, and crafted a story and selected accompanying photos. After working it through many times, writing and re-writing, pouring over photos, I took the plunge and submitted it. And then I waited, asking the Universe to do its thing (please and thank you). I journaled about it and reminded myself to trust the process. I repeated a mantra to myself that I had done my part, did the work, put myself out there, and now I had to believe this creative endeavor would take the course it needed to take.
And then it happened. I heard back from Janine Vangool, the editor of UPPERCASE. She said she liked my photography and my writing, and said she’d keep me in mind as she worked on future issues of the magazine. A month or so later, I heard from Janine again, saying she wanted to use my story and some photographs in an upcoming issue of UPPERCASE. YES! I did my part and the Universe did its thing.
Issue #16 has recently shipped to subscribers and stockists, and it landed in my mailbox just this week. I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was to rip open the plastic covering, and turn to the Table of Contents to see my name listed. I was beyond thrilled to then flip to page 29 and see my words, my photographs, and me (self-portraits, you know!) among the pages of this magazine I so adore. I also love that the photographs included in the piece are a combination of self-portraits and Polaroids shot with Impossible Project film. I feel grateful and so happy to have realized another creative dream.
To help celebrate this milestone and my photography and writing being published in the pages of UPPERCASE, Janine is sponsoring a giveaway of a year subscription to the magazine! How awesome is that?!? For your chance to win the subscription, please leave a comment on this post by Sunday, January 27th at midnight Central time. I’ll select a winner using a random number generator and let you know who won!
As always, thanks for being a part of my creative journey. You cheering me on means more to me than you know. xoxo
I’ve been searching for the words to tell you more about my trip to NYC a few weeks ago and about seeing my photograph hanging in the Impossible Project Gallery. I promised you I’d come back and tell you all about it. To be honest, I’m still struggling with describing my emotions and the experience of it all. It was surreal. And incredible. And overwhelming — in a good way.
Over the past few years, I have visited the Impossible Project NYC space two or three times. I’ve gotten the chance to meet some of the amazing people who work there (I’m talking about you, Anne, Frank, and Dave!), and I’ve seen a number of gallery shows that they have hosted in their gorgeous space on their impossibly tall walls. I’ve seen work exhibited there by some of my favorite instant photographers including Andrea Jenkins and Irene Nam. And in those times when I’ve visited and looked at the photography exhibited, I’ve whispered dreams to myself that maybe some day my photography might be hung on those walls.
And then, it happened.
When we came off the elevator (or the “hellevator” as it is known), and walked through the door, my photograph was one of the first I could see. And in that moment, it didn’t seem quite real. I felt a bit out of my body. My dear Tribe sisters were with me (so grateful for that) and I think they were able to be more present at first than I could be. So, I had to catch my breath and take my first real look. Thankfully, Melissa graciously captured photos as the experience unfolded.
The photo above reveals my happiness in the moment. It helps me see the pure joy I was feeling in seeing my self-portrait enlarged and framed, hanging on the gallery wall at the Impossible Project. In NYC! And then this photo, this is where it hit me. Really hit me. A dream realized.
I was filled with emotion. Tearful. Grateful. Humbled. Proud. Although I can’t quite articulate it in words, I was so aware of how much this means to me. Yes, I want to be a good photographer. But I really want to be a good great Polaroid and instant film photographer. To do this, I have been working hard and practicing my instant photography over the past few years. I have had many growing pains, but the process has been incredible and I’ve learned so much. I can see my growth as I look back over all the instant photos I’ve taken. I love my Polaroid cameras and everything about instant film and photography. And I adore the instant photography community. The Impossible Project makes instant photography — the very ability to still use our Polaroid cameras — and the fostering of that community exist today. So to see my own development and to be seen and acknowledged by the Impossible Project, to have “made it” on to their gallery wall, means more to me than I can adequately explain.
So thank you, Impossible Project. Thank you, Tribe sisters, for trekking to NYC to see this moment. Thank you, Melissa, for capturing this experience for me. Thank you Christy, my Mortal Muse sister, for coming and for taking the iPhone photo with both my photograph and me in it. Thank you, Universe, for all that you provide.
I’m eternally grateful. xoxo