Story Behind the Pictures: Alphabet Soup

This series of photographs was born from a mother's desperation (mine, to be more specific). During one of the rainiest weeks of the summer, my boys decided to the best activity they could conjure up would be to fight with each other.
All the time.
Every day.
Constantly.
After 34 trips to the naughty step (each) in a single morning, and loosing my voice from yelling, I realized I had two choices: sell the children on Craig's List or send them on a scavenger hunt of some sort. Inspiration came in the form of pain as I stepped on yet another little metal toy lurking in the shadows of the carpet (it was the airplane).

The alphabet scavenger hunt was on! As the boys brought me their treasures, all the prints that you see in the collection gathered in my mind. Danny insisted we use his beloved "Lamby" for the "L"...I had to gently explain that while a threadbare, flattened, missing-an-eye stuffed lamb might be the love of his life, it wouldn't really appeal to folks to didn't know Lamby personally. When I was uploading the images later that night, I found a photograph of Lamby. He must have snuck in to my studio and used the camera and tripod while I was making lunch.

Danny and Lucas are proud that the airplane their grandfather gave them, the baseball from their cousin, the car they bought on vacation, and the vintage wood dog from their great-grandmother's house are just a small part of this collection of prints/children's book. I'm just happy I didn't have to sell my children on Craig's List.

Story Behind the Picture: Sea, Sand, and Sky

This photograph was inspired by the Polaroid images of my childhood: the images that seemed to take ages to develop, no matter how much I waved them impatiently in the air. I loved the anticipation, the suspense, and finally, the satisfaction of seeing the picture coming fully to life.

There was something about the quality of the film that made it seem instantly aged, a faded warmth that 35mm film could never replicate, so I tried to recapture the same sense of history with "Sea, Sand, and Sky" by shooting in digital format through a vintage lens.

This is the beach on which I played, flew kites, and built sand castles as a child. I took this photograph as my own children chased seagulls and searched for hermit crabs in the early morning sunshine. I hope they have the same lovely memories when they have children of their own: memories of sea, sand, and sky on a warm summer day.

Midweek Update: "Alphabet Soup" now in print!

I'm popping in early this week to let everyone know that my series of "Alphabet Soup" whimsical alphabet art is now available as a charming children's book!

Welcome to the silly scavenger hunt called "Alphabet Soup!"

Learning letters has never been this fun! If the weather is stormy and you are stranded inside, never fear - your home is an alphabet safari waiting to happen.

Find a friend and start your search...what things will you discover?

Available now as a soft or hard cover book - click here to preview the book and purchase your copy today!

Story Behind the Picture: Flying in the Stars

Sometimes the most beautiful pictures are the ones we dream in our minds. I created "Flying in the Stars" on a particularly dreary and cold winter day after the boys and I spent the morning snuggled under a quilt, reading Phillip Pullman's "The Golden Compass." One of the characters is an aeronautical explorer who flies his hot air balloon into fantastic adventure, and Pullman's vivid words carried me into a world where we too could soar amid the clouds and stars. Later that afternoon, as the boys napped peacefully in their rooms, I started combing through my ten-thousand image library until I found the pieces to layer together in this collage. It's my hope that when you see this piece, you escape for a moment from the traffic and telephones and to-do lists. Let's go flying in the stars together.

Story Behind the Picture: In Tune

My children will always live in a home filled with music. They were born to parents who play, dance, sing, and generally live music (we don’t do any of these things with immense talent, but we do them nonetheless). Our oldest son already plays tunes by ear on his little piano and instantly recognizes Bob Dylan’s work (mom, if you are reading this, you can keep your disparaging comments to yourself). Our youngest enjoys performing his own, personalized version of the “Nutcracker” as we applaud and try not to laugh too hard. Most dinners in our home are followed not by dessert but by the evening “dance party” in the living room, complete with cavorting dogs and very uncoordinated husband.
This photograph is a macro view of the keys on my husband’s bass guitar. While I’ll often make fun of his dancing (see above) or his singing (dying goose, anyone?), his skill with instruments is remarkable. This guitar is a fixture in our home, and I’ll often find him with one of the boys on his lap, teaching them to play their beginning chords. Someone recently mistook the keys and strings in this photograph for the cleats and ropes of a boat, but I find the similarities more than just visual: music takes us on journeys, lets us explore, allows us to travel. For those reasons (and many more), our children will always live in a home filled with music.

Story Behind the Picture: Roots

I walk past these trees nearly every day. They exist on the banks of a near-by creek, defying storms, floods, and gravity with the strength of their roots. They are two very distinct, separate trees. High above the frame of this image, they lean away from one another, each sheltering its own portion of the creek with massive limbs and glossy leaves. Most people comment on the leaves, on the shade, on the expanse of those ancient branches, but I'm not most people. I'm drawn to the roots, to their very base, where they knit down into the earth and support one another in snow and sun alike. It's easy to find someone who will stand beside you, but rarest of all is the person who will cling to the earth with you while still giving space to breathe at the top. We should all be so fortunate as the trees.

Story Behind the Picture: Cooper Collage

I have a confession to make: there is another woman in my husband's life. How can I sit here and calmly type such a thing, you ask? Because I've known about it for two years and I realize there is really nothing I can do. He's in love. With a car.

Two and a half years ago, Marty decided he just had to have a blue Mini Cooper. The reason? His arduous and lengthy commute to work: the Mini is quite efficient and uses very little gas.

Me: "Of course it uses very little gas: it's a toy car!"
Marty: "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

So off we went to the Mini dealership for a test drive. Oh, did I mention that I was 8.99 months pregnant at the time of the aforementioned test drive?

Me: staring at impossibly tiny front seat "I'm not going to fit in that car."
Marty: "Of course you will! Just try it!"
Me: "Greenpeace just put me on their latest watch list - I look like Shamu in a dress - no way!"

I made it inside and was able to clear the dashboard with several relaxing nanometers to spare.

Marty: "Hey, if you fit in here now, then image how comfortable you'll be when you're not hu-"
Me: "Not what? Not HUGE?"
Marty: sensing the danger "I love you, honey!"

We bought the Mini. And every Saturday since, my husband disappears to the garage to undertake the same ritual: detailing the car.

Me: "Where have you been for the past three hours?"

Marty: "I noticed a speck of pollen and a fingerprint on the hood of the Mini, so I decided to wash, wax, and detail the entire car inside and out."

I only wish he was as attentive to the other aspects of domestic life as he is to his beloved Mini Cooper.

Marty: "Honey, where are my socks?
Me: "On your feet, darling."
Marty: "Oh - thanks!"

I don't mind sharing him with "the other woman," as I now call her. She's quite fun to drive and you can squeeze into impossibly tiny on-street parking spaces in Philly (Ha! Take that, overcrowded, overpriced parking garages!). She's also quite boxy and cute, perfect for the square format of the vintage viewfinder, so I immortalized her for my husband and boys to enjoy, long after Marty is too old to pull off the driving-a-tiny-blue-car look, and the boys are too tall to fit in the back seat without complaining that their knees are bumping into their chins. Until then, if anyone is looking for Marty on a Saturday, he's probably in the garage with the other woman.