… they are the best. and kate specifically is an amazing wife! we took some family time yesterday to relax in the park since it was so nice- we definitely don’t do that enough.
and now back to work!
i LOVE a good before/after comparison- haircuts, furniture or a nose job– it’s just interesting! so i have totally let myself down in forgetting to take before shots for almost every single house project we’ve attempted. we’re usually about half way in when i pull out the phone to snap a few in progress shots- but thankfully we’ve at least done that a few times and i’m excited to have some documentation to share!
ok, let’s break from the house thing to talk about something- i know the issue is pretty split, and i don’t want to offend anyone, but really- i do subscribe to the theory that the best camera is the one that’s with you- so for us, that makes our best camera an iphone. we have it everywhere we go and we capture life and create art with it all the time. we play with our images with a few different apps and then we usually twitter to share them with all of you! we do love our schfancy dslrs but most of our day to day images happen with the phone and we are totally happy with that! we get asked a lot- do you make a picture every day? do you practice shooting? and i guess the best answer is yes- we practice, yes, we shoot daily- just with a phone! to quote the pioneer of it all, chase jarvis, ‘inherently, we all know that an image isn’t measured by its resolution, dynamic range, or anything technical about cameras or photos. An image is measured by the simple—sometimes profound, other times absurd or humorous or whimsical—effect that it can have upon us.’ thanks, chase, for justifying the iphone pics i’m about to put up. i agree with you and support your vision. ;)
when we moved into our house in july we found it completely empty and rather clean. we cheerfully began to move our furniture in and finally, to move the few little hand tools we had into our basement. we pushed the door open into the musty basement, flipped on the single bare bulb (much like a cartoon basement would have) and let our eyes adjust. seems when they moved out they didn’t bother to empty out the basement! it was among the old paint cans and broken windows that we found two pieces of ugly furniture covered in dirt, spiderwebs & something that looked like rat poo. i googled it. anyway, we just turned around and walked out- leaving our tools right by the door- the basement a project for another day. well, the day for basement renovation has not yet come but we did jump back in there a few weeks ago to pull out that old ugly furniture! we blasted it with a hose and stripped years of lacquer off to make it our own. free decor? i like it! now to figure out what to put in the empty spaces we created when we added the new bottoms!
and i leave you with a stressful image of our most recent project- the back yard- it has only begun!
and since that wasn’t such a happy ending- i will add this picture of our stella:
matt & i are often contacted by couples who’d just like a day shoot and sadly, we are rarely able to find the time between weddings and engagement sessions to make it happen. it’s always hard to turn anyone down but when they respond asking if we’ll have any time over the next TEN months- we always mention february! there are a hardcore few who are totally cool with that and alyssa & charles are at the top of the list!
so two weeks ago, matt & i found ourselves grabbing some coffee (for hand-warming and drinking purposes) and scouting around downtown greenville for some locations to shoot alyssa & charles- they’d given us a few adjectives to define their shoot but in the end they left it up to us. we started at a location suggested by a friend and from there ended up just prowling around behind buildings and picking our way through empty lots. it’s really amazing to work with other artists- both alyssa & charles are artists, themselves- because we all come into a shoot ready to make art. they trusted our direction and sweetly and consistently ROCKED every location! it’s always a little intimidating to create images for creative people but also so rewarding! without further ado:
who’d have thought we’d find some green in the middle of february!? yeay! and even more exciting? alyssa & charles were happy as clams to climb up the hill and make this shot happen. i tried to climb up to get some closer shots and it, well, didn’t go so well. three cheers for clients with good balance, haha!
guys- the SUN was out!
we had a blast shooting with the fabulous light and capturing the dark clouds that threatened us. then as the sun sank lower the golden light was even more of a beautiful contrast with the clouds- even though we were technically done with their shoot and had plenty of images to deliver, there was no way we were going to miss these last shots!
my fave:
alyssa & charles, you guys are awesome for braving the february chill to make some pretty pictures with us! thank you so much for trusting us to capture these- we wish you guys the best!