Silhouette Profiles

Amanda and I are making these for artshop. This one is Theo, the little baby that I nanny. His birthday is in a few days, and this is his present from me.

To make this I took a photo of Theo’s profile. Then I imported it onto my computer, brought it into Photoshop and outlined his face. I deleted the background and filled in his silhouette. Then I smoothed out the edges (I had to give him a fake neck because he was wearing a hoodie and it wasn’t visible). I made an oval around him, and selected a background color (yellow), then printed it onto photo paper and framed it with this adorable ikea frame.

These will be available for purchase at Artshop:

Art Shop 2009
Featuring 60+ Artists Displaying and Selling Their Work
Opening 6-10pm Friday, December 4th
with free food, drink & music
& Continuing 11am-4pm on Saturday, December 5th
at F&N Gallery, 2007 Frankford Ave. Phila Pa 19125

more on the studio

my friend, meg of paper stampede made this paper mache bison head for our studio. i love it. the shelf underneath was found by my sister at a yard sale and she painted it white.

our closet

past clients/friends Diana and Ryan constructed this equipment closet for us last weekend. It’s amazing.

new additions to note are our shelves:

these are made from trash picked closet doors, and ikea shelf brackets.

our chalkboard wall, painted by cassidy and dustin

our showcase of wedding work

and custom molding around our front door, cut and installed by me!

Bikes, it’s how I get around

So Frank Dicicco decided that he’s going to pass a bill which requires all bicycles in Philadelphia to register their bikes… like how cars do. link Some how he thinks this will enforce the law better. News flash: there are already bicycle laws, they are just never enforced, which is why cyclists see fit to break them. Requiring registration of bikes WILL NOT SOLVE THIS! The only thing it will do is cause mass confusion, stress, and complication for cyclists and those who attempt to fine/ticket cyclists for breaking laws. It will also put money into the city’s hands (the $20 registration fee).

There are so many problems I see in this area. This will probably take up much of my night to post.

In the meantime, please raise awareness and all hell on this guy and his dumb bill: frank.dicicco@phila.gov

New house, new home. new bedroom.

this is now what my bed looks like. at night.

note the macbook pro.

Studio Party

We are having a studio party! It’s finally (almost) finished! The details:
Studio Party, Friday Oct 2nd.
3237 Amber Street, 2nd floor south
starts at 8:30
byob

In the last few weeks we (Cassidy, Emily, Amanda, Dustin, and I):
put up shelves (trashpicked closet doors)
seriously cleaned and painted 1 bathroom
painted the outside walls to our studio
hung up photos!
painted the back door (soon front door as well)
built a closet! with shelves!
rigged up 2 pulley systems for our backdrops (no need for backdrop stands)

It’s looking incredible in there with all of our cardboard boxes stowed away and photos finally on the walls. We’re going to pull down one of the seamlesses for a backdrop for “photobooth” pictures, and hopefully borrow a projector to project Dustin’s cat photos on the walls. I meant to take photos today of all the progress we have, but that will just have to wait until friday.

100 dollar project, a sponsored portrait project

the idea:

Alot of my friends ask me to do fun photoshoots with them. I’m usually all for it, but I really wish I could be doing more, if I had the means to. I often have really elaborate ideas, but lack the funds to put it into action. So I want to extend a little project to my friends, or anyone else that is willing. I call it the “100 dollar project”. If you give me 100 dollars, and brainstorm with me with an open mind… I will use every last penny on props/wardrobe and anything else I need to make an amazing one-of-a-kind image of you. None of this money will go to me.. it will go towards making a crazy cool photo of yourself.

the specifics:

you give me 100 dollars and I keep none of the money for myself, but use it all on wardrobe, props, makeup, hair, film and processing, etc. towards a photoshoot that you will model in and I will be photographing.

the rules:

1. this is assumed to be a solo portrait. meaning only a photo of yourself. if there are more people involved, i’d probably have to ask for more $. this is not for promotional shots of your modeling career, your band, your art, etc… if you want those types of pictures, contact me separately and we can do a photoshoot in which I get paid.

2. you allow me 100% artistic direction. this will be an art project that i conduct, and you sponsor and model in.

3. after it all is over, i’ll give you a big print (prob 11×14), signed and dated.

other things i should mention:

if you agree to this project, you must be willing to work with me in attaining wardrobe and props (going to thrift stores or vintage shops), scouting locations, and brain storming on theme and personality of the photoshoot. it will likely take more than a day to do.

i really like making ironic or awkward portraits. if anyone has seen my old work, you will know this already. with this said, be assured that i wont be taking “pretty” pictures of you.. but rather pieces i consider to have more of a story to them, pictures that make you question.

also. i really want to do this. let me know if you want to also.

Donated by Audrey, found at yard sales

A few months ago I visited my sister in state college. She is a much more avid thrifter than I. Some of her finds and her home design has been featured on various sites including Design Sponge. Sometimes, she gives me some of these great finds of hers. Since we now have a nice big new studio, she sent me home with various items that would deem useful for our space. The above photos are some of the items, plus, she gave us an awesome end-table (pictured in previous post showing meeting area of our studio), and other bowls, lamps, etc.

Also, now that I’m in the big space, I’m able to take “proper” photographs of my finds. Behold the micro-studio! Soon, I will have a permanent table-top area in which to photograph small objects in. Yessssss.

Thanks Audrey for helping us out with awesome second hand items!

D.I.Y. Greeting cards for all occations

One thing I tend to look for while in thrift stores are children’s science books with neat illustrations that I can use to make cards. I tend to veer towards the outerspace/underwater ones.

Typewriter?! Hardly know ‘er!

I decided the other week that I needed to own a typewriter. I notice that some people like to collect old vintage things.. and well… that’s really not my thing. I want to have something I can use. It’s just an added bonus if it is vintage. I found this beauty on craig’s list.

Cool kids toys

I absolutely loathe kid’s toys that light up, make noise, and are extremely obnoxious in both sight and sound. And its really hard to find anything that doesn’t do that, especially in thrift stores. However, I came across this adorable wind chime. Since I dont have any kids, i figured I’d probably give it away as a gift. But actually, I think I’ve grown quite fond of it, and don’t want to give it up.