Sacramento Photo Day - Abandoned Train Yard

Got a chance to revisit one of my favorite haunts - the abandoned railroad buildings in downtown Sacramento. They are about halfway through refitting/tearing down most of them, but a few old brick walls and machinery are still waiting to be torn away. The last time we ventured here it was practically untouched - in a bad way! There were dead animals, old furniture and fixtures, and feces everywhere. Very cool, but also probably quite dangerous. Now everything is cleared out and the framework is left standing. 

I have a soft spot for aged things - they seem to appreciate their surroundings; belong to their space. Modern things are often intrusive and insisting rather than transformative. Also... the lighting in a giant warehouse is fantastic. If it weren't for the 26 mosquito bites I got that day it would have been a perfect adventure. <3 - Mo

There is something about the way light hits old brick - like a page from the past.

Funny how something broken can be so illuminating. 

Old things make for great textures. 

I wonder how long these have sat here...

I love how this is symmetrical and asymmetrical at the same time.  

Light grids :)

Happy Adventuring!

my first attempt at photographing pottery with no lighting equipment...

My mom's been asking me if I could take professional pictures of her and her studio's pottery for a while now, and I've been a bad daughter and putting it off. Part of me wanted proper lighting equipment to do it with (but with what money you might ask?) and another part of me knew I wouldn't be happy with it if I didn't spend at least an entire day fussing. 

I've photographed pottery before, but in a legit studio with wonderous giant lightboxes attached to the ceiling, multiple strobes and Dan, the magical darkroom man at Sac State if anything went wrong. So being faced with a garage, a normal assortment of garage tools, and a few cheap clamp hotlights made my palms sweat. Not to mention my 40D is having a mid-life crisis where it forgets how to use its own shutter, so my only reliable piece of equipment is my beautiful manfrotto tripod.

Fortunately, my family proved eager assistants, and we rigged construction lights to ladders, fed cables throughout the garage, and propped up a large piece of white plastic opaque sheeting I had bought for just this purpose a few months ago (proof of procrastination). After changing the entire setup twice, I found a good setup while squatting on a stool, propping a flag on my knee with a clamped light on the top, pushing the shutter with one hand and diffusing the light with a piece of who knows what plastic covering while my mom diffused the overhead light with another piece of plastic sheeting. 

Overall I'm not completely dissatisfied with the turnout. Could I have done better with a proper lighting setup? Most definitely. My shadows would be more diffused and in different places, it wouldn't have taken me ten minutes per picture to mess with the crazy yellow color those construction lights put out, and with a bigger table I could have gotten more interesting angles. 

But under the conditions, I consider myself pretty badass. 

A special thanks to Brynn, Tim, and Christopher for dealing with me during the shoot, and to the potters of the Elmwood Street Studio in Pleasanton, California (Marty, Kate, and Marilyn) for letting me photograph their work. 

Incoming!

Just shot SO much film at Disneyland.... waiting for it back :) Get ready for magic!

Painted Wings

So every year the butterflies come to congregate in Grover Beach, just a little drive from my stomping grounds. Every year there are a few less, so I finally took my camera to capture this fluttering phenomenon before they are gone for good. There is so much metaphor in these pretty creatures: transformation, beauty, mortality, the illusion of uniqueness... its like looking at a well written poem.

This little one is so powerful by himself perched on a lone branch.

Heart is Where the Home is

Since I've been sort of a transient wanderer, I've had a really hard time defining what "home" is. I call certain places home when I travel to them - for example wherever Toph is, if I'm driving toward him I say "I'm going home". My parent's house is sometimes home, Chris's parent's house is often home, and the city of Sacramento will always be home.

So here are a few photos from the past few months that make me feel at home. Though they might not be permanent, its where my heart is.

Dreaming of Sacramento

I've been reminiscing about my long lost home. I ran across some pictures I snapped when I was scouting locations for a portrait shoot. I traipsed up to the upper floor of a hotel (that I don't remember at the moment) feeling like I was trespassing, and stumbled upon this view. 

I rediscovered them and gave them a little makeover that reflects how my head remembers these old stomping grounds - shiny, soft, and slightly surrealistic. 

 I'm always surprised at how many awesome churches are hiding in downtown Sacramento. I never explored them fully, but I guess thats an adventure for another time....

 I love that the building in the back fades into the blue of the sky... downtown looks so peaceful from up high :)

I'll be digging up and revamping more pictures to share with you guys, I'm trying to supplement the sad state of my website!! Don't go look at it yet! I'll post when its up :)