Birds, Barns, and Burned Buildings

What you should be listening to: Fastball- The Way (let's go back to the 90s with a great song about randomly wandering, fits this post well I think).


So having one of your best friends also be a fellow photographer is an awesome thing.  In general it's just fun to wander around with another photographer and see how they go about things, but when it's someone you're close to I feel like there's a bit more freedom.  I'm not certain I'd turn the car around in search of a cardinal I think I saw and then proceed to stalk the bird on both sides of the road with someone I just met.  That might just be weird.  But with Ryan it's ok...


We got together a couple Fridays ago and our shooting took us from the L.H. Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve, through the town of Chase, into Pulaski, all the while capturing some awesome stuff.  Did I mention we managed to pick the coldest day of the weekend?  It was 28 degrees out, the next day was 50...thank you random Wisconsin weather.

This robin was a total poser, yay for signs of spring!

Only in Pulaski would someone paint windows above windows on a building...

Burned down bowling alley.

Nick pointed out that this door may very well be the 'gateway to hell', time to call Ghost Adventures?

That last one makes me want to watch/play Silent Hill :)


Disclaimer lol: I do watch Ghost Adventures for entertainment.  I just think it's hilarious that every episode someone gets possessed or there is a 'gateway to hell'.  And they should all be wearing t-shirts that say "OMG BRO"!

Miles Amorelli Designs

In February I was driving around, trusty camera gear hanging out in the passenger seat, looking for something to catch my eye.  The sky was boring, the sunset didn't look like it was going to be that inspiring, so I was looking for anything to offset my normal landscape stuff.

I'll tell you right now, I have the worst directional sense in the world.  Seriously ask anyone who knows me.  I'm so happy Nick bought us a Garmin otherwise I'd probably still be lost driving down some random road in the direction I think the highway is.  So I ended up at the end of this road I was on (which happened to be very close to the "Coors Light Power Lines") and *boom*, there was the highway, and I was on the access road next to it.  So I took a right, still looking for a subject and I drove by this:

                                                

  

Wait...what the hell...was that a horse?  So I turned around and drove by again...
                         

I did one more turn around and crept by for good measure (and to work up my confidence to get out and shoot it).  I pulled into the parking lot and was greeted by a two adorable dogs and a guy who introduced himself as Miles, owner of Miles Amorelli Designs.

We chatted a bit and I asked him if I could take a few shots of the horse which he had no problem with!

These pictures honestly don't do it any justice.  To give you an idea of how big it is...well, you can actually sit on it!! Yes it's life sized and it's absolutely beautiful!

There were a few more awesome things outside to shoot:

After I had been snapping for a while, Miles came back out and asked me what all I was looking to shoot and let me know he had more projects in his workshop if I wanted to see them.  Um...yes!!!

I was seriously blown away by what I saw inside.  These pictures are projects he's still working on and I couldn't believe how incredible they were...

He makes these structures with recycled material and you may recognize some of his stuff from around Green Bay. He's made a ton of stuff for Nakashimas and a giant dragon for Paul Reed Smith Guitars!!!


Did I mention the two adorable dogs he has?...

Lol look at that sweet face!

Yea so serious awesomeness going on here, you should check out the rest of his stuff here on his facebook!

Some Flower Love

What you should be listening to:  Birdy-1901.  My friend just turned me on to her and I just love this cover!

When the weather is less than desirable, or the skies are just one big cloud cover and aren't really inspiring me to shoot, I'll go pick up some flowers.  A window + 50mm 1.8 lens + a reflector= win.  I hope you like tulips (my personal fav :)) and irises because...well there's a lot of them in this post...

Do you like any of these shots in particular?


On a side note, I had no idea that those little buttons down there will allow you to share this to your facebook!  If that's something you're interested in or you think anyone else would like my pics and rambling, feel free!

This Is Not For You.

"There's something here.  It's following me.  No, it's stalking me.  I've been stalked by it for days but for some reason it's not attacking.  It's waiting, waiting for something.  I don't know what.  Holloway Roberts.  Menominee, Wisconsin.  I'm not alone here, I'm not alone."

- Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves

I have several favorite books that I have reread many times, but none come to mind quite like House of Leaves.  I guarantee you this won't be the last time I tell you about it.  It is an extremely complex novel that absorbs me when I read it, and after I am finished with it I spend hours researching the endless questions it poses.  Simply put it is a book about a book about a book about a film about a house.  (Okay?).  Fine and dandy, except for the fact that the house is 1/4 inch (or 5/16ths of an inch to be more precise) bigger on the inside than on the outside.  That is the general story at face value, the rest, however, is a nightmare.  It's an engrossing (albeit somewhat difficult) read, especially if you like that kind of voice.  I do.  The book lingers in the back of my mind, springing forth like a hungry monster when I come upon scenes like this:

The house described in the book sounds quite quaint actually.  This is just me giving a face to the endless space and growl within it.  The belly of the house and the 5&1/2 minute hallway.


I suggest reading House of Leaves and if, while reading it, you sense something behind you, heed the warning:


"Don't look."


"I didn't."

The One Where I Get Stuck

What you should be listening to:  Stuck in the Middle With You- Stealers Wheel, trust me, you'll understand why.  (On a side note, this makes me want to watch Reservoir Dogs every time I hear it.)


I sometimes don't think things through when I get excited about something.  Because of this, things don't always go according to plan...


I'm a sucker for photography of trees.  Deep green woods, beautiful colors in a fall forest, the texture of the bark, rain on a leaf, however, what I really love is the 'lone tree in a field' shot.  I see these trees while driving around and go "OH!  I have to get a shot of that with a sunset/rise."


On my way to visit my cousin in the hospital (she had just had her beautiful little baby girl!), I spotted a tree way back on a piece of land off the highway.  I also saw a "Land For Sale" sign, which meant that I wouldn't have to sneak onto anyone's land to get the shot, score!  It took a month for me to make it out to the field and we had one last snowfall the week that I went to get it.  


As I pulled off to the side of the road I noticed that I could park my car  on a little spot of the land.  There was just a slight dip off the side of the road and the ground looked pretty solid, so I drove down, parked, and tromped off to the tree.


I was running out of light fast, plus I was freezing (thanks Raynaud's Syndrome), so I took a few shots and called it a day.  I made my way back to the car (randomly sinking into snow up to my knee at times), turned around, and drove on back up the little incline.


Except I didn't make it to the road.


I was literally five feet from the top and my tires were slipping on the snow.  So I backed up with the full intention of gunning it out.  That didn't happen either.  I had backed into a rut and couldn't move forward anymore.  So I gave it one more try, backed up, and straddled the rut with my tires, with a little more speed.  All was going good until I let the tire slip back into the rut and, at that point, became permanently stuck.  Extremely annoyed at my predicament I called Nick to come save me and, while waiting for Nick, I also called my stepdad Scott, just in case.


Long story short, Scott drove around me, hooked me up and pulled me out then  Nick drove it up the rut and incline no problem.  Lesson learned: don't drive into things like that, ever and turn off traction control in these instances.


So was the shot worth the trouble?  I think so...

Coors Light Power Lines

What you should be listening to:  Foo Fighters: Skin and Bones

One of the awesome things about having photography as a hobby is the random experiences it can bring.  Occasionally I'll go on drives looking for a subject to shoot and see something that I want to come back to and capture at a later time.  These power lines were one of those instances.

They are about 20 minutes outside of Green Bay, down a few random roads, a left, a right, and probably another left.  When I first saw them I geeked out, noted that there was nothing at all interesting going on with the sky (it was a clear day out), and decided to come back a different time.

It was about 9:30 in the morning and extremely quiet.  I had been shooting for about an hour and a half at two locations on this road and had seen a total of two cars.  Both of the drivers had given me weird looks which I can only assume translated to "What the hell is she doing?!".  I had moved on to the power lines and was fairly engrossed in my picture taking, but out of the corner of my eye I saw an oncoming vehicle start to slow down as it made it's approach.  I moved to the opposite side of the road to get out of his way and was quite shocked when the Coors Light delivery truck stopped across from me.  I was expecting him to yell at me for being in the road, I mean really, what else would he have to say?  Well the following conversation answered my question:

Him- "Hey"

Me- "How's it going?"

H-"You taking some pictures of the power lines, like those infinity kind of shots?"

M- "Mhhmm."

H- "Awesome! My cousin took some of those on black and white film back in the day and they look great!" 

M- "Awesome!" 

H-"Well you have a great day!!!" 

M- "Hey you too!"

Lol wtf random. Seriously two cars and a Coors Light guy who happens to also like pictures of power lines...lol I love my hobby.

You may be wondering why I chose Skin and Bones for this set of images.  Well; 1) the song is fricken great in my opinion, and 2) the structure of the power lines brings it to mind, how they're all bare, they're just skin and bones.

So Where to Start?

I suppose this is the beginning of my personal photo blog.  A place for me to just ramble about all the amazing places I get to go, people I meet, and things I get to see.


In case anyone is actually reading this, I apologize ahead of time for the terrible grammar and punctuation.  Also, if you ever read a sentence (or entire post for that matter) that makes no sense; it's not you, it's me, trust me.


A little insight into the person behind the words and the photos: I love the outdoors, tromping around in the woods, driving down the back roads with my wonderful fiance.  I'm a sucker for a good book, I get excited about food, I HATE spiders, ticks, and dark water.  I love to wax on about philosophical things.  I love tattoos.  I have some awesome friends, the coolest brothers, and incredible parents.  Oh, and generally, the only time you'll ever find me wearing matching socks is upon first opening them or if they have a super sweet design on them (think The Nightmare Before Christmas(isque) striped patterns).


Music is another huge passion in my life and, for me, merges right with my photography.  So every once in a while I may suggest a song to go with the images.  Sometimes it may make sense with them, sometimes it may not.


Should be some interesting times ahead!


I'll leave you with some of my favorite images so far, and what you should be listening to is Red Hot Chili Peppers-Around the World: