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some of you may have noticed the drop off in posts here lately.
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perhaps even the distance between intimacy and arm's length in the posts that do appear.
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it's been quite a summer.
so this is your little update, the lifting of a bit of a curtain,
to bring you in a little closer again to what i've been up to.
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the initial plan was to spend the summer here:
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it being a "big" birthday and all,
we were going to head back to limoges to see my mother
during her two month stint as she taught and painted and cooked her way silly
through the summer, and then spend a few weeks ourselves
celebrating change and friends whom we dragged along
in the city we most love.
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but then, as has happened for many of you,
the economy hit,
and we had to face some realities.
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realities like:
we were both trying to start new (ish) careers,
in a new city,
at the worst possible time.
that my choice to direct and desire to shoot photography
coincided in a sudden dry spell with the work that i had previously seen burgeoning.
that the world had changed and was going to be far more competitive.
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and i'm going to do THIS:
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AND THIS:
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for the rest of my life.
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(there. i've said it in print, finally. feels like home.)
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so the summer became one of learning and exploring from home,
rather than celebrating and splurging abroad.
(i know, no tears argentina, we made the tough/smart choice).
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i've spent the last five months taking on some amazing,
challenging,
creatively free-reined,
and budgetarily TINY projects.
i've directed with a crew of people whom i've been lucky enough to assemble around me
over years of work (they did me some BIG favors)
and from rather recent connections (also with the favors).
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we've shot film for established but re-inventing designers,
for a small but chic cosmetics company,
for new clothing lines,
and more.
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and the print side has been amazing,
filled with a steep (but rewarding) learning curve on the technical side
(love and thanks to my mentor/tutor, brandon herman, the fine art photographer),
that is buffered nicely by some work that (personally) confirms the most important thing:
i have an eye. and it's good.
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i hope you all know me well enough now to know that i say these things
from a place secure in my own vanity,
weak spots,
and inestimable good taste
(thank you, maman, for the skill to pick out the most beautiful objet in the room,
regardless of price or provenance.)
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i guess print and the art of catching the moment in ONE image in time,
has long been such a love of mine,
it's nice to see that i'm pretty damn good at executing it myself.
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the film side? well, i can let that speak for itself over the next few weeks.
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which leads to the real meat of this post:
the unveilings.
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each week i'll be rolling out another of the projects that we've tackled over the last few months,
each week another creative veil lifted,
and i think you'll see that giving up what i thought was the "fun" stuff
(new clothes, travel, throwing parties, etc.)
these past months
taught me both how much i love to work when i love what i'm doing,
and about how far you can go
and how much you can take on
if you really want to do something new with your life.
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also, and this is important,
it never never never would have happened without him:
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but most things that surprise me in this life couldn't,
haven't,
and won't.
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thank you, my catalyst, my task master, my number one fan.
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i think you saw all this coming long before i did.
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i hope all your summers were as interesting/challenging/draining/eye-socket expanding.
i think that's the point of this whole "life" thing.
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