Heros and Puppets

Since I’ve been talking about it a lot recently, and will likely continue to do so, here is
The Hero’s Journey As Explained By Puppets. Many thanks to Geoff for this delightful little video!

 

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Magical Birds

Many years ago now. my good friend Alex sent me a mix CD of some of his favorite songs.   That CD worked its way into a very regular rotation of my driving music, and introduced me to many new artists who I have since grown to love.  One of those artists is Wax Mannequin, a Canadian, one-man, “strange-folk” musician wonder.  His music truly defies classification, and his lyrics have inspired many photos of mine already.

It was not surprising then when I found myself in the grip of inspiration listening to his new album, and Broken Friends in particular.  I will note that while the video faithfully produces the song, the accompanying video is remarkably inharmonious with the song, and I find it downright distracting.  But it does allow you to hear the beautiful music and words.

The lyrics are so deep, mysterious, and evocative that images immediately spring to mind whenever I listen to it.  Birds are, of course, nearly always present in these images, and the song has a healing feeling to me… the kind of healing that produces pain before it gets better (like cleaning a wound), but ultimately deep healing nonetheless.  I tried to reproduce a few of these with Katie recently, who completely got what I was trying to portray.  Very observant readers make recognize the white bird as an egret shot from my day at Bolsa Chica; in my opinion the most beautiful bird, hands down.

The lyrics we were paying closest attention to come at the end of the song:

There’s a white-hot bird shooting straight over everything

cutting clear through your body with its heart at your need

there’s a night sky bird settled there in the evening

you can sleep in her body, settle down now, settle down now settle down

And here are the photos with some detail shots!

White Hot Bird

White Hot Bird – detail

White Hot Bird – detail

White Hot Bird – detail

White Hot Bird – detail

Night Sky Bird

Night Sky Bird – detail

Night Sky Bird – detail

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Print Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Live Marstein, you were the winner of the print giveaway! A print of Vanity’s Murder will be on is way to you shortly 😀

Thank you EVERYONE who donated, helped spread the word, prayed, or sent good energy. IT WORKED. Rituximab got the funding it needed and the next set of trials is going to happen!! I am so overwhelmed with joy and gratitude about this…. thank you so much to everyone who helped in any way. It was worth it. It helped. And hopefully soon, this drug will be available for all ME sufferers wherever they are.

Thank you all and congratulations again to Live Marstein!

Vanity’s Murder

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The Candid Frame Interview

I meant to post about this several days ago and life kept getting in the way… better late than never, I suppose!

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed for The Candid Frame. It’s a fairly in-depth interview, so settle in. If you have any questions or comments after listening to it, let me know in a comment here!

The Court Of The Dryad Queen

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Where The Brave Shall Live Forever

These photos owe their existence to my dear friend Alex, who has been my “online” friend for about seven years, but crossed over into “real life” friend when he traveled to Wichita to be my Man of Honor at my wedding!  Hi, Alex!!

Alex’s email signature for a while was the following quote, which I found intriguing:

Lo, there do I see my father/ Lo, there do I see my mother and my brothers and my sisters/ Lo, there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning/ Lo, they do call to me they bid me take my place among them in the halls of Valhalla/ Where the brave shall live forever/ Nor shall we mourn but rejoice for those that have died the glorious death.

I learned that it was a Norse prayer, most famously used in the movie 13th Warrior, but very closely based on a real, historic prayer.  Every time I got an email from Alex, I would see a vision of a beautiful, strong Norse girl standing with her dog and staff, their backs to the camera, radiating fearlessness.  It was quite a while before I was able to bring the concept to life with Katie Johnson, and my neighbors’ dog Gus, an extremely handsome Australian Kelpie.

As much as I love using Calantha in my photos, Gus felt like a better portrayal of a Norse dog; something more muscular, with a thicker coat, more suited for guarding and herding.

That staff… I found that huge branch in my yard one day, back when I lived at my previous place.  I stored it in the garage there for well over a year without using it (but knowing it would be perfect for this photo).  And when Geoff and I moved to this house, we actually went to the trouble of bringing the stick with us.

The braids were something I just quickly threw together, but apparently they were greatly enjoyed all day 🙂  Enjoy some detailed shots below!

*I will announce the print giveaway winner as soon as I hear who won it from the people running the giveaway!*

Where The Brave Shall Live Forever

Where The Brave Shall Live Forever – detail

Where The Brave Shall Live Forever – detail

Dreams Of Valhalla

Dreams Of Valhalla – detail

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