Monthly Archives: June 2010

Blooming Lovely

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Posted by admin on June 24, 2010 – 11:32 am
Filed under Shoots

One of the toughest parts of being an “emerging talent” is finding customers with whom I share a common vision. Many times their agenda and my agenda are not necessarily completely in sync. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy shooting practically everything, but there are definitely some exceptional situations where the client’s creativity and my creativity go hand in hand, and that is when the fun truly does begin.


I met the florist company By Appointment Only Design (BAO) at the Terrence Higgins Trust auction earlier this year. They had provided all of the flowers for the event, which were fantastic. The proprietors, Javier and Tony, and I began chatting shortly after a very drunk woman bumped into one of the floral pillars knocking the massive arrangement onto the floor. I’d witnessed the event, but Javier and Tony had missed it. Upon inspection, they found that only two of the stems were damaged, the rest were miraculously well in tact. We shared a drink and decided to meet up after the event.

Since starting my photography business, florists have been some of my favorite clients. In Seattle I had the pleasure of working with the brilliant team at City Flowers. I shot store set ups, products, floral arrangements, installations and more. City Flowers creative team was led by the largely deranged (and I say that in the most loving way possible), Jonathan von Gieseke. Jonathan and I have known each other for years, and when the opportunity to work together presented itself, we both jumped at the opportunity.


Probably my favorite shot done with City Flowers was their Halloween promotion. The City Flowers team sorted out all the props, the location, the wardrobe, the jewelry and even the chihuahua. We shot on the steps of St. Mark’s Cathedral on Capital Hill as the sun was setting. I stood on the hood of my car and lit it with two giant soft boxes, a few reflectors and a couple of grid lights. It was quite a production and I was incredibly lucky that Lee was with me to ensure everything went to plan.


Stepping into BAO’s shop in Marylebone, I was instantly reminded of the creative spirit I had found with the Seattle gang. They had magnificent arrangements, tasteful products and great music softly playing. They offered me a Nespresso and we sat and chatted in their meeting room alcove in the basement.

While reviewing my portfolio, BAO commented they wanted to deviate from the standard adverts found in bridal magazines, and have one that had a fashion sense, was sexy and at the same time didn’t feature a bride. We decided to photograph a handsome man holding lavish bridal bouquets and wearing color-coordinated jumpers (sweaters to you Americans). Lure  budding brides to visit the BOA shop with the fantasy of a handsome prince.

It’s funny where you can find these princes. I spent years kissing frogs until I found mine in a bar in south London, but for BOA, but it was in the frame of a party snap I took. I hadn’t actually seen him at the party, but when I got home and was processing the final images, I couldn’t help but notice the stunning face in the crowd. I emailed my friend Neil, the event organizer, and he quickly got us in touch. That is how we landed  the BAO cover boy Federico.

I did a few test shots before the actual day, but it was one of those Eureka! moments that I typically get around 2:50 in the morning while lying in bed awake, that I decided the background shouldn’t be a plain color, but rather a damask made from the bouquets themselves. When dawn came, I dashed a mock-up to Javier  and Tony and we were off.

The shoot itself went all to plan. We shot the model on a plain white background. He was styled and primped throughout the day. Wardrobe change, bouquet adjustment, music changes and even some great lunch. The entire team was on the ball. I explained to the team what we were doing and got a couple of blank stares, but then showed my mock-up and started getting them on board. Javier and Tony, however, were already with me. They could see the same vision and we were on our way.

To create the background for each of the shots, I photographed each bouquet individually. This was placed as the background layer in Photoshop, and then I cut out the final photo of Federico and layered that on top. Finding the right balance between showing the background as flowers and color was a balancing act, largely accomplished by trial and error. The post production work on the shots was both fun and fulfilling, but definitely time consuming.


The resulting images delighted the client and Bride’s magazine. It also gave me a wonderful series of cool and beautiful shots. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on when it runs.

First the Wrong Vodka…

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Posted by admin on June 17, 2010 – 11:29 pm
Filed under Life


Artist: Jim Coughenour


When asked what my favorite hobbies are, invariably I reply  running, playing bridge, reading, or grabbing a pint of beer.  It dawned on me the other day, that browsing through card shops is really one of my favorite hobbies, although I expect few people consider it a hobby.

The first card store I remember was Lee’s Pharmacy in Zumbrota, it sold Hallmark cards. Grandma Swee brought me there when I was pretty young. I didn’t see the big deal. Pastel colored paper with loads of script and words and all of the cards had a sickly floral smell. I was not impressed. It had to have been when I was  thirteen or fourteen when on a family outing to the Apache Mall in Rochester, I discovered Cardvaarks, a shop full of irreverent cards of all shapes and sizes. Thus began my addiction.

Amongst the brightly-colored “Lordy, You’re 40!” balloons and the lava lamps in the windows, were racks and racks of cards that would make my mother blush. It was fantastic. There were the silly, the rude and of course the nude. I saw my first naked-man birthday card and was quite tempted to slip it into my bag. I was sure that someone I knew would appreciate it. I spent countless hours at Cardvaarks, memorizing the pictures and the text, taking the time to figure out just who a card would be appropriate for.

I bought stacks of cards. Birthday, Christmas, occasional, thank you, and even romantic ones. Each had to have a striking image or at least a catchy quip. While Hallmark cards generally hovered around 75¢, Cardvaarks got away with charging $1.50 or more, but when I had my heart set on the perfect card, no expense could be spared.

Over the years I’ve sent countless cards. Postcards from Spain, birthday cards to my Aunt back in Zumbrota, and of course mother’s day and father’s day cards from wherever my hat has been. Christmas always gets me. It’s a great time to play catch up with old friends, though I’m not a big fan of the generic Christmas letter. My aunt Mary Jane used to send a mimeographed letter to everyone back in the 70′s sharing what each family member had been up to, with each person carefully described in  third person, including the author herself. It defied reason when I read what  “Mary Jane” had been up to.

As the antithesis to the catch-all letter, for a number of years in the nineties, I made my own cards. Yes, it was a budget production, but I had a lot of fun. My favorite  one was made from a stamp of  Joan Crawford screaming in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. I cut out a little red hat from construction paper, pasted that and a little bit of cotton ball to make a little Santa hat on top. I remember constructing the cards on a flight from Seattle to Minneapolis. It was back in the day when you could carry a scissors and glue on a plane without being flagged as a prime terrorist suspect. I was seated in a middle seat next to a mother and her four-year-old son. He was restless and loud, but when I pulled out the cards and started making stuff, he was mesmerized and wanted to make cards too. I quickly set the tyke and his nimble fingers to work, pasting hats on Screaming Joan and I’d then put the finishing touch of cotton on afterwards. It was a lot of fun, and he remained a content and quiet travel companion for the duration of the flight.

Much like cards, flying too has been a fascination of mine. When I finished university, I had a brief stint as  a flight attendant for the newly defunct Northwest Airlines. It was when I was working for Northwest that I came across the First the Wrong Vodka card. It was out of control funny. I read it over and over and mused about it for weeks. I bought it without a recipient in mind and probably even intended to keep it myself. Then one day, someone must have seemed important enough to send it to and poof! it was gone. Gone but not forgotten.

Do you ever have those moments when you regret giving something up? Perhaps it was a mixed tape that you really loved but gave it away during a fleeting romance, but forgot to write down the playlist. Maybe it was a sweatshirt that you lent to a friend of a friend at a summer’s eve picnic and which you know you’ll never see  again. For me, parting with that card, had to be one of those regrets. In fact, it had such an impact on my sense of humor at the time, I still recall precisely when and where I bought it. It was autumn 1992. I was back in Minnesota on a layover from Seattle and nipped into a card shop in Uptown (Minneapolis) to get a sympathy card for a friend’s grandmother. She was  on life support, but I knew her days were numbered and it was the only chance I’d have to get the card, with my travel and all. After spending an inordinate amount of time poring over the entire shop, I got the sympathy card, but then saw Jennifer.The tipping cocktail glass, the flying olive, the thoroughly messed up passengers, and then Jennifer. Bitter, unshaken and seething, she faces death with the same disdain as  she probably would give a  man who sneezes  too loudly or a girl whose skirt is a bit too short.

For months, I sat on the card. I brought it back to Seattle and sat on it, waiting for the right recipient. To be honest, I really don’t recall who got it in the end. Probably someone who thought it was funny, albeit highly inappropriate. They probably sniggered for a moment and then after a few days, chucked it into the garbage can. At the same time, they probably did get some gratification from it, but most likely, once it was gone, they forgot about it.

One of the greatest things about the Internet is finding stuff. Really, you can use it to find useful and absolutely frivolous things. People search for movies, restaurants, cars, computers, husbands, wives, porn and friends on the Internet. I use the Internet to find cards.

A few years ago, I did a search for “first the wrong vodka, now this” and nothing happened. Then a year later I did the same search and still nothing came up. On Monday this week, just before bed, I typed in those six memorable words. I was amazed. A blogger in Portland, Oregon quoted the card as part of his blog, and to my delight, the artist himself had commented on the blogger’s post. I followed the link to the site of my new hero, Jim Coughenour.

Visiting Jim’s site, I found countless images that made me smile, but Jennifer was nowhere to be seen. Fortunately, however, there was an email button. I sent him an email and miraculously the next day received a reply, with a full resolution TIFF image. Without question, the highlight of my week.

While sorting through a few odds and ends this week, I also came across another of my favorite cards, this time one I didn’t part with. The third and final card that remains clearly embedded in my mind is one with the phrase SNAWW, an acronym for “She’s Not a Well Woman.” If anyone comes across that card, let me know!