packing

Sorry for the absence--I've been preparing for our trip to Europe. I've packed, and unpacked and repacked again, then unpacked, bought a different backpack and packed again. I want it to be just right--everything in it's place, and easy for me to access. We'll be moving a few times, so it's important that I can get to my stuff when I need it, but be ready to be mobile pretty quickly too. I just got home with my new backpack--it's 5500 Cubic Inches, so a bit bigger then my previous one-the big plus side is though that it has 3 entry points--so it's not just top loading. Top load has it's benefits, don't get me wrong, but in this case, the closer I can access it similarly to a suit case the better.

We leave for Chicago on Friday and spend the night at my parents place. Saturday early afternoon the limo picks us up and takes us to the airport, and off we go! We change planes in London, then finally get to our first destination of Munich, Germany late Sunday morning (their time---it's very very early Sunday our time) We're in Germany for until Friday. (in a couple different locations), then we take a train to Prague in the Czech Republic and spend 5 nights there, then fly to Budapest, Hungary for 3 nights, and finally train back to Munich and spend our last night there before flying back just after 2 weeks total in Europe. I'm going to take a ridiculous amount of photos (of course), and plan to start posting them as soon as I'm back. I'm not bringing my laptop this trip, so you'll most likely have to deal without me for a couple weeks--I know, whatever will my adoring public do!?!?!? lol.

Meth Lab for Cutie

Steph and I have come to find that it's not a good shoot, or at least not a complete one unless we have a run-in with the law. Today was no exception. We wanted an abandoned house to shoot in and around, and after the first one turned out to be far too smelly and dangerous (we sent Mike in to scope it out), we headed to another site we had both seen from a distance off of HWY 14. After 20 or so minutes, a pick-up made it's way through the overgrowth and up to us....a Janesville City Police officer "greeted" us while he was on the phone with the County Sheriff's Department. I think we burst his big drug bust bubble when he saw we were simply "takin pictures." My favorite line of the day came from him, "I can see you're not doing drugs as you're not in the typical meth attire"
Inside the house didn't produce the best shots, but it was quite interesting, and full of some great scares, as we were attacked by a few birds. (Mike screamed like a girl, it was great) After finishing up with shots outside the house, we headed out to Duck Lake in the city of Madison Lake for some water shots and fun. The wind was whipping and the water was far colder than the last water shoot at Hiniker Pond, but my willing but not whiny subjects grinned and bared it. Mike and Steph are so much fun, and really easy to work with. Steph has a natural model ability to her, and Mike is working on his expressions so as not to look like he's in pain or annoyed. He's come along way. I really enjoyed using my telephoto for some shots today, getting some candids of them when they were just playing around together and didn't really know I was shooting away.

the harddrive took a hard dive

sorry for the few days lapse.....my laptop's harddrive had an issue.....as in it died. I talked to Dell, as it's still under warranty, and they had me run a diagnostic. It turns out my harddrive was corrupt, which I had already figured out on my own. Thank the computer gods, because I was able to transfer my photos and music to a new external harddrive (I went and bought a 500G) They sent me a new harddrive, and so far so good.

So, all that being said, I should have new pics and and a write up about the art fair in Edina from a couple weeks ago in the next day or so.

Thanks for your patience!!!

Pretty in Pink and a little Goth for good measure

Trash the Dress shoot #3 and #4. Steph and I branched out from just wedding dresses and found a killer 80's prom dress that needed to be destroyed, and we were oh so happy to oblige. We shredded the bottom of the dress, and removed some hideous lace sleeves, and headed out for our very own Molly Ringwall ala Pretty in Pink shoot. The men at the cement plant were perplexed but willing to let us shoot, and that's all we can ask.
Afterwards we headed to Hiniker Pond "the pit" for another wedding dress shoot--you wouldn't guess--but she's actually wearing the same dress as a previous shoot (the Gone with the Wind done 80's style) simply turned inside out. It was Steph's brilliant idea and it worked like a charm. After the water shots we headed to an old cemetery in town for some sad "love lost" shots. We're having far too much fun with this. Andrea asked me yesterday, "how many dresses are the two of you going to ruin?" and the answer, "as many as the summer allows us"

I'm working on doing a slide show set to music and will post that when it's done--in the meantime, check out all the pictures from today's shoot at my flickr site

Trash the Dress, take 2

Steph and I did another shoot today. This god-awful dress was found for $25....we suspect that sometime in the mid-eighties some bride really wanted to have a Gone with the Wind themed wedding and bought said hideous dress. As always, this is just a sampling and all the shots can be found on my flicker site
We had a lot of fun with this shoot, and did some creative trespassing. (muahahahahahaha....my evil laugh) Steph and I agree that this is much more fun when there's a risk of getting caught doing something illegal, lol. We'll be doing some more in the next few days, trying new things each time, including locations as well as doing something different with her hair. Steph has been unbelievably easy and fun to work with... and I feel really lucky to have such a cool photo subject and friend.

If you want to Steph in person, stop by Bliss Java on Front Street in Mankato, as she can be found there almost every weekday. She's a great Barista----makes a damn good sugar free caramel soy latte with extra ice, if I do say so myself. Oh, and if you do go to Bliss, order a "tree hugger" sandwich, you won't regret it. (yummy yummy in your tummy)