AAI @ APS

Arcata 

High School’s Arcata Arts Institute continues its monthly presentation of emerging artists. During the Friday, Feb. 12 Arts!Arcata monthly downtown arts walk, three of the program’s leading photographers will share a show in Arcata Photo Studios, located on the Plaza Level of Jacoby’s Storehouse. Students Kim Wright, Treyce Meredith and Liam Sanborn-Peterson with take over the studio’s walls, displaying recent work. Under the tutelage of Anne Bowen Crawford, the pre-professional arts program offers young talent classes designed to prepare them for advanced education with a school-to-career emphasis. AAI courses place students in one-on-one working relationships with eight established artists and regular presentations from visiting professionals. Meredith, Sanborn-Peterson and Wright have proven to be outstanding photographers and deserving of show sharing their work with the town. More information about AAI is available at artsinstitute.net and news on the February show at arcataphoto.com or (707) 825-1061.

Moxie, rocked

Hey! We're going to the Bridal Faire! OK, we definitely did not shout that Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m.. After a long Saturday shoot in SoHum, and looking toward a day spent in a booth pitching wedding packages... that could go very wrong. But truth be told - the Fortuna Bridal Faire on Sunday, Jan. 10 was... really cool, and time well spent. There we got to hang out with some fellow folks we really like in the industry – caterers, deejays, designers and photographers (we did spend much of the afternoon messing with Carol Niles). And we had something new to throw out there: the Moxie line. Basically we realized that the stuff we really want to do, and the really artistic photography clients deserve, you rarely have time for during the big wedding day. The rush of meeting schedules like the catering line, vows and bouquet throw more often than not determines the amount of time brides and grooms have for photography. So why not devote a day to it beforehand: spend the afternoon at an amazing location (we've mapped a bevy) with hair and makeup (we have several skilled artists) and create well-lit images that will last a lifetime and be handed down through generations. Forward fashion and high art: Moxie (courage, sass and skill). Women deserve it. The fair was packed and we talked to a bunch of brides. And a slew of them really got it, understood what we were promoting and saw them fitting in to Moxie. It didn't hurt that our model Krista Miller (Millertime on Humboldt Roller Derby) demanded to don her LoLa dress with her cowboy boots. The ladies from Fortuna got that immediately, just like others understood Jessica Fowler's bride in the post-industrial collapse portraits. Additionally, our booth looked good and stood out at the show. It was worth it. So we did return yelling: Hey, we just went to the Bridal Faire!

bricks

We love brick. The 152-year old brick wall was one of the main reasons we went for our Jacoby’s Storehouse space for the studio. It makes a great patterned backdrop and seems to complement skin tones like few other substrate surfaces. Even on outdoor, environmental shoots we find ourselves gravitating toward the aging walls… particularly in Old Town Eureka where the late 19^th Century building boom remains chronicled in back alleys and side walls. Victorian spires and Greek revival spires are fine and all. But give us a century of weathered red-copper colored brickwork dotted with mossed cement and rusting bolts. That’s the stuff.

We took Arcatan Ramie Trent to some of our favorite haunts in Old Town for her senior portraits recently, joined by Assistant Kirbie Hoyt, (natural with the reflector).

Radio, Radio Radio

So it’s time to up the ante on Arcata Photo Studios’ profile. Time to let more people know about our Perfect 10 High School Senior Portrait and Operation Smile Family Portrait promotions. The nice folk over at Lost Coast Communications (KHUM, KSLG and the Point) were quite helpful lining up some radio ads (thanks, Mike Dronkers!) and their Tara Stetz lent a hand. Not only is Stetz reorganizing the Northcoast Environmental Center and she’s a dance caller at local Humboldt Folklife Society events, she also knows her marketing stuff. As usual, however, hubris gets us good. We can crank out dual 200 word commercial spots that are witty and spot on. Right? Not only that, we can record compelling narratives. Right? As we were practicing our scripts in the Jacoby’s Storehouse parking lot for the first time, 10 minutes before recording, it suddenly dawned on us: we have absolutely no experience doing this kind of stuff. We’ve got an eye for pictures, not a voice for radio. Needless to say, Stetz was quite patient through the multiple takes as we stammered, flummoxed and choked on the word “portraiture.” By the end, it worked out well. You can hear them on KHUM 104.3 FM and KSLG 94.1 FM. Still, as we preach to clients in matters photography, we were reminded that it’s better to leave it to the professionals.

Dance Fever

Arcata’s premiere dance troupe Samba Na Chuva needed some quality photos that did justice to how simultaneously cool and stunning the women of SNC are. They give new meaning to the word “hip.” Dance studio shots are fine and all, but the ladies needed something that said a little more about their sense “terroir.” So it was off to the Arcata Scrap Yard (how can you go wrong with beauty and scrunched metal), then a short hike over to the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary.

They practice just down the street at the local capoeira club, so it all made geographical sense. If you missed their two show-stopping performances at the North Country Fair: here is Samba Na Chuva.

To the Point

We’d known Tabitha Flemming back when she was slinging joe at Arcata’s Sacred Grounds. That seems like a long time ago and she’s all grown up: both a biologist and an organic certification authority for food makers throughout the state. And longtime beau Ryan Emmelhainz knew not to let this one go. The couple had a small, intimate wedding in a Patrick’s Point vacation home, joined by both families and the closest of friends.

Thoughtfully decorated, the venue was made even better by an extremely nice day. The ceremony (conducted by Teri Bradley of Weddings by Design) overlooked a blue, frothing sea on a cloudless day). Ryan’s nine-year old son Seth took being the only kid at the wedding in stride and stole the show. He even helped us with lighting and directing portraits. According to Ryan, he’s since taken a keen interest in photography, so he’s obviously a cool kid.
The harried run-up to the wedding afforded Tabitha and Ryan no time for engagement portraits, so we took them out to a favorite haunt at Houda Point for some relaxed, post-marital photos. Another nice day, you’d almost forget that it will soon be raining for months!

High Flight

Didn’t have to ask us twice. When we were approached by the Ocean Conservancy to document the North Coastline by plane, we were all about it. Thanks to the impressive pilotage of Grant in his Cessna Skywagon 185, we were skyhigh midday to photograph from Point Arena, Mendocino (California’s furthest western locale) on up to the Oregon bordertown of Brookings.

It was a beautiful, windless afternoon that was impacted by a marine layer only at Shelter Cove through the 200 miles of coastline. Grant is the kind of guy that you wanted to be when you were a kid... or still: a flight instructor with 20 years experience, surfer, builder and soon-to-be law student who frequently spends his weekends flying to Montana and Santa Barbara (once to Costa Rica). Heck of a nice guy, too - making time to drop in over two breaching gray whales about two miles off Petrolia. Coast well photographed, Grant throttled the nimble single-prop about 25 feet over the waves near Fern Canyon. It was finally appropriate to utter the overused “Awesome!” The OC will be using the 333 images in its efforts to publicize the need for keep the North Coast seas pristine. With an aerial view, who could argue?