11.01.06
Posted in Photography at 7:46 am by Michelle
So, you may have guessed from the link on the front of my site, that the book has been published and is now out in the world! (The blog was down for a bit while I was switching servers). Back in September, I got the cover (and just the cover) in the mail, and showed that first physical manifestation of all my hard work around for a week with all sorts of excitement. Only a few folks dared to open it up and ask, “Where’s the rest?” with a smile.
Then, on September 22nd, I got my first copy. It took my breath away. It’s cute and small and has a lovely weight to it. The pages are glossy, the cover is rich and colorful and has those great flaps. I walked out of the house clutching it to my chest, and heading right towards me was a man clutching his baby to his chest in just the same way. No explanation needed there.
There was a problem with the first print run, so getting the rest of the copies was delayed a few weeks. I had a few more to show around and give where they were needed right away (the PCNW auction, my dad, etc), and the rest of the books finally showed up a couple of days before my first launch party, whew!
That first shindig was on Vashon Island at the Blue Heron Arts Center, a place where I spent many years helping other artists with their shows, hung my work several times, and enjoyed the art and performances of many friends. It’s a warm place close to my heart, and it was lovely to be surrounded by friends and, finally, the book in physical form. In fact, the line of the month since I’ve gotten a hold of it is, “Look – it’s a book!”
The following night I held a launch party in in Seattle at the Photographic Center Northwest. This is another place I’ve spent lots of time over the years – printing, taking classes, volunteering, lecturing, and teaching workshops, since 1992. It was great to celebrate the release of the book there, along with many friends and colleagues, and delicious food and a book cake by Tiberio! And everyone got a chance to be bug out and be in the book cover!
It’s been an exciting couple of months, and this week brings my New York launch party and more fun at Photo Plus Expo. More on that to come!
~Michelle
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09.01.06
Posted in Photography, Uncategorized at 6:41 am by Michelle
I find myself in the glorious position of just having given final approval for the cover, and hence the entirety, of my book, which will now sail off to the printer for immortalization. Not only that, but I’m at the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, the sun has just come up , I have cameras in my bag, and three more days to revel in this glorious festival of art and community, without a care in the world…
It’s actually done!!!
See the final cover on my website homepage, and I’ll post a bigger version here when I get home.
Thanks for everyone’s support – I can’t wait to show it all to you!
love and art,
Michelle
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06.29.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:07 pm by Michelle
So, as I try to catch up with other photo projects, the process of booking continues. The manuscript and images are at the compositor, and we’ve been haggling over the text for the back cover.
Now is when the marketing gears get turning ever faster. We’re working on magazine contacts, distribution possibilities, and details like how to get the contributors’ copies of the book signed and sent to them. I’m party planning for Seattle and New York, and generally having a blast filling people in on the project.
And the energy is starting to spread. Ted Orland, my biggest contributor, connected me with a fabulous website, Luminous Lint, that is well on its way to its goal of being a comprehensive survey of historical and contenporary photography. I’ll be writing a blurb about plastic cameras and curating an exhibit of images culled from the book.
Meanwhile, time to get back to editing digital images from Moisture Festival, Chautauqua Jambablaya Tour, and the Fremont Summer Solstice Parade. Links to images coming soon!
~Michelle
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06.19.06
Posted in Photography at 1:55 pm by Michelle
My head is spinning, and I keep finding myself walking around in circles. Could it be that I’m really done? Well, the manuscript has been massaged, photos added, images placed at the start of each chapter, and now it’s out of my hands. For a while, anyway. Now, it seems, everything gets proofread, and then sent off to India for compositing. In a month or so, I get to review the final layout and make any last mintute edits or changes. And come the beginning of October, it’ll be sitting in all of our hands! Strangely enough, it’s already up on Amazon! I don’t know how many books they sell, but today I’m #1,263,217 in sales. Pretty good for a book that’s not going to be out for 3 1/2 months! That’s not the final cover, by the way; that’ll be coming soon.
Thanks for everyone’s support during this long haul of a project.
Now, out into the sunshine!
~Michelle
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06.06.06
Posted in Photography at 11:14 am by Michelle
Gosh, I thought when I handed my manuscript in in February that the hard work was over. I was wrong! In an effort to polish up the writing, I’ve been editing, rewriting and reorganizing the whole shebang with the help of the fabulous Mary Ann Lynch. t’s quite a process, but I’m glad to have the opportunity to focus on the writing, since the image aquisition was so overwhelming during the initial preparation phase. I’m grateful for the patience of my editors!
Next is working with the layout folks to place the images within the design – that sounds like fun!
And sometime during all this, I’m really going to get around to organizing all the images from the Moisture Festival and Chautauqua Tour! Links will be forthcoming.
And, I’m starting to plan for the book release party in New York during Photo Plus, November 2-4. If anyone has ideas for a suitable venue, let me know. Thanks!
Never a dull day in photo-ville!
~Michelle
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05.13.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:46 pm by Michelle
Well, we did it. 50-some people from all over the US converged on the battered little town of Bay St Louis, Mississippi to call a corner of a baseball field home base for a week. We were stunned by the devastation all around, awed by the grace and openness of the people, and honored to be able to bring them some fun and entertainment.
The New Old Time Chauatauqua brought 25 years of experience and a range of members from the founders to their performing adult children together for a new experience of taking the show outside the Northwest and into an area that truly had need of distraction and joyous energy.
The group performed for the local community, at several relief centers in Mississippi and New Orleans, at a senior center and a school. In some areas where there are truly no other forms of entertainment to be had, we brought a little bit of light, and hopefully inspired a few kids and grown-ups alike.
I was there documenting the tour, and have around 2500 digital images (and some film) to sort through. I’ll let you know when they’re available!
There were some strange and wonderful experiences, like having the group come together for a Passover seder in our home field, complete with matzoh and specialties straight from Zabar’s in New York (via the Karamazov bus), and a few days later going to church to hear the local gospel choir rise up in song. In between, the band (with everyone else flitting around) had its own religious experience marching and playing through the French Quarter in New Orleans.
Heather Weihl has published a journal following the tour through the week, complete with several of my photos, so check out the Jambalaya Journal for the details!
More on my trip soon!
~Michelle
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04.14.06
Posted in Photography at 10:39 am by Michelle
I’m on the road, finally!
After sitting in front of a computer all winter, I’ve packed up my Holgas, Nikons, and whatever else I could fit in my little van and have hit the road. I’m heading east and south, with the goal being Bay St Louis, Mississippi. There, I’ll be hooking up with the New Old Time Chautauqua, a group of performers & musicians with vaudevillian roots, to tour around the Gulf Coast. There will be around 50 of us there, including the Flying Karamazov Brothers, spending a week teaching workshops, doing parades, performing, and pitching in to the relief effort around Mississippi and New Orleans. We’ll be in the hardest hit areas, which, according to my friend Jer, who was down there recently, are “still broken”. And all the activities will be free!
I will be the official tour photographer, which is an incredible opportunity! I’ve been wanting to go along “on Chautauqua” for a few years now to one of their normal tours in rural areas of the Northwest. But this gives me the chance to capture the Chautauqua in action and interacting with this unique group of communities, the area, and get an awesome road trip in to boot!
I’ll try to post some during the tour, but we will have an offical blogger, Barbara Stahr from YES! Magazine, and I’ll try to get images up with her posts.
And, I’d love to try to drum up some support for the tour. As I said, it’ll all be free for the communities down there, and all the money we get will go to running the tour (most folks are paying their own way down), plus, anything over that we raise will go directly to the groups we’ll be working with, such as Common Ground and Emergency Communities. For more info about the tour, see the Chautauqua site (including the schedule of performances), and see our fundraising letter for more details about what we’re up to and how to donate.
The tour is April 18-23rd. I’m currently in Utah, getting my car worked on, enjoying the scenery, doing some work on the book, and getting in some of the best roller blading ever, and, hopefully, I still should get there on time. Stay tuned for more updates!
~Michelle
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04.07.06
Posted in Photography at 9:03 am by Michelle
This week (along with everything else), I find myself immersed in the joy and silliness of the Moisture Festival. This bizarrely-named festival is planted right down the hill from me at a converted warehouse in the Hale’s Brewery here in Seattle. It’s 3 weeks (more than 20 shows) full of a fabulous assortment of vaudevillians, European clowns, aerialists, magicians, musicians galore, and several acts I’m just not sure how to categorize. Performers range from old timers who got their starts when I got mine (the birth kind), to some wonderful young talent. In fact, Wednesday night marked the debut of the youngest UMO-let, Kai, age 3! Each show is packed full of acts and runs well over 2 hours, and the finale show this Sunday is usually a marathon of more than 4 hours!
I’m one of three official photographers for the festival (John Cornicello, Mark Gardiner & I also did it last year), and it is ridiculously fun! Stop by for one of the last few shows – including special shows featuring Circus Contraption and burlesque nights – see some of my photos on the wall, and get ready to smile!
And, just to add to the fun, last night I went to some slightly fancier digs, McCaw Hall (the new Opera house), to photograph some of the same performers, plus a few extra special guests. En-Joy Productions, run by Martha Enson & Kevin Joyce (two original UMOs) brought together this amazing group for a Microsoft event, and I was, again, photographing. In addition to local wonders Nanda, Curly Burly and The Valone Sisters, they imported the stunning Mystic Pixies and Ricardo Sosa the contortionist to entertain the gathering. I think I had more fun than the Microsofties!
It’s times like these when I hop up and down, cameras in hand, and think, “I love my job!”
~Michelle
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Posted in Uncategorized at 8:49 am by Michelle
So Focal Press has started running ahead with their part of the work on the book. They’ve copy-edited the whole shebang (the copy editor really liked it – that’s a good sign, right?), and sorted out some aspects of the layout, and now it looks like the ball’s back in my court. But, of course, I have a whole slew of other fun things on my agenda, so timing is getting tricky. That’s one of the many lessons I’m learning in this process; what the jobs to do are after the writing is done. It’s the scheduling part that’s hard to plan.
According to Focal’s schedule, the book will be out on September 21st, and it’s already on their website and in the 2006 catalog! Very exciting!
~Michelle
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Posted in Uncategorized at 8:42 am by Michelle
It’s a little hard to catch up from one trip when another’s in the works, but here’s a short report on the SPE conference in Chicago.
SPE is a great organization for photography educators and students. This makes most of the members somewhat more communicative than your average photographer, which is fun for me! I went to last year’s national in Portland, and did my plastic camera presentation at the NW regional conference last October.
My publisher was part of the trade show at the conference, as was Freestyle Photographic (I’m on their advisory board), and Focal brought along their big stack of postcards to introduce the book. I gave the cards to old and new aquaintances, and everyone seems excited to see the book, and all I could say is, “So am I!”
I love conferences for bringing people together to geek out about their particular obsession, and this one was no exception!
~Michelle
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