Inessential Stuff

So after Kelsey and Doug’s wedding–after the ceremony had ended and the portraits were done–the newlyweds and their families stood around outside the church, talking, joking, celebrating. While I was taking pictures, I found myself smiling. I enjoyed watching Kelsey and Doug interact. They had an easy, playful manner along with a clear affection. It occurred to me that they would be perfect for an idea I had been thinking about for a while: a “trash the dress” shoot.

So on a whim, I asked Kelsey if she had any plans for the dress. She said she didn’t. They were about to run off to their reception, then honeymoon, but I said I’d email them a proposal.

When they arrived back from their Hawaiian honeymoon, jetlagged, she wrote back (at 1:40 AM!), eager to give it a try. They were as excited about the idea as I was and were game for whatever I suggested.

So a week later we headed out for Bear Lake, north of Spokane, at around 6:30 in the morning. We shared the lake with a fisherman or two and many singing red-winged blackbirds. Kelsy, Doug and I all went into the lake–not as cold as we feared–and we had a great time (photographic proof here). I know that sounds like a standard line, but it was an experience that I’ll carry with me for a long time, and every one of my memories will be happy ones.

The shoot started in an alley, but I thought there were some houses down near Sprague Avenue that might be good backdrops for Nicole.

We actually stopped at one house first, but it didn’t seem quite right.  The second house we found was this green one, a kind of perfect complement for Nicole’s yellow dress. Sometimes one just gets lucky.

So this is part two.

We had a brutal spring here (or a long winter), and I sent my camera to the factory service center for an upgrade, and an assortment of other over-riding factors prevented Nicole and me from getting a shoot done.  It prevented us for months.

Until last week.  Finally.

The whole concept for the shoot was built around color–in particular, a yellow dress.

We started in an alley. We ended at a house. So this is part one.

I just noticed several days ago that one of my posts didn’t make the switch with the others from blogspot to my wordpress blog.  So I’ll repost it here.  Out of order, but oh well, here goes:

Marcus received, from his Grandma and Grandpa Brunt, a cool, Finnish-looking woolen sweater. I love it, and, amazingly, he is happy to wear it (he usually eschews clothing that would keep him warm during the winter). When it started to snow the other day, I thought it would be cool to get some pictures of him in his Scandinavian sweater in the snow. My only instructions: 1) please don’t make silly faces, and 2) please stand still. Or, as Ringo used to sing, all he had to do was, “act naturally.” Ummm. You can be the judge of how it went.

One day last June, I was driving around the back roads and I discovered this beautiful old house, abandoned, in the middle of no where, desolate and lonely and kind of spooky:

It was about an hour away from Spokane, but I knew right then that I wanted to do a shoot there–late evening, maybe towards dark–play around with some off-camera lighting.

I also knew the look I wanted:  desolate, bleak, hopelessly lonely.  I even had some ideas for props:  old suitcases, maybe a hat case.  My wife was able to procure those from the theater department at her school.  I just needed a model.

I was after a certain look:  someone who could look haunted, abandoned, cold, as if she had been waiting for a ride, but the ride had never come, and here she was, years later, stuck in time, still waiting.

I had one shoot set up.   But the model never committed to a time.  Then another model was interested, but had to cancel at the last minute.  I thought Elly might be perfect, and we had a shoot set up, but then something came up and the shoot was postponed for several months.

But finally–finally!–the day came.  I was afraid the weather might be inappropriately cheerful, but we “lucked out” by scheduling what turned out to be the coldest day in a couple of weeks.  On the hour drive out there, we rain pelted the car.  And then we arrived.

No house.

Maybe I hadn’t remembered right.  I drove up and down the road.  But I was sure I was in the right place.  Finally, I called my wife, who looked up at the old images I had taken, and the time-stamps on them, and I was able to determine that I was very, very close indeed.  But there was no house.  And then we saw it:  a bit of rubble around a foundation.  The house had been razed.

The light was dying.  We were an hour away from Spokane.  More rain seemed on the way.  So we improvised.  I knew of another abandoned house, another 30 miles or so away.  So we drove like crazy to get there.

And we pulled off this shoot.

It was cold, especially with the wind, and Elly was a super-trooper who only asked for a single coat-break (the high-resolution images reveal goosebumps throughout).  She was patient while I fidgeted (in my warm fleece) with the lights.  And she delivered exactly what I was hoping for.

So all’s well that ends well, I suppose.  But wish they hadn’t torn down the house, just the same.

I received news this week that I’m really excited about. I was accepted into the Wedding Photojournalist Association! It’s a discriminating organization that only accepts photographers using a true photojournalistic approach and whose images “reflect exceptional skill, originality and creativity”. I am the first (and so far only) photographer in Spokane to be accepted (pats self on back).