blogs of photogs

Shannon Holden’s blog and site feature photographs that just seem to glow from within. The quality of light is phenomenal, she does such a breathtaking job of capturing the light, and almost wrapping it around her subjects. After looking over her whole blog and site, I finally read a bit about her, and found that we share some similarities in that we both lost our beloved moms to cancer. I have to think that our mothers can see our love for them shining through, in each of our work, capturing beautiful images for others. Life does go by in a blink. Hugs from one who knows your loss Shannon.

Anyway, I know you will enjoy her work, it is truly superb! 

Mary

Ps: 

On a completely unrelated side note: I’m sure most of my readers don’t know this, but for each blog I review, I have probably looked at over 15-20 blogs that day before I find one that I want to review. Its a hugely time consuming process, even before you add in the moderating comments, the 30+ emails I get each week asking to be reviewed, or the emails wondering why I haven’t gotten to their blog yet, or suggesting a friends blog, or asking me to give them photography tips, or wondering what are the requirements to be featured, etc, etc. You get the picture. Anyway,  during this busy holiday portrait season especially, I’m really hoping that I have time to post a few reviews a week, and I just wanted to ask for my readers patience in remembering that I’m a full time photographer as well, and a mom to three kids, and overly politically active, and some of the recent emails I’ve gotten are rather unkind. I really hope that this blog is a source of knowledge and inspiration to everyone who reads it–I love doing it and am so very grateful for those who are reading.

best,

Mary

Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir is an amazing photographer from Iceland. If you have spent any time at all on Flickr, you have probably seen and admired some of her work on flickr. Her blog is about as “no frills” as you can get- (I think it may be the default wordpress?) but her work really does speak for itself. I’d recommend a stroll around her main site first, and then read some of her blog to get a feel for the brain behind the eye behind the photos. Truly innovative and distinctive work, it will inspire you on many levels, as well as eat up a big chunk of your time. Consider yourself warned.

Enjoy!

~Mary

Scott Strazzante is a photographer for the Chicago Tribune, and started a blog recently to showcase some of the photos that as he says “don’t have a home”. I’m extremely glad he did… and I”m sure my readers will be as well. I looked through nearly every photo that he has up, and each one offered me something, a memory, a little slice of poignancy, a glimpse into the olympics, a slice of his photographic expertise and more. I hope he continues to post regularly, I’ll be adding this one to my reader for sure. Enjoy~

Mary

The Apertura Photo blog is the blog of photographers Ray Soemarsono and Erwin Darmali, who work out of Southern California, but travel for wedding coverage as well. Ray and Erwin are extremely talented photographers who both have amazing artistic documentary styles, though each markedly different in their approaches. Most of the posts they blog cover weddings, but somehow they manage to never make one wedding look like another; they keep coming up with fresh inventive and imaginative shots of each couple and wedding. Their work so perfectly captures the gaiety and energy of the receptions, it makes me feel like I was there.

Enjoy!

Mary

I’m guessing that many of my readers who are photographers have heard of Carey of Barefoot Memories, but just in case there are a few of you out there who haven’t… you’ll be glad now that you did. Quite simply, Carey *is* beach family photography in Southern California. Her simple and classic style of shooting is one that is often imitated, but not so often replicated. Her brand is well known, she is brilliant at marketing (in fact- I still owe her a thank you for being so nice a few years back when I called her up and asked if I could borrow her holiday slideshow/year in review idea… which I now see on so many sites! Thanks Carey!)  and she is becoming quite well known on the photography speaker circuit as well. Carey is one of the few photographers whom I have seen who has made the “CD route” work for her and her clients. And of course, last but never least,  her photography is marvelous, she is just a master at what she does. Enjoy her work here on her blog, or here on her main site.

On another note, after my two weeks away, I have been swamped with sessions myself, so please forgive the delay in updating blogs of photogs. I will post more often, so check back soon, or subscribe up top!

best

Mary

I had a wonderful relaxing two weeks in the north woods of MN, and came home to over 400 emails and 20 voicemails from clients. Wow. I intended to blog right when I got back, but you know what they say about the best laid plans…

Anyway, way back 7 months ago when I started this little blogsofphotogs project, I posted on a few forums that I frequented at the time (ILP, some others, etc) about it and said people could send in their blog addy, or submit a fave blog if they wanted, and I got absolutely slammed with emails. They still keep coming from ILP and I haven’t been on ILP for two months (bet no one misses *me* LOL) Anyway I somehow overlooked Suzanne Revy, after that round of emails from ILP’ers, probably because it was submitted with such total lack of fanfare. Just a brief “if you are interested” and the address. My mistake, and I am thrilled I found it now.

Suzanne works in the greater Boston area, ans she is one of those filmies still (yes, they still exist, thankfully, to give us exquisite art like hers to admire) She works with a medium format camera, and wet darkroom and her images are just splendid. Really amazing.

I sometimes pull out my old film camera and shoot a roll, just because it teaches me patience in such a different way than digi. To wait for the shot rather than machine gun. To really see it before I shoot it, since I can’t chimp.

Suzanne’s blog and site have sensational, alluring images. Make sure you check out her fine art gallery on her site too, there is such an art to the right title with the right photo. I may have to buy “Evolution”–it is just that perfect.

Anyway, I think I’m going to have to get some film out this weekend and see if I can find some of that special magic that she so clearly has. I know you will enjoy her work~

Mary

Karen Carey is a highly gifted photographer who I can truly call a fine artist, working outside of Philadelphia, PA. Karen’s blog looks like it might have had a re-do lately, as a couple of the links (workshop) are not yet functional. Don’t let that stop you from spending some time on her blog and site, soaking up her extraordinary talent and learning from her wealth of experience.  I met Karen last January, at the one and only photography workshop I have ever gone to-her Think. Create. Record. Workshop,. I’m not a “workshop person” but I learned a lot from Karen, and from the workshop, laughed a heck of a lot, and really came away with a greater perspective on my own photography work that I still find myself ruminating about and implementing tips from, in my portrait sessions now.

Karen showed us a sneak peek in January from her work with Flashes of Hope - an awe-inspiring and life changing project that focuses on capturing powerful portraits of kids fighting cancer and other diseases. Truly something I won’t forget. 

Enjoy Karen’s work!

Mary

Jess VanLue works out of Vassar, Michigan and the surrounding areas. She photographs babies through teens and families, but the work that really stood out to me is her high school senior work. You can see some on her blog, but even more at her separate seniors site here. It loaded a bit slow for me, but my wireless ISP has been acting up, might just be me.

Jess seems to have a great connection with seniors, and has some really magnificent locations that she has found. It seems to me that some photographers can take “good enough” photos of seniors, and some seem to truly have their finger on the current pulse of what seniors want, and keep coming up with new, different and unique shots. Jess is there. Enjoy!

Mary

I wanted to share this nifty new application I found on one of the blogs I looked at recently (sorry that I have forgotten where I found it!) Its called Wordle and you can find it at wordle.net

Basically, you can create a beautiful word cloud out of any site or blog that has an RSS stream. Here is the cloud I created from recent blogs of photogs posts:

Click the image to go check it out larger at flickr. I even picked the colors to match my blog. I think it is a fun thing to add to your photo blog….so I wanted to share it here for my readers. :) 

Enjoy!

Mary

Ok, I know, I know. I hear the blogs of photogs purists screaming and sloshing their starbucks in indignation. Dooce (aka: Heather Armstrong) is not really a photographer, because she pays her bills with blogging, not portraiture or wedding work, etc. But, she does do the Photo of the Day, and is amazingly talented at both photography and blogging, (and hilarious to boot) so, there you go. Plus, I’ve been a fan for years and years, so: She is our featured photographer of the day!

If there is actually someone out there who has not read Dooce, I’ll be a bit surprised, as there are so many people who I know, who have been faithful Dooce fans forever. I’ll bet many of you have not read her blog in a while, or have forgotten how funny her blog is, how addictive and interesting it is, and sometimes even feel like she is a friend IRL, in that weird way that blogs (and their authors) that we are familiar with become a part of us. Either way, check it out, for the first time, or find it again. Its singularly fabulous.

~enjoy!

Mary