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Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category

Well, usually, I try to keep the Mother Road Revisited stuff, and even my wedding photography separate from my personal blog or website. But, this particular story kind of applies to all the avenues of my life. Good friends of mine recently got married, and they asked me to photograph their wedding. Not only was their wedding on Route 66 (Gallup, NM), but it also was more like a photo shoot that happened to include a wedding. We did a whole 3-4 hour photo shoot the day before the wedding, and then still had more photos to make on the day of the wedding. It was the most prop based wedding I have ever photographed. And I had a blast. We ended up photographing the best man as a Snidley Whiplash character, kidnapping the bride and the groom saving the day. Anyway, enough talking about the photos. Why not take a look?

A Short Story from the Minds of the Armstrong Brothers

So,  those are a sampling of photos we took the day before the wedding. Here is a sampling of images we made the day of the wedding.

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I just got back from week 2 of Frogman’s – a printmaking conference where they teach a handful of classes to students, young and old – I really enjoyed my time. I took a class from a woman named Cerese Vaden, who teaches at University of Arizona. Cerese is a fount of knowledge. On top of teaching me several transfer methods, and helping me realize my love for woodburning, she gave me pointers on photographing a 3-D object like the boxes she makes. If you have a chance to take a workshop with Cerese, I would jump on that opportunity. This is the box I made:

The other classes that were offered were
Intaglio


Stone Lithography


Collagraph

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Photo Gravure (a photo process, that I’d love to learn)


Relief

The duo that taught relief was The Amazing Hancock Brothers, from Austin. They are incredible people, we plan on inviting them as well as a few other artists we met to University Tulsa within the next year. But their style involves stamping, that they cut out of erasers. Here are some photos of their stamps:

Charles and John are on the far left and right, classic Hancock dress. (photo by Carlos Hernandez)

Anyway, I am a firm believer of conferences, I also go to a photo conference, and each one I go to i meet incredible people that give helpful insight to my projects, and have wonderful ideas of their own that are so interesting to hear about. If you’re not going to a confrence for the things you love, you really should look into it. Find your tribe and once you do, stick with them, as long as you can. (If you want to see some of the beat poetry by the Amazing Hancock Brothers, check it out here, courtesy of John Bryant)

Till next time,
Natalie

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So, four days after I finished Route 66 I hopped on the road for Vermillion, SD for Frogman’s printmaking conference. The conference consists of about 150 printmakers, ranging from undergrad students to well versed professionals. Each class is taught by someone in a specific field of printmaking. I am taking a class in digital printmaking. My class is taught by Lanore Thomas (from Satan’s Camero) and Jason Ruhl (from Scavengers). Their work is a great marriage of digital and traditional printmaking. I have a learned a lot from them.

The other grad students that go to University of Tulsa are taking a class in 3-D Relief Printing and performance art. Their class is taught by a guy named Dennis McNett (from WolfBat Studios). His work is mostly relief prints, and revolves around specific animals that have different meanings to him. The class built their own animal masks out of cardboard and masking tape, which were then covered with relief prints from the class (which were mostly woodcuts). The creature they built in the end, was then filled with fireworks, and lit on fire at a cook-out we had tonight. These are the photos of the demise of said structure.

If you want to see more photos, please go to my flickr. (such as the making of of the creature and/or masks)

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If you haven’t checked out the videos we shot while out on the route, check them out here.

Cheers,

Natalie

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Goodness. I have been meaning to update for weeks. So, this update will be a bulk of the things I have be up to over the last few months, and a preview of what I’m doing in the future weeks. First of all, I am traveling to Palm Springs, CA for a photo conference this Sunday. This will be the third time I have attended, and I am pumped. Second, I have been traveling all over the midwest in the last few weeks. I was in Dallas shooting pictures of Jesse:

Under a Bridge

Under a Bridge

Dallas Skyline

Dallas Skyline

Upside Down

Upside Down

Jesse’s a fun model, and I enjoy shooting with him, especially in Deep Ellum. I have also been working with gum bi-chromate, and that’s been quite the adventure. Here are a few successes and…and a few failures. but I’m learning. That’s for sure.

This will be a full color when I have it all figured out.

This will be a full color when I have it all figured out.

I'm making this into an etch when it's finished

I'm making this into an etch when it's finished

Kurt in the Vegas Boneyard

Kurt in the Vegas Boneyard

If you want to see other photos of Kurt and Rosey at the Boneyard, check ’em out here

Tyson and the TV's

Tyson and the TV's

I think the last two have some paper issues, but I’m working them out, for sure. And finally! Last week my dad and I traveled up to Louisville, KY to pick up a ’64 Shasta. It isn’t perfect, but it’s slowly working in that direction. It was an adventure that lasted 3 days and 36 hours of driving. Dad and I had a great time, but it was quite the tiring trip. Anyway, here’s a photo of the Shasta:

'64 Shasta

'64 Shasta

Phew. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to. I’m sure I’ll post another entry when I get back from Palm Springs, but until then, thanks for reading!

-Nattles

P.S. If you’re interested in following the progress of the “MotherRoad: Revisited” Project, check out the facebook page, website, and twitter!

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Well, I have had a crazy few weeks. 6 cities in 4 weeks, 2 engagement shoots 1 wedding shoot and a holiday, what was suppose to be a break was exhausting. I did take a few days off to sleep, but anyway, I took Kurt and Rosey’s engagement photos in a place called the “neon boneyard” in Las Vegas, NV. We only had an hour, and the management was serious about that hour. I did a walk thru that lasted about 5 minutes, and then we were off. It felt a bit like a race in the moment, which stressed me out intially. But I am really happy with what we got out of the shoot and I had a great time doing it.

Anyway, here it is:

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As always, there are more photos to be seen on my flickr site. I had a blast with these guys at the boneyard, hope you guys enjoyed seeing them

-nattles

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So over the last few months I have been designing an accordion fold book to be screen printed for, oddly enough, screen printing class. The book has images in it that I scavenged from my grandmothers photo album of her father on a buffalo ranch in South Dakota in the early 1900’s. The writing that accompanies the imagery is her handwriting retelling the stories of why these photos are so important to her. By the end of the 2012 spring semester I should have an interactive piece to accompany this piece. But that’s a whole different story.

Anyway, if you want to see the making of, go here

So after….

20oz of glue
51 ft of chip board
612 ft of paper
140oz of ink

Here is the final piece.

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There are also some detail shots here

Anyway, as always. thanks for reading! When I get back from my trip I’ll have some photos from a boneyard of sorts…more info to follow…

-nattles

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Over thanksgiving I was asked to photograph and design a university graduation announcement for Rosey Charles. One of her heroes is Rosie the Riveter, and we thought it might be fun to theme her graduation announcement. The front is a parody of the “We Can Do It” Rosie the Riveter WWII propaganda poster, and the back is written like a breaking news story. I really enjoyed photographing. Rosey and working on this post card. I hope you enjoy browsing through the design and photography.

Thanks for Reading! – Nattles

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Well, for those of you that don’t know, I helped lead a trip to NYC this last “weekend.” I say “weekend” because we were there from Wednesday to Sunday. I and twelve undergrad students went to New York City to visit design firms, and museums. It was a great trip, and an incredible learning experience. Having an undergrad degree in graphic design and photography it was really cool to see big design firms, and famous designers at work in their offices in NYC. Here are a few photos from our excursion:

First we went to see some designers at Method Inc, they did such things as redesigned the interface for TED and the interface for all kinds of devices for March Madness. They showed us around their offices, and convinced us to play this dice game that was apparently an office tradition…but i think they were just trying to take our dollar bills 😉

Name plate inside of method offices

Name plate inside of method offices

Method Inc, Offices

Method Inc, Offices

Dice game that Method taught us how to play

Dice game that Method taught us how to play

The next day we went to see Mirko, who is a designer famous for firing clients. He sat with us at his desk and showed us his sketch books. Mirko talked us through his process from brainstorming ideas to finished product. It was a great experience and very encouraging for me and the rest of the students. Mirko designed the opening graphics for You’ve Got Mail, and has worked on logos for all kinds of different companies.

Mirko talking with us about why we are designers

Mirko talking with us about why we are designers

Mirko showing us files that he has been working on recently

Mirko showing us files that he has been working on recently

MIrkos blocks for what he tells clients on a regular basis

MIrkos blocks for what he tells clients on a regular basis

Mirko and Milton Glaser have studios in the same building, so after meeting Mirko, we walked down two flights of stairs to meet Milton Glaser. Glaser was open to answering any of our questions and showed us what he was currently working on, it was an incredible experience to chat with Milton Glaser. Also, Glaser is known for designing the I(heart)NYC logo, and the Bob Dylan Poster with the crazy hair.

Milton Glaser answering our questions

Milton Glaser answering our questions

Glaser showing us his most recent work

Glaser showing us his most recent work

The next day we visited a design firm in Brooklyn called “Huge.” They showed us around their space and were very helpful in answering questions about how to put together a portfolio for a studio like theirs. They mostly do interactive design and website design, the interactivity for IKEA and Adult Swim

Huge front desk

Huge front desk

Showing us around the office

Showing us around the office

their war room

their war room


After Huge, we went to a design firm in Little Italy called “R/GA” they have been responsible for special effects for movies such as Alien and ET, but more recently they worked on the ad campagin for Nike + We got to talk with the art director in charge of the Nike account and ask him all kinds of questions about his job. It was really interesting to get to pick the brain of a company in charge of such big accounts.

Outside of R/GA main office

Outside of R/GA main office

Showing us around R/GA

Showing us around R/GA

They label their conference rooms with pantone colors. Design nerdz, right?

They label their conference rooms with pantone colors. Design nerdz, right? 😉

This is how they show off their awards, if you look closely you can find 3 Oscars

This is how they show off their awards, if you look closely you can find 3 Oscars

Anyway, that was the trip. It was an incredible experience and I really enjoyed being part of the leadership team for it. I wish we had had a bit more time, we made it to a few museums and even the Brooklyn Flea Market! but, anyway, I’ll leave you with these few random photos I took in NYC.

Beauitful reflection right?

Beauitful reflection right?

We walked passed a dog park in Central Park

We walked passed a dog park in Central Park

This man was riding around telling everyone "Peace"

This man was riding around telling everyone "Peace" We saw him twice.

This is about half the group that went with us. Good group right?

This is about half the group that went with us. Good group right?

Anyway thanks for reading!

-nattles

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Well, it’s been a crazy summer, and when summer started, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish over the summer, so I thought I’d update you on what it is that I _actually_ accomplished.

Reel Big Fish & Streelight Manifesto in Dallas

Reel Big Fish & Streelight Manifesto in Dallas

I told you guys I would be going to this concert. and it was incredible. If you ever get a chance to see either Streetlight Manifesto or Reel Big Fish in concert. You should definitely do it!

Hung out with my friends

Hung out with my friends in Dallas (this is jesse)

While in Dallas for the show, I got to see some friends from high school, and I can never pass up an opportunity to take pictures of them (usually). Anyway, this is Jesse. and…he’s pretty cool, as you can see.

Did a Crazy photo shoot in a garage (thanks Tyson)

Did a Crazy photo shoot in a garage (thanks Tyson)

From a blog post a few months ago, some of you may remember this TV photo shoot. Tyson (my model for the shoot) did a music video with all of these TVs in the Spring, and I wanted to jump on that wagon and see what a photo shoot looked like. Thanks again Tyson for helping me set up and take down the whole thing, and being my model. It’s always a pleasure. If you want to see the other photos from the shoot check it out here

Work on a collab show with Joel Armstrong

Work on a collab show with Joel Armstrong

An artist friend of mine, Joel Armstrong, is working on (and currently advertising for) a wire show about garage sales. He asked me to document garage sales via photography. So, I spent a lot of the summer going to garage sales with Joel, and shooting random items. It was a lot of fun. If you’re interested in the show, check it out here!

Work on more Collab with Joel Armstrong

Work on more Collab with Joel Armstrong

Originally, Joel has asked me to photograph all the items he was drawing in wire. This was my first concept shot of what that might look like. In the end, he decided to go a different route due to a list of reasons, but I learned a lot figuring out this shoot, and the editing style.

Bought a Motorcycle!

Bought a Motorcycle!

I bought a motorcycle! My dad, uncle and I drove around the black hills in South Dakota on our motorcycles. I shot this the night before Dad came up and picked me up to trailer to South Dakota. It was a lot of fun. Learned a lot. Saw some giant heads on a mountain. The photo below is one of the places at the end of Spearfish Canyon on the West side of South Dakota. It is very much the middle of nowhere, but there were surprisingly a lot of people in this restaurant. Want to see more pictures from that trip? Check them out here!

Drove said motorcycle around South Dakota with family

Drove said motorcycle around South Dakota with family

 

Shot a Stair Trail!

Shot a Stair Trail!

I was able to shoot my first successful Star trail in South Dakota, right outside of Deadwood. Thanks to my dad for being patient with me while I set everything up.

Picked fresh fruit from an orchard with college friends (and children)

Picked fresh fruit from an orchard with college friends (and children)

After South Dakota I hopped a plane to Washington. 10 Boarding passes later, I ended up in Spokane Washington with some very dear friends from college. We ended up picking berries and eating lunch at a fruit farm. The photo above on the right is the box of cherries we picked, and Jess’s son, Oliver in a cherry tree.

More Washington College Buddies hang out time

More Washington College Buddies hang out time

This is Shane and his son Benjamin sitting on the porch on a beautiful Washington afternoon. good times, good friends. beautiful weather.

Jess, Shane, Oliver and Benjamin in Washington

Jess, Shane, Oliver and Benjamin in Washington

Zak Bek and Eli

Zak Bek and Eli

These are the two families I went to visit in Washington. It had been too long, and I am so glad I was able to finally make it up there to see these guys.

Went to Portland!

Went to Portland!

After an epic journey to find a rental car that would let me drive one way from Spokane to Portland, I drove to meet my mom in Portland, OR. It’s a beautiful city, you should go sometime.

Drove Through the Redwood Forest!

Drove Through the Redwood Forest!

A few days after Portland, my mom and I drove through the Redwood forest, and hung out in the area for a couple days. I tried to shoot as much as I could through these days, and if you want to see more of those photos check them out here!

Hung out in San Fran

Hung out in San Fran

After the Redwoods, obviously comes San Francisco. Peir 39 is where the seals hang out, so mom and I decided to stop by and see what was happening.

Shot Headshots for my friend that is going to grad school for acting (in London)

Shot Headshots for my friend that is going to grad school for acting (in London)

After I got back from that excursion, it was time to take my car down to Texas to get some work done on it. I rode a train to my home town, and met up with my dear friend Micah. He and I have been friends a very long time. Micah made it into grad school in Essex, England (which is very close to London). But because he is an actor, he needs an updated headshot every year. So, before he took off for across the pond, I did a handful of shots for him and designed a few things for his website. Check it out, he’s a pretty incredible fellow.

Had a Birthday! My Parents are the best.

Had a Birthday! My Parents are the best.

 

So, last week, my second year of grad school started, every school year I have the joy of my birthday landing on the day of school starting, or very nearly on the day of school starting. But, my parents are the best, and even though they couldn’t make it up to Tulsa for my birthday, they did send incredible, beautiful gifts. Thanks again mom and dad.

 

Anyway, school is underway and I have some crazy cool things up my sleeve (or so I think). But if you’re in the Tulsa area, in a few weeks is the opening for Joels show (keep your eyes out for a blog about the photos I took for Joels show) and in about a month is the Indie Art Festival where a handful of art friends and I are going to be selling all kinds of incredible things that you can buy! Stop by if you get a chance.

Thanks for reading, see you soon!

Natalie

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So, I feel like I’m always working…so I have made a short list of things I want to do this summer, some of them are really short term goals, others are bucket list type goals…here is the photo list:

 A.  I want to make this recipe for Steak Au Poivre
B. I want to finally shoot a Star Trail

B. I want to finally shoot a Star Trail

C. Neal and I have been toying with the idea of shooting 4x5 this summer.

C. Neal and I have been toying with the idea of shooting 4x5 this summer.

D. This Watermelonade looks incredible and easy to make

D. This Watermelonade looks incredible and easy to make

E. Reel Big Fish is going to be in concert in Dallas! I'm going.

E. Reel Big Fish is going to be in concert in Dallas! I'm going.

F. Streetlight Manifesto is also touring with RBF, and they are 1 of my favorites.

F. Streetlight Manifesto is also touring with RBF, and they are 1 of my favorites.

G. I am planning a trip to drive through the redwoods and do a much needed photography trip.

G. I am planning a trip to drive through the redwoods and do a much needed photography trip.

I will also be visiting my friends Jessica, Shane, Zak and Bekah and meeting their kids! I am so excited to see them this summer! I’ll also be working on my thesis…which is always something I’m working on…even when I’m sleeping, it feels like… Anyway, thanks for reading.

-Nattles

*edit* WordPress is being difficult, and i wanted to add links to these photos, but apparently i’m not allowed to right now, so here are the links if you’re interested:

star trails: http://photo.net/photo/star-streak
4 x 5 photography: http://photo.net/equipment/large-format/choosing
watermonlonade: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/photo/Watermelonade-242611
reel big fish: http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Reel_Big_Fish/Biography/
streelight manifesto: http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Streetlight_Manifesto/Biography/
redwoods: http://www.nps.gov/redw/index.htm

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