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If you've looked carefully at my body of work, you know that I love taking photos of cool vintage and retro signs! As a professional historian, I appreciate signs as cultural productions and documentation of human desire, and I want to collect images of as many as possible, before they disappear. As a photographer, I love the aesthetics of sign design. Here are a few of my favorite sign photographs that I've taken over the past few years. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do!
Apollo Liquors en Lomo (2008)
Location: Austin, Minnesota
Camera: Lomo LC-A
Film: Kodak Ektachrome e100g
Cross Processed
The Sands (2006)
Location: Orlando, Florida
Camera: Holga CFN
Film: Ilford Delta 3200
Diesel Fried Chicken (2006)
Location: Van Horn, Texas
Camera: Polaroid SX-70
Film: Polaroid Time-Zero
Note: This sign, sadly, no longer exists! I'm so glad I took this photo!
Thelma's Kitchen (2005)
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Film: Kodak Ektachrome e100g
Cross Processed
More signs to come!
Also, beginning today and running through May 25th, I will ship all orders from my Etsy shop FREE WORLDWIDE! To get this special deal, just mention "MEMORIAL DAY" in the "Note to Seller" section of the Etsy checkout process! I will then refund you your shipping costs through PayPal!
Please feel free to pass this deal on to your friends, and thank you! Also, if there is a print you'd like from my portfolio but you don't see it in my shop, just let me know and I can list it for you!
Last year, I started going to pick-your-own farms and gathering fruit. I missed the strawberries in 2008, but a late season here in North Texas this year allowed me to get out into the fresh air on Tuesday and pick over 23 lbs of beautiful organic strawberries! I highly recommend Fall Creek farms in Granbury, Texas; it's easy to get there from the DFW area, it's reasonably priced ($2.50/lb for organic strawberries!), and the people are friendly!
Of course, I had to take a camera with me!
Strawberry Picking (2009)
Camera: Polaroid SX-70
Film: Polaroid SX-70 Blend
After getting home, I made three batches of jam--11 pint jars and 11 1/2 pint jars of the stuff! That's a lot of jam! I used organic sugar to go along with the organic fruit, and I hope to take some lovely photos of the beautiful red jars before giving some away as gifts! Now, as our spring transitions into summer, I look forward to blackberry, blueberry, and peach picking!
My grandparents always had Hens and Chickens in the rock garden section of their yard. I love the way they spill out of their containers and spread! I recently bought these and hope they thrive.
Hens and Chickens (2009)
Camera: Polaroid SX-70
Film: Polaroid Time-Zero *expired*
signed prints at my Etsy shop!
I just love the way Freesias fill a room with their fragrance!
Yellow Freesia (2009)
Camera: Polaroid SX-70
Film: Polaroid Time-Zero (expired 11/2006)
signed print at my Etsy shop!
I am very proud to be a part of the new Poppytalk Handmade Market, Paper Pops! This is a beautiful collection of handmade stationary and affordable art by a host of amazingly talented artists and designers! Here is a screen shot of my table:
I am really honored to be a part of this market! There are so many talented artists and makers in this collection. I personally own beautiful artwork by fellow Poppytalkers Alicia Bock and Elizabeth Soule, and I have four prints coming to me from Sharon Montrose as I type! I've also gifted something special from Paloma's Nest and it was so perfect! I know that I'll just have to indulge in the market soon! If you love handmade art and stationary with a professional edge, definitely check out Poppytalk Handmade this month.
Happy Mother's Day to all of you who are mothers! I don't have any human children, but I do have two beautiful dogs--one of which I got on mother's day in 2004!--so I am claiming the day for all of us with pets we treat like children! ;)
In honor of the day, I'd like to state, for the record, that I think I have the world's best mother! She's always been there for me, and worked extremely hard to give me the chance to take all the opportunities that came my way. My father passed away when I was 11, so my mother was forced into being a single parent against her will. She ran her own small-but-successful health food store to support us, and only just retired last year, at the age of 75! She's a compassionate, kind, and giving person and I'm grateful that she is my mother.
One of the things that I really appreciate about my mother is that she always encouraged me to be an individual and to follow my dreams. There are many forces in this world that push us into being the same. However, my mother raised me to be independent, spirited, and individualistic, and never challenged my benign choices. Her philosophy as a parent was, "allow your child to do what she want as long as it does not hurt her or others." I think it was a great method. My mother trusted me to make the right choices, and, as a consequence, I think I did pretty well. When I was growing up, I knew a lot of people whose parents treated them like they were untrustworthy criminals, and wanted them to merely be mirrors of their own image, rather than allowing their children to grow into their own people. By focusing on the negative, those parents often ended up with children making negative choices. I am so grateful that my mother always allowed me to be myself, focused on the positive, and allowed me to make my own decisions about life. I definitely have benefitted from her sage parenting.
Here is a photo I took of her in late 2007:
My Mother (2007)
Camera: Polaroid Sx-70
Film: Polaroid Time-Zero
And I've written a couple of other posts about my mother here and here.
And, if you're inclined, please check out my mother's crochet shop for Blythe!
Happy Mother's Day!
Aside from my childhood hometown (Modesto, California), I've lived in Santa Barbara longer than any other place in my life (so far.) I lived there for eight years, between 1993 and 2001, although I would skip away for research to other places sometimes (mostly the UK and Jerusalem). I moved to SB for graduate school at UCSB, and, after getting my Ph.D. there, moved away in the summer of 2001 to take my first job as a professor. Since then, I've visited when I could, and many special moments in my life have taken place there.
It's so painful to know that the beautiful city is burning. Friends are evacuated from their homes, places I've lived are in the zones of danger, and, like all natural disasters, there's nothing anyone can do except wait and see how long the fire lasts. I'm sending out this message as a kind of prayer for everyone in Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Montecito suffering through the fire; I hope it is contained and extinquished soon, and especially that no life is lost.
Here is my favorite beach in Santa Barbara. Officially, it's called Arroyo Burro beach, but locals call it Hendry's. Hendry's is a mellow, wild beach, with dolphins more often that not right offshore. I shot this photo at sunrise in late December 2003 and I hope you like it.
Sunrise at Hendry's (2003)
Camera: Olympus APS point-and-shoot
Film: Kodak APS 800 speed
For more on the Jesusita Fire, click here.
For those of you who love Polaroids and love Flickr, you may already know that it's now 'Roid Week 2009! To start the week off, here are two photos I took this past weekend that I really, really love, using my beloved SX-70 camera and expired Time-Zero film!
Signed prints available in my Etsy shop!
A Succulent in a Cup
I got this beautiful mug in Jerusalem from my favorite potters over ten years ago. Now it has a series of chips, so I repurposed it as a planter for this lovely lotus-esque succulent!
A Blooming Cactus
I'm always in awe of the beautiful blooms that emerge from cacti!
Check in all week with my Flickr stream to see my latest 'Roid week uploads! And get out there and shoot some Polaroid film while you can!
I am Futurowoman, and I named myself after a dreamhome! Voilà, a genuine Futuro!! These are a few of my favorite shots from my recent shoot at an abandoned Futuro in Texas:
Futuro
Camera: Polaroid SX-70
Film: Polaroid Time-Zero (expired)
Upon Landing
Camera: Holgaroid
Film: Polaroid Choco80
The Pod
Camera: Polaroid SX-70
Film: Polaroid Time-Zero (expired)
Signed prints, as always, are available in my shop!
And here is a recent interview with me from the Photographers of Etsy blog:
Thanks for looking!
