A Friday Favorite

     
     I'd like to take a minute on this fine Friday afternoon and set aside a moment to highlight one of the simple pleasures in life. Cupcakes. No, it's not a deeply personal subject. And it has absolutely nothing to do with my art or creative life whatsoever. But some of the sweetness of life is just stopping to notice the good things. I may make a regular habit of doing this on future fridays, I'm not sure. But for now, I'm going to stop and give the stage to one of my favorite sweet parts of the sweet life. 


     The inspiration for this personal observation is that I've just made one of the great discoveries of my life: a quality gourmet bakery. While I realize the thrill of this discovery could easily be lost on many people, I would like to take a moment to celebrate it anyway. Polka Dot Bake Shop in Charlotte, NC is one of those amazing, unassuming, little gems that's just doing everything right. Being the cupcake aficionado that I am, I feel perfectly qualified to hold them up to the highest standards of cupcakey excellence. And let me tell you my friends, they pass with flying colors. They feature flavors like Pumpkin Turtle, Salted Caramel, Chai Latte, and Mexican Hot Chocolate. But the one that takes the cake (pardon the pun) is one of their featured Saturday flavors, the Honey Almond. I've never been much for the flavors of either honey or almond. So it was a complete shock to my peanut butter and chocolate loving system when I first tasted this little piece of perfection. It's this perfectly light and fluffy almond cupcake with honey almond cream cheese icing, crushed almond praline, and sliced almonds. So simple. Yet amazingly balanced and just beautiful. It is officially my single favorite dessert to date.


     And while I'm shouting the wonders of the Polka Dot Bake Shop from the highest mountain (or at least my blog), I'd be completely remiss to not mention the muffins. Oh, the muffins! They have a Sweet Potato muffin with a cream cheese center that could make some men cry. And again, I have to say I've never been a great lover of sweet potatoes. But somehow, they've done it again. They've taken flavors that have never been particularly appealing to me and created something so perfect that I am completely swayed. There is no room for improvement as far as I can see. My family was so impressed by these muffins that we had them overnighted to my cousin out in Utah for her birthday because we knew how much she would love them. She is a lover of all things sweet potato, and I don't think she's ever met a muffin she didn't like. So, I figured these would probably be a pretty big hit with her. She said when she opened them they were just as fresh as if they'd just come out of the oven that morning. She loved them so much she stopped and took a moment while enjoying them and her chai latte to take a picture of how beautiful her little meal was, so we could enjoy it together from a distance. That is one special muffin in my opinion.


     I didn't intend to write a restaurant review as much as I just wanted to say how great this little cupcake discovery was, but credit should be given when it is deserved. Many people and businesses go through everyday doing just the bare minimum, taking no pride in their work, or endeavoring to create anything special. I think it's nice to find a place, a simple bakery, that is inspired, responsible, and takes pride in what they do. If you live anywhere in the area, I highly recommend a visit to see them for yourself. But I also know from personal experience that their baked goods stay fresh for several days and handle being shipped very very well. And believe me, it's well worth it. Check them out at www.polkadotbakeshop.com. And take a look around your area to see what local, small businesses are doing an excellent job, and creating something wonderful. It's important to support these businesses and make sure we have them as part of our communities. My favorite is a cupcake bakery, but it could be anything. It's all about people putting their hearts into what they're doing, and doing it with excellence. I think that's an art, all on it's own. And in my case, Cupcake Art is my new Friday favorite. What's yours?

Sherrin's Bridal Portrait

   Last week my sweet cousin Sherrin married the love of her life, Tim, in Charlotte, NC in a beautiful afternoon garden wedding. They had a long hard road to get to where they could walk down that aisle, but when they finally did, it was just perfect. As a wedding photographer, I've been to a lot of weddings, to say the least. And I've seen a lot of brides walking down the aisle. But I don't think I've ever seen a groom looking at his bride the way that my new cousin Tim looked at Sherrin. He was almost glowing. I'm taking a break from wedding photography this year, so I didn't shoot the wedding. One of my dearest friends, Adam Coker at Authentic Exposure, did an amazing job with his team shooting the entire wedding weekend. Check him out at www.authenticexposure.com. I did get to spend some great time together with Sherrin doing a bridal portrait as a wedding gift for them. The shoot was split into two different segments. The first, in the blue ridge mountains in Asheville, NC, and the second on Baker's Mountain at our beloved Camp Joy. I can't say how happy I am that Sherrin and Tim are finally married, and that the wedding went so wonderfully. They're going to be living in Germany, which is hard for our whole family, but we've adjusted to it and are really happy for them. We're just going to have to find a new normal, and work a lot harder at skypeing and emailing to help span the distance. It's so hard being separated from the ones we love. In my heart I want to pull everyone close and have them all in arm's reach. But I also love them enough to want them to have wings to fly. It's a hard and confusing thing this love stuff. I guess the most important part is that the love we have between us in our family is strong. And those roots run deep. So whether we're separated by miles and oceans, or if we get the rare occassion to all be under the same roof, our love for one another is unchanged. And the depth of the pain from being apart is just a reflection of the depth of love between us and the ones we miss.
   So, I wanted to share some of the bridal portraits of our beautiful Sherrin. We had a great time, as always, shooting them, and she couldn't have looked prettier. This professional break from photography has been really good for me so far, and I think it's accomplishing what I'd hoped it would. This bridal shoot was a good experiment in that it really showed me that I have missed photography and that those creative juices run deep. I felt more excited and eager to shoot than I have in a long time, and that felt pretty great. I'm sure a good part of that was that it was Sherrin I was shooting, but I know that a lot of it was just the creativity of setting up and taking the shots. On a side note, Sherrin and Tim have spent the majority of their courtship traveling back and forth between America and Germany. And because traveling has been such a big part of her life, she wanted to reflect that in some of the portraits by having her suitcase in some of the shots. I say that just to explain that it had a purpose, and wasn't some random prop. Although I think it worked out looking pretty cool. As always, I'm very open and eager for feedback and/or suggestions. I love hearing other people's, and artists', perspectives and suggestions so I can see it from a different angle than my own. You can click on the individual photos to view a slightly larger version. Thanks for checking them out.

Shrimpin'

  I love to travel. Anyone who knows me at all knows that this is a huge passion of mine. I love discovering new people, and places, and flavors, and customs. I love seeing life from a completely new perspective, and flipping everything I know to be a certain way upside-down. And as much as I love to go, I equally love coming home. Part of traveling, for me, is the joy of being away from the familiar and then returning to it. And my familiar is the South.


  I am a southern girl, through and through. And while I can adapt and barter with a bushman in the heart of Sub-Saharan Africa or a Bizarre in the heart of Jerusalem, in my heart I am most at home in the land of magnolias, sweet tea, and bluegrass music in the bluest mountains on earth. So it's no great surprise that I tend to gravitate towards subject matter that illustrates the culture I love so much. The weather here has been chilly, and it seems like it's not quite ready to give winter up completely. Not just yet. So, I've been dreaming about sunny days on the coast, and I can almost taste the salt in the air. I love going to the NC outer banks more than almost anywhere on earth, and catching our own shrimp and crab is one of the highlights. If you've never had the pleasure, I strongly recommend that you promptly make your way to the nearest ocean inlet for the freshest dinner of your life.


  The man in this oil pastel is a local shrimper. I like to think that he's been going out on the channel his entire life. Something his father and grandfather have always done, and surely something he'll pass on to his own children. I love the dark worn look of his skin from years of summers spent on the water, and the way he so perfectly throws the shrimp net out, like a perfect saucer. I'm even a little bit jealous of him actually. I'd give anything to be out on that water, getting ready for a dinner of shrimp and vegetables, and maybe some watermelon. Oooh, and a nice cold Corona with lime. But for now I've got to grab my umbrella and scarf and make my way through the muck. Maybe I'll stop by the frozen foods section on my way home for some shrimp though. Not quite the same, but it'll have to do. For now.

Sleepy Sarah

  This pencil portrait is a very simple look into the face of a very special little girl. She is three years old and has already mastered the fine art of the female strong will. Rarely have I seen a child with a stronger will than hers. And while it can be challenging, more than anything I admire her. Her strength is going to serve her well when she's older and I know she will be a woman who knows who she is and what she wants. Sure, it can be interesting when a three year old is instructing you about where to sit or what to say. But, as she grows in tempering and maturity, I'm so excited to see who she's going to be.

  This portrait is from a photograph I took of my favorite little princess/dictator when she was three years old, right after she woke up from her afternoon nap. I love the expression on her face. So peaceful with the sleep still in her eyes. This is my favorite shot of her, I suppose, because she's so calm and content. Just a precious little girl, waking up from her nap, wanting to snuggle and read a story. And so we did.

Taking a Break

  So it's official. I've decided to take a break from wedding photography. It's a result of several factors, both personal and professional. But mainly, I'm just tired. These past six months have been the hardest of my life, and to be honest I can't think of anything I'd rather do less than photographing weddings at the moment. Don't get me wrong. I love weddings. I absolutely love them. I love the excitement and the beauty and the emotion and everything involved in being part of a day that is so incredibly special and sacred in a couple's life. And because I respect my role as a story teller, I recognize that I am not in a place to do my absolute best work. So, I've given myself permission to step back, refocus, and regroup. I fully anticipate that I will return to wedding photography. I'd be absolutely shocked if I didn't. My hope is that as I spend my creative time and energy in other areas, that my photography will have new life breathed into it, and I can come back to it with a fresh perspective. I want to be excited about photography again. I want to look forward to upcoming jobs and enjoy brainstorming new and fresh ways to capture people's unique story and tell it in a way befitting just them. I believe with all my heart that that's what they deserve, and until I can offer that, I need to take a step back. I'm starting this self-imposed sabbatical with both excitement and reservations. Finances will require some adjusting, and I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do next to be honest. Textile design has been a wonderful new opportunity for me, and I hope that this break will allow me the time to expand that part of my business. And on the purely personal side of things, I'm really just loving getting pencils and paint back in my hands. I've needed it more than I can say. I know now, better than I ever have, that I don't have to choose between photography and other types of visual art. I just haven't done a very good job at balancing my time and making room for both my own creative expressions, and working professionally to tell someone else's story. Being self employed in a creative field it's easy to let all that energy go to business and not prioritize any time for my own personal non-work projects. That's a huge goal for me right now, to learn to manage my time better and prioritize my own non-work. I think that as I do that better, it will probably benefit both my professional and non-professional artwork. So, with a sigh of relief, as a birthday gift to myself this year, I start down an unplanned side road, excited about what the detour might lead me to.

Underwater Swimmer

 I did this pencil drawing with Prismacolor pencils (my absolute favorites) and used a photograph from the incredibly talented Howard Schatz. His underwater fashion photography is groundbreaking and dynamic. I'm using several of his photos as reference in a few other pieces as well. If you have a little extra time I highly recommend visiting his site and taking a look around. It's absolutely inspirational. http://www.howardschatz.com/ 

Too Much of a Good Thing

  Lately, I've realized that I'm spending too much time in photography and not nearly enough time working with my hands. Don't get me wrong. I love photography. I love everything about it. I love the creativity and the adventure of it. I love the places it takes me and the people it brings me to. And mostly I love it's unique ability to freeze time and capture a moment, a certain look, a glimpse of someone's life or a place that is so beautifully preserved it becomes eternal. I suppose it's a side effect of the job, but I do tend to get a bit tunnel visioned when I work. Having my profession and my creative outlet combined in the same process is a dream come true. But it can get a bit monotonous. I've been dreaming of multi-colored Prismacolor pencils, brand new sketchbooks, sheets of beautifully thick bumpy watercolor paper, and paint I can get my fingers into.


  Part of my journey as a "divergent artist" is the constant discovery of what makes me tick creatively. What exactly is that thing that lights my fire? And what I found is that it's the variety of interests that really keeps me going. I need to paint, and draw, and sculpt, and weave, and bead, and paste, and yes, photograph. If I get too focused on one thing I tend to get creatively stale. This is a mystery to most of the people who've been telling me to focus on something, anything. I understand their attempted encouragement, but it's just not for me. So, today I'm gonna put down my camera and pick up some pencils I think. And I fully intend on not focusing one little bit.

Mac Attack

Mac Attack: A Modern Tale of Love, Tragedy, and Technology

   I swore I wasn't going to do it. I promised myself. I refused to become one of those Mac-centric, apple loving, I-everything crazies. Being in a creative field for business, and having studied photography and design in college, I was well versed in the benefits of a Mac over PCs for most creative work. But I was always perfectly comfortable and content with my Dell, and never saw any serious flaws or signs that it was inferior in some way. But, through the trials and tribulations of dealing with crashing harddrives, viruses, and faulty software updates, I started to reconsider switching over to Mac, and never having to deal with that stuff again. I did my homework and found exactly what I wanted, and mastered a great deal buying it online.


   At first, switching from a PC mindset to the Apple way of doing things was nothing but frustrating. I didn't understand how anything worked, or where anything was. I felt like a child trying to maneuver something way over my head, when previously I was more than competent on my Dell. There were more than a few moments when it was everything I could do to not toss my new purchase right out the window. Fortunately the realities of my bank account kept me from unleashing my rage, but secretly I bore hatred in my heart. Eventually, after a few weeks of trial and error, lots of cussing, and refusing to let a stupid computer get the best of me, I started to get it. Not only did it start to make sense to me, but I began to realize how much I'd been missing all this time. It was like a whole new world opened up to me that I didn't even know was there. Working in Photoshop was incredibly easier and all my programs merged and worked together absolutely seamlessly. It was incredible. I could feel myself slipping. I was in the middle of a full blown Mac-attack. Now, to my everlasting shame and joy, I am in a deeply committed relationship with Apple Macintosh for life.


   Now that I was completely convinced, and utterly dependent on it, the bottom fell out. Of course. The bottom of the computer didn't actually fall out, but it may as well have. My so-called master online deal turned out to not to be so much. I bought it used from another photographer because it wasn't very old and had all the software I needed already installed. Because I wasn't completely sold on Mac at the time, I didn't want to invest a huge sum of money on a new computer I wasn't sure I was going to stick with. Anyway, my Macbook stuck it out with me for a good two years, but eventually it died. 


   So, I updated and found a better, newer Macbook and managed to move all my files and programs onto my new machine. By the way, switching computers is a real pain in the tail. Especially when it's your main life line to almost everything. Not a fun process. Anyway, after all that, this last week I went to see my family in Utah. I didn't think a thing about taking my computer with me. Unfortunately, when I went to board the plane they told me there was no more room in the overhead compartments and that I would have to put my carry-on under the plane. I told them that it was a camera, lenses, and a computer and that they weren't packed to be checked luggage, and no way was I going to put them under the plane. They almost forced it out of my hand as they "helped" me check the bag anyway, asserting that it was either that or the bag would have to be left behind. They assured me it would be there safe and sound when I got off the plane at my layover. As you may have guessed, it wasn't. And when I got to Salt Lake City, it didn't show up there either. Come to find out my bag of thousands of dollars of poorly packed equipment had been mistakenly sent to the wrong city, but they did locate it. After another full day of pestering Delta, it finally showed up. So, before I left I went into their office to check through the bag and make sure everything was ok and nothing was broken. Miraculously my camera and lenses were there and in perfect condition. And as I opened the side zipper, there was my drawing tablet all by itself, without my computer. I went through the upper compartment and realized that someone had gone through all my personal items, removed them, got the computer cords and charger from under my toiletries, and then repacked everything else and sent it on it's way. I couldn't believe it. Delta said that I would have to pay to replace the stolen items, and then turn in the receipts and file a theft report and they would refund up to $3300. That wasn't going to cover the full cost of what I lost, but there was no room for negotiation. Apparently that's the maximum amount they allow for any lost, damaged, or stolen items. So now I find myself with no computer, waiting on my new one to come in the mail. And mad enough at the airline to spit nails. They forced my bag under the plane, sent it to the wrong city, lost it, and while it was in their custody, their employees stole my computer! 


     I feel like I've been on a computer roller coaster, turning over computers left and right, moving files, loosing files, recovering everything I can, organizing everything, and basically just wanting to toss the whole thing and go back to pencil and paper. But alas, I am far too spoiled by technology to ever go back. A word of warning though: don't check anything valuable under a plane. I was always worried about my bags getting lost. It never occurred to me that they might steal my stuff. Flyers beware!


Computers! Can't live with them. Can't afford to run them over with the car.

The Rest of Our Utah Excursion

As much fun as all of our touring was, I think we had an equally good time doing a bunch of nothing. We drove around small country towns, went to one of my favorite places ever, Sundance Resort (owned by Robert Redford), piddled around Park City where Jenn and Tim live, and ate some really great food. Some of my favorite times were when we were cuddled up on the couches watching movies or just talking.

My favorite brother Matt at one of the many side of the road vistas we stopped at. 

One of the friendly faces of Utah that lived just a ways down the road from us. Cute isn't he?

I couldn't pass up taking a pic of this little small town jewel. Gotta love one stop shopping.

The famous Sundance homemade lollipops in the old timey general store.

Mom and Matt playing with Yoda while we toured around Sundance.

Sweet Yoda would wait happily all day long in the back of a truck, as long as he didn't get left at home.

A very cool rustic door at Sundance Resort. 

I am absolutely crazy about all the aspen trees. They're my new favorite thing.

Even in the pale blues and whites of a snowstorm, the valley where we stayed was incredibly beautiful.

   Downtown Park City at night is really the stuff right out of movies. Ironically, it's the home of one of the biggest movie festivals in the world. But aside from it's cinematic appeal, it's full of small town charm, creative shops, artists galleries, top notch food, and all of it in walking distance from one end to the other. It's one of those towns you can wear comfortable clothes and boots and be appropriately dressed for a four star dinner. And then after eating a gourmet dinner walk around the corner to grab a homemade gellato and enjoy it while you listen to the street musicians playing their violins and hand drums. I suppose the reason I love it most is it's just one of those places you can settle into without any effort, and it feels comfortable but still exciting from the first moment I'm there.

We found some really great places to eat, and even a cafe that made biscuits and gravy. Not exactly authentic, but Jenni was so desperate for some southern food she didn't care. We ended up making a big southern family breakfast before we left though, so she's alright now.

Just like her parents, our little Stori is a musician in the making. She's almost a musical baby genius in my opinion, and her next single will be up on iTunes any day now.

   Stori loves animals, particularly her dog Yoda, more than any child I've ever known. Her "babies" are stuffed bears and puppies and the sweet way she holds them and kisses them almost makes me want to cry sometimes. Just that completely pure heart that has no fear of something bigger than her, and so much love she can't hug him or kiss him enough. I especially love the way she takes her blanket and wraps it around Yoda when he's taking a nap. It's not uncommon at all to see Yoda walking around, draped in Stori's blankey. I could easily be accused of being a little biased, but I really do believe she's just one of the most special little girls there ever was. Both she and her cousin Lealie have this light about them that beautiful and exciting and mysterious all at the same time, and any time that I get to spend with them is absolutely precious to me. I can't say how incredibly grateful I am that God has extended our family by marriage with men like Tim, and then again with babies like Stori. I've always loved my family, and they've always been one of the most important things to me. But it's so encouraging to see that as things change, they're getting even better. And now I can't imagine our lives without them, and wouldn't go back to how it was before them for anything. This visit to see them was so sweet, and so much fun, and exhausting all at the same time. Our time together is limited so we try to pack as much into it as we absolutely can, even trying to not go to bed too early or sleep too much to not miss time together. And as hard as it is to be separated from ones I love so much, I'm even more grateful that they're right where they're supposed to be, and that they're faithfully going down the road that God has laid before them. And that even though it's long distance, our two roads still get to intersect and we still get to travel them together. And that makes all of the distance and time apart bearable, knowing we're connected by love and not convenience or location. It was hard to leave, but I know it won't be too long until I see them again. Visiting is just going to have to become our new normal.