A Study in Opposites

I am blessed to live in a beautiful part of our country. I've said time and time again that I'll probably never leave Montana (unless, of course, someone offers us a killer job, comes to our house and packs us, moves us to said job, comes to our house and unpacks us....then I might be persuaded to leave).

These are recent photos from our trip to the Twin Lakes...

I was thinking about our camping trip as I drove home last night from Huntsville. It was a long drive to/from Space Camp and I had plenty of time to think and to make observations about this southern part of the country through which I was driving. I was entertained by signs of the local culture....

I was also struck by some of these tiny little towns that seemed lost in a bygone era. I'm sure southerners would say the same of some of the Montana towns, so I mean no disrespect by that comment ( you guys have Slick's Gun Shop and we have Mentzer's Used Cow Lot, so you'll get no argument from me on that point thank-you-very-much). But I was struck by the decay in some of these towns, almost like it was Lost America.

This last image really struck me as I rounded the corner of a little backroad after taking photos of an old caboose that was overgrown with vines and shrubs. I started to drive away and noticed this scene and in light of having just dropped off my future astronaut at Space Camp, I had to pull over and capture this one as well. The way the sign fell you couldn't read that it was a furniture store. All I saw was "Discount Future". What a commentary on our world today. Here I was dropping my child off with the hope that the experience she has over the next week will continue to spark her interest in science and math and further develop her passion for space and space exploration. But then I look at our world and how much we discount her future by physically wrecking our planet day by day.

Heavy stuff to think about...no wonder the rain came down as a deluge.

Madelyn Arrives At Space Camp

After a 3 1/2 hour drive from Atlanta, we arrived in Huntsville, AL this morning. Being typical me, I was not paying attention along the highway and wondering out loud, "I don't see it", to which Madelyn replied, "It's probably where that ROCKET is, Mom." My bad...

HOW COOL IS THIS!!!??? It was a bit surreal for both of us as we arrived on the campus of the US Space and Rocket Center. Madelyn will be the first to admit that she had a little tear (or twenty) in her eyes. It's like Space Mecca here.

After looking around for a bit, we got some lunch, picked up a few items we'd forgotten, and then it was check-in time. Madelyn was fitted for her flight suit and sent up to her "pod" to make her bed and get unpacked. This dorm is something right out of a Star Trek: The Next Generation. Her tiny room houses 7 girls and the building is aptly named Habitat 1.

Once she got settled and went off to orientation (with nary a glance back until I yelled, "Hey...bye!"), I took a walk around the rocket park, where there is a life-sized model of the space shuttle. I felt unimipressively small standing next to this giant.

It was an almost 5 hour ride home through the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay. Torrential downpours that resulted in me driving 20mph for the last 50 miles home, in the dark. It was like one big video game, except the stakes were a bit higher. For the second time in a week, I was never so happy to see my sister's house!

Madelyn called at 10:30 pm with the report on her day. Her room is housing kids from Maine, New Hampshire and Arizona and she's having a blast. They already built a rocket that they'll launch at graduation. I doubt I'll hear from her again...she was already in that place where she's completely enmeshed in the experience. Hooray, Madelyn! I can't believe you actually got to go! You rock!!!

Arrival in Atlanta in one piece (but no sanity left) and United Way Photo Shoot

Madelyn and I had a whirlwind day, and I finished up a whirlwind couple of weeks in photography land.

I came home last Friday after a shoot and was checking my email only to discover an email from the Space Camp program in Huntsville, AL offering a full scholarship and travel stipend for Madelyn to attend...the only catch was that she had to attend the week of August 24th. So, after a bunch of web surfing and crossing my fingers on Priceline, we were able to finagle a great deal on airfare and car rental and make it down here. Luckily my sister lives in Atlanta so I have a place to crash after I take her there on Sunday, and thanks to my new laptop, I can work the day job from here as well. Hopefully I'll get to do a little hanging out at the photo district, too. Atlanta is a hotbed for photography and I can't wait to soak it all in, especially in this funky urban landscape.

Our flight down here was NUTS! We were delayed in Missoula for the first leg of the flight to Chicago. Made it with 15 minutes to get to our connecting flight, sprinted across two terminals (and since I won't check my camera equipment on the plane I had my mongo backpack full of lenses smacking my spine the entire "jog")....only to get to the gate ONE MINUTE LATE. Looked at the stern gate agent standing at the now-locked door and he shrugged his shoulders and just said, "nope". So much for mid-west hospitality! We hung out at the airport for another three hours before we could get on the next flight, which was then also delayed. I've never been so happy to see my sister's house as I was tonight!

The camping trip was great! We went to the Twin Lakes just above Wisdom, MT. At 8,000 feet. It was gorgeous and the canoe is officially broken in. I took a bunch of landscape photos (all my photography friends, you can exhale your big *gasp* now...YES, I even LIKED taking the landscape photos!), which I'll try to download and post while I'm down here.

I can't wait to go hang out around the photo district here and I've been blog stalking a couple photographers in this area so I'm going to try to set up some meetings/visits with them just to check out their studios...some day I'm going to build my own studio space...it's all there in my head!

This week was completely insane and busy, and I loved every minute of it (well, maybe not the staying up all night last night editing down proofs part, but other than that I loved it). I finished shooting the images for the Missoula County United Way workforce capital campaign on Thursday. I just want to share how many cool people traipsed through my studio and I so enjoyed meeting each and every one of this cast of characters (and trust me, they WERE characters!). It makes me proud to live in this wonderful city of ours.

I need to get some sleep! Have a good weekend! If you're in Missoula, check out the River City Roots Festival going on tomorrow downtown. I'm so bummed I'm missing it, but I can't wait to take Madelyn to camp. She's applied for scholarships for the past couple year and now that it's come to fruition we just can't seem to believe it's actually going to happen! Will keep you updated on our trip!

Story People

I am a BIG fan of an artist from Iowa whose company is called Story People. Brian's drawings look like brightly colored squiggles but are always accompanied by a "story" that he writes (or, very occasionally, people suggest to him). I subscribe to the "story of the day" email, and each morning I receive this little gem. More times than not it turns out to be my daily meditation and helps me focus. I'm having trouble embedding the link in this page, so I added it to my Favorites over there to the right of the screen. Take some time to play on this site. They make GREAT gifts, too!

Today's story is called "Waiting for Signs". The caption reads: I used to wait for a sign, she said, before I did anything. Then one night I had a dream & an angel in black tights came to me & said, you can start any time now, & then I asked is this a sign? & the angel started laughing & I woke up. Now, I think the whole world is filled with signs, but if there's no laughter, I know they're not for me.

This could sum up my current philosophy of life, work, family, friends, yada yada yada (I LOVE that Seinfeld episode, by the way). It's ironic, though, as I've been asking myself over the past few weeks what I need to do in terms of making photography my full-time career. Still milling over that one... While I'd like to say "hey, that's easy, follow your passion and the money will come..." Then I think of two kids, one approaching college age, and a mortgage, and I slowly come back to reality, often kicking and screaming. It'll happen. But with all this angst comes a colorful little reminder to "keep it real" each morning. (A nod to my friend Vince who told me that "keepin it real" is a standard response to ANY question, depending on what type of inflection you use in your voice...and it WORKS!)

Editing a last-minute shoot from yesterday afternoon, doing a senior photo shoot later today, finishing up work for the corporate America gods, then it's off to camping and trying out (but hopefully not capsizing) the new canoe Andy surprised us with the other night. I need a little break from my brain so I'm looking forward to it. And it forces me to stop working for a couple days as the laptop battery will only last so long in the wilderness. My challenge is to LEAVE IT HOME.

Thanks to people who have provided kind words and encouragement this week, especially two people from my high school that I've reconnected with on (of all places) Facebook. We didn't hang out much in high school, and now getting to know them via cyberspace, I really wish I had. So thanks, Stephanie and Andrew...you've made my week and my stomach hurts TOO much from laughing at all Andrew's emails outlining the challenges of photographing people for a living. TOOOO funny!

Have a great weekend!
Maureen

Teague Turns One!

This is one of my favorite little guys...probably because I first met him when he was in his mom's tummy and I've watched him grow up this year as we did photo shoots when he was 3 weeks old, 6 months old, and now--how the time flies--ONE YEAR!

Dianne and I laughed so hard watching Teague consume his cupcake with glee, sticky fingers, and flung crumbs!

I'm in the midst of a bunch of senior photo shoots and a big commercial shoot, but I will be posting a slideshow of our year together very very soon.

Thank you Kyle and Dianne for allowing me to capture the past 12 months for you. I'm so bummed you're moving, but I hope we'll stay in touch! My thoughts and prayers will follow you three on your many, many adventures to come. See you later, little buddy! I'll miss you all!

Kristina and Jake Slideshow

Kristina and Jake

Eileen and I had such a fantastic time photographing the wedding of Kristina and Jake this past weekend (with helpers Kirsty and Ed). These folks had ENERGY. That is a serious understatement. After the ceremony and a hysterical walk from the church to the University, the party began. We'll have the photos posted to the Pictage site as soon as we edit them down. Thanks for a great day, guys. I wish you all the best for each other!

My Garden Culprit

For the past few weeks, I've noticed that "someone has been eating in my garden!" (Just a side note...Goldilocks is one of Thomas's favorite fairy tales, except I crack up every time he asks me to read "Goldilocks and the Three Beers". I just can't resist visualizing Goldilocks slugging back a few Moose Drools with her three favorite bruins).

The other day, I caught him. A nice buck was casually sitting in the middle of my yard, munching on my carrots. So I picked up one of the 10,000 (no exaggeration) apples that has fallen in my yard from my neighbor's tree and flung it at him. He was a thing of beauty jumping over the fence and trotting down the alley...more beautiful because my carrots stayed intact.

This morning, I woke up pretty early, went outside to take in the chilly August morning and Voila! There he was again....this time when I flung the apples, he merely flicked his tongue at me as if to say, "yahoo...dessert", and ATE the apples. Grrr....

The war has begun. No gophers or moles to content with in my yard....just this.

Sadly, I'll be having waaaaay fewer green beans this year. I think Andy is psyched.

Off to Helena today. Have a great day!